Chapter Twenty
Somehow the week flew by. After the advertisement I drafted went live, resumes and applications poured in. I spent a portion of every afternoon combing through them and putting aside the ones that looked most promising. The pile wasn’t huge, but it was definitely a good start. Once I vetted them, I would give the stack of resumes to Chris. Unsurprisingly, he threw out a fair number of them, saying that he knew them already, and didn’t like what he knew, or they didn’t have the right experience.
But the list of potential candidates was still growing.
He asked me to schedule interviews for the following week, a few each afternoon.
And Landen was true to his word. He texted me a couple of times a day, though he didn’t call as often as he had been for the last few weeks. He even emailed me. Clearly the man was covering his bases.
When I told him about my upcoming promotion, he seemed pleased for me. Though I was still shocked when a cluster of orchids arrived at the office on Tuesday. Chris, however, didn’t seem surprised in the least.
He took one look at the exotic blooms and asked, “Landen?”
I nodded. “He wanted to congratulate me on…” I trailed off, beginning to worry that I shouldn’t have told him.
“Your promotion?” Chris finished for me.
“Yes. Though now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have said anything.”
He waved a hand at my statement. “You haven’t signed the paperwork yet, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s fine that you told him.” He paused. “Though you should have told Lucy yourself rather than letting Tanya do it. She was a bit irritated that I didn’t share with her what I was planning.”
I bit back a grin. “I’ll keep that in mind in the future.”
Chris frowned at me and shook his head. “I know you’re laughing at me on the inside.” With a sigh, he’d disappeared back into his office.
I’d allowed my grin to escape then. I really did like Chris, even though he could be somewhat intimidating when he was angry.
As the days passed, I found that I was grateful for the fact that Landen had a business trip. Last weekend was…amazing. But it also clouded my mind, making me think about things I had no business envisioning. Things like sleeping next to him every night, waking up to his messy hair and bare chest every morning, and sitting together in his living room while we both worked silently on our laptops. He wasn’t an easy man, but I was comfortable around him. More comfortable than I’d ever been around any other person, male or female.
So basically I was imagining what it would be like to live with him and we’d only been together for a few weeks, for crying out loud!
The distance gave me space for rational thought. I was glad that I could imagine living with Landen, but it was definitely too soon. We needed more time to learn more about each other. Figure out if we wanted the same things out of life.
Now, it was Saturday and I decided to stay in for the night. I gave myself an at-home facial, body scrub, pedicure, and manicure, so by the time I started thinking about dinner, I was smooth, polished, and smelled like the delicious coconut body lotion I applied after my scrub in the shower. I ordered a pizza from a local family-owned restaurant and opened a bottle of wine.
I was going to have myself one hell of a night in.
I watched several episodes of a new show on Netflix as I drank wine and munched on pizza. As the hour grew later, I considered going to bed but decided to watch just one more episode. It wasn’t quite midnight and I rarely stayed up this late, but I was completely hooked on the characters and the story of the television show. And I only had a few episodes left.
As the suspense built in the episode, I found myself sitting on the edge of the couch. Something bad was about to happen and I was both intrigued and a little nervous.
I was so intent on the events unfolding on the screen that I nearly screamed when three firm knocks came from the front door of my apartment. Pressing a hand to my pounding heart, I got to my feet and crept to the front door. Just as I was about to put my eye to the peephole, the person on the other side knocked again. Louder this time.
I jumped and bit back an undignified yelp. Blowing out a long breath, I lifted my eye to the lens and peered through. Landen stood in the hall, his gaze leveled at the peephole as though he could actually see me. I should have known it was him. He’s the only person I know who can get into the building without buzzing me first.
Excitement coursed through me when I realized it was him. I unlocked the door and threw it open.
“Landen, what are you doing here? I thought you would be in Oregon until next week.”
He stepped into my apartment, hauling his laptop bag over one shoulder and pulling a small, wheeled carry-on with his other hand. “I finished up early.”
I opened my mouth to say something else but closed it when I saw the dark circles under his eyes and the lines caused by stress and fatigue around his mouth. He looked as though he hadn’t been sleeping well.
Without speaking, I took his laptop bag and hung it on the hook by the door. Landen left his suitcase against the wall by the entrance before he turned to shut the door and lock it.
He was also silent as he faced me again, his eyes roving over my body. When he stepped toward me, sliding his hands around my waist over my thin tank top, I lifted a palm to his cheek.
“Hey, you look tired. Did you come straight here from the airport?”
In a surprising move, Landen leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. “Yes,” he murmured. “I needed to see you.”
Warmth unfurled in my chest at his words, but also worry. I liked what he said, but he didn’t look like his usual, arrogant self. “What’s wrong?”
He sighed and tugged me closer so that our bodies were pressed together. “It was a long fucking week.”
We stood like that for several long moments, our foreheads together and our bodies aligned perfectly, as though we were built for that specific purpose, to fit seamlessly into each other’s empty places.
Finally, he lifted his head. “I need a shower.”
I studied his weary face and ran my thumb over his cheekbone. “Are you hungry? I have some pizza left over.”
“No, but I wouldn’t say no to a drink.”
“Okay. Go take a shower. What do you want to drink?”
“Scotch.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Scotch?”
The corner of his mouth tilted up in a semi-smirk. “No Scotch, huh?”
I shook my head.
“Vodka?”
When I shook my head again, that tilted lip became a small grin.
“Tequila, I know you have that.”
I nodded. “You want the good stuff?”
His smile widened. “You’re offering me top shelf?”
Rising onto my tiptoes, I touched my lips across his, giving him my version of the lip brush that drove me crazy. “Only the best for you, babe.”
Landen returned my kiss, chuckling quietly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He released me and headed toward the bedroom, stripping off his jacket as he went. I watched him move, noticing that his gait wasn’t as relaxed as usual and that his shoulders appeared tight beneath his thin white shirt.
When I heard the water come on in the bathroom, I gathered up the remains of my dinner and tidied the living room before I poured an inch of tequila in a squat glass. Several years ago, my father bought me a bottle of expensive tequila when I graduated from business school and I’d loved it so much, he started a tradition, buying me another one for Christmas and occasionally one for my birthday. Before Chris hired me, I hadn’t made enough money to splurge like that, but now I replaced my stash whenever I ran out. And it was likely I would be able to continue to do so in the future since I was about to get one hell of a raise.
By the time I was done cleaning up and pouring Landen’s drink, the shower had long since gone off. I turned off the TV and the lights before heading into the bedroom, glass in hand.
Then I paused in the doorway. All the lights were off except for the lamp on my nightstand. Landen lay stretched out on the bed, naked, with a couple of pillows behind his back as though he intended to sit up and wait for me to come in. Instead, he was asleep.
I moved over to the bed as I stared down at him. This was the first time I’d ever seen him sleeping. Last weekend, I’d dozed off before him and woken well after.
He looked different in repose. Not boyish, but less…intense. The force of his personality was dormant and his sharp features were relaxed. His naked body sprawled on my white comforter, loose and muscled, brought to mind the story of Eros and Psyche. Well, maybe not the story, since that didn’t play out well, but a picture I once saw when reading the myth.
Smiling at my fanciful train of thought, I set the glass on my nightstand and got ready for bed. I kept my apartment cool at night, so I gently tugged the comforter from beneath Landen and spread it over his body. Other than grunting and turning onto his side in his sleep, he didn’t seem to notice my ministrations.
Stripping off my shorts, I climbed into bed and curled up next to him. I stretched my body along his and rested my head on his back, breathing in the scent of his skin mixed with my body wash.
At that moment, I realized how much I’d missed him and how glad I was that he had returned.
To my surprise, I woke up before he did the next day. We’d shifted in our sleep so that he was curled up behind my back, his legs bent up so that his lap cradled my ass and his arm thrown over my waist.
Moving slowly, I turned over to face him and saw that most of the fatigue had been erased from his features and the dark circles beneath his eyes were much fainter. He shifted, his arm curving tighter around me, and slid his knee between mine. As he pulled me closer, his thigh pressed firmly between my legs and I could feel the hard ridge of his erection against my belly.
Heat bloomed in my pelvis and my clit pulsed. I stared at his face for a moment and realized he truly was asleep. I didn’t want my horniness to disturb the rest he so obviously needed, so I slowly began to extricate myself from his grasp.
He frowned slightly and made a noise low in his throat, his hand lifting to grasp my wrist and pulling it down to his hard cock.
I had to bite back a laugh. Either he was awake and just messing with me or the man was a horn dog even in his sleep. I wrapped my fingers around his length and gave him an experimental stroke. The frown between his eyebrows disappeared and his hips moved toward me.
I decided that, faking sleep or not, Landen probably wouldn’t mind waking up to my mouth on him. And if he was still tired after I was done, he could nap in my bed all day. I didn’t care if he did. In fact, I would probably stay in bed with him. I could cuddle up to him and read if I wasn’t sleepy.
I rolled deeper into Landen’s body and he automatically turned onto his back, one hand coming down to grasp a hand full of my ass and the other lifting to cup my breast through my tank top.
I stroked him again as I placed my lips against his sternum then lower on his belly. His abdominal muscles flexed as my mouth traveled over to his hip so I could trail my tongue down his inner thigh. He released his grip on my breast as I turned, kneeling beside him rather than between his legs.
I turned my head to look up at him as I opened my mouth and ran the flat of my tongue along his cock from root to tip. His eyes were still closed but his lashes fluttered as he moaned and his hips lifted toward my face.
Smiling, I parted my lips and took him inside my mouth. He was hot and smooth as I took him as deep as I was able. As I lifted back up, flicking the tip with my tongue, I heard him inhale sharply and felt his body tense. He was awake.
I knew it before he groaned deep in his throat and sank his hands in my hair, pulling it away from my face. Using my hand, I stroked downward as my mouth followed the motion.
Despite the fact that we spent most of our time together naked last weekend, Landen remained in control each and every time. He hadn’t given me a chance to explore him the way he explored me and I intended to do just that. Right now.
As I leaned over him, I experimented with my hand and mouth, listening for the moment when his breath would catch or feeling the muscles tighten in his thighs. When I did, I would repeat the motion again. Usually he would groan or his hands in my hair would tug slightly and I knew he liked it.
Suddenly, he reared up and grasped my hips. I gasped and stifled a squeal as he lifted my lower body and turned me so that my knees were on either side of his head.
“Don’t stop,” he commanded gruffly, his voice rough with sleep and arousal. Landen ran his hands up the backs of my thighs before hooking a thumb under the leg of my panties and tugging it aside.
I lowered my mouth back to his cock just as the flat of his tongue ran over my clit and up to my opening. I moaned long and deep as his lips latched onto my clit and suckled. His thigh muscles flexed as the vibrations moved down his cock and his hips gave a short upward thrust. He stopped, pulling away a little when I made a slight choking sound.
“Sorry,” he muttered against my pussy.
I didn’t reply verbally, instead wrapping my fingers around him and setting a slow, deep pace with my hand and mouth.
He took my cue and his lips and tongue returned to my clit, sucking and flicking in sure, strong strokes, mimicking the pace of my mouth. When I moaned again, his entire body trembled beneath me and I knew he was close. I tightened my grip on his cock and sucked him just a bit harder as he thrust one, then two fingers into my body.
We fell into a wild, desperate rhythm and I knew my thighs were shaking just as much as his when he devoured me with ferocity. I understood then that he wasn’t going to come until I did. Or we came together, something that I’d never experienced during oral sex before.
His other hand moved between us, sliding up my tank top until it cupped my breast. As he sucked my clit hard, flicking it with his tongue, he pinched my nipple and tugged it sharply.
That was all it took.
I moaned, loud and long, around his cock as the orgasm washed over me. Somehow I managed to keep stroking and sucking as my body shuddered over him.
“Shit, I’m gonna—” His voice broke and his hips canted slightly, letting me know that he was close.
I took him as deep as I could and swallowed as he came, my body trembling as he used his thumb to milk the last of the orgasm from my body.
When his body relaxed beneath mine, I gave him one last lick on the tip of his cock, making his hips jerk, and released him from my mouth. I rolled on my side, my head resting on his thigh so that I could see his face.
Landen’s eyes were closed and his chest moved up and down with his quick breaths. He had one hand on my hip and the other resting on his belly.
“Good morning,” I murmured, smiling slightly at the sated expression on his face.
His eyelids lifted and he looked down at me with glittering eyes. “If that’s how you say good morning, I’m spending every night here.”