Chapter 7
The car ride back to Adelaide’s flat couldn’t have taken more than fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
I shifted in my seat, trying unsuccessfully to ease the feeling of my erection pressing into my zipper.
It took everything in me not to reach across the seat and pull Adelaide into my lap and lavish her long, perfect neck in kisses, but I had the sense that she would have a few more qualms than I did about that display of affection with Jackson in the driver’s seat.
We reached her building and parked in front of the flat. Adelaide’s hand grabbed mine before I could get out to open her door.
“Stay with me tonight?” she asked, her voice soft, like she was afraid I might say no.
“Of course. I had planned on keeping an eye on your place tonight anyway, just to make sure you stay safe. Faxon will want to sweep your place before we go in, especially after what happened earlier. Is that okay?”
She nodded and gave me a small smile before I kissed her swiftly on the cheek.
I rushed to Adelaide’s door to help her out, making eye contact with Jackson and dipping my head just before I shut the door, a silent acknowledgment that he would be parked out front until I was ready to leave.
I knew that Steffan and Jenson were just behind us, ready to take up their positions out of sight but in close range of the garden-level flat.
Adelaide unlocked the door and let Faxon in first. We waited outside while he quickly checked the space, reappearing after a few minutes with a nod to indicate the all clear.
“Is your flatmate home?” I asked as Adelaide and I entered.
The flat was small but cozy. The front half of the space was taken up by a living room with an assortment of mismatched furniture, while a tidy kitchen sat at the back.
A gray countertop with two wooden barstools separated the spaces and seemed to serve as a dining area, based on the discarded bowl and spoon set in front of one of the stools.
A door to the left led to one bedroom, while one to the right led to another.
A second door on the right opened into a bathroom.
Framed prints of everything from watercolor florals to line drawings of cats decorated the walls, while colorful pillows and throw blankets made the space feel warm and welcoming.
It was one of the most delightful homes I had been in in a long time.
Adelaide shook her head as she hung her coat on a hook by the door and made her way to the kitchen, scooping the bowl and spoon from the counter as she did and depositing them in the sink.
“No. Colette graduated last year. She’s a nurse and has been working night shifts lately. She won’t be home until early morning.”
I took a seat on one of the stools as Adelaide plucked two wine glasses from a drying rack by the sink and set them on the counter between us. “Wine? I have Wexstone’s finest boxed vintage,” she said with a posh accent, nodding to indicate the box of red wine by the small fridge.
I laughed and nodded. “I would be a fool to pass up such an offer.” Truthfully, I was more nervous than I had been with a woman in a long time.
I didn’t have a dating track record like Vince or my brother’s, though I wasn’t exactly a monk, either.
But Adelaide was different from anyone else I'd been with. I didn’t want to be drunk for whatever happened next—if anything—but I had only had a few beers at the party and knew a glass of wine wouldn’t hurt.
As she poured the wine, my eyes continued to skim the kitchen, landing on the windowsill above the kitchen sink.
“Adelaide,” I asked, my head tilting to the left curiously, “is that a pair of binoculars by your kitchen window?”
Adelaide whirled around, her eyes wide, wine nearly sloshing out of the glass she was holding. “I…um…well.” She cleared her throat nervously. “Yes.” I met her gaze, the corners of my mouth twitching upward as I suppressed a grin. I waited.
She set the glass back on the counter with a resigned sigh before the words spilled out of her.
“I’m nosy, okay! I’m infernally nosy and the people who live in the building behind us are rather curious individuals and sometimes I just…
want to see what’s going on. They keep digging random holes in the yard; I thought for a bit that perhaps they were burying bodies, but it seems they’re just burying rocks.
Possibly potatoes? It’s been quite the saga, honestly. ” Her cheeks flushed a brilliant red.
“You know, you could have just told me they were your flatmate’s,” I teased. “But, I guess now I know: if there is figurative tea to be spilled, you will be there lapping it up.”
“Absolutely. Knowledge is power, or something like that, right?”
“Right.” I laughed.
She handed me my glass of wine and stood next to me while she took a sip of her own.
“I know some tea you could share,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Earlier tonight, when Faxon was doing his whole bodyguard thing, he called you Whitesnake. What is that about?” she asked through a giggle.
“It’s my code name. Whitesnake is one of my favorite bands.”
“Oh, right.” She took another drink of her wine. “I’m so ignorant to all of the security stuff; it’s all quite new to me.”
“Look.” I set my wine down and grabbed her bandaged hand. “I am truly sorry for tonight. I don’t want you to think that’s normal or anything. I hate that our night had to end on a low note.”
Adelaide set her wine down and moved closer to stand between my legs.
“Who said the night was over? I’m still up to end it on a high note.” She leaned in to brush a soft kiss against my lips. “Go tell Faxon that I’ll handle your Whitesnake or whatever tonight.”
I couldn’t help but let out a boisterous laugh.
Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I texted Faxon that I’d be staying here for the foreseeable future and gave him a head’s up that Adelaide’s roommate would be returning home early in the morning, then laid my phone on the counter.
Adelaide slowly pulled me off the stool and led me to her bedroom.
The small space held a full-size bed covered in a sage duvet and an assortment of throw pillows.
An antique dresser stood against one wall, while the opposite wall was filled with shelves, half of which were stacked with novels while the other half displayed row upon row of shoes.
I stopped in my tracks as I took in what had to be at least thirty pairs.
“So, I, uh…” Adelaide started.
“Like shoes?” I finished.
“Yeah, something like that,” she said sheepishly.
“We all have our vices.” I spun her around to face me.
“I think my new vice might be you.” I lightly kissed her lips.
“And the way you taste.” I kissed her cheek.
“And the sounds you make when I do this.” She moaned as I trailed my lips down her neck.
“Mmm, yep. Those sounds are my new favorite thing. I might be addicted.”
She slowly backed up until the back of her thighs hit the bed.
I lifted her up under her ass and tossed her back onto the mattress before crawling up beside her.
Our lips met again while I let my hand slide up her side to her breast. I gave it a light squeeze and then pinched the peaked nipple showing through her dress.
“God, Oliver,” she whined.
“You like that?” I smiled.
“I love it,” she answered between kisses. Before I could squeeze her breast again, she climbed up to straddle my lap, her body-hugging dress riding up her thighs as she pressed me back against the bed.
“God, you’re so sexy, Laidie. You have no idea how many times I have thought of what you would look like sitting naked on my lap.”
“You’ve thought about this?”
I hummed. “A lot,” I admitted as I ran my fingers under the hem of her dress. “Especially tonight. I’m fairly certain my brain melted the moment I laid eyes on you in this dress. I keep imagining what it would be like to get you out of it, too.”
“Well, I think it’s time to put your imagination to rest and see for yourself.”
She reached back, unzipping the dress before grabbing the hem and pulling it over her head.
Her perfectly round breasts sprang free, bouncing slightly.
The silky material grazed her dusty pink nipples, making them even harder.
I ran my eyes over her tanned body, realizing the only thing separating us was a lacy black thong and my own clothes.
“Adelaide, how did I get so lucky to be here with you tonight?” I ran my hands over her thighs.
She bent down and brushed her lips over mine before trailing kisses down my neck.
Her fingers moved deftly, unbuttoning my black shirt and sliding it over my shoulders before continuing to kiss her way down my body, tracing her tongue over my abs and the small trail of hair that led to the top of my pants.
She stopped at my belt buckle and looked up at me before continuing.
I could barely think, much less speak, so I simply nodded my assent.
I couldn’t believe this was finally happening.
Adelaide opened my belt, then undid the button and zipper on my jeans. I shifted my hips up as she slipped her fingers under the waistband of my boxer briefs, tugging them off in one swift motion along with my jeans.
My cock sprang free, hard against my stomach, and I grabbed it, running my hand down the shaft.
Adelaide watched and something like excitement swept across her eyes.
She ran her tongue across her bottom lip before moving my hand and replacing it with her own.
I almost came undone as she slid her plump lips over the tip of my cock, licking the precum that was already escaping, and took me to the back of her throat.
Oh God. Keep it together, Oliver. Grandmas in nightgowns, naked mole rats, Donald Trump…