CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Amelia
For being some reclusive, unfriendly mega-rich tycoon in the Boston business world, Declan was surprisingly normal. Sure, his penthouse was amazing and perfect in every way — from the floor-to-ceiling windows to the counter-to-counter appliances that all had their own personal Wi-Fi hotspots — but Declan himself was comfortable walking around in a pair of jogging pants, some slippers, and a Boston University sweatshirt while we ate an early dinner.
This was honestly more fun to me than either of the dinner dates we’d been on because I felt like I was getting some behind-the-scenes access to the man that most women didn’t get. At least, I hoped most women didn’t end up in his penthouse too often. From my initial assessment — okay, snooping — of his bathroom and bedroom, there was no evidence of a woman anywhere. No extra toothbrush, no flowery lotion.
Nothing but manly-man things and manly-man smells everywhere.
And that made me oddly happy, despite the fact that Declan owed me nothing. I was also relishing in the fact that I was wearing his clothes, and I was almost reluctant to take the huge shopping bags Brennan had brought with him.
Almost.
I mean, the man had picked stuff up from Nordstrom’s for me, so I had to look.
After pawing through the things on the guest bed, I walked back out into the living room just as Declan looked up from finishing his meal.
“How did he get the sizes so right?” I asked, my fists planted on my hips.
“I checked the tags of your clothes while you were in the shower,” he said, looking back at his drink. “Hope you don’t mind.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s all really nice of you. I’m just… surprised, that’s all.”
That got his attention. “Surprised? Why?”
I’d gotten in a little deep with this line of conversation and probably needed to make an exit quickly. But Declan was keyed in on what I was saying now, and I wasn’t sure he’d let it go either.
“I mean, it’s just a really thoughtful detail, I didn’t think…” Shit. I wasn’t trying to insult the man. He was just this uber-successful businessman. Getting the tag sizes off a girl’s clothes didn’t seem to be something he’d care about.
“But what? You didn’t think I was capable of being thoughtful?”
He was standing, his hands on his hips as he walked toward me, his head angled to the side. He’d taken a shower also, and his hair had dried across his eyes, devoid of the usual gel that kept it impeccably in place. For a moment, I was transfixed by this new view of him that I’d been allowed access to.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” I mumbled, frowning as I not only tried to remember what I was trying to say in the first place but also how I’d managed to not notice how gold his eyes became when hit just so by the fading light of the sun behind me. “It’s just that it’s so insignificant.”
I was mumbling again, but I put a hard stop to the rambling sentence and hoped he’d just bypass it. But he didn’t.
“Nothing about you is insignificant to me, Amelia,” he said, and I swore I heard my heart thudding in my chest. Could he hear it too? I hoped beyond reason that he was oblivious to the percussion concert happening as he took another few steps closer to me.
He was looking down at me as his body loomed close to mine, and I drank in the heat that was coming off him, even from where he stood. His face was angled down at mine, and for a split second, I was so certain that he was going to kiss me that I licked my lips in anticipation and had just started to close my eyes when his hand angled my chin away from his face.
What the hell?
Shooting a glance back at him, I realized that he was examining my bruised cheek.
“I’m fine,” I said, trying to move out of his grasp before he could see the color on my cheeks after being denied the kiss I was so certain was coming. My poor ego. After our time in his car, I’d thought… hoped… dreamed… but he wasn’t looking at me with lust at all. In fact, his touch was very clinical. I did my best to hide my disappointment.
“Let me look,” he insisted as he pulled my face back toward his. He was close now and grinning. He’d totally seen me lick my lips and read my reaction perfectly. But instead of making fun of me, he gently cupped both hands to the sides of my face and lowered his head until his lips brushed against mine. There was no rush — only heat and tenderness.
Did he feel sorry for me now? Was this a pity kiss?
I just couldn’t read him well enough to understand his intentions.
Embarrassed, I pulled myself free from his grasp, and hightailed it back to the guest room so I could get my phone on a charger and talk to Pop before he went to sleep for the night. He was normally in bed reading on his fancy new Kindle by nine.
Mom answered when I got through.
“He’s fine, honey,” she said. “He’s on the phone with JJ at the moment. Don’t worry about anything, okay? We’ll figure this all out. You just enjoy your time with Declan.”
I couldn’t help but notice just how pleased she sounded at the prospect. Embarrassed at what I thought she was implying, I wished her a good night and turned on the television in the guest room. From the sounds outside the door, Declan must have figured I’d turned in for the night and retreated to the master bedroom — the glorious, Declan-smelling wonderland of a masculine retreat.
I tried hard not to think about the sexy man as I settled on a brainless reality show, hoping my mind would drift. I couldn’t settle down though. It was impossible. My mind was racing and replaying certain moments of the afternoon — some terrifying, some epic. But they all had me frazzled and overloaded on adrenaline all over again.
With a frustrated sigh, I stood in the center of the room and tried a couple yoga poses I’d learned over the past few months from the Internet. No luck. I looked for a meditation playlist that would keep my mind from going off on another tangent, but nothing was working.
Forcing myself to turn the lights off and lay in bed, I must have tossed and turned for a good hour and a half before sitting up and deciding I needed something to drink. Padding through the darkness, I crept to the kitchen and searched for the cupboard that held his glasses. After a few false starts, I found it and got myself some filtered water from the sink.
After a long drink, I turned away from the sink and froze. Before me stood a bare-chested Declan, wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants. Had I not readjusted my grip in time, I was pretty sure the glass would have slipped and smashed into a million pieces on the floor.
Holy. Hard. Bodies. Batman.
I knew Declan was fit, I knew it. But this… this shredded glorious being in front of me was something else entirely.
“Y-y-you’re,” I stammered, blinking hard and setting the water down on the marble island that separated the two of us. “You’re not wearing a shirt.”
He frowned and looked down at his chest, grinning when he looked back up. Obviously, was clearly written on his face.
“What’s wrong, Amelia?” he asked, instead of acknowledging my idiotic statement. “Can’t sleep?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I nodded. “I’ve tried everything. Stretching. Meditation. Reality television. It’s not working. I can’t get my mind to slow down.”
He took a wide step around the enormous island between us, and I turned to face him as he did. There was something forward about the way he was slowly walking toward me, his eyes burning into mine, his expression unreadable.
I wasn’t falling for it again though.
“If you’re here to inspect my face, don’t worry about it,” I said, putting my hands up defensively. “The swelling’s gone down, and it’s barely discolored. I’m fine.”
Declan came closer and leaned against the island, only a few inches in front of me. He was leaning down, towering over me.
Lifting my chin, I smiled and moved to step around him. “Good night.”
His arm shot out, stopping me. But his touch was gentle, as was the expression on his face. He pulled me until I was pressed against his warmth. “I’m not here to look at your cheek,” he whispered, moving his mouth closer to mine. I pulled back, wondering if he was playing with me again. He smelled so good, and his skin beneath my palms seemed to beg for me to run my hands over it, maybe nip it with exploratory kisses.
I held strong, despite the fact that everything inside me wanted to crawl up this man’s body and attack his face. “Then what are you here to do?”
Declan just looked at me, his chest rising and falling a little faster than before. But he didn’t say anything. Didn’t do anything.
Disappointment stabbed at me and emotion flooded my face. Before I could embarrass myself with tears, I stepped back. “I’m going to bed.”
He caught me again, but instead of pulling me to him, he turned me until I was facing the island, pressing me between the hard granite and his even harder body.
“You’re not going anywhere yet.” His voice was a growl as he ground his erection into my backside, making me gasp.
I bit back a sob, forcing my voice to be steady. “Declan, what do you want from me? You’re hot then you’re cold. I don’t like these games and I don’t like trying to read between the lines.” I pressed back against him. “Just tell me what you want.”
His hands smoothed up my arms, his lips pressing into my hair. “You. I want you.” His arms tightened around me. “I’ve fought the need for you for years now, but it all came back the moment I saw you on the street outside the restaurant a couple weeks ago.” He exhaled a long breath, warming my neck. When I tried to turn, he held me tighter, like he couldn’t be honest while facing me. “But there’s no rush, Amelia. No rush at all between us.”
Well, I hated to argue at a time like this, but there was an expiration date on the two of us. This wasn’t permanent, no matter how much I was starting to like him. He wasn’t the permanent type, that much was obvious, and I wasn’t the Boston type anymore. I had places to go. Dreams to chase.
But for now? Right now, if Declan was serious about getting me naked, I was game.
“I’m kind of in a rush,” I whispered with a smile. “I’ve been sexually frustrated since our make-out session in your car. I can’t help but wonder what else those magic fingers can do.”
He laughed, and all the tension seemed to melt from his body. Moving my hair from the side of my throat, he pressed a wet kiss on the sensitive skin between my ear and my neck. I shuddered at the sensation, goose bumps raising on my arms. Turning my head, I gave him better access.
“No rush, baby,” he whispered, gently nipping that place that turned me into a puddle.
Working against his resistance, I turned in his arms. I needed to see his face, look into his eyes. Raising my hands to his shoulders, I asked, “What if I want to rush?”
He growled, his nostrils flaring, and with a single movement lifted me onto the countertop. He spread my knees apart and pushed his hips so that they were cradled up against mine. In this position, I was closer to him, and he wasted no time in grasping my face between his hands and starting another round of haze-inducing kisses.
“I don’t want to screw this up, Amelia,” he said. “That’s why I’ve taken it extra slow with you. But don’t think for one moment that I haven’t wanted to see you naked, writhing beneath me. It’s all I can think about. I obsess over what you’ll taste like, what you’ll feel like.”
His words had me pretty close to writhing already, so I reached up and pulled his beautiful mouth back down to mine, and as if we’d done this a thousand times, we came together perfectly. No bumping noses. No miscues. Just lips and tongue and lust.
My hands encircled his neck while my legs wrapped around his waist. He was mine, and I wasn’t going to let him go. Not yet, anyway.
He broke our kiss, gasping against my lips, and I was pleased to know I affected him as much as he affected me. “Do you want this?” he asked against my lips.
I quirked an eyebrow. “My water? No. I could care less about that,” I joked, being obtuse on purpose. He punished me with a nip on my lower lip that was part pain, mostly hot.
“Do you want this, Amelia?” He repeated the question, and I could see the seriousness in his eyes. He didn’t want me to have any regrets.
I took his face in my hands, matching his gravity. “I want you. This. No expectations. Just this.”
As if he had been holding his breath, he exhaled in a rush. “I have expectations.”
I tried to read his expression. “You do?”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “I expect to rock your world. And I expect you to rock mine.”
My insides twisted. “Then let’s get to rockin’.”
He laughed, his head falling back onto his shoulders. “God, you’re gorgeous. Perfect. I can’t wait to taste you to see if you’re as sweet as I think you are.”
I swear to god, my vagina applauded. “I want to taste you too. I want everything, Declan. Don’t make me wait any longer.”
“You want me to taste you?” He waited for me to answer.
“Yes,” I said, my voice lower now.
He rewarded the answer with a long lick and bite to my neck that I was pretty certain would leave some sort of mark in the morning. But hell, I didn’t care.
“Mine…” he murmured before biting me again. “Where do you want me to touch you?”
“Everywhere,” I breathed.
“Good girl,” he said and pulled on the hem of my borrowed shirt. “Lift your arms.”
I did as he bid, my heart hammering as he tossed the shirt to the side. Feeling suddenly exposed in the bright lights of the kitchen, I crossed my arms over my naked breasts.
“Don’t.”
Before I could argue, his lips were on my collarbone, exploring every inch of skin before slowly moving south to the top swell of my breasts. He nipped me there, sucking a small amount of skin into his mouth and leaving a mark with a pop as he released it.
I pressed my hands against his chest. “Are you making hickeys?”
He growled instead of answering and gave the other breast the same decoration.
“Mine,” he said as he ran his tongue lightly over a nipple. “Any questions?”
I’d just opened my mouth to argue with him when he sucked the pink tip into his mouth, lavishing it with pressure and tongue.
I was a lost woman from that moment and could do nothing but thread my fingers through his hair and let my head drop back, hoping he wouldn’t neglect the other one.
He didn’t.
“You’re magnificent,” he breathed, palming the other breast in his large hand. “Lie back.”
I paused. Seriously.
“Do it,” he insisted before gently pushing me back onto the empty island counter. With zero effort, he yanked his shorts off me and hissed in approval when he saw that I had gone commando. In my defense, I hadn’t pulled the tags off the underwear in the shopping bags yet. I was going to get to it, but now I was glad I didn’t.
“Baby,” he whispered, almost reverently as he stared right down at the very center of me, to the point where I was uncomfortable and trying to squeeze my legs together. “No. Don’t you dare hide from me. You said I could taste you.”
I had said that. I was just wishing he would do more tasting and less looking — I wasn’t really used to that.
Luckily, he propped my feet on the counter and pushed my knees apart before leaning down and running a tongue straight across the most sensitive flesh on my entire body. I hissed immediately, and my hips jerked up.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, clamping a hand down over my mouth, which made Declan chuckle.
“Not God, baby. Declan,” he said as he went back to work, licking and sucking, using tongue and teeth.
Declan was a master at his craft, expertly pushing me higher and higher before backing off just enough to torture me and bring me down a few notches. When he gently slid a smooth finger inside me, I tried to buck off the table again.
“Don’t move,” he whispered as he lowered his head and his mouth found my clit, sucking the sensitive bud into his mouth before swirling his tongue around it.
I cried out, and when he slipped another finger inside, I arched, needing more.
“Please…” I begged.
“Please what, Amelia?”
I just shook my head from side to side, unable to articulate everything I was feeling.
“Say what you want, Amelia.” He pressed his lips to my clit, and I could feel the vibrations of his words shoot through me. “Tell me, and I’ll give it to you.”
I was going to kill this man once I had my orgasm. I swear I was.
“I want you to make me come, Declan,” I practically begged. I sort of hated him for it but was also incredibly turned on and hanging on his every word at this point.
He grinned. “Gladly.”
His mouth sucked hard at my clit, while his large fingers curved up toward my G-spot, creating friction and heat that had my back arching off the marble countertop. My vision grayed out and my mouth was saying unintelligible things as Declan Casey carried me to the top of a mountain and pushed me off.
When I came, bursts of color exploded behind my clenched eyes, and I was pretty sure that scream that came out of my mouth was the least sexy thing I’d ever managed, but I didn’t care. We’d only just gotten started and Declan had already taken me on one hell of a ride.
As he kissed down my thigh, my body continued to tremble, air heaving in and out of my lungs as I tried to process it all.
I was butt naked in the middle of Declan Casey’s marble-clad kitchen and had just had one of the best rounds of oral sex of my life.
Where did my life go from here? What could possibly top this?
Declan took my hand, pulling me into a sitting position. From the look in his eyes, I realized I was about to find out.