Chapter Fourteen
COOPER
“You look beautiful.”
Tucking a gleaming strand of dark hair behind her ear, I traced my finger over the line of her jaw and down her neck, lingering in the hollow of her collarbone before dropping between her temptingly-plump breasts.
She quivered beneath the featherlight touch as if about to take flight, but her feet stayed where they were. Staring up at me, those sky-blue eyes I loved were torn between fear and desire.
Her voice was barely a whisper, anguished and raw. “You said you wouldn't.”
“I said I wouldn't compromise you. I won't. I didn't.”
“But—”
Cupping her face in my palms, I tilted her head up to mine. “You're not my dirty little secret, Alice. You're mine. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Next year. You're mine.”
Her voice shook as she said, “I don't understand.”
“I know you don’t, but you will.”
Her lips parted beneath mine, her mouth tasting of champagne. I deepened the kiss, my hand pressed to the bare skin of her back, her heart thumping, wild beneath my touch.
When I straightened, she swayed, still staring up at me, her eyes clouded with confusion.
“I told you, Alice, you’re mine. Don't you want to be? Mine?”
She nodded, her mouth open, words stuck in her throat. All she got out was, “But, I— You—”
“I'm done waiting. I wanted you, but you were married, and I waited. Finally, you divorced him, and still, I waited. I wanted to give you time, but that time is up. I'm done waiting, Alice. I'm not going to pretend this is less than it is.”
“What is it?” she asked, breathless, light filling her eyes, chasing away the clouds. She needed me to say the words. I could give her that. I’d been waiting to give her that for years.
“It’s you and me, Alice. Together. At work. At home. This isn’t a fling. Not for me.”
“This is real?”
“As real as it gets,” I promised. Sliding my arms around her, pulling her flush to my body, I looked down into her wide, wide eyes. “Doesn't it feel real?”
She swallowed hard and nodded.
“If you want out, now’s your chance. I'll let you walk out that door. You can come to work on Monday, and we’ll pretend nothing happened.”
It might kill me, but if that was what she needed, I’d do it.
Fear opened a chasm in my heart, but I forced out the words I needed to say. “If this is just sex for you, tell me now and I’ll let you go.”
Alice stroked her fingertips across my cheek in a touch so light it sent shivers down my spine. “It could never be just sex with you, Cooper. It's only this good because it is you.”
“Because it’s us,” I said, the chasm in my heart filling with a light that shoved out all the dark. My mother's manipulations, my father's betrayals. None of it mattered. Not in this moment. Not with her.
I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this free. A grin stretched across my mouth as I closed my hands around Alice's small waist and lifted her, tossing her over my shoulder for the second time that night.
She shrieked, the sound dissolving into laughter. Instead of battering me with her fists, this time she reached down and closed a hand over my ass, squeezing appreciatively.
I strode down the hall to my bedroom like the victor in a bloody battle. Alice was my prize and I planned to enjoy her. Thoroughly.
In my bedroom, I set her on her feet. Not on the floor, but on a trunk at the foot of my bed. I couldn't remember what was in there—the decorator had chosen it—but it was sturdy, and it put Alice six inches taller than me.
Stepping back, I took in every inch of her, from the gleam of her dark hair to the painted toenails hidden by dark stockings. “Are you going to show me what you have under that dress?”
Alice's lips quirked, and she reached behind her for the zipper. She drew it down slowly, so slowly I thought I’d die of unfulfilled lust by the time she got to the bottom.
One smooth shoulder dipped, dark green taffeta sliding down her arm. She dipped the other and the whole dress fell mere inches, revealing two narrow black straps and a hint of lace at her breasts.
My cock was a steel bar. I needed more.
Alice drew in a sharp breath and pressed her hands to her chest, halting the dress’s slide. With a toss of her short hair, she looked down her nose at me, suddenly imperious.
“Lose the jacket.”
Only a fool would argue with a half-naked woman telling him to take off his clothes.
I'm no fool.
My jacket hit the chair behind me. I looked back at her, expectant.
“And the tie.”
The tie was gone.
“Now you,” I countered.
Alice moved her hands, the weight of the dress pulling it down two more slow inches. The tops of her breasts came into view, framed by a wide strip of black lace.
“That's all you get until I see some skin,” she said.
My hands busy on the buttons of my shirt, I freed them and stripped it off, tossing it behind me.
Alice narrowed her eyes on me, assessing, before cocking her head to the side. “You can't touch me until you’re naked.”
“Agreed.” The words left my lips without thought, the promise an easy one to make. Naked was my plan.
Trusting my word, Alice let go of the dress. The taffeta fell to her feet in a rustle, leaving her standing there in nothing but yards of frothy black tulle and a black lace bustier.
My mouth went dry. My fingers itched to touch. I took a step forward, dazed.
Alice shook her head, wagging a finger at me. “No, no. You promised.”
The easiest promise I'd ever made. My hands at my belt, I worked fast, lowering my zipper, stripping off the rest of my clothes in a heartbeat.
The caveman who’d thrown Alice over his shoulder wanted to toss her on the bed and feast on her body.
The caveman wasn't in charge anymore.
Naked, I closed the distance between us and came to a halt standing before her, for once looking up into her perfect, lovely face.
I reached for her shoulders, cupped them in my palms before running my hands down her arms, feeling every inch of her soft, soft skin.
My fingers tangled with hers, pulling her arms wide, my eyes eating up the sight of all that black lace against her creamy skin.
“Alice. You're so beautiful.”
She only stared back, her breath hitching in her chest as she took in the tension coiling in my body, the eager thrust of my erection.
Releasing her hands, I hooked my fingers in the waistband of her crinoline and pulled it down slowly, inch by inch.
It slid over her hips and I let go, the fabric pooling at her feet, my mind wiped blank at the vision of her pussy framed by a thong so tiny and sheer it somehow made her more naked than if she’d only been wearing her skin.
I stroked my fingers over the curve of her ass. “So fucking beautiful,” I breathed, leaning in to press my mouth to the curve of her breast, pushed high by all that black lace.
I pressed a kiss to one breast, then the other, nuzzling between them, all that soft flesh surrounding me. She smelled like heaven, sweet and spicy, of flowers and fruit and Alice.
The scent of her arousal reached my nose and my restraint broke. A flick of my fingers unhooked all that lace. Another and the thong joined the dress and crinoline on the floor.
Then I was lifting her, tossing her on her back, clambering over the trunk to rise above her, spreading her legs, dipping my fingers between them to find her wet and ready.
She lifted her knees, her arms opening in welcome. Cock in hand, I guided myself inside her heat, sinking deep. Alice clasped her body around mine, legs hooked around my back, her arms around my neck.
I filled her, stopping when I was buried to the root inside Alice. Her skin pressed to mine, breath ragged, she held on.
“Does this feel real to you?” I ground my body into hers, moving my hips in a circle as she shuddered beneath me.
“Yes. Yes, Cooper,” she said, her voice splintering with pleasure.
“You're mine,” I said again.
I couldn't say it enough. Maybe if I kept saying it she'd finally believe I meant it. To the core of my soul, I meant it.
She was mine. I moved inside her, driving her to the peak and over, feeling her tight heat clasp around me, her cries filling my ear.
It wasn’t enough. I drove her up again and again until I couldn’t take it anymore and spilled inside her, a long-vacant piece of my soul complete, knowing that Alice, at long last, finally belonged to me.