Chapter 16
16
L ili tangled up in a white sheet is a sight I could get used to waking up to.
The cotton fabric is draped artfully across her stomach. Wound around her hip. I watch each rise and fall of her chest, the slight motion making the fabric flutter. Her fingers twitch on the pillow, and her head turns in my direction. The sheet shifts lower, barely hanging on to the curve of her right breast.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous. Classically beautiful and strikingly stunning.
I lied to her the first time we met. No horse has anything on Elizabeth Kensington. But I could tell, from the way her spine stiffened as soon as I spoke, that she’d heard a lot of superficial compliments. That they’d become more of a nuisance than a gift. She’s entirely opposite of my mother in that way. In other ways too.
Talking to her that day was fun.
Fucking her last night was more fun.
I’m getting harder, the longer I stare at her. The sheet is still covering my favorite parts of her body, but I no longer need to use my imagination to picture Lili naked. I memorized every inch last night—before, during, and after the three rounds of sex.
My first thought fully registers. I could get used to this sight.
I’m not just attracted to Lili. I like her. I didn’t even consider sneaking out last night before falling asleep. Partly because I was absolutely knackered. Partly because lying with her felt nice.
Now, it’s sending a frisson of doubt through me. Waking up in bed together feels more intimate than what we did last night. The shades are drawn, but enough golden light is sneaking in around them to make it obvious it’s no longer night. That we slept together—in both senses of the word.
Lili shifts again. So does the sheet, fully revealing her perky tits. The throbbing in my cock gets worse.
I start to stroke myself, lazy tugs that replace uneasiness with bolts of pleasure.
“You’re insatiable.” The rasp of her voice is sexy, the sandpaper texture not just from sleepiness, but also a reminder of how loudly she was screaming a few hours ago.
She might hate me half the time, but Lili loves my cock.
My head rolls to the left, my eyes meeting hers. Open now, the brilliant blue bright and amused.
“Are you complaining?”
“Yes.” She glances at the clock, then right back at my dick. “I don’t like to wake up this early.”
“I didn’t wake you up.”
“You should’ve. Unless you’d rather fuck your hand than”—Lili pulls the sheet away, putting her lithe figure on full display, and her thighs part, pulling my gaze from her tits to her pussy—“me.”
I shift so I’m above her, my mouth going straight to one of her tits and adding to the bites I already left on her breasts. She has a bikini tan line that I trace with my tongue before kissing a trail down the center of her stomach. Abdominal muscles contract in response to my touch, a gasp leaving her mouth when she realizes where I’m headed.
Her eyes flutter closed. The rises and falls of her chest are faster. When I press a kiss just inside the curve of her hip bone, then suck hard, she bites her bottom lip.
“Fuck,” she gasps, the huskiness of her voice even rougher now.
She’s so wet that I can smell it. See it, the pink flesh shiny and slick, even before I lick her slit. I part it with my tongue to circle the opening of her cunt.
Lili swears loudly as her entire body reacts, back bowing and fingers fisting. I press her thigh harder into the mattress as she grinds against my face, hoping she can feel my smirk.
She loves my mouth too.
And while I’ve never been selfish in bed, I’ve never experienced any satisfaction similar to watching Elizabeth Kensington come undone because of me. The first time it happened in that hallway at her grandparents’ house, I told myself it was lingering relief she’d accepted my apology, but there’s no excuse for it right now. I just … like seeing her this way. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight than a naked Lili, covered in hickeys from my mouth. Gasping my name like it’s her favorite word. Begging for more.
She’s so bloody responsive, like she was made for my touch.
“Charlie … please … fuck … more …”
Lili can’t even form a full sentence, and it has me satisfied as fuck as I suck on her clit, then flick it.
She’s squirming in the messy sheets as much as I’ll allow, tangling them even more, while I eat her out like she’s my last meal. Fighting the urge to hump the mattress because the sound of her breathy begging has me so hard that I’m desperate for any friction. It seems impossible there’s blood left anywhere else in my body.
Her breathing is getting faster. Her moans are getting louder. And then she’s coming, her sweet taste flooding my mouth.
I sit up, already reaching for a condom. I always carry extras, but we’ve basically blown through my emergency stash. This is the last one.
Her pussy is still pulsing when I push inside, the clasp extra tight as she struggles to take me. I have to clench my ass to keep from coming right away, the sensation of tight, wet heat even better than I remember. It feels more incredible with her every damn time, despite experience telling me the opposite. Novelty has always held more appeal in the past.
“Fuck,” I growl. “You feel so fucking good.”
Her inner muscles spasm, sucking me even deeper into heaven. “It’s too much,” Lili pants. “I can’t …”
“I didn’t think you were a quitter, Kensington.”
She’s breathing hard, still trembling around me. I can’t tell if she’s still coming or already about to come again.
“I”—she gasps when I slam so deep that my balls bounce off her ass—“hate”—moans when I hook her knee over my hip—“you.”
I chuckle. “Very convincing.”
Her nails dig deep into my shoulders.
And I slow my thrusts, ignoring the need burning through me, hit by the unfamiliar urge to make this last. To savor the sight of Lili under me, breathless and basically speechless.
I want her to think about this long after we both leave this bed.
I want to leave some permanent mark on her, not just hickeys.
I want her to think about how much better it was with me the next time she’s shagging someone else.
“ Charlie .” Her voice is filled with annoyance now, mixing with lust.
I’m hardly pumping my hips, the slow drag against slick skin fucking excruciating. My balls are heavy and tight, my tensed muscles begging for relief.
“Why’d you stop?” she whines.
I dip my head, my mouth finding that sensitive spot where Lili’s shoulder joins her neck. Right on top of her trapezius muscle. I trace the line of sinew with my tongue, then suck—hard enough to leave another bruise. Her pelvis bucks against mine.
“More, Marlborough.”
I like how she calls me Charlie and by my last name. Lili might know I’m a duke, but she doesn’t treat me like one. I doubt she even knows my formal title.
“Thought you said it was too much?”
I’m enjoying this in spite of the aching pressure in my groin. Lili is mesmerizing.
Her nails scratch down my back as she huffs with annoyance. “I can take it.”
“Yeah, you can. Your cunt takes me so well.”
I pull out, the latex shiny with her arousal. I swipe two fingers through the wetness, mesmerized by the feel of the slippery glide. She’s so wet. Literally dripping. Swollen and needy and desperate for me.
Her pussy tightens as I circle it, like she’s trying to pull my fingers inside. Frantic for something to fill her again.
Blood roars in my ears as my dick jerks, just as eager.
I shove two fingers inside of her. Lili chants my name as she writhes on the mattress, trying to force my fingers deeper. She moans when I curl them, hiking one leg higher.
“You want to come again?” I don’t recognize the sound of my own voice, roughened and hardened by the basest of instincts.
“ Yes ,” she breathes, nodding wildly.
She’s unraveling. Rather than victorious, I can feel the threads of my own control fraying like an invisible string is tying my arousal to hers. If she’s falling, I want to jump too.
Holding off becomes physically impossible.
I replace my fingers with my cock, shoving into her with one harsh stroke. I revert to rough, deep thrusts, hammering into her with enough force that the bedsprings and the headboard both protest. It just fuels me to pump faster, stuffing her full with each shove, barely remembering to hold some of my weight off of her.
Lili comes with a loud cry, spasming around me in a tight fist that squeezes the cum right out of my balls. My cock swells as my climax goes on and on, the pleasure so intense that it’s almost painful.
My breathing matches my racing heart when I withdraw, reaching for a tissue on the table next to the headboard and crumpling it around the used condom before collapsing back onto the bed. I can feel my pulse everywhere—the tips of my fingers and the tip of my dick—as the sweat on my skin starts to cool.
Fuck , that was good.
Lili looks as dazed as I feel. She hasn’t moved since I pulled out, still sprawled in the same vulnerable position.
My head is blissfully empty, my body temporarily sated. I’m enveloped by a sensation of peace, the same escape I get from standing on the edge of a cliff or riding around Newcastle. I didn’t know it was possible to find this feeling anywhere else. I’ve never associated it with the physical satisfaction of sex before.
Lili’s head rolls my way a couple of minutes later. Or maybe it’s been hours. Days. I’m not exactly counting seconds right now.
Her blue eyes appear amazed, which fuels the satisfied glow in my chest. Lili’s looking at me like I’m a god, and I’ll happily become her personal deity.
She says nothing. Neither do I. We just stare at each other, rapid pants transitioning to even inhales and exhales.
Then, her eyes look to the clock.
Lili’s relaxed expression shifts to alert.
“Shit!” she exclaims, sitting up straight. “I’m supposed to be in Chloe’s suite in five minutes.”
I yawn. “For what? The wedding isn’t until three.”
“We’re all getting our makeup done. And hair styled.”
I glance at her. “You look good to me.”
She looks freshly fucked actually. Swollen lips. Flushed cheeks. Tangled strands.
Makes me want to make a mess of her all over again.
But Lili’s already out of bed, darting into the bathroom. When she reappears, it’s to open the closet and yank a dress off of its hanger. Dunno why she didn’t grab one of the dresses flung across every surface in her room.
I scrub a palm across my face. I should head back to the room I’ve never even been to. The valet handed me the key when Lili and I got back from dinner … and I requested my luggage be unloaded and left at the front desk.
Fuck .
Last night, that sounded quicker and easier. This morning, the last thing I feel like doing is going down to the lobby just to get a clean pair of boxers.
A sigh heaves my chest when I realize I have no other option.
My hand drops at the sound of a loud thud.
Lili is scowling at one of her suitcases. She sighs, then starts to twist and shimmy, trying to reach the zipper of the dress she’s half wearing, which is bloody entertaining to watch.
Finally, she abandons her efforts and pins me with a pleading glare. “A little help?”
I groan as I get up, but I don’t really care. The sooner I go grab my stuff, the better. Then, I should shower. Maybe get a little more sleep.
The scent of her perfume hits, the closer I step. The same aroma my head is filled with, that the sheets I slept on smelled like.
It’s Chanel. I saw the glass bottle in the bathroom when I got up to take a piss last night. An oddly intimate thing to know about someone, exactly how they smell.
My knuckles drag along Lili’s spine as I slide the hidden zipper upward. I take my time, centimeter by centimeter, and I can tell Lili’s fighting the urge to squirm.
Goosebumps rise in reaction to my touch, and I wish she were still naked so I could see how far they spread.
I lean forward and kiss the vertebra at the very top of her spine as soon as the zipper’s set, swiping my tongue against her smooth skin. Some primitive part of me loves that she hasn’t showered yet. She smells like her fancy perfume. She also smells like sex. Like me .
Lili’s exhale is shaky as she reaches for her phone and room key. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I cross my arms, not missing how her gaze darts down to my crotch for one last peek.
“I’ll, uh … I’ll see you at the wedding.”
I nod.
She’s gone a few seconds later, the door shutting with a soft click.
I find my clothes in the mess on the floor and pull them on, patting the pockets to make sure I still have my phone and wallet. I toss the collection of condom wrappers and make a decent attempt at straightening the sheets before leaving the room and heading down the hallway.
I decide to skip the elevator and take the stairs instead. They’re just as fancy as the rest of this place—plush carpet and scrolling details on the handrail.
An older couple is standing at the front desk. I wait for them to wrap up their queries about what brand of soap the hotel uses, then inform the young man working that I’m here for my luggage.
He disappears into a back room, returning with my leather duffel bag, but not the canvas garment bag that contained my other suit.
I exhale, already having a frustrating feeling before he confirms that nothing else is stored back there but that he’ll check with the rest of the front-desk staff to locate the garment bag.
I take the duffel and head toward the elevators, slowing when I see Lili’s friend Tripp approaching from the opposite direction. He’s dressed casually in athletic shorts and a faded T-shirt, his eyebrows rising slightly when he takes in my suit and bag.
“Hey, Charles.”
“Morning.”
“Big day.”
I shift my weight between my feet, antsy to keep moving. “Yeah. I guess.”
He’s here because he cares about the couple getting married. I’m here because of my meddling grandmother.
“Wish we could head back to the track today. I’m on Theo about a trip to Monaco next week.”
“Monaco?”
“Yeah. We’re all headed to Saint-Tropez tomorrow. Weird idea to have a group honeymoon, if you ask me, but Chloe has always done things her own way. None of us have seen her much the past two years, so …”
I’ll be in Saint-Tropez next week. Not for an extended vacation with my friends, but to sell the villa. But I don’t mention that to Tripp.
“Nice,” I say instead.
“How’d it go last night?” The question comes out rushed, like he’s been holding it back.
“It was fine.”
Fucking understatement, but I barely know this guy. I’m not going to go into detail. To mention that last night was full of firsts for me. First time I ate a meal with a woman, just the two of us. First time I woke up with someone else in the bed. First time I wasn’t eager to get out of there. She left first, for Christ’s sake.
“I’ll see you at the wedding,” I add, then continue walking.
I need some coffee before more conversation. Preferably a shower too.
“Charles.”
I glance back. “Yeah?”
Tripp shoves his hands into his pockets. “I’ve been the guy who gives no fucks before, so I know this makes me a hypocrite. And Lili can make her own choices. But you hurt her, and I’ll kick your ass. I won’t be the only one taking a swing at you either.”
My jaw works as I stare at him. “Who I fuck is none of your business.”
Tripp stiffens. “ Lili ’s my business.”
“Because she broke up with your buddy?”
I don’t fully understand the dynamics among Lili’s friends. I’ve never been part of a large group like that, bouncing between boarding schools.
Tripp’s eyes flash. “Because she is my buddy .”
“You meddle in all your buddies’ lives or just hers?”
Tripp tenses even more. “All of them. It’s called caring about someone, Marlborough. Maybe you should try it sometime.”
My fingers curl tight around the handle of my duffel. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“Exactly. That’s why?—”
“Morning, guys.” Cal Winston is walking this way, dressed similarly to Tripp.
Just makes my attire stand out more, and I watch a muscle in Cal’s jaw jump as he puts together what me standing in the lobby in last night’s clothes means. I feel smugger about that than I should. I’ve never given a flying shit about a woman’s exes before. But I don’t like that Lili dated him. That he ever let her feel like her money mattered to him.
I know what it’s like for someone to look at you and only see one aspect of your identity—a piece you had no control over. It fucking sucks.
“Morning.” I keep my greeting short, eager to get out of here before more of Lili’s friends show up.
“Have you seen Fran?” Cal asks Tripp. “She was supposed to pick out a tie for me.”
“She’s probably in the bridal suite, getting her hair and makeup done,” I say, then continue walking toward the elevator.
Jab the button twice, then release a long exhale as soon as the doors slide closed.
Undecided if I should have said more or less just now.