20. Vaughn
TWENTY
VAUGHN
Steam rose from the bath, and Alba leaned her head against my shoulder. Her back was to my front, her legs pressing against mine. My fingers made tight circles in her hair, the scent of my shampoo filling my nose.
Alba let out a groan. “That feels so good.”
I hummed in response, tilting my head away as I used a small container to rinse some of the shampoo from her strands. Her chest rose and fell, the pink of her nipples poking out above the surface of the water. I knew she could feel me, half-hard behind her, but neither of us reacted to my arousal.
I wanted to take care of her in a way I hadn’t really experienced before.
Sure, I’d been in a position to step in and take care of my aging mother when my dad died.
I stepped up for my daughter. My ex-wife had always relied on me.
But Alba tugged at that instinct within me in a new way.
She was so self-reliant. She’d picked herself up off the ground after being thrown out by the selfish monsters she called family, dusted herself off, and decided she could make it on her own.
She didn’t run back to them. Didn’t bend her morals in order to fit in.
I admired the hell out of that—and I understood why parts of her were so hard, so brittle. She had a sharp tongue because she needed it to keep her sense of self. She kept her walls up all the time, because that’s what she’d needed to do to survive.
None of the other people in my life that I’d taken care of—mother, daughter, ex-wife—had that kind of mettle. And the fact that Alba had chosen me to lean on, that her body was limp and relaxed atop mine, that she’d trusted me earlier with her body…that meant something to me.
I cherished it. Cherished her. I wanted to be the man who took care of her always.
When my thoughts drifted to that sniveling idiot we’d met at the French restaurant, my pressure on Alba’s scalp increased. She hummed, and I turned my attention back to the task, but not before my lips curled at the memory of him.
Never again would she be made to feel small. Never again would she have to run from a restaurant because someone else made her feel like she didn’t belong.
Alba belonged with me now. She belonged to me. She was mine, and I wasn’t going to let her go.
I rinsed her hair, then pulled out the only conditioner I had in the house. Alba cracked an eyelid when she heard the cap open, then snorted.
“My Little Pony conditioner?”
“You can’t deny that their manes are lush and sparkly.”
She laughed and let me work the product through her hair.
It was slick, her hair darkened in its wet state, and my fingers ran through it with ease.
Alba peeled herself off me to dunk her head, then turned around in the tub and settled herself on top of my lap, her forearms on my shoulders.
My hands naturally found the curves of her hips, thumbs angled toward her navel.
We fit. There was no other way to say it. Her body fit against mine like it had been made to sit here, just like this.
“I’ve never had a man wash my hair with such care after screwing my brains out.”
“Then you haven’t lived.”
Her smile was bright. The water sloshed as she moved to trace my temple with her finger, drips of water falling onto my shoulders and upper chest from her hand. “I don’t think I’ve been this relaxed…definitely not in over a year. Maybe longer.”
Satisfaction coursed through me. My woman, relaxed and satisfied, her body draped over mine.
But she wasn’t my woman, was she? Or at least, she didn’t know she was.
“Come to the gala with me,” I said, my voice low.
Her eyes, which had been studying the movement of her fingers over my skin, shifted back to meet my gaze. “No,” she said.
“I won’t take anyone else.”
Her brow arched. “Is that your way of telling me we’re exclusive?”
Her tone was casual, and it sent tension stealing through me. “Are we not?”
She leaned back, the tops of her breasts exposed, her center pressing against my lower stomach, my cock.
Her palms flattened on my shoulders, pinning me to the cold porcelain of my tub.
“How very old fashioned of you, Mr. Avery,” she teased.
“One little romp together and you’re trying to pin me down. ”
My hands moved over her ass, rocking her hips so my length was caught between us. “It won’t be one little romp by the time you go home, princess.”
Her eyes had a devilish light and a smile played around the edges of her mouth—but she didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear.
“We’re exclusive,” I growled. “No other man gets to touch you while you’re with me. Say it.”
“That sounds very one-sided. What about other women touching you? Now that you’ve learned how to dress, don’t think I haven’t noticed how many heads turn whenever we go somewhere.”
I huffed. “Alba, there hasn’t been another woman since the day you mocked me for losing yet another investor.”
Surprised flashed across her features. Her brows drew together—and I worried I’d said too much. Not wanting to give her a chance to question me, I lifted a hand to grip the back of her neck and pulled her in for a hard kiss. She melted against me, body wiggling, water lapping at both our bodies.
Her mouth was hot, and the water was getting cold, so I broke the kiss and pulled her to her feet.
Grabbing a towel I’d laid on the counter next to the bath, I turned and draped it over her shoulders, stepped out of the tub, then picked her up around the waist and threw her over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
She screamed, hands flying out to land on my ass, and started laughing. “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to bed. Seems like ‘one little romp’ wasn’t enough for you.”
“You domineering, egotistical, arrogant—ahh!” She landed on the bed with a scream, the towel flying open to give me a view of her beautiful body, beaded with moisture and red from the bath.
I pushed her knees open and climbed between them, not caring about the water that soaked through my duvet around us. Then I got down on my front, wrapped my arms around her thighs, and licked the heart of her.
“Vaughn—oh!” Her hands flew to my head, fingers curling in my wet strands. She tasted like the best thing I’d ever had. I groaned against her skin, sucking and licking and devouring. Alba whimpered, her fists tightening, and pressed her thighs into my shoulders.
I glanced up to see her chest rising and falling with panted breaths, her stomach hollowed out as she arched back, soft flesh trembling below her navel. She was so beautiful it was almost unbelievable.
I wanted to take care of her like this too. Get her to the point that she was boneless and sated. Worship her body the way she deserved. But I knew Alba would struggle to accept that. I saw it in the tug of her brows, her forehead wrinkling as slight tension gripped her body.
She’d been made to feel small her entire life, and I intended to spend the foreseeable future fixing that misconception. She was strong and smart and funny and sexy and brave. She deserved to be eaten out morning, noon, and night.
But right now, she’d gone somewhere in her mind, and I wanted her right here with me.
“Alba,” I growled, rising up onto my elbows and then straightening onto my knees. “You’re thinking too much.”
Her brow smoothed out, and her eyelids cracked open. A small smile curled the corners of her lips. “I do that sometimes.”
“Do you need me to fuck you so hard you can’t think?”
Her chest shuddered, and I reached up to feel the softness of her breasts, the hard points of her nipples. She nodded. “Yes, please.”
I held her gaze for a moment, wondering how I’d gotten so lucky. Vowing that as long as she was with me, she wouldn’t be worrying about whatever all those other people put in her head.
My hands swept down her body. I marveled at the softness of her skin, the perfect shape of her. I touched the mole above her left hip and the stripes of white stretch marks that shone on her thighs when she spread them open. Beautiful woman.
I couldn’t help my groan when I entered her. Couldn’t help the catch in my breath when I was seated to the hilt. Her eyes were wide, her pupils blown out. My palm landed on the bed next to her head, and her hands swept over my shoulders to curl around my neck.
I kissed her and pulled back. “No other man touches you while you’re with me,” I repeated.
Her eyes sparkled, and then she gasped when I thrust into her.
“Say it, Alba.” I punctuated my sentence with another thrust. Her lips fell open, her thighs pressing against my haunches. I brushed my lips against hers and stilled. “I need to hear it,” I said, voice low.
Her eye roll was pure sass, but some of the tension that had tightened her muscles earlier eased beneath me. She tilted her hips and took me deeper, her fingertips playing over the nape of my neck.
“Only you,” she whispered.
“No one else gets to touch you.”
“No one else gets to touch me—oh!”
Points of pain on the backs of my shoulders where her fingernails dug in. The gratifying gasp that fell from her lips. A perfect moment.
“You belong to me, Alba,” I said in a low voice, and I knew I was pushing it. Knew that this headstrong woman wouldn’t take too much more of this kind of talk, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted her for myself. I wanted her to belong to me, mind, body, and soul. I wanted her to know it.
Alba surprised me by relaxing, her face easing into a soft smile as I drove my cock into her the way I knew she wanted it. “I belong to you,” she whispered, eyes on mine, hands gripping, hips rocking.
I could’ve come right then, just from her saying those words to me with that look in her eyes. Instead, I dipped my head and kissed her, hard and wet, and then got to work.
My woman needed her mind cleared. She needed me to chase away all the demons that plagued her. She needed to be fucked hard and fast and dirty, so that all that was left was her and me and pleasure.