After The One (The One Series Duet) (22 page)

I was the first to head to bed. Julian insisted on coming with me, but he was having a good time, so I made him stay. I didn’t tell him my back was tired or that all the excitement and running around wore me out because I knew he would abandon everyone to be there for me. I loved him so much for it, but I wanted him to have a good time.

I retreated to the bedroom and jumped in the shower. The hot water relaxed my body to the point that I barely had enough energy to slip into the silk shorts and camisole set I’d packed.

Sleep came quickly and easily and then I was dead to the world. It wasn’t until I felt my back being massaged that I slowly eased out of my unconscious state. I inhaled deeply and could smell Julian’s soap.

“Mmm?” I moaned in question as my eyes remained closed. With the sheets pushed off my body, I felt the slight chill in the air.

Slipping his fingers under my camisole, he moved across my skin, massaging muscles I didn’t even realize needed to be massaged. “How does that feel?” he whispered.

“Really good,” I murmured sleepily. My body heated immediately.

“I noticed you touching your back. Does it hurt?”

I smiled against my pillow. “I thought I felt better after the shower, but this, this is exactly what I needed.”

“I need to get to your lower back,” Julian explained as he slid my shorts down. He moaned appreciatively when he saw that I wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

I cleared my throat as his intentions woke me up and revitalized the tension I felt deep in my core. I lifted my body from the mattress to help him take them off. “Oh really?”

“Yes.” His fingers danced across my skin. His voice deepened as the pressure of his hands intensified. “I just want to be able to get to the spot that needs the most attention—you know, just to make it easier to massage you.”

“Yeah,” I giggled softly as he groped my ass, flexing his fingers against the rounded flesh. “To massage me.”

I felt the bed move as he put his arms on either side of my head. His body heat warmed my skin as he hovered above me, not touching me. My eyes opened and the room was illuminated with the soft lights from the pool and patio areas.

Or maybe the sun is starting to rise.

I wasn’t able to see around his arm that was caging me in.

“Zoe?”

He breathed my name and sent a chill through my body. He was close. I could tell he was leaning over me from my left by the way his arm was bent, but I didn’t know how close he was until the warmth of his breath made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

My heart drummed in my chest. “Yes.”

I felt his lips brush against my nape and then the back of my shoulder. Returning to the middle of my back, he kissed down my spine, stopping at the small of my back. He licked his way back up until his mouth was against the shell of my ear.

“You’re going to have to be quieter than that for me to finish your massage,” Julian whispered before kissing my cheek and then my lips. He pulled away before I could turn my head to face him and lose myself in the kiss. “Do you think you can be quiet?”

My breathy answer was more of a reaction to him nibbling on my earlobe. “Mm hmm,” I moaned my confirmation.

He shifted, spreading my legs open and relocating from my side to the space he’d created between my limbs. “I want you to say it, Zoe.” He palmed my ass. “Tell me you can be quiet.”

“I-I can be quiet,” I stammered.

With my legs opened, I knew my arousal was apparent. Something about the idea of him eyeing my body and knowing how turned on he made me made my lower body clench. I braced myself for him to touch me where I needed him to.

I sucked in a sharp breath as he approached the apex of my thighs and then retreated. Filled with a mixture of desire and disappointment, a whimper escaped my lips.

Julian groaned, leaning up and caging my head with his arms. I squirmed as he hovered over me.

Yesss…

When he’d caged me in the first time, he’d been leaning from my left side. This time, from his new positon between my legs, his dick rested against my ass.

His mouth was against my ear as he whispered, “You know what it does to me when you make noises like that.” He rubbed his hard cock against the crack of my ass.

“Then you should give it to me.” My voice was weak with want. “Please.”

He swore under his breath in a growl as he sat back up.

I lifted my head and peeked over my shoulder. The sight of him running his hand up and down his shaft as he stared at me caused me to moan. The sexy sight was too much.

Why is he such a tease? He knows I’ve wanted him all day.

“Let me help you with that,” I offered softly, attempting to roll over.

Because he was between my legs, it didn’t take much for him to grab my hips and keep me pinned down.

“Oh you will,” he grunted, sliding his hands from my hips to my back. “But first…”

He started with my lower back and worked his way up. Making slow, deliberate circles, his strong hands caressed my skin. He alternated between going hard and deep, releasing the tension built up in my muscles and swiping his hands, letting his fingers flutter across my skin, intensifying the tension between my thighs.

“Julian…” The deep ache I felt in my core was driving me crazy. I wanted him in every way.

Julian worked his hands up my calves and slowly made his way to my thighs. His fingers grabbed just below my ass and focused all his attention there. Kneading the area that was so close to where I wanted him, the anticipation made my hips rotate involuntarily. Even though I was exasperated, I couldn’t help letting out indecipherable noises of approval.

He cleared his throat. “Is your back okay?”

I closed my eyes. “Yes. Yes.”

I felt his thumbs get closer and closer to my clit. Just when I thought I was going to get touched where my body begged to be touched, Julian moved up and massaged my lower back.

“No,” I whined wantonly. The sexual frustration had reached its peak. “Please.”

He groaned. “Please what?”

I couldn’t tell if it was my body or his hands that were shaking.

“Julian, please...” My entire lower body clenched. “I need you.”

“What do you need?” The rough desperation in his voice mimicked how my body felt.

“I need you inside me.”

His fingers stilled and his breath sounded ragged. “Roll over.”

He helped, adjusting my legs as I rolled onto my back. The soft light that eased into the room illuminated Julian as he spread me open wide. I was captivated by the way he looked at me, but I could barely keep my eyes on his face. His dick was hard and thick and pointing directly at me.

If I just lift my body up…

Letting his hands coast down my thighs, he pulled me where he wanted me.

I gasped.

A smirk haunted his lips as his eyes devoured my breasts. It wasn’t until then that I noticed how hard my nipples were. I shifted my body, causing my heavy breasts to shake, and his eyes snapped to mine. Rubbing and gently pinching my nipples, he caused my body to hum from the sensation.

My chest rose and fell as the seconds passed.

Falling forward, his lips latched on to my nipple. The warm heat and wet suction of his mouth was almost enough to send me over the edge. He’d teased me for so long and I wanted him so badly that when he sucked and flicked and toyed with my nipples, I was primed for him, ready to get off.

I groaned, scratching my nails against his back.

He kissed up my chest and neck until our lips met.
The need, desire, and anticipation exploded as we moaned into each other’s mouths. Our tongues touched and I felt it everywhere.

Pulling out of the kiss, Julian rested his forehead against mine. He grabbed the back of my thighs and pushed them back, exposing me.

I opened my mouth to beg him to stop teasing me, but instead, I cried out as the head of his dick met my wetness.

“Oh, God,” I wailed.

It wasn’t quite a scream, but in the quiet villa, it might as well have been.

Julian froze. The corners of his lips turned up. “I knew you couldn’t keep quiet.”

I didn’t want him to stop, so I quickly tried to get my mind to think straight in order to explain and promise to be quiet from that point forward.

“Th-that was just because you caught me off guard. I can be—” My raspy words cut off abruptly and transformed into a noise that was part gasp and part grunt as he sank into me. Trying to keep it together, I clamped my mouth shut as he filled me up and stretched me out inch by inch.

“Fuck,” he swore gruffly, extending the word out. His head fell against my shoulder as I locked my legs around him, pulling him in to the hilt. With his mouth only inches from my ear, he whispered, “You are so fucking wet, Zoe. Shit…”

He pulled almost all the way out before thrusting almost every inch back inside of me. His slow, measured movements felt as if he were strumming my body.

“Oh, right there. Right there,” I panted soundlessly, chest heaving.

He kissed his way from my shoulder to my mouth and then brushed his lips against mine. His pace increased as the kiss deepened and when he ended it, he slowed his momentum.

Heavy breathing and swallowed moans were the only noises coming out of us as our bodies collided.

I whispered his name over and over again as my orgasm kept building.

“Let’s see if you can keep quiet,” he teased softly before withdrawing himself and then slamming into me unexpectedly.

I groaned, arching my back and constricting around him. My body shook uncontrollably as my orgasm took over. My arms fell from around him and hit the mattress hard. I tried with everything in me to not cry out, but it was too good, too intense. I panted loudly and my heart beat out of my chest.

He swore under his breath, but waited until I stopped convulsing to pull his rock hard cock out of me.

“I have a confession to make…” He tangled his fingers in my hair and kissed me sloppily. His voice was low and hoarse. “I love the sound of you coming apart because of me…” His voice dropped even lower as he eased into me again. “And I really don’t give a fuck if your friends hear you,” he concluded, grinding himself into me deeper, harder, faster than before.

His words did something to me as the primal noises I made alternated between lustful and guttural moans. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. From the low grunts that seemed to come from deep in his chest to the sound of him pumping in and out of my wetness, I was being pushed to my limit for a second time, and it wasn’t going to be long before I imploded.

He shoved my legs back, opening me wider, and stroked my clit with his thumb. His touch jolted me and burned through my body.

“That’s it.” He groaned under his breath, ramming into me. “That’s it.”

He had one hand playing with my clit and the other pinching a nipple as he continued to drive himself into me.

“Look at me,” he demanded in a gruff tone.

My lashes fluttered open and our eyes locked. I could see my effect on him, but more than that, I could see how badly he wanted to take care of me.

Keeping my lips together, I hummed noisily, swallowing the moan that threatened to echo across the entire hilltop.

He licked his lips and smirked before delivering a powerful thrust that caused my mouth to fly open and a purr to come from the back of my throat.

He owned my body and he knew it.

Julian let out ragged breaths as his strokes became less restrained. His grip on the root of my hair tightened as he lost himself and his inhibitions. The suctioning sound of him slipping in and out of me reverberated through the stillness of the villa. The ache deep inside me became unbearable as he started to lose control.

I clenched my muscles, letting the wet heat clamp down around him. He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth.

The small sound of his impending freefall ignited mine. My eyes shut tight and I bucked feverishly against him as I gave in to my orgasm.

“Zoe…Zoe…shit,” he groaned as he briefly stilled. As pleasure ransacked his muscular body, causing him to twitch and jerk, his mouth opened, yet no sound came out.

We climaxed together. Hard.

Poem Within A Poem

Rhythm and beauty

Poetry in your words.

Creative and expressive

Few lines, all curves.

Melodic words flow

Out of me, into you.

The harder the beat

Brings the ballad out of you.

The contents of my heart

Will move you spiritually.

Ode to you, this duo,

I declare it lyrically.

New rhymes breathe new life;

Unexpected, but meant to be.

Verses, either blank or free

Poem, part you, part me.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Keisha asked as she, Koko, and Lenny tiptoed into the room. “Are you okay?”

I looked up from the poem I’d read twice an hour every hour since I’d found it. With meetings with Robert Brady and other staffers for
The One
, I didn’t expect to see Julian until it was time for the meet-and-greet. He’d said goodbye to me after brunch and I’d returned to my room to take a long hot shower. When I got out, I found the poem on my pillow.

He came back and left the poem for me.
My heart fluttered just thinking about it.
I love him.

“Of course,” I replied, tucking the poem into the notebook in my hand. “Well rested now.”

After the workout Julian gave me in the wee hours of the morning, I needed rest. And I needed to spend some time with my family before they went to explore the grounds as well.

“Good. I’m sure pregnancy is taking a lot out of you,” Keisha empathized, smiling sweetly.

“So is Julian,” Koko quipped, pumping her arms and thrusting her hips in a sexual manner.

“What am I missing?” Lenny asked, confusion creasing her face.

Koko slapped Lenny on the ass, ignoring the question. “How’s the family?”