Addicted (Addicted Trilogy Book 1) (12 page)

I matched his rhythm with my thrusts, building and
building until my muscles finally clenched, giving way to the most intense
orgasm of my life.

“That’s it, baby. Come
for me.” He continued commanding my mouth, his tongue teasing me as I rode out
my high.

When the pleasure
started to subside and my breathing slowed, the haze which had been built up
around me dissipated, throwing me back into the reality of the situation.

Withdrawing his hand from my shorts, he grabbed me
by the waist and lifted me down until my feet met the ground, my legs a little
wobbly still. I instantly clutched onto his arms, doing my best not to topple
over until I’d regained all of my strength. He held me tightly, giving me the
time I needed.

 
No sooner had we
let go of one another did Alexa come walking down the hall toward the kitchen. Toward
us. She stopped abruptly when she saw the flushed look on my face. Quickly
looking up at him, I couldn’t help but notice how calm he seemed. And dare I
say unaffected?

“Am I interrupting something?” she asked, having
the decency to actually blush, stopping in her tracks and looking to me for
approval to approach further.

“No, it’s okay. You can come in and get whatever
you need. Don’t mind us.” I was trying to control my flustered voice as I spoke
to her.

She smiled and said hello to Alek as she passed by.
Once she was hidden behind him, she found my eyes and mouthed
holy fuck
, making me laugh at her
brazenness. Alek gave me an inquiring look. I shook my head and laughed again.

He ushered me from the kitchen and toward the front
door.
I guess he’s leaving now.
Trying
my best to hide the look of disappointment on my face, I looked up at him and
gave him a genuine smile.

“Well, I better be heading home. I have to go out of
town for a couple days, but I’ll call you when I get back.” He reached out and grasped
my hand. “Please answer your phone, Sara.”

When I didn’t respond right away, he cocked his
head to the side and gave me an expectant look.
He’ll wait here all night until I give him the answer he wants.

“All right already, I’ll answer your call,” I said
with a smirk.

“Okay, make sure. And hit the code to the alarm as
soon as I leave.” He leaned closer and gave me a sweet goodbye kiss, never
giving way to what had occurred a few feet away a couple minutes before.

Then he was gone. And I was left already missing him.

Oh, this can’t be
good.

Alek

I’d never been so happy for a business trip before
in my entire life. My short time in Vegas would hopefully help me to get my
head on straight again. I was weakening around Sara and plainly put, it wasn’t
fucking good.

I tried over and over to take it slowly, to try and
get to know her and give her adequate time for her to get to know me in return.
But every time we shared the same space, all of my reasoning simply
disappeared.

Daily meetings and countless hours of dealing with
the construction plans for my newest hotel were enough to keep me distracted. It
was only at night, when I was alone in bed, did my thoughts drift to the one
woman who turned my world upside-down. I’d thought I was immune to feeling that
way, but I guessed I was wrong.

And I was never so happy.

Still, we
were
moving a bit fast. Not for me but certainly for her, I was sure. I needed her
to trust me completely. I needed her to never doubt my genuine feelings for her
because if she ever found out what I was hiding, I needed her loyalty and
unguarded love to help her see the real me again.

It was Thursday evening when I finally called her.

“Hello.” She answered on the second ring. I think
she was trying to go for nonchalant, but she didn’t quite pull it off. I knew
she was as excited to talk to me as I was to her, although
I
was able to hide the eagerness from my voice.

“Hi there, beautiful. Miss me?” I couldn’t help myself,
forever wanting her to stroke my ego. Among other things.

“No, not particularly.”

I decided to call her bluff. “Now why are you lying
to me, Sara? Do I have to put you over my knee and spank the truth out of you?”
I heard her gasp, a sound which instantly had me rock-hard. The image of her
bent over my knee was torture, but her response to my outburst almost made me
lose it.

“Do what you think you have to, Alek.” There was no
shyness in her reply, which I found kind of surprising seeing as how she
blushed quite a bit when she was near me.
I
guess that’s the beauty of the phone.
She could be as brazen as she wanted
in the privacy of her own home, far away from my prying eyes.

 
“Don’t tempt
me, Sara.”

A few seconds of building tension was all she
needed to switch the subject. “So, how was your trip? Did you take care of
whatever it was you needed to?”

“There’s still a pressing matter but nothing I
can’t handle.” Work was the last thing I wanted to think let alone talk about,
but I didn’t want to discourage her from asking me questions about my job.

“Well, I’m sure everything will work out fine.” She was
silent for a moment. We both were.

I didn’t know why I was suddenly nervous. I wanted
to ask her to come over for dinner Saturday night, but the fear she could say
no was something I didn’t want to think about. In reality, I knew she would say
yes, but there was always the small chance she could decline and that would
crush me. I acted all cool and collected in front of her, but inside I was
freaking out. Well, not freaking out, but nervous nonetheless.

Diving right in, I threw out the invitation, hoping
she would accept. “Sara, would you like to come over Saturday night for dinner?
I’m cooking,” I said, patiently waiting for her reply.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long. “Yes,
of course. What time?”

“How about we make it for seven o’clock? I’ll make
sure you have the directions.” I hoped she didn’t think I was an ass for not
picking her up, but I had a surprise for her. A surprise I was sure she was
going to give me a hard time about, but I would persuade her to see it from my
point of view, like I always did. “Until then. Goodbye, Sara.” I hung up before
I lost all my willpower, drove over to her place and pinned her against her
bed.

The thought alone was enough of an image to
pleasure myself to later on.

Sara

I was so busy at work the next day I didn’t really
have an opportunity to dwell on thoughts of seeing Alek on Saturday. I was
beyond excited but nervous, as well. My body’s reaction to him was so powerful
I could only wonder if we would end up in bed together. My first time. Normally,
I would have been anxious, but the thought of Alek being the man who would
claim my innocence set off an instinctive need to surrender to him.

He was the only man I’d let inside my guarded bubble.

He was the only one who had ever made me feel safe.

After the initial rush had calmed down later in the
afternoon, I grabbed my phone to check and see if I had any texts or voicemails
from him.
A girl could dream, right?
As
I opened it up, it rang. I answered immediately.

“Hey, girl. What are you up to tonight?” Alexa
asked.

Trying to hide my disappointment it wasn’t Alek, I
answered nonchalantly. “I didn’t have any plans. Why? What were you thinking? Movie
night?”

“No, I was thinking more like going out for a
drink. Since we both have work early tomorrow, we won’t stay out late. I
promise.” When I didn’t answer right away, she pleaded with me. “Pretty please
with sugar on top? I’ve been stressing badly at work and I need some liquid
relief.”

Deciding to put my friend out of her misery, I
agreed. “Okay. As long as we’re not out too late, I’m good with a quick drink. I’ll
ask Matt and see if he’s free, yeah?”

“Yeah, of course. Sounds good. I’ll see you at home
later.”

~~~~

We all decided to go to a well-known, local
watering hole. It was a pretty big place but it wasn’t overly crowded, which
was probably due to the fact it was a week night.

Once we had our drinks in hand, we found a private
place to sit so we could just chill and hang out.

“So, what’s going on at work, Lex? Are the women
there driving you crazy again?” I knew she had some issues with some of her
co-workers but normally she didn’t let it get to her, choosing to ignore them
and go on about her business instead.

“No, this time it isn’t about the women.” She gazed
out toward the crowd, not really looking at anyone in particular but instead, staring
out into thin air. I bumped her shoulder with my own, nudging her to tell us
what the problem was at work. “It’s the new boss,” she finally confessed.

She had mentioned to me once before the marketing
firm she worked for was recently bought out.
 
Now, apparently, she didn’t like who was in charge.

“What’s wrong with the boss?” Matt chimed into the
conversation.

“Well, for starters, he’s unbelievably hot,” Alexa
grunted.

“Why is that a problem?” Matt and I amusingly said
at the same time, which only made us laugh harder, gaining a faint smirk from
Alexa.

“It’s a problem because I can’t fully concentrate
on my job when he’s loitering around next to me. I feel inadequate when he asks
me a question and I have to have him repeat himself. Then there are times where
I swear he’s considering firing my distracted ass. All of it has made for a
very stressful situation over the past few weeks.”

She took a long drink after spilling all her
information.

Matt wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled
her close. “You have to figure out ways to steer clear of him then. Do you sit
close to him? If you do, can you request to move your office somewhere else?”

“His office is at the far end of our floor, so asking
to move would kind of seem ridiculous. And it’s not like I see him all day
long, but when I do, I can’t control my wandering thoughts.” Slumping forward a
little, she continued with, “I just have to suck it up and get over it. Somehow.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Lex. Plus, it’s not
the worst problem to have at work. A hot boss? We can all only dream.” I tried
to make her see there were worse things which could happen in the workplace. Having
someone nice to look at wasn’t really one of them.

“I have a hot boss,” Matt commented, which made us
all laugh.

“Yes, you do, my friend,” I replied, flicking my
hair over my shoulder.

As I turned my head while goofing off, I caught a
glimpse of Alek standing near the bar.
I
wonder what he’s doing here.
It was weird to find someone like him in such
a casual place. The shock of actually seeing him took a few seconds to wear
off.

As I contemplated walking over there and saying
hello, I saw a blonde woman shimmy up next to him, running her hands all over
him as if they were a couple.

My heart sank.

I knew we weren’t exclusive. Hell, we weren’t even
dating, but the sight of him with someone else was too much.

Trying to convince myself to play it cool, I looked
away from the offensive sight and turned back toward my friends.
Don’t think about him. Don’t you dare think
about
him.
But I did. I did think about him. How
could I not? He’d consumed my every thought recently. And there he was, across
the bar, with some beautiful…bitch.
Yeah,
I know. I’m being catty, but as long as I don’t voice it, it’s okay.
My secret is safe with me.

My thoughts were interrupted when Matt nudged me. “Isn’t
that Alek over there, Sara?” He leaned closer to get a better look. “Who’s the
woman with him?” he asked, continuing to stare.

“Yeah, it’s him, and I don’t know who she is.” I
tried to appear unaffected, but inside I was a wreck. “If you guys will excuse
me, I need another drink. I’ll be right back.” I was sure they could see I was
upset.

Sneaking through the crowd so he wouldn’t see me, I
found a place on the opposite side of the bar. Luckily, I was able to get
served upon arrival, nursing my drink while I thought about what I should do. Should
I say hi? Should I make him introduce me to his
friend
? Should I ignore him? Damn
it! I had no idea. My
heart beat fast as I tried to decipher which emotion was actually plaguing me.

Anger?

Heartache?

Jealousy?

A mixture of all three?

I wasn’t in my seat two minutes when I heard his
voice behind me. Because my mind was all over the place, I never even thought
to keep an eye out for whether or not he actually saw me.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink, Sara?”
he asked as he reached across me and tried to push my drink away. His scent
enveloped me, making me think all sorts of crazy thoughts. Squaring my
shoulders, my body went rigid as I slowly turned around in my seat. I couldn’t
let on to the effect he had on me. I was too upset.

I guess I’m
settling on the emotion of anger.

“I can take care of myself, Mr.
Devera
.
Thank you very much. But if you insist on feigning interest over someone, why
don’t you do it with your date?” I huffed, pointing toward the woman who was
all too happy rubbing against him.
 

“Who exactly are you referring to?”
He knows exactly who I mean.

“The woman who has been hanging all over you. The
one who obviously thinks you’re an item,” I snarled, anger sneaking out on the
tip of every word.

I turned back around and reached for my drink, but
he was much quicker than I was. He abruptly grabbed it and handed it off to the
bartender before I could utter my objection.

“Alek, what the hell? You can’t possibly think you
can stand there and dictate how much I’m allowed to drink. You have absolutely
no right and you know it.” He had such nerve, toying with me, pretending to be interested
in me, even inviting me to dinner at his house. Then showing up with some other
woman.

I knew us running into one another was a
coincidence, but still.

“I have every right since I seem to be the only one
who is constantly looking out for your well-being.”

“Oh, okay,” I scoffed. “Yeah, I’m really in an
unsafe place right now, surrounded by all these people. Not to mention my
friends are with me. Get over yourself.”

I motioned for the bartender, waiting for him to
make his way over. I wasn’t going to let him get away with treating me like I
was some stupid female who couldn’t handle her liquor. Admittedly, sometimes I became
a bit tipsy, but if I wasn’t driving, what did it matter? I didn’t drink much
to begin with, so I didn’t see the harm in letting loose every once in a while.
I can’t even believe he’s making me
justify wanting a drink, to myself nonetheless.

“Like I said, go control your date’s every move…not
mine.”

“She is not my date!” he barked. I’d obviously wormed
my way under his skin.
Good
. It was the
least I could do given the shitty circumstance.

He calmed down right away, running his fingers up
and down my arm. “I only have eyes for you, Sara. Don’t you know that by now?”

“Go sell that crap to someone who will believe you,
Alek.” My statement made him wince.

I shrugged my arm away from his touch, burning a
hole right through the back of the bartender. I’d never wanted a drink more
than I did at that exact moment. I needed it to calm my rising nerves, but I also
wanted it simply to aggravate Alek.

Finally, the bartender made his way back over but
before I could give him my order, Alek told him to cut me off, informing him I
wasn’t allowed any more to drink. The bartender simply nodded. “Sure thing, Mr.
Devera
. Whatever you say.”

I turned around so quickly, I smashed right into
him.
Damn, can’t he give me any room?
“You’re
such an arrogant ass,” I mumbled through clenched teeth. “What gives you the
right to cut me off? I’ve only had two drinks so far tonight. That’s far from
being at the point where you should be concerned, not that you should even
be
concerned about what I’m doing.” Admittedly,
I was allowing my emotions to take over, reacting more dramatically than I
would have with anyone else.

It’s all his
fault, really.

The bastard actually smiled at me. Ugh, I had to
get away from him before I really snapped out and lost it. I wasn’t a violent
person, not by any means, but I was struggling with not throat-punching him
right then. I tried to wriggle free of my seat, but he blocked my escape.

“Move,” I said, a little too calmly. I was trying
to rein it in, no matter how hard it was. I put my hands on his chest, trying
to make him back up, but he didn’t move. Not one step. He laughed at my feeble
attempt, stepping even closer than he was before.

“I’m not going anywhere and neither are you, Sara. Not
without me, at least.” As he was about to reach for me, the woman who had been
rubbing against him earlier saddled up to him, seized his hand and attempted to
pull him close.

At first glance, she was a very attractive woman,
her long, blonde hair trickling down her back in large waves. Her model-type
figure instantly made me self-conscious, her pouty lips the final blow to my self-esteem.
But the more I looked at her, the more I could tell she was someone who was
only concerned about herself. Fakeness crept from every pore in her perfect
body.

“Who do we have here?” she asked with reserved
contempt, checking me out from head to toe. She tried to pull off sweet but failed
miserably.

“Apparently no one,” I retorted. As Alek turned his
head to look at her, I knocked him off-balance enough to take a step back. It
was all the room I needed to escape. And escape I did. Quickly. I ran through
the place looking for Alexa and Matt. I knew they were there somewhere, but it
was hard to peer through the sea of people.

“Sara!” Alek yelled behind me, his voice too close
for comfort. I broke out in a run, dodging in and out of the other patrons,
still searching for a glimpse of my friends.
Oh, where are they
?

Finally, I saw Matt standing
in the far corner, talking to a very handsome guy. They were standing a little
too close, but not enough for anyone to think they were anything except good
buddies. But since I knew his secret, I saw what was obvious to me.

I hastily made my way over to them. “Matt, are you
leaving anytime soon?” I was out of breath but I didn’t want to alarm him,
trying my best to calm down as quickly as possible.

“Yeah, I was about to head out in a few minutes. Why?
What’s wrong? You look like someone’s been chasing you.”
He hit the nail on the head and he doesn’t even know it.

“No, I was just flustered because I couldn’t find
you guys.” I broke eye contact with him and scanned the area near us. “Where’s
Alexa?”

“She’s somewhere out on the dance floor. You know
her; a good song is all it takes.” He reached for my hand and pulled me into him,
suddenly glancing from me to the guy standing on his other side.

I nudged him. Hard. “Introduce me to your friend.”

“Oh, sorry. Sara, this is Marcus. Marcus, this is
my dear friend, Sara.”