Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sienna
I loved my roommate, and I knew she would’ve been totally cool with Lulu being here. Hell, Vanessa would’ve marched right up to that asshole cop and scared him just as much as Fury had. Still, I was relieved that Vanessa was spending a few days with her parents in Brooklyn to help her mom with all the Thanksgiving prep. I didn’t think Ralf knew where I lived, but I wasn’t about to risk him showing up here and hurting Vanessa because of me.
While Lulu was in the shower, I texted Vanessa to let her know what had happened and to ask if one of us could use her bed tonight. She immediately asked if I wanted her to come home, but I insisted she stay put and promised to wash all her sheets and things, hoping she’d focus on that and not press about whether we were in danger.
I had left Fury in the living room while I set up Vanessa’s room, and I hadn’t checked on him before re-bandaging Lulu’s injuries. By the time I was satisfied she was asleep, I fully expected Fury to be gone. After all, it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and the evening hadn’t even settled in yet. I figured he’d need to catch up on whatever work I’d pulled him away from.
That, and the fact that he now knew about my ugly past. He was the kind of man who could have any woman he wanted. Who would choose someone with my kind of baggage when there was an entire city full of better options?
But when I stepped into the living room, there he was, sitting on the couch, scrolling through his phone as if he had nothing better to do than wait for me.
“You’re still here.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, and instantly I regretted it.
“I am,” he replied easily, looking up at me. “Is that all right?”
His tone was even and polite, but his expression left me guessing about whether he truly meant it. I prided myself on my ability to read people, especially men, but he was a puzzle. Maybe it was because he wasn’t as shallow as the others I’d encountered, or maybe it was the way my stomach tightened whenever I saw him. Whatever the reason, I didn’t know how to steer the conversation, so I just spoke my truth.
“You don’t have to stick around to prove you’re not a jerk,” I said. “Now that you know about my past, it’s fine if you want to walk away. I won’t be offended if you choose to leave.”
“I don’t care about that.” He stood and closed the distance between us.
The physical distance, anyway. There was a vast chasm separating us in other ways.
“I care about you.” He reached up, resting his hand lightly on my cheek. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Worried about Lulu, but I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry I called the cops,” he said, his expression tightening. “I didn’t think they’d be like that.”
I shrugged. “I’m used to it. Most people treat me differently once they find out. If we’d been out to eat and something happened that required us to talk to cops, they probably would’ve been great. I know it’s not all of them, but it’s enough that people like me and Lulu, when it’s about being an escort, we don’t want to gamble on getting someone decent.”
“I’m sorry.” He brushed his thumb against the corner of my mouth. “It shouldn’t be like that. They shouldn’t act like that.”
The edge in his voice made me scrutinize him more closely, and I saw what I’d missed before.
He was furious.
Not at me or Lulu for wasting his time here, and while I was sure he was pissed at Ralf because Fury didn’t seem like the type to take assault lightly, it wasn’t that rat bastard he was furious with right now. Fury was angry at the cops for how they’d handled everything.
“No matter what those idiots do, I’m going to help you,” he promised. “We’ll get justice for your friend, and we’ll make sure she’s safe. Ralf’s not going to touch her again.”
His words were powerful, but what made my heart race was the undeniable sincerity behind them. And even though he hadn’t said it outright, I knew he’d be there for me, even if nothing ever happened between us again.
If that wasn’t the sexiest thing in the world, I didn’t know what was.
I grabbed the front of his shirt and rose on my toes to bring my mouth to his. I felt his surprise, but it didn’t freeze him for long. His lips softened, teasing the seam of my mouth with his tongue. As I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss, I moaned, and his hands found my waist, his fingers brushing against the bare skin there.
The need that had been simmering inside me roared to life, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He dropped his hands and lifted me, my legs wrapping around his waist.
He broke the kiss to ask where my bedroom was, and I pointed to the open door, breathless and unable to form words. But then his tongue was stroking mine, and I didn’t care about speaking. I just wanted him to keep touching me, keep kissing me.
After pushing the door shut with his foot, he lowered me onto my bed with a gentleness that surprised me. His eyes were dark with desire as he straightened, and I felt his gaze like a physical caress. Then his hands moved to the buttons on his dress shirt, and I zeroed in on that. As he peeled off his shirt, exposing those hard muscles, I licked my lips, and he groaned.
“I want to be inside you,” he said as he sank to his knees next to the bed. “But I’ve been dreaming about tasting you since the first moment we met. Please say yes.”
I’d had sex with men who didn’t pay me, and I’d had men go down on me before, but it had always been with the understanding that I would reciprocate. I wouldn’t mind giving Fury a blow job, but the way he was looking at me made it clear that me returning the favor was the furthest thing from his mind.
“Yes.” The word escaped in a whisper, anticipation twisting in my stomach.
“If you want me to stop at any time, just say the word. If you’re the least bit uncomfortable, tell me.”
He’d said something similar before, but there was a new weight to it. It felt like he was talking about more than just me enjoying myself or not wanting him to do something specific. It took me a moment, but then I realized he was worried about triggering me. Not only did he not blame me for having been an escort, but he was also acknowledging that the things I’d experienced might’ve left me with the kind of baggage that could rear its head during sex.
Or even during a kiss.
That was when I saw it in his eyes. The understanding that my behavior after we’d had sex in my office had something to do with my past. And instead of dragging that up to satisfy his curiosity or placing his own need to know above mine, he simply let me know it was safe to tell him when something bothered me.
I nodded, hoping he could read everything in my eyes and on my face because I couldn’t articulate any of it. He must’ve sensed it because he didn’t push, but instead reached for the waistband of my pants. His fingers skimmed over my legs as he pulled off my shorts and tossed them aside. Before he moved to take care of my underwear, I quickly discarded my shirt, relieved that I hadn’t bothered with a bra yet. Judging by the way the muscle in his jaw clenched, I guessed he was glad for it too.
Then he started kissing his way up the inside of my leg and I let everything else fade into the background. His hair was soft against my skin as he turned his head to lavish attention on the other leg. Only after he’d kissed that one too, he hooked my legs over his shoulders and focused in on his goal.
Just as I was going to start feeling awkward, he grabbed my hips and pulled me to the edge of my bed. With one last smoldering look sent my way, he buried his face between my legs.
“Oh!” I couldn’t stop the exclamation that came to my lips as he licked me, the flat of his tongue hot and wet on my flesh.
He laughed but didn’t even pause what he was doing, letting the contact between us send all of those delicious vibrations through me. As he dipped his tongue inside my core, his nose nudged my clit, and I shivered, the light touch almost ticklish. His grip on my hips tightened, and he moved his tongue higher, tracing circles around that little bundle of nerves. Dancing, teasing touches that told me he’d paid attention during our other times together, and not just to getting his rocks off. His circles grew tighter and higher, moving from the base of my clit to the top where he flicked back and forth with feather-light touches that made me squirm, my desire for more feeding the almost desperate need inside me that was clawing its way out.
Speaking of clawing, my hands moved restlessly on my blanket, trying to find a place for me to sink my nails, to release some of this pressure in some way other than exploding.
Then he wrapped his lips around my clit, and I came apart at the first pull of his mouth. My back arched and my mouth opened in a silent scream.
I barely had the presence of mind to grab my pillow and put it over my face as he kept sucking and I kept coming. Wave after wave crashed into me, rolling me under and over with shocking intensity.
All those times I’d gone down on a guy after he’d given me a few licks, I was beginning to think that I’d been cheated.
It wasn’t until I reached down to push his head off of my aching clit that he finally stopped. I tossed my pillow away and looked down in time to see him wiping his face on his shirt. I’d come so hard I couldn’t even get up the energy to be embarrassed by how wet I was.
“That … wow.” My voice was hoarse. “Give me a minute and I’ll…” I flapped my hand in his direction.
To my surprise, he shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, I want your lips wrapped around my cock, but I want to be inside you when I come and if you put your mouth on me, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
He quickly shed his pants and underwear, his cock springing free, already swollen and leaking. After climbing onto my bed, he stretched out on his side and then pulled me up to lay in front of him, my back to his chest.
“I’m guessing your clit’s too sensitive to much friction,” he said.
I nodded, wondering how many more times he could surprise me.
“Shit. Forgot the condom.” He leaned over so I could see his face without hurting my neck. “We went without before. You okay with that again, or do you want me to get one?”
I frowned, confused. “You now know what I used to do.”
He shrugged. “You said you were clean. I trust you.”
Okay, so at least one more surprise from this man. I reached up to put my hand on his cheek and he leaned into the touch, his expression softer than I’d ever seen it.
“Thank you.” My chest felt strangely tight, and I shifted the tone back to the sexual one that I preferred to this tender intimacy. “I like you bare inside me, so as long as you’re good with it, so am I.”
He curled his body over mine to give me a sweet kiss before positioning my leg at just the right angle to let him slide into me with one smooth stroke. We both let out sighs, the sort that had to do with a contentment, a peace … a coming home. That last thought struck me just as he began to move, and I couldn’t catch my breath, emotions mixing with physical sensation until I felt like every cell in my body was ready to explode, to change into something new, something that could contain everything I had churning inside me.
As he set a fast, but steady, pace, one arm slid around my waist and up to allow his hand to cup one of my breasts. Each thrust was angled so that he rubbed right over my g-spot every time. His fingers played with my nipple, light tugs and pinches that never crossed the line into pain, and I closed my eyes as I tried to absorb it all. It was a different pleasure than I’d experienced with his mouth, but no less intense, no less incredible.
I rose toward another climax and started pushing back against him, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip to hold in my cries. His rhythm faltered, and I knew he was fighting for control, fighting to hold back until I came one more time. He hadn’t been joking when he’d said he would’ve gone in my mouth if I’d tried to blow him, and that was the mental push I needed to let go.
As I soared, he was right behind me, groaning my name against my skin as he pressed his mouth to the side of my throat. We kept moving together in strange little jerks and twists, lost in that primal connection that didn’t need elegance and grace to be deep and meaningful.
And then he was wrapping his arms around me, his cock still inside me as it softened, and I snuggled back against him. I didn’t know what this meant or how it had changed things between us, only that it did. At some point, I knew that would terrify me, but right now, I felt safe and I was going to hold to that for as long as I was able.