Chapter 19
Cobra began talking, and Desiree listened.
But she did more than listen. She studied his facial expressions, saw the anger in his eyes, the tightening of his jaw, and the flaring of his nostrils.
Telling her about that night was not easy for him.
It was making him furious all over again. The tone of his voice said it all.
When he finished, he took a sip of wine as if to wash down the memory.
“And what scares me shitless is knowing that I could have lost everything that I worked so hard for, just because of one night’s indiscretion, and one woman’s lies.
I think that’s when I knew I had to do something.
I’ve always been a one-and-done man, a guy who enjoyed the opposite sex too much to ever seriously consider settling down with one.
But in one night, I discovered that the way I dealt with women could have ruined my life. ”
“So, it was your idea to abstain from sex for a year?” she asked.
“Not entirely. For years, my best friend Liam Strawberry, whose nickname is Straw, and who happens to be the sheriff of Savannah, would tell me that I needed to put a lock on my zipper. He felt I was getting too comfortable with the one-and-done lifestyle. Although he knew I was discerning when selecting my bed partners, he was sure that one day, some conniving woman would inevitably evade detection. And he was right. That is what happened that night. I had a lapse in judgment, and it almost destroyed everything I’d ever worked for. ”
He shook his head. “Both of my brothers showed up at the police station—Tez to represent me, and Colton to offer his support. Straw brought up his suggestion that I consider locking my zipper for a while, and my brothers agreed. I thought about it and decided to do it. They didn’t think I could, and that’s when we made a bet on whether I could remain celibate for a year.
I felt it would give me time to re-strategize.
Maybe come up with ways to be more careful, so nothing like what happened with that woman would ever happen again. ”
He looked at her. “So, that was my plan. To go without sex for a year, then return to my regular routine, only being more cautious about it. At least, that was my mindset…until I met you.”
“Why me?”
“I was immediately attracted to you in a way I hadn’t been to any other woman.
Since I knew I couldn’t sleep with you without losing the bet with my brothers, my diabolical plan, if you want to call it one, was to prime you sexually, so that when my year of celibacy ended, I would make love to you and you would want me as much as I wanted you. ”
She tilted her head and stared at him. “Did it ever occur to you what priming me might do to me?”
A faint smile touched his lips. “Yes, but I figured that in the end, I would have made it worth the wait for both of us. Plus, I intended to throw in a few perks along the way.”
And Desiree figured no doubt he would have made it worth the wait.
And those perks ─that had made her experience the type of orgasms a woman only read about in romance novels – had been amazing, awesome, and kickass off the chain.
Even now, the area between her legs was beginning to throb.
His nearness had her senses on full alert, arousing her as no man ever had.
Just the deep, sensual sound of his voice was driving her crazy.
“Of course, I had no idea you were going through a period of celibacy, as well,” he added.
“Would you have done things differently had you known?”
“No. I wanted you,” he said.
“Yet you denied yourself pleasure,” she pointed out.
He reached up and gently stroked the side of her face. “My pleasure is seeing you get yours.”
His words made a lump form in her throat, and she had to swallow a few times before she could speak. “What happened to the woman who tried to trick you? After she was arrested?”
“In the end, she got eighteen years.”
“Eighteen years!”
He nodded. “And she deserved it. Let me tell you why.”
She listened and felt a renewed sense of relief that Cobra had not fallen prey to the woman’s schemes, as the other men had. A night spent in a stranger’s bed had changed their lives forever. Hopefully, Cobra now understood that appearances could be deceiving.
She stood up, picked up the packet and handed it to him. “Considering what happened to you, I think it’s a good idea for you to read it, just to verify everything I told you.”
He got up as well. “There’s no need for me to do that. I’d planned to shred it later.”
Desiree nodded. “Well, it’s up to you. Now, if we don’t have anything else to discuss, I’ll be going.”
“I wouldn’t say we didn’t have anything else to talk about, Desiree,” he said, reaching out to cradle the nape of her neck. “If you recall, I once told you that there are other forms of communication.”
Yes, she remembered him saying that, and her nipples puckered in memory of that day when they’d shared so much more than just lunch.
Just thinking about it made her feel hot, bothered, and needy.
And the way he was looking at her didn’t help.
Nor was the placement of his hand on her neck.
Her body tingled with awareness…and anticipation.
“What else do we have to talk about, Cobra?”
“I have a lot to say, Desiree.” His hand moved from her neck to rest at her waist.
“Like what?” she asked in a breathy voice.
“I want to taste you again.”
She swallowed deeply, and at the same time, she felt her nipples harden even more. “Taste me where? My breasts?”
“No, here,” he said, easing his hand from her waist to touch her center. Mainly, the area between her legs. She could feel the heat from his hand through the material of her skirt.
The thought of what he was asking made her panties wet. Maybe now was not a good time to let him know she had never engaged in oral sex before… Then again, maybe it was. “No one has ever done that to me before. Tasted me there.”
He let out a low groan as he inched his body closer to hers, and she felt his hard erection pressing against the area he had just touched. “You’re kidding, right?”
Why would he think that? “No, I’m not. I’ve heard other women talk about it, but I’ve never experienced it myself. Before Aimery, there was only the guy I dated in college, but the couple of times we messed around were enough to convince me that sex was overrated.”
When he continued to stare at her with something akin to disbelief in his eyes, she shrugged and added, “That one time with Aimery only confirmed what I thought.”
Some might think that she was sharing too much information with him, but she didn’t.
She wanted Cobra to fully understand the extent of her inexperience and her disappointments.
Hopefully, he now understood how much she appreciated the tender, sensual way he’d treated her.
The orgasms she’d experienced with him had been her first with a man, and in her opinion, they’d been well worth the wait.
She knew the exact moment he realized what she was saying. It seemed the erection pressing against her got harder, and at the same time, his pupils darkened. “Will you let me show you how enjoyable it can be?”
Enjoyable for whom? Certainly not for him, since it was one of those pleasures where only the woman benefited. “Do you really want to, knowing you won’t be getting anything out of it?”
“I told you, I get my pleasure seeing you get yours. Besides, I will be getting something out of it. I will get to know the way you taste there.”
He said it as if knowing such a thing was important to him. Why? But then maybe there were some things meant for her to find out. Besides, she knew deep down that she couldn’t deny him…or herself. So, releasing a deep breath, she said, “In that case, Cobra Masters, taste away.”