Chapter 23 Ava
AVA
We barely made it down the block, running like our lives depended on it.
I felt the rush of adrenaline in my veins as I sprinted with him, hand in hand.
We came to a stop in a minute just as we reached an intersection, and someone shouted several feet behind us.
Desmond took off to his right, taking me with him.
We were running down a street with art galleries and finance offices that were closed for the day.
When we turned the corner, he stopped at the side of a now-closed café, which overlooked a small but empty parking lot.
We paused under the shadows cast by a large tree that grew next to the sidewalk, our backs to the wall of the dark café.
To our left was the rising exit ramp to the highway, and the traffic was almost nonexistent.
He put his finger on my lips. “Shh,” he said, pulling me to him.
My eyes grew wide.
“We need to move,” I whispered as I heard footsteps make their way down the street.
Desmond shook his head and kept calm.
“They’ll go by, trust me,” he said, looking like he did this most nights. Like he made a habit of popping behind trees while on the run from merciless journalists.
“Are you kidding me?” I demanded, my eyes wide as the footsteps stopped on the sidewalk, a few feet from us.
I heard murmurs as the footsteps came closer.
I bit my tongue just as Desmond leaned in and hugged me, my chest grazing his torso. My skin came alive at the touch, sensitized and needy.
“Oh,” I muttered just as the echoes of footsteps faded.
I craned my neck to look around. In the distance, the reporter and cameraman waited at a crossing, their figures growing smaller as they walked away. A car roared down the street, and a single leaf fluttered down to the ground next to us, silent as the world around us.
Thank goodness they left.
Desmond lifted his head, the muscles in his wide shoulders shifting perceptibly. I swallowed. Then, I was breathing rapidly, and my heart raced as I tried not to focus on the hulk of muscles in front of me.
When his eyes met mine, my breath hitched. He is going to kiss me here.
Why had we broken up long ago? I couldn’t for the life of me remember.
A pair of warm, heavy, thick fingers clasped mine, and my heart started to race like a horse on a racecourse. When I looked up, he had a wry smile on his face.
“I hate it when you wear blue. It makes it hard for me to focus on anything else but you,” he said.
I tried to pull my hand away, but he held on to it. He edged closer to me, and our shoulders were touching. Even the length of our arms was touching.
He was leaning closer, his torso angling toward mine.
My pulse quickened as I realized he had a wicked grin on his face.
“Well, you certainly orchestrated an evil plan,” I said as I heard footsteps in the distance.
“Yep,” he said with a devilish glint in his eye. “I’ve got to keep you walking until you get to the end of the footpath, and when you pause by the old pine tree to smell the wonderful pine, a black Bentley will swoop up and steal you away.”
“I really ought to protest against being stolen away,” I said, “but I think some excitement would be welcome after the boring-ass job my CEO had me work through this morning.”
“Ouch. For that, you’re smelling the pine cones for five minutes more.”
“I love pine cones,” I breathed out, moving closer to him. “You need to get better at punishments.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He drew nearer. His lips were inches from mine. My eyelids flickered as I stared at his broad forehead and high cheekbones, and he kept leaning in closer. He then turned just at the last minute and put his lips near my ear.
“I think I hear the reporter again,” I said, tensing as I heard the sound of footsteps a few feet away.
Desmond looked around and then turned back to me with a smile. “It’s not the reporter. They’ve gone,” he said in a low voice. “It’s just someone walking their dog. They’re on the other side of the road.”
“I love dogs,” I muttered as I waited for the footsteps to recede.
“Am I seriously going to have to fight with a pup for your attention?” he asked in disbelief.
I ran my tongue over my lower lip.
“I’ve already given you one scandal, Des. You don’t need another,” I responded, not breaking eye contact.
His hand was grazing up my thigh, and I knew where he was going with this. I always knew where he was going with any harebrained ideas.
His eyes lit up. “Tell me you haven’t been taking barre classes, Ava,” he said.
Save for the yoga class Carolyn had convinced me to go to, I hadn’t been to any classes in close to a year. “That might have been from spending my evenings cleaning up the local soup kitchen actually,” I clarified.
A glimmer of something lit up his eyes. “Taking care of others, Ava? When was the last time someone took care of you?”
A dull ache sounded louder in my chest, and I sucked in a sharp breath. I had been ignoring myself. I had done everything and anything to keep busy and my hands occupied. How touching that Desmond had noticed this before I did.
The heel of my shoe slipped over a loose piece of gravel in the parking lot, and I lost my balance. In a second, he put his hand around my back, holding me to him, while I gripped his arms in fear.
“I’ve got you,” he said, his eyes roving over my face, his lips curving into a charming smile. “I’ve always got you, sweetheart.”
Charm. That was the one thing I hadn’t counted on when I told myself I could work with Desmond. I hadn’t counted on being disarmed so effortlessly, on being made to feel a mix of heady, contradictory emotions that consumed me to the point where I was incapable of logical thought.
I put my hands on his broad forearms and … stopped. My fingers felt firm, hard muscle that rippled under my touch as he flexed unconsciously. I spread my fingers over his shoulder, but I couldn’t grasp anything more than a small part of his arm.
When I looked up, he was looking down at where my hand met his arm. He must have felt my gaze on his because he turned to me, and his face brightened. There was no one in sight. It was just us.
When he pulled me to him, my hips met his body in a move that seemed practiced. When my body softened, my resistance waning, our eyes met, and I could read him very well. This wasn’t for show. He had a craving he wanted to satisfy. He had an itch that he needed to scratch, just like I did.
Why was it that whenever we met, our gazes were electric? Why was every touch designed to melt my defenses? We weren’t a good fit, and we shouldn’t kiss.
“There’s a theory I’ve been wanting to test for a while, Ava,” he said, his voice low as he leaned in. He used a finger to tilt my chin up. “Tell me if I should stop.”
He bent down and gave me the softest, gentlest, most passionate kiss I’d ever had in my life.
My fingers curled as I let him pull me closer, his hip pressing into mine as he bit down on my lower lip.
I gasped. It was exquisite. The kiss turned into something more, and he pressed kisses along my cheek, my jawline, and down my neck.
We’d been teasing each other for so long now that we craved each other with a maddening intensity.
“Don’t stop,” I breathed out.
My head was thrown back against the wall, and his hand pulled the right sleeve of my shirt down, exposing my bra strap.
He slid the neckline of my shirt down under my right breast, his fingers grazing the edge of my cotton bra.
When he looked up, there was a strange expression in his eyes, as though he was waiting for my permission.
“Just this once,” I said breathlessly, and he grunted his approval as he pulled my bra down.
“Only once,” he repeated. Stepping closer, he put his lips to my neck and trailed down.
“And then, for good measure, you disappear from my life for good?” I asked, my words coming out in broken bits as I closed my eyes against the feel of his tongue on my breast.
He growled as he found and tugged at my right nipple. “That might be asking for too much, sweetheart.”
I sighed, running my fingers through his soft, wonderful hair while his mouth drove me to the brink of pleasure.
“I was always too greedy when it came to you, darling.”
He paused, tongue paused, and I opened my eyes to find him looking up at me.
There was a fleeting look of pained regret on his face before he dismissed it.
I gasped as his fingers pulled my leggings down, the back of his hand grazing my inner thigh. He pushed my underwear to the side, and when his fingers touched the damp garment, his eyes widened. I was undeniably wet for him, and he smiled even more.
“Greedy indeed.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw the parking lot, the bushes and shrubs marking the fence, and the gentle breeze caressed me while Desmond … did what he did to make me lose my mind.
His lips were on me again, making me whimper while his fingers continued their search for my sex.
I closed my eyes, ready to roll my hips and forget about the world but Desmond was far more careful. He pulled his hand away from where he was dangerously close to the sweet spot, and I muttered a groan as I opened my eyes.
“Hold on,” he muttered, pulling my leggings back up before he walked me over around the corner of the building.
We heard footsteps, and I grabbed on to the sides of his suit jacket and pulled him to me.
He leaned in, covering me completely from view under his six-foot-three-inch-tall frame, and the footsteps stopped a few feet to our left.
The people walked inside the building, and the door shut. I released a big breath.
I stared at him, wide-eyed, and he was looking back.
This was bold and reckless, and we almost laughed.
He bent down to kiss me again, this time softer, his scent warm and lemony.
His fingers tugged at my leggings again before resuming their search.
They parted my folds, and I gasped as his fingers slipped in.
As he slowly pushed his fingers in more, I bit my lip, fighting the instinct to clench.
I took a few deep breaths, and he went in deeper bit by bit until his fingers were fully in.
The heel of his hand touched my sensitive nub, and he ground his palm against me.
“Des,” I gasped as he started moving his fingers up and down.
I rolled my hips to match his movements, chasing pleasure.
“I’ve wanted to hold you again forever, Ava,” he said before his head dipped and he kissed me softly. “To kiss you again,” he added gently, building up to the crescendo as he covered me with kisses. “To touch you again,” he finished.
His lips were on mine, my cheeks, the tip of my chin, the base of my neck, and the dip between my breasts while his fingers made me whimper and shudder as they moved faster and faster.
His lips found my nipple, and he started to bite down gently before flicking it with his tongue.
I closed my eyes, hearing the sounds of the birds chirping and the cars roaring in the streets beyond while I spread my legs wider for Desmond.
He inserted another finger, filling me while I quivered under his fingertips.
“I want you,” I said in a jagged whisper, pulling his jacket to me, wishing I had him instead of his fingers, but he paid me no heed.
He sucked faster on my nipple, and his fingers worked his magic on my clit until my blood raced and I couldn’t think anymore.
I was close to the crest, and in a few seconds, pleasure rocked my body.
I shuddered and came, falling limp in his hands and shutting my eyes as he caught me.
His short, husky laugh was all I needed.
“Sorry, love,” he said, pulling my shirt back down and the strap of my bra up over me. He leaned his head back and met my gaze. “I’m sorry.”
I realized he wasn’t talking about this moment anymore.
I raised my head to look into his eyes, and he looked back at me gravely.
He was apologizing for choosing his business over me.
In the distance, I saw the familiar Bentley at the end of the road.
I clung to him for a minute, resting my head on his shoulder, and he let me be.
There was perfect silence, and all I could hear was his racing heart, his gentle breath, feeling his arms holding me close.
So close. He felt like home.