Chapter Eighteen
Ethan
I had booked my usual suite at the hotel. I had brought many women up to the penthouse before, but bringing Kayla up there somehow felt different. She wasn't like the other mindless pieces of eye candy I have been with before. I felt a connection with her. She was someone I could talk to, and I loved listening to the sound of her voice.
When she told Gwyneth that she was my girlfriend, I should have objected immediately. A few of the other models I'd dated in the past had tried something similar and I had put the gold-digging bitches in their place immediately, threatening to kick them out of the party if they stepped out of bounds again. But when Kayla did it, the strangest thing happened: I felt my heart swell with the kind of happy excitement I hadn't felt in years. Ironically, she was saying it to the only other woman who had ever made me want to be in a relationship.
With Gwyneth, our romance had ended badly and I thought I had learned from that mistake. With Kayla, however, I was willing to take the risk and open my heart again. The feelings I thought I had closed myself off to were alive and thriving in my heart whenever I looked at her.
I was certain it was a terrible mistake bringing her up to my hotel suite, she would eventually hurt me and I would regret this decision for a long time. When I looked at her, though, and saw her sexy thigh through the slit she had created, all I wanted to do was take her upstairs and fuck her until we both couldn't breathe.
She was adorably nervous on the elevator ride up, trying not to fidget as she stared at the ornate wallpaper inside the elevator. I could tell she had never been inside a hotel as nice as this one, and I was enjoying seeing the wonder in her eyes as I opened the door to the suite to let her in with a grand sweep of my arm.
"Welcome to my second home," I said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"You stay here a lot?" Kayla's blue eyes were large.
"I book this room whenever we hold an event in the hotel. I'm always so damn tired afterwards, it's nice not to have to take the long car ride home," I explained, leaving out the part about it also being an easy way to get laid with whatever date I had brought.
"This room is amazing, and so was tonight. Thanks for bringing me," Kayla said as she sat on the edge of the king-sized bed in the center of the room. Her spine was stiff as a board, and although she was trying to play it cool, she was trembling slightly.
I remembered what it was like to be young and poor, just rising up the ranks in this city. Being brought to a lavish suite like this by a CEO was intimidating as hell. I didn't want Kayla to feel so ill at ease, so instead of sitting next to her on the bed, I strolled across to the bar on the far side of the room. I picked out the bottle of Bacardi 551 and poured us each a tall glass.
"I think tonight was a successful debut, not just for the All American, but for you too." I complimented as carried her drink to her and handed it to her with a flourish.
"Do you really think so?" She was so naively innocent and sweet, it was irresistible.
"I do," I said honestly. "The buzz around the party was as much about your cover shoot as it was about my bike. I heard a lot of guests asking who you were, if you had an agent, and wondering if you would be available. I expect your phone to be ringing off the hook Monday morning."
"God, I hope so. That would be amazing." Kayla's face lit up and her body relaxed. "I've been working so hard for the past three years with nothing to show for it. I can't tell you how close I came to just giving up."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't." I held my glass up and clinked it against hers. "To the launch of your career."
She took a large swallow and winced at the strength of it, but then finished it off with a hearty gulp. She was smiling victoriously when she handed the empty glass back to me.
"I want to thank you for believing in me," she said, and I could hear the emotion in her voice.
"Don't thank me; it was easy." I sat on the bed next to her and caressed her shoulder. "I admire you a lot for having the courage to go for your dreams. Making it as a model in this city is tough, but through it all, you haven't let yourself grow jaded or let them turn you into something you're not. That shows class and integrity."
"A lot of people have told me it was my integrity that was holding me back from really making it in this business."
"Well then, how come you're the new cover girl for Speed Motorcycles and sharing a drink with the owner of the company?" I asked pointedly, and she broke out in a wide smile.
"Honestly, I don't know." She blushed.
"I know." My voice was hoarse with passion. "You're an incredible woman, Kayla: smart, beautiful, sexy as hell. I can't tell you how much I want you, but I don't want you to feel pressured about it, like you're obligated to sleep with me just because I hired you to pose for the magazine. I only want you if you want me just as much."
"I do," she said in a husky voice. It was all the permission I needed.
I grabbed her and pulled her to me, crushing her soft, delicate lips with my own. Her mouth opened for me and our tongues intertwined as I tried to devour her. She tasted so sweet, and her body was so soft as her round breasts crushed against my hard chest. My erection was straining painfully in the confines of my slacks. I wanted to just rip off all our clothes and take her right then and there, but that just wouldn't do.
A moment like this needed to be savored. It needed to be drawn out, to maximize every moment, to make the pleasure last and last. I wanted to make Kayla's body feel things she had never experienced before. When she woke up in the morning, it would have been enough to make her stay this time, and I knew just how to do it.
Even though it pained me to do so, I released her from my embrace and drew back.
"What's wrong?" She looked worried.
"Nothing's wrong." I grinned at her with a sexy leer. "Go down to the ice machine and bring up a bucket of ice. I'm going to get things ready for when you return."
"What's to get ready?"
"You'll see. Now, be an obedient little girl and do as you've been told." I winked at her, and she smiled back.
"Yes, sir," she said, and then she was gone.
My palms were actually sweating as I closed the door behind her. I knew I only had a few minutes, and I needed to make them count. Indeed, I needed to make tonight count, and that's exactly what I intended to do.