Chapter 10
Vanessa
That proposition should have had me asking him to leave, but on a certain level it all made sense. Kyle’s claim that we had great sex was true. The man knew my body better than any other I’d ever been with.
Kyle released my hand after giving the back of it a chaste kiss. “You’re something else, Nessa.” He pulled my feet onto his lap and started rubbing the arches. With each pass of his thumb I groaned.
“Nessa?” My back settled into the soft cushion.
“Since you’re fond of nicknames, that one is mine for you.”
The term he chose was endearing if I was into that sort of thing. “Do I have a choice?”
“Nope. Unless you want to be called Kyle’s bitch or KB for short.”
“Nevermind, Nessa is fine.”
“Thought so.”
The pressure of his fingers intensified. “Mmm, that feels so good. Those shoes hurt like hell tonight.”
“If it’s any consolation, you were the hottest woman in the place. No one held a candle to you.”
My red-tipped nails wiggled beneath his fingers. “Not even Ho Peep?”
He let out a chuckle, slid his arm under my knees, yanked me down the couch, and angled himself until he hovered over me. My breath hitched when his eyes met my own. “Were you jealous?”
Yes. “No, of course not. She just didn’t seem your type, that’s all.”
“She wasn’t.” My chest brushed against his with each breath we took. He tucked a loose tendril behind my ear. “You’re my type. You know, if I had a type.”
Something dawned on me. Was this arrangement we agreed on the first one he’d been in? Had he done something like this before? If so, why did it end? Was it his idea? Hers? Shit. No, I didn’t care. It was no big deal. Just sex.
“I see your wheels turning. Care to share what you’re thinking?”
“Just wondering if you’ve done this before. You know, sex with just one person.” Even saying that phrase felt foreign to me. How this wasn’t a commitment still confused me.
“Nope, never wanted to.”
Hmm… interesting.
Knowing he’d never wanted to do this before both excited me and scared me. But, the excitement won out. I was so tempted to rip off his clothes and seal this deal of ours with amazing sex, but everything seemed to be happening so fast. Granted, slow had never been part of our vocabulary, but casual sex and sex with rules wasn’t the norm.
“I’m tired.” I let out an exaggerated yawn. “Would you mind if we called it a night?” Considering how badly I wanted him since he dumped Ho Beep, my request seemed dumb as hell. Something inside of me felt I needed to set the tone here or he would and could ruin me. Surprisingly, Kyle didn’t argue. He pushed himself off of me and headed toward my door. “Wait. I think there is one more rule we should put in place.”
Before he opened the door, he turned to look at me. “What’s that?”
“No sleepovers. Waking up with someone is way too intimate.”
He gave me his mega-watt smile. “Noted. No sleepovers.” Kyle placed his palm on the nape of my neck and tugged me toward him until our lips were a breath away. “I’ll call you. Sleep well, Nessa.” His strong lips met mine in a brief kiss.
“Bye, Kyle.”
“Wait, he wants what?”
Cassie was the only one available this morning to have breakfast with me. Des was hungover and Brae was still in post-honeymoon mode. We had returned our costumes, less the Wonder Woman since that was now a purchased item along with Superman. Apparently, returning damaged goods was frowned upon.
“Just sex, no strings.”
Cassie took a sip of her coffee. “Well, that doesn’t sound awful. I mean, the man is super sexy. Plus, didn’t you say you already agreed?”
“Yes, I did. Am I overanalyzing this? I mean, it’s a great plan, right? Neither of us want a relationship, so it’s just safe sex all the time, no strings, no bullshit.”
She set the cup on the saucer. “So, did you start your pact last night?”
“No, we didn’t. I said I was tired, and refreshingly enough, he left without argument.”
Cassie studied my expression and said, “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Yeah,” I blurted out, but wondered why I felt so alone after he left. I thought about it a long while and decided if it was as easy as—ask, receive, no arguments, then it would be the perfect arrangement.
Reading my mind, Cassie smiled. “Well, it sounds perfect for you. Is he good in bed?”
The memory of what it felt like to have Kyle inside me had the lower half of my body reacting. “No, he’s better than good.” I leaned in toward her, remembering the last time we discussed sex in a restaurant. With eager eyes, she moved closer. “The man knows his way around a woman’s body. I’m really not sure which is his best asset, his fingers, tongue, or his dick.”
Cassie started laughing. “Don’t hold back, V. Really, do tell.”
I glanced around like a covert operative ready to disclose a major government secret. “Well,” I said in a hushed tone as I brought myself even closer to Cassie, “I’ve never had to worry about not having an orgasm when we’ve been together. The man’s tongue and fingers are talented beyond any other lover I’ve had.”
Cassie bit the corner of her mouth and squirmed a bit in her seat.
“But, his dick. Oh my God, he does this thing where…” I sat back and fanned myself. “Well, I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.”
“Are you even kidding me right now? Tell me!” She smacked her hand on the table, rattling the dishes and flatware. She also managed to garner some attention from the other customers. With gritted teeth, she stressed, “You need to tell me. It’s been a while for me, and this is the most action I’ve gotten in months.”
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “Months? Sweetie, you haven’t been with someone in months?”
Cassie rolled her hand back and forth. “V, don’t worry about me. Tell me… his dick what?”
Just as I was about to disclose one of Kyle’s talents, my phone rang. “Speak of the devil. Do you mind? All this talk has made me horny.” Cassie grumbled something incoherent, making me laugh before she told me to answer it.
“Hi.”
“Hi, I need to go into my lab and wondered if you’d like to join me. I’m working on a couple new fragrances, and since I know you like my products, you can give me your opinion.”
Without thought, I brought my wrist to my nose and inhaled. “That sounds like fun, okay. I can meet you there in about an hour. Text me the address.”
“I will. And Nessa, since I forgot it last night, bring your paperwork.” He ended the call, leaving me pulsing over his suggestion. That one command meant Mr. Cleary had plans for us besides playing with fragrances.
With Cassie’s eyes on me, I nonchalantly speared a breakfast potato before popping it into my mouth. “Hello! What did Mr. Friends with Benefits have to say?” she asked, waggling her brows.
She enjoyed this way too much. Truth be told, so did I. “He’s going into work and wants my opinion on something.”
“His job is totally cool. I’d never imagine him the type who created perfume. It makes him sexier, don’t you think?”
I nonchalantly lifted my right shoulder to meet my ear. “I suppose it does.” It most certainly did. All I could do was picture Kyle sitting at a table full of beakers, wearing nothing but a lab coat.
Cass and I finished our breakfast and headed in separate directions. Before we split apart, I told her not to mention my arrangement with Kyle to anyone. We never kept secrets from our friends, but there was something about what I had agreed to with Kyle that felt very personal. The only reason I even mentioned it to Cassie was to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind.
I headed home to get the paperwork he requested, and less than an hour later the cab pulled up to the address Kyle texted me. If his name weren’t on the sign outside, I would never have guessed this industrial style building housed a fragrance lab. Once through the black glass doors, the brick facade on the outside was in complete contrast to the luxuriously modern interior.
The security man at the desk looked up and smiled. “Ms. Monroe?”
Surprised at the efficiency Kyle managed his staff, I offered a quick nod. “Mr. Cleary is expecting you on the sixth floor.”
The elevator doors opened to a square foyer with each glass wall housing a different lab. Directly in front of me was the largest, where Kyle sat at a long table, much like I had pictured him.
Except, instead of the white lab coat, he wore a light blue T-shirt that stretched across his broad chest and enhanced the color of his eyes. The cotton fabric molded over his muscles, almost defining them. Rather than go right in, I stayed in the hallway and watched for a moment through the glass window.
He wore black-rimmed glasses, which made him look even sexier. Kyle picked up a colored liquid, added it to another, sniffed, and then tapped something out on his keyboard. His eyes must have caught my movement because when he looked up a grin appeared.
I pulled the door open and hovered at the entrance of the lab. “Hi, you looked deep in thought, I didn’t want to disturb you.”
He walked closer, gave me a kiss on the cheek before taking my jacket, and motioned for me to sit on a stool next to his. “Welcome to my home away from home.”
I took a moment to appreciate my surroundings. It wasn’t what I had expected, not that I’d been in many labs before. Of course it was sterile; you could probably eat off the floors as clean as they appeared. There had to be about six long tables, each had a computer and what you’d see in a chemistry class—less the Bunsen burner.
“It’s a great space, Kyle, much bigger than I thought it would be.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you’re here.”
I pulled out the folded piece of paper giving me a clean bill of health before placing my bag on the table. “Here you go.” With a salacious grin, he accepted it and handed me one he pulled from his back pocket in return. I unfolded and read the one line that proved he was clean. Kyle watched with that same grin, but made no move to do the same. “Aren’t you going to look at it?” I asked when he shoved them both in my bag.
“Nope. I trust you.” He plucked a thin glass tube from a wooden rack and held it beneath my nose. “What do you think of this?”
Floral tones immediately hit my senses. “It’s nice but too flowery.” When I realized this was most likely something he’d been working on, I added, “For me.”
He nodded. “I thought so, too. Sniff this,” he instructed while holding up a glass jar filled with what looked to be coffee beans.
“Why?”
“It’s to cleanse your olfactory palate.” He set the liquid aside and picked up a different container. This one looked like floral soup. Different flower petals sat in what I assumed to be water. Kyle strained some into a glass container, dipped a testing strip in it, and waved it in the air before bringing it under my nose. “What about this one?”
My senses took flight, and I was immediately transported. It was fresh, with just a hint of the floral note that the other one had. Almost like a breeze quickly blew through a garden. It was just enough, but not too much.
“Yes, I really like that one.” Kyle smiled and typed into his laptop. When I glanced at the screen, it looked like hieroglyphics. “What language is that?”
He chuckled. “Believe it or not, it’s English. But, it’s just chemical equations. Here, hand me your arm.” He held out his hand waiting for me to follow his direction. When he saw me hesitate, he confirmed nothing would happen to my skin.
Kyle took a dropper and dripped the smallest amount of the liquid on the inside of my elbow. He blew on it and his warm breath sent a tingle up my arm starting from the inside out. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips before he brought his nose to my arm. Never had a man smelled the inside of my elbow, and the act caused a strange pull within me.
“Just as I thought,” he said. “Smell it now.”
“Wow, it smells even better. I would love to just play like this and create things people fall in love with. How did you do that?”
He tapped his temple with his right index finger. “I’m a genius.”
“Do you always work on Sundays, Mister Genius?”
“Sometimes. I enjoy being in my lab when it’s just me. But after I smelled Modesty on you last night, something triggered in my head and I wanted to capture it.”
“Why did you put it on the inside of my elbow?”
“It’s a pulse point, much like the wrist, but my favorite place to test fragrances is there and here.” Kyle dragged his finger up my arm and across my collarbone until he reached right between my breasts. “Cleavage is one of the best places for perfume placement.” He didn’t remove his finger as he explained. “Bodies emit heat at the pulse points, but right here...” He slid his finger lower and then around the curve of my breast. “Is where I love to smell my scent.”
I glanced up at him, his eyes were on mine as he moved his finger up and down, stroking my sensitive flesh. My chest rose and fell with each of his movements, my panties dampened, my nipples hardened, and I wanted him. The combination of his sex appeal, along with his touch, turning him down last night, and my surroundings all had me in a state of anticipation.
He removed his finger, and my breath hitched. Our eyes never left each other’s. Kyle was sex personified. With one tug at the corner of my V-neck, he pulled it down exposing the left side of my bra. He cupped my breast with his large palm, brought his lips to it, and sucked my nipple through the thin fabric.
My back arched, pushing myself further into his mouth. He lifted me off of the stool, took a few steps, and set me down on a table adjacent to where we just were. “I need to be inside of you, feel your wet heat surrounding my cock. Smelling my creation on you is doing heady things to me, Nessa.”
“Then do it, Kyle. I want you, too.”
“Lay back.” Without hesitation, I followed his command. He unbuttoned my jeans, pulled the zipper down, and said, “Lift.”
Before I knew it, my jeans slid down my legs along with my panties. Both pumps came off as well, and they all landed on the concrete floor with a thump. He wrapped his hands around my ankles and brought my feet up to the edge of the table. There I lay, much as I had been on his kitchen island. Completely exposed from the waist down, I propped myself up on my elbows to look at him.
He stood about a foot away, his left arm supported his right elbow, chin propped in his right hand. Kyle’s eyes were transfixed. Without conscious thought, I brought my knees together.
“Spread them. I want to look at you.” Kyle stayed rooted in his position. He didn’t come closer, and it made me crazy. When I didn’t move, his voice deepened. “Now. Open your legs. Drop your knees to the sides.”
His crude orders caused my pussy to clench. The glasses, the look in his heavy-lidded eyes, caused butterflies to take flight in my stomach. Every inch of me responded to this man, both inside and out. I swore my nipples were going to pierce a hole in the satin fabric of my bra. I did as he asked. His Adam’s apple bobbed and the muscles in his arms looked corded as if he refrained himself from touching me.
“Touch me, Kyle.”
As if in slow motion, he shook his head back and forth. “No, I want you to do that. Show me, Nessa. Show me how you touch yourself. But don’t make yourself come. I want that pleasure.”
Fuck. I bit my lower lip as I brought my middle finger down the tiny strip of hair before feeling my own heat.
“Tell me why you’re so turned on.” His eyes tracked every movement. “Why are you so wet for me, Nessa?”
“It’s your eyes. The way you’re looking at me.”
“How am I looking at you?” He paused. “Slide your finger inside and tell me.”
Doing as he asked, I slid one finger in and moaned. Kyle’s reciprocating moan, spurred me on to add another finger. “Like you want to devour me.” I methodically pumped my fingers, eliciting another moan.
“I do want to devour you. I’m so fucking hard right now. Watching your slick fingers move in and out is the biggest fucking turn-on. Your pussy is the prettiest shade of pink, the way it’s glistening, begging for more. Begging for me. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
My voice caught in my throat. Want, need, and everything in between. I could feel myself getting close.
“Tell me, Nessa. Isn’t that what your pussy is begging for? My cock so deep into you, my thumb on your clit, and my lips tasting your skin?”
Between the way he shortened my name, to his dirty talk, I knew with a crook of my own finger, I’d be done. But he was right, that was what I wanted. All of what he said.
“Take me, Kyle.”