12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
“M y phone?”
“Yes.”
Gerard pulled it out of his pocket.
“Pull up a memo.” Rowan reached for hers as well.
What was she planning? A photo to commemorate the night? He opened his memo app and handed her the phone. She tapped the microphone and spoke into it.
“Tonight is July eighth, and it’s 9:30 p.m. I am Rowan McCarthy, and I am undertaking a one night stand that will include sexual relations with Gerard Barrett of my own free will. There has been no coercion on his part, and I fully accept responsibility for my acts.”
She tapped the button again and raised both eyebrows. “Acceptable?”
“More than acceptable. Above and beyond.” She’d done exactly what he needed without even being asked. God, he admired this woman.
She tapped her phone and held it out to him. Quid pro quo. He smiled, took it, and tapped the mic, using her words.
“Tonight is July eighth, and it’s 9:30 p.m. I am Gerard Barrett, and I am undertaking a one night stand that will include sexual relations with Rowan McCarthy of my own free will. I did not coerce her into this, nor will I use this in any way against her as an employee of my firm or beyond.”
He tapped the mic again to stop it and cocked his head. “We good?”
“We’re more than good.” She took her phone and tucked it into her pocket.
He did the same, then they stopped and stared at each other. “So we’re doing this?”
“I believe we are. At least, we will be if you’re ready to move closer.”
In answer, he got out of his chair and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. He tugged the hair band from her hair and smoothed his hand along the strands, fulfilling the first of many dreams. “I didn’t expect your hair to be so soft.”
“It’s untamable.”
“It’s perfect.”
He tipped her head back to gaze into eyes wide with wonder and dark with desire. Need. For him. It was a heady feeling. Everything around them stilled, became quiet. There was nothing but her and him and their rapid heartbeats as he lowered his mouth to claim hers.
An intense flare of lust rocketed directly to his cock as he crushed her lips beneath his. Rowan gave as good as she got, meeting him halfway, opening to him, and thrusting at the same time. He pulled her hips tight to his hard dick as she entangled her fingers behind his neck, holding on like she would never let go. Her kisses crept over him like a slow-rolling tsunami, pulverizing everything inside him so that nothing mattered but her. Here. In this moment.
He broke the kiss, her sigh making his dick twitch.
“What?” she whispered.
His voice choked up from the arousal racing through him. So, instead, he acted and picked her up, cradling her in his arms.
“Oh,” she said. “Stop. I’m too heavy.”
“Never.” She filled out her curves perfectly. He crossed to the door and had trouble opening it.
“Let me.” She reached down to flick the knob.
Once inside, he kicked it shut, not caring that it slammed; his mind was on the king-sized bed in the main bedroom. He set her on it, then reached to pull her sandals off. It was the first time he’d noticed her dainty feet and toenails painted in monetary green with symbols on each big toe.
“Dollar signs?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Eyes on the prize,” she answered. “Now, come here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Happy to do her bidding, he yanked off his shirt and lay beside her. She had a zippered hoodie on and surprised him again as he lowered it, one finger trailing the zipper down as he savored the feel of her skin.
“You’re not wearing a shirt,” he said.
“Didn’t need one.” Her fingers trailed through the hair on his chest, teasing him, making his already painful cock ache even more.
“I like how you think.” He finished the zipper, pleased to see a lacy black bra with a front clasp. “Don’t need this, either.” He flicked the clasp and pulled the sides apart, reveling in her flushed skin and perfect breasts, which called to him. “So beautiful.”
He lowered his head and took a ruddy nipple in his mouth, her gasp of pleasure taking his cock from hard to granite. “So perfect,” he mouthed as he laved her, licking and sucking while his hand paid homage to her other breast.
She arched against him. “Lordy, you’re good at this. How can just this take me so close?”
He lifted his head to see her eyes were glazed with passion, telegraphing how close she was to losing control. “You are strong and have a limitless reservoir. You can take it all. Everything I can give you and nothing less.”
“I’ll crash over the top.”
“I won’t stop you.”
“But I want you with me.”
“I will be, just maybe not for the first.”
“The first?” she squeaked, her eyes widening.
“Haven’t you ever had multiple orgasms?”
She bit her lip, shaking her head.
“Oh, sweetheart, you are in for such a treat.”
He stepped off the bed, helped her shed the hoodie and bra, then slowly peeled her yoga pants and undies down until he could toss them aside. He stood at the foot of the bed, spellbound.
When she tensed and reached to cover herself, he stayed her with a hand in the air, pleased when she stopped.
Gerard cocked his head. “Do you not know how beautiful you are? Want to know what words I’d use to describe your body?”
He could tell she was worried, but she slowly nodded.
“Breathtaking.” He put one knee on the bed.
“Perfect.” His other knee came up.
“Sexy.” He kissed both of her knees, then nudged them apart.
All her attention was on his words as she relaxed into his hold. He leaned in and kissed the inside of her thigh.
“Your skin is like silk and the color of a pale pink rose petal.”
He settled between her legs and kissed the other thigh, knowing she heard him.
“I can smell your sweet arousal.” Her pretty pink core, barely hidden by a smattering of hair, lay right in front of him. “You are shimmering, glistening. For me. All for me.”
She sighed, her legs falling farther open. He glanced up to see she’d closed her eyes and raised her arms over her head.
Complete comfort and contentment. That’s the state he wanted her in—while knowing she was everything he needed and wanted. At this moment, she was the only thought in his mind; his body reacted only to her, and his lips wanted to taste…only her. His breath brushed her core, and she moaned. Good. He wanted her focused solely on him.
He dipped his head and swiped his tongue from center to tip, his cock straining in reaction. He toyed with her, licking, laving, shifting until he could get a finger inside her. When she bucked, he moved with her, adding a second finger as he toyed with her until she screamed her release. Still, he played.
“Gerard, please—”
“Just one more, sweetheart. Then I’ll give you a break.”
“I don’t think—” He curled his fingers inside her, and she bit her lip, concentrating to keep from coming. He saw it in her face, felt it in the tension of her body. It was heady, how she responded to him. He ached to be inside her, but right now, he wanted her to know the depths of pleasure he could bring her.
“Come for me,” he said, diving in with both tongue and fingers.
She came, screaming his name as she shuddered her release, then melted in a boneless, beautiful mass of dreamy, sated woman.
He curled her body to his, kissed her head, and rubbed her arm as she slowly returned from the clouds.
“Wow,” she whispered. “That was…magical. Exhilarating. Honestly indescribable.”
“You came for me.”
“Twice. Never done that before.”
He hugged her tight to him. “Only with me.”
“Only with you.” Her hand toyed with the hair on his chest.
Rowan was shocked speechless. She wasn’t a novice to sex, but she’d never been…cared for like this. It cocooned her heart, gave her the ability to let go and just be with him. Never before had she known the sensations, the orgasms could be so strong.
With no concern for his own need, Gerard lay there, holding her with tender care, giving her time to come to terms with their lovemaking so far. An unfamiliar swelling in the vicinity of her heart made her wonder if she would come out of this unscathed. No. She was not going to think about that right now. Tonight was for euphoric, intoxicating, carnal pleasure. And it was past time he got some of the slow burn he’d plied her with.
Leaning on an elbow, she pulled his nipple into her mouth, his gasp sending tingles to her core all over again. She swirled her tongue around him, much as he had with her, while her other hand explored. With a light touch, she moved up and across his clavicle, over his shoulder, and down his arm. When she moved up the inside, he twitched.
“Ticklish?”
“I am never ticklish,” he answered, his voice low and throaty.
“I don’t believe you.” She lifted her head to watch his face turn to steel as her hand traveled upward. He didn’t relax until she was safely back on his chest. Oh, yes, the man was definitely ticklish.
“Sensitive,” he said, still gritting his teeth. “Not ticklish.”
“Bullshit.” But Rowan had better things to do than argue with him. She watched him while her hand roamed. When she danced her fingers over his nipple, he sucked in air, arched, then relaxed. As her hand moved lower and lower, he grew tenser. Anticipation? She’d never watched a man react to her touch before, so this, again, was new to her.
Bypassing his cock, she fluttered her fingers down his leg, then crossed to the other one and returned to his stomach.
“Woman, if you don’t touch me soon—”
“You’ll what? Leave? I don’t think so. Just giving you a taste of your own medicine.”
Speaking of taste, she leaned in and kissed his nipple again, sucking it in, letting it go, then getting up on her knees to do the same with the other one. He watched her through hooded eyes. Since he couldn’t see what her hand was doing, she wrapped her fingers around him.
His hips jerked off the bed, his cock pulsing. “God, woman. Warn a man.”
“Like you warned me?”
“This isn’t a contest.”
“Oh, but it is. And you deserve all the feels I had and more.” She rubbed slowly up and down his cock, looking up at him. “Seriously, I just want you to understand how much you rocked my world.”
“Being inside you would be a great way to show me.” He was gritting his teeth again.
Rowan grinned. “That will come. As will you.” But first, some exquisite torture was next on the agenda. Shifting, she licked the head of his cock, more than pleased when he bucked again. Reveling in the taste of him, she ran her tongue around the tip.
“Woman. I swear—”
He didn’t get any further after she swallowed him as far as she could. He bucked again, pushing in farther. Rowan tried to relax her throat, to take him. His size didn’t make that easy. She teased him, moving fast, then slow, happy to see his eyes closed, to feel his hand pushing on her head.
She let go, and he used the opportunity to shift and roll her to her back, while kissing her like there was no tomorrow. Then he opened the bedside drawer and pulled a condom out. Holding it up to her, his voice deep and tight, he asked her about latex.
“No allergies.”
“Good.”
Feeling brazen for the first time in her life, Rowan stretched her hands up over her head, thrusting her breasts up, offering herself to him. Feeling beyond powerful, she watched as Gerard’s eyes darkened with desire, raking over her body.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, sheathing himself and moving between her legs again. He kissed her, deep and languorous, before his lips moved across her chin and down to her neck.
She arched, giving him full access. He teased the skin along her collarbone, lightly plucked each nipple, then stared at her, his cock poised.
“Yes,” she said, her breath catching as the need for him built again. “Please.”
He plunged inside, filling her to the hilt. Her eyes widened.
“Too much?”
“No,” she gasped. “More. Need. More.”
He grinned at her. “Your wish is my command.” He pulled out, then drove back in slowly, hitting—it seemed—every single erotic nerve ending she owned. Delicious fire filled her, burning its way through her body, setting her alight with exquisite arousal. Not fast, though. He kept his thrusts slow, his arms rigid as he braced above her. He leaned in, pulling a nipple into his mouth, biting down with just enough force to send zings through every part of her.
“Oh, God. Please, Gerard.” She wrapped her legs around him and clutched him tighter within her walls. His smile disappeared, replaced by a hunger that both emboldened her and scared her at the same time.
“Fuck me, please.”
Finally, he sped up. In. Out. Grunts to her groans, they ascended the mountain and flew over the top together, her legs holding him tight, his neck stretched taut as he pulsed inside her. Hypersensitive from all his attention, she trembled with each thrust of his climax, almost like having mini-orgasms or one, big, long, rolling one. She couldn’t tell and didn’t care.
He collapsed to his elbows, not resting his full weight on her.
“Wow,” she said.
“That, woman, is an understatement.” He kissed her, soft and slow, as they continued to ride the wave down from the peak. Then he rolled onto his back beside her and threw his arm up over his head. “You’ve destroyed me.”
Not feeling any more energetic than Gerard, Rowan turned onto her side and managed to raise up on an elbow so she could look at him. So he’d see the truth in her face. “It’s never been like that for me. You have talents I never could have imagined, and I’m beyond grateful you shared them with me.”
He smiled and reached up to wrap a strand of her hair around his finger. “Trust me. The pleasure was all mine.”
After he disposed of the condom and they cleaned up, she curled up against him. That was when an apprehension bordering on panic filled him. Not because he was worried about the aftermath. What worried him was the here and now.
Rowan fit. Inside his embrace, in his business dealings, in his life, and that scared the crap out of him. This was a one night stand. It couldn’t be more. Besides, he didn’t do relationships; they always ended with some gold-digger wanting money and power more than the man. While he found it hard to believe she could turn that direction, he couldn’t discount it.
He’d taken her to new heights, she’d said. He knew that feeling. He’d never come so hard before. Never had such an overwhelming need to be inside a woman, to feel her walls holding him tight. Every sensation had been tenfold what he’d felt in the past. Hell, his fucking heart even swelled or, at least, felt like it had.
Rowan had a keen mind and a smoking hot body. How could he give that up and return to their boss/employee relationship? They’d both said this would be a one time thing. He wasn’t sure he could walk away and never know this intimacy with her again.
He’d blown the pledge but didn’t care one bit about that right now. This time with her had been worth every penny of the hundred grand he’d lose. Telling the guys would mean some significant razzing, especially if he was the first to fold.
Yet none of that mattered. All he wanted was to be right here, holding her through the night. Another thing new to him.
Yep. He was completely and irrevocably screwed. Instinct reminded Gerard that good things never stuck with him. He lay awake well into the night, holding Rowan, hoping that wouldn’t be the case here.
She felt so good.