35. The Maestro
35
THE MAESTRO
Elodie
The next morning, the girls make plans to have boba after school again, this time with Margo, before they come to my shop. I say yes, then after I drop off Eliza, I’m doing math in my head. Calculating when Gage will return from his run. How much time I have.
Just enough.
I’m compelled. Utterly compelled. I’m not even sure why specifically, but there’s something I want badly for our secret date.
And I want it now.
Picking up the pace, I race walk the final blocks to Zane’s house, fingers crossed. When I unlock the door, I check the foyer for the sign of running shoes just shed. Nope. He must still be pounding the pavement in his sneakers.
I kick off my shoes.
Rushing upstairs, I head to my room, strip out of my exercise pants, then shimmy into a black bustier and matching lace panties.
I hustle over to the nightstand, grab a friend, then lie back on the covers. I click on my favorite site, finding a video I bookmarked a while ago. One that just gets the job done.
I get myself in the mood.
A few minutes later, the door snicks open.
I smile mischievously.
I shift to my side, my back to the door, the phone propped against a pillow. The woman in the video does the same, her hand playing the role of the vibrator, coasting down her curves and over her breasts, then settling between her thighs.
With her first throaty moan, I tremble too, picturing what’s to come as I rub the toy against my panties.
On the screen a man arrives in the doorway, leans his forearm against it, watches her.
My breath catches.
I turn the toy up a level, brushing it against the dampening lace, over my clit. The man stares at her for a few hungry seconds, unbeknownst to her. She startles, but not for long. She turns to him, a come-hither look in her eyes.
My pulse surges as the man on the screen stalks into the room. Then it speeds even faster when Gage calls out, “Hey, baby.”
My eyes flutter closed from the nickname.
“Upstairs,” I call out, a little raspy already.
His footfalls echo on the steps as adrenaline spins higher in me, as my fantasy meets my reality.
Gage has no idea what’s in store for him. Just like I had no idea what was in store for me that morning at Cupid’s Span. I’m returning the favor. A thrill rushes through me knowing how much he’ll like his surprise.
Opening my eyes, I rub the head of the toy cock right where I want it, arousal spiking in me.
His footsteps grow louder. He’s almost here. I rub a little faster, more urgently. Then he stops and a low, appreciative groan rumbles across the bedroom. “Best day ever.”
I smile wide and pleased, but I don’t turn to him yet. I keep playing with myself as he stalks over to the side of the bed behind me.
“Fuck, baby. You’re so fucking sexy. Is this what you were doing when you would text me at night?”
Shuddering from the heat of his words, I nod, keeping up the rhythm. “Yes,” I say, and then I shift to my back, and meet his gaze. He looks rabid. Then he looks to the screen, his lips parting as he watches for several seconds the scenario unfolding on the phone. The man on the screen is now lying naked behind the woman on the bed, working the toy on her.
My breath comes faster. Gage’s comes in a carnal groan, then a demand, “Let me do it.”
It’s said full of need, full of savage want. He barely waits for me to answer. Just reaches for the waistband of his shirt with one hand and tugs it off in the swiftest, sexiest move.
“Are you sure you can handle it? It is The Command Performance after all,” I say, grazing the toy over the now soaked panel of my panties.
He moves across the bed like a cat. “I’m fucking sure, wife .”
I shiver from that name too. “But this toy works really fast. That’s why I didn’t take my panties off yet. I didn’t want to come too quickly.”
He drags a hand down his face, like he’s trying to get a grip on the situation. “Thanks for that warning.”
In a flash, he’s at my feet, grabbing the toy from me, tearing down my panties.
“Look at you, baby. Just fucking look at you. So turned on for your man,” he praises as he hands me the toy again. “Show me.”
I obey, running The Command Performance through my slick folds.
He doesn’t look away from my center. He’s mesmerized, and it makes me feel powerful and beautiful all at once. He roams his hands up my calves to my knees, then spreads me apart. Staring wantonly. “Show me how you fuck yourself with it. I want to see exactly how you work it so I can do it the way you like.”
My nipples harden. I love that he doesn’t think he can do it better than the toy or better than me. I love that he just wants to know exactly how I want it so he can give it to me that way. I show him, teaching him, pleasure pulsing through my bones as I rub the toy against my swollen clit, arching into its vibration, gasping out shuddery breaths.
Tingles race through my body, everywhere.
He holds out his palm. “Mine. Now,” he barks out.
Excited by his order, I hand it over. He slides the toy against my clit and I howl in pleasure.
It’s more than good. It’s fantastic. His eyes stray again to the phone where the man on the screen has tossed the toy aside and has entered her.
Gage’s eyes return to me. “You watch porn,” he says and he sounds amazed, delighted too. “And you like when your man finds you playing with yourself.”
I nod quickly. Urgently. Clawing at the sheets. “I do.” The pleasure is so intense I can barely think. I can barely speak. He pushes the toy into me, going deeper, filling me with it. “God, yes,” I shout.
In seconds, he’s owning me with the dildo I bought the night I met him, fucking me deep, artfully.
“I’ve never done this before,” I say, a vulnerable confession, but one that answers my why . This is why I raced home. This is why I wanted to surprise him. To give him this first of mine. To experience a first with him.
“Me neither,” he says quickly.
Colors dance before my eyes. Pleasure multiplies in me.
I wasn’t expecting a first for both of us. But I wasn’t expecting any of these feelings for Gage Archer. The way I want him. The way I need him. The way our intimacy keeps surprising both of us in the best of ways.
As he fucks me with the toy, he praises me. “Fucking beautiful. So fucking sexy. So fucking mine. ”
That last word thrums through me, lighting me up everywhere. Pleasure coils in me, tighter, then I burst, grabbing the sheets as I shatter.
When I come down, he eases out the toy, turns it off, and tosses it on the covers.
I push up on my elbows, greedy for him to return the favor. “Show me how you got off to me.”
“I fucking will, baby.” Like he’s never wanted anything more in his life, he shoves down his shorts. He slides a hand between my thighs and slicks up his fingers with my orgasm. Gripping his hard shaft, he coats his length with my arousal.
His fist is shuttling his cock, his jaw tensing, and he’s so incredibly sexy like this. “Fuck, baby, I need to feel you. I need to feel you gripping me. Let me fuck you,” he says.
“Please fuck me,” I answer. His shorts vanish and he’s climbing over me, guiding his eager dick inside me. Then hooking my legs over his shoulders. I can’t move like this, and I don’t even want to as he sinks into me.
“Oh god, it’s better,” I say.
His grin is savage. “Yesss.”
He can barely speak. He just fucks me hard and deep. His grunts are long and feral. He takes me urgently, a man needing his woman. But he has other needs too.
Mine.
Even though I came already, he’s got that determined look in his eyes. The one that says his woman comes first and second.
He maneuvers a hand between us, stroking my swollen clit and driving me wild till I’m begging for him harder and deeper. And he gives me everything I need till I shatter again. He’s right there with me, breaking apart on a loud, passionate grunt.
Then collapsing onto me.
Kissing my collarbone. My jawline. My cheek. Sighing against me, a man content. “Gonna call me Maestro now?”
I laugh. “Maybe I will…Maestro.”
He smiles against my neck. “Mmm. That was the best surprise.”
“I’m glad you liked it,” I say.
“I like everything with you, Elodie,” he says, his voice rough with sex, but then soft, too, when he repeats one word: “Everything.”
I don’t think he’s just talking about the sex. I’m not either when I say, “Me too.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, we’re good boys and girls, dressed and ready to head to work. On the way out, his phone buzzes. “Grams,” he says, then clicks open a text. After a few seconds, he rolls his eyes. “It’s Sebastian.”
I tense, fear gripping me. “What is it now? Did he tell Felix? Did he smear us on social? Did he say we lied about being fake engaged?—”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. No, he just started this new campaign. He hired a bunch of pretty women to eat chocolate seductively.”
I grimace. “He is the worst.” But then, he hardly matters. “He can do whatever he wants. My chocolate is five million times better, and he’ll never get my recipes.”
“Damn straight your chocolate is better. Also his views suck,” Gage says.
“Karma,” I say, and karma is this too. “And I’m paying off the loan on Friday.”
“Congratulations.” He picks me up and spins me around. “I always believed in you.”
And the thing is, he did.
When he sets me down, his green eyes sparkle with mischief. “Enjoy work today,” he says, and there’s a secret in his voice.
“What’s that for?”
He shrugs innocently. “What’s what for?”
“That!” I point at his crooked grin.
“You’ll see.”
“Gage!”
He drops a kiss to my forehead on the front step. “You’ll find out at the shop.”
“Are you sending me something again?”
“Maybe,” he says, then heads down the steps, waving goodbye.
But I race down after him. “You sent me flowers yesterday.”
“I know.”
“And you just told me you always believed in me.”
“I know that too.”
He’s doing so many things for me. Words and deeds. They’re both terrifying and thrilling.
“I love them all. And I love these secret dates.”
“Me too.”
But I still don’t know what to do with all these new emotions jostling around inside me. I rise up on my tiptoes and kiss him once more. Then I look up. Sigh. Shake my head. “No snow today.”
“Maybe tomorrow.”
He leaves and when I get to work, a delivery woman heads into the shop a few minutes later. “Are you Elodie?” she barks.
“Yes.”
She hands me a white envelope the size of a card. I rip it open. Then laugh. It’s a print of one of the graffiti roosters from our first date. I open it and read.
Remember our first date? That time we went on a ferry ride and had our first kiss. Meet me at the ferry terminal tomorrow morning for our secret date.
I clasp it to my chest, my heart fluttering.