And because I was touching myself to the memory of the man across from me.
I didn’t ask him the same question in return, not wanting to hear his answer. He probably wouldn’t give details, but I still didn’t want to hear any of it.
The waiter came over with the tab and handed it to Luca.
Luca pulled out his wallet and put the cash on top.
I reached for my wallet to split it.
“Don’t do that.”
I froze at his tone and looked up at him.
He still looked mad.
“And don’t ever do that again.”
Again…?
14
ALIÉNOR
He walked me into the lobby and up the stairs to my apartment.
He didn’t seem like the kind of man to walk a woman to her door. But he also didn’t seem like the kind of man to text just to check in. Or take her out to eat and yell at her when she tried to pay her share.
I wasn’t sure if he just wanted to walk me to the door…or if he expected to come inside? To avoid the awkwardness, I unlocked the door right when I reached it and walked inside to put my purse on the counter.
That way, it would be his decision to cross the threshold or stay in the hallway.
I took off my coat and hung it on one of the hooks drilled into the wall. That was when I heard the door click shut and then the sound of his heavy boots as he moved behind me.
My heart immediately picked up in speed, like the gas was floored and the road ahead was empty. I turned around to face him again and gave a slight jolt because he was directly in front of me, already crowding me, going in for the kill.
The moment his arm circled my waist, I felt myself float.
He pulled me into him as he slid his hand into my hair, cradling my face to accept his kiss. His mouth commanded mine in a soft kiss, the kindling between a match and the strike strip. He started off slow, feeling my lips like an artist about to carve a sculpture into their likeness. His fingers cupped the back of my neck, and he held me so gently but with so much affection at the same time.
The abstinence of two weeks made the memory more potent. Made me realize it was as good as I remembered it. That I hadn’t inflated it in my head when I touched myself between the sheets and pretended he was there. I’d fucked him for a place to live, but that had just been an excuse to have him, so my heart wouldn’t attach to something that would never last. My fingers dug into his hair, and I breathed into his mouth, swept off the floor by the kiss that could make me come on its own.
My hands slipped underneath his shirt, and I tugged it up to get it off. He did the rest of the work because he was so much taller than me that getting his shirt off him would be impossible on my own. It came free, and he dropped it on the hardwood floor.
I could feel the heat from his muscles and skin instantly, an inferno against my fingers when I touched him. Big pecs and hard abs and groups of muscle like different cuts of meat at the butcher.
He gripped my dress and yanked it up, pulling it over my head in a swift motion until it was free from my body. I was just in tights that went up to my belly button and a black bra. His hand reached behind me and unclasped my bra on his first try like he’d done it a hundred times, to a hundred different women, a hundred different types of bras. The material released,and I immediately felt the draft over my tits. They tightened in response, the nipples sharpening to little points.
He scooped me into him like he had before, like I was a big stuffed teddy bear that weighed almost nothing. My tits moved against his chest and soaked in the warmth of his fiery chest, like the cushion of a chair that had been sitting in the sun all day. Immediately enveloped in his heat, I forgot that I’d ever been cold.
He carried me into the only bedroom in the apartment and lay me back on the unmade bed. It was a cheap bed frame with a cheap mattress, and I could immediately feel the difference compared to all the luxurious things he had in his home.
He pulled back, stood at the foot of the bed, and grabbed one ankle before he flicked the heel off. It tapped against the floor when it fell. He did the same to the other and tossed it over his shoulder, where it banged against the wall before it fell on the floor. Then he leaned forward and curled his fingers into my tights, pulling them down my legs, scooping my ass up on his own, and dragging them down to my ankles and over my feet. My nails were painted black, and he stopped to glance at them, as if he liked the way they looked.
I was naked on the bed underneath him and so ready for him. The second he explored me, he would know, know that I could only be that soaking wet because I’d been turned on by his presence from the moment he’d stepped into my apartment. That my fantasy was about to be a reality, and my little body could barely take it.
He planted my feet against his rock-hard abs, warm against my soles, like a rock face of a cliff in the desert. His eyes were fixedon mine as he unbuttoned his jeans and lowered the zipper, undressing in front of me, hotter than the goddamn sun.
He pushed down his bottoms, and his enormous cock came free.
