Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Gaines
It takes every ounce of strength I possess not to lunge at her.
She must be naked under that robe. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since she strolled out of the bathroom with her hair pinned up on the top of her head.
Strands have come loose, falling against the side of her face.
With the small bandage on her forehead, she looks like a broken doll, but she’s far from that.
She’s a woman that men covet. I saw more than a few stare at her in the club that night. Two passed by us tonight when we were entering this building. Neither could tear their eyes away from her.
I had a hand on my belt buckle when she was in the shower. I almost – fucking almost – undid the belt, unzipped my pants, and stroked one out to the thought of her naked behind the door.
I press the palms of my hands into my eye sockets, wishing in some sense that I could erase the memory of how she looked in that green dress from my memory, along with the glimpse of her bare back that I saw and those fucking black lace panties she had on.
They must be on the bathroom floor.
I drop my hands to my lap and gaze down the hallway. I can still escape this hell of my own making. I could go to the bathroom, close the door, shove the panties into my pocket, and leave.
What in the actual fuck is wrong with me?
My silence is so thick it’s making the air in the room heavy, as though a weighted blanket is slowly falling over us.
“I’m going to get a glass of water,” she announces with a tremor in her voice.
I left her hanging for far too long. I know that. I’m an asshole for that, but this woman is like a drug to me. Another hit, and I’ll be lost to the need.
The last time I touched her, I was a mess for weeks. Months, if I’m being completely honest. When I did finally fuck another woman, it left me feeling worse than before it happened.
I’ve fucked since when the itch has been too persistent to ignore, but it’s never left me feeling as satisfied as my brief encounter with Eloise did.
She pushes to her feet. A wiggle of the toes on her right foot catches my eye. Her toenails are painted a light shade of pink.
“Stevie painted them,” she whispers. “I saw her a few days ago.”
I don’t know if she’s dragging the name of someone we both know into this moment to break the tension, but it’s not working.
The desperate need thrumming through my veins and every cell of my body hasn’t lessened at all.
She maneuvers around me. “Do you want a glass of water, Gaines?”
That lures my gaze up to her face. She’s pasted a weak smile on her lips. It’s there for my benefit. It’s a gift to assuage the guilt I’m feeling over ignoring her proposition. “No, I’m fine.”
She walks to the kitchen. I drop my head as I listen to each of her movements. It’s all so slow and intentional.
The creak of a hinge as the cupboard door opens. The sound repeats when she closes it.
Running water follows, and then another burst a moment later as if she’s emptied and refilled the glass.
I want to call out and ask if she’s all right because she’s been out of my sight for at least a minute, but I bite my bottom lip, willing myself to keep my mouth shut.
“Was it a mistake to you?”
Each word feels like a spear to my heart. The pain is real. It’s so fucking real that my hand jumps to the center of my chest as I raise my chin to see her standing not ten feet from me, her hands twisted together in front of her.
“Just tell me,” she pleads. “Please. I feel as though I’m stuck in some type of limbo between reality and this fantasy that only exists in my mind. That night was the best night of my life, and I swear I thought I heard you say something outside the bathroom door right before I got in the shower.”
The words are tumbling out of her so fast that I have to take a moment to process them all.
I slide to my feet. There is still a measurable distance between us, but it’s like a fucking magnet is pulling me closer to her, so I give in and take two steps forward.
When I don’t say anything, she goes on, “I thought I heard you say ‘fuck, she’s everything,’ but that wasn’t about me, was it? You were talking about someone else. You were in that part of the city to go to the club to meet someone else.”
I close my eyes briefly, trying desperately to find the right words to say to her.
“Just tell me if you view it as a mistake.” Her gaze traces every feature of my face as if she’s cementing it to her memory. “Was that night a mistake to you, sir?”
That’s all it takes to break the dam. My resolve melts. Every ounce of resistance I’ve clung to splinters into shards.
I bolt toward her, and she doesn’t move. She never inches back. There’s not one flinch from her. The only reaction I sense is in her eyes. They widen with each step I take.
I catch her by the waist, my hands gripping her with the intensity that I feel in every part of my body.
“You want this.” The words are thick with need and not framed as a question, but that’s how my lamb hears it.
Her bottom lip quivers before she answers, “so much.”
That’s all I need.
I shove her back into the wall behind us. She lets out a small yelp wrapped in a faint moan. That’s followed with the sweetest-sounding request. “Please.”
I kiss her with the force of all of the emotions battling their way to the surface within me. I’ve buried them for so long, but need like this is a heady thing.
Our tongues dance together, each trying to taste the other. I want more, though. I’ve craved so much for so long.
“Fuck me,” she whispers against my lips.
“In time,” I growl back.
“No,” she protests. “Now. Please.”
That needy plea doesn’t work this time because a taste of her pussy is what I want more than anything at this moment.
I drop to a knee.
“Are you going to do that to me?” The words sound innocent, but there’s a sensual tone to her voice.
My hands answer for me as I tug on the sash wrapped around her waist. The robe falls open, revealing beautiful tits and a perfect pink pussy.
“Fuck.” The word falls from my lips before I drop my mouth to her thigh.
I trail kisses over it, closing in on my final destination, but before I reach it, I hike her leg over my shoulder and inhale her sweet scent.
She lets out a cry when I lick the soft seam, and when I dive in and suck on her swollen clit, she lets herself go.
Her hands tangle in my hair, her legs quiver, and I eat my way to ecstasy.