22. Chapter 22
Amonth at most.
Kay’s deadline echoed in my head. Like an idiot, I’d caught feelings for Summoner. I didn’t want to end things. But I didn’t know how to make us work long term. At least with Kay’s deal, I would benefit. I could fix my life.
Knowledge of that outcome didn’t make me feel any better. God, it felt like my heart was breaking in slow motion.
Things will work out for the best.
I repeated that in my head, but it didn’t really help. All the snotty, dehydrating, ugly weeping I did in my free time didn’t help things either, but that couldn’t be helped.
I decided not to tell Summoner about Kay’s deal.
I didn’t think highly of her, but she was acting out of a place of concern for someone she cared about.
Someone she knew much better than I did, despite the feelings I carried in my heart.
I resolved to enjoy the rest of our time together, savoring every minute until there was nothing left but my textured, far-removed memories.
Friday afternoon, after an uneventful day at work, I walked to Summoner’s.
Just his name popping up on my phone pushed more tears out of my eyes.
Seeing him wasn’t going to be easy. I tried preparing myself mentally.
Shoulders squared, I stepped off the elevator, determined to keep my emotions in check.
All that hard work went straight to hell the moment I saw Moore.
“Afternoon, baby girl.” Smiling, he held open the apartment door for me.
Oh, hell.
He was so warm and genuine. My stomach churned with unease, tying itself into tight knots. Everything about this hurt. When things ended with Summoner, I also wouldn’t see Moore anymore. I’d grown quite fond of the Swiss army knife of a man.
“Hey,” I hiccupped.
“Your old man is in the downstairs office. Stay out of trouble, you two.”
With a pat on my shoulder, Moore left the apartment. I stepped out of my shoes and went to find Summoner. I knocked on the door to his office.
“Come in,” he called.
I swallowed and turned the doorknob. His office lacked the decadent floor to ceiling windows that filled the rest of the house.
The dark little room was actually less of an office and more of a catchall room with a desk and some filing cabinets.
Several guitars rested in stands. Gold and platinum album plaques decorated the walls.
A bookshelf held a mess of awards. I recognized a couple of Grammys, an Ivor Novello, and an MTV Moonman.
Everything else was foreign to me. The first time he brought me in here, I was slackjawed with awe.
Now, it was just another Friday. Well, not really, but some of the shine had settled. Now, I could see the dust on the frames. Summoner sat in the corner behind a finely-carved dark wood desk, looking through some papers. Dressed in a starched white button-up, he regarded me with soft eyes.
God.
That was one thing that never dulled: the man did things to me.
He sat down his paperwork and sank into the plush cushions of his oversized, blood-red chair, which creaked slightly under his weight.
The corner of his lips quirked up. He was gorgeous.
In this moment, he was mine. A tornado of emotions ripped recklessly through me.
I shoved my trembling hands into my jean pockets.
Through my sadness, my libido shot awake.
I blinked back tears. I never wished to be more in control of my emotions than at that moment.
In his presence, my legs were unsteady, like fresh Jello.
I ached. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, my body ached for him.
I need you…
Summoner’s eyebrows twitched. Oral sex aside, we hadn’t been getting horizontal.
Sex connected us to the animal kingdom. It was a need driving most people like a low-level drumbeat.
Slowly, Summoner rose from his seat. I forced a harsh swallow down my dry throat.
My heart shuddered with each step he took toward me.
Time and space came to a grinding stop as he stood in front of me.
His dark washed jeans hung artfully off his hips. Age be damned. The man was delectable.
Carefully, he reached up and took my face in both his hands.
A desperate sigh passed my lips. He tilted my chin up and leaned into me.
His lips found mine with ease. He didn’t know it, but wherever he looked, for the rest of our time together, I’d be there.
Flames sparked ablaze in my chest. In its tamest form, it was possession.
Unleashed, our combined passion was a dangerous thing.
A hand fell from my face to hold my shoulder in place.
The last of my control detonated in Summoner’s embrace.
Silence roared in my ears as his tongue gently danced into my mouth.
Our tango was a slippery one. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, desperate to stay tethered to anything earthside.
My hips pushed against his in an awkward gyration that would have been embarrassing if I wasn’t so fucking turned on.
His hand slid down my back to grab a handful of my ass. I gasped. He smiled against my mouth.
He eased my shirt off overhead, and I unhooked my bra.
His eyes widened and the tip of his tongue licked at his lips.
My head fell back as his mouth closed around my nipple.
I gripped his shoulders as he licked and sucked.
Jeans unzipped, his fingers hooked into my waistband, and with a shimmy from me, the fabric pooled around my ankles.
My heartbeat pounded rhythmically in my ears.
No matter how many times I was under his gaze, every time felt just as intense as the first. Thrilling and terrifying.
His green eyes swept over me like a brush painting in a scene with delicate strokes.
He stripped me of my defenses. I stepped out of my shoes and fallen clothes.
Our mouths crashed together again as Summoner pulled me off my feet. Pulled into his arms, he strode purposefully to his desk and gently maneuvered me onto my stomach. The cool wood peppered goosebumps across my skin. My feet dangled off the side. My hard nipples pressed into the lacquered surface.
“Summoner… I need you.” I placed all my sadness into that plea.
He leaned over me, pressing the zipper of his jeans against my sex.
I moaned. I listened to him pull a condom out of his pocket.
I glanced over my shoulder, watching him unzip his pants and pull his cock free.
His hand stroked his length several times before sliding on the condom.
Still in his shirt, Summoner pressed his body against mine.
The buttons on his shirt dug into my spine.
Teasingly, his cock gently explored the wetness at my entrance.
The smoothness of Summoner’s lips tickled the shell of my ear.
I felt a chill through my body at the barest of contact.
My pussy clenched, taunted by all the stimuli.
“…Do you know the things you do to me?”
His question was more a soliloquy of anguish and longing than something I needed to answer.
My love for Summoner grew exponentially with each day.
Unspoken. Desperate to scream. But given no voice.
Thoughts beyond that were fuzzy, an undeveloped picture hanging in purgatory.
Here and now was what we had. I needed to be grateful.
Slowly, Summoner entered me. My body welcomed him, aching to be filled.
Reasonable thought became a distant memory.
The pressure. The fullness. I relished it.
His open palm smacked my ass. I whimpered as the sting radiated through my skin.
My perched position was perfect for the edge of the desk to grind against my clit with every thrust of Summoner’s hips. My hands clawed at the wood.
A depraved part of me wished we could stay in this place between desire and ecstasy.
Staring over the precipice at orgasm. Frozen in pleasure.
Dangling over fear. I cried out Summoner’s name as my body clenched around his.
Deep inside, my walls felt the pressure, the tickle as his cock twitched in response.
Winding tighter and tighter, my moment was coming.
I was going to snap. The natural scent that coated my desire was heavy in the air of the small space.
Wetness coated my thighs like angry graffiti.
My body was a mess, wrecked by wanting, fueled by him.
I love you.
I love you so much.
I wish I could tell you.
My surrender was a sudden one. One moment there was everything, and in the next there was nothing but pleasure.
Waves drowned me. My overwound muscles were easily pulled down.
My eyes squeezed tight as fireworks exploded beyond my field of vision.
Pure bliss. My back arched against him. His movement grew more urgent as his pace quickened.
Summoner’s mouth returned to mine with a flurry of light kisses. He moaned against my lips.
He snatched me back to shore, only to hold me under the waves again in an act of cruelty.
My body exploded as we barreled toward mutual destruction.
In the breathless moments where our chests heaved and our pulses returned to normal, he buried his face in the soft crook of my neck.
Wetness trailed down my cheek, giving me a dreadful jolt.
I bit my bottom lip and quickly wiped away the evidence of feelings from my face.
Emotions are stupid.