Chapter 16 #2
I preen a little at the thought, arching into him as we move slowly together.
Am I hoping that he’s jealous that I’m out where men can hit on me?
I take a quick glance around, and I see what I didn’t notice before when I was focused on Justine and the music.
This place is full of single, hungry-eyed men.
Many are staring blatantly at me even though I’m in another man’s arms. Some of them are fixated on where Cullan is touching me, as if hoping his touch grows bolder so they can live vicariously through him.
Cullan’s lips graze the shell of my ear, and he says in a soft, angry growl, “They’re wishing they were in my place. They want me to touch you all over your body so they can imagine that they’re me. ”
He shoots a glare around the room and gathers me closer, his jaw muscle ticking. He keeps his hands chastely on my waist, his long fingers caressing the small of my back, not giving the watching men any satisfaction.
I melt a little in his arms, feeling safe despite the press of bodies, and enjoying the hard line between his stormy brows. “Are you the jealous type, Cullan?”
I already know he is. I just love to hear him say it. No one’s ever felt such a deliciously possessive and stormy emotion about me before.
Cullan turns his attention back to me and gives me a dark smile. “Do I seem jealous right now, darlin’?”
A warm ripple flows down my body. “You’re shooting murderous looks at every man around me.”
His lips graze my throat. “I’m protective. I’m just wired that way.”
Cullan’s hands roam over my body as we dance.
Not groping my ass or my breasts, but smoothing his hands over my hips and my back.
Running his knuckles down the sensitive flesh under my arm to my waist. Gliding his thumbs over my hip bones.
I gasp at every little touch and my whole body starts tingling.
I drop my eyes as blood heats my cheeks, and he tips my chin up to make me look at him. His lips are so close to mine, but he makes no move to kiss me. Everything he’s doing feels like foreplay, but he’s not pushing things further.
There’s a needy ache between my legs and I need to feel his mouth on mine. Is this just a dance, or does he want more? I feel like I’m losing my mind trying to read his. I squeeze his muscular shoulders, imploring him with my eyes.
Cullan grasps my jaw and lowers his lips toward mine, but he stops short. His thumb slides over my lower lip, and then his fingertips caress my throat.
“You’re driving me crazy,” I gasp, the words slipping out without me meaning to say them.
Cullan flicks a dark glance around the room. “I can’t touch you like I want to with all these men watching.”
“No one cares what we’re doing.” I’m so close to begging for a kiss. It doesn’t matter if the whole world is watching. I need him.
“I care.” He considers me for a moment. “Do you want to see something pretty? Have you danced enough?”
I’m overheated and feeling overwhelmed by so many bodies. I nod, curious what he means by something pretty.
“Then let’s get out of here.” He grasps my hand and leads me off the dance floor.
I have just enough time to seek out Justine and wave to her.
She sees who I’m leaving with, and though her eyes sparkle with excitement for me, she still mouths, You okay?
I glance at Cullan’s large, veiny hand wrapped around mine as he leads me off the dance floor.
I think I’m going to sleep with my boss.
I’m obviously crazy, and the butterflies in my stomach are rioting, but I am totally okay with that.
I nod quickly and smile, and she gives me an excited thumbs-up .
Cullan keeps a tight hold of my hand as we walk up the crowded street. There are people everywhere, their drunkenness more obvious out here away from the darkness and pounding music. I think I’ve danced off most of the alcohol in my bloodstream, and I’m left with a mild, pleasant buzz.
“Where are we going?” I ask Cullan.
He shoots me a mysterious smile. “Not far.”
The lights and noise of Flockton Street disappear behind us, and we turn into a quiet neighborhood with large, old, expensive houses. Streetlights cast faint yellow light, large trees cast pitch-black shadows, and there’s the distant hum of cicadas in the air.
Cullan walks up to a wrought iron gate set in a tall hedge, enters a code, and the gate opens.
Beyond the gate, I can see a neat pathway and a grassy expanse, flower beds, and tall, leafy trees.
A little to the left are blank, dark windows of an imposing house.
Cullan holds the gate open for me and invites me to enter with a gesture.
I hesitate, overwhelmed by the feeling that we’re trespassing. “Where are we? Who lives here?”
He gives me another of those mysterious smiles and tilts his head toward the garden.
If a strict, security-conscious man like Cullan thinks it’s all right to enter what’s clearly private property, then I guess it’s okay.
Besides, I’m burning with curiosity to know what one of these grand Blackport residences are like on the inside.
I step inside, and I feel like I’ve entered a secret garden.
“Wow,” I breathe, looking around. All the plants and flowers look magical by moonlight. There’s the soft tinkling of a water fountain ahead, and the pale gravel path gleams white. There seems to be a high brick wall surrounding the garden, turning it into a hushed, private space.
Cullan follows me, and the gate closes with a loud, metallic click that has a hint of finality. When I look around, he’s doing something on his phone, and then he slips it into his pocket.
Slowly, he draws me into his arms and kisses me, holding me close to his warm, hard body as the perfumed flowers and his rich, masculine scent go to my head. His lips devour mine, and his teeth nip at my lower lip. I open my mouth to invite him deeper, but he draws away.
“It’s beautiful here,” I breathe.
“Isn’t it?” But he’s only looking at me.
Stepping aside, he invites me to walk along the white pathway with him. I realize he’s fallen a few steps behind, and I glance over my shoulder at him. A primal look flares in his eyes, and my heart races.
His gaze drops to the high heels. “Have you ever shot rabbits, Elena?”
I shake my head. “I’ve never really been anywhere rural.”
He trails a finger down my bare back. “I used to shoot all the time back home as a boy. Rabbits have little white tails that flash as they scamper away. Taunting you as you line them up in the sights to take your shot. Seeing those pretty white tails always got my heart pumping. That flash of red I see when you walk in these shoes gets my heart pumping in just the same way.”
That’s why he likes these shoes? Because they remind him of hunting? Goose bumps erupt over my flesh, and I feel excited and fearful at the same time.
He tilts his head and smiles. “The moment you want to go home, we’ll go home. The night’s just so pretty, and I felt like being…” He takes a deep, pleasurable breath. “Myself.”
I feel a flicker of curiosity. I know professional Mr. Grant who’s always scrupulously polite and courteous to his nanny, but I’m curious to see more of his other side.
Cullan, who kissed me in his car. Who chased me upstairs when I fled to his bedroom and said heated, crazy things as he pumped his thick finger inside me.
Cullan brushes his hand through my hair and tucks it behind my ear. His eyes are very sharp and bright, and something clicks in my mind about the shoes. About the chasing. Cullan doesn’t have a foot fetish.
He loves the hunt.
Heat floods my core. “I think I know your fantasy.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Do you?”
I glance around at the moonlit garden, the high walls surrounding the property, and the darkened windows of the house. “Can anyone see us?”
“The owners are away. I switched off the security cameras. No one can see in, and the whole place is locked up tight.”
Cullan thought of everything.
“Will we get into trouble?” I ask .
“Only if we get caught.”
That seems to be the theme of whatever it is that’s happening between us. Don’t get caught. Don’t let him catch you.
I do the most daring thing I’ve ever done. I stroll languidly along the garden path away from him. After I’ve taken a few steps, I glance back over my shoulder, wondering if I’m provoking him just by walking away.
His lips are parted, and his gaze scorches me as he scours me from the top of my head down to the red soles of my stilettos.
I think I’ve got his attention. Now I want to be even more daring.
I reach down to the hem of my dress and pull it up over my head. The night air kisses my bare body. I keep walking, and let the dress drop from my fingers.
I hear his muttered, hungry, “Fuck,” and his footsteps crunch on gravel as he follows me. I keep up the same languid pace, and Cullan matches it as we walk deeper into the garden, just a step behind me. I can feel his eyes on my body. The power that I feel right now is a rush.
I reach behind my back and unhook my bra, hold it out to the side, and let it fall provocatively from my fingers. I don’t know where this newfound daring has come from. Maybe it’s the last of my cocktail buzz. Or maybe I really enjoy the feeling of Cullan pursuing me.
I reach the water fountain, a beautiful white stone sculpture with gentle, trickling water, and I start to circle it.
Cullan’s patience snaps, and I hear rapid footsteps behind me.
He catches me in his arms and presses a burning kiss to the nape of my neck.
His hands slide up my body to cup my breasts, and he tweaks my nipples, plucking them with calloused fingers.
I moan, and my head drops back on his shoulder as he goes on kissing my throat and squeezing my breasts.
“You like taunting me, darlin’?” he asks in a harsh whisper between kisses. “You enjoy winding me up until I can’t take it anymore? That’s a dangerous game you’re playing.”
I turn in his arms, and wrap my arms around his shoulders. He’s so tall that my fingers can just reach the short hair at the nape of his neck.
“I like danger tonight.” I tilt my mouth up to his, inviting him to do what he wouldn’t earlier in front of all those men.
He holds my face in his hands, caressing me as his breath fans my lips. Then his mouth descends on mine.
Cullan’s lips are as warm and delicious as they were the first time he kissed me. I lose myself in the moment, letting myself want him utterly and completely, and damn the consequences.
“Do you like the real me?” he asks between kisses. His fingers trail down my body and he caresses my sex over my black lace underwear. I’m so wet between my thighs, and he must be able to feel it.
“I do,” I moan, as his fingers graze my clit.
He smiles, and slants his lips over mine once more. “Then I’ll just have to show you more of me. ”
He scoops me up in his arms and places me on the broad rim of the fountain. The stone is cold, but wide enough to be comfortable.
Kneeling before me, his hands wrap around my ankles, and tighten. He plants kisses on the insides of my knees, and then my thighs, kissing higher and higher and spreading my legs.
Instead of taking off my underwear, he pulls it to one side with his middle finger, and uses the others to stroke me.
“Can I lick you, darlin’? You look so fucking sweet.”
“Please,” I breathe.
He moves closer and inhales me like I’m the finest perfume, and then uses the tip of his tongue to taste me.
Even a light caress has me crying out. I’m starving for more, and he gives it to me, using the soft, wetness of his tongue and lips to pleasure me, over and over, while my blood plumps harder and desire sings through my body.
His fingers briefly caress the contraceptive patch on my hip. “What’s this for?”
“Birth control,” I gasp with my head thrown back.
“Hm. Ever thought about taking it off?”
Ripping it from my body and sleeping with my boss? The thought has occurred to me once or twice as an illicit fantasy. Accidentally getting pregnant by Cullan and him adoring my changing body while he becomes even more protective of me.
“Well, I…” I lose my train of thought. The insistent sw ipes of his tongue make me forget everything but what he’s doing to me.
“You’re a virgin, Elena?”
I nod, my head tipping back again from pleasure. “Yes. But maybe… Maybe I don’t want to be.”
I feel him smile as he caresses me with his tongue. “Is that so?”
Cullan murmurs between sucks of my clit and lashes of his tongue, “Before I fuck you, and I will fuck you, there’s something you should know about me.”
“Mm?” I reply, my eyes still closed. I’m getting so close. The orgasm that’s steadily approaching feels powerful, and when it hits me I hope I don’t overbalance and fall into the fountain, but Cullan has a firm hold on me.
“About what I’m really like.”
I smile as the heat in my core doubles. “I know what you’re like, Cullan.”
“You don’t. But I want you to.”
“All right,” I breathe, focused on the pleasure he’s giving me. I already know that I’m dangerously enchanted with this man.
“I’ll tell you, but whatever you do, don’t run. Or I won’t be able to resist chasing you.”
“Why would I…”
But his tongue slides firmly against my clit, over and over, and the question I was going to ask is lost to me.