CHAPTER TWENTY
CADE
Had I been planning to sleep with Bella, I would have arranged things better and wouldn’t have ended our dinner with a walk to the ocean.
But since we had, we also had to go through a short, sexually tinged walk back to the valet stand.
It was all I could do to not pull her into the small courtyards that braided and branched off from Worth Avenue and take her there, against a wall, the darkness and the tropical plants giving us cover while I brought her to oblivion.
Thankfully, the valet was quick to get the car, and before long, we were speeding down County Road toward my house.
I held her hand as I drove, glad once I parked the distance from my garage to the side door wasn’t far.
Once alone inside the mudroom, my mouth was on hers again, and I pressed her against the back of the door, kissing her before we even took off our shoes.
My pulse hammered in my chest, a wild rhythm that matched the heat coursing through me, my body straining with want as I stood close to her.
But this corner of the house was too dim, too cramped, and too wrong for what I craved.
I wasn’t going to let this happen here, not like this.
So, I pulled back, my breath uneven, and broke our embrace.
“Come on,” I murmured, my voice rough as I reached for the wall switch, flooding the house with soft light.
We crossed the threshold into the living room, her hand still in mine, the air between us electric.
I tried to hold out, to keep some shred of control, but halfway across the room, my resolve shattered.
Need roared through me, raw and unrelenting, and I couldn’t wait another second.
In one swift motion, I swept Bella into my arms, her body light and yielding against mine, and guided her toward the wall.
Her back met the smooth surface with a soft thud, her eyes locking onto mine, wide and blazing with the same hunger that had me undone.
I moved my mouth to the nape of her neck, which I kissed again and again.
She relaxed underneath me, a physical sign of giving in to her own wants, and we moved in unison for a few minutes.
There was nothing that mattered more than me and her, and the tension between us was rapidly pushing us to a place of no return.
My fingers found the zipper of her dress, and I yanked it. The fabric slipped off her shoulders, then down her body, and pooled at her feet. I stepped backward and said, “Let me see you.”
She wore a black lacy bra and a pair of gauzy underwear that accentuated her hips. Her breasts overflowed from the cups, spilling out. They were larger and rounder than I expected, and a thousand times better in person.
“My God,” I managed. “You’re stunning.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but I was on her again, the passion taking full control now as we moved together against the heat.
Her hands found the edge of my blazer and pushed it off, sliding it down my shoulders and arms until it fell to the floor next to her dress.
With an even faster pace, her fingers ripped off my shirt, buttons flying, and then tore it off as my mouth devoured her.
Once shirtless, I cupped her ass, feeling the warmth of her skin against my palms. With a gentle yet firm grip, I lifted her body off the ground, and her legs wrapped around my waist. I carried her to the bedroom, each step echoing with anticipation.
Once there, I placed her in the center of the soft, plush bed, her body sinking into the mattress like she was meant to be there.
Bella’s moan reverberated through the quiet room as she reached back with deliberate grace, her fingers deftly unhooking her bra.
The delicate fabric slipped from her shoulders, cascading to the floor in a whisper revealing her completely to me.
She glowed in the dim light from the hallway, her curves catching shadows that accentuated her vulnerability and allure.
Her eyes sparkled with a heady mix of desire and relief, as though a dam of long-suppressed tension had finally burst, flooding the space between us with unspoken promises.
Her fingers traced the line of my jaw, tentative at first, then bolder, igniting a fire that threatened to consume me.
I wanted her. And I was going to take her.
Take this. I was going to claim this connection, this unspoken vow that pulsed between us.
My lips found hers, urgent and hungry, tasting the sweetness of her surrender.
Our connection deepened, a dance of need and discovery, each movement unraveling another layer of restraint.
Her hands roamed my back, nails grazing my skin, urging me closer, deeper, until the world beyond us dissolved.
Time slowed, each second stretching into eternity as we lost ourselves in the rhythm of our shared longing.
Her skin was warm and yielding under my hands, and I took my time, savoring every inch of her.
My fingers traced the curve of her collarbone, lingering at the pulse point in her throat where her heartbeat fluttered like a caged bird.
I kissed her there, the rhythm quickening under my lips, a silent testament to her arousal.
Her hands explored me with equal reverence, mapping the planes of my chest, the muscles of my shoulders, as if she was committing every detail to memory.
Once protected, our bodies connected, and it was with a deliberate slowness that made every sensation more vivid.
Entering her was electric, a spark that ignited a blaze deep within me.
Her breath hitched, a soft sound that sent a shiver down my spine, and I paused, letting the moment stretch, letting the weight of our connection settle over us.
Her eyes held mine, fierce and unguarded, reflecting a trust that made my heart ache.
For the next few moments, I only felt the heat of her skin, the way her body arched to meet mine, and the way her fingers clutched at my back as though anchoring herself to this moment.
Each kiss, each caress, and each thrust was a vow, and all promised this was more than fleeting passion.
This was a claiming of hearts, and a merging of souls.
The intensity built, a crescendo that left us both breathless.
Her hands gripped the sheets, then found me again, pulling me closer as the world narrowed to the space between us.
The rhythm of our bodies became urgent, a shared pulse that drowned out everything else.
When the wave finally broke, it was with a shared cry.
For a moment, we were suspended, weightless, bound only to each other in space.
“Again,” she said after a moment. “I want to have you again.”
Hours later, we lay together, the room now bathed in the soft, golden glow of morning light.
The sheets were a tangled mess around us.
Her hair, loose and wild, spilled across the pillow like a halo spun from midnight, framing her face in a way that made my chest ache.
My heart still pounded, struggling to settle after the storm of our union.
Every breath felt heavy with the weight of what we’d shared, yet light with the joy of finally crossing that threshold.
I shifted beneath the covers, pulling her close until her back pressed against my chest, her warmth seeping into me like a balm. My arms wrapped around her, protective and possessive, fingers tracing lazy patterns across her stomach.
The skin-to-skin contact grounded me, something I’d never known before Bella.
For so many years, I’d doubted other women’s sincerity when they’d attached themselves to me after one date.
Money attracted the wrong type of interest often, but Bella was different.
She didn’t seem to have any other agenda but to be with me.
It could be too early, but the stirring of confidence in us was established.
She was mine, and I was hers.
Her breathing slowed, steady and soft, a rhythm that synced with my own. I pressed a gentle kiss to the nape of her neck, tasting the faint salt of her skin, and felt her shiver in response.
“That was incredible,” I whispered into the quiet of the room, my voice raw with overwhelming emotion.
She turned her head slightly, her eyes finding mine in the dim light, a small, contented smile playing on her lips as she nodded.
The silence that followed was filled with the promise of more moments like this, of a connection that would continue to grow, deepen, and perhaps last.
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” Her voice was thick and sleepy. She closed her eyes and tucked her head into my neck. “Never expected I would with you.”
“It was unexpected for me too, but now that we’re together, I can’t deny it.”
“Some PR opportunity, huh?”
“The very best kind.” I kept my gaze focused on her so she’d know I was listening and that it was okay to talk more and share more with me.
Her expression fell a little. “Doing FanZone was a mistake. I regret it.”
“You don’t have to regret it,” I replied. “That’s a choice you make.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that we have the power to perceive things that happen to us in certain ways. Not that bad things don’t happen to us.
They do, they happen to all of us. But the trick is how we allow things to affect us.
We have the power to decide what we want to take from life and the decisions that we make. ”
“Like what?” She leaned out of my arms and rolled toward me, and I appreciated that about Bella. We were sharing some hard truths, and I valued that she wanted me to know she was fully listening. That’s rare too.
“Like the time I lost five hundred thousand bucks in a crypto scam.” Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“It was a couple years ago when everyone was into that shit. I made a couple trades on an exchange, but my digital wallet got compromised. Hackers drained it all.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, it sucked.” Fucking sucked, actually. “That’s not a small amount of money.”
“That’s like... a fortune. What did you do about it?”
I shrugged against the pillow. “There wasn’t much. The thieves were overseas. It wasn’t like I could tell the FBI, and they’d go after them. I had to eat the loss.”
“That’s awful,” she murmured, and I could almost see the thoughts turning in her head.
“So, I could have been pissed. Stressed out. Angry. And I was all of those things for a little bit, but I quickly realized that if I stayed that way, if I only saw that incident from a place of pain, then that was a choice I was making. That was a thing I was doing.”
She nodded, and I knew she understood where I was going.
“So, you can view FanZone as a regret or as something that you learned from. And that’s up to you.” I sat up in bed and looked at my phone. Seven thirty. Not late by any means, but later than my usual wake up at five. “God, I need some coffee. Do you want any?”
“Sure.”
“Wait here.”
I kissed her quickly, got out of bed, put on the robe hanging on the hook in my bathroom, and padded to the kitchen. In a few minutes, I returned with two lattes from the machine built into the cabinets.
“A latte?” she asked. “You have a latte machine?”
“My decorator insisted on it when she did the renovation of my kitchen. And I use it more than I expected.”
“Well, I’m eager to try it,” she said and took one of the steaming hot cups from me.
I slid back into bed with her, balancing my serving. “I didn’t put any syrups in, so I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s perfect.”
We drank a few sips in silence, and I enjoyed the slowness of the moment.
Only a few women had ever woken up in this bed with me, and none of them were like Bella.
None of them understood my past or the expectations I was always running from, and none of them had the hustle or the moxie that she did.
Bella was willing to do whatever was required to survive, and she was willing to fight and do whatever to stay afloat. And I admired that a lot.
“Do you want to stay?” I asked.
“Want to stay?”
“For breakfast. For lunch. For... just... I don’t know. Stay.”
She smiled. “Yes, I will.”