Chapter 33 You…
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
you…
REY
I blink my eyes open to find myself in a garden. Gaping, I take in the sight before me; the canopy of green hanging plants and purple wisteria with festoon lights in between. There’s a bright pink bougainvillea framing the view of Mayfair.
“This is extraordinary,” I finally manage to get out, and Mark grins—a sight that makes everything else fade.
“I’m glad you like it. I thought we could eat out here.” He gestures to the table where an alfresco setting of small plates and bowls cover the low table.
“It’s perfect,” I say, still looking around. “Where is the water sound coming from?”
He points to a water feature in the far corner, and I spot the hidden speakers that emit the cricket chirps. It dawns on me…
“Did you set this up for me?”
“I thought you’d enjoy it better than the plain stone that was here before.”
“Oh, what, you don’t normally have the plants either?”
“No, it’s all new,” he says matter-of-factly. “I got Aiden’s interior designer and his team to create a space for us here that I thought you’d like.”
I blink at him. It’s not entirely clear to me yet, but it sounded to me like he just spent a bloody insane amount of money to make a magical patio garden. Just for me.
“I love it,” I whisper, and hope he’s not scared of how much weight the words carry.
What they could imply.
It’s too early to feel this much, but he’s making it very hard to be rational.
He beams, and is about to say something, but I jump on him, kissing the smile, and down his chin and up the delicious, strong jawline, as far as I can reach.
“My pleasure,” he says, his voice thick.
He cups my face and covers my mouth with his, brushing his tongue over mine.
His hands make their way down my back and sides, and I feel the heat from his hands through my dress.
I moan against him and can’t form a single coherent thought except that I want his skin on mine.
My hands roam his broad back and down, admiring the feeling of his muscles rippling under the thin t-shirt.
Neil’s words echo in my head; don’t leave your man waiting.
My man.
How can he be, though? For real.
I pull away, and he leans his forehead on mine, keeping my body close to his.
“What is this?” I ask and surprise myself with my directness.
There are so many unanswered questions that I’m not sure I want the answer to, but this man is now dangerously close to taking my heart, and I don’t know how careful he’ll be with it.
How much can I handle? This doesn’t feel like something that could last forever, does it? How do I fit into his world?
“It’s something worth exploring,” he says. “Worth the risk.”
It bothers me that he’s having to risk anything for me.
“What would happen if someone found out? I have four months left as an intern. I guess I could leave, but I’m really loving it and—”
He presses a finger to my lips. “No, I wouldn’t ask you to give up something that gives you so much joy. And as for what would happen,” he drops his hand and lets out a long breath, rubbing his chin. “I’m not sure. Not entirely.”
“So no canoodling in the office then?” I tease, trying to ease the tension this topic brought out. The look in his eyes when he said those words; he’s scared.
“Canoodling?”
He laughs.
“A bit of light fondling,” I whisper and slide a hand down between us, and stroke that hard cock through his joggers. Something flashes across his face that’s not the pleasure I’d hoped to see.
“No fondling in the office,” he says, his voice flatter, and he takes the hand I had placed on his erection away.
“Did I say something wrong? You changed just there.”
He blinks at me. “I’m sorry. It just triggered something in me.” He sighs and sits down on the outdoor settee, dropping his head into his hands.
I sit down next to him and put a hand on his back, realising I have a lot to learn about this man.
“Do you want to talk to me?”
He hums, his fingers gripping his hair.
“Damian went from being my oldest friend and business partner to this person I didn’t recognise.” He talks to the floor, his voice tentative. “It was gradual, and I didn’t notice it until it was too late. Until he’d done those things that are entirely unforgivable.”
He turns his head, looking up at me, and I touch a hand to his cheek.
“You’re not him, though,” I say. “Maybe he always had that view of women. He just didn’t have the power or opportunity to act on it before.”
“You don’t know what’s going on in my head. Maybe this is how it starts. Fantasies, daydreaming.”
“About me?”
He sits up, resting his head on the back of the settee. What has he been fantasising about?
“Yes, about you. And I couldn’t stay away from you either.”
“Do you daydream about anyone else?”
His eyes snap to mine in an instant. “Never. Only you.”
He might not know it, but these words latch themselves onto my heart, like a little seed that quickly sprouts into hope.
Only me.
“I don’t understand your fear of being like Damian; you’re obviously not.”
“But that’s what I’d look like to others. To the board.”
“Because I’m an intern?”
He nods, his eyes on the ceiling now, his Adam’s apple working. I admire the smooth skin of his throat, the veins down his neck to his collarbones, and the sprinkle of hair visible at the top of his v-neck. I put a hand on his stubbled chin to turn him towards me.
“I won’t be an intern forever, Mark. And I’m almost thirty.”
He sits up. “What do you want to do after your internship?”
“I’d love to be a concept artist now that I’ve been introduced to this world, but honestly, anything that lets me create makes me content. I’d love to have a job that’d allow me to move out of my brother’s house, though. Have flatmates again.”
“When did you move in with your brother?”
“In the new year, I left a job because the work environment was terrible and struggled to get another one, so I had to move in with Xander. But I started saving once I got the HR role with Nia, and it’s really brightened up my days. Infinio is so good, and I’m making friends in the office.”
He blows out a breath and presses his eyes shut.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sorry, I just realise how much we both stand to lose here. What will it look like for you if you get a good role at Infinio? People might think it’s because of me.”
“Because I’m sleeping with the boss?” I say, tongue-in-cheek, but I know it’s something to consider.
“Don’t call me that.”
“You don’t want to be my boss?” I ask, walking my fingers up his chest and across his collarbone. He chuckles.
“I do and I don’t. It makes me feel guilty sometimes.”
“Are you my boss in your fantasies?”
“No.”
“Really? What do we do?” I tangle my fingers through his hair, and he responds with a groan, leaning into my hand. “Please tell me, Mark.”
“I’ve imagined you on your knees in front of me, with your mouth full of me.
” He looks up at me, his eyes intense. “I’ve pictured you entering my office, sitting on my desk and opening your legs wide, showing me your glistening pussy…
” He rubs his eyelids, sighing. “Fuck, Rey, I can’t stop thinking about all the ways I want you. ”
His words ignite the need in me again. He wants me to take charge?
The thought of it makes me feel bold and sexy. I want to see the need in his eyes, and show him that he’s not like Damian. I choose this. I choose him.
Right now. We are on equal ground.
He is not my CEO. I’m not an intern.
He is a man, and I am a woman.
I stand up in front of him. The festoon lights reflect in his darkened eyes, making him look fiercer than ever. Slowly, painstakingly, I move my dress up my thighs, and hook my thumbs into my underwear. I pull it down, letting it drop, and step out of it. The look on his face is everything.
It makes me feel powerful.
I sit down on the edge of the solid stone table in front of him and place my legs on the sofa on either side of his knees, making sure he gets the full view of how wet I am for him.
“Is this what you imagined?” I ask, my voice is hoarse, and I barely recognise myself. This confidence I have found with him is so freeing. He makes me feel wanted and worshipped, with his words and from the way his eyes roam over me, taking it all in. The bulge in his trousers grows again.
He’s on his knees in front of me before I can think another thought.
He kisses his way down my inner thigh, but I’m grateful he doesn’t wait—he delves in, pressing a glorious thick tongue just where I need it.
The hungry sounds he makes fuel me even more, and I see stars, arching back on the table, letting him take me with his tongue to a crescendo that leaves me shivering.
Feeling strong and in charge, I sit back up and push him back on the settee, his mouth swollen and his eyes glossy and hooded.
“Sit back,” I say and pull his erection free from the joggers, and he shifts forward to give me more space.
I want him inside me, but first I take in the sight of that glorious cock.
The skin is taut over the head. It’s glistening with pre-cum, and he’s hard as a rock.
For me. From tasting me and hearing me come undone because of him.
I straddle him and sink down.
“Jesus,” I breathe. “You’re so hard. So big.”
Even with my slick entrance, it takes a couple of tries before he’s all the way in. He fills me up with a final push, and I gasp.
This is the best position. Seeing him beneath me like this, looking up at me with those emotive eyes, this time with something vulnerable in them which makes me pause.
“Mark,” I whisper. “You are amazing.”
He pulls me close, burying his face in my chest. Then he grasps the dress that’s bunched up around my waist, I lift my arms, and he pulls it over my head in a swift move.
He groans and unclasps my bra, freeing my breasts into the summer evening breeze.
My nipples harden, and goosebumps erupt across my skin.
The contrast of his warmth on my front and the caress of a summer breeze on my back is incredible.
I move on top of him, letting him feel my tight core. He fills me up in every way.
Moving slowly and deliberately, I feel all of him inside me.
Pressing against the best spots both inside and out as I rock back and forth.
But it’s his expression that takes me towards the edge.
The emotion in his eyes that are locked on me, the luscious lips shaped in an O before he bites his lower lip and groans at my movement. I speed up, getting close again.
His hands are firm on my hips, rolling his hips up, pushing that hard cock in the right place again, and again, just as I need it.
It’s deep, it’s all-consuming, and it makes me cry out with pleasure.
As I come apart on top of him, I feel him erupting inside me.
He says my name repeatedly into the skin of my chest.
“What have you done to me, Rey?” he whispers. “You…”
I cup his face and tilt it up to look at him. He’s so beautiful, my chest tightens. That powerful knot is back under my lungs. How could I ever look at another face after holding his in my hands?
“I, what?” I ask and plant a soft kiss on the side of his mouth.
“You’ve changed everything for me. You make me come alive.”
I know for sure now what this feeling is.
And I’m scared as hell.