Chapter Nine
chapter nine
NATE
I should be asleep. It’s nearly six in the morning, and I’ve yet to go to sleep. But my brain won’t shut down long enough for me to fall asleep. This happens when I’m immersed in a project or there’s an issue that needs to be handled.
As the COO of Bradford Hotels, I’m the go-to man. My dad might wear the CEO title, but I’m the person everyone goes to when they need an approval or have a question. So, everything tends to rest on my shoulders.
And when something’s wrong, when there’s a situation that needs my attention, my brain goes into overdrive. It doesn’t stop until I’ve figured out a solution, and then I crash.
Right now, my brain is in overdrive because I have a situation that I can’t control—Paige. She’s lying next to me, her head tucked into the crook of my arm, her body and limbs half thrown over me, like she’s the most adorable octopus.
She started off sleeping on her side of the bed, but then she gravitated toward me. It’s been a long time since I slept in a bed with a woman, even longer since I allowed one to cuddle with me. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice how perfectly she fits against me.
Which is why I can’t sleep. Because it’s been less than forty-eight hours since I met her, and I already know I could fall in love with her. The woman makes it too damn easy with her soft smiles and melodic laughs and the way she wears her heart on her sleeve. She was kicked to the ground, but she’s strong and positive, and she refuses to let anything keep her down. She got up, shook herself off, and held her head up high.
One day, some guy is going to see how amazing she is, and he’s going to get to keep her, unlike me. Because we live four hours away from each other. Four fucking hours. An hour by plane. But Paige has a life in Houston, and I have one in Dallas, and no matter how much I try to solve that problem, it comes back to the fact that one of us would have to move. And neither of us is in a position to do so. Which means when we get back to the hotel in a couple of hours, I have to let her walk away.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Paige murmurs, her voice raspy from sleep.
She stretches her arms and legs, and when they glide across my body, her eyes widen as she realizes she’s spread out across me.
She tries to move, but I tighten my hold around her, needing a few more minutes with her body wrapped around mine before I’m forced to let her go.
As if she knows what I’m doing, she sighs into me and lets me have the time I need. And then her hand slides down my shirtless torso—since she stole my shirt to wear last night after the second time we had sex and showered—and under my boxer briefs. She wraps her fingers around my shaft and languorously strokes it up and down, using the pre-cum beading on the tip of my head to create a bit of friction.
She pulls my shorts down enough to expose my entire length, and I close my eyes, enjoying the feel of her hand on me, trying to burn her touch into my brain for the nights after she’s gone and I’m left with only my memories.
I’m so lost in my own head that I don’t realize she’s moved down until her lips wrap around the crown of my cock and she takes damn near the entire length of me down her throat.
My eyes pop open, and my gaze goes straight to the gorgeous woman who’s on her knees, bent over me, sucking my dick like she’s on a mission.
Her shirt has bunched up, showing her pert, bare ass—because I told her if I was going without a shirt, then she was going without underwear, and she agreed.
As if she can sense I’m thinking about and looking at her ass, she shakes it teasingly, and I give it a good, hard slap, making her moan around my cock.
“You like that?” I ask, massaging the area I just slapped .
A muffled, “Yes,” comes out of her, so I do it again, this time on the other cheek, earning another moan out of her.
“If we had more time, I’d beg you to let me take this ass,” I tell her, imagining the way her tight hole would gape open as I pushed my entire length into her. The way her ass would jiggle as I fucked her from behind.
The thought has my cock swelling, and before I come down her throat, I reach up and pull her face off me and drag her up my body so she’s straddling me.
“Hey.” She pouts. “You were close.”
“And I’ll be damned if I’m going to finish in your mouth.”
“Well, you can’t finish in me ,” she sasses. “At least that’s a hole that won’t end with me pregnant.”
She’s being cheeky, but my mind immediately goes to Paige, swollen with my baby, and suddenly, I’m angry. Not at the thought of her pregnant, but at the fact that it’ll never happen—at least not by me, thanks to the universe working against us and putting us hours away from each other. The idea of another guy getting to come in her, filling her with his seed, has me damn near seeing red.
She’s mine.
But she’s not.
Needing a release for the frustration and anger flowing through my veins, I grab Paige’s hips and lift her off me so she’s on her hands and knees, facing the headboard, with my damn shirt covering her perfect ass .
“Take the shirt off,” I demand, needing to see all of her.
My words come out harsh, but I can’t help it. I hate when shit is out of my control.
She wastes no time sliding the shirt over her head, exposing her smooth, flawless, tanned skin, and then she looks back at me, her brows furrowed in concern.
“I hate this,” I growl, answering her unspoken question. “I need more fucking time.”
I reach under her and roughly thrust two fingers into her warmth, and she groans in response.
“We don’t have more time,” she whispers, her tone laced with regret, which only adds to my aggravation.
I’m a rich man. There are very few things I don’t have at my disposal and even less I can’t get my hands on if I’m willing to pay to have it. But Paige is unavailable, and no amount of money will change that.
I reach out and fist her long hair, pulling her head back enough so that I can lean over and kiss her sweet lips. She moans into my mouth at my roughness, and my cock hardens.
“I wanna fuck you,” I murmur into her ear, “hard and deep. I wanna make you scream and come all over my cock. Tell me I can fuck you how I want.”
“Yes! Please, Nate, fuck me.”
I thrust my fingers in and out of her a few times to make sure she’s ready while I memorize the way she feels, the sounds she makes, and then I replace them with the head of my cock .
I don’t go slow. I shove into her tightness, not stopping until I bottom out, and then I start to fuck her just as I said. Hard, fast, and deep. In this position, with her ass in the air, I’m able to hit her G-spot perfectly. And before long, her pussy is gripping my shaft, and she’s coming, soaking my cock with her sweet juices.
For a split second, I consider not pulling out and filling her with my seed. The vision of her round with my baby flashes before my eyes, but I can’t do that to her. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us. I knew going into this that we could never be more. She made it clear, and I have to respect it even if I hate it.
So, when my balls tighten, despite wishing I could coat her walls with my cum, I pull out and jerk myself off. Ribbons of white splatter onto her pert ass, and I take a moment to memorize the way she looks—perfectly fucked.
She dips her head and tilts it back so her satiated green eyes meet mine, and my heart squeezes in my chest because I know this is where our story ends.
And, fuck, does that suck.
“Mr. Bradford, I don’t think it’s possible to?—”
“Don’t tell me it’s impossible. Everything is possible. You just have to find a way, and if you can’t, I’ll find someone who can.”
I hang up and slam my phone on the desk, refusing to look at Nolan, who’s no doubt staring at me like I’ve lost my mind. And he wouldn’t be wrong. I have.
I never raise my voice. It doesn’t matter how mad I get, how fucked up shit gets, I always handle it like a professional. But right now, I’m not myself.
It’s been twelve hours since Paige and I arrived at the hotel and said our goodbyes. She’s here until Monday morning, but I didn’t ask to see her again because I could see it in her eyes that it would be too hard.
But now, I can’t stop thinking about her. Wondering how she’s doing. She had to go to the wedding rehearsal and then dinner, where her asshole ex would be. He’d texted her to let her know that he’d be bringing his new girlfriend to the dinner and wanted to give her a heads-up so she wasn’t blindsided.
I wanted to offer to go with her, suggest she bail on the wedding and we could go somewhere else, anywhere else, but I kept my mouth shut because she was determined to see that stupid fucking wedding through.
So, instead, in the lobby, in front of the elevator, I kissed her, selfishly needing one last taste, and then wished her the best.
And then I went up to my room and tried to work. Only instead, I’m yelling at people and thinking about Paige.
“Maybe you should head back early,” Nolan suggests. “I can handle things here.”
I appreciate his offer, but the thought of leaving before Paige tears me apart .
“I’m going to get a drink at the bar.”
I need some air. And secretly, I’m hoping maybe I’ll run into Paige. It’s a long shot, but we are staying at the same hotel, so anything’s possible.
When I get down to the bar, it’s busy since it’s a Friday night, and almost all the seats are taken. I’m about to head back up to my room, not wanting to be around other people, when brown hair with blonde highlights catches my attention. I would recognize that hair anywhere.
I move to the side so I can get a better look at her just in time to see her tilt her head back and down a shot. She slams it on the bar top and then grabs another, swallowing it in one go.
I should walk away, leave her alone, because we already said our goodbyes…but then a gentleman walks over to her, and I can’t hear what he’s saying, but I can see the sleazy expression on his face.
I’m going to have a word with the bar manager about letting assholes hit on women who have been drinking. This isn’t a fucking club. It’s an upscale bar in a luxury five-star hotel.
Paige shakes her head and turns her body away from him, making it clear she doesn’t want whatever he’s selling. She downs another shot, and the guy says something else. Another shake of her head, and then she twists her body in the other direction, attempting to leave. Only her foot gets caught on the leg of the barstool to her right, and she trips, her high heel flying off her foot and under the bar.
I rush over to help her, and she looks up at me with glassy eyes. She’s drunk.
“Nate,” she slurs. “Are you here to save me?”
Her smile is wobbly, and my heart sinks. The rehearsal must’ve gone badly.
“I can’t seem to find my shoe,” she says, looking down at her bare foot. “It must be here somewhere.” She tries to bend down to find it, but in her drunken state, she almost falls over.
“C’mon,” I say, guiding her to a chair. “Sit right here, and I’ll get your heel.”
She plops down and smiles softly, and once I know she’s not going to tip over, I go back over to the bar and find her heel. I also notice she left her purse hanging on the back of the chair, so I grab that as well.
“Here you go,” I say, getting on one knee and lifting her foot so I can put it on her since she’s most likely too drunk to do it herself. I’d suggest she take the other one off, but with her luck, she’d step on something and cut her foot.
When I lift her foot to slide her heel on, Paige giggles loudly.
“My prince,” she says. “It’s just like in the fairy tale.”
When I give her a questioning look, she huffs. “ Cinderella ,” she clarifies. “She loses her glass slipper, and the prince finds it. He puts it back on her foot, and they live happily ever after.”
Her smile morphs into a frown. “Only you can’t be my prince because we don’t get a happily ever after.” Tears prick her eyes, and my heart feels like it’s being clenched with barbwire.
“C’mon,” I say, standing, since there’s nothing I can say to make this better. “Let’s get you up to your room.”
She nods and tries to stand, but it’s not happening. She’s drunk too much, and tomorrow, I’ll be firing whoever served her this much alcohol.
Reaching down, I lift her into my arms and carry her through the hotel and up to her room.
On the way, she confirms my suspicions when she tells me that the dinner was horrible and she has nobody.
“I don’t wanna go to the wedding tomorrow,” she whispers, making my heart bleed. “Everyone has someone but me.”
The sadness in her voice damn near sends me to my knees.
I know her room number, so once we’re there, I find her key card in her purse and open the door. She’s half asleep by the time I lay her in her bed. I take her heels off so she’s comfortable, but I leave her clothes on, not wanting to do anything without her permission.
“I wish you were my prince,” she murmurs, tears sliding down her cheeks as I tuck the blanket around her.
“I do too,” I whisper, swiping my thumb along the apples of her cheeks as her eyes flutter shut. “Now, sleep, Princess. I’ve got you.”
Then, I get comfortable in the chair in the corner of her room and watch her sleep until the sun begins to rise and I know she’ll be okay. I have Nolan bring me up two pain relievers, and I leave them on her nightstand with a bottle of water. I set the alarm on her phone for nine a.m., so she can sleep in and still have enough time to get ready for the wedding.
And then I go up to my room to get ready because I’ll be damned if Paige is going to spend another moment alone with those assholes. Paige doesn’t know it yet, but she now has a plus-one for the wedding.