Chapter 21
21
LAYLA
A few weeks have passed since my first official date with Cole. We see each other as much as we can, but we are both busy people with very busy lives. Thank God we live in the same building, or we would see even less of each other. Our close proximity makes it easy for one of us to slip up or down to the other’s apartment when we finally do manage to make it home.
Tonight, Cole is officially meeting my friends for the first time. We are all going out to one of NYC’s hottest nightclubs, thanks to Tori’s husband, Grayson Pierce, who finally has a break in his schedule. When he isn’t touring, Grayson spends countless hours in the recording studio, so pinning him down when the rest of us are available hasn’t been easy. Thanks to Grayson and his connections, we have a couple of the best tables in the VIP section of Rave waiting for us.
I slick on some lipstick and take one last look in the mirror. There’s no stopping the grin that spreads across my face. I look the same as I always do, yet there is something different about me. My eyes shine a little brighter, my skin has a healthier glow about it, and my smile is never-ending. I have Cole to thank for my newfound radiance. I’ve been on cloud nine for the last couple of weeks. I have to occasionally pinch myself to make sure this is all real. I have everything I didn’t know I ever wanted. An ever-growing relationship with my father, and a blossoming relationship with none other than Cole Hendrix, one of the most eligible bachelors and sought-after playboys in New York.
A throat clears behind me. I lift my eyes back to the mirror. The reflection of the man standing in the doorway behind me sets my heart fluttering. His golden predator eyes glitter as they bore into me. Taking me in from head to toe. Looking like he wants to devour me.
I slowly turn, my red dress swishes around my thighs and his eyes follow the movement.
“Well?” I know he likes what he sees, but for some reason I want to hear the words.
“You look good enough to eat.”
I blush, my lips spread into a wide smile across my heated cheeks. The man drives me crazy. I never blushed before Cole. Now I can’t seem to stop.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should…you’re fucking gorgeous. I’m pretty sure we are going to be late.”
He advances toward me. His eyes flash with a hungry fire that immediately jumps the distance between us, igniting me as well. I shiver as he tugs me tightly against his hips. “Now,” he growls, leaning down into my ear, “I should spin you around, lift up that dress, and fuck you until my cum drips down your thighs for the rest of the evening.”
My breath intakes sharply, my lip catching in my teeth as my pulse thuds wildly. Heat pools between my legs, and I’m about to tell him something along the lines of “the sooner the better” when my phone dings on the vanity next to me. I glance down to see Tori’s name. I don’t even have to open the message. I know we are already behind schedule.
Cole groans openly as I push his hand away from my thigh.
“As much as I hate to say this—save it for later. We’re already running late as it is.”
“What constitutes later?” he growls directly into my ear, which sends an electric pulse zinging south, adding to my already damp panties. “I’m not sure how long I can wait.”
“Later means later,” I say as I step past him and start walking towards the door. I don’t like this anymore than he does.
My friends all know pretty much every detail there is to know about my relationship with Cole. Tonight is an opportunity for him to meet them and for me to see how they all get along. I know I don’t have anything to worry about, but just like with Avery, Tori and Maddie before me, this meet and greet is essential. We all want to make sure nothing upsets the amazing friendship we all have.
Hours later, just as I suspected, Cole fits right in. Not only has he won the hearts of my friends, he is also hitting it off with their respective significant others.
My body is hot and sweaty as it sways against Cole’s. We have no choice but to grind against one another as we move with the rest of the people on the overcrowded dance floor.
“Come with me.” Cole grabs my hand and drags me through the gyrating crowd.
“Cole!” I giggle.
I lurch after him, our footsteps echoing in the dark as I follow him down a hallway and around the corner.
“What the hell, Cole. Where are you taking me?”
“Shhh. I can’t wait any fucking longer,” he mutters as he continues to drag me along.
A door opens, and I’m yanked inside before it slams shut behind me and I’m shoved up against it. I stifle a moan as his mouth crushes down on mine. He presses into me, pinning me viciously to the bathroom door at my back. His knee slides between my thighs, shoving them apart as his hands greedily move down my dress. He bunches it in his fists, yanking it up my thighs.
I whimper as his mouth drops to my neck, his teeth dragging over my skin and nipping at the tender spots.
“It’s later,” he growls into my collarbone. “You ready, sweetheart?”
“I don’t think— oh fuck! ”
I cry out when his hand comes up to firmly cup one of my breasts, his thumb and finger pinching the nipple roughly through the silky material.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I hiss.
“You a rule follower, Layla?”
“I never said that.”
“Then why the hesitation?” He tweaks an eyebrow.
“I…” Why indeed? I’ve never done anything like this before, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.
As if he can read my mind, a wicked smile slashes across his face. “I see,” he says with a laugh. “I’m pushing your boundaries…breaking your rules.”
I swallow as I give his comment some thought. I do make rules. I set boundaries. I plan to the nth degree. But I’ve also broken rules with no regret, and there’s nothing more I want to do right now than break the fucking rules.
“Yes,” I finally answer. “Now get the fuck on with it.” Need overrules common sense. Lust clouds my better judgment. I couldn’t care less right now.
I cry out as he suddenly flips me around to face the door and lifts the back of my dress, exposing my scantily clad ass. I’m not wearing a bra because there’s no way I can with the cut of this dress. All I have on underneath covering my nakedness is a little strip of lacy red fabric that covers my dripping core.
Which Cole instantly slips his fingers into and rips away with a single strong jerk of his arm.
I yelp, wincing, as he lets the torn fabric drop to my ankles.
“Are you crazy? Cole. This is— oh fuck… ”
I moan as he slides two fingers into me, sinking them deep as he curls them against my g-spot.
“Ohhh,” I gasp.
“Yes,” he hisses. “That’s it. Let it happen.”
He starts to finger me harder and faster. The slick sounds of my wetness and our heavy breathing fill the room. Cole groans behind me, and then I hear the jangle of his belt buckle and the unmistakable sound of his zipper being yanked down. The swollen head of his cock pushes between my thighs.
I groan when his fingers leave my pussy and then gasp when he centers the head of his cock in my wetness and pushes it in.
“Cole…”
“Open your mouth.”
I do as I’m told. He brings his hand up, cupping my jaw and slips his fingers between my lips. I whimper, sucking and eagerly tasting myself.
“Good girl.”
The air leaves my lungs, and my legs almost give out as he drives every bloody inch of his rock-hard cock deep into me.
“You’ve made me wait long enough,” he hisses into my ear, nipping the lobe as he starts to fuck me hard against the bathroom door.
His hips slaps against my ass, and the lewd sound of our fucking fills the tiny bathroom.
“You drive me fucking crazy.” He pauses as he grinds his cock deep inside me.
“There’ll be no waiting going forward. Understood?”
I moan and nod incoherently. I’ll do or say whatever he wants to keep him moving. I’m so close already.
He pulls out and then slams back into my sopping wet heat. I moan again as I claw at the door for purchase, because it feels so, so good. His palm slaps against my ass.
“Say it, Layla.”
“No more waiting!” I choke, a wrenching sob of ecstasy tumbling from my lips as my legs shake and my ass pushes back against him.
“ Cole!” I whimper as he rips my orgasm from me, leaving me quivering and panting against the door.
He reaches around, rolling his thumb over my clit. “One more, sweetheart.” I groan as I turn my face toward him, and his lips crush mine. He devours my tongue and my lips as his thumb continues to circle my clit and he starts to fuck me again.
“This is mine,” he growls as he drops his lips to my ear, dragging his teeth over it.
My eyes roll back in ecstasy as I nod and moan eagerly. My whole body starts to shudder and shake. My legs tremble and my toes curl in my heels.
“Oh my fucking God , Cole…”
“Say it,” he rasps into my ear as he continues to fuck me like a maniac. “Say you’re mine.”
“All— oh God… All of me,” I moan, practically sobbing in pleasure against the door as I clench around him. “I’m yours!”
“Good fucking girl. Now come for...”
A knock on the door has him snarling and me jumping.
“Excuse me! Are you going to be long?”
Shit. I start to straighten up, but gasp as Cole keeps me bent against the door and picks up his pace.
“Cole—”
The knock on the door, infuriatingly, comes again.
“Hello?”
I choke.
“ Occupied! It’s occu—oh fuck…”
I slam my hand over my mouth as my orgasm barrels down on me like an out-of-control freight train.
“Hey! I really have to?—”
“I said occupied!” I hiss through the door before Cole’s mouth crashes against mine once again, swallowing my words.
Jesus, we’re like two animals rutting in heat, not caring about anything else.
My world tilts as Cole groans into my mouth and we orgasm together. His cock continues to pulse and throb deep inside me as we both gasp for air. Slowly, gently, he slides out of me. He drags my torn, ruined panties up my legs and pulls them into position before he cups my face and twists me around to kiss me deeply.
“Fucking perfect,” he murmurs into my mouth.
The woman who’s been pounding on the door looks like she’s ready to give someone an earful when we finally open the door. I turn red and quickly move past her while Cole just grins down into the woman’s shocked, horrified face.
“All yours,” he says as he takes my hand and starts walking back to the VIP section.
“Were you guys out there the entire time?” Avery asks as she takes us in. “I don’t know how you could stand it. It looks like you could use a shower.” She chuckles.
I smirk. I can only imagine what I must look like right now. I glance at Cole who looks perfectly put together, not a single hair out of place. How the hell is that even possible after what we just did?
I fan myself. “I could absolutely use a shower.”
“Here, this might help.” Cole hands me a glass of water which I gratefully accept and down in a couple of swallows. I hand him back the glass and take a seat next to Maddie. The smile on her face tells me she knows exactly what I’ve been up to.
“Cheers, chérie ,” she says as she pours me a glass of champagne from the bucket on the table.
My cheeks flush. God, am I that transparent?
“How are the house plans coming along?” I ask to try and change the subject. Maddie recently inherited her deceased parents’ French chateau which sits on an estate not too far from Paris. To call it a house is actually laughable, but it serves the purpose for this conversation. The chateau was mostly a burned-out shell that had sat empty for over fifteen years by the time she took possession. She has hired an army of people and paid a mountain of cash to restore it since then.
“ Mon Dieu … It will be done in a few weeks. I can’t believe it. If everything stays on track, Sebastian and I will be going see it early next month.” Her excitement pales slightly. “It is a very exciting thing—to have my family home back—but sad at the same time, you know?”
I lean over and hug her. “I know, Maddie.” Her entire family was killed in the fire that burned down the chateau. Her uncle was responsible and had almost gotten away with it until Maddie’s fiancé, Sebastian Croft, came on the scene, but that’s another story. Suffice it to say, the end result is that Maurice Dubois is now rotting in a prison cell and will never see the light of day again.
“It’s going to be so beautiful. I can’t wait to see it.” There’s not much else I can say. Her wounds have healed, but the loss never completely goes away. We are her family now, and soon Sebastian Croft will be joining our happy little family. They haven’t set a date, but I’m positive he won’t wait much longer. None of the men we have chosen are known for their patience. Speaking of which…
I look around for Cole. I find him standing off to the side with Grayson, Liam and Sebastian. They are all laughing about something. I study him as they continue to talk. Cole’s dark jeans, black button-down, and fitted black jacket give him a more casual air than usual, but his features remain strikingly bold, and his compelling presence is still powerful, swallowing every molecule of oxygen in the room like a black hole consuming a newborn star. At least, that’s what I see.
A hint of embarrassment pools in my stomach as I think about what we just did in the bathroom. The man certainly knows how to master my body…and my mind, as it turns out. As if he can sense me watching him, he turns his head slightly. His golden stare burns with desire, so hot and potent my knees go weak. A shiver that has nothing to do with the air conditioning in here rolls over my body.
Cole says something to the men he is standing with and then turns and heads in my direction. I watch with an increasingly pounding heart as he walks toward me, an amused gleam creeping into his golden eyes. “Do we need to pick up where we left off, sweetheart?”
My lungs can’t get enough oxygen for me to respond with anything other than a strangled noise. “I’m good,” I choke out.
He smirks. “You sure about that?” His voice sparks a host of X-rated memories.
Heat crawls over my cheeks, but I attempt a neutral expression. I force my gaze up only to find his eyes waiting for mine. That knowing smirk still tugging at his lips as he watches me, oozing casual arrogance and pure male satisfaction.
Smug bastard.
Butterflies erupt in my stomach.
“I’m good,” I repeat breathlessly but a little stronger this time. The heat spreads from my face to somewhere south of my stomach.
His eyes slowly move down my body as if following the trajectory like a heat-seeking missile. “As long as you’re sure. I’m here to take care of you, after all.” His voice is smooth and soft, like a kiss caressing my skin.
I jump when a pair of arms wrap around me. “We’re going to take off,” Avery says, effectively putting a pin in the sexual tension between me and the man in front of me. I’m not foolish enough to believe we are done for the night.
“Oh, okay.” I turn and hug my friend back. “This was so much fun.” I reach over to Liam who is standing beside his wife and hug him too. “It was great to see you, Liam.
The party breaks up shortly after that and we all head our separate ways. When we slip into the back of the town car Cole has waiting for us, he pulls me into his arms and his lips crash against mine. “I’m not done with you yet.”
Thank God.
Twenty minutes later, we crash through the door of my apartment. Cole’s eager mouth closes around a still-clothed peaked nipple as he pinches the other between his thump and forefinger, forcing his name from my lips.
Approval rumbles in his chest. “That’s a good girl.”
“Please,” I pant, my grip strangling his hair as he descends and nips the soft skin of my inner thigh.
“Please what?”
My only response is a whimper when he stops what he is doing.
“Please eat out this pretty little pussy of yours?” he taunts. His voice is soft, but the words are rough. “Tongue-fuck you until you beg me to let you come? Use your words, Layla.”
“ Yes. ” The word is half plea, half demand. “I need your mouth. Cole, please. ”
He pushes my legs further apart as he delves in like a man possessed. He licks and sucks until I can’t stand it anymore. I writhe and buck, begging him to stop one minute and keep going the next. He buries his tongue inside me and my back arches off the floor where we landed when we came in, too impatient to make it to my bed.
When I finally come down from my full-body shudder, Cole touches his tongue to my sensitized clit again and gives it a slow, leisurely lick.
“No more,” I plead. “I can’t… oh God. ”
Cole pulls back. His face glistening with my juices as he licks his lips and smiles. I stare up at him, my cheeks flaming, my chest heaving from the aftermath of my orgasm. A light sheen of sweat misting my skin. He looks back at me. I’m positive I see more than lust in his eyes. My words from earlier come flooding back.
All of me—is yours.
A cold trickle of fear pierces my fog of lust. No. Don’t go there. I force myself to focus on the here and now. To focus on what I want.
I wrap my arms around his neck and press my hips against his; the message is clear. My mind knows what it wants. My body screams for it. I just need to let it carry us away and stop fighting it.