Chapter 22 #2
I nipped at his lower lip then pulled back, unbuttoning my jeans in a bold move Frankie would be proud of.
I loved that with Nolan, I could explore a more daring side of my sexuality I’d always kept locked away.
No one else had ever felt safe enough to let loose with, but Nolan was the calm in my storm, his support grounding me unlike anything else.
And as he watched me, eyes hooded, I knew he wanted me just as badly.
It was that look that gave me the courage to say, “I’ve got another idea of what you can do with your mouth. Better make it quick though.”
At that, his pupils blew wide and before I could blink, he lifted me to sit on his desk and helped me wriggle out of my jeans, then put his hands on my knees, forcing my legs wide.
“Jesus, Val,” he said, his hands sweeping up and down my bare thighs, eyes locked on the black lace thong barely covering my aching core. “Look at you, my naughty girl. Did you wear this for me?”
“Tick tock, Mr. Keller,” I said, tapping my nonexistent watch. “You really want to spend time idly chatting?”
On a growl, Nolan fisted the hair at the nape of my neck and fixed me with a thunderous expression.
With his free hand, he moved my panties aside and pushed a thick finger into me, knuckle deep, and a moan caught in my throat.
“Mmm. I can feel how much you like my dirty talk. Next time, I’m taking my time with you. And I’ll make you beg me for it.”
Before I could say something snarky in reply, he removed his hand, knelt before me, and licked my pussy in one long stroke.
Dear god. That one touch had me dissolving in his hands.
For all my shit-talking about him hurrying up, at this rate, it wouldn’t take me long—I was already teetering on the edge.
His ability to bring me to climax so swiftly was still mind-boggling.
And addicting.
He alternated between licking and fucking me with his tongue, driving my need higher and higher until I was practically clawing at his back and aching for release.
“Feel like begging already, Val?”
With a frustrated sound, I looked down at him and nearly came undone. Seeing him there between my legs, face buried in my pussy, was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.
But then he thrust two fingers inside me until I gasped, working them in and out as he looked up at me with a self-satisfied smirk.
Correction, that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
But the only word I could form was “More.”
And he gave it to me.
Bending his head to his work, his tongue circled my clit, and a keening sound I’d never made before erupted from my throat as heat coiled low in my belly. Dios mío, what is this man doing to me?
“You like making a mess on my desk?” he asked, his breath against my most sensitive parts sending me squirming.
“You want to come all over my face knowing I’ll have to sit here through the rest of my meetings with your taste on my tongue, thinking about every dirty thing we did?
Every dirty thing I still want to do to you? ”
“God, yes,” I moaned. With his mouth on me like this, all I could do was throw my head back and sink my hands in his hair, holding on for dear life as I chased my release, grinding my hips in time with the strokes of his tongue and fingers. God, those fingers.
I didn’t have to wait too much longer.
The next time Nolan’s tongue passed over my clit, I detonated. Pleasure like I’d never known barreled through me and I let out a wordless shout, my hands digging into his scalp as I thrust against his glorious tongue, riding out my orgasm to the sound of our ragged breaths.
When he pulled his fingers out of me, he brought them to my lips and I licked him clean. I knew from his darkened gaze that he was imagining my tongue elsewhere.
With a low moan, he said, “We don’t have time for that, Valeria. Although I wish we did.” When he smiled, seeing his chin and lips glistening with my juices…
Okay, now that is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m sure of it.
Nolan pulled me in for a quick but sultry kiss, and I loved tasting myself on him. After a moment, I moved to reclaim my pants, but he stopped me. “We still have three minutes before my meeting,” he said. “I want you just like this until then.”
“But I’m, um, leaking on your desk.” I could feel my slickness on the surface underneath me. Definitely ruined some papers.
“I know.”
Oh. Oh my.
This man just kept getting hotter and hotter.
With a look that nearly unraveled the rest of my sanity, he stepped between my legs and leaned close. “As much as I love being ambushed with oral sex,” he said, sinking a hand into my hair, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“My brothers are here. Diego said I won a raffle. Also, that I entered them for the West Foundation grant and it’s what’s paying for Juanito’s meds.” Grabbing him by both lapels, I tugged him into me. “Would you know anything about that?”
“Ah,” he said, and I felt his smile against mine. “I was hoping to be down there when they arrived to smooth things over. I had to be careful about how I planned it, to keep our relationship under wraps. Did I do a good job?”
“Who has a praise kink now?” I teased.
“Quiet, you,” he said, nipping the tip of my nose.
As his thumb smoothed over the hollow just beneath my ear, my pulse beat a staccato tattoo against my ribcage.
God, he smells so good. Some kind of manly aftershave had me practically salivating over him like a lovestruck teenager.
“Frankie and I saw through it right away, but my family is none the wiser. How are you going to spin it to the rest of the employees? To Arthur and Cyrus?”
“As far as they know, your family is here of their own accord. I told Diego to keep the raffle thing discreet so as to not make the other employees jealous.”
I smoothed my hands over his hair, putting everything back in place, but then my touch strayed to his face and before I knew it, I was stroking his light stubble and the hard line of his jaw as I searched for the right words. “I can’t believe you did this for us.”
Smiling under my touch, he said, “I didn’t want you to spend another Christmas without your family.”
“You remembered that?” I’d said it as a throwaway comment during our cooking lesson with Rocco several weeks ago.
“When it comes to you, I remember everything.”
The statement struck me into silence. If someone had told me at the beginning of the season that Nolan Keller would be speaking to me like this, I’d have checked them for a brain injury.
In lieu of blubbering all over him, I closed the breaths between us and kissed him, relishing the contented sound rumbling in his chest. Wrapped up in his arms like this, it felt so natural. Like coming home.
But in the back of my mind, the storm clouds were swirling. This isn’t real. It can’t be real. We have an expiration date.
So as nice as it felt to be cared for, I couldn’t get used to it.
People had come and gone throughout my life, but it was always me and my brothers against the world.
And as much as being physical with Nolan felt good—so, so good—I couldn’t get used to that either.
Maybe it was silly to hold off on sex when we’d already done everything else, but I couldn’t fully give in.
I needed to keep a small part of myself safe, just for me, for when this was all over. For when it ended.
So yeah, I was enjoying the heck out of the present moment. But I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t planning for disaster. As if being prepared for it would somehow make it easier to deal with.
Too soon, Nolan pulled away, pressing his forehead to mine. “Sorry to cut this short, baby. But I’ll see you tonight?”
I’ll deal with the fallout later. Because right now, with him looking at me like I was the only woman on the planet? I wanted to sit in that feeling for just a little while longer. “Yeah. See you tonight.”
“It’s nice getting away from that suffocating city,” said Diego as he fastened into his snowboard. “Forgot how much I like it out here.”
“For sure,” I agreed. It was a bluebird day and the sun shone on the slopes, turning the snow into a blanket of blinding crystals. We sat at the foot of the bunny slopes, taking a break after riding for hours, as the holiday skiers and boarders flew past.
“And that boss of yours is something else,” Diego noted. “Didn’t expect him to be so…nice.”
I snorted. “Yeah, me neither. He does the brooding act very well.” After his meeting, Nolan had met my family and quickly shot into popularity as Juanito’s new favorite when he’d presented the little guy with his very own Spider-Man ski helmet and a sheet of stickers to decorate it.
Diego cut a sideways glance at me. “Anything going on there?”
I sputtered, choking on my words. “He’s—we—no!”
With a chuckle, Diego showed me his hands. “Oh yeah, that’s convincing. I’m just asking, mana. Who you sleep with is definitely not my business.”
Choosing to ignore that comment, I waved at Juanito, who descended the short hill on his skis with Frankie, practically jumping up and down with excitement. An ember of love for my little brother glowed in my chest, then darkened. “Has Antonella tried to make contact again?”
Diego tucked his wavy hair inside his helmet with a grim look. “No. But Hal has been lurking on the street corner, sitting in his car. Watching us. He never does anything, but I don’t like it.”
My stomach churned. “Can you get a restraining order?”
“There’s no legal grounds for it. I’m just afraid of what he might do, and I don’t have any evidence that he intends harm.
Especially since we couldn’t press charges against him for picking up Juanito from school.
It wasn’t technically an abduction or kidnapping since he said he had Antonella’s permission. ”
Even though we all knew it had been an attempt by Hal and Antonella to abscond with Juanito. They’d tried it before. “I don’t know why they can’t just leave us alone. Antonella made it clear that she wants to be free of us. Permanently.”
Diego’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Maybe she’s trying to do something about it again.”
I balked. “You think she’s trying to…make Juanito disappear?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but we’re the only ones standing between that little dude and a world that wishes him harm. We have to protect him. I have to protect him. It’s my job to be paranoid.”
I patted Diego’s arm. “Try not to drive yourself crazy with worry, okay? That’s my job.” I smiled, but I was worried about Diego. Deep grooves of exhaustion carved into his face since the last time I’d seen him. He looked haggard, stressed, and sleep-deprived.
He smiled back, nudging my shoulder. “I’ll race you. Loser buys dinner.”
A streak of nostalgia raced through me, and I smiled. It had been so long since Diego and I could act like brother and sister instead of Juanito’s caretakers. “Dinner’s on Nolan since he owns the whole freaking place, but you’re on.”