FOUR
T he black SUV that picked me up stopped in the middle of a blocked and empty road. Graham—the driver—tells me Rowan’s convoy would be here in a few minutes, so he can switch vehicles and we can go to the airport together.
I’m so nervous, I don’t know what to do with myself. Graham eyes me in the rearview mirror every now and then. He’s even asked me if I’m all right. I lied, of course, telling him I’m just tired from work. But exhaustion wouldn’t really make someone shift in her seat every five seconds. Or rub my sweaty palms on my skirt more times than I can count. I would probably care more about what he thinks of my strange behavior if Rowan wasn’t occupying every thought I have.
Just when I look out into the distance again, another black SUV approaches. I suck in a breath, pulse pounding loudly in my ears. I see even more cars behind the SUV that look exactly the same. Rowan could be sitting in any of them.
Fuck . I wonder if he’s as nervous as I am, but it’s hard to picture him losing control of his emotions. The man has gone to war. He has thousands of lives in the palms of his hands every day. His heart skipping a beat for a woman he wants to fuck tonight is most certainly not on his to-do list.
Most of the convoy passes us by, stopping a few feet ahead of us. But a new space between the cars has just been created. Knowing exactly what to do, Graham gets the SUV started again and makes a short U-turn to fit in the gap that’s been left.
Then, for a few moments, time freezes in place.
The wind lashes against the blades of tall, uncut grass along the side of the road, bending them back and forth. But other than that simple, rhythmic motion, no one dares move a muscle.
The silence is deafening, and even I have stopped shifting in my seat. It’s like a predator has just spotted me, and I’ll have the best chances for survival if I just stay still.
The sound of a door opening gets my attention, but it’s just Graham stepping out of the car and heading toward the last SUV in the convoy. He doesn’t get in, but rather waits there, looking straight ahead like he’s supposed to stay away from something. Like he’s supposed to now stay away from me .
I’m all alone in here, and I know what’s coming.
In the next few seconds, Rowan will be sitting next to me, and I’m supposed to pretend it’s just another car ride like any other.
But it’s not, though, is it? Because Rowan will see me. After all these years, he’ll see me. And I’ll see him. And he will touch me. And I will burn, because what other way could my body react to his touch, if not by reducing itself to ashes because of how much he consumes me?
I turn my eyes to the left, where I can concentrate on the waving grass.
The silhouette of a man approaches the car I’m in. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t even seen him when he was farther away.
I hear the door when it opens. All I see is his torso, and the strong arm that presses down against the seat next to me.
The leather sighs softly under his weight.
The space yields to his presence with a quiet grace.
And then—
“Hello, angel,” he says in a voice so low and endearing that my whole body turns to face him despite my nerves. As if it now decided I’m no longer its master, but Rowan is instead.
“Rowan…”
His eyes meet mine, and I forget everything else around me.
Last time I saw him, he had just turned 27. I looked him up on the Internet a couple of weeks after we met. The five years that passed since then have only made him look more sleek… like fine steel.
Now, at 32, his presence oozes with masculine power and authority. His shoulders are wider, muscles even more defined, and his eyes… fuck, those eyes could silence me with just one quick glance if they wanted to.
“You look beautiful,” he says, drawing a real smile out of me.
I don’t even think about the nine hours of work I put in today. Or about the fact that I had almost zero time to retouch my makeup or even change my clothes.
From the way he looks at me, I know he’s not lying. If he thinks I’m beautiful right now, then that’s what I am. I am whatever he wants me to be.
“I’m really, really nervous,” I blurt out.
He smiles, and it reminds me of the way he did it that day, when he first saw me.
“And I’m really fucking desperate for you. Come here, angel.”
He cups my face with his callused hands and brings me in, pressing his mouth to mine. His lips are soft, and the kiss is gentle in the beginning. He smells so masculine—of leather, pine, and that muted undertone of a scent I never managed to figure out.
He groans, and I swallow down the sound before his tongue darts out, pushing against the seam of my mouth. I open up for him, a whimper traveling from my throat to his, as I dip my head backward to let him devour me. He tastes like fresh morning dew on mint leaves in the valley. I lean into his mouth, chasing more of it. Chasing all of it.
Instinctively, I place my hands on his forearms, feeling his muscles clench behind his uniform jacket. But it’s not enough. I want to touch every part of him. So I place my fingers on his chest instead. He seems to want the exact same thing, and lowers his hands to my thighs as goose bumps start to pebble every inch square of my skin.
He wants me. He wants me just as much as I want him, if not more.
I smile against his lips, and he pauses, huffing out deep breaths as he stares me down with his brows slightly furrowed.
“You taste better than I could’ve ever imagined. What should we do with you, hmm?”
“Rowan… I’m so… please, you have to…”
I don’t even know what I’m asking him. I just want him to take me. Right here, surrounded by all these other men who are waiting for us in their designated cars.
I don’t care about anyone or anything else right now.
“Be a good girl and take these off for me,” he says, his fingers dipping under my skirt, tugging at the edges of my panties until they slide down to the middle of my thighs. I hoist myself up, leaning into him so he can take them off completely.
“Lie back. Let me see you.”
Heart fluttering and nerves swarming low in my belly, I do as he says, propping my back against the door and shyly spreading my legs. He drags a hand down his face, and I wait for his next command.
“No. Open for me, angel. Wider.”
I exhale a shaky breath, parting my legs a bit more. I know it’s probably not enough, but the way he rakes his eyes over me—with so much hunger—makes me feel overanalyzed. Exposed.
His hands suddenly hook around my ankles and, with one swift movement, he lifts up my legs, balancing them on his shoulders. I gasp, holding onto the seat in front of me for stability.
“What a pretty little cunt,” he says, pulling my skirt up to rest on my stomach and revealing me entirely to him. “Exquisite.”
I squirm and wiggle my hips against the seat, my pussy throbbing at the praise caressing it.
“Did I tell you to move?”
“N-No.”
“Stay still, angel. I want to kiss you some more.”
“Y-Yes. Please, Rowan…”
Nerves pounding inside my skin, I close my eyes, impatient to feel the touch of his lips on mine.
I can feel the weight of his body pressing down into the seat as he leans forward. I can feel his rough hands trailing up my thighs. But what I don’t expect to feel is his warm breath tickling my most sensitive spot.
My eyes snap open in shock.
“Y-You said you were going to kiss me.”
His lips make contact with my pussy. I shudder, feeling the dark smile on his face stretching them out.
“I am.”
His tongue darts out, warm and velvety, pushing against my entrance. I’ve never had anyone go down on me before. I’ve never had anyone do any of this stuff to me before. It’s dirty and intrusive, and it feels a million times better than anything else I’ve done by myself in my room.
I moan, dipping my head backward as my face scrunches under the intense sensation of being fucked with his tongue. But as soon as I feel his fingers nearing my other hole, my eyes snap open in shock once again.
“Not there,” I plead, shame causing red patches all over my cheeks. “I’ve never…”
“Yes, there. Relax for me. I’ve got you.”
He doesn’t wait for me to say anything else before he dives back in and swirls his perfect tongue against my throbbing clit. My legs start shaking of their own accord, and when he pushes the tip of his finger inside my ass, I crumble completely. I have no choice but to come on his tongue right there.
My entire body is spasming, almost making me fall off the back seat completely. But Rowan pins me down with his free arm, and I let the waves of my release wash over me one by one. I call out his name, grinding against his mouth as I squeeze every last drop of pleasure from this moment.
“So fucking sweet…” He trails off, placing kisses up along my bare legs. “I wish we could keep going. There are so many things I want to do to you. But we’ve got to get on that plane. And then… when we’re alone again, later tonight—”
“I know. That was… amazing,” I breathe out, still trying to regain my composure. “But before we leave, I’d really like to pay back the favor…”
He cuts me a stern look that has me pulling myself up to a sitting position.
“You think that was for you?”
“Well, you… you made me…”
“That was all for my pleasure, angel. I don’t need you to do anything for me.”
I’m not sure what that means—it can’t possibly have been for his own pleasure. He made me come. Surely he must want to have his own release. Back when we were in college, Sterling always used to say that if a guy goes down on you, you reciprocate. Always.
“I want this over your pretty legs until we arrive at the airport,” Rowan says, sliding his uniform jacket off his shoulders, and laying it across my skirt and thighs. “Is that understood?”
“Oh, God, is the skirt too short? I’m sorry if I dressed inappropriately for this. I didn’t know—”
Says the girl who just showed him her pussy, I think to myself.
“The skirt is perfect. We’re just not done here, you and I.”
Before I get to ask what he means, he adds, “I’m calling Graham back in. Behave,” he smirks. Why would he assume I won’t be nice around Graham?
But I fix up my hair, and he licks the rest of my release off his lips, groaning as his senses register the taste once more. The action is so dirty and erotic that it makes my thighs press together.
Graham gets back in the driver’s seat, and he looks more focused than ever. It’s as if Rowan’s presence here is now turning up the pressure tenfold for him. I’m just glad he doesn’t look like he knows what happened in this car before he came back in.
The convoy gets going again, car by car, until we’re moving in a single line toward the airport. And as Graham talks with the other drivers in his earpiece, Rowan sprawls his arm across my thighs, under the jacket he placed above them, and dips his middle finger inside my pussy.
I gasp, breath shivering from the pleasure building up almost immediately inside my walls. I turn my head toward him and see him raise his eyebrows in warning.
Behave , he told me. And now I suddenly understand why.
My pussy clenches around his finger and I get the urge to grind myself on it. He sees it, and lowers his head in my direction, whispering, “I licked this pussy. It’s mine now. And I’m going to keep my finger in there for as long as I want. So be quiet, stay still, and enjoy the ride. Yes?”
“Rowan…” I whimper, pleading with him with my eyes not to torture me like this.
His finger remains unmoving, trapped inside my pussy like he has no intention of ever releasing me. Like that’s where it belongs. My muscles continue to clench around it, and I know by looking into his eyes that this is going to be the most torturous half an hour of my life.