Chapter 18

Demi

As amused as I was by Barrett’s very sudden shift in demeanor as soon as he realized that we were alone, I had to admit that it also turned me all the way on that there was such an urgency in his voice and his movements.

He smacked my ass as I strode past him into his bedroom. Once we were inside, I barely had time to take in my surroundings before he kicked the door shut and backed me up against the wall.

“Oh, wow, Barrett,” I gasped as he pressed himself against me and lowered his lips to my neck, sucking and nuzzling the sensitive skin there. “Someone’s horny all of a sudden.”

“Yeah.” He bit down on my earlobe, then sucked it lightly. “Only it’s not sudden. It’s all on you and your smart mouth and this dress.”

Barrett’s fingers ran along the neckline of the dress, a thrill running through me to know how much he wanted me in it. It was absolutely, one hundred percent, worth the splurge for this reaction.

“Besides,” he murmured, kissing a path from my ear to my neck. “You know you’re dying for me to be inside you as much as I want to be there.”

“And I’m the one with the smart mouth?” I asked, groaning as his hands fell to the hem of the dress, moving excruciatingly slowly up my thighs.

“I’m glad you agree,” he said huskily from the crook of my neck. Barrett’s hands finally reached my panties, tucking his thumbs into the elastic of the waistband and pulling them off. Then his hand moved over me, groaning when he found me drenched and swollen. “Christ, you’re always so wet and ready.”

“Only for you,” I promised. I didn’t know what it was, but something in me, that part that seemed to be connected to a part of him, told me that he needed to hear the words.

“Oh, yeah,” he groaned, sliding his fingers inside me and lowering his mouth to mine as my hands went to grip his shoulders.

My fingernails dug into his shirt from the sensations rolling through me as he withdrew his fingers, tracing my seam and then sliding them back into me. His hand moved at a steady, maddening tempo, stroking me just right like he knew exactly what my body needed.

The tension had been building between us all night, from the moment he looked at me in my new dress. Even during dinner, with our attention on the kids, we couldn’t break physical contact with one another for too long. It was like it was painful to be apart from him. Like he was a piece of me now.

And I hadn’t missed the fact that he’d called me his “date” earlier. After all the doubts and jumbled thoughts on the ride over here, it was profoundly reassuring that Barrett was thinking of me in the same way I was thinking of him. Who knew that subtle signs of emotional commitment were a turn on for me?

All of these thoughts faded away as his hand worked me into a frenzy. His thick finger plunged into me while his slick thumb traced lazy spirals over my clit.

“God, Barrett,” I moaned, desperate for him.

“That’s it, let me hear you, baby. Fuck, you’re so hot,” he murmured against my lips, grabbing my ass suddenly and pressing himself hard against me.

“What’s gotten into you tonight?” I moaned.

He brought a hand to my breast and easily tugged the dress away. I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. My nipples were hard and completely at attention, ready and impatiently waiting for his touch.

“Are you complaining?” he asked, his voice raspy as he bent to suck a nipple into his wet mouth.

“Never,” I told him. “I just want to know what it was so I can do it again.”

He nuzzled my breast, breathing deeply against my skin. “You. You’re what’s gotten into me. I’ve been thinking about you for days, watching you prance around the set. Then you show up here, looking like that and teasing the shit out of me when you knew we’d have to wait for hours.”

“Remind me to make you wait more often,” I gasped as his fingers slid into me again.

“Don’t you dare,” he growled, biting down on one of my nipples. Pleasure mixed with pain before he gently sucked the sting away. It sent an electric thrill directly between my legs, making the fire already burning there blaze even hotter.

Then he stepped back, leaving me feeling strangely empty and ready to scream if he didn’t get his hands back onto me immediately. He must have seen the frustration in my expression. Barrett laced his fingers through mine and led me to his bathroom, the same one where I’d left him before. “What are you doing?”

“You. In the shower, like I wanted to before you ran out on me last time.” He grunted, opening the cubicle door and turning on the hot water. His hands went around me, reaching for my zipper. Our eyes locked as he slowly started unzipping me, finally letting the dress fall in a pool at my feet.

I should’ve cared that the most expensive item of clothing that I owned was lying on the floor, that I was now, once again, completely exposed to him, flushed, wet, and panting. But I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of it. Not when he stepped back and ran his eyes over me like I was the answer to every question he’d ever had.

“This isn’t fair,” I told him as he stepped forward, cupping my breasts and brushing my nipples with his thumbs, and he brought his lips back to my neck.

“What’s not fair, baby?”

“You’re still fully dressed,” I pouted. “I shouldn’t be the only one who’s naked in this situation.”

I felt him smiling in the crook of my neck. “Get me naked then, Demi. Whatever you want. It’s yours for the taking.”

The butterflies in my stomach went wild at his words, and my heart started galloping in my chest, slamming itself against my ribs as though it was trying to fly out of me and into him.

Calm down, I ordered myself, bringing my trembling fingers to the first button of his shirt. He didn’t mean it like that.

He kissed my temple, then reached behind me to test the water temperature just as I reached the last button, letting his shirt fall to the floor. Lowering my eyes, I paused to run my eyes over the lickable blocks of his abdomen, then started undoing his belt buckle.

Barrett reached for his pocket just before his slacks fell to the floor, pulling out a condom and placing it on the soap dish in the shower behind me. He tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and pulled them right off, smirking as my mouth went dry when I let my eyes feast on him.

It was the third time we were naked together, yet it’d never been like this. The effect that his glorious, naked body had on me wasn’t diminishing. If anything, it was only becoming stronger.

“In you go.” Barrett smacked my ass again and nodded to the shower. He joined me shortly after, caging my body with my back against the cool tile as he kissed me senseless under the warm water cascading over our shoulders.

When the scorching kiss finally broke, Barrett reached for a tube of shower gel behind me and squeezed some into his hands. His lids were half open, and his eyes were dark with passion. Bringing his hands to my shoulders, he brushed the lemony smelling soap along my arms and down my body.

I gasped when he cupped my breasts, massaging them gently before his hands traveled lower and stroked between my legs. His hungry lips closed over mine again, kissing me deeply. The fingers of one hand slid through my slick folds while his other hand stroked my sides, leaving goosebumps in its wake before it settled on my breast.

He kneaded my soft flesh, and his thumb circled over my hardened nipple. Liquid fire rushed through my veins at the sensations he awoke within me. Barrett knew just how to touch me to ignite my entire body in delicious flames.

Feeling faint with desire and struggling to concentrate, I pushed gently on his chest. We were both breathing hard as he lifted his head and looked at me with questions in his eyes.

“My turn,” I said, grinning up at him.

“What do you mean, ‘your turn’?” he murmured against my lips, stealing another kiss before I could answer.

“I’m pretty sure I’m thoroughly clean by now, so let me return the favor.”

Instead of answering, he tried hiding his look of mild surprise by reaching for the shower gel behind me again. Then he handed it to me without a word.

The silky gel coated my fingers, foaming fast as I rubbed my hands together. I followed his example, starting at his shoulders and working my way down. My fingers had been itching to touch him like this since the first time I’d seen him. A not-insignificant part of me wanted to cheer that I was finally getting to do it.

His skin was like smooth silk tightly wrapped over the concrete edges of his muscular body. My hands traveled from his shoulders to his chest, over his ribcage, back up to his shoulders, and then down his arms.

Barrett’s eyes closed, and his breathing sped up as I continued my exploration. His hands fell to my hips, clinging to me while I caressed his amazing body. I took my time, learning which spots I could touch that made him shiver and watching for the ones that made him suck in quick breaths.

My hands descended in slow, smooth circles. I purposefully avoided his hot erection, and I let my wrist only brush it lightly as I reached for his thighs. The hairs there were coarse under my palms, overwhelmingly masculine. When I finally wrapped my hands around his rock-hard length, a deep growl rumbled from his chest. His eyes were screwed shut now, and his breathing was labored as his muscles locked and his pulse hammered in his throat.

Barrett let me circle the base of his cock with one hand and give it a few pumps with the other before he opened his eyes. His gaze was hot and frustrated on me as he grabbed my wrists.

“Enough,” he commanded.

His lips crashed onto mine, and his kisses were molten hot and urgent. His muscles bunched under my hands as he reached for something. The condom.

We came up for air so he could sheath himself. The sound of foil being ripped open filled the steamy room that was his shower. Turning me around gently once he was done, he lifted my hands until my palms met with the now warm tiles. Barrett reached around me, stroking my breasts as he nudged my legs open with his.

“You’ve been teasing me all damn night,” he groaned into my ear, his cock pressing at my entrance. “You take me closer to the edge than anyone ever has, you’re not afraid to take control, and you don’t just want me to fuck you. You drive me fucking crazy, so this is going to be hard and fast, okay?”

I nodded.

“Words, Demi.” He licked the shell of my ear, making me moan and push against him. “Not until you tell me you’re good with it.”

“Hard and fast,” I repeated dutifully after him.

With his lips pressed to my neck, he leaned me forward on the tiles and thrust into me powerfully. Waiting only a second for me to adjust to the delicious stretching sensation caused by him filling every inch of me, he started moving.

Barrett’s glorious cock stroked me at just the right rhythm, plunging deep inside me before pulling out and slamming into me again. He fucked me hard and fast, just like he’d promised. My entire body shook every time his cock pounded into me, and my ragged breaths were punctuated with short moans of pleasure.

My hands steadied myself against the shower wall, and I pushed my ass farther out to give him better access. His hips continued to rock into me, and his body leaned over mine. Barrett reached around my body to caress my breasts as he fucked me. Every single nerve ending inside me lit up like Christmas lights.

Soon, our moans mingled in the hot air, interspersed with the sound of wet skin on wet skin. He let go of my breasts and gripped my hips. His thick fingers sunk into my flesh as he held on tightly to get better leverage. His cock hammered into me, harder and faster. Every stroke plunged into the deepest parts of me, coaxing every ounce of pleasure from me that he could.

One of his hands left my hip and tangled into my hair at the nape of my neck. He gripped me by the roots, pulling my head back while he pounded into me. Barrett was in total control of my body, and I loved the way it felt for him to dominate me. It was manly and sexy, like no other man before him.

It didn’t take long before the slide of him inside me, his breathing rapid in my ear, and the feel of his hard body bracing against me had me screaming Barrett’s name as I came undone around him. My muscles clenched, and bright white light exploded behind my eyelids as pleasure flooded from my core, leaving me gasping when I felt him tense behind me.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” His groans tumbled into a single word before he dug his fingers like a vice into my hipbones and released deep inside me with my name on his lips.

He collapsed over me, his arms wrapping around my body as we both shuddered with pleasure.

“Good god, woman,” he breathed into my ear while our hearts slowed and the water washed away the evidence of our passionate lovemaking. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

I panted, trying to catch my breath. “You survived tonight, didn’t you?”

Barrett smiled against my neck. “Oh, I’m not nearly done with you, baby.”

“You have the stamina of a racehorse,” I told him, turning in the circle of his arms to plant a kiss on his dirty mouth.

“A prized stallion.” He smirked. “You’re not complaining, are you?”

“Never,” I promised him, following him naked and wet to his bedroom, without so much as one self-conscious thought about it.

We tumbled into bed together, our bodies tangled up in one another like we needed to be physically connected as much as possible. It didn’t take long for him to plunge inside me again for another, slower round of lovemaking.

Hours later, we lay sated and spent on his bed, a gigantic, dark, wooden four-poster big enough to host a family barbecue. My bones felt like they were made of Jell-O, and my eyes grew heavier by the second.

“I’d better get an Uber,” I said. “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to stay awake.”

Barrett rolled onto his side, his features illuminated only by the full moon hanging like a Christmas ornament over the ocean beyond his window. “Why don’t you just stay the night?”

He reached out to brush my cheeks with his fingers. My skin grew hot under his touch. Without even thinking about it, I leaned in to him.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” he said. “This time, I’m not letting you run out on me.”

“I’m sorry about that. I was a little afraid last time. It had been a while since I’d been with anyone, and you were my new boss...” I trailed off, struggling to find the words for the rest of my admission that wouldn’t go all the way to the root of why I’d freaked out.

“I figured,” he said, his fingers lacing with mine. “Promise me you’ll stay this time, though.”

I paused, took a deep breath, then muttered, “Okay.”

“Good,” Barrett whispered. When he rolled onto his back, he took me with him, positioning me so that my head rested on his chest, right over his heart. “Sleep tight, baby.”

My heart did a little happy dance. I breathed in the lemony scent on his skin, left behind by the shower gel, mixed with sex and a musk all of his own. I loved it. As my breathing slowed and sleep threatened to drag me under, I realized that it was because I loved him.

Somewhere along the line, I had fallen utterly and completely in love with the man. The thought thrilled me as much as it terrified me.