“But I do.” She grabbed a robe, shrugged it on and she moved to the window. For several seconds, Lexi stood looking at the view of the ocean before facing him. “Besides, you still haven’t told me why you’re here. You turned up on my doorstep unannounced. Why?”
He hesitated, because telling her he’d wanted to see if she was all right would make him sound even more lame and needy than he had a few seconds ago.
He looked at her without answering. The shadows under her eyes were still visible and the air of fragile weariness surrounded her like a cloak. Just like last Friday, he experienced an unexpected and unwelcome tug of concern.
“Why, Enzo?”
He shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood and wanted to make sure we were still meeting on Friday. When you didn’t answer your phone, I thought I’d make a personal call. So, are we?”
She didn’t answer, but the strange, resolved look in her eyes sent a dull thud through his heart.
“You said you wanted to talk. What the hell is it? Spit it out,” he rasped forcefully when she remained silent.
A sensation close to dread crawled up his spine. If she thought she could tell him it was over, she had another think coming. If anyone was going to call off this thing between them, it would be him, not her.
God, how desperate did he sound?
“What happened last Thursday can’t happen again,” she said in a sudden rush.
A red haze clouded his vision. She was dumping him.
“Like hell it can’t! You think you can just end this thing between us? Just like that?” He ignored the hurt in her eyes, desperate to exact as much hurt as she was bent on inflicting on him. “You think anyone else can give you what I can? Tell me, when was the last time anyone made you come like I did? Made you scream from your orgasm the way I do?”
“Enzo—”
“Shut up! Shut the hell up and listen. You want to call this off? Fine. But if you walk away from me, you better keep walking. There isn’t room in LA for both of us.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
The ice continued to freeze around his heart. “Those are the terms. We keep seeing each other or you leave LA.”
“That’s bollocks! You can’t force me to leave town.”
“You think not? Just try it and see. You forget, this is America. We’re a very litigious bunch. We love to sue the crap out of each other. One, maybe two letters of complaint to your boss, the threat of litigation, and you’ll be out on your ass so quick, you’ll leave skid marks.”
Her arms clamped around her waist, her eyes wide and haunted. “That’s blackmail! Why? Why are you doing this?”
He ignored the mingled pain and confusion in her voice. In three strides, she was within reach. He pulled her resistant body to his. “Because I’m not done with you. Not by a long shot. And deep down, I know you’re not done with me. You know how bad I’ve yearned for you since you’ve been away? How I’ve longed to feel your perfect mouth around my cock? You want to end this? You think you can walk away, not feel my cock inside you, hitting that sweet, sweet spot, ever again? Is that what you want, baby?” He breathed the words into her parted mouth and she made a jerky little sound in her throat.
He slid his hands over her ass, cupping the perfect, sexy mounds. She trembled, and her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip. His temperature kicked up a notch. Smoothing his hands up her back, he brought them round until he had the glorious weight of her breasts in his hands.
Letting loose a groan, he passed eager thumbs over her silk-covered rock hard nipples, fighting the urge to part her robe and suck on them. He couldn't. Not yet. Not until he made damn sure she wasn't about to kick him to the curb.
“Look me in the eye and tell me you can walk away from this.”
She refused to meet his gaze, her half-closed eyes riveted on his mouth. Desperate, he pressed home his advantage. “You can't, can you?”
Lexi sucked in a shaky breath, and knew she was lost. With his hands on her body and his thick cock pressed so dominantly against her belly, she knew she couldn’t--wasn’t ready to--walk away from him. When he flicked her nipples again, fresh heat oozed between her thighs in a rush of surrender.
“You can’t, can you?” he repeated again, triumph coating his voice and she sagged against him. But within that triumph, Lexi imagined she heard relief.
“No, I can’t,” she whispered, feeling that same relief echo through her.
His lips lifted in a smile before his head descended.
The kiss was hot. It blazed. It scorched. He plastered her against him and, like a starved soul given a feast, she opened herself up with all her senses. But just before she drowned in the sea of lust, a thought impinged.
She tore her mouth away, ignored his impatient growl and hungry lips, and stepped back.
“Before this goes any further, we need to clarify one thing.” She took a deep steadying breath. “Whoever you were in that bedroom last week, I don’t want any of it. You made me beg for you, Enzo. I don’t want that. Whatever happens between us will be by mutual agreement. If you’re angry, leave your anger at the door, or I’ll walk. And if I do decide to end this thing between us, I’d thank you not to threaten me the way you just did. You may be a powerful businessman, but you don’t own LA. I am my own woman. I come and go as I please. Are we clear?”
He rocked back on his heels, his fierce gaze on her face. When he didn’t answer immediately, her palms dampened with dread. What if he said no? Her mind screeched with the effect that answer would have on her. How long had it taken before her brave decision to break things off had crumbled to dust? One look, one touch was all it’d taken.
She was hooked on him, pure and simple, but she forced herself to be strong. Her control had been violently taken away from her a year ago.
Hanging on to it now was as vital to her as breathing.
Finally, he nodded. “I’m sorry I threatened you. That was stupid and out of line. But are you saying that deep down, you didn’t enjoy what happened last Thursday? Relinquishing your power to me, letting me take control? Did that not turn you on, even more than usual?”
His question jerked her back to awareness. It knocked about in her brain, seeking accommodation. The urge to admit the truth and say yes, she’d enjoyed it, sat at the tip of her tongue. She yearned to tell him how it had made her feel, the freedom she’d enjoyed from giving herself up to him, letting him call the shots.
A very big part of her wanted that, wanted to give herself over to him.
But that would hand him the power, something she’d vowed never to do. She’d been reduced to utter helplessness once, stripped of every ounce of her power and self-respect. After picking herself up from that horrific time in her life, she’d sworn nothing would make her relinquish her power to another human being ever again.
She looked up into Enzo’s hot green eyes. “No.”
Surprise and disappointment flared in his eyes, and then it disappeared. Nodding once, he said, “Fine. We'll do things your way. But I have my own stipulations. From now on, no once-a-week meeting. We see each other whenever we feel the urge.”
Her pulse accelerated. “That’s not what we agreed to.”
“I’m changing the rules.” His hands caressed her shoulders and he stepped closer, enforcing his authority with a sly thrust of his erection against her belly. “Seven days is too long. When you leave I spend the next six days in goddamn limbo, counting the seconds until I see you again.”
Shock spiked through her. “You do?”
He laughed. “It's no use hiding it, sweetheart. I'm addicted to you. To your smell, your touch, the heaven I feel when I'm deep inside you. You've crawled under my skin. I can't think straight when you're not in my arms and I can't think straight when you are. Yeah, I'm a mess and sure as hell didn't know what I was thinking when I suggested a weekly meeting. That ends today.”
“But how will we see each other? You work nights at your clubs. I work during the day.” And then there was Cara, she added silently.
“I’ve hired a new manager, and my partner keeps an eye on things. Owning sixty percent of the business means I’m my own boss and can do pretty much what I want. And what I want right now is you.” He bent forward and took an earlobe between his teeth as he eased her robe off. She shuddered helplessly. “So, we are agreed?”
Her skin tingled with pleasure. “All right. But not here,” she rushed in. “This is non-negotiable.” Only blind need drove her to allow him here today, but she couldn’t take him showing up at her door whenever he pleased.
He shrugged. “Fine. We’ll continue to meet at the penthouse.” He stepped close and walked her backward toward the bed. “Now, we’ve wasted enough time. I need to fuck you now before my cock explodes from neglect.” Lifting her hand, he placed it on his fly. “Feel how hard I am for you, baby? What are you going to do about it?”
Her fingers convulsed around his thick shaft and he gave a winced groan.
Today he wore chinos, not the tight jeans she loved him in, but it gave her the advantage of gripping him firmly through the material, to stroke him the way she knew drove him wild. “Does this help?” she teased.
He moaned, pulled her closer, and sucked on a pulse in her neck. “Oh yeah, that’s it, baby. Stroke me, just like that.”
His hands slid over her back and down to knead her ass. A rush of air-conditioned air passed between her exposed legs. Shivers raked her body as it cooled the moisture seeping from her. One finger slid between her cleft, torturing her with pleasure.
“Damn, you’re so wet. I can’t wait to slide inside your tight cunt.”
The back of her knees touched the bed. A small push from him and she fell back onto the covers. He took a long minute to run his gaze over her, and everywhere his gaze touched, fire followed. He paused at her mons. This time his expression grew hotter with lust, not anger.
“Hmm, maybe there’s an advantage to this look, because I love seeing your pussy, wet and ready, even with your legs closed.” One hand trailed over her thigh, teasing it near her now bald triangle before moving on. He lifted a knee to the bed, but before he could settle over her, she held up a hand.
He frowned.
“Equality, remember?”
A growl sounded from him. “What is it you want?”
She crossed her legs, hiding herself from him. His frown deepened. “Let’s see. I’m naked, you’re not.”
A sexy grin slashed his face. “That’s easily taken care of.” He reefed his T-shirt over his head. Chinos, boxers, and shoes followed. “Better?”
Lexi reached for him and smoothed a palm over his hot, velvet-over-steel cock. “Much.”
His tongue invaded her mouth as his hand closed over hers and guided her hand up and down his shaft. His tongue mimicked what he planned to do to her very soon. “Do you mind if we don’t extend the foreplay past sixty seconds?” he asked urgently when they broke for air. “I need you badly.”
In spite of the day she’d had--good news thrown in with knowing her chance of happy ever after with Enzo was shattered--she laughed.
Right this minute, with the man who possessed her mind and body in her arms, nothing could dampen her spirits, not even the thought that he was here just for sex. She laughed again, a husky sound that filled the sanctuary of her bedroom.
“Sixty seconds, eh? I think we can find something to do with that time. Wanna sixty-nine?”
Hot eyes gleamed down at her as he straightened. “Baby, that’s so ‘80s. I have a better idea. Come here.”
Rising from the bed, she approached him, her gaze drinking in his powerful body and erection. A feminine part of her gloried at being able to evoke such a reaction in him. When her nipples brushed his chest, he inhaled sharply. Her smile of pleasure turned into a yelp when his hands closed around her waist. Before she could blink, she was upside down. He adjusted her length so her thighs rested over his shoulders, her wet heat wide open to him.
Supporting her weight with one powerful arm clamped around her waist, he parted her with his other hand and dropped a light kiss on her flowered petal. Never before had she felt anything like this. She gasped at the wildness of it.
“Feel free to enjoy yourself down there. I fully intend to test your sensitivity up here,” he said with a muffled chuckle, and passed a sleek tongue along her passage. “God, you taste so good.”
An uncontrollable spasm gripped her, the blood rushing to her head increasing her pleasure.
Eager to bestow equal pleasure before she passed out from ecstasy, she gripped one taut thigh to steady herself and grasped his velvety length. Parting her lips, she took his cock in her mouth.
A hot rush of air flowed over her pussy, followed a second later by a deep moan. Then he took her nether lips delicately between his teeth, coaxed his tongue over and over her clit, and sent her wild and skating blindingly toward her inevitable orgasm.
Her frenzied sucking increased with her own pleasure. Enzo's tongue became an instrument of torture as he took her close, only to pull back at the last moment.
She refused to beg like she had last Thursday. What she did was get her own back. She took as much of him as she could, right to the back of her throat. She felt him jerk, felt his powerful thigh muscles trembled beneath her hand as he drowned in sensation.
To pay her back, he buried his tongue in her pussy. All thought flew out of her head as her hips bucked against his mouth, seeking more, dying for the final tumble into ecstasy.
With a series of flicks against her engorged clit, he sent her soaring.
Stars exploded behind her closed lids. She moaned around his cock, her tongue laving him even as her whole body bucked against his. Her convulsions seemed to take an eternity, until finally he moved forward and laid her on the bed.
Through drowsy lids, she saw him poised above her, his huge shaft and scrotum inches from her face. Raising her head, she licked the thick vein on the underside of his shaft.
“Fuck, baby!” he breathed. “That's not a good idea,” he growled, but didn’t move away. With one hand he traced her hot flesh from cleavage to thigh and back again. “Was that good for you?”
Barely able to speak, she rasped, “It was amazing.” She whispered a finger over the vein she'd just licked. “And you lasted more than sixty seconds.”