Annihilate Me (Vol. 4) (The Annihilate Me Series) (18 page)

“Thus
my nudging.”

“You’re
a good friend.”

“She’s
a better one.”

“I
wonder what she’d say about that.”
 
He kissed me on the cheek and gave me a pat on the ass.
 
“Would you like something to drink?
 
Sit and relax before turning in?”

“I’ve
already had a martini and a Bomba tonight.
 
Another martini would be just fine.”

“Done.”

“Let
me slip into something more comfortable.
 
This dress is so tight, I can barely breathe.”

I
went into his bedroom, opened the drawer he’d filled with the lingerie he’d
bought for me, and chose something white and pretty, and made of silk.
 
I carefully removed my dress, and
slipped the negligee over my head, noticing that it came just above my
knee.
 

Perfect.
 

I
went into the bathroom, brushed my hair and my teeth, and put on some lip gloss
before joining him in the living room.
 
He was seated on the sofa, his tie and jacket off, and his shirt partly
unbuttoned at the throat.
 
It was
just enough to give me a peak at all that I loved underneath.

“You
look comfortable, Mr. Wenn,” I said.

He
looked up at me, and for a moment, it was as if he was in another place.
 
He seemed distracted.
 
Then, I had his attention.
 
“And you look very sexy, Mrs. Future
Wenn.
 
Martini?”

God,
I loved him.
 
“Please.”

I
sat next to him and accepted the glass he held out for me.
 
We touched rims, and sipped.
 
Then I put my drink down on the coffee
table in front of us, slipped into his arms, and rested my head against his
chest.

“I
could stay like this forever,” I said.

“One
day, you will.”
 

There
was a heaviness to his voice that was unexpected.
 
We were quiet for a moment, but when I
heard his heart start to quicken and sensed his body tense against mine, I knew
that something was wrong.
 

I
was right.
 

“That
was cruel what Adrianna said to you,” he said.
 
“And while she’s right on one
level—you’re not Diana—she doesn’t understand what so many of us
see.
 
Particularly me.
 
Especially
me.
 
You are Jennifer.
 
People are not dismissing you.
 
People enjoy you in ways that they never
enjoyed Diana because she wasn’t like you.
 
She wasn’t as open as you are.
 
She didn’t have your spark or your wit.
 
She died only a month after my parents
died, but in that one month, the shy, sensitive, and loving woman I married
changed.”

I
couldn’t believe he was discussing her—he almost never did.
 
“How?” I asked.

“Wenn
had to keep moving forward.
 
I had
to assume the reins, which meant a total lifestyle change.
 
Suddenly, Diana and I had to do what my
parents did on an almost nightly basis—go out to parties and meet new
people so I could potentially make new deals for Wenn.
 
She resented that.
 
When we got married, it was assumed that
I’d be much older when I stepped in for my father, but he changed all of that
when he killed my mother and then himself.
 
I loved Diana deeply.
 
But in
that one month, a divide grew between us that was as undeniable as it was
quick.”
 

He
sipped his drink.
 

“And
yet I don’t blame her for it,” he said.
 
“She never signed up for that life—at least not that soon.
 
And neither did I.
 
Our dreams were to travel the world,
have children, and then I’d begin in earnest at Wenn while she raised the
children.
 
That was the plan.
 
But what choice did I have when my
parents were gone and everything was left to me?
 
I did what I thought I had to do.
 
I manned up.
 
Diana and I gave it our best shot.
 
I knew she was unhappy, but what could
we do with such short notice?
 
It
killed me that she was unhappy.
 
I
was in the process of trying to find another board member to take over as CEO
when she called me from her car.
 
She was returning home from a weekend spent at our Connecticut estate.
 
We were talking when the car accident
happened.
 
A few hours later, it was
confirmed that she was dead.”

I
lifted my head from his chest and faced him.
 
“I’m so sorry.”

“I’m
not looking—”

“But
I am, Alex.
 
I’m so sorry for all of
it.”

His
eyes became bright, which startled me.
 
I’d never seen him this vulnerable.
 
“I’m only sharing this with you now because of what Adrianna said to
you.
 
And because of what others
might say to you along the way.
 
I
don’t want any of that shit to get into your head, OK?
 
My instinct is to protect you.
 
You are not Diana.
 
You are Jennifer, and I love you more
than you know.
 
You pulled me out of
a four-year hole.
 
You came into my
life with your flyaway resumes, you stood up to me in ways that few people
would, you accepted me back into your life when you had every reason not to,
and you even moved to a fucking island with me when your life was threatened
because of your association with me—which it still is.
 
Anyone else would have bailed on me at
this point, but you haven’t.
 
You’ve
stayed.
 
You’ve stood by me.
 
I can’t tell you how grateful I am that
you are here, that we’re fighting this together, and that one day, it will be
over and you will be my wife.”

I
took the martini from his hand and put it next to mine on the coffee table.

“Make
love to me,” I said.

With
one swift, fluid motion, he scooped me off the sofa, carried me into the
bedroom, and did just that in ways that were so tender and meaningful, I almost
wept for both of us.
 

There
was no part of my body that he left untouched.
 
Nothing that went overlooked.
 
He was more gentle and fastidious than
he ever had been with me.
 
Neither of
us likely saw this coming tonight, but it was clear that we had reached a new
pinnacle in our relationship.
 
Adrianna Bomba’s slight against me had obviously angered him to such an
extent that it unleashed whatever barriers might have been between us
before.
 
I felt closer to him now
than I ever had before.
 
We were
one.
 
We were together.
 
As his body roamed over mine and mine
over his, it had a weight of meaning that was so tender, yet so powerful that
it was profound.

When
we climaxed together, it was in a way that was so different, and so laced with
emotion and passion, that I knew in that moment that my love for him wasn’t
just bottomless.
 

It
was forever.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Early
the next morning, I woke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and the sounds
of Alex humming from either the living room or the kitchen.
 
I wasn’t sure which, but he sounded
happy, and that made me happy because he obviously was in a better place than
he had been last night.

I
used the bathroom, washed my face with cold splashes of water to wake myself
up, and then brushed my hair and tied it back into a simple ponytail.
 
I checked myself a final time in the
mirror before going into the living room, where I saw through the open space
that Alex was in the kitchen.

Naked.

I
came around the corner and leaned against the doorway.
 
“Are we at a clothing optional resort?”
I asked.

He
was standing at the kitchen island sipping a cup of coffee.
 
Naked as the day he was born only hairier
and larger.
 
Much larger in some
places….
 
“Apparently.
 
So what’s your excuse?”

“What’s
my excuse?”

“You’re
wearing a negligee.”
 
He clucked his
tongue.
 
“That’s a shame, don’t you
think?”

“This
is exactly how you behaved on the island.”

“But
if you look behind you, through those windows, it appears as if we’re in New
York.”

“So,
you’re a nudist?”

“What
if I am?”

“Good
to know.”

“Want
to join the colony?”

“You’re
up to something.”

“I’m
up to nothing.”

But
he was.
 
After yesterday’s threat
against my life and last night’s intense discussion about Diana, I knew what he
was doing—he was trying to keep our relationship alive.
 
He was trying to shake off everything
that was happening to us, everything that was rotten and wrong, and face a new
day with a sense of humor.
 
At that
moment, I felt a groundswell of love for him.
 
He was right.
 
Despite everything, we needed to enjoy
our lives, and we needed to make an effort to be spontaneous, or we’d lose what
we’d fought so hard for—us.
 

Time
to play along.
 

I
narrowed my eyes at him.
 
“You want
me naked, don’t you?” I asked.

“So
what if I do?”

“And
you want to spank my ass.
 
Isn’t
that right?”

“Maybe.”

“Just
maybe?”

“I’ve
never had you over my knee before….”

“What’s
taken you so long?”

“One
doesn’t reveal everything right away, Ms. Kent.
 
That’s just the move of an amateur.
 
I’ll be surprising you for years.”

“So
confident.”

“You’ll
see.”

I
leaned against the doorway.
 
“You
know, I could become naked in mere moments and without a hint of notice, and
young women like me do love a good smack across the ass every now and
then.
 
Are you up for that, Mr.
Wenn?
 
You know?
 
If I took off this negligee?
 
In mere moments?
 
Could you make that happen?”

“I
could make it happen.”

I
pulled off my negligee and tossed it behind me on the floor.
 
He lowered his coffee mug onto the
island, and I saw he was starting to swell with arousal.
 

“Then
make it happen,” I said.

He
grinned at me, which always did me in.
 
I glanced at the clock on the microwave, thought about the full day that
was ahead of both of us, and then went over and kissed him full on the
lips.
 
While I met his eyes with my
own, I tilted my head at him and reached down to grasp him in my hand.
 
God, he was huge.
 
He had his work cut out for him if he
was going to prepare me to take that again.
 
“It’s only five-forty,” I said in his
ear.
 
“Isn’t it convenient that we
don’t need to be at Wenn until nine?”

“Why
do you think I started the coffee so soon?
 
I had a feeling it would wake you up.”

“Aren’t
you clever?”
 

“Do
you want to see how clever?”

“Is
that even a question?”
 
I took him
by the hand and we started for the bedroom.
 
“Come on.
 
Bend me over your knee.”

*
 
*
 
*

Later,
while each of us caught our breaths in bed, it was clear that there was no time
for breakfast.
 
Not that I
cared.
 
For two hours, Alex had been
every bit as attentive to me as he had been the night before.
 
Only this time?
 
This time the mood was lighter, more playful,
and we went a bit further than we had ever been before.
 
This time, he gave me a proper spanking,
which, at one point, had me lost in a fit of giggles but also wildly turned on.

“You
look flushed,” I said.

He
was on his back, smiling up at the ceiling.
 
“At least I came by it honestly.”

“I
kind of like a good spanking.
 
Who
knew?”

“You’re
killing me.”

We
turned to each other and laughed.

“I
have to give it to you, Jennifer.
 
You give good cardio.”

“And
a whole list of other things, I hope.”

“Oh,
agreed.
 
In fact, I could go for
another round.”

“So
could I, but it’s almost seven-thirty.”
 
I got out of bed.
 
“I need to
shower and get in shape for Blackwell, who will have my ass in other ways if
I’m not in her office at nine sharp for our meeting.
 
And I happen to know that you have one
major meeting today.
 
Streamed and
Wenn finally merge.
 
Finally!
 
So.
 
Off we go to the shower.”

He
came after me and I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was already erect
again.

“Don’t
think that when you’re in that shower, that you’ll just be lathering up your
hair, Jennifer.”

“Goodness,”
I said.

*
 
*
 
*