12. All Night Long （Ethan）
ALL NIGHT LONG (ETHAN)
I f I’m incurably sick, I don’t care.
If this is some kind of disease or brain malfunction or clinical insanity, I don’t want it cured anytime soon.
Because Hattie Sage feels too fucking good to quit.
She smiles shyly up at me from bed, her robe falling open.
I help shove it off her shoulders, exposing those magnificent tits I want to drown in.
They’re better than I could’ve imagined, her skin supple and dusky around her nipples.
She gives back a buttery moan with every kiss, always so responsive.
That’s what makes this worse, what drives it toward mania.
I can’t resist taking one of her sweet nipples in my mouth, flicking my tongue across the bud, making her give up more songs of pleasure.
Fucking addiction, the way she reacts.
With my other hand, I reach between her legs, finding her clit.
Her sweet cunt’s as drenched as I expected.
I’m glad I took it light on dinner because this woman really does love it when I throw my weight around.
My cock jerks, aching to be inside her.
“Ethan,” she gasps softly.
Music to my ears, hearing my name with that purr, all breathy and needy and on the brink of madness.
“Tell me how you want it, Hattie.” I sink two fingers into her slick pussy. “Tell me how much.”
Her cheeks flush red.
I know she’s not used to doing this sort of thing.
It’s a crying shame if her past lovers never gave her this much attention.
It’s obvious she loves it, evident every time her pussy hugs my fingers, screaming for attention.
Who knew my little book nerd was so starved for touch?
“I… I want it,” she whispers.
“What do you want, woman? Talk to me.”
She bites her bottom lip shyly, the sight so erotic I lean down and free her bottom lip with my teeth, sucking it into my mouth until she gasps.
“Speak the fuck up,” I growl. “What do you want from me, Pages?”
Slowly, I fuck her with my fingers, loving how she arches into my touch.
“I want you to fuck me.”
My heart almost stops.
Because that’s what I’ve wanted ever since she sailed into my kitchen wearing that robe and nothing else, her hair still mussed up from being fucked and her eyes hazy with sex dreams.
There’s nothing in life sexier than a well-fucked woman coming from your bedroom, eager for more.
The fact that it’s Hattie just adds an extra forbidden thrill.
Truthfully, I haven’t wanted another person like her for eons—I haven’t let myself want another woman like this—for a very long time, and now I feel like a horny young buck again.
Six months of this should satisfy the itch, I hope.
This raging need to have her, morning, noon, and night.
Then when we split, when we go our separate ways, we’ll scrub the desire from our systems. We’ll have done everything we could ever want, and it’ll be easy to walk away.
For both of us.
Why does that feel like a damned lie?
I withdraw my fingers and suck the taste of her off me.
Incredible.
I kiss her deeply, hungrily, sliding my tongue against hers as I pull out a fresh condom and slide it on. Then I grab her and reposition her so she’s on top of me.
The view from this angle is flawless.
Big, round breasts in my face, that voluptuous flare of her hips, her legs splayed open and gripping my body.
Fuck.
Her eyes are so wide and bright, but as I hold my cock up for her delight, she slides down on it without a word or any more prompting.
Perfection.
I close my eyes for a second and savor.
Hattie’s pussy might be the closest to heaven I’ll ever get.
“Is that good for you?” I ask, my voice rough as I grab her hips and thrust up into her. “Do you like that?”
“Yes,” she whispers. Her hair falls over her face, leaving two jade eyes staring out behind the mess, spearing me with green.
I’m not one for extended eye contact during sex, no, but something about this has me captivated.
Six months.
Six fucking months.
That’s practically an eternity yet also the blink of an eye.
But it should be enough.
It has to be.
Growling, I guide her into a rhythm, teasing her clit with my thumb.
She tightens around me, moaning softly, and I know it won’t take too much to get her close. Especially with the way she’s grinding on my dick, finding the best angle, taking the pleasure I drive into her.
Seeing her like this shreds my senses, all her inhibitions gone as she chases raw pleasure.
There’s no time for politics here.
Nothing but the hard reality that I want her and she wants me—even if she’d never admit it if I hadn’t claimed her first.
I don’t regret a single solitary second.
Neither does she, judging by the way her eyes finally flutter shut.
Already so close.
Dammit, so am I.
I’m determined to hold out until she’s come on every inch of me, though.
Usually, I’m a brute, insisting the women I’m with come more than once before I unload. It’s a dark pride, the way I leave them in a heap after the hardest fit of their lives.
But seeing her bouncing on top of me does terrible things, and fuck—I won’t be able to hold back for long.
“Ethan, I’m—oh my God!” she whimpers, opening her eyes and looking right through me.
“Come for me, Pages.” I hold her gaze, hazy with pleasure.
She looks half-drunk as she licks her lips, rolling her hips one last time.
I rub her clit.
She moans long and low, shuddering with the force sweeping in.
And I don’t let up, fucking her through the storm, watching the way her eyes roll, the way her mouth pulls open.
Goddamn, I don’t think she’s ever looked more beautiful.
She’s never seemed so divine.
And it’s for my selfish, greedy eyes.
Nothing could stop me now.
I slam my hips into her, fire churning in my balls, a forest fire in every nerve.
I clench my teeth and come so hard I swear I’m turning inside out, every muscle turned to steel.
Pure plasma heat leaps up from the base of my spine, igniting it like one long fuse.
“Hattie, fuck!” I’m probably hurting her as my fingers dig into her ass and I plunge so deep.
I don’t care.
I’m barely conscious as my vision reddens and it hits my cock, erupting, hurling hot seed, hating that condom for preventing me from marking her.
Fuck, this is dangerous.
These aren’t sane thoughts.
Neither is the lightning in my veins, the way my hips slap hers, the greed in my cock when it unloads so close to her womb I give up my soul.
Dangerous, dangerous fuckery.
When I open my eyes, I’m spent like I never knew I could be.
She gives me a slow, knowing smile as she slides off me a minute later.
Before she gets too far, I pull her into my arms, needing to feel her skin against mine while it’s hot and sticky.
“Ethan.” Her voice is a low hum as she kisses my jaw.
“Yeah?”
“That was incredible.”
No argument there.
I just wonder what happens if it doesn’t slow down.
How much sanity will I give up to hold on to gravity-breaking sex?
How much collateral damage will be done before it’s time to let go?
The room is dark when I wake, blinking groggily at the ceiling.
Hattie snores peacefully beside me, making adorable little purrs with her face half-buried in the pillow.
Strips of moonlight cut through the room in ghostly ribbons, illuminating her arm as it’s stretched out toward me.
Over by the door, I see why I’m awake.
Ares paws at the wood lightly, letting out a low grumble.
“Hey, buddy, keep it down,” I whisper as I swing myself out of bed and Hattie’s warm embrace. “Don’t wake her up, okay?”
He wags his tail as I open the bedroom door and lead him downstairs.
I have some sympathy, knowing he’s an older dog. The canine bladder doesn’t age gracefully, and where will mine be if I make it to his age in human years?
Still.
I suppose it’s nice having some company in the house, even if it’s an ancient dog creeping closer to incontinence.
Hattie, she’s only temporary.
Neither of us should get used to this sleepover shit becoming a regular thing.
I’m a busy man and I like my space.
I’m also keenly aware our expiration date isn’t that far off.
The thought doesn’t make me feel good, so I swat it aside and let Ares out into the backyard.
It’s a full moon tonight and the air smells like distant summer campfires, evening clam bakes, and hints of sea breezes. Even though you can’t see many stars from here, the moon’s glow illuminates everything.
I left the porchlight on and I blink against the sudden brightness.
Ares sniffs around his favorite bushes and I think back to when Hattie first showed up, when both of us tried to pretend the kiss didn’t happen. Back when she—
Fuck.
Cooper Daley’s letter.
With everything else going on, I forgot he ambushed her at the bookstore and asked her to give me a message.
Like I’d be more likely to listen to his bullshit when he went behind my back to target my fiancée.
Hattie isn’t stupid. I know that.
But she’s also human, and she doesn’t have my reasons for distrusting Daley.
Leaving the door open for Ares, I head back inside and find the letter in my office where I left it. My hands twitch with anger as I rip it open and start reading.
Ethan,
I know I’m the last guy you want to hear from right now, but if you read this, hopefully you’ll understand why it’s so important for me to reach out. And why I need to confess.
I haven’t always been honorable with the old man—or with you—but he meant the world to me as a mentor. I can’t stand to be the bad guy any longer.
Back when I was still working with your grandfather, I spotted an opportunity I wouldn’t have had without my time at Blackthorn Holdings. As soon as I left, I scooped up the perfect Long Island properties that Leonidas and his team personally identified but didn’t formally target for acquisitions.
There’s no doubt Blackthorn would have gotten them later if I hadn’t struck first.
I was greedy. I put my own interests ahead of my morals.
I’m not proud of what I did.
In fact, I hate myself for it.
I acted out of ambition, hungry for my own little piece of the Atlantic pie. Leonidas Blackthorn taught me how far you can soar, and I wanted that desperately.