CHAPTER 11
Zander
She was perfect. That was the best way he could describe her—perfect. Ever since he met her at the bar before the auction he’d been smitten, and since they left the club he had started to fall hard for her. It was not a question of logic, or something really making sense. He just had to face facts that this perfect girl had walked into his life and now he was having trouble imagining life without her.
And that did not make sense for him. Zander had always been a guy who lived very much for himself. Even when he was with people he looked forward to being alone to do what he wanted when he wanted. He’d always been popular with women but most of them never really engaged him mentally or emotionally. He’d been with some fantastic women who were sexy and smart and even ambitious but for some reason they just never really clicked with him. He couldn’t really explain the phenomenon that was happening before his eyes.
When they entered the elevator, he could see her getting a bit nervous. It was a long ride and he tried not to speak much to her. It was always awkward to speak to someone to comfort them when it is obvious that they don’t want that right then. So about halfway up to the penthouse he grabbed her hand in his softly. He wasn’t sure she’d even noticed or at least she had not registered the movement in her conscious thought. Her mind was all over the place, he could sense it.
But by the time they stepped into his penthouse apartment all of the nerves seemed to go out the window. His place had a way of doing that to people. It was like no matter what was on someone’s mind or what was going on in their life, stepping foot in that penthouse was like stepping foot in some galaxy that they had never been to.
The gasp that Ember emanated when she stepped foot into his home was gold. It was so cute and sweet. He wanted to hold her and pull her closer to him, but he let her be. She needed time to take this fantastic place in fully.
Zander had taken the existing penthouse and had it completely renovated to his liking. It was the quintessential bachelor pad. He didn’t need a man cave; his entire place was a man cave. And it was just the way he liked it.
There was a large ninety-inch plasma television on the wall. A huge L shaped leather sofa with several other recliners and miscellaneous chairs. He had a pool table in in the area that separated the living room from the dining room and a huge kitchen with a bar. It was the perfect home for him. Or at least when he was in the city, which was a lot of the time. He did have the palatial estate outside of town, but he found himself going there less frequently. It was just so much easier in town and it wasn’t like he really needed that much extra space just for him.
The whole place was designed with an open concept and floor to ceiling windows. It also overlooked Central Park, so not too shabby at all if he did say so himself. He fell in love with it when he first saw it and then again even more so when he saw his vision for his home coming to life.
The conversation over dinner had been spectacular. Zander felt he was really starting to get to know Ember. The two of them were clicking even better than he could have imagined. If only he could get over the fear that he held in his heart about it all, the fear that tried to derail him and blow him off course. It told him to forget this whole thing, it was a bad idea. He didn’t know why or how, but it was telling him repeatedly like a mantra in the back of his mind. It was almost as if he was afraid to have something so pure in his life, something so good. Maybe it stemmed from something in his childhood that had made him this way. He really didn’t know.
But he was determined not to let this thing drive him away from the most amazing woman he’d ever met.
“So, how about a bottle of wine?” Zander asked.
“Will that follow the case of beer we were working on?” Ember asked with a sly grin.
“Yeah, wine is more of an after-dinner thing in my opinion. It’s like the alcoholic desert,” Zander teased.
He grabbed an excellent year of merlot from the shelf, opened the bottle, and poured two healthy glasses. He handed Ember her glass as she stood up from the couch.
“I’m going to stretch my legs a bit,” she said.
That was just fine by him. He could watch her sexy legs walk nonstop everywhere, especially with that dress on. Now that she was standing there looking around his penthouse apartment he found himself getting very aroused. She was more than beautiful; she was the sexiest woman he’d ever laid eyes on. There was not a molecule in his body that did not want to merge with hers.
“So, what is this painting?” She asked pointing to one of the morbid of his collection.
“Oh, that is Gornash. It is from the early nineteenth century. I got a great deal on it in an online auction. Apparently, the artist died the day after he painted this.”
“That’s sad,” Ember said. “But also, very cool in a super morbid and kind of gross way.”
Zander laughed. The girl could make anything sound funny and deadpan. Her sense of humor was hard to match.
“I find what you do very interesting,” Ember said.
“Really?” Zander replied.
“Yeah,” she continued. “I mean you have to be incredibly insightful, have great killer instincts, and you have to be able to keep a strong focus. A lot of people don’t have that kind of inner strength. You mentioned earlier that you thought I had that, well I used to think so too. But nowadays I’m not too sure. I doubt I have anything as strong as what you do.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Zander said. “There is no reason to sell yourself short here. As I said earlier I knew that the love of money would bring me some riches one way or another, but as a kid I never really knew how exactly. There was a time when I thought of being a doctor, a lawyer, and at one time I had my sights on possibly going into professional baseball.”
“Don’t all little boys dream of that?”
“Yeah, they do. I hate to toot my own horn, but I was actually good enough to make it. I had several of the top college scouts interested in me when I was a senior in high school. I was a pitcher with a ninety-eight mile per hour fastball and I had the eighth highest strike out record of any high school player in the country.”
“That’s awesome,” Ember said. “What happened? Did you change your mind and develop a nose for business?”
“No. I committed to Stanford and played baseball for them for two years, continuing my hot streak. The pro scouts started calling and I could have turned pro right then, but I really wanted to finish college. That was important to me and it was important to my parents. I’d worked so hard on my grades and I’ve always wanted a degree. I figured that I could finish two more years of school, keep playing baseball, and then I would be able to turn pro then. Being realistic the average professional player’s career is less than five years. Even if you make some money, what will you do after, right?”
“Yeah, I can see that. I admire that you stayed in school.”
“Well, don’t admire me too much. I should have taken the offer. If I’d really had my head on straight I would have thought that college would be there later, but baseball has an expiration date.”
‘What happened?” Ember asked walking over slowly and sitting down beside him.
“In the middle of my junior year I injured my rotator cuff. It’s a freak in jury that happens to pitchers sometimes, usually when they’ve been pitching too much, especially at a young age.”
“Ow, that sounds painful.”
“Yeah, but not nearly as painful as being on the DL for the rest of that season. The following year when I was done healing and tried to return, my arm was junk. I had lost a lot of velocity and control. Plus, after I threw for a bit it would start to hurt really badly. So, that was it.”
“I’m sorry. That is pretty tragic,” Ember said. The way she said it was comforting and full of real emotion. He could tell she really did care.
He stared at her, looking deeply into her beautiful eyes. That was all it took. He could not restrain himself anymore.
Zander kissed her gently at first, proceeding cautiously not wanting to go farther than she was comfortable with too quickly. Her lips were soft, slightly moist, and beginning to open as her mouth moved over his harder taking him by surprise.
A moan escaped her just then as Zander moved closer to her. The softness wrapped around him, her sweet, succulent scent invading his nostrils as he pulled her even closer, almost trying to devour her lips and her essence.
Her lips were pressing, moving, pulling against his sending shockwaves of tingling sensations moving into his groin. He felt his body starting to heat up, sweat pouring down his back. His hands were roaming across her body now, moving up and down her back rubbing the skin beneath her tight dress and pressing her body closer to him, her breasts pushing now against his own chest.
His hands made their way down to her legs and began to move upwards slowly as his tongue entered her mouth finding her own, the two units carefully entwined now in a fit of passionate hunger. His hands moved under the dress lifting it up slowly and steadily, partly on purpose to take his time and partly just to tease her a bit. Ember was moaning constantly now. He wondered if she was getting wet. Oh, he wanted to feel that wetness, wanted to slide into that pool of total bliss between her legs. He’d been aching for it ever since he laid eyes on her.
His hand was under her dress now grabbing at handfuls of her sweet ass. It was smooth and firm, but not too firm. He marveled at how shapely it was, how it formed together with her wide hips to create that perfect visual that got him harder just thinking about it. And he was rock hard. His pants were pressing so tightly against his bulge that he was almost in pain. He had to get free, had to get inside of her…
Suddenly he felt her hand on his crotch, grabbing, stroking at the thick rod that was so waiting for her. Her hand felt so good over his pants adding resistance and pressure by pushing against it. He could not take it anymore.
Zander unzipped his pants allowing all eight inches to spring free. Ember moaned happily. She quickly grabbed it with both hands and began to milk it, squeezing it moving up and down, paying very special attention to the tip and the head.
“Oh…” Zander moaned. Her touch was heavenly.
His skin was stretched so tightly around his raging hardness that he thought it might break something if it did not get release soon.
As if reading his mind Ember’s mouth was suddenly around him, moving steadily down to almost the base and then slowly back up repeating the process several times before settling into a perfect rhythm.
He felt as if his brain was going to explode with pleasure. He wanted to finish soon, but he knew that he couldn’t. Not yet… it was not time yet. He had to keep this ride going. He needed a slight distraction.
Zander’s fingers were touching Ember’s panties now and still moving forward. He politely moved the underwear to the side and jammed two of his thick fingers into her box.
“OH!” Ember moaned loudly with a mouthful of his member still between her lips, the pressure of her hot mouth intensifying and producing an exquisite moment of bliss. She engulfed him fully then moving in long, steady strokes from the tip to the very root of him, closing her mouth at the bottom and gently releasing pressure on the way to the top.
He thought he was close to the finish, all it would take was a little letting go on his part but he refused to let this happen. He had to remained focused on this experience and be with her. Waiting for his release to build and intensify would be miraculous when he finally did let go. He had to just hold on a bit longer…
Zander’s fingers were deep inside Ember’s tight pool of wetness. He could feel her getting even tighter as he continued to push with his fingers, hitting the pressure points and mixing it up a bit to keep her off guard. He would occasionally hit her nub and her whole body would just shudder under the touch. He loved the power it gave him, the control over her lust, and her passion. It was somewhat intoxicating.
But he could not hold on much longer. He quickly pulled out of her mouth. He stood up off the couch and let his pants fall to the floor, standing there in only a shirt. His rigid member was standing up hard and ready for more, the remnants of her mouth glistening his knob in the dimly lit room. His hands clutched tightly to her underwear, holding onto them almost as a souvenir. He smiled and dropped them to the floor.
She seemed confused for a moment. He could practically read her mind; she was wondering what was going to happen next.
Zander scooped her up in his arms and carried her into his bedroom. He laid her down gently on the bed and before she could even react his face was buried between her legs, sucking, licking, engulfing every one of his facial senses in her pure lustful essence. Everything about it was exhilarating, as if he had been given the strongest psychedelic drug imaginable and he never wanted to come down from this high.
He reached inside of her as far as possible, probing with his tongue, tasting and consuming every bit of her that he could. He wanted to make sure she was properly warmed up before he began the finale, and what a finale it was going to be.
With his mouth, he worked on her core, savoring every single moment of the experience. Ember was moaning loudly, getting louder with each passing second. He sensed she might be close but he didn’t care. If she went over the edge he was confident he could bring her back for another round with no problems.
Zander stroked his hard flesh keeping it ready and able to complete the mission it had been selected for.
“Oh, give it to me,” Ember moaned reaching out for him. She wanted it so badly. Her voice was pleading, begging for him to finish her off.
Finally, he decided it was time. He ripped off his shirt so as to be unencumbered and climbed between her legs.
Entering her was like slipping into a pool of warmth when you were freezing to death. Every single fiber of his being came alive right then, the pleasure echoing out from that one piece of his anatomy.
She tightened beneath him, her pleasure echoing loudly in his ear with her constant moans. She wanted to speak but was unable to verbalize anything at that moment. It was all about the pleasure.
Zander pumped her harder, quicker, deeper—he wanted to release so far inside of her. It was getting close. He knew it was going to happen at any second.
He kissed her hard on the mouth and then looked her in the eyes, both of them enjoying the intensity as their climaxes released together rocking them both together repeatedly as the aftershocks rolled to a high crescendo and then slowly started to trickle down until they were just resting in each other’s arms.
Zander kissed her sweetly on the lips and hugged her close to him.
They laid that way for what must have been several minutes, just enjoying the time together.
Ember seemed a bit surprised when Zander started getting dressed and helping her find her clothes. She must have been under the impression that she would spend the night. But he had a lot to do the next morning and other than sleeping in the same bed he didn’t think that he was going to be much of a host in the morning.
As he watched her leave the building in the car he’d ordered for her he couldn’t help but feel like a jerk. He’d just shared this amazing, earth shattering, possible once in a lifetime experience with the woman of his dreams and he had just basically pushed her away right after.
What the hell was the matter with him?