I thought Alex would pounce on me and drag me to his bed when I said I was willing to stay the night, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

We spend an hour lounging by the fire with the dogs. He seems to have relaxed once he knew I wasn’t leaving. We took the evening slow from that moment on, and I started to feel on edge. After all, I just told him I was willing to forego my personal rules for him, and suddenly he put on the breaks.

Maybe I spoiled the challenge. Could the chase be that important to him that once it was gone, he lost interest? If so, I’m glad to find out now and not later.

The thing is, I don’t feel like he’s lost interest. We are still sharing our lives. He’s still touching me intimately, tucking my hair behind my ear, stroking my cheek with the back of his fingers, and kissing me softly. But the intensity, the urgency is gone.

“It’s almost midnight our time. Should we toast again?”

“Do you have champagne in here?”

“Not in here. Come, I’ll have Emily come back and look after the dogs. Do you want to leave Lady here tonight?”

“Yes, who would stay with her at the cottage?”

“Milton has been staying there with her. He’s one of the groundskeepers, and he lives in another small house down the road from the cottage.”

“Why don’t you just keep her up here with the other dogs?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

I sit up and slip my shoes back on. “Tomorrow? Why not now?”

“I have my reasons.”

“You like secrets, don’t you?”

“Surprises I like, secrets not so much,” he says with an edge in his voice.

He stands and slips his jacket back on before offering me his hand to help me up.

“Someone kept secrets that hurt you, didn’t they?”

“Yes. If there is something I’d like you to always remember about me, it’s that I cannot tolerate secrets.”

“What about good secrets? Like surprise birthday parties?”

“That’s a surprise not a secret. If you’re going to tell me the secret, and it’s not going to hurt me, then it’s okay.”

He’s right. Secrets and surprises aren’t the same thing. He gives each dog a scratch behind his or her ears before we leave. I kiss Lady and leave her stretched out in front of the fire with her brother and sisters. “Night kids, stay out of trouble,” I say as we exit the room.

“How will Emily know to come back?”

“I’ll text her. I have to text Milton as well. He will be glad he doesn’t have to go back out tonight.”

I wonder why Milton doesn’t just take Lady to his house, but I can’t ask because it’s a surprise. I’ll find out in the morning.

He taps out a few text messages while we walk. When he’s done, he slips his phone into his pocket and takes my hand again. We walk for a long time until we arrive at a set of double doors. Maneuvering through ten thousand square feet is tiring. I don’t ever want to own a house this big, but if I did, I would live in one corner, and the rest would go to waste.

I stand behind him, and he opens both doors for me. Inside the lights are on and turned low, the candles on the dresser are lit, and a bottle of champagne is chilling in a bucket next to the bed with two glasses on the night table.

“Looks like you were counting on getting lucky tonight,” I say.

“I text someone when we left the east wing.”

“You had someone rush up here and do all this while we walked from the other side of the house?”

“Yes.”

“How many people do you have working for you here?”

“Thirty-six.”

“Thirty-six employees for one man? Why on earth would you need that many people to take care of you?”

“Not me, the estate and its grounds. It requires a lot of upkeep.”

I snort. “Sure, it does.”

“You think I’m a needy man?”

“I don’t know, are you?”

He answers by pulling me into his arms and kissing me long and hard and deep. When he ends the kiss, I’m breathless. He presses his cheek against mine and growls in my ear, “The only thing I need right now is you, Olivia.”

He guides me to the bed where I sit on the edge and watch him return to the doors to close them. When he starts back toward me, he’s removing his jacket and loosening his tie.

I don’t move, I can’t. His predatory movements and the raw animalistic need in his eyes mesmerize me. When he reaches me, he nudges my knees apart and stands between them. His shirt is unbuttoned giving me a glimpse of the golden skin covering his rippled abdominal muscles and perfectly formed pectorals.

I consider trying to speak but decide not to for fear my stuttering will destroy the flow of electricity between us. He reaches for my hand that is gripping the edge of the bed and places it on his chest over his heart. It’s pounding fast and hard like the beat of a drum line at a football game.

I slide my hand down his chest to his abs and raise my other to unbutton and unzip his pants. He shrugs out of his shirt and kneels to remove my shoes, and his hands then travel up my calves to my thighs under my dress.

“Lie back,” he says in a deep, gravelly voice, and I obey without hesitation. Staring up at the masculine canopy of his bed, I feel him slide his hands under my ass to remove my lace panties. I raise my hips to make the task easier, and a shiver runs through my body as he slowly drags them down my bare legs.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly when he separates the layers of material that make up my dress. When I am laid bare and spread open for him, I shudder at the feel of his tongue caressing my seam lightly, so lightly that it drives me mad.

I want to take hold of his head and push his face closer to me, but somehow, I know it’s only a matter of time before he gives me what I crave and more.

“Olivia.”

“Yes,” I whisper.

“I’m going to make you come over and over and over until you scream for me to stop, understand?”

Do I understand? No, not exactly. I’ve never come more than once with a man, and I usually try to save it for during sex. The idea of multiple orgasms until I scream for him to stop is absurd. I tense anticipating the disappointment he’s about to experience, but I manage to squeak out a yes just the same.

The heat of his breath against my wet sex makes me squirm until he presses down on my flat belly to keep me still. When his tongue dips between my folds and circles the bundle of nerves there, I cry out finding my voice. I grip the down comforter under me and brace my feet against the mattress shamelessly pushing my sex against his talented mouth.

My first orgasm is fast and hard coming from out of nowhere ripping through me like a wildfire. I wish I could have had more time to enjoy the build-up, but I’m not complaining, it was out-of-this-world incredible.

Before I’ve had time to properly come down from the high, he flips me over and unzips my dress exposing me completely. He hovers over me and kisses the back of my neck all the way down my spine touching me everywhere as he goes.

“Scoot into the center of the bed,” he orders gently, and I do leaving my dress behind. I hear the swoosh of his pants falling to the floor, and the mattress dips when he crawls up over me. “Is there anything you’re opposed to, Olivia?”

I’m not sure what exactly he’s asking, but at the moment I can’t think of a single thing I wouldn’t let this man do to me. “No.”

“You’re sure?”

“I think so.” I’m in the bedroom of a man I’ve only known for a week lying flat on my stomach in the middle of a king-size bed totally vulnerable. I should be more reserved, careful, and vigilant. Why does he make me so reckless?

“That’s not a definitive answer.”

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

He rolls me over and kisses me. I taste myself on my lips for the first time in my life. I’ve only been with a few men, and most were brief encounters like Trevon last week. I had one longish relationship for five months in college. None of them made me feel like Alex does, and none of them were adventurous in bed.

“You’re young, Olivia. Are you inexperienced as well?” he asks looking deep into my eyes. He lowers himself on top of me allowing me to feel some of his weight and all of his thick cock pressing against my belly.

The question makes me bristle, and he feels my tension. “Don’t be upset with me for asking. I want this night to exceed any and all expectations for you. I don’t want you to feel pressured or uncomfortable.”

“I wasn’t uncomfortable until you asked me how experienced I am in bed, Alex. I’ve been with a few guys, nothing serious, just regular sex. Is that what you want to know?”

“You’re angry. Let me start over.” He kisses me, and I resist at first, but just like the other times he’s kissed me, it’s useless. He is undeniable and powerful and talented beyond my imagination. The things he can do with his tongue, the tips of his fingers, his breath. He makes me wonder if this is how sex is supposed to be, and I’ve been missing out all these years, or is he that much better at it than most men. I think it’s the latter.

In the dim light of the room, I watch his muscles flex when he moves over me until he is again between my legs, and my eyes roll back into my head. He makes good on his promise to make me come over and over much to my surprise. After orgasm number three or four, I can’t keep track. I start to feel guilty for being the only one on the receiving end of so much pleasure. I try to move him off of me, but his fingers are inside of me, and his tongue is circling my clit bringing me back to the cliff of Mount Orgasm again, and I lose control of my limbs and come violently.

“Alex, stop, please let me take care of you. I can’t take anymore, it’s too much,” I whimper when I’ve come down enough to speak again.

“I love making you come. You’re so beautiful when you let me have control.”

“I need a break, I’ve never…”

He scoots up onto his knees and slides me forward so that my legs are around his waist, and he’s holding me slanted on his lap. “Never what?”

“I’ve never come that many times. I didn’t think it would happen.” He smiles a triumphant smile.

“And I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”

Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? Is there such a thing as pleasure overload? If there is, I’m sure this is it.

He massages my sensitive, swollen clit with his thumb until amazingly, I am on the verge again, and then he stops. I look at him with question and a little relief, and he cocks his head to the side.

“Turn over,” he says, and my belly flops. I do as he asks, and he positions me ass up, face down. Like a man on a mission, he starts back in licking and sucking parts of me that have never been touched by a man’s mouth. “Oh my God,” I moan into the mattress when he hits the pucker of my ass with his mouth. I take hold of the comforter on both sides of me and pull it inward when I come again.

I feel like I’m flying and falling at the same time. How can my body keep doing this? Why didn’t I know it was possible? Where has Alex been all my life?

He kisses me on each butt cheek and flips me over onto my back. “Doing okay?” he asks massaging one of my feet.

“I uh, yeah, I mean, my God,” I stutter.

“Mmm, you’re so responsive, Olivia. I could do this all night, and I don’t think you’d ever stop coming. You’re amazing.”

I’m amazing? If anybody’s amazing here, it’s him. He chuckles, and I frown. “What are you laughing about?”

“The look on your gorgeous face.”

“It’s amusing?”

“It’s panicked. I promise not to push you too far. Trust me, sweet girl.”

Something inside of me shifts when he uses that pet name, and I find myself trusting him. “I do. I trust you.”

“I’m glad because I think I’m becoming addicted to you.” He switches to my other foot massaging it until every single muscle in my body is relaxed. When he is finished, he rises up over me and reaches into his nightstand for a condom.

I rejoice doing a little dance in my head, grateful for the change of pace. Certainly, he can’t make me come as often and as hard without his skilled tongue, can’t he?

I watch him roll the condom on and wonder how many women have had the Alex Wolfe experience in this very bed. When he catches my eyes, I shove all thoughts of other women aside unwilling to let jealousy steal what’s about to happen between us.

His thick cock brushes against my swollen sex when he bends to suck on my pebbled nipple. I arch toward him and wrap my arms around his narrow hips encouraging him closer.

“Let me set the pace tonight, next time you can lead, all right?” I nod my head and submit to him, giving myself over for him to do as he pleases because why on earth wouldn’t I?

His hot kisses cover every inch of my body like he’s educating himself, learning what makes me tick, what makes me cry out, and what makes me pant with want. I’m ready for him, readier than I’ve ever been for anything in my life when he finally thrusts into me with a force unmatched by any other before him.

If I hadn’t been so incredibly primed, he would have hurt me, I’m sure. He knows what he’s doing. I will never doubt or complain about the method to his madness again.

He slides my legs up onto his shoulders and works me on his cock like pleasing me will save his life. In and out, his thrusts build a beautifully amazing orgasm that explodes through me on a twist of his hips. I claw at his arms and scream his name as he follows me pushing in one last time with a roar and a shudder.

I love his face when he lets go, the tortured ecstasy of his tight muscles and passion-filled eyes make me feel powerful and seductive. I thought when he came, we would collapse in a slick musky post-sex tangling of limbs, but I want more. It’s all I can think about, the next hit, the next orgasm, the next way I can put that expression back on his face.

Now I know how he felt about wanting to make me come over and over all night long. I want to do that for him, too.

“Olivia, my God, you’re amazing. I want you again already.” He pushes into me still semi-hard and kisses my forehead. “Bathe with me.”

“Okay.” He doesn’t have to ask me twice. I’m hooked on him. I’d follow him out into the snow and do it on top of the limo if he wanted to. I feel crazy, wild, and free with him like I am suddenly the sexiest woman on earth. I’ve never felt that way about myself. I’ve just experienced so many firsts and all within two hours of the new year, which is, in and of itself, another first.

In his enormous ensuite bathroom, he draws a bath, and we soak together, my back to his front. His hands glide over my skin washing and exploring while I close my eyes and dissolve under his touch. “Do we have to get out of the tub?” I mumble.

“We don’t have to do anything. I’ll keep adding hot water until you’re pruney if you like.”

“Pruney, ew, no thank you. This feels good, though. I wish it didn’t have to end.”

“There are a million other ways to feel good, sweet girl. I’ll show you.”

“After the past two hours, I’m inclined to believe you.”

“We need to rest first, and eat, and rest and then more feel goods. Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

“I think you just listed them.”

“Mmm, good. Let’s get out then, and we can sleep for a few hours, have breakfast, and see what the new year brings us.”

“I love that idea.”

He kisses the back of my head and slides me around to straddle him in the water. “This has been the best New Year’s Eve I’ve had in… well, in forever. Thank you again for coming.”

“And coming and coming and coming.” I smile a weary you’ve worn me the hell out smile. He also smiles and kisses me deeply, his cock growing thick between us again. I had no idea a man could be so virile. I honestly believe he could keep doing this all night without so much as a five-minute pause between orgasms.

I take him in my hand and stroke him from root to tip while cupping his balls in the other hand. His pale blue eyes speak volumes, first telling me what feels best, and then how thankful he is for my presence. When he’s close, he raises up allowing me more access until he grips my hips painfully and comes in my hands with a long slow moan.

The sight of him coming is erotic. His perfectly toned body arching upward will forever be etched in my mind. He pulls me against him and rubs my back bringing the lukewarm water up with his hands to help warm me.

When a shiver runs up my spine, he places my hands around his neck and stands with me clinging to his perfect wet body. He steps out of the oversized claw-foot tub and sits me on a cushioned stool at the end of the tub. I appreciate the view when I watch him walk to the end of the vanity to get two bath sheets from a warmer.

I reach for the towel, but he shakes his head. “I’ve got you,” he says drying my body and then squeezing the water from my hair before wrapping me in the towel. I sit and wait while he dries himself and carries me to bed spooning behind me in the huge bed.

I don’t sleep well in strange places, but sleeping in Alex’s arms doesn’t feel strange at all, and sleep steals me away before I can say good night.