Chapter 4
More often than I really cared to admit, I faked my orgasms. At first I started doing it because I was embarrassed that I couldn’t climax.
But then I worked out it wasn’t my body that was a problem, it was my clueless—or selfish—partner.
If Rich was feeling generous, he could get me off properly, but more often than not I just faked it then finished myself off with a vibrator while Rich showered.
It was depressing as hell. Embarrassing. Shameful. But despite all that, I’d become a very convincing actress, to the point Rich genuinely believed he was some kind of sex-god.
Z required no such fakery.
His face had been between my legs for less than a minute—after my panties had been discarded—and I was biting my own tongue, squirming frantically to stop myself from coming too soon. That had quite literally never happened to me. Ever. Was he a wizard?
“Quit it,” Z growled, biting my inner thigh. “I know you’re close, babe. Just come on my face.”
Whoa. Rich had never…
Z clamped his hands tight on my thighs, pinning me in place as he left me no choice. I came hard, bucking against his mouth and moaning my release. Something broke as I knocked it from the desk, but I was too lost in the throes of ecstasy so give a fuck.
“’Atta girl,” he purred on a laugh, kissing my inner thigh where his teeth marks were probably bruising, then he rose back up to his feet. “You taste like heaven, Norah, how is that allowed?”
I groaned, still quaking, and he crushed his lips to mine. Gasping, I welcomed his kiss, tasting myself and not even caring as his tongue swept through my mouth, leaving me shaking with my legs wrapped around his waist.
“Does that help you forget him?” Z murmured, his lips finding my throat once more. His hands gripped my ass beneath my dress, holding me tight against his hardness.
I swallowed, searching for words. “Forget who?”
Z’s laugh was fucking perfection, and I went on instinct as I unbuckled his belt and unzipped his suit pants. Then wrapped my hand around his erection and gave a tentative stroke.
“Holy shit,” he moaned, rocking his hips. “Goddamn, Norah, you’re so hot. I need to fuck you.”
Need. Not want. Need. I’d never been needed.
He produced a condom from his pocket and went back to kissing me as he rolled it on, multi-tasking like a fucking king. He gripped my hip, lining himself up, then pushed inside with a hard thrust.
I cried out at the sudden fullness, but he swallowed my noises with more deep, drugging kisses as he started to move.
His hips rocked back and forth, his cock slamming into me hard and fast, like he’d lost control of his own patience.
Then his hand snaked down between us and his fingers found my clit. Shit, he really was a wizard.
“Oh my God,” I moaned between kisses, “that feels so good… but I can’t. I’ve already—”
“Yes, you can, babe,” he cut me off, rubbing my clit as he fucked me. “I can feel how tight your pussy is gripping me, you’re so ready to come again. Just stop fighting it.”
A delirious laugh bubbled out of me, because I was enjoying it—no question about that—but I didn’t have the capacity to multi-orgasm. So I told him that.
Talk about waving a red flag at a bull. Z’s features set into pure determination, his tongue swiping over his lower lip as he shook his head. “You’re wrong, and now I have to prove it.”
“As much as I like the enthusiasm,” I said between gasping moans, “you can’t just magically make a girl come from sheer stubborn—” My denials broke off with a squeak as he jerked me off the desk and fell back into the office chair with me in his lap and his cock still buried with me. Deeper. “Oh, fuck.”
His smirk was pure confidence as his fingers found my clit again. “Ride me, babe. Take that dick how you want it.”
Startled and dazed, I just did as I was told, bracing my knees and starting to move while he played me like a fucking instrument. His mouth kissed my neck, and his fingers rubbed, pinched, and flicked until I was a quivering mess. Holy shit, he was right.
“That’s it, babe,” he purred with satisfaction as I whimpered with the first threads of another climax. “Keep going, don’t fight it. Keep riding me, just like that. Fuck, you feel so good on my dick, Norah. So tight I can feel every little clench of your pussy.”
My whimpers turned into full-on moans as my orgasm ramped up while he rubbed my clit and slammed his hips up to meet mine. “Fuck, Z, don’t stop!”
His mouth found mine, his kisses swallowing the worst of my screams as I found my release in one of the most intense, body-shaking orgasms I’d ever experienced. Was that what multi-climaxes were like? More intense than the first? Holy hell, I was missing out!
“I’m so tempted to draw this out,” he panted in a gruff confession. “But I’m too close. Dammit.” He gripped my hips, holding me tight as he fucked up into me with a dozen furious strokes and then groaned his own climax while kissing my throat.
All of a sudden, the office seemed so small as our combined panting filled the space and sweat trickled a line down my spine. We were both still fully dressed, the only item discarded being my panties. Talk about a quick hookup.
I barely gave myself a moment to relax, to catch my breath and let my head return from the intense hormone induced haze, and then the panic set in.
My whole body tensed up and I sucked a sharp breath, scrambling out of Z’s lap.
My heavy skirts fell back down around me, and I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth.
What the fuck was I thinking?
“Um, I’ve never…” I started to say, my voice cracking with my rapidly building anxiety. “I don’t… do this.”
Z didn’t immediately respond, taking a moment to toss the condom in the trash and fixing his clothes before he stood up. “Have sex at a party with a dude you just met?” he asked with a hint of amusement, “or climax three times?”
I scoffed. “Twice. And… both of those.”
“Don’t freak out, Norah,” he told me with a casual shrug. “It’s just sex. You might want to fix your hair before heading back to the party, though.” He indicated to the mirror on the back of the door.
Stunned and kind of hurt, I just nodded. Like a moron.
Z started for the door, then doubled back. He grabbed my neck, forcefully pulling me to him and kissing me utterly breathless. Then he released me and smirked. “Thanks, babe. This was fun.”
Then he was gone, the door closing softly behind him like we’d just talked about literature, not like he’d just licked out my cunt and impaled me on his thick cock. Like nothing had happened.
It’s just sex.
Tears pricked at my eyes, and I swallowed hard to fight the crushing urge to cry. My reflection made me wince, and I quietly admitted Z was right. My hair looked like I’d just had a hot and dirty fuck with a stranger in an office.
Biting back the acid of regret, disappointment, and self-disgust, I went to work finger-combing my bird's nest and re-pinning the loose hair clips. A quick search of the other desk drawers found a packet of tissues, so I used one to clean up my smudged lipstick as best I could.
Finally, with a deep sigh, I located my panties and pulled them back up before checking my appearance. I looked like nothing had ever happened.
“You’re such a fucking idiot, Noah,” I whispered to myself. “A weak, spineless, stupid, unlovable idiot.”
It was a mantra I repeated often, but now, in this moment, with the warmth of incredible sex throbbing between my legs and the ache of rejection in my chest, I meant those words more than ever.
When I stepped out of that office, it was with the crushing weight of self-disgust on my shoulders.
Z had made me feel incredible when I least expected it.
He made me feel desired and respected and then he ruined it all and treated me like some cheap whore.
He was the only guy I’d slept with aside from Rich, and now I felt stupid.
I kept my head down as I returned to the party, determined to just leave. Fuck telling Miles and Jared, they were both adults. They could figure it out. I’d just cut across the party, grab my coat, and leave.
That plan was great in theory, but before I got even halfway across the main room, someone grabbed my arm in a rough hold.
“Hey!” I protested, jerking away. Or trying to.
The guy who’d grabbed me was way stronger than I was, and effortlessly steered me over to the side of the room.
When he released me, I whirled around in a fit of rage and confusion.
“Ace Heart? Oh, great. What the fuck do you want now, and why the hell are you all so determined to get in my face tonight?” Because of course Ace was best friends with both Z and Xavier… and hated Miles, for some reason.
And me, if the cold look in his eye was any indication.
“Listen, Barbie,” he drawled with heavy condescension. “I have no interest in getting anywhere near your face. Trust me. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t under any foolish notions that you and Z have a thing now.”
My jaw dropped. Words failed me. What?
“He knows better,” Ace continued, raking his fingers through his dirty blond hair. “Hooking up with a relationship chick is never smart, but he could have literally picked anyone at this party and found less drama than you, Norah.”
I could barely put my thoughts together coherently. “He told you?” I squeaked, horrified. Ashamed. Betrayed. Why the fuck did that hurt so much? He’d given me no reason to think he’d keep it quiet.
Ace’s lip curled in a cruel smile. “He didn’t need to.
” He held up his phone and cocked an eyebrow.
“Want me to send this handy little home movie out to all the gossip sites? Let the world see their darling little Norah getting fucked like a dirty slut in her designer gown? Let’s see what kind of role model you are for little girls then, huh? ”
Bile rose in my throat. He’d filmed us? How? Why? What the fuck was happening right now?
“What do you want?” I whispered, my voice jagged with building tears.
I couldn’t fucking believe this was happening to me.
All these years being so painfully careful with my image.
Never partying, never drinking, never getting caught in so much as a whiff of a scandal.
Now it was all coming crashing down around me.
“I want for Z to use his fucking brain before his dick, but since we can’t turn back time I’ll settle for your silence, Norah. That little tryst in the office? Never fucking happened. Am I clear? It never happened.”
I shrugged, feeling dead inside. “Done. Now delete the video.”
Ace huffed a sharp laugh. “You’re dreaming. I’ll keep it to assure you don’t go kissing up to Z and wanting to be his girlfriend. We operate in different circles, Norah—don’t forget your place.”
Something about the out-of-balance hatred rolling off Ace triggered my suspicions. “What is your issue with me? We’ve literally never met. Have we?”
He locked his gaze on mine, freezing me to the core with those ice-blue eyes.
Then he cast a derisive up and down, taking me in from head to toe.
His eyes paused ever so briefly on my throat, then he shook his head.
“Maybe ask your brother. If he’s grown any balls in the last few years, he might actually tell you. ”
The mention of his feud with Miles had me regaining a touch of strength, and I straightened my spine. “Is that all, Ace? You just want me to forget I had lackluster, disappointing sex with your buddy? Done. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better places to be.”
I shoved away from him, then stopped dead in my tracks. There at the bar on the opposite side of the dancefloor, Z stood locked in a passionate kiss with a brunette girl. His hands cupped her face and hers clutched his shirt, and what remained of my pride took a nosedive into the toilet.
“Huh, I guess I was worried about nothing,” Ace commented from behind me, his lips far too close to my ear for comfort. “Looks like Z and his girlfriend patched things up after all. Still, I think I’ll hold onto this leverage… just in case. Nice meeting you, Norah.”
He smirked, waving his phone at me as he swaggered away.
I bolted for the exit. Either I got outside to escape these poisonous people, or I would vomit.
Not caring what the media would say about me, I didn’t even stop for my coat. Just picked up my scarlet skirts and ran down the stairs of the Rainburst Springs Public Library with zero cares for the picture I was painting.
I couldn’t fucking breathe. Everything hurt. I hailed a cab in the street, ignoring the hollered questions of the press, and practically dove into the back seat when it stopped.
“Where to, Miss?” the driver asked with obvious curiosity as he glanced in the mirror.
I needed to swallow several times before I could find my voice, then I finally croaked my answer. “Home, I guess.” Then gave him the address to the house Miles, Rich, and I lived in. I’d go there now, while Rich was still busy living it up at the party, but I’d be gone when he got home. Long gone.