Chapter 23
AVERY
I dried my face with a towel as I slowly walked down the corridor back to the suite. Now I understood why people went running when they were stressed out. I was prepared to order a treadmill-desk combo from as soon as we got home.
I still had a ton of adrenaline in my body. I couldn’t believe I ran my mouth like that at the shop. As a general rule, I didn't like to make a spectacle of myself or throw others under the bus, but the thought that Sophia could rob someone else made my blood boil.
I swiped my card, pushing the door of the suite open, and then I froze.
What the hell? Why is Sophia here?
My heart dropped. The zipper of her dress was undone. I could see the side of her boob from the doorway.
Sam was red in the face and clearly angry.
"You get the hell out of here," he bellowed.
“Why should I?”
"What the hell?" I said, walking up to them.
Both looked at me in surprise.
Sam shook his head. "Babe, I've got this. I'm calling security to escort her out."
“You fucking bitch,” I exclaimed. “You think you can just throw yourself at my man?”
“Oh please. If he knows what's good for him, he'll drop your sorry ass anyway. You're a killjoy. And you need to get your shit together. My investors dropped me.”
"Means they know what's good for them." I was so angry, I could barely breathe. I balled my hands into fists.
She scoffed. “It's not my fault you blindly trusted my lawyer.”
“I thought you were my friend, not some two-bit scammer.”
“Sophia, I told you, we have a very good lawyer in the family," Sam said in a calm voice.
“I see. You're going to let him fight your battles, huh?" Sophia said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No, I will publicly declare everything. I will lay it out for any of your investors to read.”
“You bitch."
I smiled sardonically. I really didn’t know I had this in me.
“You don't get to call me names or make my life any harder than you already have.” I felt some of my anger seep out as well as the resentment I'd been holding on to ever since the business collapsed. “Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to start over from scratch, to keep my mother from worrying?” It was my deepest fear that if Mom worried too much about me, she might get sick again. I read online that when you’re stressed out, the body produces cortisol, which blocks the immune system.
“I don't give a crap.” Her snotty reply infuriated me.
I was shaking. She'd thrown herself at Sam. This had to be rock bottom, even for her.
I walked to the door and opened it. “Leave, Sophia, or I swear to God, I’ll lose my shit, and you won’t even have a dress to walk out in.”
She huffed, taking her coat from the bed. She'd put it on our bed! I had to dig my nails into my palms to keep from slapping her. I held my breath when she walked past me; I’d had enough of her sickly sweet perfume back at the store.
Once she left, I turned to Sam.
“You were magnificent,” he said.
“Why was her zipper undone?”
He put his hand on his hips, his feet wide apart. "She threw herself at me. Obviously failed."
"Did she kiss you… or did anything else happen?"
My heart was in my throat, and I could barely breathe.
In an instant, Sam was next to me. "No, babe. Why would you even think that?"
"I don't know. I came in, she was half naked, and you were red in the face." My voice shook.
"Because I was pissed off, and I told her to fucking get dressed. I'd never touch another woman. You're everything I want, okay? I'm here for you and with you, and that’s never going to change."
He put a hand at the back of my neck, resting his thumb at the base of my hairline. Tilting his head forward, he touched his forehead to mine. "Don't doubt me, Avery."
"I don't," I whispered. "I just… I don't know. She's hurt me so much, and then seeing her here with her boob hanging out. It messed with my brain."
"You mean the world to me, Avery. Let me show that to you." He brought his other hand just under my shirt, skimming his thumb on the waistline of my pants.
"You can't do that," I whispered, taking a step back.
"What?"
"I'm super sweaty. I need to shower first."
With a wicked grin, he put his hands on my shoulders, flipping me around and leading me to the bathroom. "Let's take that shower together."
“That's right. We can start on that post-workout workout."
He came closer until I felt his hot breath in my ear. "Avery, I want to wipe everything from your mind except how much I want you and how much you mean to me."
I shivered. "It's already working," I assured him.
I loved the shower. It was huge, and a walk-in.
Sam made quick work of discarding my workout clothes.
I, on the other hand, needed a while to get all the buttons on his shirt open.
I managed to finally undo all of them, including the cuff links, and then pushed it down his gorgeous biceps, drinking him in.
He was sexy even just wearing an undershirt, but I preferred him buck naked, so I quickly took that off as well.
"Sometimes I still can't believe these muscles," I murmured, slowly drawing my fingers over his abs, playing on all the ridges before tackling his belt.
Somehow, I managed to muck it up, and he took over, immediately unbuckling it.
His pants and boxers landed on the floor almost instantly afterward.
I turned on the water, loving the hot spray, grateful it was washing the sweat off my skin.
He covered my mouth with his, pushing us both deeper into the shower.
The water was hot enough that steam was rising up.
Even the tiles were warm as he flattened my back against them.
He moved his mouth all over my neck, then went down to my breasts, looking up at me while he teased wide circles around my nipples, first the right one and then the left.
Then he skimmed his thumbs over both of them as he trailed a path downward with his mouth.
He'd barely gotten me naked, and I was already starving for him.
Today had taken a toll on me, there were no two ways about it, but being here with him was everything I needed.
He looked me straight in the eyes, coming back up my body again, raining kisses everywhere. He paid even more attention to my nipples, pressing the flat of his tongue against them. I rolled my hips forward.
"This is so good," I murmured.
He kissed farther up my body before straightening up and looking me in the eyes. "I'm yours, Avery."
I shivered despite the hot water. He dropped both hands onto the sides of my body, drawing his fingers from my waist down to my hips and then back up.
The light touch brought me to tremors. He looked at me through hooded eyelids before kissing me long and deep and wet.
I gripped the railing of the shower, needing to ground myself a bit.
This was the effect Sam Maxwell had on me. Every time he kissed me, my world spun almost literally.
He explored me with patience and precision, and I was already dripping wet for him.
My thighs were weak, and so were my knees.
I rolled my hips and cried out when my clit collided with his cock.
His erection was trapped between us. Feeling the length of him against my entrance sent shock waves of pleasure through me.
He groaned against my mouth, moving his hips back and forth, rubbing against me and driving me crazy. It was satisfying, and yet at the same time, it spurred my hunger. God, how I needed him. I thought I was wet and ready before, but now I was positively dripping.
Sam groaned against my mouth again and then brought his lips to my ear. "Damn, Avery, I can do this all night long, all my life, baby."
My skin broke out in goose bumps.
"Sam," I muttered.
He rubbed the tip of his cock right against my clit, and I couldn't think anymore. I was one huge ball of fire and hunger. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to ground myself, but then he pushed inside me. I let go of the shower railing and gripped his shoulders instead.
"Sam!"
"I'm going to lift you in my arms, babe. I need a better angle."
I just nodded; I couldn't even speak past the intense sensations rippling through me.
I felt him lift me by my ass, and then he started pounding for real.
He was right—the angle was so much better this way.
My legs were wider because I was holding them at his sides.
His expression changed from turned on to consumed by pleasure as he thrust inside me.
He moved one hand away from my waist, touching my left breast before lowering his fingers to my clit, brushing it between thrusts.
I nearly passed out from the intense sensations.
Between the hot water, his fingers, and his cock, I was completely lost to him.
He increased the pressure on my clit while I tried to kiss his shoulder and his arm.
But I couldn't even do that. With every wave of heat and need coiling through me, I was less in control of my body.
My muscles contracted and loosened repeatedly.
My skin was on fire. My pussy was on edge.
I badly needed to come.
I exploded the next second and held on tight to him, riding the wave until I was completely spent. Only then did he slow his thrusts, murmuring in my ear, "You're amazing and beautiful, babe. And I'm not done making you come tonight."
My brain barely registered what he said, but my body reacted instantly, my inner muscles pulsing.
He groaned and abruptly turned off the water.
"What are you doing?" I murmured.
"I need you someplace else," he said, lowering me to the floor. We toweled off quickly.
As we reached the bed, he kissed my right shoulder. He brought a hand to my pussy, strumming his fingers over my sensitive flesh. I nearly lost my balance.
"I’m right here, babe," he whispered in my ear, pressing three fingers against my clit.
I dropped my head back, resting it on his shoulder, feeling his cock between my thighs. I reached down, cupping him and pressing the length of his erection against my entrance. My entire body pulsed.
“Fuuck! Avery!”
Flipping me around, he laid me down at the edge of the bed, pushing me onto my back. My knees and feet were up in the air. He leaned over me, drawing the tip of his nose up my neck at the same time that he rubbed his cock against my entrance. It instantly spurred me to tremors.
How can he bring me to the edge so fast?
Raising his head, he looked around. I realized he needed a pillow, so I handed him one. He shoved it under my ass the next second, lifting me to a higher angle. When he entered me, I squeezed my eyes shut. He let out a long, primal groan.
"Avery… fuck, you feel so good, babe."
My inner muscles clamped around him even more intensely than before. I knew he was close. I felt his cock pulse inside me. He was moving too slowly, so I planted my heels on the bed and tried to roll my hips faster. Then I felt both of his hands at my sides, slowing me.
"No, babe. I want you to come again. I want to feel you around my cock before I climax."
His words turned me on almost as much as feeling him inside me.
He put one knee on the bed, leaning over me and kissing my nipples.
He'd almost stilled all his movements now.
When he brought a hand to my clit, I knew I wouldn't last long.
The sensation completely undid me, and I came even faster than before.
Through my thrashing and crying out, I felt him change the rhythm.
He chased his own climax until his whole body shuddered on a long orgasm that seemed to tear through him.
He smiled down at me, even though his face was still slightly contorted and red from his release. The veins in his temples and neck were pulsing. He put both knees on the bed and took the pillow out from under my ass.
I moved to the center of the bed, patting a spot next to me. "I think we should both lie down."
He laughed, collapsing on the bed. "Fuck, that was good."
"I agree."
He was on his back, arms bent at the elbow, hands under his head, drawing in deep breaths.
The red in his face was slowly fading. Blinking his eyes open, he glanced at me.
In an instant, he turned onto his side and pushed himself up on an elbow.
He moved closer, kissing my cheek, then going up to my ear.
"You're amazing. And I'm so lucky to be here with you."
I laughed nervously and pulled back.
"I mean it," he added.
I bit my lower lip. "How can you say that? This afternoon's been a shit show."
“About the afternoon. Why didn’t you tell me you were in so much debt?”
“Because it wouldn’t have made a difference. Now that you do know, I’m very embarrassed.”
“You shouldn’t be. Someone took advantage of your goodwill. I can make it go away, babe.”
“What? The embarrassment?”
“No. The debt.”
I froze. “No. Absolutely not. It’s my fuckup. I have to clean it up.”
“Life doesn’t have to be hard. Just let me do this—”
“No. Really. It’s not up for discussion. Why would you even suggest that?”
"Because I love you, Avery. And I want to be right next to you. Even on shit-show days. Especially on those, actually, because I know it's good for you to have me by your side."
I swooned completely, but I was still tripped up by the first part. "You love me?"
He smiled wickedly. "You know I do."
I shrugged, feeling shy all of a sudden. "I'd hoped."
He shifted, grabbing my hips and flipping us over so I was straddling him.
I propped my hands on his shoulders. “In case you didn't know, I love you too," I said. My face was hurting from grinning so widely.
"Really, huh?"
I nodded. "Yes. So damn much."
I slid forward a bit and sat on him, realizing he was semihard again. "How is this even possible?"
He wiggled his eyebrows. "I told you, I want to do this”—he pointed between us—“our whole life. And I'm going to prove it to you."
“We’re not going to explore New York at all, are we?”
He grinned. “Not tonight.”