Chapter 10
Lia
Igasped and let out a soft groan under the power of his advance. His nearness overwhelmed my senses, and I went liquid in his arms. His body was hard and hot all over, even fully clothed.
He kissed me with power and hunger and all his delicious ambition. If he weren’t holding me up, I would be a puddle on the floor.
The way he made my body light on fire drained all the care I had for the reasons this was a radically irresponsible idea. I could lose the contract and my career in design if things didn’t go well. He could ruin my reputation. But worse than any of that, I could walk away having never known what could be. This moment gave me hope.
I might be able to put flesh to my most coveted fantasies, ones I believed would never be more than that.
Raph made it clear he didn’t care about anything but growing his business. He put all his energy into it. There was no time for anything else. No romance, no relationships. That reality didn’t bode well for happily ever after.
But his mouth possessively devoured mine, and I didn’t give a damn about any of that other stuff.
There was only the scratch of his stubble on my cheeks. There was only the burn in my core and the ribbons of heat spilling out in all directions. Meeting a man like Raphael Teresse didn’t happen every day. It didn’t even happen every lifetime. I was a reserved woman, not a fool.
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to match the flesh to my dreams. Just once. To get him out of my system and stop wondering. And God, was it going to be worth it. Right now, it felt like it was worth everything. Nothing else on Earth mattered except Raphael, his mouth, his body, and what it was doing to me. Not the job, not the future, just Raph. Front and center.
“I wanted to keep our relationship platonic; I did, but then I couldn’t stop staring at your ass. Or those eyes. Or that mouth.” He gave me another kiss as if to prove his point. “And I never do this. Ever. I am under a lot of pressure and can’t commit to anything past our contract.”
Raph looked more serious than death. And was that a hint of nervousness? He waited for an answer.
“We drove together. You’ll need to take me home,” I whispered as I looked up into his eyes, breathless from the frantic beat of my wild heart.
He stared at me as if he were unsure how I felt. But I didn’t let him wonder long. Feeling a burst of courage at the green light he’d given me, I pressed my lips to his jaw and let my fingers pluck open the top button of his shirt. His fingertips dug into my ass with enough force that I gasped. He growled his approval and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me to the door.
I didn’t do anything in my life thus far that I deemed particularly interesting or of note, but this man, this job, this building, this moment was shaping up to be one for the record books. No matter how the rest of this afternoon went, I would remember it for the rest of my life.
We left the work site, Raph locking the front door behind us swiftly. We hopped in his black sports car and headed back to my apartment building. In the car, I pulled out my phone, made sure the notes on the building were saved, and then pulled up a text message to Shell.
Lia: Don’t come home for lunch. Consider this an update.
I set my hand on his thigh, my fingertips teasing through his pants. He groaned and his head dropped back against the headrest. He grabbed my wrist and pressed my hand to his erection, gritting his teeth, air hissing out between them.
When we finally pulled up in front of my building and he had parked in guest parking, we stumbled, crazed, to the door. I hastily punched in the code and we flew into the small ground floor entryway. While I usually took the stairs, today was an elevator kind of day.
As soon as the metal doors slid closed behind us, Raphael was on me. Tongue seeking mine, hands cupping my ass and pulling me into him, pressing hard against me. Hard. Oh, so hard. I squirmed and moaned, reminded of how long it had been since anyone touched me this way. Of how long it had been since I wanted to be.
Raph reached up and pulled my shirt down to reveal the lacy cup of my bra. He pushed it aside to expose the rosy pink bud of my nipple. As his mouth was lowering to me, the elevator leveled, and the doors slid apart. He pulled away as we came face to face with my older neighbor down the hall, Mrs. Dennison.
I blushed scarlet, with my shirt in disarray. Raph shielded me with his body.
“Good afternoon Mrs. Dennison.”
I giggled as he continued to pull me along even after my dear old neighbor was out of sight, elevator doors closed behind her.
“I’m in 130C.”
At last we came to my front door, and my trembling hands dropped my keys. Sure, now the nerves hit. I got the door open and Raph pulled me inside, slamming it shut behind us.
“I need you.”
I sighed and looked up at him, catching his searing gaze. My hands found his belt buckle and gave it a tug. He helped me as I fumbled with his belt and pants.
His fingers reached for the next button of his shirt and went to work unbuttoning, while I watched intently. When he finished with the buttons, he shrugged out of the shirt, revealing a simple tee underneath which he pulled up over his head with one hand. It mussed his hair and revealed his bare torso. God, he was lean.
Drinking up the view was pleasure enough. I loved the light dusting of hair over his chest, and the faint definition of his abdomen. He wasn’t sporting washboard abs, but he had the perfect amount of muscle. I reached up to touch him, his skin warm and woody. I sighed. His scent intoxicated my already addled mind.
When my hands landed on his hot skin, he reached down and let his pants fall, standing in front of me in designer boxer briefs that strained to contain his swollen erection. When I reached for the waistband of his boxers, his hand grasped my wrist, stopping me inches from what I craved.
Raphael knelt one knee on the arm of the chair and leaned down. “First, we need to get you undressed,” he murmured into my ear, sending shivers through me.
I laid back against the plush fabric of the chaise end of the sectional sofa, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it on the floor behind us. He reached down and traced a long finger over the tops of my breasts, following the line of the lace, causing goosebumps to spring up. His fingers trailed down the center of my stomach and down to the top of my jeans. They left gaps where my hipbones protruded, and his finger dipped first into the one gap, and then into the other. My head swam. I needed more. Craved it.
I lifted my hips to him, and he unbuttoned my jeans. He slid them down my legs, and pulled them off one leg at a time before running his hands back up my legs and to either side of my hips, gripping me. His fingers ran along the lace edge of my panties.
I unlatched the front closure of my bra without breaking eye contact. His hands journeyed to my chest to cup my bare flesh in his hands.
I bowed into him. It had been an eternity since someone had laid loving hands on me, and I was realizing how desolate that time had been. Raph leaned down and brushed a lock of hair out of my face and kissed me gently.
His tongue moved along the seam of my lips, then slipped along my own while his fingers expertly plucked at my aching nipples. He tipped my chin up and kissed my jaw and moved his way down my neck and to my left breast, sucking the pebbled nub into his mouth. His tongue circled it, ripping a gasp from my throat while his fingers toyed with the right one, rolling and pinching it between his thumb and finger.
Raph wrapped his arms around the curve of my back and I arched up to him, my arms snaking around his neck and my breasts pressing into his chest.
“End of the hall.”
With a nod, he scooped me up into his arms like I weighed nothing. He deposited me on my fluffy plum duvet after kicking the door closed. He came down to hover right above me, both of us wearing nothing but our underwear. I picked my head up and sucked his lip into my mouth, biting gently. Teasing. He ground his hips into me, letting me feel the immense effect I had.
“Condoms are in the hall closet.”
It took him what felt like an eternity to return, chill setting in the moment he left me. When he finally came back, he was holding all our clothes, and also the prized foil packet. He closed the bedroom door behind him, and came back to my side at last.
Raphael drew me into a deep kiss.
My tongue swiped against his, and he pushed me back onto the bed. His knee nudged my legs apart, and he kissed from my lips to my neck, down to my breasts, bringing each nipple to his lips to give it a tug. He trailed damp kisses down my belly, moving ever lower. My pulse thrummed under my skin.
I couldn’t catch my breath. His stubbly chin abraded my abdomen. His tongue dipped into my navel and licked a short trail to the edge of my lace panties. He dipped his tongue into the gap where my hip was, then hooked his fingers and pulled my panties down my thighs.
It was his turn to groan, then.
“You’re so beautiful…” He mumbled against the hot skin of my mound, then breathed in.
I couldn’t handle waiting a second longer, so I reached for him. I ran my hands down his chest, over his tight stomach, and then to the waistband of his underwear. I pulled it down hard, so he bounced free. We were naked, and I had never wanted someone as fiercely as I wanted Raph.
He retrieved the condom packet and tore it open. Once he was sheathed, he positioned himself between my legs and pushed forward. I cried out as he stretched and filled me, inch by inch.
When he was seated as deep as he could push, he began to move.
He stroked in and out of me at a steady pace, his gorgeous face glistening with a light glow of sweat, intense and surging closer and closer to the cliff’s edge. He gritted his teeth, his jaw working. Our gasps and pants beneath grew louder and more frantic as friction and movement and connection dulled the rest of the world. He felt too good. I clutched at his back, my nails biting little crescents into his skin. Sex never felt like this before. It was new, the sensation of being dragged under ocean waves that quieted everything except the pounding of flesh and the fire in his eyes.
Warmth expanded in my core. The heat filled my belly, pushing me sky high. As I neared my breaking point, my walls clamped down around him and the heels of my feet dug into his strong thighs. I squeezed my eyes shut and tensed my shoulders before I let go.
My eyes flew open with an ‘OH!’ as my orgasm shook me. He picked up the pace, dragging out my pulsations until I came back to Earth. He picked up my hips to fuck me deeper. I held myself steady on my elbows and watched through hazy eyes as Raphael lost control.