SEVEN
Paige
For the next three nights Stone came to my place immediately after work. We kissed, we fucked, we ate, then we fucked again. It’d become my new routine, one that I very much looked forward to.
In the bright light of day, pretty much whenever Stone opened his mouth, he irritated me. His arrogance, that cocky grin, his dirty mouth, even the sharp cut of his vee—how was it possible for any man to be that sexy?
But as soon as his hands were on me, the irritation melted away. I was helpless against his touch. I craved his lips. I loved his words. I loved so much about him. I couldn’t even believe the demanding, controlling things he said in the bedroom about owning me, but if this was what being owned meant, sign me up.
For the first time in my life I let someone else have control over my body. I’d spent years holding the reins, my grasp of control unshakable, my focus and determination unlimited; it had to be. I was a woman with a career I loved, a life that was maybe a little boring, a sex life that was non-existent, until him.
Until Stone Garrett banged his way into my life.
My own life was under construction before him, and now he filled all the missing parts. I looked forward to waking up in the morning, and looked forward to going home at night so I could see him. What would we do tonight? What would he say? I couldn’t wait to find out.
I picked up a few dirty clothes in my room, a T-shirt of his thrown on the floor in a frenzy of passion last night. I pushed the cotton to my nose, inhaling his heady natural smell, then tossing it in the pile with the rest of my laundry. Maybe that was the beginning of us. When our clothes came together in the laundry, it was like a melding of our lives.
A slow smile creeped up my face at that thought.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Stone. I smiled, the sound of his ridiculously loud knocking guiding my way.
“Hi.” I threw the door open, grinning when he swooped me into his arms in a hug that swiftly turned into a kiss, escalating to his hands up my shirt. I was only wearing a shirt and panties, so he didn’t have much unwrapping to do.
“Have a good day?” he mumbled against my lips as his hands pulled the shirt over my shoulders.
“Better now,” I breathed, falling back on the couch with him, his arms stretching over his head to yank the shirt from his body. On the floor it went.
I smiled, running my fingertips down the chiseled, washboard muscles of his torso. He was a work of art. Never in my life had I seen a man so defined, so drop dead sexy.
His hand curled around my neck, his tongue probing past my lips as I felt his cock nudging between my thighs. “Missed you today.”
“Mm.” I sighed in agreement, pushing the worn jeans past his hips.
Stone’s hand fisted in the waistband of my panties and pulled, the satisfying tearing noise I’d come to expect from him filling the space between us. “Soaked for me, little bird?”
He ran two cool fingers through my pussy, sending arousal shuddering through my veins. “Yesss.”
“Good girl.” He sank two fingers inside me, fucking me with his hand for a few strokes before his fingers were replaced by his gorgeously thick cock.
“Oh God…” I gasped as he slid into me, my hands clutching at the breadth of his back as I held on, his thrusts slow and steady, angled with precision while he sucked at my nipple in torturous strokes.
“Were you waiting for me to come home, little bird? Waiting for my hands, my tongue on your skin?”
I shook my head, still holding tight to the stubborn bones in my body. “No.”
“Bullshit. You were wet when I walked in. You were thinking about me, weren’t you, sweetheart?”
I shook my head, unwilling to let him see how very true his words were.
“You deserve a punishment for lying,” he muttered, spinning me on the couch and propping my hips in the air.
One soft smack landed on my ass cheek.
Another. And then another.
The sting of his palm was replaced by a gentle, soothing stroke.
“Your ass is beautiful with my handprint on it.”
I groaned, wiggling my ass to show him I wanted more without saying it.
“Mm, you like it, pretty girl?” He landed a smack on my other ass cheek, then grabbed my hips and slid into me in one smooth motion.
“Stone…” I groaned, loving the new angle.
“Yeah, little bird? Tell me what’s on your mind.” One hand slipped between my thighs, his fingers working at my clit.
“I…I can’t. It’s too much.” I hummed just as he pulled an orgasm from my body. “Everything about you, it completely consumes me.”
“Good, that’s exactly how I want you. Ruined for all other men.” His thrusts grew erratic, his rock solid thighs shaking with earth-shattering release as caveman growls vibrated from his chest. Hearing him cum was the sexiest thing I imagined I would ever hear, and knowing I was the one to push him over the edge was a high like nothing I’d ever felt before. Bringing this gorgeous, powerful man to his knees was something spiritual.
His hands skated up the curve of my back then, cupping my cheek, turning it so he could catch my eyes. “You’re my life now, Paige.”
I froze, unable to form words, my eyes riveted on his intense, sparkling ones. How could any of this be true? This had to be a mirage conjured by my overactive imagination and understimulated libido.
Stone pulled himself from my body in one slow, delicious movement, his cock rubbing every heightened nerve and sending mini-tremors of pleasure through me. He lay on his side, curling me into his body and tucking my head into the crook of his arm.
“Can’t wait to move out of this tiny-ass apartment.”
I settled into him, brain still foggy with the pleasure he’d given, then his words sunk in. “Move?”
He adjusted me in his embrace, pressing his lips at my temple, murmuring. “Mhmm. Building a place across town. Move-in ready in a few weeks.”
A few weeks.
He was leaving in a few weeks.
Moving out.
“So the apartment was only temporary?” I inquired, trying to be casual.
“One month lease. I didn’t even move any of my shit in. Just needed a place to crash at night.”
His words hung hollow between us, the knowledge that I’d given him my virginity, my body, my heart, my everything, only for him to walk away in a few weeks shredded me.
Maybe it was silly, maybe I was being immature and selfish, wondering where that would leave us, but I’d grown accustomed to him showing up after work. Now he was leaving, going to live across town, and there wasn’t a single thing I could say about it.
Stone had only moved in next door for a month, and then he planned on disappearing.
Sadness lodged in my throat, water burning in my eyes as I nuzzled into his body a little deeper.
Keep calm, deep breaths, don’t cry.