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Laura walked away in a haze of pain. He’d really meant everything he said about marriage. Their time together hadn’t changed that. She hated to admit that she’d really thought it might be different. Paul had treated her far more like a girlfriend and permanent part of his life than a lover. Yet even though she was dying to move in, she just couldn’t do it. She was terrified they would wake up one morning, together for years but nothing ever solid and settled. It was getting harder and harder each day to keep the words from spilling out. The few days she spent away from him were her time to be free with her feelings. She also hated to admit that it gave her a thrill when Paul acted as if she had been away from him for ages instead of just a night or two.
April was waiting for her, and Laura sat down with thump, unseeing. It came out then, everything he’d said, and then the tears started. April was a good friend and hugged her while she cried. After almost an hour, Laura was finally able to get herself under control.
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” April said. “I really thought when he asked you to move in that was the start of something deeper for him. Don’t do this. Don’t give up on him. He invites your friends out to dinner not once but twice, and puts up with Tina’s smart ass while never once looking annoyed. Those aren’t the actions of someone who doesn’t care about you. We go out and there are beautiful women everywhere, and I swear I don’t think he takes his eyes off you more than once or twice for longer than a minute. But he’s a guy and, let’s be honest, no matter how smart they are in business, when it comes to women they can be stupider than we believe they are.
“He had a rough time and apparently a bad example with his parents. Maybe he just needs to live with it a little longer to really get what love is.”
“Maybe you’re right, but you know how bad I am at being patient,” Laura said. “I guess there’s a part of me that wonders how the hell could he not know by now? The way he talks to me at times, all that’s missing are the words ‘I love you.’ He wants to wake up with me in the morning and fall asleep with me in his arms. He took me with him to New York last time, and he said he couldn’t stand being away from me for so long. It’s three days, I tell him, and he’s all, so what, I get antsy when I can’t see you or touch you for so long. I mean, damn it, how can he not get it?”
Laura’s exasperation was building as she remembered all the other little things he had said and done. The way he made her coffee for her, cooked her breakfast, and all the tiny ways he took care of her. None of those things had anything to do with sex, and yet they were just as important for him to get right for her.
“Laura, don’t give up on him. A little more time and I know he’ll get it.”
With a nod, Laura promised, but after a long day of shopping she made an excuse and texted Paul that she was spending the night with April. She needed some time and room. She didn’t tell April what she was doing, and pretended like she was fine as she waved goodbye later that afternoon.
That night, Tina brought over popcorn, a DVD, and a bottle of wine. Tina gave the dress a thumbs-down, which meant Paul would love it. Tina agreed with April that Laura needed to give Paul more time, and, after they gave up on the bad movie, gave her a hug before going back to her own apartment.
Laura had just turned off the light and got into bed. It didn’t matter that it was only a little after nine. She couldn’t stop her chaotic thoughts, and sought peace in sleep.
Her bedroom door opened with a bang as it hit the wall, and the light came on a second later. The look of relief on his face at the sight of her in bed almost made up for the fear he’d put her through. But he was still angry, very angry.
“What the fuck are you doing here when you’re supposed to be with April?” He tore the covers off her, and he exhaled heavily to see her in a long tee shirt and panties.
“For fuck’s sake, Paul, what is the matter with you? I wanted a quiet night all to myself and it seemed easier to use April as an excuse.”
“A quiet night all to yourself? You’d rather be here alone than with me?”
Shit, he looked hurt, and Laura fought back tears. She couldn’t tell him the truth—she was supposed to be giving him time. She hated lying, hated it with a passion, but she didn’t hesitate. Whatever it took to reassure Paul, she’d do it. “April upset me, okay? She told me moving in with you was a bad idea, really bad. She told me I should break it off with you, that I was becoming too wrapped up in you. I was so confused and upset that I knew you’d see it and it would become a big deal. I’m sorry, I lied.”
Her hands were claws in the bed. She wanted to go to him but she was scared. His face became darker at her words. “Why the fuck would April say that? Never mind.” He crossed the room and pulled her up and into his arms. “I don’t care. I’m sorry she upset you, and we won’t discuss it. I know she’s one of your oldest and best friends. Get dressed, I’m taking you home.”
Nodding meekly, Laura found the clothes she’d worn that day, and then went into the living room to see Paul looking at the dress she’d picked out. “I like it, as long as it isn’t too tight.”
He picked up the dress and held out his hand to her. Laura took it without hesitation, eager to put the night behind them.
But the night was far from over, and that night he took her to heaven and back again and again. It started when he tore the skirt and panties from her and opened her wide for his mouth. His tongue was hungry for the taste of her pussy. Light laps of her juice and then he went deeper into her channel, fucking her with his tongue, and then he added two fingers, stroking the skin between her pussy and ass. His fingers toyed in her juices and sank into her ass easily, fucking her in time with his tongue, and she begged for more. A third finger was added to her, and she begged for his cock to fill her up. On and on his torture continued. His mouth moved to her labia, and she moaned in welcome as he moved toward her clit, but he was only taunting her. His fingers slipped from her ass, and she almost cried. Then they slipped into her pussy, playing inside her and slipping into her channel. They weren’t enough for her. Then they slipped out, and her body bowed with tension as they found their way to that spongy little spot that she knew would have screaming, and then she was as he caressed her without mercy and s
he squirted out of her pussy. She trembled from the orgasm he knew she preferred to do without, as it embarrassed her. She felt there was no need when he was already so well versed at giving her an orgasm in other ways. She tried to roll away, but he wasn’t having it, and he held her in place as his mouth found her all over again. She begged until her throat was raw for him to be inside her. That was just the start; there was very little rest and no sleep until the dawn began to break and he finally pulled her into his arms and told her to sleep.
Chapter Seven
Two weeks later and Laura was snippy with Garrett as he asked her where Paul was. She didn’t know, because last night she’d slept at her apartment, and it had pissed Paul off to the point where he hadn’t answered his phone or any texts since she got in this morning. He was late, by over an hour, simply to torture her for digging in her heels on moving in with him. The last two weeks had been the most explosive they’d had, and it was killing her and filling her with hope at the same time. He was using sex as a weapon against her for not bowing to his request, and she didn’t care when he did it so well. Except the night before last, when he’d tied her up and spent the evening and late into the night keeping her on an almost constant knife’s edge of a climax, three times. Six hours of almost constant sexual attention and he’d only allowed her to come three times. Yesterday, she’d left before he woke and left only a brief note that she was spending the night at her place. No explanation, not even her name.
So now was payback time. Laura stiffened as she heard the woman laugh before she saw her. Liza Graham, that fucking bitch. She’d come looking for retail space a few months ago. The bitch had been all over Paul, batting her eyes and getting as close as Laura would allow, which wasn’t very close. But it hadn’t been for lack of trying. Paul had laughed off Laura’s jealousy and pulled her into his arms and fobbed the woman off on Dan. Laura knew that Dan was gay and that only a day later the woman had decided she wasn’t quite ready to lease.
When they rounded the corner, Laura went still at the sight of the woman hanging on to Paul. Her arm was through Paul’s and her other hand was on his arm, and she was leaning on him so much that if he let go Laura knew she’d go down in a tumble of anorexic bones and fake tits. Paul barely looked Laura’s way as he told her to hold his calls. The moment his door closed, Laura was pretty sure she stopped breathing. Closing her eyes, she told herself to stop it. Paul was punishing her but he wouldn’t allow it to go far. Paul cared about her. Paul never looked at other women, and if he did, it was a glance that barely lasted seconds. She counted to ten and then a hundred, and then she heard Liza laughing and was up before she even realized it.
Opening the door with enough force to send it into the wall, she looked at his desk, but they weren’t there. The son of a bitch was on the couch and the bag of bones and silicone was practically on his lap. There was no thought to her actions, just pure, blinding anger. Laura crossed the room in seconds and had her hand in the woman’s hair before Liza knew what was happening. With a vicious yank, the woman was up and moving. Laura shoved her out of Paul’s office.
“Do not come here again, or I swear you will regret it.” Laura snarled, and the woman took off running.
Laura slammed the door and turned to see Paul coming toward her with an apologetic look on his face. Anger still flowed through her and she pushed him away. “How dare you? How dare you let her touch you and climb on your lap?”
“I’m sorry, please believe me. I never thought farther than making you jealous, and it got away from me. Please, sweetheart, it made me crazy when I found you gone when I woke up alone yesterday. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I don’t want her. I want you, only you. I swear, I’m sorry and I’ll never do anything stupid like that again. Laura, please come here. Touch me, sweetheart. I need your hands on me. I need your body against mine. No one else, I only need you.”
Laura went, her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. Their kiss had the electricity of a lighting bolt, and it consumed them. They went down on their knees, unable to move from where they stood. Frantically, Paul worked himself free, and Laura pulled her skirt up and thong to the side and climbed onto him. Close wasn’t close enough, fast wasn’t fast enough, they couldn’t get enough, and when they convulsed together in their climax, Laura’s head fell against his chest. She mouthed the words but didn’t say them. She loved him, would always love him.
***
