Page 68 of Double Play

When India finally gives her speech, she’s fucking brilliant as she talks about the importance of donors like those in the room supporting the ongoing research of childhood cancers and other medical conditions, hammering home how advances in medicine give children the chance to be whoever they want to be, possibly even professional athletes.

Or a field reporter.

Her speech is an introduction to the evening’s meal, but I’ve lost my appetite. I only want a bite of her, and when she exits the stage, and then exits the ballroom, I follow her.

Quickly, I find her in the hallway and lead her away from the ballroom. She trembles beneath the gentle touch of my hand at her elbow.

“Are you okay?”

“That was nerve wracking, but also—” She cuts herself off when she abruptly hooks her hand in my elbow and pulls me down a smaller hallway that ends with a wall of windows. Just shy of the windows, she takes my hand and practically drags me into a smaller conference room.

“Indie, what the—” I’m cut off with a kiss before the door to the room closes behind us.

I am not complaining—not one bit—but it’s all so sudden, I feel off balance. The kiss is sloppy and unpracticed, until I’m cupping the back of her neck and spreading her lips with my tongue. Until I spin her, pressing her against the wall.

“God, I’ve missed you,” I admit, not interested in holding back my feelings. It’s been a long seven days, and one late night of phone sex was not enough to quench my desire for her. But it’s so much more than fucking. I want to be around her. At the end of a long day or before another extended one starts, I want to be near her. Hear her voice. Hold her in my arms.

“I’ve missed you, too,” she mumbles against my mouth as my hand skims down the silky fabric of her dress, finding a slit toward the front, over her upper thigh. My fingers easily dip between her legs, discovering the thin scrap of fabric between them is saturated.

“Declan.” My name is an exhale of desire and a warning. “We shouldn’t do this here.”

But my fingers have already slipped around the drenched panty to breach her soaked seam. As I slide one finger inside, her breath hitches.

“Just let me touch you,” I beg, needing to feel her come apart.

Her breath catches again as I add a second finger. In her high heels she’s already on her tiptoes, but she tips even higher, her arms clutched around my neck.

“That’s my best girl,” I murmur to her neck, ghosting her with my breath while stealing hers.

“Your girl,” she whispers, not surprised but pleased as her legs spread wider and stiffen. Her hips rock gently forward, using my fingers to bring her relief and wash away the nerves.

Instead of crying out, she leans her head into my shoulder, whimpering while she breaks. The sound of my fingers gliding into her mingles with her silent cry.

When she slumps back against the wall, I gently remove my fingers from her and bring them to my mouth, sucking on both of them.

India leans forward and licks my knuckle, and my fingers move from my lips to hers, where she sucks at them as well.

Her hands seek my waistband, but I stop her. “This was all for you, wildfire. My brilliant, radiant girl. Plus, I don’t want to mess up that pretty mouth or muss your beautiful hair.” Not when I know she has an appearance to keep up.

Later, I won’t hold back. I’ll force her to paint my dick with that pretty lipstick and wrap her hair in my fist.

“But I want to reciprocate,” she whines, giving me a false pout.

“Later.” I lean forward and kiss her once more, gentler than the first time. Pressing my forehead against hers, I say, “You did amazing up there.”

“I was so nervous.”

“Why?” I pull back to scan her face as best I can in the dark room, illuminated only by emergency lights above the exits and near the sprinkler system.

“I don’t know. I can yammer in front of a camera but give me a crowd, and I’m shaking.”

“I noticed.”

“You did?” she screeches.

Rubbing my hands over her shoulders and down her arms, I try to calm her. “Not while you were on stage but when I caught up to you in the hallway. You were trembling.” I pause when I capture her hands and bring both up to my mouth, kissing the inside of each wrist. “Where were you running off to?”

“I just needed some air.” She watches as my mouth lingers on her wrist and then she catches on my eyes as I pull back. “And I was hoping you’d follow me.”