Insatiable (19 page)

“It will be fine soon enough,” he said.

I’d never told anyone about Archer before. He was from a different part of my life, a chapter ended and relegated to the past. I’d never even mentioned him to Anne or Mary.

I still wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to do that for me. But then I kept thinking about how badly I wished I’d called him when it was happening. Someone more spiritual than I was might have called this an act of destiny.

I kept looking at him, waiting for him to say I was being silly, or to patronize me. He nodded instead, acknowledging what I said, acknowledging that sometimes that was all you could do when someone opened themselves up to another person.

I was vulnerable and he didn’t take advantage of that. Like Archer had before.

And I also had to admit that while I was a modern woman who could take care of herself, there was something undeniably sexy about a man not afraid to break some knuckles in my defense.

“So... this is my condo,” I said, trying a smile on. “I know it has nothing on a brownstone in Back Bay... but I like it.”

He glanced around. “It’s nice, really. Now I really wish I hadn’t dropped that bag.”

“Come on, I’ll give you the tour.” I took his good hand and started leading him around, pointing out the okay view I had. I showed him my degree, framed on the wall. I lead him down the hall. “And this is the bedroom.”

“Normally my favorite room of any home,” Vaughn said.

Something dropped to the floor. I looked down and saw the bag of peas wrapped in its dishcloth on the laminate. It had split open at one corner and a couple peas had rolled out.

“Hey...” I started.

He stopped me with a kiss, pulling my body hard against his. My desire flared, so hot it was almost painful. I couldn't contain myself any longer. “What can I do to make you forget about that hand?” I said, kissing his chin, running my lips along his jaw.

He grinned at me. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down for another kiss, then used that hold to back us both up into my bedroom. The back of my knees hit the mattress.

We tumbled over onto it. We couldn’t keep our hands still. I groaned beneath him while he ran his hands all over me, squeezing and touching. It didn’t take those fingers long to start on the buttons of my blouse.

I could see him wincing when he used his bruised hand. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I don’t care about that,” he said. “You’re worth more than a little pain. I’ll pay this and more.”

He was true to his word, using both hands to tear every stitch of clothing off me as quickly as he could. My heart quickened again, my skin flushing with heat.

“You haven’t had enough excitement for one day?” I asked.

He shook his head. Before I could say anything else, he sealed my lips with his. And then his hand slipped down between my thighs. I sucked in a sharp breath, pulling the air from his lungs into mine.

He didn’t let me calm down, either. He touched and stroked and teased me until I was nothing but an aching ball of desire beneath him.

“How do you do this to me?” I said.

“I’ve been asking myself a similar question about you a lot, lately” he said. He took a moment to pull my bottom lip between his teeth and then let it slide out slowly. It left my lip plumped and throbbing for more.

“And what answer have you come up with?” I asked, sending my hand down his body. It wasn’t fair that he could use his hand on me to such effect.

He liked the way I touched him. I liked that he liked that.

“The only answer I’ve been able to come up with is that I can’t get enough of you. Every taste makes me want more.”

His next touch sent an incredible bolt of pleasure up through me and I groaned beneath him. And then I couldn’t stand the fact that I was naked and he was still fully clothed.

We sat up on the bed. I went behind him and pulled his jacket off. Then I undid his shirt and pulled it up out of his slacks. I pulled it partway down his back, exposing his shoulders and keeping his arms together.

Then I kissed one shoulder, letting the lines of his body carry my mouth up to his neck.

He was just as sexy from the back as from the front, too.

“Do you like that?” I whispered into his ear.

“I don’t think I like anything as much as I like the way you touch me.”

“How do you always know the right thing to say?” I asked. I let my lips travel back down his neck, going across to the other shoulder. Then I pulled his shirt all the way off. I ran my hands down the muscles on either side of his spine that tapered down at his waist to form a V.

Then I stepped off the bed and went around so that I could tug his slacks and his boxers off. The sight of his desire inflamed my own desire. I climbed up on top of him, pinning his hardness between us. I ached to feel him inside of me.

He grabbed me and held me close, his hands sliding down my back to cup and squeeze my ass. I loved the pressure, the barely contained need, in the strength of his fingers.

“It’s not fair to be as sexy as you are,” I said, biting down on his lip again.

“I’m all yours,” he replied, one hand sliding up to the back of my head so that he could pull my mouth against his. We kissed savagely, we were so hungry for each other.

Then I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take the waiting, couldn’t take the pulsing of my desire inside me.

I shifted my body along his.

“Don’t we need...?” he started, his hands already moving up my stomach to cup my breasts.

“I’m on birth control, Vaughn,” I said. “The only thing I need is you.”

That aroused him even more, just like I thought it would. I lifted my hips, felt him against me. I sank down onto him, sucking a breath in through my teeth at how good it felt.

Vaughn’s lips peeled back from his teeth and he pressed his head back against the mattress, his eyes closing.

It was even better than I thought it would be, having nothing between us at all. My body knew just what to do, rising up along him and then sliding back down.

We went slowly at first, getting used to the touch of each other. It was familiar, but different. He was familiar, now. How could he not be, after those nights I’d spent with him?

But he was right. I couldn’t get enough of him, just like he couldn’t get enough of me.

He squeezed my breasts, pinching my sensitive and puckered nipples between his fingers until I gasped. Then his hands slid down to my waist, then down to my hips. He urged me to go faster, to lift myself up on him and then drop down so that our bodies slammed together.

The friction, the heat, the slickness of it penetrated right through me. I couldn’t take it for long.

I let myself drop down again, burying him all the way into me as my climax seized my body and my already snug grip tightened even more.

He gasped at the sensation. I leaned down over him and he hugged me close, anchoring him to me while my orgasm threatened to carry my away.

I calmed down to the feeling of his kisses on my face. He didn’t give me any chance to recover, however. No, he rolled us over so that he was on top and we started again.

I watched his abs squeeze and relax with his motions, watched the way his pleasures contorted his handsome face.

He finished inside of me, the heat of it more intense than anything I’d felt before with him.

Both of us were drained. After, we lay together on my bed. I didn’t even have the sheet pulled up to cover myself, it felt so natural and normal to be around him.

Sweat glistened on both our bodies. He had his arms clasped behind his head, the pose emphasizing the sculpted muscles in his arms and chest. I rolled onto my side so that I could lay my head against that chest. I put my hand beside me and felt the rhythm of his heart.

“I wanted to get a lot of work done today,” I said.

“And you got to do something else so much better, instead,” Vaughn replied.

Maybe it was just the afterglow of our passion. Maybe his fending off Archer affected me more deeply than I thought it did. Whatever it was, I felt more drawn to Vaughn than ever before.

He continued looking up at the ceiling, and I looked at him, taking in his handsome profile. The strong jaw, the defined cheekbones, the clarity of his eyes.

How could I resist all of that? The answer was that I couldn’t. I hadn’t really given myself completely to anyone since I’d first started off with Archer. And after Archer I don’t think anyone could blame me for being more guarded with my feelings.

“What are you thinking right now?” I asked.

He looked at me, his face so close to mine that I could have kissed him. I almost did, but I didn’t want to interrupt him.

“I’m thinking about how nice this feels. I’m thinking about how I wish I could make these moments last forever, and I’m a little sad that despite everything that I have, I can’t make that happen.”

“So... you want to make this last? You and me?” I said.

“Yeah, I do,” he said, nodding.

I put my hand against his cheek and kissed him, the smile on my face somewhat spoiling it.

He frowned for a moment, his lips compressing. His eyes searched around my bedroom but didn’t find what they were looking for.

“What is it?” I asked, an irrational and cold fear snaking its way through my chest. I couldn’t help my first thought being that he was about to tell me that this had all been for fun. That it was good while it lasted but now he had other things, other women, to get onto.

I had the urge to pull the sheet up and cover myself. He turned onto his side and looked at me, his eyes boring into mine, still searching.
But for what?

“I’ve been thinking about asking you something,” he said.

“If it’s about your account then I’d have to say that any delays there are your fault, mister.”

He smiled and shook his head. That smile helped calm me down a little. “It’s not about the account. Well, sort of. More about what happens after all the ads have been brought online and there’s nothing left to do for a while.”

“If you’re asking if I’ll still be in charge of your account after all that initial stuff, yes, of course! However, I think that I may have something of a conflict of interest here...” I said, putting my hand on his chest. His heart was beating faster than before.

Mine picked up in sympathy.
What is he getting at?
I admitted that I hadn’t known Vaughn all that long, but I thought I knew him well enough to consider him a person who hated beating around the bush.

“I want us to go away together after all the dotting of the I's and crossing of the T's has been completed,” he said. He reached up and put his hand over mine. His palm was warm again my knuckles.

“Away? Like as in a vacation? Where?”

“There’s this island I own...”

“Of course you do,” I said, unable to resist.

He plowed on through the interruption, “...That I think would be perfect. Just the two of us, the beach and the sun.”

“But who will get me all the little drinks with umbrellas in them?” I teased.

“Yours truly. If you think I made some mean eggs then you really should try my margaritas.”

I started tingling all over at the thought of spending all that time with him. It wasn’t just an idle offer made to impress me, either. His eyes kept flicking between mine, checking for signs of my acceptance or refusal.

“Okay. Let’s do it,” I said, smiling. He kissed that smile off my face, and then we couldn’t keep our hands off each other for the next few hours. This was going so well it all felt like some wonderful dream. A dream I hoped I’d never wake up from.

V
AUGHN

Two weeks went by and I didn’t know how either of us managed to get any work done.

Still, somewhere in there Quinn and I managed to eke out enough time for her to finish off with the marketing push with C&M and for me to get all the final prep done at my end.

It involved two nights apart where I had to run to New York. Even in this day and age of the internet, I found it best to do some things in person. This took some pressure off my board of directors as well, who’d been trying to contact me with increasing urgency and panic.

Those two nights away were repaid with two more days and nights in my brownstone in Back Bay where neither of us went outside. Or bothered to put any clothes on, really.

Some part of me wondered if the closer I got to Quinn and the more I learned about her, the more likely it was that I might find something to make me push her away. Nothing like that happened at all.

Sometimes I felt like that part of me
wanted
to find something not to like, and I didn’t know why.

There had been one thing. She told me one night that she couldn't go out, that she needed to babysit a couple kids for her friend. For a moment, I got jealous, then realized how foolish it sounded. A single mother needed all the help she could get, and I couldn't help but admire her even more for it.

And I could feel her getting closer to me, too. She laughed at all my college stories, and laughed even harder at my corporate ones (her favorite was one I liked to call “The Many Wigs of Donald Trump”).

Every now and then something inside me pushed out at this comfort and closeness I felt with her. But so far I’d been successful at pushing back when I felt that.

That countdown in the back of my mind seemed to have receded into wherever forgotten memories went.

And tomorrow we would be going down in the jet to my island. We hadn’t set a specified time, either. That bugged Quinn, who wanted to tell her bosses at C&M something solid.

But I just told her that as long as she was in charge of my account they would give her as much vacation time as she asked for.

A couple weeks, at least
, I thought, smiling in anticipation.

“What are you smiling about?” Quinn said.

We’d just gotten back to the brownstone after a big press junket where I officially announced the release of Phoenix Software’s new app. We both sat on my couch up on the third floor, the setting sun sending some rays of golden light in against the bare brick wall on the other side of the room.