Eighteen #3
“Women like me—what does that even mean? I am me and there is no other.” She grabbed his jaw and turned his face so he looked her in the eye.
“I am telling you that I love you, Elliot. I do not say those words easily. And my feelings are not because of your financial stability or anything else you want to blame. It’s you I care about, you who attracts me, not your money or house or the way you look.
You could have asked me out a year ago, Elliot, and I would have accepted, because I find you incredibly attractive, but I would have quickly learned how different you are from other men.
There is no hiding how special you are. Why do you believe you are somehow less than the rest of the men out there when you’re so much more? Why can’t you see what I see?”
His expression was unreadable. “Trust me, Nadia, I see exactly who I am.”
Her heart pinched as she realized how much she overestimated his confidence.
Perhaps she’d even overestimated his affection for her, but his reserve did nothing to diminish her feelings for him.
Everything she’d said had been true. Stepping close to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his strong shoulder.
“I love you, Elliot. Because you are sweet and gentle and honest to a fault when you actually tell me what’s going on in your head.
You don’t have to hide yourself from me or be some sort of savior in order for me to love you.
I want to know all of you, the real you.
I’m sorry if my curiosity came off as judgmental.
I would never judge you because you have yet to judge me and there’s plenty to criticize. ”
His arms slowly closed around her and squeezed. “I’m sorry for getting defensive. I don’t want to lose you. I’ll figure out how to do this, but it’s going to take some time.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
He let out a deep breath. “You have to be patient with me. I’m not someone who hurries things and I hate feeling like I’m being rushed, especially when it’s something important to me.”
“Learning curve.”
He chuckled. “Right. A learning curve.”
The walls that protected him were thick and reinforced by time. “I can be patient so long as you remember you are not a pest and passion shouldn’t be controlled.” She stroked his tie. “You have to let it out or it will eat you up inside. Don’t hide your desires from me. I want the whole you.”
His breathing labored as his face pinched and he seemed to struggle to get his words out. “I’ve thought about you every day since I first met you, Nadia. The amount of passion I’m holding in is frightening.”
“Since the night you brought me here?”
“No. Since the day Asher brought me to your studio.”
“But you barely looked at me. You never said anything.”
His gaze drifted to the wall. “I figured you were taken.”
She pulled his chin back to hers and brushed his lips with her mouth. “I would have gone out with you.” To think, all this time she could have been with him instead of Ian and the two before him.
He swallowed. “I dreamed of returning to your studio and telling you how I felt. I’ve had countless fantasies. But never in a million years did I think that you’d actually be with me.”
Her heart jerked at his admission, a piece of the wall shifting. Lifting her lashes, she smiled into his eyes. “Did you touch yourself when you had fantasies about me?”
His jaw twitched as color stole across his cheeks.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She smiled. “You’re a living, breathing, red-blooded man, Elliot. Stop pretending you’re above carnality. Give in. Take what you want. You don’t have to fantasize anymore. Be yourself. That’s the man I want in my bed.”
He glanced at her over the rims of his glasses. “You’re sure.”
“Positive.”
“Now?”
She shrugged. “If that was our first argument, maybe we should make up.”
His hand caught the back of her neck, tipping her head to the side as his mouth sealed over hers. He gripped her hip, backing her to the wall as his tongue pierced her lips.
Rising to her toes, she dropped her clothing and met his passion with her own. “Yes, take what you want,” she rasped as his mouth worked down her throat, his hands stripping her bra to her waist.
He kissed her deeply, his hand gripping her breast as his other hand cupped her sex through her panties. She moaned, grateful to finally see his control slide.
“I want you,” he growled into her mouth. “So much I can hardly think straight.”
She cupped him, stroking his engorged flesh through his pants. “Take me.”
His hand wedged into the front of her panties, delving into her sex and she gasped.
“You wear too many clothes.” She jerked at his tie, loosening the knot as his fingers grazed her clit.
She ripped open his shirt and buttons went pinging across the floor. “Sorry.”
He growled, his lips and teeth scraping down her shoulder as his finger surged deep and her body pressed into the wall.
“More.”
He fingered her harder, his mouth dropping to her breast as he sucked her nipple between his lips. He switched to her other breast as his fingers worked her into a frenzy of pleasure.
Her focus somehow dropped to his belt, unfastening the leather and pulling it free with a hiss and a snap. She caught his scorching flesh in her palm, curling her fingers around his thickness and stroked hard.
“I want to be inside of you,” he hissed, removing his fingers and staggering back.
Pressed against the wall, her breath caught as she stared at him, shirt gaping, chest heaving, eyes wild as his thick cock pushed hard against the elastic of his briefs. She licked her dry lips.
“Condom.”
Reaching for his wallet, he quickly withdrew a condom and tossed his wallet to the floor. He sheathed himself and crowded her against the wall. “Is this okay?”
“Don’t ask. Just do.”
He glanced down, left, right, and back to her. “Turn around.”
She twisted so she faced the wall, her body desperate to feel him inside of her. Angling her body, she quivered as he stepped close, lining up his cock with her sex.
His hands caught her hips, hitching her posture in a way that gave him easier access and he plunged into her. His fullness stretched her and she contracted around his length. Her palms slid up the wall, her nails digging into the expensive wallpaper as he thrust again.
“God, you’re amazing,” he growled, thrusting harder.
“Don’t stop!” He was so deep, so possessive. This was the side of him she wanted, so unrefined, disheveled, and raw.
His hands released her hips and gripped her breasts, pulling tightly as he rammed into her, driving her up on her toes. He pinched her nipples, lowering his other hand to her pussy and teasing her clit. She keened breathily as pleasure knifed through her, her knees trembling.
A wave of ecstasy stole through her and she was coming. He fucked her harder, confessing a litany of naughty demands.
“I want to fuck you every hour of the day. I want your scent all over me. Mine all over you. You’re like an addiction I need to feed and I’m tired of fighting it.”
Her mind short-circuited as one orgasm folded into another. She wanted all of those things, too.
“I want to be everything you need. I want to know all your desires and make them realities. I want to make you happier than any other man ever has.”
She surged forward as he pumped his hips hard, his flesh smacking deliciously with hers. He caught her at the waist, thrusting deep and groaned, his body shaking with a shiver behind her, his release escaping with a guttural moan laced with the relief of finally letting go.
They panted in the silent hallway, a sense of liberation blanketing her. He took a staggering step back and her body quivered as his support eased. She glanced over her shoulder and he looked away.
“Sorry. I don’t know—”
She twisted and caught his face between her hands. “You do not apologize for that, Elliot. That was passion, and I’m glad to see you have so much.” She kissed him hard and felt his tension ease as his arms gently wrapped around her.
Pulling back, she whispered, “I love you. I loved that. Don’t you dare hide that side of yourself from me, do you understand?”
He nodded tightly. His clothes were a mess. His shirt was ripped, his tie was undone, and his part obliterated. “I didn’t know women ... liked… You’re sure I wasn’t too rough with you?”
She smiled and arched a brow. “It shouldn’t matter what women like, only what your woman likes. I like when you take control and I like when you lose it. Don’t be ashamed of your desires. I want to know all of them.”
His head lifted and something heady flashed in his eyes. It was as if her words unleashed a part of him he’d kept tethered for far too long, the metaphorical leash fraying with each praising word she spoke. Maybe if she encouraged him enough, that tie he kept fastened around his control would snap.
“Don’t be afraid to tell me what you want, Elliot. It might surprise you the things I’d do to see you happy.”
His hand caught her neck, his thumb brushing possessively over her jaw. “I want you to sleep in my bed.”
Rising to her toes, she kissed him. “You’re very sexy when you’re direct. But I already told you I wasn’t letting you go tonight. Take me to bed, Mister Caveman.”