Chapter 33
LANEY
T hese last couple days had proven to me that whatever was happening between Sterling and me, it wasn’t just about the fine print, terms, and conditions anymore. It wasn’t even just about the fun I’d thought we could have together while we were married anyway.
I still wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was, but it was absolutely more .
As I stood there in the middle of a bedroom the size of the house I’d grown up in, kissing the man I’d married for money, I didn’t feel like someone whose womb had been bought and paid for. I didn’t feel like the wife , as I’d been referred to in that contract, fulfilling some kind of duty.
Ironically, I felt like a woman who was kissing the man she could envision spending the rest of her life with simply because she wanted to. Sterling had shown me so many different sides of himself over the last few weeks, and the more I got to know him, the more I liked him.
This version of him that he’d been in Napa—relaxed, sexy, teasing, and admitting to having kinks while in a horrendously fancy, overpriced boutique? That was a guy I could definitely fall in love with—if I wasn’t already there.
Ever since last night, I’d been dying to get my hands on him again—properly this time. While I’d understood why he’d put a stop to things, the anticipation had only made me want him so much more.
The way he was kissing me made me suspect that he felt the same way. I pushed myself up on my tiptoes and looped my arms around his neck, angling my head back to give him full access.
Sterling groaned into my mouth and his hand traveled into my hair to take it in a firm grip. My scalp tingled a bit where he was tugging, but it felt so good that my nipples peaked and heat pooled between my legs.
Soft moans came out of me, and it seemed that was all it took to make those last tendrils of restraint he’d been holding on to snap. Snaking his arms around me, he picked me up and carried me to the bed, laying me down diagonally across it without ever breaking the kiss.
I ran my hands along the defined muscles in his back, thinking about all those mornings when he’d headed down to the gym in our building. So many times, I’d wondered if I could join him. Not to actually work out but just to watch.
From the feel of things, it would’ve been quite a show, too.
The man wasn’t a brick of muscle, but he was hard and strong, lean and chiseled rather than just bulked up for show.
As I dragged my fingertips from his shoulders to his hips, he deepened our kiss and groaned.
His hips started to move against mine in the most delicious way.
I’d never met a man that I’d felt such physical chemistry with, but right then, with him, I finally understood what it was like to be on fire for someone. Being on the same page with another person to such an extent that it felt like they were reading your mind.
Sterling’s hands moved under my dress and up my thighs. I moaned and dropped my knees to the mattress. His fingertips grazed against the front panel of my panties in a way that made me gasp. Pleasure streaked through me and he grinned against my lips.
“I knew you were going to be wet for me, but I didn’t expect you to be soaked.” Before I could even be embarrassed about his observation, he ran his hands up the length of my arms and kept my wrists pinned to the mattress high above my head. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“Uh huh,” I hummed, eyes fixed on his as I squirmed underneath him. “What’s that?”
“I’m dying for you too.” He whispered the words right against my ear before he tugged the lobe into his mouth and nibbled on it. “It’s been driving me crazy how much I want you.”
I felt my cheeks flush and my eyelids drifted closed. Another moan escaped me as I wondered if this was what it felt like to just surrender. “Prove it.”
“Gladly,” he agreed easily, but it turned out it had been too easily.
“Just as soon as I take care of you. You’re my wife, Laney.
That might not mean much to you yet, but it means everything to me.
It also means that you’ll never have to want for anything, including the release you so obviously want. ”
I sucked in a breath. He ran the hand not holding my wrists between us again, and my moans became uncontrollable. He brought it right between my legs, hooking his fingers into the waistband of my panties and tugging them off.
All I had to do was lift my hips before they were gone. He straddled me as he unzipped the side of my dress, completely taking charge but doing it so seamlessly and effortlessly that I trusted him.
As soon as the fabric was gone, he unhooked my bra and dropped that on the floor too. Then he sat up beside me and slowly raked his gaze over the length of my body. My skin pebbled under the heat of his gaze, but strangely, I didn’t feel exposed or uncomfortable. I felt wanted.
He didn’t leave me hanging for long. Only moments later, he curled himself around my side and let his hand drift down to my core. Upon Gwen’s insistence after finding out I’d gotten married, I’d gotten waxed. Completely bare.
Sterling groaned as his gaze followed his fingers to my mound. “I wasn’t expecting that.” His voice was a deep and throaty rumble. “Is it for me, or have you always done this?”
“It’s for you,” I murmured, trying to fight the flush begging to spread on my cheeks. “Apparently, it’s something some people do before they get married. I had it done a little while after, but?—”
“But I’m so fucking glad you did.”
“Another one of your kinks?”
He chuckled but spread me apart and lowered his gaze again. “Not a kink I knew about before tonight, but I think after this, it might just be.”
He stroked the pad of his finger lightly across my clit, and my breathing hitched. “What other kinks do you have?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to help me find out. I’ve never had time to indulge in shit like that. You?”
My eyes slid shut as I fought to control my hips, doing what I could to keep them from rolling into his touch. My face was probably glowing by now, but I swallowed past it and exhaled a shuddering breath. “It’s not shit, but I’m happy to help you find out.”
“Hmm.” He brushed that finger along my clit again. “What about you?”
“Right now, my only kink is being your wife. Who has been promised that you’ll take care of her.”
“Oh, I will. Now?”
“That would be great,” I forced out between clenched teeth. “Unless one of your kinks is edging.”
“Never heard of it,” he said dismissively. “If it involves delaying something you want, it’s not anything I’m interested in right now, though.”
“Excellent,” I hissed as his fingers dipped to my entrance, but then I remembered that he was still fully clothed. I sat up, suddenly not giving a damn about appearances as I reached for the hem of his shirt.
I clawed at it like some kind of wild animal, but he just lifted his arms and let me toss it away. With that done, he shed his pants and underwear, and even though it shouldn’t have been a particularly flattering view with him sitting beside me, my mouth dried up.
All those workouts had definitely paid off, his muscles as sharp as his features. More than that though, I couldn’t stop staring at his cock.
It was as perfect as those things could be, long enough to reach his navel and thick enough that I knew I would feel him in the morning, with an exposed, gorgeously shaped head and thick veins running along his shaft.
A moan slid out of me and I moved my gaze up to his. “Take care of your wife then, Mr. Westwood, but with that.”
“Fuck, we need a condom.” He twisted to reach for the nightstand and the change in the angle of his body made me see the wetness on his tip.
My mouth started watering, but I cleared my throat just as he opened the drawer. “Do we really need one? We want a baby, don’t we?”
Sterling’s eyebrows shot up as he looked back at me. “Are you sure? We haven’t done any tests or?—”
“Do you trust me?” I asked. This wasn’t a conversation we should be having in the heat of the moment but I couldn’t stop myself. “I’m clean, Sterling. It’s been years since I’ve been with anyone and never without a condom. I had some tests done for a life insurance thing a while back and I’m good.”
“So am I,” he said without skipping a beat. “Are you sure this is alright, though?”
I nodded and our gazes connected. A moment later, he was on top of me, kissing me like the ship was going down. The broad head of him nudged between my legs. I was so wet that there was no resistance whatsoever and he slid inside, groaning as he thrust home.
I locked my legs around his hips, angling my own, and I kissed him back harder. My fingers made a fist in his hair as he started moving in and out. It was like I’d entered another dimension, one in which he and I were somehow tethered to one another and there was no me without him.
We moved together as one, our mouths fused together as our hands roamed and our souls seemed to find one another in a puff of stardust and sparks. There was no other way to describe it, the chemistry flowing between us so far off the charts, it was like they hadn’t even been invented yet.
I met every one of his thrusts with one of my own, my brow furrowing as pleasure started sweeping out from the inner reaches of my being.
To my surprise, I didn’t need to say anything to make him stay the course.
He just did it, keeping his rhythm even until I shattered into a million pieces, with him following right behind as if he’d been waiting for me to get there all along.