Chapter 27
“R U Mine?” - Arctic Monkeys
Maeve
When I return to the table after my run-in with Pierce outside the restroom, Austin looks peeved. “Sorry about that,” I say, sitting down. “There was a long line.”
“And I don’t suppose you could have waited,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Excuse me?” I’ve had enough of this guy’s bullshit tonight. “And endured more directives to eat the fucking ice cream, even after I told you I was lactose intolerant?”
He has the decency to look a little sheepish, but then it gets lost behind the cockiness. “It’s gelato, actually.”
“As if I care.” I stand up and grab my bag. “This date is over.” I stalk toward the exit without looking to see who’s watching. Let Austin pick up the tab for this atrocious night.
My driver is waiting for me, thank god, and I sink into the back seat in relief. I cannot imagine a more miserable way to spend an evening.
The text alert on my phone chimes just as we’re pulling up to my house. I wait until I’m inside to read it.
Lux: Where’d you go?
Me: Home.
Lux: It’s not like you to bail. Everything okay? xx
Me: I wasn’t feeling good so I decided to call it a night.
That’s one way to put it. I head to the master en suite and draw a bath.
Lux: That’s too bad!! We were going to declare you the winner.
Me: And you’re not going to because . . . ?
Did Pierce and Celestia end their date with a flourish? Oh god, what if he kissed her?
Lux: Because you forfeited? And both you and your date looked pretty pissed at the end.
Yeah, because Pierce got under my skin.
Me: Don’t be ridiculous. It was obvious I had more fun than Pierce.
I need this win.
Lux: Oh definitely. That was never a question.
Me: Then why are you giving this to him?!
Lux: We’re not. He forfeited too.
Me: What?
Lux: He walked out right after you did.
You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m relieved they didn’t declare him the winner, but that victory belonged to me. I endured that date from hell for nothing.
I toss my phone aside and am about to undress for my bath when the doorbell rings. I consider ignoring it, but it will forever bug me not knowing who is here this time of night. Maybe Lux changed her mind and came to tell me in person?
But when I pull up the camera on my phone, it’s Pierce standing on my doorstep. The sight of him makes my blood pound, and no, not in the way you’re thinking. Forget the bath. I turn off the tap and march to the door. I have things I need to say.
I yank the door open without any intention of letting him inside, but he barges past me anyway.
Gasping, I slam the heavy oak door behind me before the chilly night air can creep in after him.
It closes with a loud shudder. I press my back against it, trying to put as much distance between Pierce and myself as possible.
“What are you doing here?” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. The dress I’m still wearing from tonight’s date is thin and sleeveless. Goosebumps cover every inch of my bare skin despite the fact that the house is toasty and warm.
Pierce tosses his jacket across the emerald-green divan in the front sitting room. With nary a care in the world, he begins rolling up his sleeves.
Oh fuck.
“I should think that obvious,” he says without looking at me.
I shake my head, a little more fiercely than necessary, but I’m starting to spiral. “Absolutely not.”
His eyes dart up to find mine. “Excuse me?”
The man doesn’t like to be told no, a thought that pleases me to no end. There are just so many opportunities for upsetting him in that little nugget of knowledge. “You cannot waltz in here and demand sex.”
A dry chuckle slips out from between his lips. “I haven’t demanded anything.”
“There’s only one reason you’re here, Pierce, and it’s not to sell me insurance.”
Both sleeves now rolled up to his elbows, he takes several measured steps in my direction. The solid door at my back provides little comfort. “You need a lot more than insurance to relax.”
My nostrils flare as I inhale sharply. “Tonight should have been mine,” I hiss.
“And?”
“And because of your shenanigans outside the restroom, I lost. Again.”
He clicks his tongue in mock sympathy. “Poor baby.”
I clench my jaw so hard it trembles. “I hate you.”
Closing the distance between us, he leans down and whispers, “I’m well aware.” He reaches into my dress for my nipple and twists it—hard.
I gasp and slap him across the face. “How dare you?” I feel heat flooding my cheeks as though I’m the one who just got slapped.
Pierce huffs out a breath, fingers now making love to my tender peak, then studies me through narrowed eyes. The glint lighting his pupils makes me nervous. “Does fighting with me turn you on?” He says it as if he’s made some breakthrough discovery.
I open my mouth to reply, but no sound comes out. “No,” I manage to splutter, right as his hand reaches beneath my dress and inside my panties, where the evidence of my lie is currently soaking through.
“Oh, fuck,” he says, echoing my earlier sentiment, then drives two fingers in, deep and hard.
I cry out and smack him again, but we both feel the rush of moisture releasing onto his hand.
He chuckles into my ear, and it’s so dirty it almost brings me to climax right there. “Oh, baby,” he says, and laughs again as if he’s just discovered the secret to the universe.
I guess he’s discovered the secret to mine.
His hand pumps into me faster and faster, causing the strength in my legs to drain away. I slump against the door, Pierce’s arm around my waist keeping me upright.
“God, I’ve been thinking about this every day,” he says.
My eyes flutter open, and I meet his gaze. “Why?”
He raises a single brow while the rest of his face remains frozen. “Why? Why do you think?”
I moan as he curls his fingers inside my pussy, finding new spots of sensitivity. “You could’ve slept with someone else. Kind of your thing, remember?”
“Not my thing,” he says with a growl, driving even deeper. “And I didn’t want anyone else.”
Gasping as my orgasm builds, I cling to his arm. “Wh—why not?”
He slows his movements, leaving his fingers inside me. Their maddening paralysis makes me tighten around him. Not that it does any good. He won’t let me climax until he’s ready for me to. “I thought we’d already established that.” His voice is husky in my ear.
“I mean, I get that you’re attracted to me—”
Pierce cuts me off by shoving his fingers in as deep as they’ll go. “Attracted to you? You think I’m attracted to you?”
I glance down at his cock straining at his trousers. “Kind of hard to hide.”
“I’m attracted to half the female population in this city.”
My eyes narrow. The nerve of this man. “Wow. Good to know.”
“If I was attracted to you, I would have fucked and dumped you long ago.”
I push at his hand, which is still under my dress. It doesn’t budge. “This conversation is actually killing my libido, so—”
He spins me around and pushes me onto the divan, then lifts me until I’m on all fours, my dress shoved up to my hips. I have just enough time to gasp before he pushes into me from behind, yanking my hair back as he does so.
“Does this feel like ‘attraction’ to you?” he growls.
I don’t know what it feels like. Heaven? Hell? A combination of both? I sink into the velvet cushions of the sofa as he sinks into me. If he’s not attracted to me, then what is he? Certainly not repulsed, if the way his cock is currently filling me up is any indication.
“When I tell you to come,” he breathes into my ear, “you’re going to come.”
I groan as he drives in even deeper.
“Have you ever climaxed on command before?”
“No,” I rasp out.
He lets out another deep, dirty chuckle. “Oh, this is going to be fun.” His hand slides along my hip and settles between my legs, his fingers dancing across my freshly waxed skin.
Panic settles in my chest. “What if I can’t?” He’s already established that I can’t fool him by faking it. What am I supposed to do if I can’t come when he tells me to?
He sniffs a laugh, as though I’ve said something amusing. “You can.”
“You can’t know that.” This conversation is making it hard for me to focus on what we’re doing. Anxiety creeps in, and fear claws its way up my throat.
Pierce plants kisses across my shoulders, his stubble tickling my bare skin. “Of course I can.”
I envy the confidence in his tone. “How?” I ask, the slight tremble in my voice giving me away.
He pulls back, but keeps his cock buried deep inside me. “I’ll help you.” His fingers reach around to play with my folds.
I moan as he pinches my clit. “But at the end of the day,” I pant, “it’s still my job to orgasm.”
“No, it’s not.” He thrusts in further with a grunt. “It’s my job to understand your body, to discover what you like, to realize when you’re close.”
“But—”
“You have to trust me to know your body as well or better than you do.”
Picking up the pace, he pounds into me from behind, and I let my head hang, my hair falling around my face like a curtain. I cry out as he moves his thumb over my swollen nub, which only makes him press harder.
“Now, baby,” he whispers in my ear. A shiver travels down my spine. “Come for me. Let me feel that pussy clench tight around my cock.”
As though I have zero control over my body, it does exactly as he commands, climaxing hard and hot while he continues plunging into me. My cry is loud and guttural, but I don’t care. This is by far the best orgasm I’ve ever had.
“Maeve.” As he thrusts in even deeper, I feel his warm cum shooting into me. I squeeze tightly around his pulsing cock, and he moans and buries his face into my neck. “Fuck,” he breathes out as we both collapse onto the divan.
Fuck is right. Why do I end up giving this man more power over me every time I turn around?