Chapter 27
Saffron
A ring of my doorbell on a Saturday morning usually meant I had a delivery and nothing else.
I hadn’t ordered anything, so surely it must have been a delivery guy mistaken again.
But to my surprise, Tyler was standing there dressed in what I could best describe as a hunting outfit.
Just like everything else he wore, this suited him too.
He kissed my mouth, and I almost jerked back, afraid he would taste my morning breath. “Hey. You don’t look ready.” He scanned my outfit. The giant t-shirt I wore was not in any way sexy, but the fire in his eyes heated my center.
“Stop looking at me like that, you perv,” I said, hiding my blush with a curtain of hair.
“Not when you’re dressed like that.” He marched past me, entering my apartment. “Did you not see my messages?”
“About what?”
He tilted his head to the side. “See, this is why you should have stayed at my place last night.”
I rolled my eyes. We had a site meeting yesterday.
He didn’t need to be there; it was just for me to brief Quinn on the progress, but then he came with her.
And by the time we were done, work hours were over, so he invited me for dinner at a restaurant.
I was hungry and hadn’t eaten the entire day.
After we ate, he invited me to his place.
We had the most blissful sex, and he had insisted that I stay for the night. I couldn’t, as much as I wanted to.
He was becoming too comfortable. Too easy to be around.
My mind was entertaining thoughts I would never dare to dream of previously.
Like maybe it would not be so bad if I fell in love with him.
Maybe he would fall in love with me too.
Or the worst one yet, he had already fallen in love and he was about to reveal it.
Not getting the divorce now felt like a good idea.
Thoughts like that only came when I was being delusional, and what I needed was not for Tyler to fall in love with me but space. I needed space away from him.
“No way in hell was I going to stay at your apartment last night.”
He snickered. “Your new rule is silly. Sleeping in your own bed is not going to cool what’s between us.” He turned around to face me. The desire was still in his eyes. “I know I’ve tried.”
I took a deep breath. I was sure that if I marched over to him and kissed him, we would spend the entire day here making love. Having sex. Having sex, I had to remember that. “What do you want?”
“The hunt. It’s today. I should have told you yesterday, but I forgot all about it myself.”
“Hunt?”
He chuckled. “You’ve forgotten the lies you told Massimo, huh? Well, he hasn’t, and last week he sent me an invitation, and last night, he sent me a text reminding me to make sure to bring you.”
“Fuck.” I had forgotten all about Massimo and the hunt. I thought the invitation wasn’t concrete.
“I hope you’ve been practicing?”
“Shooting? No, I haven’t. Ugh.” I dropped my head back.
I hated hunting. My father used to love it and would take me on hunts with him until he realized I was miserable the entire time.
After that, he resented that I didn’t take part in the sport with him.
He would always make me feel bad anytime I refused. I faced him again. “Do I have to?”
“Not necessarily, but you have to be there. Who knows? Maybe Massimo is old-fashioned and won’t want the women to shoot.”
He might be, but the little that I knew of the man told me he would gladly give me a gun just so he could see how good of a shot I am. He had struck me as traditional, and I had played to those stereotypes so he would not leave Tyler’s company. Now I am not so sure it was such a good idea.
I went back to my bedroom, took a quick shower, chose the best hunting outfit I could find, and then came back into the living room to see Tyler holding a rectangular box in his hand. He waved it in the air and then popped it open.
“I thought you might like this.”
Curious, I took a step closer and gasped when I recognized it. “Is that?”
“A Celeste tennis bracelet? Yes. The same one you tried on when we were in Florence.”
“How did you?” My hand hovered above the jewelry.
“I bought it after we left the store.” He took out the bracelet and threw the case on the couch, then he clasped it on my wrist. My eyes watered. Damn. They had to stop doing that every time he bought me a gift.
I twisted the bracelet in awe of how the diamonds caught the light in my apartment. “You shouldn’t have.”
“I wanted to.” He thrust his hands into his pockets. “I’ve never seen someone want something so much as you did that day.”
I shook my head. “This is too much. I can’t take it.”
“Okay. What if I say it’s to congratulate you for a job well done at the hotel? Would that make you feel less crass?”
“Do you give every interior decorator you work with a rare bracelet?”
He smirked. “Only the sexy former models one.”
I rolled my eyes as I examined the bracelet. “Still it’s—”
“It’s a gift. That I would love to see on your beautiful wrist.”
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on his cheek.
Just as I was about to retreat, he held out his hands and circled them around my waist, drawing me in for a deeper kiss.
Fireworks shot up from my mouth to my core as he pressed me hard against his erection.
Even through the layers of clothing we both had, I could sense how hard he was.
“Fuck. I want you.” He took a few steps forward, pressing me back until I felt a couch behind me. I sank onto it. He quickly came onto me and pushed me down onto the couch until half of my body was lying on the couch. He covered me with his, nudging my thighs apart.
“Tyler…”
He deepened his kiss, dragging his tongue along my lips, making me moan, and then plunging into my mouth, our tongues mashing together. His hands strayed from my back to my front. I felt my top loosen as he unbuttoned it. At the last moment, I pushed back.
“We’re going to be late,” I said against his lips.
“I don’t care,” he said, and his lips fell on me again.
He made quick work of my clothes. He didn’t remove everything, but only my pants and underwear, while he unzipped his pants, dropping them down to his knees.
His hands went to my center. He smirked.
“You’re gushing.” And licked his fingers before thrusting deep inside me.
His strokes were fast, and I held onto him as he drove me into the couch.
Suddenly, he turned me around, draped me over the arm of the chair so that my butt was up in the air, and my clit was in direct contact with the velvet fabric of the couch.
Then, he thrust back into my pussy from behind.
I screamed as my clit rubbed against the velvet while he rocked me against the couch.
Thrusting hard and deep, then dragging himself out slowly, increasing the pace, inch by inch until he was driving into me so fast I was afraid I would topple over if he wasn’t holding onto my waist. His other hand caressed my butt cheeks.
The sensations were too much for me. I was sure I was blacking out when the orgasm came crashing.
Tyler pulled out of me and turned me around again so I was facing him.
He was on his knees as he pushed my base layer and jacket up, exposing my stomach and milking his cock.
Thick ropes of cum burst out, drawing lines on my belly.
Tyler rubbed the cum across my stomach. He didn’t say it, but he had said it so many times I could hear the silent declaration. Mine.
“We’re going to be really late if I have to wash it off,” I said in a breathless voice.
“Don’t you dare wash it off. I am marking you. I want Massimo and his friends to smell me on you and know you’re mine.”
◆◆◆
We arrived at Massimo’s hunting lodge later than all the invitees.
Even the private jet trip plus a helicopter ride couldn’t make up for our tardiness.
But the host was all smiles when he saw us.
“My favorite couple,” he said when we entered the hall.
Arms wide open, ready to receive a hug. “Clarita was sure you were no longer coming, but I told her that boy likes me, he’s definitely on his way. He would never lie.”
He gave Tyler a big bear hug and me a kiss on the cheek. “You look just as beautiful as always,” he said whilst clasping my hand in his. “Come on.” Massimo squeezed between us and encircled his arms around both our shoulders. “Let me introduce you to the gang.”
The rest of the group was sitting around two large distressed sofas facing each other in the hall, nursing beers and cognacs.
A sudden revulsion engulfed me when I encountered the trophies mounted all around the walls.
Most were deer and moose; there was one zebra, a sable, and an oryx.
It was your typical hunting lodge with exposed trusses, tan walls, leather upholstery, animal skin rugs, and cushions.
Taxidermy birds and big cats were littered all over the hall as…
decoration? The messiness probably exceeded the intention.
Massimo introduced us to his friends. They were three couples, six people in total excluding Massimo and his wife.
Most of his group were much older and around Massimo’s age.
He went around naming each one while I tried my best to remember their names.
They all looked rich, and as much as I hated hunting, this might be a constructive way to do some networking with potential clients.
“And Damien’s not here; he and Ivy are upstairs.”
“Excuse me?” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tyler’s face drain of all blood.
Behind us, I heard a familiar woman’s voice say, “Surprise, dear brother. I didn’t expect you to be here.”