Chapter 8 #2
I shrug. “It’s always the same shit. Everyone gets loaded. Everyone gets loud. There’s a lot of bragging and posturing. At some point, it becomes all about…”
“Getting laid?” she prompts.
Regret stabs me between the eyes. “Wow. I’ve really backed myself into a corner here.”
“It’s okay, Tripp. I know you’ve probably been with a lot of girls.” She pauses to swallow. “And you’ll be with a lot more after me.”
My entire being issues an emphatic denial. My stomach sours at the very idea of talking to another female. “After you? I’m unfamiliar with that concept.”
She giggles, like she thinks I’m not serious. “So that’s why you don’t go to the beach? You’re bored of getting laid?”
“Is that so hard to believe?” I give in to my compulsion to be closer to her, just a little, taking a few steps and settling her onto the counter, keeping myself wedged between her smooth thighs.
“Last night was the hottest fucking night of my life, angel. I’ve been jacking off around the clock, replaying it in my head.
If you think there’s a single other girl in this world, let alone on that beach, who could do that to me, I hate to break it to you, but you’re wrong.
I can barely gather enough interest to smile when a girl flirts with me.
You just existing has me down on my knees, ready to beg, Vida. ”
As I speak, her mouth softens, her eyes taking on a dazed quality.
Cheeks pink.
Holy fucking turn-on.
“I’m not going to make you beg for me,” she whispers, trailing a finger down the middle of my chest. “Not too hard, anyway.”
Christ. Put a fork in me. I’m done.
“I want to lick your pussy so bad right now,” I groan urgently against her mouth, my hands fisting at the sides of her uniform skirt.
“When do you have a break, angel? Come to my room. Let me lick the fuck out of it. That’s all we’ll do.
I swear.” I stroke a hand down her braid, scrutinizing her eyes.
“You believe me, right? I might threaten to fuck you, but I won’t.
Not until you’re ready for your first time. ”
“I believe you. You’re nothing like that guy. You know how to take no for an answer.”
“I realize how lucky I am that you believe that. After the way we met.”
“It was an honest mistake.” She tilts her head. “And maybe a good one. I might never have known…what you like. What you need. If you hadn’t confided in your call girl.”
“No, I would have told you eventually.” I lean in and kiss her, both of us moaning as our tongues twine together, stealing an eager taste. “I’m my honest self with you.”
“Me too,” she whispers, biting her lip. Considering something. “I have a lunch break at one o’clock.”
“Oh my God,” I heave, surging forward with so much gusto I knock her back onto her elbows, and she giggles while I plant kisses all over her stomach. “Please. Please. Tell me you’re going to let me eat you out, angel. I’ll never ask you for anything else, as long as I live.”
“Really? Nothing?”
“Okay, fine. A few things. Like…eternal devotion.” I pull up her shirt just enough to kiss her bare skin, and she squeal-laughs. “Daily sex, followed by cuddling. Weekly mussel pot dates. The bearing of my children. Little things like that.”
“You’re crazy!”
“I am. I’m crazy, Vida. About you.” I kiss my way up to her mouth, looking her in the eye while I tip my head in the direction of my gift. “That’s why I was up at six in the morning coloring your present.”
Brow furrowing, she sits up, looking between me and the rolled paper.
“You…This is a present? For me?”
Suddenly, I’m feeling rather inadequate about my artistic abilities. “My preference would have been sapphires to set off your eyes, but…” I clear my throat hard and step back, picking up the drawing and setting it in her lap. “I guess this will have to do.”
With a hesitant smile, she drags the rubber band off and unfurls my creation, staring at it in stunned silence. One that lasts way too long.
“You made this?”
“Yes, well, it’s not exactly Caravaggio—”
“You remembered how much I love the Milky Way.”
I rear back slightly. “You only told me last night, Vida. Dark matter and all that.”
“Yes. But…you drew it for me. You made this yourself?”
I give a succinct nod. “I had colored pencils delivered this morning.”
A dimple pops in her cheek, and Lord, I am transfixed by it. “Delivered from where?”
“I have no idea, angel. I ask for things and they appear.”
“Such a rich boy,” she whisper-laughs before turning serious. “I love this drawing with my whole heart. It’s the most incredible gift you could have gotten me, Tripp. I love it.”
My pent-up breath comes whooshing out. “Great.”
She sets the drawing down carefully, like it’s on loan from the Louvre, then she scrambles off the table and throws her arms around me, squeezing me in a way I feel deep in my throat. So hard and so meaningfully that I realize I’ve never been hugged like this before.
I’ve been given perfunctory hugs. Polite ones.
Being in Vida’s embrace is like stepping off the edge of a pier and floating into the sunset while dolphins leap in unison around me.
Wait.
Ocean. Sunset.
“Angel, I know I just told you I would never ask you for anything else if you let me lick you off, but I have one more request.”
I’m still holding her close as her laughter vibrates through me, unleashing a feeling that I can only describe as blissful. “You only made it one minute.”
I kiss her forehead twice for good measure, because I have a feeling what comes next is going to be an uphill battle. “Come out on my yacht tonight.”
“You have a…” She pulls back, visibly stunned. “Of course you have a yacht.”
“I dock it here in the summertime.” I tilt her chin up, concerned that I’ve overwhelmed her. Reminded her too soon that we come from opposite worlds. “It’s just a boat, angel.”
“And you want to take me out on it?”
“More than anything,” I say, meaning it.
“Here’s the catch, though. I’m hosting a party.
It’s an annual tradition and…” I search for the right words to explain.
“My entitled prick friends don’t take no for an answer.
Traditions are the most important thing to them, and if I shirk that tradition, they will smile in my face while they find some backhanded way to punish me. ”
Her confusion is obvious. “I thought you said they were your friends?”
“They are. It’s just…”
“A different world.”
“It’ll be such a better one if you’re there.” I give a flat laugh. “Let me rephrase that. I’ll be miserable without you there, Vida.”
I swallow hard, waiting.
I know what I’m asking her to do—and it’s not an easy request.
I’m asking her to walk into a den of wolves that don’t see her as an equal. No matter what threats I issue in advance, they won’t be capable of treating her like one. They just won’t.
“I’ll think about it, okay?” Vida whispers, going up on her toes to kiss me.
My arm moves on its own, snaking behind her hips to yank her close, bowing her back while I consume her with a groaning kiss.
Before I can lift her up for another fix of those thighs around my hips, she breaks the embrace and steps away, though I’m pleased to see she’s blushing to the roots of her hair, her stiff nipples visible even through her vest.
“I’ll think about it,” she repeats, looking up at me.
“But I don’t have to think about where I’ll be on my break at one o’clock.
” I’m stunned by lust when she reaches out and cups my heavy erection, giving me a single firm stroke through my sweatpants.
I break out in an instant sweat. “You’re not the only one who’ll be hungry for lunch. ”