“No need to apologize again,” he said evenly. “You handled the consequence. Consider it forgiven and forgotten.”
I blinked at his matter of fact absolution. “Seriously? Just like that. Forgiven and forgotten?”
He glanced over at me. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
I peered back out at the road, taken aback by the mere concept. “Because that is so not how it works in my family. Even when we completed whatever the punishment was, nothing was ever forgotten. And forgiveness—well, that’s only given out for small stuff. Otherwise, forget it.”
Foster’s frown appeared in my peripheral vision. “Is that why you’re afraid to tell them about staying here?”
I smoothed the hem of my dress with my fingers, not wanting to look over at him. “I tried to tell my dad the other day, and I froze up. He’s going to freak, and I . . . well, I don’t know if this could turn into one of those unforgivable offenses.”
“And what happens when it’s an unforgivable offense?”
I shrugged. “Could mean he doesn’t talk to me for a while, could mean worse. He hasn’t spoken to my sister since she was a teenager.”
Foster’s frown cut deeper. “What happened?”
“She got pregnant at sixteen and had an abortion. He kicked her out and basically disowned her.”
“Jesus, and he hasn’t talked to her since?”
“No, and he expects me, my brothers, and my mother to follow that edict, too. Andre and I don’t listen, but my mother does.”
Foster shook his head, sadness marring his features. “Your dad has a living, breathing daughter out there in the world and won’t speak to her. It seems so shortsighted and petty even if she did make a mistake. You know what my parents would give to see my sister again?”
I reached out and grabbed his hand, the catch in his voice making my chest tight. “I’m sorry, Foster.”
He laced his fingers with mine. “I’m sorry, too. I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was going to be to break the news to your family. I shouldn’t have been so hard on you for lying to me about it.”
“No, you were right. I should’ve been honest with you about it. I didn’t want to come across like a little girl afraid to tell her daddy something.”
His gaze slid over to me as he pulled into the parking lot of our building, and his mouth lifted at the corner. “Believe me, Ms. Medina, you should have no concerns about me seeing you as a little girl.”
I curled my lips inward, the unapologetic strip-me-to-my-skin look he was giving me making my neck flush with heat.
He parked the car, then released my hand and cupped my chin, tilting my face toward him. “Punishment complete, angel. I think now it’s time for us both to reap the reward of surviving a very long evening.”
“That sounds like the best idea you’ve ever had, sir.”
Foster helped me out of the car, and I had to stop myself from racing up the steps in all my eagerness. Suddenly, even one second not in bed with this man seemed too long. Automatically, I headed toward my place, but he tugged me toward his instead. “This way.”
“But what about Pike?” I asked, a little breathless from my overzealous sprint up the stairs.
“Not home.” He dragged me against him and placed a long, lingering kiss on my lips.
“Mmm,” I said, as he eased away, my fingers curling around the lapels of his suit jacket. I’d been hoping we could stay at my place. I was still having my stupid hang-up about his room. Every time I stepped in there, I couldn’t help but think about the others who’d been there. But saying something would only make me look childish and petty. I needed to get over myself and move on. I smiled and threw my arms around his neck and with a dramatic flourish, said, “Then take me to bed or lose me forever.”
“Show me the way home, honey,” he whispered against my ear, nailing the line.
I pulled back, looking at him in surprise. “Did you just recite Top Gun back to me?”
His cocky grin was his answer.
“Well done, Ian Foster. Bonus points to you. And now I’m seriously tempted to rip off your clothes right here in the hallway for that.”
He laughed and unlocked his door. “Control yourself, woman.”
But when he pulled me inside, he did anything but control himself. He kicked the door shut behind us, and before I could take a step, he was lifting me off my feet and kissing me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he trapped me against the closed door, his lips moving over mine with hungry intent. I opened to him, and he stroked his tongue against mine, cajoling every cell inside me to stand up and swoon. Even in the simple act of a kiss, he bled dominance, commanding my body to surrender. I sighed into him and threaded my fingers in the thick, silky strands of his hair, relishing the chance to touch and explore freely.
When he finally broke away for us both to grab a breath, his wolfish grin spread wide. “I better take you to my room before I fuck you against the door again.”
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said on a panted breath.
He laughed and swung me away from the door, keeping ahold of me. “Not tonight, angel. Right now I don’t have patience for acrobats. Just need you. In my bed. Naked.”
“A man of simple taste.”
He shot me a dry look. “Smartass.”
I continued to tease him as he carried me down the hallway toward his room, by outlining all the “simple” things he’d done to me tonight, but when he set me down on my feet in the doorway, I went stone-cold silent.
He watched me, expression a little tentative, as I took in what lay before me. When I didn’t say anything, he tucked his hands in his pockets. “I was worried it wouldn’t fit, but it ended up working out okay.”
I turned to him, taking in his twitching jaw and the fact that he wouldn’t look at me. Was he actually worried I wouldn’t like it? I shook my head, awed at how this man continued to surprise me. One second I thought I had him figured out and the next, he was doing things like this. “You bought a new bed?”
“And mattress, comforter, and pillows.”
For some reason, I had the ridiculous urge to cry. “Why?”
He looked at me then and shrugged. “Because it bothered you, angel.”
I stepped forward and slid my hands around his waist, pressing my head to his chest. The man had completely gutted his room because I had some irrational hang-up, and I couldn’t even tell him about my family earlier tonight. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s too much.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Well, I’m into ‘too much,’ especially when it makes you get that look on your face.”
I lifted my face to him, meeting those intense blues of his. Something deep and scary stirred in my chest. “Thank you. Truly.”
“My pleasure,” he said, circling his arms around me. “Now strip and go kneel on that shiny, new bed. It’s time to sully its virtue.”
I laughed. “Seems to be a lot of that going around.”
“Have I sullied you, Ms. Medina?” he asked, his hands sliding down to cup my ass beneath my dress.
“Obviously not enough tonight.”
He pinched the back of my thigh, and I yelped. “Get on the bed, woman.”
“Yes, sir.” I stepped back and shimmied out of my dress and underwear, then climbed onto the new four-poster bed, the fluffy white comforter sinking beneath me. I tucked my legs beneath me and put my hands in my lap, trying to emulate the proper submissive kneel I’d learned about.
Foster shrugged off his jacket and pulled off his shirt, watching me intently the whole time. Then he walked forward and braced his arms on the two posts at the foot of the bed, looking like some winged god who was about to swoop down and ravage me. “You look like some sweet, innocent thing in the middle of all that white fluff, angel. Everything except your eyes. Your eyes say that you
’ve got a seductress inside waiting to come out to play.”
I smiled, feeling shy all of a sudden at his hot perusal. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“Show me, angel. Tempt me into your bed.”
***
Cela’s eyes went a little wide at his command, and Foster almost chuckled at her shock. She truly had no idea how fucking seductive she could be. But he was about to give her a chance to see it for herself.
“What do you mean?” she asked, brown eyes guarded.
“I mean,” he said, keeping himself there at the foot of the bed, despite his body demanding he pounce on her right this very minute, “show me what I’m missing if I don’t crawl into this bed with you.”
He could see her throat work as she swallowed hard. “I’m not sure I can.”
“You will,” he said, a soft command. “Close your eyes if it helps.”
She nodded, and though he could tell she was reluctant, she let her eyelids fall shut.
“Go ahead, beautiful. Tempt me.”
Tentatively, her hands slid up from her knees, along her body, until she was cupping those full, lush breasts of hers, the nipples darkening with arousal as she ran her thumbs over them. She tilted her head back with a gentle sigh of contentment, her dark hair sweeping along the top curve of her ass.
His grip tightened on the posts as his cock pressed against the fly of his dress pants. “That’s right, angel. Show me what kind of pleasure you like.”
He loved how close to the surface her sensuality was becoming, how her fledgling sexual confidence was blooming and stretching toward the light. Toward him. He’d never seen anything more erotic.
Apparently buoyed by his encouragement, she parted her knees a bit, exposing that pretty pussy of hers to full effect. Sweet pink lips glistening and flush with arousal. The sight nearly had his restraint dissolving. He’d left her panties on at the restaurant, so he hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing just how turned on she was until now. But he’d felt how wet she’d been and knew that she’d feel like heaven around him.
One of her hands drifted down from her breast and parted her folds, her pale painted fingernails sliding tentatively along the swollen bud he’d teased with the crop tonight. The sight was so sweetly erotic that he had to reach down and unfasten his belt and pants to free himself before he suffered permanent zipper marks on his cock. Her fingers teased at her entrance, and she hummed a moan in the quiet of the bedroom. His hand gripped his cock, giving it a long stroke as he watched her fingers disappear inside herself.
“Look at me,” he said hoarsely. She hesitated for half a breath, then lifted her head and opened her eyes. Her pupils were almost full black with arousal, but her teeth bit at her lip, her insecurity returning now that she had to face him. He reached out and grabbed her chin. “You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. See what you do to me.”
She glanced down, probably not even realizing how her natural demureness stoked his fire even further. She licked her lips as she took in the sight of his cock in his hand. Fuck. The last vestige of his own control snapped, and he shucked off his pants to climb onto the bed over her. “Hands and knees, angel.”
She scooted backward and turned over. The faint red marks still on her back from the crop made him groan aloud. He’d been so fucking hot for her watching her take the blows in the middle of that garden. It’d taken every ounce of his strength not to back out on her punishment. But he knew the patience would be worth it. He’d earned her trust, and now she’d give herself over to him freely. Instead of wondering and worrying, they could sink into the moment and relish every bit of the reward.
He glided his hands along her hips, enjoying the way she trembled ever so slightly under his touch. He’d never taken her in this position. No one had ever taken her in this position. The realization gave him some perverse caveman pleasure. He’d never been one to get hung up on a woman’s “virtue.” In fact, he typically enjoyed women who took charge of their own pleasure and weren’t afraid to seek out what they desired. But damn if he hadn’t developed some primal appreciation in knowing that anything he did with Cela, he was the first one. It was like some unexpected gift. Any mark on her, any place explored, was all his.
He leaned over and kissed along her spine. “Did you consider my request about condoms, angel?”
He’d sent her his medical report this weekend, leaving things up to her. He didn’t want to push her on the issue—especially now, knowing her sister had gotten pregnant as a teen. That could strike fear in the heart of any woman. But he couldn’t help but ask, the thought of being inside her bare was too decadent to contemplate.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “I’m on the pill. And . . . I want to feel you. Skin to skin.”
Thank God. He moved his hands along the front of her thighs, working to be gentle, knowing her skin was tender from earlier, then positioned himself at her entrance. Her heat teased at the already slick head of his cock, beckoning him. Tilting back a bit to fully enjoy the view, he pushed into her, watching his length disappear inside her cleft.
Ah, God. Now it was his turn to shudder as her warmth and wetness enveloped him whole, making him momentarily unaware of anything but the exquisite feel of their joining. His fingers dug into her hips. He’d only ever gone bare with one other woman, and he couldn’t remember the sensation being this fucking fantastic.
She gasped a bit when he settled deep inside her, and he realized quickly that he was already gripping her too hard. He loosened his hold. “Sorry, angel.”
“Please don’t stop,” she said, breathlessly.
He chuckled softly, then rocked into her again, earning another sweet sound from her. “No chance of that.”
She lowered to her elbows, cheek pressed into the comforter, and he could feel her body surrender. Anything he wanted, he could have—everything from her posture to the rapt look on her face said it. The reality of that was like a heady drug dumped into his blood. She may be a smartass sometimes, may rebel against some of the rules, but goddamn if she wasn’t gorgeously, perfectly submissive when she was under his touch. Pleasure, pride, and something else he didn’t want to label at the moment swelled high in his chest.
She whimpered softly beneath him, and he braced himself over her back, wrapping his arm around her to reach her clit. She had taken her punishment with grace tonight, and now he was going to make damned sure he brought her to a place to make it all worthwhile. As soon as he touched the swollen button, she arched her back like a cat, pulling his cock even deeper inside her. He groaned along with her.
“You have permission to come when I do, baby,” he said, increasing his tempo, no longer content to go slow and easy. He needed to hear those fuck-me screams of hers. That sound did things to him he couldn’t even describe—knowing that she was out of her head, lost to it all—was like pure adrenaline for him. He continued to thrust inside while stroking her clit, their bodies going slick with sweat in the effort to prolong the pleasure.
Then he watched her fingers curl into the comforter, her knuckles going white. She shifted restlessly beneath him, like the buildup of energy was too much to hold in her body. He knew she was past the point of return. Feeling no pain. All pleasure. All need.
“Come, my angel” he whispered.
The low, keening cry on the heels of his command was like bliss-soaked music. He gripped her hard and fucked into her like a man possessed, dying in the pleasure of her clasping, clenching heat. Her sounds. The scent of her skin and arousal. It was all too much. Right as she buried her face in the blankets to muffle another grinding moan, he came hard, spilling inside her and letting loose his own shout of release.
It was the perfect moment.
With the perfect woman.
And for just those few minutes, as they rolled over and curled into each other, he let himself imagine that it wouldn’t be tempo
rary. That’d he’d found that girl.
But he knew hope was a wicked bitch. One who had proven time and again that the minute you believed in something or someone, you got decimated.
And even if Cela thought she wasn’t telling her parents about staying because she was afraid of how they would react, he knew the truth. She hadn’t told because she still wasn’t sure of her decision.
She wasn’t sure of him.
And that’s what had hurt him tonight.
So he knew that he had to cherish these stolen moments with her, because like everything else good in his life—there was always an expiration date.
And every instinct he had said the clock was ticking.
Chapter 30
The next morning I found myself in the completely odd position of waking up in Foster’s bed and getting ready to go into work with him. I’d run over to my place to shower and put on fresh clothes. But right after, I was back, hand in hand with him as we headed out for the day.
He’d offered to give me a tour of his company today, and I was looking forward to seeing it. But as he pulled up to the Starbucks drive-thru window and handed me my latte, it wasn’t lost on me how very domestic this felt. How fast this was all happening. I tried to push the anxiety that came along with that. Half of me was thrilled at how comfortable everything was, but the other half—my practical half—was warning me to slow down my assumptions.
He pulled away from Starbucks and set his coffee in the cup holder. “So have you thought any more about when you’re going to tell your family?”
I sipped my drink, the too-hot liquid burning the tip of my tongue. I winced—whether it was from the coffee or the question he’d asked—I wasn’t sure. “I was thinking maybe it’d be best to tell them in person.”
He looked over at me, eyebrows lifted.
“I’m supposed to go home for my birthday not this weekend but next, and I figured it’d be more respectful to talk to my dad face-to-face. Maybe I can make him understand better if he can see how excited I am about this new job.”