Chapter 12
TWELVE
Tripp
I watch Vida’s face as we enter the bedroom. Since she works at Reserve, she’s accustomed to being around luxury, but I instantly know she’s never seen anything like this.
The room is sleek, masculine, ultra-modern extravagance.
Dark wood, nearly black. Pops of burgundy and white.
A fireplace sizzles with a blue flame near the window that overlooks the surface of the Atlantic.
There is a built-in bookshelf backlit with a light that casts the room in a gentle glow, so I don’t bother turning on any more lights.
Overcome with gratitude to have Vida here, to know she loves me back, I sit down on the edge of the bed with her in my arms, memorizing her awed expression as she looks around, absorbing the opulence with parted lips.
I don’t know if it’s normal to get sexual pleasure at the thought of steeping her in luxury, but fuck it, I do.
I want to take her on a tour of villas along Lake Como, buy her the one she loves most, and eat her pussy on every piece of furniture she buys to decorate the place.
I want her to sit on my dick while she shops online for overpriced French purses.
I want to feed her oysters while she sunbathes naked in the Maldives.
I’m sick, but I don’t want to cure myself.
I only want to get sicker.
Logically, I know she’ll never be the kind of girl who is comfortable spending bucketloads of money, but a man can dream, can’t he? I think I’d bust in my pants if she let me buy her a coffee at this point.
I clasp her around the waist and drag her closer in my lap, inhaling the sweet, simple scent between her pert tits, the sexy pair of them cupped and plumped by the corset dress.
And I pray to the gods of stamina not to let me down tonight.
Not to let me pop the second I get balls deep. Please let me last.
“It’s beautiful, Tripp,” she breathes, looking at me. “The whole boat, really. It’s stunning.”
“The only stunning thing I see here is you,” I say, meaning every word. “I don’t think you’re aware, Vida, how easily your face puts everything I own to shame.”
Her eyes soften, his gentle fingertips brushing down the side of my face. “I’m sorry for what happened on deck with your friend.” A line of worry appears between her brows. “I’m sure he said something about me, but Tripp, I can handle things like that. You really don’t have to defend me—”
“Vida.” A terrible sense of foreboding rises in my stomach.
The bet. The bet. Why did I make that fucking bet?
Should I tell her? No. Not tonight. We just revealed our feelings for one another, and I don’t want to ruin this deep intimacy between us.
I’ll tell her tomorrow. Once I explain why I did it, she’ll understand.
“Everyone loved you tonight. You were magnificent just being yourself. He was an anomaly—and it was an honor to defend you against that. I want that right.”
After a small hesitation, she gives me the cutest lopsided smile. “That was a pretty mean right cross for a rich boy.”
Affection tumbles through my chest. “What, you think because I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I don’t know how to brawl? Lacrosse is a full-contact sport, angel. I’m the captain because I flatten anyone who gets in my way.”
“Scary,” she whispers.
“To everyone but you, maybe.”
“You scare me, too, but in a different way.”
I tilt my head in concern. “What way?”
“I don’t know what my future holds anymore. I couldn’t imagine myself rearranging it for anyone, but then…you.”
My heart beats erratically in my ears. “Me. Exactly. That’s what your future holds.”
“I’m starting to think you really mean that,” she whispers.
“I’ve never meant anything more in my fucking life.”
She studies me in breathless surprise for a moment before wetting her lips and scooting closer in my lap, her pussy nudging up against my erection.
The one I’ve had since she showed up in that dick-tease dress and informed me I’d be punching her V-card tonight.
Her breath stutters when she feels it, her tits swelling in the neckline of her dress on a deep breath.
“Tonight…” she starts, trailing off.
I grip her butt in my hands and tug her flush against me, watching twin spots of pink appear on her cheeks. “Yes?”
“D-do you want me to…fight you off? Or—”
“What?” Alarm belts me in the jaw as my spine snaps straight, my hands flying up to cradle her face. “No. No, no, no, Vida. Not tonight. Tonight is about you.”
“But I like what we do.” Her pupils throb wider. “I really like it.”
Put me to death if this girl is all a dream.
“We’re going to have plenty of time to explore that fantasy, Vida. Not to mention all the other ones I’ve had since meeting you.” I slide my right hand to the back of her dress, searching for the zipper with my fingertips. “But your first time…I want you to feel safe, angel. Loved.”
Pleasure spills across her beautiful face. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
I pull down the zipper—and it snags.
There’s a ripping sound.
Vida’s eyes go wide as silver dollars, a sob tripping out of her mouth. “Oh no.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Oh no?”
Her breathing turns ragged. “I’m supposed to return this dress. I b-borrowed it from the shop at the resort. I can’t bring it back damaged.” She tries to look over her shoulder. “Is it bad?”
“Lean forward.” I pull her into me and crane my neck to look at the center of her back, wincing when I see the ripped material. “Well, it’s definitely not good.”
“Oh my God. This dress is three thousand dollars.” Her bottom lip wobbles. “They’re going to make me pay for it.”
“Like fuck they are, Vida.”
“What do you mean?”
I know it’s going to take her a while to grow accustomed to this world, but I’m feeling an urgent need to steep her in finery that only doubles every time I notice she needs something I can easily provide.
“Vida, the sheets on this bed alone were probably in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars.”
I turn us around and lay her trembling body on the bed.
Leaning down, I kiss her sweet mouth.
Then I take the neckline of her dress in my hands and rip it straight down the center.
“Tripp!”
My virgin girlfriend is naked underneath. Completely fucking naked. Son of a bitch.
“You know, I kind of suspected you weren’t wearing a bra or underwear because I’ve been studying that sexy ass all night and I couldn’t see a single panty line anywhere.”
She’s looking up at me like I’m insane. “You r-ripped the dress even more. I could have tried to fix it—”
“Enough, Vida.” I unbutton my shirt in a quick series of twists, letting it slide off my shoulders onto the floor. “I’m paying for the dress.”
“Oh no. No—”
I come down on top of her, sealing off her protests with my mouth. Not kissing her, just stopping the flow of words, and she inhales rockily, affected by my nearness.
“Paying three thousand dollars for the dress you wore the first night I fucked you is going to be the best purchase I ever made, except for the engagement ring I’m going to buy you one day. I’m going to have that dress mounted and framed over the fireplace in my den.”
There’s a war taking place between her body and her mind. She wants to argue, but she’s turned on by my bluntness. My honesty. My arrogance.
Good. We’re getting somewhere.
I take her right knee in my hand and ease it open, my knuckle trailing down her silky inner thigh toward her pussy.
Once there, I slide that knuckle up and down against the seam of her flesh, groaning deep in my chest when she blossoms open and wetness trickles out.
My future wife’s arousal. A delicacy, as far as I’m concerned.
“Me taking care of things like the dress is what I mean by calling myself your daddy, Vida. You don’t cry under my roof.
You come sit in my lap and tell me what’s wrong and I fucking handle it.
You are my source of happiness, and in return, I get to be your source of care.
” I raise my hand and lower it sharply, spanking her cunt with just enough force to make her gasp. “Do you understand?”
Her hazel eyes widen. “I…W-well, I don’t kno—”
I slap her cunt again, harder this time, and now she whimpers, writhing her hips.
Again, I spank it, witnessing the way it dampens.
Again.
Again.
“Daddy takes care of everything for me,” I say, massaging the sting from her flesh while I lick my tongue into her mouth, kissing her soundly. “Say it and live by it.”
“But…b-but…”
She’s still fighting the battle.
Not quite ready to acquiesce, but right on the verge.
Her incredible body heaves with shallow breaths as I move down, down between her thighs and rub my stiff lips in the abundance of wetness I created, breaching her entrance with my tongue first, giving her a shallow fuck with it while she squeals, followed by the cramming of my middle and ring fingers into her tight channel.
Keeping my fingers buried deep, I flutter my tongue atop her clit, and she cries out, her thighs jerking and shaking.
I forget the war between us that I’m trying to win at this point.
I can’t possibly think of anything but her needs being met.
Meeting them is ingrained in me now.
I bring her right to the brink of coming with flutters and flexed rubs of my tongue, but it’s only a matter of seconds before I’m lunging for her mouth and pinning her down, my fingers wrestling with my zipper to free my cock.
As quickly as possible, I slip a condom out of my pocket and rip the packet with my teeth, rolling on the thin latex.
Stretching the rubber to its limits. Wearing it is muscle memory.
A rule my family’s lawyers have schooled me to follow to avoid entrapment.
I would love more than anything to fuck her with no protection, but I don’t know if she’s comfortable with that and there’s no time for a discussion now. Not when we’re both so worked up.
“Are you ready, angel?”