Chapter 40
It was unfair, taking it out on him, and he was being nice. He was actually listening to her and trying to help. He wasn’t Shoemoney, or that dirty businessman.
“Come on,” he said, when she had told him she wasn’t hungry. “It’s easier if I show you the type of extra work you can do, if you want.”
She followed him to his office area where he showed her the spreadsheets on his computer. “Is this something you could take on?”
“What about your VA who does this?”
“She’s messed me about a few times. You could do a better job of it, and you’re nearby, and its similar to what you’ve done for me before. It’s just another one of my sideline businesses.”
“How many do you have?”
“Lots. Lots of little things, some work, some don’t.”
“Risky.”
“Entrepreneurial.”
Nothing like Tobias’s hedge fund.
“I’ve realized that having someone local, as opposed to in another country, is more helpful to me. Do you want the extra work?”
She could do it, on top of the work she already did for him, on top of her other online work, and with babysiting Jacob at the weekends, depending on the hours Savannah wanted from her. She would have to make it all fit in. She exhaled slowly, remembering the stats test she had to revise for. But even though she needed to go home and get to work on it, she wasn’t in the mood to leave.
After being there for her father for the past few days, this was the first time someone had been there for her. It was a feeling she liked, and one she hadn’t experienced in a while. “Starting when?”
“End of this week.”
Her exam would be over by then. “Sure.”
He grinned. “Your enthusiasm is killing me.”
“Thanks,” she said, perking up, breaking out into a smile, and grateful that he was here.
“That’s better,” he said, nodding his head in approval. “I like it better when you smile.” He folded his arms, and all she wanted was for him to open them and hold her.
“I better shoot,” she said, looking at her watch. Stats revision was the last thing she wanted to do, but he seemed busy, and she needed to get back into the swing of things.
“Don’t go,” he said, quickly.
“Is there something you’d like me to do?” Like those charts he’d wanted her to create.
“I can think of a few things.” It was the way he said it, the way his eyes smoldered with intensity, holding a promise, a thought, an intention. She swallowed as his words reminded her of that other time.
“Not those sorts of things,” he drawled, slowly, dropping his hands slowly to his side, and he hooked his thumbs into the front pocket of his jeans.
“What sort of things?” she asked, taking a step closer and looking up at him. They weren’t on the same page. He was being too coy, and she was not. Standing so close to him, her body felt as if it was on fire. “I didn’t mean what I said earlier, about you being like the other guys. I know you’re not. I know that now. I was just in a pissy mood.”
“Pissy mood?” he asked, moving closer still so that they almost touched. She held her hands up to his chest as his arms snaked around her waist.
“Pretty pissy.”
“Spend the day with me, and we’ll do fun stuff.” His head jerked back a little. “I don’t mean like last time.”
She worried that he was being too careful, and at a time when she wanted him to be anything but too careful. “I like doing fun stuff,” she said, “Like we did last time.” She caught the flicker of surprise on his face before they moved at the same time, instinctively, their lips and tongues meshed together.
Somehow they stumbled away from his desk, hands touching, lips breaking apart as they moved into the living room and made it over to the couch. She fell back onto the soft, downy cushions and he landed not on top, but to her side, his hand cupping around her neck.
“Is this what you had in mind?” he asked, his voice was thick, and raspy, and loaded with intent.
She made an agreeing noise in her throat, as she succumbed to the now familiar taste and feel of him against her. His fingers rested against the nape of her neck, while his thumb stroked her cheek. Her heartbeat raced, and her body loosened, as if it was remembering. They kissed like the last time, intense, and for a long time, and deep, as if they were in the throes of lovemaking. And she wished they were for it had opened up again, that void, an emptiness inside her, an ache that needed him.
“You make it all better,” she told him, when he stopped and stared at her. “Everything,” she murmured, feeling his hard chest pressing into her breasts. This had been the comfort she had been searching for all along. Being away from him had made her want to come running back for more.
She reached for him, sliding her hand down between their bodies, passing over the bulge in his jeans. “Izzy,” he groaned, low and hoarse.
She sighed into his mouth, and unzipped his jeans, touching the soft fabric of his boxer briefs, and feeling his hardness. His groan was a mixture of agony and joy when she moved her hand up and down, slowly, teasing, playing. With a drawn out moan, he moved her hand away, but she slipped it under his t-shirt and onto his bare skin, moaning in surprise at the feel of his abs.
Hard, hard, hard.
“Fuck, Izzy,” he ground out, and pushed himself off the couch.
“What are you doing?” she asked, lifting her head.
“Making you feel better,” he replied, his fingers skating around the waistband of her pantyhose. He was kneeling on the floor, facing her, as she lay, hot and sweaty on the couch, and then, without saying a word, his hand slipped under her skirt, his eyes fixed on hers, as if checking to see if she wanted this.
She did.
She shifted her body down, letting him know that she didn’t object, raking her fingers through his hair as he peeled off her panty hose. Her heartbeat rocketed dangerously.
He didn’t take her panties off, but moved the fabric to one side, and the sudden kiss of cold air cooled her hot, exposed skin for the briefest of seconds before his thumb moved in slow and deliberate circles. She bit her lip as ripples of pleasure circled outwards all over her body. With a hand splayed across her chest, and the other still in his hair, she arched her back as he slowly slid his finger slid inside her. Slow and teasing, and making her gasp.
It was gentle at first, his finger sliding, and twisting, and his thumb moving around on her tip; two sensations, two different pressures, two sources of ecstasy. She couldn’t keep it in, her low, wanton gasp as she tried not to writhe, tried not to mewl.
Her body was heat, and his touch like magic. And when he slipped in another finger and dove deeper, reaching her innermost crevices, making her legs fall apart at the knees, she opened up, completely at his mercy.
Xavier Stone was taking his sweet time pleasuring her, and all she wanted was more, more, more. Her muscles relaxed as she took all she could from him, moaning and mewling to his probing. It had never been this fast before, her getting so wet, and so hot, and so turned on, and he’d done it instantly, and when he hooked his fingers inside her, she groaned like never before.
“You feel so good, Izzy,” he whispered, kissing her just above the waistband of her panties, making her shift uncomfortably at the idea that his face was so close to her most intimate part.
“You feel so good,” she breathed, biting back a moan. He made her feel loose, like liquid, hazy and heady. With his fingers buried deep inside her, and moving and twisting as he pleased, he left a trail of kisses along her stomach, until he found her lips again. And then his kissed her again, teasing her lips with his, before their tongues met and swirled together in a slow dance.
Wetness above and below.
With his fingers hooked so deep inside her, and his thumb circling her tip, he lifted his head up, and stared down at her. Her body jerked unashamedly, her hips bucking, short, and fast, and the whole time he watched. Saw her writhe and squirm, tremble and clench as the pressure built up in her belly.
“Fuck, Izzy,” he groaned, “You’re so wet, I want to …” But she closed her eyes, rolled her head back and was lost in the throes of her wet explosion.
She couldn’t stifle her moans, not when she came, not when she fell apart at his bidding. She had given up her sensibilities, letting him do this and watch, while he was still clothed, and as yet untouched by her.
When it was over, when he moved his hand away, she lay there, her insides still dissolving into jelly. She was breathless and drowning in pleasure when he left a short, wet kiss on her lips.
He had given her exactly what she had needed. Now she had to summon the energy to give back. She adjusted her clothing, and sat up, planting her feet on the floor, reaching forward and clamping her mouth over his, drinking deep into his kiss, needing to connect, and taste and savor him. With her other hand she reached for his boxer briefs, his thick hardness bigger than before.
His hand stilled over hers as she tried to move the zipper down
“You don’t have to,” he rasped.
“I want to,” she murmured, her need great, to see, and touch, and to do to him what he had done to her. “Stats can wait.”
“What can wait?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
“My stats test.” She tried to move her hand, but his hand held firm over hers. “You have a test tomorrow?” he asked, his face red, his breath hot. She squeezed him, gently, saw his lips part, knew he liked it, the way her hands caressed him. “Yes, but,” she leaned down again, heard his disappointed groan. “You have to go and prepare for your—”
“It can wait,” she insisted, the heat inside her igniting again, as she stroked him harder. He let out a short groan, and pulled her hand away. “This can wait.”
“But you’re so har—”
“No, Izzy.” He moved her hand away, robbing her of the thrill.
“Xavier!” She needed him.
He sat up, his bulge still tenting in his boxer briefs.
“Let me—” she tried to reach out for him again, but he was quick to stand as he turned his back on her.
“You’re really doing this?” she asked, her voice sounding angrier than she intended as she got to her feet. He turned around to face her. “I want to see you again, and I want to take you somewhere nice, and make it be a proper date.”
“A proper date?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to take me anywhere nice.”
“You want me to take you somewhere bad?”
“No, I meant, you don’t have to impress me.”
“I want to take you out somewhere, and have a nice time.”
“I’ve been having a nice time with you, lately.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“So we’re making progress?”
“What do you think?” she grabbed his forearms and leaned up to kiss him. “Couldn’t you tell?”
“You liked that, didn’t you?” he asked, giving her another kiss, making her melt into him again.
“Hmmmm.” She made a noise while their lips were still joined.
He pulled away, and his hand trailed down her back, cupped her butt and squeezed. “I’ll drop you back.”
She made a face.