Chapter Thirteen
Coming to An Understanding
Anthony
I felt like I’d won over royalty. Never in life had I put so much time and effort into a woman that had already made plain her life plans did not include me.
The club would call me crazy.
My brother would probably never let me live it down, if he heard of it.
I plucked the phone from my pocket and slid my thumb across the screen to wake it up.
Thirteen missed calls, twenty-three texts, and two voicemails stared back at me.
“Damn,” Crystal laughed, “You’re a busy and wanted man.”
I snorted and dismissed the main screen. A quick internet search later, and the room was booked.
“Ready?” I tipped my head toward the hotel.
Her pretty, blue eyes swung that way like she had changed her mind, and I swear my breath caught in my throat.
“Yeah,” she finally squeaked, before shifting to get off me.
I helped her to her feet and untangled my legs from the bench.
“So, nine hundred is a week of dayshift work. How much is it going to cost me to trick your roommates into believing you’re pulling night shifts while you’re off being spoiled by me?”
She shook her head and smiled. “Stop it. You’re making me sound like a prostitute.”
The hold I had on her much smaller hand ended abruptly, and my fingers shot up her arm, past her elbow and locked with a vengeance.
Her eyes widened, and the moonlight glittered off the blue, panic filled surface of them.
“You’re not a whore. Nobody is paying for anything more than a dance, because anything more than that, is mine.”
The fear slowly faded, but her lips fumbled like she wasn’t sure of what to say.
“Tell me you’re not fucking anyone else.”
“I’ve never willingly fucked any man, why would I start now?” The emotion in her tone made me instantly believe her.
My grip on her arm softened, and I rubbed the area apologetically.
I took her hand, but her fingers didn’t react to mine. Instead, she just kind of suffered the contact on the way into the lobby. It made me bristle inwardly as I cursed myself and my temper.
“Aviston,” I quietly offered to the man at the desk.
He tapped away at a computer screen while I pulled out my wallet, passing my identification and debit card to him when he glanced back up.
“Ah, yes, thank you.”
A moment later he placed a paper in front of me that asked for the plate and make of the vehicle. I scribbled my details, passed the form back and was promptly rewarded with a key card.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, placing my arm around Crystal. I led her down the hall toward the elevator.
She didn’t say anything, and I wasn’t one for public scenes and all of that, so I left it alone, until I opened the door to our room.
“I’m sorry. I’m not–” I awkwardly tried to make sense of my own actions.
“What the fuck is this?” Crystal asked.
I stopped in front of the sofa and turned back to find her peeking into the bathroom. She entered it and took her time rounding through the bedroom and back out to the sitting area again.
“It’s a suite,” I answered, when she finally stood before me again.
“Oh.” She sounded so small and out of place.
I didn’t like hearing it and reached for her hip again. Her gaze quickly snapped to mine.
“I don’t hit women, okay?” I don’t know why it mattered to me so much that she knew I wasn’t like my dad and Makaveli.
“Okay.” She shrugged.
“No. I mean it. I don’t know why I grabbed you like that. It’s not how I am…” The longer she stared, the more I spilled, “I could never do that. I watched my mom clean herself up too many times.”
She pressed to her tiptoes and wrapped her hand behind my neck, pulling me down until she could shut me up with a kiss.
“You’re stalling,” she playfully sang.
I squinted, confused by the accusation.
“You said I was to be spoiled, and yet, my bath water is not fetched, Mr. Aviston.”
I couldn’t stop the grunt of laughter that her sass plucked from me. I stepped back, wiped my face and nodded.
“Right.” I cleared my throat.
“You’ve got two months to convince me, Anthony. Assuming I agree to see you again, after we leave here.”
I stared at her, unable to control my smile, or the way my cock saluted her challenge.
It was kind of weird. I didn’t like mouthy women, or arrogant women, but being told I’d already placed a crack in the foundation of her escape plans was all the encouragement I needed.
I already knew, if she gave me one chance, I’d hit it out of the park. That girl wasn’t going anywhere.
I didn’t give a fuck what it cost, or how far I had to go to earn the right to call her mine.
I delicately slid my finger along her jaw and headed toward the bathroom.
I turned the water on, and inwardly wished I had candles or something more for her.
Unfortunately, with no planning in place, all I had to work with was the soap dispenser on the wall.
I pumped it a few times and used a fistful to capture the water and create some bubbles for her.
I carried on like I was fretting over water for the queen, silently second guessing myself as to whether it was too hot.
I flipped my hand back and forth under the stream. Maybe it was too cool? Were there enough bubbles?
Something brushed my shoulder with purpose, and the flash of a bare leg caught my attention as it breezed by. I jerked my head up and caught a quick view of her ass before she whirled and disappeared beneath the bubbles.
She leaned forward, placed a finger beneath my jaw and lifted.
I laughed, and snapped my head back, catching her pointed nail between my teeth. I twirled my tongue and drew it into my mouth before spitting it out and kissing her knuckles.
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered, not taking her bewildered eyes off mine.
“I told you.”
She shifted her head gently and raised her brows, “No, you didn’t.”
“Because,” I spat out, almost impatiently.
As if it weren’t obvious.
It wasn’t, though. Not to her. She didn’t know me. How could she have guessed that I didn’t chase women and the only ruin I was ever responsible for was typically mascara. It wasn’t like I could really explain it to her, without making her run, either.
Her blue eyes slowly shifted toward the water, losing interest in me, or so I feared.
“Because you’re the only thing that’s existed since I laid eyes on you.
Alright? Because I don’t know what the fuck this is.
” I’d gone too far to fall silent now, so I swallowed and shrugged as I tried to make sense of it for her.
“It’s something different. Unfamiliar and awkward, and yet I’m terrified it will end. I… I don’t want–”
Who the fuck was I?
What the hell was this girl doing to me?
I shook my head and licked my lips, giving my ego time to adjust to the vulnerability and bruising I was giving it.
“Look, I walked into that club and when I saw you it was like– I’d seen you a thousand times in as many different lives.
Something inside me recognized your eyes, Crystal.
And now I don’t know how to forget them.
I left. You were there. You saw. But what you don’t know is that I took you with me.
All night, you were there in my mind. Nothing and no one could hold my attention.
The notion of other women was like settling.
The minutes that’ve passed since I walked out of that champagne room were nothing but wasted time in my life.
I had to get back to you. Okay? I know it sounds crazy…
and I can’t explain it, but fuck, I don’t want it to stop. ”
The way she stared at me, I knew I’d scared her. Hell, I’d probably talked her right back to her senses. The longer the silence stretched, the more certain I was that I’d turned her off entirely.
What the hell was I thinking, being that brutally honest with her?
Her shoulders had slowly started to curl inward, making her look like the tiniest of creatures in that bubble bath.
Just when my pride couldn’t take it anymore, her lips quivered into a smile, and she dripped water as she raised a pointed toe and pressed it to my shoulder.
Soapy water droplets ran down over my Steel Disciples patch and the one beneath it.
I absently caressed the outer contour of her calf and held her gaze.
I was made to stare into those eyes, and I really didn’t know what I’d do if she laughed and got up and left.
“You know, as intriguing as you are, and as curious as I am, there is something about you that makes warning bells scream in my head,” she quietly began. “I know you’ll break my heart… I’m not stupid–”
As much as I loved the sound of her voice, I wasn’t any match for that shapely leg and the pink toes that wiggled against my chest. I crooked my head, raised her foot and teased my lips against the arch of her foot without breaking eye contact.
Her words slowed but it wasn’t until I pressed that devoted kiss and nipped at the side of her big toe, that she abruptly shut up.
“Wh–?” she tried to form words again, and I drew her toes into my mouth, closed my eyes and moaned until she lost the ability to speak again.
When I spat them out and ran my thumb up the center of her foot from heel to pad, her lips parted and her pretty, blue eyes lit up while I nuzzled and explored.
“I’m not going to break your heart, love. I’m going to dedicate myself to showing you the way you were meant to be worshipped.” I spoke slowly and lifted her other leg from the water so I could start on it. “And if you ever settle for anything less afterwards, that is entirely your fault.”
Her toes curled and her leg flinched as I teased my whiskers along the side of her instep. Water trickled as she drew both hands up and tried to cover her face.
“Aht. Aht.” I reached, hooking her elbow, and drawing her hand down until it slipped under the water until we were firmly cupping her pussy.
“Rub,” I commanded, before nipping the inside of her ankle.