Adley

"I dropped by the club to pick up some monthly statements from the office." Crew takes my keys from my hand so he can open my apartment door. "I thought I'd have one drink and then I saw that teenager trying to knock the socks off a guy that had a good ten years on her. I couldn't let it happen, legally or otherwise."

I smile. I like that he looks out for the people around him, even if he doesn't know them personally.

"Are you coming in?" I ask when he swings the door open.

"After you." He waves his arm in a wide arc.

I walk into my darkened apartment with him on my heel. I knew he'd come up after we kissed in the taxi on the way over. It wasn't an I-have-to-rip-your-clothes-off kind of kiss. It was gentle and warm, and when he bit my bottom lip, I felt heat pool between my legs.

"Do you want something to drink?" I toss my purse on the table.

"Scotch." He throws my keys, and they land next to my purse.

"No scotch." I kick off my heels. "Soda, lemonade or water?"

He shrugs out of his jacket and folds it over the back of the couch. "You must have something stronger than lemonade."

"I don't and besides, you don't need it."

His eyes sweep over my body. "We're going to fuck tonight."

My core clenches from those words. "Are we?"

He stalks toward me while he removes his cufflinks. "If you're not ready for that, I'll feast on your cunt."

I fist my hands by my side to stifle the urge to touch myself. "I love your mouth."

"You'll love it more when you're coming all over it."

I take a step back toward the couch to stabilize myself. When I finally bump into it with the back of my legs, I reach back to hold onto it.

"I could smell you on my hand the entire drive back to New York." He unbuttons each of the buttons on his shirt with effortless ease, his eyes never leaving my face. "It was driving me mad. I almost pulled over to the side of the road so I could take a taste."

I bite back a moan.

"Take off your dress."

I look at the door to my apartment. "Sydney might come home."

"Sydney won't be home for hours. She's nursing her broken heart in a private booth in the VIP room."

"With who and how do you know that?" My hands jump to my hips.

"That was the club's manager I was texting when we were in the elevator on the way up here. I told him to keep an eye on her. You seemed concerned about her when you said goodbye to her."

"That's nice of you," I say genuinely.

"She could use the chaperone. A woman with a wounded heart is prone to making mistakes she'll regret."

I nod as I watch him stalk closer to where I am. "Have you broken a lot of hearts?"

His fingers toy with the necklace around my neck. "A few, but they've always been fine after a brief period of mourning."

I doubt that. I wouldn't be surprised if there are dozens of women in this city wishing they could be more to him than a single night of fun.

His hands move from my neck to my shoulders. "I won't break your heart."

I stare into his eyes. I see truth there. He wants to believe that because he knows that the alternative is the end of us, as lovers, as friends, as everything.

"I won't forgive you if you do," I say quietly.

"I know," he answers in a whisper. "That's why I'll protect it at all costs."

I want to believe him. I have to if I'm going to share my body with him.
The pad of his thumb brushes my bottom lip. "I felt you in the club tonight before I saw you."

"You did?" I'm not surprised. It's been that way for me for months now. Whenever he approaches, I can feel an uptick in the restless energy in the air.

"Something changed." His hand moves lower, caressing my chin before it moves to my neck, sending shivers down my spine. "I could sense you were close. Everything quieted and then I turned around and there you were."

"You picked me out of a crowd of people with ease."

"Put a thousand people in front of me and I could find you with my eyes closed." He leans down to kiss me softly before his lips trail a path to my ear over my cheek. "Your smell, your voice, the pull of my body to yours; it's all real."

It is. I feel it too.

His hands make easy work of the buttons on the front of my dress. He hisses out his approval when his eyes land on my red lace bra.

"Are your panties red too?"

I nod. "It's a matching set."

He smiles before he drops to his knees. His breath feathers over my skin as he hikes the skirt of my dress up to the top of my thighs. "This is what I want."

I reach for his head to steady myself. My body arches toward him, seeking any contact. I'm so aroused, so needy.

He looks up, his eyes locking on mine. "Do you want me to taste your cunt?"

The words make me dizzy. They're so direct, and unfiltered. His eyes are filled with heavy need. "Yes."

He skims his fingers over the rough lace. "You're wet, Adley. Were you wet all night?"

I nod. "You know you make me wet."

"Was it the kiss in the taxi?"

"Yes," I purr. "It was that and when you pressed your cock into me in the hallway outside my door."

He did that. While I searched for my keys in my purse, he hovered behind me, his hands braced on the wall on either side of my door, his erection pulsing against my ass.

He moves his hands slowly, grabbing the waistband of my panties. He slides them lower and my breath stops. I close my eyes because this is the first time he'll see me, bare and ready for him.

"You're beautiful." He tosses the panties behind him before he blows a breath of air over my wetness. "So fucking beautiful."

The room spins when he moves. It's so quick that I can't register what's happening. Then I'm hauled over his shoulder. His hand smacks my ass and he carries me down the hallway to my bedroom, slamming the door behind us with a kick from his foot.