Allison giggled. “I think it’s because we went swimming.”
Raising my head, I grinned at her. “We did. Didn’t we?”
She nodded her head. “I wish you could’ve seen yourself. One minute you were suggesting we go swimming, and then the next, you were jumping in the pool with all your clothes on.”
“It was fun though, wasn’t it?”
“I promise I’m not complaining. I’m just sorry I smell like chlorine.”
“I think we can fix that.” With a wink, I rose off of her, even though I wanted to stay close to her warm body. “Let’s go shower.”
Closing my eyes, I let the steam envelop me along with the feel of Rhys’s hands on my body. I’d been all for taking a shower, but I hadn’t realized that it would mean another round with Rhys. Not that I was complaining. No, I was in the place where my most wonderful dreams and fantasies had come true. I’d finally been with Rhys—he had taken me fully, mind, soul, and now body. I’d always known it would be good. I just hadn’t realized exactly how good it would be.
When he brought his wet hand between my thighs and began to stroke me, I moaned and closed my eyes. “God, it’s like you’re playing my clit just like you would a piece of music.”
“I’m awfully good with my fingers.”
My eyes snapped open when I realized I had actually voiced the finger playing comment aloud. As mortification rocketed through me, Rhys grinned at me. “Let me oblige the fantasy a little further.” He then shifted my hips to where I was in front of him, like I was the cello between his legs. Experiencing the real feel of his fingers was so much more intense than when I had watched him playing his cello earlier. While just the memory sent a tingling over my skin, my body was now alight with exquisite sensation as Rhys moved his fingers with the same glorious precision between my legs.
As I lay my head back on his chest, one of his hands came to cup and knead my breast while the other went back between my thighs. Spreading my legs further apart, I gave him more room to work the magic of his fingers over me. I thrust my hips against his hand, letting his fingers plunge deeper and deeper inside me. Gripping his biceps, I squeezed them tight as the first waves of orgasm overtook me. When I finished and my eyes opened again, I found Rhys staring down at me, watching me absorb the pleasure.
“You’re so sexy when you come.”
I couldn’t help blushing at his response. “I’m not used to coming that hard or so much. At least not with a guy.”
Rhys raised his brows at me. “What do you mean?”
With a shy smile, I replied, “You’re really going to make me say it, huh?” When he still continued staring at me in confusion, I reached my hands up to cup his face. “You are the only person I’ve been with who has ever made me come that hard.”
His eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously.” When a smirk curved on his lips, I smacked his chest. “Don’t make me regret telling you that.”
He laughed. “I’m sorry, but that’s too fucking hot not to get stoked about.”
Turning around in his arms, I brought my hand between us to stroke his growing erection. “I guess it’s your turn now.”
“To get clean or get off?”
“A little of both.” I sank down on my knees in front of him. His hooded eyes gazed down at me as I flicked my tongue over the head of his erection. He shuddered at the minimal contact. I then alternated between licking it from root to tip and then suctioning the head. Then I took the length into my mouth, bobbing up and down. When I began to hum as I took his length deeper in my mouth, Rhys hissed with what I assumed was pleasure. His hands tangled in the wet strands of my hair, watching as my lips worked up and down his cock.
Sliding my hands between his legs, I gently tugged and massaged his balls. “Oh fuck, Allison,” Rhys said, throwing his head back against the tile. I let his erection fall from my mouth to dip my head and take his balls in my mouth. I sucked and nibbled at the sensitive flesh, all the while sliding my hand up and down on his dick.
A tremor ran through his body. He jerked my hair back, but I sucked his cock back into my mouth. I continued sucking hard and fast until I felt his hips buck and the start of his cum spurt into my mouth. Rhys cursed and cried out my name, his head making a loud noise as it banged back against the tile. I licked him dry before I got up off my knees.
As he pulled his head off the wall, he appraised me with a dazed expression that seemed to express total and complete satisfaction. I knew then if he didn’t say a word, I had done well. “You’re wearing a pleased little smirk there,” he said.
When I burst into laughter, I quickly brought my hand over my mouth. “I could say the same for you,” I replied, my words somewhat muffled behind my hand.
Rhys grinned. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before we turn into prunes.”
I nodded. Rhys reached past me to turn off the shower. He opened the glass door and motioned for me to go out first. I stepped out onto the tiled floor and then reached for a towel. Rhys took it from me and then proceeded to dry my arms and shoulders before dropping down to dry my thighs and legs. “Such personal service from my lord,” I teased, when he brought himself back up.
“Nothing but the best for you, my little wench.”
I smacked him playfully on the arm. Once I wrapped in my towel, I took another off the rack and began to dry off Rhys. The longer my hands stayed on him, rubbing the terry cloth over his body, the more I wanted him buried deep inside me. Again. I wasn’t the only one ready for another round. Rhys’s growing erection rested against my thigh.
“Let’s go to bed.” He then led me out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. “Get on your hands and knees,” Rhys commanded, causing me to shiver. Normally, I wasn’t in to being told what to do, but the fact that it was him made all the difference.
After I dropped the towel, I climbed onto the bed and crawled toward the center. When I reached it, I gazed back at him over my shoulder. I couldn’t resist wiggling my ass at him. “Come on, Rhys. Don’t make me wait for it,” I urged.
“Do you like it hard?” he asked, as he eased down onto the bed behind me.
“Hmm, yes.”
When he smacked my ass cheek, the sound reverberated around the room, causing me to jump out of my skin. “You like that, too?”
“Yes,” I hissed. Peering over my shoulder into his lust-filled eyes, I commanded, “Do it again.”
This time he smacked my opposite cheek, and I moaned, my fingers gripping the sheets. I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to have him. “Please, Rhys.” I felt his weight leave the mattress and then he was rustling in the nightstand drawer for a condom. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before I felt him positioning the head of his cock at my entrance.
When he plunged deep into me, we both cried out. There was nothing like the feel of having Rhys inside me. All the nights of fantasizing about him converged on this moment. I tightened my walls around him, causing a groan to rumble through his chest. The sound caused even more moisture to pool between my legs. There was something so erotic about hearing his sounds of pleasure and knowing I had caused them.
As my long hair fanned out over my back, Rhys reached up to tangle his fingers in it. When he jerked my head back, I moaned and bit my lip. Bending over me, Rhys leaned down to where his lips brushed against my face. “You do like it rough and hard, don’t you?”
“Just with you. Only with you,” I panted, turning my head so that my face could rub against his. And it was the truth.
“That’s right. Only I get to take you like this,” he replied. I could tell my words had stroked his ego that he was the first one to really be like this with me, just like with the orgasms. But what he still was missing was that I could let myself go and feel so deeply because I truly loved him with every fiber of my being. As he continued pounding into me, our shower soon became a waste as our bodies became coated with the sheen of sweat caused by our exertions.
I gasped
when Rhys pulled out of me. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched as he rocked back on his knees, resting his feet under his buttocks. He reached for my hips and eased me up onto my knees as well. When my back was tight against his chest, he reentered me. The sensation was almost overpowering. He and I both groaned at the depth he reached as he entered me.
As Rhys started slowly gliding in and out of me, I started to see the benefit of this position. He was able to reach around me to cup my breasts and pinch my nipples, or he could dip his hand down to stroke me between my legs. As my head fell back against his shoulder, I brought a hand up to tangle through the strands of his dark hair.
My heart melted when Rhys dipped his face down to meet my lips in a frantic kiss. The instant he plunged his tongue into my mouth, I came. “Rhys! Oh God!” I cried, as my walls shuddered. As I was still riding my orgasm, Rhys eased me down onto my stomach and began to pump furiously until he came.
Once he was finished, he eased out of me. I felt so physically wasted that I could barely hold my head up. After Rhys disposed of the condom in the wastebasket beside the bed, he urged me to get back up. “No, no more. I can’t now. I’m too tired.”
He chuckled. “I was trying to get you up so we could get under the covers.”
“Oh,” I replied, before I sat up. Rhys tugged the comforter and sheet back, and then I dove underneath them, stretching out on the luxurious cotton. Rhys slipped in beside me and spooned up against my back. His breathing began to grow shallower and shallower, until he was finally asleep. Feeling utterly satisfied, I found myself falling into a deep sleep, enveloped in the warmth of Rhys’s strong embrace.
I knew I loved Rhys before tonight. But, after making love with him, I was completely gone. He had always owned my heart. Now he owned my body as well.
As the morning sunlight streamed across my face, I shifted in the bed. When I started to roll over to get the sun out of my eyes, I found myself entangled in a mass of dark hair. I tried desperately to process where I was and who I was with. And then I realized it was Allison lying beside me. My mind was assaulted with John Milton’s phrase, “Hide me from day’s garish eye” and its somewhat bastardization of “everything looked different in the garish light of day.”
Fucking hell, what had I done? Somewhere between the tequila and what had happened with Ellie, I’d completely let my guard down and allowed myself to give in to the worst temptation. A reel of X-rated images flickered through my mind of doing body shots off Allison, making out with her in the pool, and then taking her to my bed.
The realization crashed over me, causing me to shudder. I’d fucked Jake’s little sister. I’d fucked her in multiple positions and had used way too many condoms. I’d defiled a perfectly sweet and angelic girl who had been the only bright spot in my world, besides Ellie, the last few weeks. Bringing my forearm over my eyes, I groaned. How could she ever forgive me?
“Hey, are you okay?” a small voice asked beside me.
Drawing my arm away, I met Allison’s expectant gaze. Even though she should’ve looked ridden hard and put up wet after all we had done, she was so fucking radiant she glowed. The sunlight hit the back of her hair and shot down her body, illuminating her small curves under the stark white sheet.
With a tentative smile, she placed her hand on my chest over my heart. “Talk to me, Rhys.”
At that moment, former coherent thoughts seemed to evaporate instantaneously. Just the sight of Allison stirred something within me. Fucking hell. No! I could not go there again. Groaning once more, I pulled myself up in the bed and leaned back against the headboard. Desperately I searched to find the right words in this moment. “God, Allison, I’m so, so sorry about last night.”
Her brows lined in confusion. “Why would you be sorry?”
I furiously rubbed my face. “I took advantage of you when you were just being kind and compassionate. I got you drunk. I—”
She interrupted me by bringing her hand over my mouth. “Stop it. There is nothing to apologize for or to beat yourself up over. Last night was about two consenting adults. And I certainly remember giving my permission.”
Vaguely another grainy image flickered in my head of Allison telling me to kiss her again. She certainly seemed to have a good time without coercion last night. But even if she was on board, I knew better than to touch her. “Even if you were okay with it, it wasn’t right,” I protested.
Rising up in the bed, Allison didn’t bother to keep the sheet wrapped around her chest. I pinched my eyes shut to avoid the delicious eyeful of her breasts. “Your head is still too cloudy to process everything. Go get us some coffee, and we’ll talk this through.”
In the light of morning, Allison appeared so much older. She certainly spoke with such assurance that I was willing to accept or believe anything she said. “Okay?” she prodded.
“All right. I’ll throw on some clothes and run up to the main house.” As I pulled back the sheet, Allison’s eyes stared appreciatively at my dick, and it took everything within me not to flip her onto her back and pound her again. “You should put some clothes on.”
“Do you have something I can borrow?”
“Of course.”
She gave me a beaming smile, one that lit me afire from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. At the same time, it comforted me. It was like Allison possessed the answers to all the questions and worries I had about my life. I couldn’t imagine why the hell I was thinking that about her. She was just a friend…a friend I had now had sex with. Fuuuuck!
Shaking off the weird feelings swimming around in my head, I went to the chest of drawers and took out a T-shirt and some shorts. “Here.”
“Thank you.” She took them in her hands and then slipped out from under the sheet. I couldn’t believe how uninhibited she was in front of me. When she ducked into the bathroom, I headed out the side door to the house.
When I let myself in the backdoor, the kitchen was empty. Knowing my mother, she had asked the cook to bring her a breakfast tray after feigning exhaustion from the party. That or she had insisted on taking her meal outside on the veranda, so she could survey any potential damage done by the partygoers. It was always about her, not what was convenient to others.
I dug a thermos out of the back of the pantry, and then filled it with steaming coffee. Several different types of muffins and fruit were laid out on the island. I grabbed a plate and starting piling up a sampling in case Allison was hungry.
Just as I turned to go, my mother’s voice stopped me. “There you are. After I didn’t see you again last night after the party, I thought you might have left us again. But when I went for my morning walk, I saw your car was still here.”
I drew in a deep breath, trying to temper my response. I turned around. “I went to take Ellie home and make sure she was okay.”
My mother’s dark eyes narrowed slightly. “This is Eleanor’s home.”
“This will never be Ellie’s home, Mother. You have to be welcome at your home, and we know that will never be the case. Whenever she comes here, she’s banished to the carriage house.”
“It isn’t banishment. It’s giving her freedom.”
Rolling my eyes, I started backing toward the door. “I don’t have the fucking time or energy for this conversation.”
Mother crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you take the same care with your date to make sure she made it safely home?”
“Her name is Allison, and from your tone, I’m sure you already know she stayed last night with me in the pool house.”
“This is the second time I’ve seen you with this girl. Are you serious about her?”
I gave a mirthless laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re actually interested like a real mother is about who her son might be involved with? I’m sure with you it’s more of a concern about her social stature and what type of blood runs in her veins.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Honestly, Rhys, isn’t it enough that you have to defy your father’s and m
y wishes by abandoning law school and a future at a prestigious law firm? Must you now bring further shame by dating a girl who is so far removed from our social sphere?”
“Mother, it’s far too early in the morning for your snobbery,” I retorted sarcastically.
“Don’t be a fool, Rhys. This girl is so completely enamored that she’s even found a way to get her claws further into you by touring with your band on the pretense of this internship.”
Since my mother wasn’t the type of woman to confide in about my confused feelings and emotions, I merely shook my head. “Look, I’m hoping this will shut you up on the matter. I’m not dating Allison—not now and not ever. There’s absolutely nothing between us but friendship, and there never will be anything else.”
At the sound of a gasp behind me, I whirled around. With a horrified expression, Allison stood in the doorway outfitted in the shorts and T-shirt of mine that were way too big for her. Before I could say anything to her, she turned and fled out the door.
“Fuck,” I muttered, throwing everything in my hands on the counter. I raced out the door after her. “Allison, wait!” I called.
When Allison turned toward me, tears pooled in her eyes. “What you just said to your mother…is that how you really feel about me?”
I couldn’t understand why she was crying, but I knew I needed to get her to calm down. “Look, could we just calm the fuck down for a minute and think about this?”
“What is there to think about exactly?” she pressed.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that we made a horrible mistake last night.”
Flinching like I had hit her, Allison questioned in a strangled voice, “Is that what it was to you? A mistake?”
“Of course it was. We were both drunk. It had been a hell of a night for me, and you were so sweet to comfort me. I swear to God that I never intended to seduce you.”