TWENTY-ONE
GWYNETH
I found myself standing outside the Plaza Hotel in the rain. I remembered Dylan telling me he was staying in the penthouse there and somehow running to him felt right even though, technically speaking, it was wrong.
I wanted to go in and see him, but at the same time, I couldn’t make my feet move. Instead, I let the cold droplets of rain wash away any regret or guilt I was feeling. Lifting my hand, I slid my engagement ring from my finger and tucked it into my pocket before I started toward the entrance.
The lobby was grand as I moved toward the elevators. The staff watched my every step as if I were there to start trouble. Rainwater dripped from my body and puddled onto the expensive marble floors, leaving a watery path behind me that I was sure they would rush to mop up.
Once I was in the elevator, I pressed the button for the penthouse and waited as my clothes continue to drip and my conscience slowly began to clear.
What I was doing wasn’t wrong. Mitchell and I were over. He had made sure of that. So I wasn’t going to feel bad about rushing to another man’s hotel room.
I wasn’t.
However, when I found myself just outside his door, my uncertainty moved in yet again. I stood shivering outside his door so long that two other guests walked by me, staring at me and my soaked clothes suspiciously.
I was sure I looked like a homeless person coming in from out of the rain. If I didn’t knock soon, there was a very good chance security would appear to escort me out of the building.
I lifted my hand to tap on the door, but before I could, it swung open, and Dylan was there. He pulled me into his arms and into his room, shutting the door behind us.
His lips crashed against mine, the taste of him rolling over my tongue, and it felt amazing knowing that what I was doing was okay. I wasn’t in the wrong. Mitchell had been doing God knows what with his model for God knows how long. It was perfectly okay for me to be here with Dylan feeling things I hadn’t felt with any other man.
He broke the kiss, running his lips across mine softly.
“How did you know I was here?” I breathed against his mouth.
He moved away from my lips, his tongue sliding over my jaw before he was kissing and biting softly at my neck.
“I heard you. I watched you stand there until you finally made up your mind to knock. What was stopping you?”
His lips were wreaking havoc on my skin, making it almost impossible to think. But I needed to. I couldn’t lose focus.
“Mitchell’s cheating on me.” He froze, and then his warmth was gone, leaving me struggling to breathe on my own.
He was staring down at me; his expression filled with so much emotion that I knew one thing for sure.
“Oh, my God. You knew, didn’t you?” I asked, pulling away from him. “Of course, you knew. He’s your pal.”
He grabbed my arm as I tried to move away from him and pulled me back into his arms.
“I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to say anything until I knew a hundred percent.”
I looked in his eyes, and I could see something painful was swimming in them.
Maybe he was feeling pain for me?
Maybe he was feeling bad for Mitchell?
Either way, I believed him.
He pulled back, finally getting a good look at my clothes, and I saw that I had soaked his shirt as well, and it was sticking to his stomach.
“God, you’re soaked, Gwyn.”
“It’s pouring out,” I stated the obvious.
“Yeah. I can see that. Come on,” he said, turning me around.
“Let’s take your jacket off and get you warmed up. I’m going to get you a towel.” I didn’t respond, but I did as he said; my movements slow as I peeled the thin windbreaker I’d put on when I left the apartment from my body.
Dylan was in and out of the bathroom within seconds, holding an armful of towels. He dropped all but one on the bed and then he moved to stand in front of me, helping me pull the rest of my jacket off. Once my arms were free, it dropped to the floor with a splat.
Every part of me was shaking when he wrapped the towel around my shoulders, pulling me into my arms.
“What happened?” he finally asked, his lips moving against my damp hair. His fresh scent washed over me, and I breathed him in.
“I’m positive Mitchell is cheating on me with some model we met a year ago.”
“Okay. How did you find out?”
“It’s so unreal. The whole thing. It actually seems silly.” I look up at him, and all the pain and heartache that should be written all over my face isn’t. “The model, her name is Marissa, she was caught and photographed with another man in one of my magazines. I was reading it and mentioned it, and when Mitchell saw it, he like, lost it. He looked so heartbroken.”
“Wow. That’s something.”
I nodded. “It is, isn’t it? I mean, I had my suspicions about him working all the time, but I just believed him because I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to lie about working when he works for my father.”
“He’s not very bright,” he said, making me snicker.
“No. I guess he’s not.”
“I’m really sorry, Gwyn.” He was pulling me into his warmth again, and I wanted nothing more than to melt into his embrace.
“Do you know what’s crazy?”
“What?”
I found his face again, my eyes settling on his lips before I looked in his beautiful blues. “I’m not even upset.”
I felt the beat of his heart quicken beneath my palm. “You’re not?”
“Not even a little. I’m actually relieved.”
“He never deserved you,” he said, cupping my cheek in his warm hand.
I turned my face, kissing his palm. “Thank you.”
And strangely, even though I was just as much to blame as Mitchell for a lot of things, I sort of believed the same. Mitchell deserved a different type of woman. One who perhaps didn’t require as much attention and time.
Maybe I was needy, but I needed more from him, and he was never willing to give me more.
“Is he staying in the apartment?”
I shook my head.
“The apartment’s mine. I’m going to tell him to leave, but it doesn’t matter. I’m probably going to sell the place. I don’t want to live there anymore. Too many memories.”
Reaching up, he tucked my wet hair behind my ears and grinned down at me. “You could always stay here tonight. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“That’s not fair.”
“What do you mean?”
“I shouldn’t be here making you choose between me and your friend like this.”
He swallowed, his eyes going sad for just a second before he looked away. “There is no choice, Gwyn, but if there was, I made mine the minute I met you. I chose you.”
His words warmed me, sending shivers down my body as if he had touched me.
He hadn’t, but I wanted him to. I’d been longing for him since the last moment we were together, and knowing now that Mitchell was out doing whatever with his model girlfriend, I felt like I could enjoy Dylan in a way I hadn’t been able to before.
Letting my eyes linger on the couch in his room, I look up at him through my lashes. “You know, that couch doesn’t look big enough for you.”
He shrugged, not catching on to what I was saying. “I’ll be fine.”
When our eyes meet again, I nibble on my bottom lip, letting him know with just a look that there was no way he was sleeping on a couch instead of in bed with me.
“And if I don’t want you to sleep on the couch?”
The side of his mouth kicked up, his dimple popping in the sexiest way possible. “I’ll do whatever you want, Gwyn.”
“Also,” I continued. “I didn’t bring a change of clothes with me, and I can’t stay in these wet clothes all night.”
His grin deepened. “That’s true. And I guess if I was any kind of gentleman, I would offer you a T-shirt and a pair of shorts?”
I nodded, feeling giddy with our little flirtatious game.
It had never been this way with Mitchell.
“That’s too bad,” he said, pulling me into his arms and filling both of his hands with my ass.
“What’s too bad?”
“It’s too bad I’m not a gentleman. I guess you’ll just have to sleep naked.”
At that, I laughed, feeling happier than I had in a long while.
“Would that be okay with you?”
He nodded, his smile growing even larger.
“Good. Oh and guess what,” I said, working my palms up his chest.
“What’s that?”
“I want you, Dylan.”
The heat of him made my chilly fingers tingle. I shivered, and it had nothing to do with the fact I was still soaking wet, but Dylan didn’t understand that.
Instead, he began to unbutton my shirt, worrying that I was shivering because I was wet.
“We need to get you out of these clothes before you catch a cold.”
I giggled as he began to undress me. “Did you hear what I just said?”
“I heard you.”
“I want you,” I repeated, and then I took a step back and pulled the hem of my shirt over my head, skipping the buttons completely.
It landed on my jacket with another loud slap. Before he could say or do anything, I pushed my jeans over my hips and down my legs, stepping free of them.
A groan escaped his chest at the sight of me standing there almost completely naked. I might as well have been because the white bra and matching panties I was wearing were completely see-through.
My nipples were so hard they stung as they pushed against the lacy material of my bra. Closing my eyes, I imagined him reaching out and pinching them between his fingers before closing his hot mouth over them once again.
I couldn’t wait anymore, my body already primed and ready. Reaching up and cupping my breasts, I pinched my nipples the way I hoped he would.
I felt like a different woman.
More brazen.
More wild.
And I loved every second of it.
I loved the kind of woman he was making me become.
“Gwyn.” My name came out rough, rolling from between his thick lips and sending another wave of shivers over my body.
Looking down, I could see he was hard under his shorts, and knowing my actions were turning him on made me ever braver.
I twisted my arms behind me, taking my time to unhook my bra, and when the straps slipped free from my arms and the bra fell to the floor, I closed the distance between us, pressing my bare breasts to his chest.
“Unless the next words out of your mouth are, ‘I want you, too,’ I’m going to ask that you remain silent so I can concentrate.”
He didn’t ask what I needed to concentrate on when my hands moved under his shirt. They moved over his stomach and up across his pecs, stopping briefly when I felt his nipples harden. I tried not to get too distracted, so I finished the task, pulling his shirt over his head.
Moving forward, I pressed my lips against his chest, kissing his hot skin and tasting him, making his control snap.
His large hand covered one of my breasts while he captured my other nipple between his lips. Sucking it into his mouth, I cried out at the raw pleasure that struck me in my core. Arching my back, I pressed the back of his head, pulling his mouth to me more. I couldn’t seem to get enough.
He backed me up until the back of my knees were touching his bed, and before I knew what was happening, he tossed me onto the bed.
“You’re never going to be the same when I’m done with you,” he said.
Stretching my arms above my head and feeling sexier than I had in my entire life, I said, “You promise?”
He pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it next to my soaked clothes, and I got a good look at his amazing body. The muscles in his arms twitched with his movements as he slid his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts and began to push them down over his slender hips.
His abs were glistening from my wet clothes pressing against him, and when he removed his shorts, his large cock popped up, threatening to make me scream.
“I fucking promise.”
His body slammed on top of mine, and we both rushed into it, sure that somehow the moment would be taken away. His kisses spread fire over my skin before he claimed my mouth once again, overwhelming and rough.
He was making me his, ruining me for any other man, and I was perfectly fine with that since I was sure I would be worthless to any other man once Dylan spent a night showing me absolute ecstasy.