“Shhh! It’s okay,” he whispered, laughing softly. His hand moved further up in between her legs. Technically, they’d been in a public place on the cruise, but they were behind a closed door. Even though this was a private booth, he understood her apprehension, so he wouldn’t push her. “We don’t have to do that. You said this was exciting on the cruise.”
“It was,” she said breathlessly. “But—”
“We won’t go there. Trust me,” he whispered quickly then pulled away to look her in the eyes. “You trust me?”
She nodded, licking her lips, and he dove in again. He kissed her hungrily, feeling her moan in his mouth as he gently pushed her thighs apart.
Not only did she allow it but she adjusted in her seat for him so his hand could travel as far up as he wanted it to. And he wanted it all the way up. His fingers reached the damp warm paradise that they sought out. “Nice,” he said against her lips then bit her bottom one as his finger pushed her panties aside.
Feeling her gasp again, he kissed her softly. “Relax.” He easily slid a finger in her then two more before she could protest. The moment his thumb rubbed that perfect spot, she let her head drop back as her legs spread slowly for him. “That a girl,” he whispered as he dove into the open invitation to take her neck and suck as he fucked her with his fingers.
She was beginning to pant and tremble all over as he worked her steadily with his thumb. He brought his mouth back over hers to muffle her moans. Sliding his fingers in and out of her faster now as he felt her getting close to that magic moment, he continued to kiss her deeply mimicking with his tongue what his throbbing erection wanted so fucking badly to be doing to her body.
As her body began that now-familiar trembling, which he thought about too often even when she wasn’t around, he slowed his kisses. He wanted to live the moment with her through her mouth. Hearing her struggle to keep her moaning to a minimum, Abel felt something he hadn’t felt in years—the panic of feeling that he might mess his pants right there.
Over the years, he’d mastered what he and the guys referred to as not shooting off their load prematurely. This was way premature. He hadn’t even taken off his clothes yet! What? Was he back in middle school?
Luckily, she pulled her mouth away from his to breathe; her chest heaved up and down as she let her head fall back and rest on the back of the booth. Abel had to literally pry his fingers away from between her legs before he embarrassed the hell out of himself. He squeezed his legs closed. Hearing her continue to breathe heavily as she came down from her climax wasn’t helping matters either.
He, too, let his head rest on the back of the booth. The next words out of his mouth flew out without thought. “Your ex-husband ever do that to you?”
The second he heard his own words, he regretted them, not because he didn’t want to know but because it was an unspoken rule between them. Though they’d never said it, it was implied loud and clear: no getting into personal stuff, including what they did when they weren’t around each other now and in the past. The subject of her failed marriage was one that Noah had made clear was a sore one.
He glanced at her before she could respond. “I’m sorry. Don’t answer that. That’s none of my business.”
Nellie cleared her throat then took a sip of her wine. She turned to him, taking a deep breath as if she were still trying to catch up with her normal breathing. That made him smile despite having asked his stupid question.
“You’re right that it’s none of your business, but it’s not a big deal, so I’ll answer anyway. No, he didn’t. In fact, we never did most of the things you and I have done.”
Her smile was one he hadn’t seen before; it was bittersweet. He almost regretted having brought up her ex-husband—almost. In the very beginning, he didn’t care to know any details of her private life—not the current or the past—but he did now. He chalked it up to curiosity. Of course he was curious. Why wouldn’t he be? He’d been around her a few times. They’d had amazing sex in many different positions now. And now here she was telling him she’d never had this with her ex-husband. How could he not be curious?
Was her ex insane not to take advantage of a woman like Nellie? She was everything a guy could ask for in a sexual partner. She’d been willing and just as eager as he’d been every single time. In fact, he’d be willing to bet he might’ve talked her into letting him take here right there in their booth, but he hadn’t wanted to push.
Sure he’d been with girls who were more than willing to do things anywhere anytime, but with Nellie, it felt different. There was an elegance to her. She was sophisticated, smart, and professional, not an immature, squealing, ready-to-party groupie. Even though Noah had mentioned Nellie wanting to let loose—make up for the lost time she’d wasted being married to her ex—there was something about her that made him sure that wasn’t the case. Yeah, she was doing it with him, but he couldn’t see her jumping from one bed to another as Noah had implied she might. And convincing her to do the things some of the groupies would gladly do in a heartbeat felt like a far more rewarding challenge.
He stared at her, his thoughts suddenly going back to what she’d just said about her ex. “Really? Some of the stuff I’ve done to you so far,” he stopped and smirked, “has been pretty tame by most standards.”
Even as she sat there, her panties now soaked after she’d just climaxed at their dinner table, she had the audacity to blush. He had to laugh.
She took another sip of her wine and smiled, her lashes blinking slowly over her wine glass as she licked her lips. Just like that she took the upper hand, wiping the smile instantly off his face.
“Mr. Ayala, are you and Ms. Nellie ready for another drink?” The waiter asked from the other side of the curtain.
“No, but I’ll take the check now.” Abel responded without taking his eyes off Nellie even for a second, his mind already planning out the all the things he’d do to her tonight.
~*~
Nellie hardly had a chance to try and make sense of Abel’s interest in her asshole ex-husband, Rick. On the way home from the restaurant, he’d asked a few more questions such as if she still ever saw him and if she ever missed him. She answered both truthfully but kept her answers short: no and hell no.
They reached her place and were barely inside when Abel was already all over her. It was crazy how quickly he could have her feeling out of control and breathless. Just as he pinned her to the wall in the front room, already lifting her skirt, her phone rang. Abel slowed for a moment, breathing heavily against her ear. “You wanna get that?”
Like hell she did. She didn’t bother to even answer. Instead she turned his chin to hers, needing to feel his lips on hers again already. His tongue stabbed into to her mouth, making her moan in pleasure.
Roni had mentioned how insatiable her young husband was, and Nellie had imagined Abel would be the same, but it was almost embarrassing how easily she’d given into the scandalous things they’d done thus far. The cruise incident had even been her idea. And if what he’d done to her in the restaurant had happened during her marriage, it would’ve been more than enough to keep her happy for the entire next week at the very least. Yet here she was panting—needing more now as he ripped her panties off.
With her panties off now and her skirt pulled up around her waist, Abel spun her around, bending her gently but quickly over the sofa. “We’ll get to the tasting soon enough, sweetheart. But right now I have to get inside you.”
She heard the rip of a condom pack then his zipper open. Already throbbing for him in anticipation, Nellie squeezed the sofa cushions with both her hands as she waited the few seconds it took him to get the condom on, and then he was inside her. She cried out at the incredible sensation as he slid all the way in.
Just like the last time, he brought his hand around front to massage her as he slammed in and out of her again and again, groaning louder with each thrust. His fingers knew exactly what to do, and Nellie couldn’t help moaning in unabashe
d pleasure. The louder she moaned, the harder he slammed into her. “You like that, baby?”
“Yes,” she cried out. “Yes!”
As his fingers hit the perfect rhythm, she knew it was just a matter of seconds before she’d be crying out in ecstasy. With one hand, he continued to build her impending climax while the other one held on to her waist, pulling her back into his thrusts. As erotic as the sound of his body slapping against hers was, it was one she loved thinking about when he wasn’t around—when she was lying in bed at night alone. It was the very thing that had made her blush today when Emily called her on it.
Until now, Nellie had no idea sex could be this good. Crying out as the bolts of pleasure raced through her entire body, making her legs weak, she used the support of the sofa to help keep her standing. In the next second, he thrust into her one last time with an enormous groan.
They both stood there, enjoying the contentment with which their sexual encounters always ended. Never before had Nellie felt such satisfaction, and to think she knew this was just the beginning of their evening. He finally pulled out of her and away, turning her around to face him.
The lazy yet sexy haze that draped over his eyes made her smile. He was as satisfied as she felt. “I’d been waiting to do that from the moment I got in my car to come here tonight.” He smirked against her lips. “Hell, I’ve been waiting to do that since the last time I was with you.” He kissed her sweetly and softly, unlike the way he’d kissed her most of the night. “You look beautiful tonight by the way.” His words were so tender, and he looked so deeply in her eyes in a way she’d never seen him do, that something tugged at her heart. “I love seeing you in your skirt suits.” His playful grin teased. “You’re insanely sexy.” Just when she was beginning to exhale and remind herself to not over think things, he added with the same tenderness as before, “But still beautiful, Nellie, so beautiful.”
He kissed her longer this time but just as sweetly and softly. She tried concentrating on the sweetness of his kiss—enjoying every heavenly moment of it—but her mind was already fast at work. So he said she was beautiful. He was smooth. How could he not be? The man had probably looked this good his whole life. As young as he was, he’d still had plenty of years to perfect his lines and his delivery. God, what a delivery! She’d nearly melted into him from that one compliment alone.
Nellie knew she wasn’t beautiful. She never had been. Only just recently had she discovered she could even still be and feel attractive but beautiful? No. And nothing had reiterated the reality that she was lacking in the way of looks more than the fact that she’d never been enough for her ex-husband. The bastard had cheated on her from the very beginning.
Falling deeper into Abel’s embrace, she allowed herself to go with it. Why shouldn’t she? She’d take the compliment: this one and any more he wanted to throw her way. One thing she knew he couldn’t possibly be faking was that he was as turned on by her as she was by him. Even if it was just a sexual thing, for the first time in a very long time she felt sexy again—wanted. He’d reawakened a part of her she thought her ex had destroyed for good. She’d enjoy every unbelievable moment he’d give her, and when this was over, she’d walk away a better, stronger, woman because of it.
Chapter 4
The sound coming from Nellie’s phone woke them both up. Abel had actually woken up a few hours before when it had beeped a few times. Now it was ringing. He’d almost snuck out earlier while she slept soundly as he had all the other times. She hadn’t even stirred from the phone beeping. But he got caught up watching Nellie sleep. He knew now he must’ve dozed off again, because the last thing he remembered was lying back on the pillow and staring at her.
Not missing the double take she did when she realized he was still in bed with her, Abel smirked, watching her reach for her phone. The second she saw it, she sat up quickly.
“Shit! Is that the right time?”
Abel nodded. “Long exhausting nights will do that to you.” He didn’t even try to hide the satisfaction that the very thought made him feel. Bringing his hands behind his head in no hurry at all to get going, he smiled smugly. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything better than sticking around and going a few more rounds with Nellie. “But it’s Saturday, so it’s okay to sleep in, right?”
Nellie’s phone rang again, and already she was making her way off the bed. “Yeah, but I was supposed to meet someone this morning.” Grabbing a robe from the chair next to her bed, she flung the short barely-there thing around her. She held her hand up to Abel, clicking the screen on her phone then bringing it to her ear before he could ask who she was meeting. “Logan? I’m so sorry. I’m running really late, but can I meet you in like forty minutes?”
In direct contrast to how fast he felt his insides warm, Abel sat up slowly, staring at her. He’d had a feeling from day one that, if it ever came down to it he, might be a little bothered to hear about her with someone else. It was to be expected, right? It was human nature. But he hadn’t expected to feel what he was feeling now.
“Oh, The Country Kitchen sounds delish. Their breakfasts are huge and I’m starving actually.”
He continued staring at her, feeling a bit of curiosity and something else as she rummaged through her drawers. This had to be business. No way was she jumping out of bed with him to go meet another guy for breakfast. Sure, they had an unspoken understanding, no fucking demands and all that shit, but he’d been certain Nellie had more class than this. Was she really chatting it up with another dude while he was still lying naked in her bed, listening to her?
The rest of her conversation with the guy was even more frustrating. The guy was obviously doing most of the talking because she wasn’t saying much more than “uh huh.” She wasn’t giving Abel much more to go on about who this Logan guy was.
The choice of clothes she laid out on the bed as she continued with her call only made his insides warmer. Instead of business attire like the suits that drove him nuts, she laid out a pair of jeans and a casual knit top. As off-putting as the idea of her wearing a sexy skirt suit to go meet Logan at The Country Kitchen was, it would’ve at least meant that this was for sure a business meeting, not a casual breakfast date with a guy.
He’d gotten out of bed himself now and watched as she brought out the big sexy wedge sandals from her closet. She finally hung up just as he’d finished pulling on his pants. He stared at her as he buttoned his fly, doing his best to keep his cool. If he blew up now, this whole thing could come to an end. He’d known from the beginning that it inevitably had to end, but he didn’t know if he was ready to end this just yet.
“I’m sorry,” she explained, still rushing around the room. “I don’t mean to run out on you like this, but if I’d known you’d still be here this morning, I would’ve canceled this last night.” She paused her rushing for a moment to glance at him a bit uneasily. “I just assumed . . . you know, like all the other times . . .” She looked away before she added the last comment, “That you’d be gone when I woke up.”
Swallowing hard, he took a deep breath. No way was he going to blow this. He knew he was walking on a tightrope; one wrong move and he could go down head first or worse. He could do the very thing they’d each said they wouldn’t do and the tightrope could snap altogether, leaving no possibility of trying to climb back on. But he had to ask. “Who’s Logan?”
She glanced at him for just a second before looking back down into the drawer she was now shuffling through. “He’s working on the mixer with me. Now that we have all the funding, we need to sit down and decide what the best way is to go about this and get as much out of the fundraiser as possible.”
While Nellie continued to explain how normally she didn’t work on weekends, Abel half listened. He was already undoing his fly as he walked around the bed toward her. Knowing that this was, in fact, a business meeting and not something that had nearly set him off, he needed to release some of the tension that had built up so quickly.
A bit
startled but immediately smiling as he took her hand and pulled her to him, Nellie kissed him back, as ravished as Abel felt. “I’m already late,” she gasped in between kisses.
Lifting her to the bed, Abel smiled. “I’ll make this fast.”
He opened her robe as he laid her down gently. Exposing her naked body, Abel stared at her, pushing away the possessive mentality that now dangerously began to swallow up any sound thoughts of keeping this fun and uncomplicated. As much as he wanted to spread her legs, drop down to his knees, and pleasure her until she was screaming his name as she had last night, he now wanted to be inside her again—to remind her that she didn’t need anyone else as long as he was willing to fuck her into oblivion.
Pulling the condom out of his pocket and ripping it open, he slipped a finger in her to make sure she was ready. Smiling with the confirmation that she was more than ready, he pulled her behind off the edge of the bed, and she wrapped her legs around him. Then he did exactly what he’d wanted to—slammed into her with a purpose, squeezing his eyes shut. Again he was overwhelmed with feelings of wanting to—needing to—make to make an unspoken statement here. Her gasping moans as he fucked her faster and deeper with conviction made it all the more pleasurable. This was his secret sinful way of punishing her so good for having made him feel even for a few moments what he’d felt while she’d been on the phone.
Nellie trembled and moaned with pleasure, her bottom in the air now. As Abel grabbed her ass with both hands and plunged into her harder and harder groaning loudly, things were becoming clearer. There was no mistake about it. There was something so much more satisfying about doing this to her now, something more than just the physical ecstasy of it. He could no longer say that this was only about the sex with the certainty and conviction he’d had when they’d first started this—whatever this was.
As much as he hated to admit it, and as much as he’d like to think he could keep his feelings under control, he felt firsthand today how easily that self-control could go up in smoke if he ever had to be witness to or even hear about Nellie with someone else. Last night he’d had a couple of other revelations. What he was feeling for her now had surpassed anything he’d thought he’d imagined in the previous times he’d spent time with her. He even thought he saw something in her gaze when he called her beautiful. The sparkle in her eyes when he told her how beautiful he thought she was, almost made him say more than he should. Then the infuriating reminder came hurling at him as it did now.