Unmasked (Revealed #1) (11 page)

I felt a shudder of pleasure rip though his entire body as Sean worked us down from our climax with several gentler thrusts, before he collapsed on my back, breathing hard and holding me tightly against him. One of his talented fingers continued to lazily circle my clitoris every now and then, causing me to jerk and twitch against his hand and tighten around his cock, a feeling he obviously enjoyed because he growled in appreciation and nipped gently at my shoulder with his teeth.

As I lay there breathing heavily and sprawled on the cool marble squashed below him, I became startlingly aware that this man seemed to have an ability to make me feel and do things that I had never experienced before. Firstly, I had never given over total control like that before, and secondly, no man had ever made me come when they were behind me, regardless of how much effort they put in. It was unnerving the way that Sean made me act with hardly any effort, but surprisingly not enough of a concern for me to dwell on at the moment.

Finally, Sean eased out of me, and just like last time I winced at the empty feeling it left behind. He had felt so good that I would have liked to keep him nestled inside me all night. Turning my head, I saw him pulling off a condom and replacing his pyjama bottoms before he bent down and tossed me my nightshirt.

Where the heck had he got the condom from? Thank God he’d thought to use one, because I’d been so caught up in him that it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Flushing at how easy I must have seemed to him, I dragged the T-shirt over my head, suddenly feeling tremendously self-conscious.

Crossing one arm over my breasts I hung the other around my stomach and onto my hip, standing with slightly hunched shoulders as I tried, and failed, to silently cope with my growing shame. Lifting my head, I watched curiously as I saw Sean go to speak several times, only to close his mouth on each occasion and then frown deeply as if something was suddenly bothering him. ‘I’ll let you get some food,’ he said after an age, which made me close my eyes in disappointment and scrunch my shoulders even more. ‘Use the house as you like, you don’t need to hide away,’ he added as he turned and left. I had assumed that now we had been intimate again he would let his guard down a little, but how naive that thought had been.

No, whatever it was that was keeping him closed off was still bothering him, and I had just allowed myself to be used. Again. Although technically I knew that wasn’t true – I had been a willing partner. More than willing, and had no one to blame but myself. I knew what he was like and I had still allowed myself to go along with it, hadn’t I?

One thing was for sure: I certainly wouldn’t be making that mistake again.

Glancing down the corridor I watched his tense shoulders retreat away from me, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. He looked worked up about something, but seeing as he’d just had his way with me – rather vigorously, too – I couldn’t imagine what he had to feel tense about. A warm feeling on my thigh made me glance away from him awkwardly and look down at my leg. Even with the condom I was still ridiculously wet down below, and I could see a shine of my spent arousal dampening my leg, a sensation that only added to my shame and feeling of overall embarrassment.

Breathing out a sigh that was almost a sob, I turned and gripped the counter until my knuckles went white from the pressure. Closing my eyes against the tears brewing I shook my head and quickly grabbed a handful of kitchen paper to roughly wipe myself clean. I was an idiot. Even with some exceptionally enjoyable kitchen sex, nothing had changed between Sean and me, except he seemed even more distant than before and I felt even more shamed about my behaviour around him.

EIGHT

Sean

It might have been the middle of the night, but as soon as I left Allie in the kitchen, I found myself heading rapidly for my office, and not my bedroom as any normal person would have. Then again, if I were a normal, decent human being I wouldn’t have fucked the life out of her and left her alone barely a minute later. But I had – my jumbled thoughts towards her causing me to turn and flee like a complete coward. And I now hated myself more than I’d ever thought possible.

Collapsing into my office chair, I logged on to my computer and sat back while it started up. My eyes flickered shut as I tried to calm my heartbeat, but it was no good; I was still alert and aroused from our encounter, and probably would be for quite some time. Christ, that had been incredible. Admittedly, Allie had seemed a little shocked to see me at first, and perhaps a little defensive, but it had only taken a few minutes for her to melt against me as her exploring hands had encouraged me forward.

Remembering how wet she’d been, I groaned out loud. She was just as affected by me as I was by her. And responsive, too, so fucking responsive. Those little noises of pleasure she made had driven me wild.

The computer screen finally flickered to life and I wasted no time typing in the password to my security system so I could bring up the feed of the kitchen camera. I might have run away from her like a pathetic shit, but I still wanted to see if she was all right. I
needed
her to be all right.

As the camera feed filled my screen I saw with relief that she was still in the kitchen. Her back was to me, and she was hunched over the counter, completely motionless and still wearing nothing but that T-shirt of mine. God, she looked sexy, those long, long legs of hers stretching bare to the floor, smooth and so tempting.

My eyes narrowed as I watched her pull off several sheets of kitchen paper almost viciously and bend forwards to wipe between her legs. Regret immediately simmered in my chest. I ran a hand over my face in exasperation about how much of a bastard I’d been. I’d fucked her, left her, and not even tended to her afterwards. She must fucking hate me.
I
pretty much hated me right now.

Desperate to see her face to try to judge her emotions I watched in rapt fascination as she tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling, then finally lowered her head and turned her body in the direction of the camera.

Despite our recent exertion she was pale as a ghost. She lifted a hand to rub at her eyes with the back of her knuckles. I felt my stomach drop as I watched her.
Fuck
. She was crying. Or she had been; her cheeks seemed drier now, but she just looked miserable, self-conscious, and pissed off.

I scratched nervously at the back of my neck. What should I do? Go back down and apologise? But that would no doubt add to her embarrassment and, seeing as I had no idea what I’d even say to her, it would probably make me look like even more of a dickhead in the process.

After taking several deep breaths, Allie walked to the fridge and took out the bowl of leftover pasta from my meal earlier. OK, this was good, she was calming down enough to eat. I knew she must be hungry, because I’d deliberately gone down early to dinner hoping to see her. I’d seen on the security cameras from the previous two nights how she always scampered through the lounge to avoid me, and so tonight I’d tried to catch her out. Not that it had worked, of course; she’d simply gone without dinner. Yet another reason to feel guilty. Christ, this woman had me in complete tangles. On the one hand, I was desperate to keep her away, but on the other hand I was practically yearning to be in her company. God, I was such a wreck.

Watching as she placed the bowl on the breakfast bar I noticed she didn’t even bother to re-heat it, instead she just slipped onto one of the stools before picking at the pasta shapes unenthusiastically. She must have eaten two tiny mouthfuls, maximum, before she pushed the bowl away miserably, chewed briefly on a fingernail, and stood up, tipping the contents of the bowl into the bin. Shortly afterwards, my screen went dark as she must have switched off the light and left the room, but stupidly I still found myself staring at the screen for a few more moments.

Throwing myself backwards in my chair, I let out a long, irritated grunt. So I’d fucked her, left her, upset her,
and
removed her appetite. I felt like the lowest, shittiest man alive. Which was probably because I
was
the lowest, shittiest man alive. This was not how you treated a woman, I knew that, and yet here I was, sitting in my office while she wandered back to her bedroom, alone and no doubt hating my guts. Fuck.

Curiosity had me rewinding the tape of our encounter. The first few minutes only showed half our bodies as we stood just inside the kitchen door and almost out of camera view, but still I watched, fascinated by the smooth skin of her arm that I could see and remembering the way her eyes had dilated and her cheeks flushed when she’d noticed my arousal.

She was so sweet, almost innocent in certain ways, but the sure, firm way she had cupped my erection and stroked me told me otherwise. My cock hardened now, as I watched where she had told me I could have her any way I wanted her. Fuck. That had almost done me in. I’d never had a woman demonstrate such trust in me, and it had felt incredible.

I wanted her in all ways, and deep down I was beginning to recognise a primal need in me that wanted her
always
. I’d never really met a woman that sparked my interest so deeply and affected me so dramatically, but she did. Allie. And now, after barely any conversation and just two brief sexual encounters, I was considering the possibility of a long-term future with her? It should sound crazy. But it didn’t. It sounded amazing.

On the screen I now watched the moment where I had bent her over the counter and wrapped my hand in that long, tempting hair of hers. That moment had literally made my previous night’s dreams a reality. I’d been worried that my tendency to dominate during sex might put her off, or scare her, but she had been just perfect, offering herself willingly, and eagerly meeting every one of my demanding thrusts with a push of her hips.

Closing my eyes, I sat silently for a second or two as my cock throbbed and jerked below the desk. I was so aroused that the temptation to jerk off was almost overwhelming, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. Instead, I let out a disgusted breath at my pitiful behaviour tonight and deleted the footage. After the way I had treated Allie, I didn’t deserve a second of enjoyment, or even the pleasure of the memory of it.

Once the memory cards for the security cameras had been cleared, I shut the computer down and stood up to head to bed. Closing up my office for the night, I made my way downstairs to my bedroom, but paused as I passed Allie’s door. I wanted to see her so badly that it was almost an obsession. Perhaps I needed to see her to persuade myself that she was fine, or perhaps it was just to slake the growing desire I had to be near her.

Standing there for several seconds, I finally gave in to the need to see her and pushed open the door a few inches. Holding my breath, I stuck my head in and saw that the lights were off, and that she was lying on her side facing me. I froze for a second, wondering if she was still awake, but from the deep breathing I could hear in the dim room, she was almost certainly asleep.

Cocking my head, I watched her in fascination, realising that this was taking my stalker-like tendencies to a whole new level, but really not caring. It was becoming clearer to me that the thing I
did
care about was lying in the bed a few feet away from me. I cared about her, and hated the fact that I’d treated her so badly. The more I allowed this to permeate my brain, the more I knew that I was going to have to do something about this whole situation. We might only have met a short time ago, but the connection between us was blindingly obvious, and I knew I needed to speak to her, perhaps explain why I had been so reluctant to let my guard down.

For now though, I would indulge myself. Approaching the bed, I crouched down so I was level with her face. Even in her sleep there was a frown creasing her brow, and I once again felt guilt begin to twist and burn in my stomach. ‘I’m so sorry, my gorgeous girl. So sorry,’ I murmured, knowing the words were useless when she was so deeply asleep, but feeling the overwhelming need to say them anyway.

Suddenly, looking at her just wasn’t enough, and I found myself walking around the bed and crawling in behind her before I’d even realised that I’d done it. I moved as carefully as I could, hoping not to disturb her, and then gently folded myself so my chest was pressed against her back and my head was lying near the nape of her neck, where I could breathe in her warmth and scent. Letting out a content sigh in her sleep, Allie wriggled herself backwards, deepening our embrace until we were well and truly spooning, and I couldn’t help but grin. She was so warm, and she smelt amazing, all sweet and lush with just a hint of sweat and sex that remained from our frantic kitchen session.

Nuzzling my head into her hair, I breathed deeply, humming happily to myself. Regardless of my issues with relationships, I instinctively knew that this was where I was supposed to be. Here, with this woman in my arms. I didn’t even care if she woke up. If she did, I’d just apologise and hope that she would let me hold her until she fell back to sleep. Then perhaps in the morning we could talk. If I could get my head screwed on straight.

Relaxing against her, I slid an arm around her waist and closed my eyes, loving the sensation of having Allie in my arms like this. It felt perfect. I wanted to keep and protect her. Although I was also bitterly aware that after the way I had treated her in the kitchen, the person Allie probably needed protecting from the most right now was me.

NINE

Allie

Christmas Eve morning was finally here, and I woke feeling moody, miserable, and overly warm. I was also tangled in the covers far more than usual, and so I flopped onto my back to try and ease the twists of material that trapped my legs. Letting out a huff, I finally untangled my limbs and looked at the bed in confusion. God, I had really thrashed around in here last night. Both sides of the covers were crumpled, and even both pillows looked used. How weird. Normally I fell asleep in one position and woke up pretty much in the same place the next morning. Although my subconscious had run rife last night, so I suppose that might explain it.