Zoey
I’m sure I look grand, sitting on the train looking like a princess who lost her carriage ride. I’ve got no idea what my makeup looks like. I tried my best to keep my tears from spilling over and causing a mess on my face, announcing the nightmare I just had.
Sympathetic eyes take quick peeks. Nosy asses stare at me. Corrupt and perverted gazes soak me in, stinging my skin. At times like these I wish I knew martial arts. Karate chop someone in the neck and drop them to their knees, inhibiting them like they do in those awful movies. As worthless as those are, I, unfortunately, don’t know how or where to start.
I step into my apartment building and hit the up arrow on the elevator panel. My anger melted long ago, morphing into despair. The man I’ve fantasized about is less than stellar and stooped to an immature level. He pranced into my daydreams but now I’m finding out it was all time wasted. What they did was a despicable high school game. It isn’t fair to me—the one with the genuine feelings involved. This isn’t a game to me. None of it is.
I’ve spent so much time fighting these asshole emotions that crept up and grabbed ahold of me. They’re not particularly fair. I didn’t choose to be attracted to my boss. I don’t choose to smile involuntarily every time I see him. I can’t help the way my body reacts. And for him to treat me like an insensitive ass…Well, it helps.
The elevator doors open and I step out. My breath gets sucked out of me and my feet cement to the floor. Easton leans his shoulder against the wall beside my door. His bowtie has been stripped off, his tuxedo jacket unfastened and the top few buttons of his shirt are undone.
“What are you doing here? How the hell did you find out which apartment was mine?” All the anger I thought was gone rises back to the surface.
“You realize I have access to that?”
“No. You don’t.” I refrain from stomping my foot. “It’s private. That’s private information, owner or not.”
“Fire me,” he says nonchalantly, lifting a shoulder.
“You’re fricking maddening,” I sneer as frustrations churn my stomach. “It was so nice of you to make sure I got home safely.” I purse my lips spitefully and shove my key into the door, unlocking it.
He sticks his foot out and stops the door from slamming in his face but doesn’t enter. “I almost laid Zach out on the floor when he told me what he said. Zoey, that’s not how he and I work.”
I grit an exhale. All I want to do is cry my way to the bottom of a wine bottle. “It’s fine, Easton. I overreacted. I’ll see you Monday.”
I push the door hoping he’ll take the hint and move his foot.
I’m not so lucky.
“Zoey, stop. Quit being so difficult.” His plea is strained. “Let me come in and talk to you.”
Dropping a hip, I rest back on my heel. “We both know that’s a bad idea.”
His eyes light up with excitement and he smirks like a sly dog. “And why’s that?”
I narrow my eyes. “I want to drown myself with some wine. And I’d appreciate it if I was allowed to do it alone.”
Under his breath, he puffs a chuckle. “Just let me talk to you. Please.”
Our stares linger—mine mad, his hopeful. All the warning bells are screaming at me, but I go against my gut and turn on my heel, leaving the door open. I stalk into the kitchen making a beeline to the bottle of courage. He follows without a word, and props his hip against the counter while he watches me pour two glasses.
“I’m sure it’s not to your standards of expensive taste since I nabbed it from the grocery store aisle, but it’s all I’ve got.” I hand it to him and then take a long, really long pull from mine, allowing the red liquid to repress my hurt and coat my senses.
He places his glass down and rubs his hand over my shoulder and down my arm. He’s about to say something but I take a step away.
“Please don’t touch me. We have to find a method for us to be us without this,” I say, looking at his hand.
But he doesn’t remove it, only the distance I placed between us as he steps toward me. “Tell me what I have to do. What do I do to get a chance?”
His words elicit awestruck excitement to track my veins. My stomach dips and I drop my view to the floor. “Easton…there’s nothing to prove. We can’t do this.”
Tucking a finger under my chin, he draws my face to his. “There’s a mile-long list with every reason why we should do this.” He cups my face tenderly, bringing his face closer. “You’re selfless, encouraging, sympathetic, ambitious. Your beauty, inside and out, leaves me speechless. Your smile…” He glances to my lips. “I don’t think you understand how important it is for me to see it every day. I crave it. Zoey, I’m crazy over you.”
“It isn’t me you’re wanting.” My whisper rides out on a shaky breath.
He inches closer, his lips a fraction away. “So much more than you know.”
His lips take to mine. At first it’s slow and sensual as his tongue gently explores. He slides his hand into my hair and pulls me closer. A surge of heat slams into me—all the desire, all the want, bursting into my cells.
I drag my palms up his chest, slipping them under his jacket and grip his shoulders. He groans and the kiss becomes intense. The floor disappears out from under me and I cling to him, holding on for dear life.
He tugs my head to the side by my hair, and with a heavy tongue, he laves from my collar bone and ends with my earlobe between his teeth.
I’m on fire with need. With want. With hunger.
He grazes my thigh through the slit of my dress before yanking my leg to his hip and flexing his erection into me. A small hum escapes me.
“I’m so fucking hard for you,” he rasps, his breath on the skin of my neck.
I’m overrun with so much need to feel him. I succumb to my restraint and give in to the hunger that’s gnawed at me for so long. Gripping the back of his hair, I jerk his mouth back to mine. He growls as our tongues tangle, and then suddenly he lifts me off the ground and carries us down the hall.
My feet hit the cold floor, and he locks his gaze with mine as he unzips my dress. Slowly, he pushes the fabric off my shoulders and the wispy material pools around my feet. He’s frenzied as he shrugs out of his jacket, rips his shirt out of his pants and quickly unbuttons it, giving up half way and yanking it over his head.
I’m standing bare before him. Vulnerable in all senses. His chest rises and falls, and with a soft touch, he drifts his hand up my back, slowly lowering me to the bed. Resting back on his heels, he takes in the sight of my naked body, his eyes blazing with a charge of excitement.
A whisper of a smile crosses his lips and he bends, languidly placing kisses along the skin of my stomach. Side to sensational side, slowly he travels up. He sucks my hard nipple between his teeth, gently tugging it. A vortex of pleasure skips across my skin and I arch, releasing a soft moan.
He brings his face to mine, his breath heavy, and nips my chin. “I need to know you’re with me.” His voice strains.
Lust ignites me and I give him the answer by hauling his mouth to mine with hungry urgency. He breaks the kiss, lowering kisses along my thighs and spreads my legs. The moment he drags his tongue across my clit, rapture lights me on fire. My body jerks and snaps. Sensations crash into me. Warm, sizzling heat envelops me. He pushes his fingers into me, continuing the most beautiful erotic assault.
Waves of pleasure surge and slam into me. I writhe, rocking my hips against his face. “Ohh…” I moan, shuddering and clinching the sheets.
My heart is beating so wildly I’m only able to take small sips of breaths as he slides off the bed and strips his pants. His dick springs out, hard and huge. He tears open a condom with his teeth and sheaths himself before climbing back to me, teasing me with delicate kisses.
“I’m so impatient to feel your pussy around my dick.” He slides the head over my sensitive clit, circling before inching in, little by little, giving me the time to adjust to his size.
I sigh, rolling my eyes. He grazes my bottom lip with his tongue, and once buried to the hilt, he starts languid pumps. Pent up tension releases and all I feel is him. Lacing our fingers, he pins my hands to my sides, lifts his body away from mine and gyrates his hips as he grinds in. He withdraws and sinks…the pressure so immensely fantastic…
It all feels so intimate—sensual thrusts, vehement gazes. I wrap my legs around his waist and as he lowers his chest to mine, he slides our hands above my head. His mouth against my ear, his breath in short spurts as he rocks, burying intently. My orgasm fuels up, a trickle of liquid bliss coating my limbs, before it bursts and careens through me. Arching, I squeeze his hands, begging, pleading…for everything.
He grunts and picks up the pace, slamming into me and giving me everything I’m pleading for. Shudders rack his body and he groans my name, rooting deeply as he comes.
Resting on his elbow, he keeps his full weight off me and lies here until we catch our breath. He kisses my cheek, his lips soft and tender, before sliding off the bed.
I’m relaxed and satisfied. My body is light, but too heavy to move. And it’s all from sleeping with my hot as hell boss.
Light pours into the bedroom for a second as he steps out of the bathroom and shuts off the light. Self-consciously, I pull the sheets to my neck, worried about my naked body and the flaws I know I have.
He steps into his boxers and flashes a crooked wolfish grin. “I’ll be right back.”
Moments later he returns with my glass of wine and hands it to me. Sitting back in the bed, he leans against the headboard with his legs stretched out before him and crosses his ankles.
“Cheap wine for a perfect ending to the night,” he says.
I don’t respond as the guilt begins settling a dark fog into my thoughts. I’ve crossed a line and slept with my boss. There’s no undoing this.
I take a long sip of my wine—the cool liquid sliding down my throat. I’m going to need a whole hell of a lot more than this to feel better about my whore self in the morning.
“Get out of your head.” He doesn’t look at me.
“I’m fine,” I lie.
Creases line his forehead as he plucks the glass out of my hand and places it on the table beside the bed. He shoves his arm under my back and hauls me across his body. “We’re not going to do that. Don’t lie to me.”
The sheet shielding my body is ripped out from under me. I’m straddling him bare. I glance down. “This feels weird.”
He brings me to his mouth. “It felt phenomenal to me.
“You know what I mean.”
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before blinking back. “I’m begging you to get out of your head. Stay here…with me. In the present.”
I brush a kiss to his lips and start to push back when he tightens his arms around my shoulders. “I want to stay with you tonight. I want to hold you.”
My eyes flare wide. I’ve not shared my bed with anyone in over a year, and even then, that was a colossal mistake. His body made me hot and not in the good way. He snored and I didn’t get any sleep. And…I couldn’t stand him the next morning.
He kisses me, drifting his hand down my ribcage, wraps his fingers around my hip, and squeezes. Nuzzling me down onto his erection, he groans into my mouth and my stomach clenches with heat. I rock, trailing my fingers up his chest and into his hair.
Under me, he shuffles out of his boxers and lifts me slightly to the side to grab a condom from his pants beside the bed. His eyes are latched on to mine as he rips the condom open, slides it on, and then raises me, bringing me down onto him.
Immediately, I suck in a breath.
He bucks upward as I sink onto him. I find my pace, a perfect rhythm, rocking my hips and creating the ultimate friction.
I pant to the ceiling. This…him…us. It feels so good, so great, so immense.
I roll my head forward to find him watching me transfixed, like I’m the star in his universe. His lips are parted, his face completely enamored.
My entire body contracts and I lose it as my orgasm thunders through me again. I ride him harder, moving frenziedly, begging for him, all of him, as spasms shred me apart. He sits up, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, and hauls me down so fucking deeply I cry out. Indescribable ecstasy blinds me.
“Baby,” he grits, and then drops his head to my chest. He moans my name and I can feel his dick pulsing as he comes.
Holy shit… Sex with him is terrific…
I’m completely unknotted, drifting in and out of a tranquilized sleep when he slides back into the bed and tugs me into his shoulder. He holds me, his arm around my body, resting his hand on my hip. Admittedly, we fit perfectly, our bodies molded together. His heartbeat is slow and steady, reminding me that this is in fact real, and it lulls me into a deep sleep.
“Zoey…” His sweet whisper wakes me. I crack an eye open to his handsome face with a boyish grin spreading across his lips. “You’re all puffy when you wake up. It’s cute.”
I yank the covers over my face. “It’s an ungodly hour,” I grumble.
He laughs. “Do you even know what time it is?”
“Whatever time it is, it’s too early,” I complain.
He pulls the blanket down far enough to only reveal my forehead and drops a kiss on it. “It’s ten.”
I jerk to my elbow. “You’re lying.”
He drops his head back with laughter.
“I haven’t slept this late in years,” I say.
He taps my nose and winks. “Good ol’ fashioned fucking always helps with that.” He stands tall. “When you’re ready, I made coffee.”
It doesn’t take any more coaxing than that to get me up. I’m feeling giddy as my feet hit the floor. My body is gloriously sore from the best night of my life with the man I’ve dreamed about. For hours, it was just us, lost in ourselves. Intimate. Great. And no worries. He wasn’t my boss. No. He was my dreams come true.
As I enter the living room, he’s leaning on his elbows holding a cup of coffee, eyeing me through the steam with a smile. He’s shirtless and it’s a sight I’d like to experience infinity times.
“You don’t have much in your fridge, but I managed some scrambled eggs and cinnamon toast.” He beams proudly.
Confusion gathers my brows. “You cook? I pegged you to have someone doing the cooking for you.”
He shrugs. “I’m a bachelor. Not a village idiot.”
He turns, grabbing the plate, and for the first time I notice the ink on his back. “What’s your tattoo of?”
He shifts, turning it toward me so I can get a better look. It’s a two-toned phoenix with its wings spread on his left shoulder blade. Orange and reds burn half the bird. Different shades of blue etch and ice the other.
“We all die and are reborn many times in our lives,” he says. “Of course, not physically, but mentally. The phoenix represents renewal and resurrection.” He turns back to face me, his expression serious. “You let the old die and resurrect the young and more powerful. It symbolizes being a winner and defeating all the hard times.” He studies me, like his words were meant for me.
Keys rattle in the distance.
I jerk my head toward the door just as four distinctive knocks echo the room.
“How’d your night go, Cinder…” Britney stops dead in her tracks, eyes wide on Easton. “Oh! I’m sorry,” she exclaims but doesn’t move. “Uh. Zoe? Do you realize you have a half-naked Easton Langley in your kitchen?”
Blistering heat creeps up my neck and spreads to my cheeks.
“And holy hell, it’s a glorious sight,” she adds.
“Britney,” I hiss my embarrassment.
Polished charm rests on Easton’s lips. “Good morning.”
Britney throws her thumb over her shoulder, but continues to stare at him. “I’m gonna come back later. Clearly, you’re super busy.”
“No need,” Easton says. “I’ve got to get going.”
I hide my saddened frown as he disappears down the hallway and into my room.
“You had sex!” Britney whispers her squeal.
I bite my smile.
Her grin dominates her face. “Oh, my God, Zoey. You slept with…” She cuts herself off and rushes to the counter, snatching up an apple.
Easton’s tux isn’t as pressed and crisp as it was last night at the gala. In fact, it looks like it’s been crinkled on the floor, but he’s still delectable. He kisses my cheek. “I’ll call you later.”
Amusement lingers in his gaze before placing a chaste kiss to my lips, like he’s testing how far he is allowed to go in front of company. He tips his chin to Britney, who is absolutely eating all this up. “Have a great day,” he says.
We’re staring at the back of the door long after he shuts it when she breaks the silence and nudges my shoulder. “I need details.”
I giggle. “Nope.”
“Is it as good as the rumors? At least give me that.”
I chew my lip feeling super bashful. “It was incredible.”
She shoves my shoulder again. “I told you! I told you that dress was your ticket. Did he rip it off with his teeth?” She bites the air and mimics tearing.
“I slept with my boss, Britney.” The sober truth creeps its way out of my mouth. I drop to the stool beside her, my face falling into my hands. “I had the most incredible sex of my life with my insanely hot boss.”
“And it doesn’t sound like it’ll be the last time, either.” She places the uneaten apple back into the bowl. “And here I was going to brag about my night with Garret, but sounds like you’ve slaughtered mine.”
“He demolished my every sexual experience and then blew apart my fantasies.” I laugh. “Wow.”
“I’m envious of you right now,” she snickers. “Please indulge in the wondrousness, and know for however long… It was long right? No minute humping?” She peers at me.
I purse my lips, playfully narrowing my eyes at her. “Does it seem like he’d be a rabbit?”
“Right.” She nods. “Just know, in those moments, it was you pleasing the most delicious man in Denver. Oh, the envy.” She pops off the stool. “I’ve got to have lunch with my mom. Don’t sit here and fret, Zoey Campbell. Enjoy the memories of the best fuck you’ve ever experienced and go take a hot bath. I’m sure you need it.” She winks.
After she leaves, I’m standing in the kitchen leaning on the counter and staring at Easton’s coffee cup in the sink. A smile erupts as flashbacks of last night rack my body, but just as quickly as they came, they melt away, leaving me with an emptiness.
What now? How will we handle this? What am I to him? Just another fucked night?
This…this is what I’ve been running from. All the confusion and wonder.