Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
My tongue dips first, the first taste savored.
My breath pushed from my lungs, as she becomes the only air I need.
Her body is open for me, radiant with want, with her desire for me.
I flatten my tongue and cover her solidly.
Her nails scrape lightly over my scalp as I build her tension, my cock stirring and hardening in the process.
Her little moans grow louder while I eat her. When I add two fingers to fuck her, I suck on her clit until she can’t sit still. Minutes. It only takes her a few minutes before her pussy clenches and her clit is pulsing.
My dick is straining, the ache growing impossibly hard. Needing to find something to help relieve the pressure, I lick my fingers and stand before her. My desire is evident on more than just my face. Her eyes focus as her orgasm subsides. She reaches for my belt, and says, “Come here.”
Taking two steps closer, I watch as she undoes my belt and then the button and finally the zipper. She reaches into my pants. “Underwear, Mr. Richard? I thought you were the commando type.”
“I needed to wear something since I’d be around you. If not, I might be tenting so much wood that I’d get arrested for public indecency.”
Her palm is warm, her grip too light. I cover her hand, making her grasp it more firmly. She smiles. “Public indecency sounds so hot. You’re such a bad boy.”
“Maybe you should punish me, with your mouth.”
“Maybe I will.” Big Richard is left alone, but then he’s freed and his weeping tear licked right off. Her tongue tastes, and when her gaze reaches mine, he twitches. “Do you like that?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me what you want me to do, Hardy? Do you want me to take your big, smooth cock into my mouth? Do you want to see my lips wrapped around you, sucking you so hard you forget your name until I call it out when you’re fucking me with your fingers again?
Or do you want to fuck my mouth? Tell me.
Tell me what you want and you can have it. You can have me however you want me.”
“Fucking hell, Virginia. Open that dirty mouth of yours. I want to see those pretty lips wrapped around me so badly.”
“How badly?”
“I’ve gotten off to that image more times than I can say five finger Freddy while sober.”
A smile returns to her face. “Then we shouldn’t waste any time.”
Fingers take hold of me and she leans down, taking me between her lips with purpose.
My head drops back, the sensation overwhelming me.
“Oh fuck, Virginia.” Heaven. This is fucking heaven on earth.
But I don’t want to miss a second of this visual.
I’ll use the material another day when the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes doesn’t have my dick in her mouth.
She moans and I just about blow. Fuck. I’m not going to last long.
Then she does this magical swirling thing with a suck and a pop at the end and slides back down my cock, sending me to the back of her throat.
Like the queen of the unicorns she is. I grab the back of her head, needing to hold onto something while she swallows around me.
“God damn.” She stays in place until I say, “Hey.”
She looks up, her lipstick smeared like I had fantasies about the first time I ever saw her. Bending down, I kiss her cheek. “You’re amazing. You know that?” A little shake of her head shows me she doesn’t know and that’s just unacceptable. “You are.”
“I appreciate that, Hardy, but I know you’re just saying that.”
“I’m saying it because I mean it. Like I said before, it’s not just a physical thing. Chemistry and seduction take heart, soul, your thoughts in the right head space. All of those factors matter. Sex is science and math—all the key components play a part or it falls apart.”
I kiss her on the lips. “So your beautiful brain works great but you need that sweet heart of yours to catch up with your body. Follow your instincts. They won’t lead you wrong.”
Putting her arms around my neck, she smiles and it feels so good to see. “Thank you. I don’t deserve you.”
“You’re right. You deserve better than me, but I’m the bastard you propositioned, so I’m here by default.”
I stand up and help her to her feet. Bending down again, I slide her dress back down over her hips. When I stand up, a pretty blush colors her cheeks. “We just gave the neighbors quite a show.”
“Good. If they’re too busy watching us, then they probably need the free show.
” Holding her by the arms, I can tell her legs are still a little unsteady from bending like she was.
“Hold onto my shoulder.”I seriously fucking love how much she trusts me.
She doesn’t ask a million questions. She just rests her hand on my shoulder.
I bend and take one of her legs by the ankle and lift.
I take that shoe off and she lands with her foot flat on the floor when I reach for the other.
I repeat the same thing before standing up.
With hearts in her eyes, she says, “That has to be one of the most erotic things I’ve ever experienced.” A giggle follows.
“That’s saying a lot after what we just did.”
“It’s saying everything. Thank you, Hardy.”
“You’re welcome.”
She takes a deep breath and releases it revealing a smile. “I’m going to change clothes. Help yourself to more whiskey if you want it.”
I watch as she walks away, never tiring of the view of that great ass. When she disappears into her bedroom, I go into the kitchen and refill my glass.
Calling from the other room, she says, “Hardy?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you help me with this zipper?”
I have the glass to my lips, but when she calls, I go.
She tastes better than whiskey ever will.
When I reach the doorway, I look in. Her bedroom is so her—stylish and welcoming.
She has what has to be the fluffiest comforter I’ve ever seen draped over the bed.
I want to dive in, but she’s standing next to it and wow, my breath is lost to the vision of her in red again.
Yeah. Yeah. I know I just had her in ways that are intimate and special, but it’s like the reminder is there, making me want to skip ahead to lesson four right now.
I walk to her and move her hair over one shoulder.
Taking the zipper pull in hand, I slowly unzip it, appreciating every inch of skin exposed, and letting my fingers run the length of her spine. “You look incredible in this dress.”
“I’m glad you like it. I bought it for the holiday party. It’s Herve Leger. I splurged.”
My hand stops as my gaze rises to the back of her exposed neck, the same neck I like to kiss, lick, and suck.
She keeps talking, not noticing that I’m frozen to the spot trying to control this pain in my chest .
. . these feelings. Fuck. “Between the shoes and the dress, I spent a month’s worth of rent, but you seem to like them so I’m hoping it’s money well spent.
I’m really hoping to make an impression on New Year’s. ”
“You bought this for him?”
She glances back at me over her shoulder. “I bought it for the party.”
“You bought this dress for that asshole, but wore it for me for what reason?” I spin her around to face me, holding her by the upper arms. “To see if it would get the reaction you’re hoping to get from him?
” Her gaze falls from mine as shame takes over.
“Look at me, V. Look at me and tell me the truth.”
“Well yes,” she says, hesitantly. “I knew if you liked it on me, Lowry would like it.”
My hands fall away and I raise my head, my gaze searching her ceiling as I try to calm the turmoil that’s spinning inside of me.
When I look back at her, I see the anxiety return to her eyes, the same I saw the first time she apologized to me.
And as much as I want to calm it, I don’t.
I won’t. She needs to feel it. She needs to feel what it’s like to hurt someone who cares about her, so she doesn’t do it again.
I bite my tongue and move around to unzip the dress the rest of the way.
Then I walk out of the bedroom and straight for the kitchen.
I’m staring down at the glass of whiskey when, from a distance behind me, she says, “Hardy, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
I don’t turn around. I don’t let her off. I just take the glass and finish the liquor. When I set it down on the counter, I close my eyes, and drop my head. “When are you going to see, Virginia?” Disappointment, heartbreak, and resolve fill my tone, and I say, “This won’t be pretty.”
“What?” There’s a tremble to her tone that makes me hate myself for causing it.
“Us.” I stand there, before her, hope gone. “There’s only one way for this to end and it’s badly.
One step.
Two more.
She stops, afraid to come closer.
Afraid of me?
She swallows hard enough for me to hear. “It doesn’t have to.”
“But it will. Are you ready to take the fall? Cuz there’s no going up, sweetheart. It’s downhill from here.”
“We can keep things light. Fun—”
“And games.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
“You didn’t have to. What do you want from me?”
“I want your friendship. I want your—”
“And what?” I ask, leaning on the counter and crossing my arms over my chest. My feelings may be hurt, but I’m in no hurry to leave them bleeding at her feet in the Financial District. “Just say it. Friendship and what?”
“Support.”
Friend-zoned. Just like that I’ve been taken out of the running. “And there it is.” A smirk comes out, but it’s more one of disbelief than anything else. “Let me ask you something. How’d you get Lowry to come to The Hideaway that night? For real.”
She shifts on her feet, the red dress loose in the front from hanging open in the back.
“I talked one of the receptionists he’s always hitting on into going out.
She suggested The Hideaway. Katie had been trying to get me to go there for months.
So I casually on purpose made sure Lowry knew we’d be there that night and he told me to text him the address. ”
“You walked in alone. What happened to the other woman?”
“Her married boyfriend called. When he calls that means he’s free from his wife and kids, so she has to be ready to meet him on a moment’s notice.
” The image of my boss’s ex-wife crying in Saks Fifth Avenue instantly comes to mind.
She continues, “I didn’t bother to text Lowry that she had cancelled. ”
“He was possessive of you.”
“He feels very protective of the women in the office even if he has no interest in us.”
“When you left with him, did he think you were going home with him?”
“Yes.” She comes closer and leans her hip against the counter next to me. “He touched me on the leg in the car and tried to kiss me.”
“That’s what you wanted.”
“I don’t want it in the back of a car where he gets off then gets out and leaves me riding home alone.”
“What do you expect from him? What do you want?”
“I want love, Hardy.”
“You’re looking in the wrong place then, sweetheart. I know that asshole. I used to be that asshole. So when I say we are going to end badly—you and I, you and this Lowry dude are going to be disastrous.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I’m not going to lie to you anymore. I can’t protect you from self-destructing, but I will tell you what I’m going to do for you.”
“What is that?”
“I’m going to stay. I’m going to give you the friendship and support you want from me.”
“Why?”
“Because when he fucks you on New Year’s and then he’s flirting with the receptionist the next day, you’re going to need a friend.” I take her hand and hold it between us. “I’ll be that friend for you.”
Tears fill her eyes and she falls into my arms. I wrap them around her and kiss the top of her head.
The pain I feel now won’t compare to the pain I know she’s going to experience with that asshole.
Like how I knew she needed to feel bad for hurting me, she needs to go through with her plan so she will eventually see she had me all along.