Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
They snuck down the dark hallway to a set of double doors. Dominic held one open. “Go ahead.”
Sylvie walked inside. She was wearing her pajama top, and Dominic had put his sweats back on. He followed and switched on a lamp at his bedside, filling the room with a soft glow.
“This used to be my parents’ room, but I gutted it and redid the whole thing when I moved in here.”
All the furniture was constructed of pale wood in a modern, Scandinavian style.
The walls were white, with gauzy curtains hanging over the patio doors that led out to a balcony.
Black and white photographs hung in frames on every wall, many of them of tropical ocean landscapes and snowy mountain peaks. Two different kinds of extremes.
He went back to the doors and flipped the lock. “What do you think?”
Sylvie sat on his California king bed. A pale blue comforter was folded up at the end of it, and his white cotton sheets were tangled, like he didn’t often bother to make them. “I was expecting a sex dungeon draped with black silk.”
He snorted. “That’s totally my usual vibe, but Maureen complained laundry day was hell.”
The room was beautiful, almost austere in its simple coloring and clean lines. A dramatic contrast to the decorating style she’d seen in the rest of the house. But this room was also a place she could imagine curling up. A place she could relax and just be.
“I don’t see how you ever leave this spot.”
He sat beside her on the bed, folding his legs beneath him. “So you like it?”
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Are you really asking if I like you?”
He gave her that soft, sweet smile that she was starting to enjoy even more than his wicked one.
“I do,” she whispered. “I like you.”
She couldn’t describe her relief at knowing he hadn’t lied. And knowing she hadn’t betrayed him.
Sylvie glanced at her bag, which she’d dropped just inside the entrance to the room. It now held the two flash drives. She’d told him she trusted him, and she really wanted that to be true. Her heart was ready to take the risk, even though her rational mind was still a step or two behind.
There was no way this alliance would work if they couldn’t be honest with one another. Thank goodness she hadn’t done anything irreparable, and neither had he.
She still felt wary about the fact that he’d been working against Bennett Security. But he hadn’t actually gone through with it. Wasn’t that what counted?
“I like you, too,” he said.
“For saying nice things to you instead of being mean?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m easy that way.”
She wished they’d been open with each other from the start. The man she’d been getting to know the past few days was the real Dominic Crane, and she wished she’d never doubted him.
But she still needed to get back to Bennett Security to inspect that program on Dominic’s flash drive and find out exactly what it contained. She would need to send this latest info to her hacker friends to see what they made of it.
She already had several ideas to turn this around on the Syndicate and make their latest attempt work in her favor.
But it would have to be creative and subtle.
If the Syndicate’s Russian hackers-for-hire were anywhere near as good as they seemed so far, anything less would raise their suspicions in no time.
Normally, the late hour wouldn’t have stopped her from getting started on a project. But she couldn’t safely inspect the program here, and she couldn’t just take off in the middle of the night. The Syndicate would wonder why she’d left Dominic’s house.
So her work had to wait until the morning. Like she’d said.
Or maybe those were all excuses. Maybe she just wanted this time with Dominic, and she was willing to set everything else aside for a little while to get it. She’d given so much of her life to Bennett Security. She wanted a few, impossible moments only for herself.
He came in for another slow kiss. “I’ll show you how much I like you. I can be rough if that’s how you want me.”
“No, I like this Dominic better.” Her fingers ran along his chin and down his neck, feeling the throb of his pulse just under the skin.
His smile told her that he approved of that answer. “But I have ground rules.”
She pulled back. “You have ground rules?”
“Yep. Just one: no orgasms. For either of us.”
“You’re kidding.” Sylvie rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to hold back so I can keep up. That’s like…a participation trophy.”
“We’re not running a race or competing. We’re having an experience together. Wouldn’t you rather go at the same pace?”
She pointed at the erection once again tenting his sweatpants. “You’re already way ahead of me, and I’ve barely touched you in the last half hour.”
“What, you don’t think I can keep myself from coming?”
“I like the idea of it. But honestly? I don’t.”
“You think I’m too weak?”
“I’m not taking that bait.”
“Then you must be issuing a challenge.”
Sylvie looked over at him. “A challenge? But it won’t be. You don’t think I can make you come if I want to?” Maybe he couldn’t do the same to her. But men weren’t so difficult. Every man she’d ever been with, anyway.
“That’s dirty. Challenge accepted.”
“Fine, if you insist on turning this into a game... I’ll make you feel so good you won’t be able to stop yourself from going off.”
He grinned as he kissed her. “Just watch me.”
“We’ll see.”
Sylvie set her glasses on the nightstand.
She moved higher on his bed, positioning herself with her back against his pillows.
Keeping her knees together, she slowly undid the remaining buttons on her pajama top.
But she didn’t take it off, instead letting it fall open to either side of her.
Next, she trailed her hand over her breasts and down to her core.
She spread her legs just enough to allow her fingers to massage over her most sensitive parts.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Dominic said.
She smiled at him, still taking her time.
She remembered what he’d said when they were first fooling around in his game room.
How he wanted to see how she touched herself.
Sylvie hadn’t done this in a while because it made her frustrated about her body’s lack of cooperation.
But it did feel good. And it felt even better with Dominic’s heated gaze running over her.
She let her knees fall open a bit wider, moaning as her fingers slid deeper into her center.
Dominic pushed his pants off, his erection bobbing. He crawled over the mattress to her. She’d been surprised earlier that he was uncircumcised, but it didn’t bother her. She liked that he was different from every other man she’d been with.
Everything with him was different. Uncertain and reckless and a pure adrenaline rush. She didn’t want it to end.
Dominic reached over to a drawer in his nightstand and pulled out a tiny bottle. “You already look wet. But this could make it feel even better.”
She held out her hand, and he poured a dime sized amount of lube into her fingers.
She brought it to her clit, loving the way the liquid made her fingertips glide against her skin.
It was downright indulgent. She closed her eyes, her head falling back against the pillows.
Her legs opened wider, unable to resist the urge to quicken the pace and turn up the pressure.
She heard the drawer of Dominic’s nightstand slide out again. Sylvie opened her eyes to see him holding a short, thick, cylindrical vibrator. It was pointed slightly at one end.
“I was feeling a lot more optimistic about my love life when I bought this. It’s new, never been used. Want to try?”
Sylvie held out her hand, but he shook his head, his grin widening. “Nope, this is mine. If you want it, I get to use it on you.”
“Okay, but I get to pick the position. Lie down.” She sat up and shook her pajama top the rest of the way off.
His eyebrows raised, but he did as she said, lying down across the middle of the mattress. Sylvie straddled his face like she had earlier in the guestroom, but this time, she was facing the opposite direction. His cock was right under her mouth, lying flat against his stomach.
She gave him a nice long lick, from his tip to his balls. A lusty sound rumbled from Dominic’s chest.
Sylvie felt him rise up and brace his elbows against the mattress. His tongue lapped between her legs. She gasped. But she wasn’t going to let him distract her.
She had a challenge to win.
Her fist circled his shaft, pointing him upright toward her mouth. She suctioned her lips around him and swirled her tongue across his slit, which he’d really seemed to like earlier.
A buzzing sound stole her attention just before she felt contact against her clit. She moaned around his cock. Dominic moved the vibrator in small circles. The lube kept the friction just right, not too intense.
“How’s that?”
Fucking amazing. Delicious tension flooded her body. She didn’t bother to answer. Instead, she took in more of his length. She worked him up and down with her mouth. His hips started to buck. Sylvie added a hand between his legs, massaging his balls. They’d tightened against his body.
For a little while, she forgot anything except how much she enjoyed giving pleasure. There was something so satisfying about making a man come. After all their battles, making Dominic lose control would be even better.
She wanted to taste his cum on her tongue. The vibrator on her clit just added to the experience.
Dominic was panting. Close. The vibrator kept slipping, like he could hardly concentrate.
Then his arms lifted her off him, and his cock fell out of her mouth. He dropped her onto the mattress. “Nope. We’re done with that.”
“Not fair! That’s cheating. I almost had you.”
“Exactly. I had to make you stop.” He scrambled off the bed, reaching down to squeeze the base of his shaft. “Shit. I almost lost it. That was way too close.”
She lay back against the pillows. “You’re too far away. I miss you.”
“I know what you’re doing. I need to calm down first.”
Sylvie picked up the vibrator and held it against her opening, teasing herself with it. “I wish you were the one doing this, instead of me.”
“Now who’s not playing fair?”
The pointed end pressed inside of her, stretching her. “Come over here and fuck me.”
Dominic wiped sweat from his face, but his eyes were locked on the vibrator between her legs. The tip of his cock glistened, both from her mouth and his precum.
“Goddammit.” He frantically searched inside the nightstand and grabbed a foil-wrapped condom. His fingers shook as he tore the edge of the wrapper and rolled the latex down over his length.
The cap on the lube bottle made a snapping sound. Shiny liquid poured onto his cock, and his hand spread it around.
Sylvie tossed the vibrator aside and heard it roll to the floor. Dominic knelt on the mattress. He held onto her thighs and yanked her lower, so she was lying flat on her back. He braced one hand on the bed, the other hooking below her knee and bending her leg.
Sylvie cried out as he entered her in one smooth motion.
“Not so loud. I don’t want your bodyguard banging down my door.”
She pushed her lips together, muffling her next moan.
He fucked her with lazy strokes, clearly in no hurry. And she wasn’t either. She wrapped her legs around him and enjoyed the sensations as he filled her again and again.
Dominic wasn’t overly muscled, but his arms and stomach were lean and defined.
She gripped his biceps, feeling the strength coiled up beneath the surface of the skin.
His chest was smooth, hairless, with pale pink nipples.
Dark waves fell across his forehead and into his eyes.
She reached up to brush the strands away and tuck them behind his ear. He smiled down at her.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured.
“I think that was my line.”
“I don’t just mean on the outside.”
“Neither do I.”
Sylvie’s heart was swelling in her chest. It scared her, what she was feeling right now—like she wanted a lot more with Dominic Crane than could ever be possible. They had a surprising number of things in common. But their lives and their backgrounds were fundamentally different. Incompatible.
Stop thinking about the end, she told herself.
“Can we flip over?” she asked. “I want to be on top.”
He grasped the edge of the condom and pulled out. They changed positions, Dominic lying flat, and Sylvie poised over him. She spread her legs and guided him inside of her.
He made a humming sound. “That’s so good.”
She arched her spine, bracing her hands back against his thighs as she rocked back and forth on his dick.
That tension was building inside of her again, pleasure that teased her and only made her long for more.
Dominic held her hips, pumping to match her every thrust. He made her feel so sexy and so dirty.
“I want to feel your cock pulsing as you shoot every last drop of your hot cum inside of me.”
His eyes rolled back. “Fuck, Sylvie.”
She leaned forward to whisper to him. “Please, Nic? Come for me?”
“So not fair.”
“I want to feel you.”
She rode him hard. Dominic matched her intensity.
His dick jerked as he started to come, shuddering as their bodies slammed together.
Sylvie closed her eyes, reveling in every throb of his shaft inside of her.
She didn’t know how it would feel to orgasm herself, but this had to be the next best thing—feeling him come undone.
And it had nothing to do with their silly challenge.
Dominic pulled her down against his chest, stroking her hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed losing so much.”
She didn’t think she’d enjoyed anything so much.
Sex with Dominic had been utterly satisfying.
Sylvie didn’t feel like she’d missed out on a single thing.
But she already knew how much she’d miss him when he was gone.
Because this couldn’t last. And no matter how long they had, it wouldn’t be enough.