After The One (The One Series Duet) (18 page)

I tried to respond to him, but he slipped a finger inside me and my answer was compromised.

“I couldn’t hear you.” His wet finger made contact with my clit again. “Let me hear you.”

He rubbed me methodically. It was a slow, circular movement that always drove me crazy.

“Yes,” I murmured dizzily.

He lowered his voice as he added a second finger inside. “Listen to that,” he grunted. The soft, wet sound mixed with our panting breaths and my lurid moans. “Do you hear that, Zoe? Do you hear how fucking wet you are? Do you hear how bad you want my dick?”

His words set something off inside of me and my hips lifted off of the bed. I cried out.

“Yes,” I gasped.

“Look at me.”

I forced my eyes to open into little slits, but the sensations he was stirring up made it difficult to keep them open. My eyes raked his powerfully masculine body before honing in on his handsome face. Seeing the way he was devouring my body with his eyes as he ran his hand over his dick caused me to cry out for him.

“Shit, just watching you might set me off.” Julian groaned as if he were in pain.

Hearing his desire took my breath away.

He licked his lips. “Tell me you understand that you need to talk to me no matter what.”

I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice. “I-I understand. I’m sorry.”

“Good.” He hooked his fingers upward, causing my eyes to shut tight and my body to quiver.

My arms slammed against the mattress and gripped the comforter in my fists. My orgasm was building to the point of no return. I was so keyed up, I was completely under his control. His fingers carried me to the brink of my second orgasm of the night before backing off.

“Now can I apologize for walking out of the kitchen the way I did?” His whisper was strained as he took his fingers away from me.

“Please.” The desperation in my voice was clear as my body still hummed with a wanton lust for his touch. I felt like I was on fire. My eyes fluttered open. “Please.”

He spread my legs as wide as they’d go. I felt his hardness pressing against my soft wetness. “I’m sorry,” he moaned as he pushed the head of his dick into me.

My eyes closed, my back arched, and my head jerked back, burrowing into the mattress. I didn’t recognize my own voice when the lustful whimper exploded from the depths of me.

With only the tip of his dick inside of me, Julian leaned forward, caging my head with his strong arms. He dipped his head down and moved his soft lips over mine.

I reached up, letting my fingers run over his hard body before tweaking his nipples. I grabbed his face and changed the tone of the kiss from reverent want to reckless need. As the kiss became sloppier, my patience wore thin. I rolled my hips upward, forcing another inch of his long, thick dick into me.

Julian pulled out of the kiss, causing me to freeze. His grey eyes flashed as he hovered millimeters above me. His warm breath tickled my face as he breathed the words “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Julian sat up a little more, moving his hands from the bed to my neck. Between his closeness taking my breath away and the pressure of his hands, my chest started heaving with each gasp of air.

“Don’t move.” He dragged his hands from my neck to the fleshiness of my breasts. He kneaded them and pinched my nipples. When I opened my legs wider and he slipped in an inch farther, his eyes shut tightly and his breathing became erratic. “Let me take care of you.”

His hands slid down my torso and landed on my hip bones. Shifting his weight, the position of his hands made it impossible for me to move.

“Please. I need you. Julian, please,” I begged, pinching my nipples and clenching around his dick.

His eyes looked like they rolled into the back of his head as his fingers dug into my skin.

“Please fill me up. Please… I need it. I need it, Julian.”

“Fuck… Zoe. You know I can’t resist you when you do that.” His voice broke sexily as he inched his way in. “Fuck!”

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I couldn’t speak. I was completely stretched out and full. Once he was as far inside of me as he could possibly go, we both let out a euphoric sigh.

“I love you,” he groaned faintly as he pulled himself all the way out of me.

Before I could respond, he plunged back in with the same slow, measured movement that was building my release. I was so wet that each time he drove himself into me, he seemed to go deeper, harder. I knew he was taking his time on purpose. I could feel his restraint. He was torturing me with pleasure. It was the epitome of pleasure and pain.

Every nerve ending on my body was awakened. His dick was stirring things within me physically while he uttered words that stirred my emotions.

“You are beautiful.” Leaning forward, he caged my head with his arms and his nose brushed against mine. “Your hair…your skin…your lips…your eyes…your body…your heart…all of you. Every single part of you is so fucking beautiful.” He groaned as he pulled out and then buried himself in me again.

From the look in his eyes and the way his racing heartbeat matched mine to the way he was making sure his dick massaged every single inch of me, I was reduced to a puddle of feelings.

I felt loved. I felt wanted. I felt desired. I felt safe. I felt taken care of.

“I love you. I love—oh!” I whimpered, clenching around him.

I shuddered as the unexpected orgasm rippled through my body.

I moaned into Julian’s mouth as the sensations of pleasure rolled my body into his. My heart thumped loudly in my chest and my skin tingled.

“Oh God,” I cried out as the final aftershock flowed through me.

I didn’t immediately understand how I still felt so turned on after that, but as the smoke cleared from my mind, I realized Julian was still hard and still inside me.

Julian sat up, not letting his cock slip out of me. His voice was hoarse when he asked, “Do you know how sexy it is to watch you come apart like that?” He slid in and out of me gently, giving me an opportunity to regroup. “I didn’t see it coming until it was too late.”

“I didn’t either,” I murmured, touching my tingling body. “That felt so good.”

Julian increased his speed. “You like it when I make love to you?”

My eyes closed as he slipped in and out of me. “Oh yeah.”

“Look at me.”

With each hoarse word, he was reigniting the fire in my core. I opened my eyes immediately.

He increased his speed with each stroke. “You like it when I fuck you?”

Moaning, I let his words skate across my body and absorb into my skin. Staring into his stormy grey eyes, I started working my hips harder. “Yes, yes… I,” I began, unable to get the rest of the words out as he thrust into me. “Oh God yes!”

Using his thumb, he toyed with my aching clit as he continued to pound into my wetness. The sound echoed and mingled with the primal grunts that were coming from him. My eyes fluttered closed as each of my moans grew louder than the one before it.

Julian’s knowledge of my body and what I liked was mind-blowing. I was on edge and it wouldn’t take him very long to put me over my breaking point, but I wanted us to climax together.

Rocking my hips, I reached up, pulling him forward. With his new angle, he was hitting a deeper spot and I almost came.

He felt it too. “Oh shit,” he cursed under his breath as my body started moving faster.

I grabbed his face and pulled his lips to mine. Our kisses were hot and chaotic as we continued letting our bodies collide.

“Please don’t stop, Julian. Please don’t stop,” I begged, even though he showed no signs of stopping. My eyes closed and I dug my fingers into his back. “Holy shit.”

Hearing his deep guttural moans spurred me on as I feverishly gyrated against him.

“Let me feel it,” he growled. Hitting a spot deep inside me, I clenched tighter, causing him to groan loudly. “Fuck! Yes, that’s it. Give it to me, Zoe.”

Each of his strokes was more intense and frenzied than the one before it. He was losing control and as much as I wanted to hold on, to wait for him, I didn’t think I could hold out much longer. Julian kept taking me to my threshold and I kept trying to fight it.

“It’s mine. It’ll always be mine. Don’t try to keep it from me,” Julian uttered in a raspy whisper that went straight from my ear to my clit. “Give it to me, Zoe. Give me what’s mine. Let me feel it.”

I exploded.

“Oh God,” I panted as I pulsated and stiffened around his cock.

Julian grunted my name and then a string of unintelligible words erupted from him as his body became rigid.

We climaxed together.

Kissing.

Thrusting.

Shaking.

From the tremors that wrecked my body to the words that gave my heart palpitations, there was no question that I belonged to Julian Winters. And he belonged to me.

“I couldn’t fit into my jeans when I woke up this morning so…”

“The day I’m out of town would be the day you find your wedding dress and develop a baby bump,” Koko complained over the phone as I drove up the driveway.

Good. No one’s here yet
, I thought, seeing no cars in the driveway.
I need to hurry.

“I want to see it! You probably look so cute with a baby bump. Send me a picture! And seriously, I want to know who goes wedding dress shopping on Christmas Eve?” Koko continued playfully.

“Well,” I started as I parked in the garage. “I went to the apartment to pick up Julian’s Christmas gifts and while I was out, I popped into Urbane Bridal. You would be amazed at how empty bridal boutiques are on Christmas Eve. Everyone was getting last minute gifts elsewhere so I basically had the store to myself.”

“Well, I get back in seventy-two hours and I demand to see this dress in person.”

“And you will.” I grabbed Julian’s gifts out of the backseat and propped the biggest one on my hip. “But you need to stop trying to change the subject. What happened with Bryce?”

Koko sucked her teeth loudly. “We talked.”

I waited for her to elaborate. When she didn’t, I asked, “So where do the two of you stand now?”

“I don’t know, Zoe.” She sighed dramatically. “I guess we’re somewhere between he’s not dead to me anymore and I’m answering his calls now.”

The unexpected response caused me to giggle as I entered the house. “Well I’m glad he’s not dead to you anymore.” I paused as I hoisted Julian’s gift to the island in the middle of the kitchen. “But how do you feel? And wasn’t he supposed to go on the trip with you?”

“He was. He was uninvited. As far as how I feel, love sucks.”

I smirked on my way out the door to get my wedding dress out of the trunk. “Yeah, sometimes, but when it’s real, it’s always worth it.”

“Speaking of real love, you get married a week from tomorrow! You finally have a dress. I got a call from the wedding planner extraordinaire Peri Moore yesterday. She has pulled everything together so fast. I guess when you have unlimited money and resources, you can do anything.”

Hmm. I thought she said she was sending an email so that no one would forget anything.

The itinerary was extensive and what we were asking our friends and family to do for the sake of the wedding special was definitely intrusive. I wanted to be sure they knew exactly what was being asked of them so they could make fully informed decisions.

The corners of my mouth turned down. “Oh, I didn’t realize she was calling the wedding party. I had an entire breakdown of the activities Robert Brady is forcing on us as part of the wedding so you knew what you were getting into. I asked her to attach a brochure of the resort, too.”

“Yeah, she did, and I got it, but she wanted to verbally confirm that we received and opened the email. She said you were concerned about the number of filmed activities and wanted to make sure we knew and were sure we wanted to commit.”

I smiled as I cradled my dress in my arms like a baby and entered the house. “Wow, Peri’s even more thorough than I thought!”

“Yeah, she’s good, Zoe. So you need to stop worrying. We all know what we’re getting into. The wedding weekend will be a good time no matter what, but I’m still amazed at how she pulled it off so fast!”

With the phone balanced on my shoulder, I rushed upstairs and hung up my wedding dress in the closet in my office. “Well, it’s truly amazing how many doors an unlimited budget, courtesy of
The One,
can open. Between our wedding being on a Sunday and it being New Year’s Day, it was already going to be difficult to find a venue, but a few calls from
The One
and the venue was locked down. And Peri just focused on securing décor and handling invites and all of that other stuff. We met with her on Thursday and my mind was blown.”

Our wedding was being held at the Riviera Villa Resort, a resort so exclusive, I’d never even heard of it before. The brochure blew me away with its interior and exterior beauty. From pools to wineries to hiking trails, Riviera had it all. When I saw that it was an all-inclusive resort and all food and drink were included, I was sold. But once I saw the price tag associated with having an event there for one evening, let alone an entire weekend, I balked. Regardless of how much money Julian and I could pull together, I wouldn’t have been okay with spending that amount of money on a wedding.

I don’t know if Robert Brady is trying to make it up to us because he’s keeping us from having the wedding we want…but Riviera Villa Resort is a good start!

Once the location was decided upon, Peri Moore focused on the details and had arranged for us to finalize those details all week. We firmed up our real guest list and selected stationary on Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, invitations were mailed out. We completed the food and beverage tasting on Tuesday. We participated in the cake tasting on Wednesday. On Thursday, we had a long lunch meeting with Peri to review and confirm details after an extensive meeting with Julian’s lawyers and the show’s lawyers regarding filming and the actual ceremony and reception. On Friday, we went to the courthouse to get our marriage license and then we went to buy wedding bands. It was a busy, but productive week.