Part 9 (2/2)

'I'm sorry.' he whispers softly, sliding his hand around to cup my cheek, slowly stroking the rolling tears away with his thumb. His expression is pure torment. Good. It should be.

I find my voice. 'You said you would leave me alone.' I look at him questioningly as he continues to smooth his thumb over my face. Why is he chasing me like this? He's clearly unhappy in his relations.h.i.+p, but it doesn't make this right.

'I lied, I'm sorry. I told you, I can't stay away.'

'You already said that you're sorry, but here you are again. Am I to expect flowers tomorrow?' I don't hide my sarcasm.

His thumb pauses and he drops his head. Now he's ashamed. But then his head lifts, our eyes connect and his gaze drops to my lips. Oh, no. Please, no. I'll never be able to stop this. He begins searching my eyes, looking for any sign that I'm going to block him. Am I? I know I should, but I don't think I can. His lips part and they slowly start lowering to mine. I hold my breath. As our lips brush, only very lightly, my body gives way, prompting my hands to fly up and bunch his jacket in my fists. He growls his approval as he moves his hands to the base on my spine and pushes my body closer to him, our lips hovering over each other, our breaths mingling. We both shake uncontrollably.

'Have you ever felt like this?' he breathes, running his lips across my cheek to my ear.

'Never,' I answer honestly. My short, gasping breath is unrecognisable.

He grips the lobe of my ear between his teeth and tugs gently, letting the flesh drag through his bite. 'Are you ready to stop fighting it now?' he whispers, tracing down the edge of my ear with the tip of his tongue, working his way back up and brus.h.i.+ng his lips lightly over the sensitive flesh under my ear. His hot breath causes a rush of heat to crash between my thighs. I can't fight this anymore.

'Oh G.o.d,' I breathe, and his lips return to mine to hush me. He takes them gently, and I accept it, letting our tongues roll and lap together at a steady, non-urgent pace. It's too good. My whole body is on fire, and I realise my hands are aching from gripping his jacket too hard. I release them, moving them to the back of his neck to stroke the dark blonde hair on his nape.

He moans, releasing my mouth. 'Is that a yes?' He fixes me with his sludgy eyes.

I know I'm supposed to answer here. 'Yes.'

Nodding his head, only very slightly, he kisses my nose, my cheek, my forehead and returns to my mouth. 'I need to have all of you, Ava. Say I can have all of you.'

All of me? What does he mean by all of me? Mind? Soul? But he doesn't mean that, does he? No, he wants all of my body. And right now, my conscience has completely failed me. I need to get this man out of my system. He needs to get me out of his system.

'Take me.' I say quietly against his lips.

'Oh, I will.'

Keeping his lips firmly against mine, he wraps one arm around my waist and splays the other across the back of my head. Lifting me from my feet, he deepens his kiss and walks me across the room until my back is against a wall. Our tongues dance together wildly, my hands moving down his back. I want closer contact. I grab the front of his jacket and start pus.h.i.+ng it off of his shoulders, forcing him to release his hold of me. He keeps our lips locked, stepping back slightly to give me s.p.a.ce to rid him of the obstruction to his body. I toss it on the floor, grab his s.h.i.+rt and yank him towards me, all my previous battling of conscious long forgotten. I have to have him.

Our bodies smash together and he pushes me up the wall, devouring my mouth.

'f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, Ava.' he pants through strangled breaths. 'You make me crazy.'

He rolls his hips, pus.h.i.+ng his erection into me, milking a small cry from my lips. I fist my hands in his hair, moaning in invitation. This is way past stoppable now. My body has gone into cruise control, the stop b.u.t.ton lost somewhere in the land of l.u.s.t. I feel his palms rest on the front of my thighs, my dress bunched in his fists and pulled up over my waist in one swift tug. His hips roll again and I whimper. I need more. Christ, I don't know how I've resisted this. He bites my bottom lip and releases me, pulling his face away and looking me straight in the eyes. He rolls his hips again, grinding hard against my core. My head falls back on a deep moan, giving him open access to my throat, which he takes full advantage of, licking, sucking and lapping at the hollow. I could weep with pleasure. But then I hear voices coming from outside of the room and reality comes cras.h.i.+ng down around me. What am I doing? I'm in the master suite of the penthouse, with my dress around my waist and Jesse at my throat. There are hundreds of people milling about down stairs. Someone could walk in at any moment. Someone will walk in at any moment.

'Jesse,' I pant, trying to get his attention. 'Jesse, people are coming, you have to stop.' I wriggle a little, causing his erection to hit me in just the right spot. I bang my head against the wall to try and halt the stab of pleasure it causes.

He groans, long and low. 'I'm not letting you go, not now.'

'We need to stop.'

'No.' he growls.

Oh, flipping heck. Anyone could walk through that door. 'We'll do this later.' I try and pacify him. I need to get him off of me.

'That leaves you too much time to change your mind.' He nibbles my neck.

'I won't change my mind,' I grip his jaw, pulling his face to mine so we're nose to nose. I look him squarely in his sludgy pools of green. 'I will not change my mind.'

He scans my eyes, looking for the rea.s.surance he needs, but I couldn't be any more resolute. I want this. Yes, I might have time to evaluate the situation, but right now, I'm certain I'll see this through. He's just way too tempting to resist, and G.o.d I've tried.

He kisses me hard on the lips and pulls away. 'Sorry, I can't risk it.' He scoops me up into his arms and stalks towards the bathroom.

'What? They'll want to see in there too.' He can't be serious?

'I'll lock the door. No screaming.' He looks at me on a small smirk.

I'm shocked, but I laugh. 'You have no shame.'

'No. My c.o.c.k has been aching since last Friday, I finally have you in my arms and you've seen sense. I'm going nowhere and neither are you.'

Chapter 9.

He kicks the door shut behind him, placing me between the sinks on the marble vanity unit before returning to lock the door. My dress is still bunched around my waist, my legs and knickers completely exposed.

I gaze around the vast room that I'm so familiar with, my eyes falling on the gigantic, cream, marble bath dominating the centre of the room. I smile, remembering the trauma of having to organise a crane to lift it in through the windows. It was a nightmare, but it does look spectacular. The double, open ended shower on the back wall is made up of a floor to ceiling sheeted gla.s.s and beige Travertine tiles, and the vanity unit that I've been placed on is cream, Italian marble, with two sunken sinks and large waterfall taps. A thick, gold framed, intricately carved mirror spans the entire width of the unit, and a chaise lounge sits at an angle in the window. It really is luxury embodied.

I hear the lock click into place, snapping me from admiring my work and pulling my eyes to the door, where Jesse is watching me closely. As he saunters towards me, he slowly starts unb.u.t.toning his s.h.i.+rt. I watch him gain on me, his mouth lax, his eyes hooded. Antic.i.p.ation has my stomach churning and my thighs clenching shut. This man is absolutely stunning.

With his final b.u.t.ton unfastened, he stands before me with his s.h.i.+rt draped open. I can't resist reaching up and running my finger down the centre of his hard, tanned chest. He looks down to follow my trail, placing his hands on either side of my hips, nudging his way between my thighs. As he looks at me, his lips tip at the edges and his eyes sparkle, the slight creases at the corner softening the usual intensiveness of them.

'You can't escape now.' he teases.

'I don't want to.'

'Good.' he mouths, dragging my eyes to his lovely lips.

I trail my finger back up his chest, working my way past his throat until my finger rests on his bottom lip. He opens his mouth, biting my finger playfully. I smile, continuing upwards and running my hand through his hair.

'I like your dress.' He drags his eyes down my front.

I follow his stare to the bunched up material around my waist. 'Thank you.'

'It's a bit restrictive.' He tugs at a piece of material.

'It is.' I agree. The antic.i.p.ation is killing me. Rip off the dress!

'Shall we remove it?' He c.o.c.ks a brow at me, the corners of his mouth twitching.

I smile. 'If you like,'

'Or maybe, we leave it on?' He breaks into a full on smile as he holds his hands up.

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