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“I considered it,” I answered as he opened my door for me.
“What changed your mind?” He tried to lift me up into my seat and I batted his hands away, perfectly capable of getting in by myself.
“Realising how much easier it was going to make Keira’s life.” He arched a scarred brow at me.
“You think I did it for her? I did it because I didn’t want you falling from any more ladders. You entrusted me with your body. I take that seriously.” Despite my frustration with him over Angie, over the clothes, I felt myself thaw a little.
“And what about you, Mr Tell? Do you trust me with your body?” He paused, considering my words before he answered.
“I trust you with my money, whatever that’s worth.” Billions is what it was worth. But no. For Alfie, who had money-thirsty vampires nipping at his heels every day, it was worth so much more than that.
“I’d say that’s worth quite a lot.”
Thirty-Four
When I got home the house was deserted. Ryan had his swimming lesson tonight, so he and Natalie wouldn’t be back for hours. I placed the orchid in a spot in the kitchen with enough indirect sunlight to keep it happy. I left the muffins in the fridge with a note saying they were from Alfie. That should score him some brownie points, not that he needed any with Natalie and Ryan.
I took my time getting ready and set myself up for a long soak in the tub. When I was done I wrapped myself in a towel before heading up to my room. I put on an old Nirvana t-shirt and started towel drying my hair when I noticed my phone flashing. I pulled it off the charger.
Crap.I had eleven missed calls from Alfie. I called him back and he answered straight away.
“Where are you?” He sounded breathless, panicked.
“I’m at home. I was in the bath and had to leave my phone in my room to charge.” He exhaled a breath. “Where areyou?” He was silent for a long moment.
“Outside.” I hung up and flew down the stairs. I wrenched the front door open and found Alfie leaning against his car with his head in his hands. He looked up and when his eyes found mine,it was like looking into the eyes of a drowning man who’d just seen a lifeboat. He stalked down the garden path towards me and barrelled me inside, kicking the door shut behind him. He held me so tightly I struggled to breathe.
“The trackers were here but you wouldn’t answer,” he whispered, his face buried in my wet hair.
I pulled back and looked him in the eye. The cool businessman that had gotten me off in a car park only hours before was gone and in his place was the secret Alfie Tell underneath. The one that didn’t know how to wash my hair or kiss me gently. I stroked his cheek, silently willing him to tell me what was going on and, for once, he did.
“I know that I can get inside your head when we’re together but when we’re apart…” He trailed off, willing me to understand.
“When we’re apart I can think clearer and could change my mind about being with you,” I finished for him. His jaw clenched and he stiffened as if preparing for me to reject him for his weakness, to laugh at his vulnerability. “I remember the pain, Alfie. I’m not changing my mind.” I cupped his face and pressed my lips to his. After a few moments, his body began to relax as he drank me in. Eventually he pulled away, his steel grey gaze seeming a little clearer.
“Your family isn’t here?” he asked and I realised that was why he hadn’t knocked. He hadn’t wanted to interrupt time with my family.
“Ryan has a swimming lesson tonight.”
He nodded and his gaze wandered over me, his eyes taking on an entirely new expression. “Is that why you’re less than decent?” His hands reached under my shirt to cup my bare backside and he squeezed it, pulling me against him. I kissed him teasingly then stepped backwards up the stairs.
“You like?” His eyes followed me and I turned, taking each step one at a time, knowing that my shirt was just short enoughto give teasing glimpses of my backside. I heard him growl, and seconds later I was thrown over his shoulder. He swatted my bottom and I cried out as he plunged two fingers into my already drenched folds as he mounted the stairs to my bedroom. It was an intense feeling, being finger fucked over his shoulder. There was a wildness about it, a desperate need to be inside me in any way possible.
He threw me down on my bed and yanked my shirt off before flipping me onto my front.
“This is going to be rough, Lo.” He pressed his body flush with mine, his chest to my back, his clothes against my bare, damp skin. He fumbled with his zip as his legs forced mine apart. I had a second to breathe before the air was forced out of me by the power of his thrust. He bit down on my neck, clamping down, keeping me in place. His powerful thighs kept my legs spread wide as his hands pinned my wrists. I was immobilised, pinned to the mattress and completely powerless to do anything other than take it as he began a punishing rhythm.
He took me harder than ever before. He fucked me like he wanted to be in my skin, to consume me entirely. I took it. I flowered open for him, accepting whatever he gave to me.
I ground into his thrusts as my orgasm began to rise. He felt it, his teeth digging into the sensitive flesh in the crook of my neck. I tried to wait, tried to hold off the pleasure, but I couldn’t. I sank my teeth into the bed spread, moaning around it as my orgasm crashed through me, only increasing in pleasure with every powerful thrust. I drenched him, and my core twitched and jerked, milking him to his own peak. I hummed in pleasure, grinding against him as he gave his seed to me.
Eventually, his teeth left my neck and he licked and kissed the mark gently.
“Why do you bite me?”
“To stop you wriggling away from me. You squirm sometimes when I’m fucking you, like your mind and your body are at war. You want me but you don’t. You smell good, Lola. What is that?”
“Cocoa butter, you like?”