Page 22 of Bargain With The Boss (Crescent Cove: The Moguls #2)

Sydney

I lied.

One more lie.

I was not on birth control.

Locked in the bathroom, I ran a shaking hand through my hair. I couldn’t even do a one-night stand right.

One day?

Hell, I didn’t know the protocols at all.

Even here, I screwed up. In the mirror, my hair was a tumble of knots and wild curls. My neck was pink from his scruff and lips and teeth.

God, his teeth.

That tongue.

I bent at the waist. The careening pleasure hangover was tainted with the reality of my situation. Couldn’t I have one thing for me?

A pregnancy hadn’t even registered in my brain. This is exactly what I got for being impulsive with how much I wanted to touch him. How he made me feel special and whole. Like I was someone worthy of feeling connected to.

“Duchess?”

“Just a second,” I called out.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, definitely. I just need to get cleaned up. Why don’t you reheat our food?”

“On it.”

Relief left my legs wobbly. I stumbled over to the shower and quickly cleaned off the sweat and aftermath of our—lovemaking felt wrong. It was more like touching a circuit and whatever it was between us made our bodies light up. We could have powered an entire coast.

God, there was so much pleasure.

Pleasure beyond anything I’d ever felt.

It was probably just because I’d been touch starved for so long. The last man I’d been with had been less than memorable.

A Home For You had been my entire life for the last year and a half.

God, it was probably even longer. Seasons didn’t mean anything in a retail space.

We were always racing two seasons ahead—sometimes three—from where people were in the world.

It screwed me up on a number of levels. I was never able to fully be present, I was always thinking five steps ahead.

I tipped my face up to the spray.

Be present now, Sydney.

Soap sluiced down my body. I was afraid to touch myself. I didn’t want to wash him away. The fear of what we might have created couldn’t even combat that.

The click of the glass door of the shower had me turning around.

Xavier was there. All lean and perfect with his broad shoulders that made my mouth water. We’d been so wild for one another that I actually hadn’t seen all of him. Hell, my dress hadn’t even hit the floor.

I could feel my face flush with the memory of his hungry mouth under my skirt.

“Duchess, you are stunning.”

I turned back to the spray, unable to handle his eyes on me.

His arm slid around my wet waist, then his fingers slid right between my legs. “Fuck, you’re still wet from me.” His mouth trailed over my neck. “Filled with me.”

The sounds of the mess we’d made echoed in the small space. It made me want to curl in around myself. Not because I was ashamed, but because there was some part of me that wanted to protect the proof of how I’d come apart for him. That I wasn’t the frigid woman most people thought I was.

The shuddering sigh slipped out of me as his magical fingers found my clit and the proof of what had been swirled with new pleasure. My head fell back on his chest. “Xavier.”

“I want to make you come again.” His other hand came up to cup my wet breast, tugging at my nipple until it was achingly hard. “I think I’m addicted to it.”

My thighs shook as my hips grew restless.

“That’s it, Duchess. Show me what you like.”

“I think you know what I like,” I said on a shaky breath. My hips tilted up when he slid his fingers free. My breath jammed in my throat. Need and overwhelm crashed into the heat of the shower. Then he was delving deep, his clever fingers curling inside me.

“So soft.” He sipped from my shoulder when I tipped my head to give him more access. He went from breast to breast, tweaking and pulling until I was near mad with the way he held me tight against his body.

His cock dug into my hip. I wanted to reach back and be the bold, effortlessly sexy woman, but I was lost to how he affected me. Instead, I gripped his thigh, my nails digging in as I got close to the edge and he backed off.

The rumble of a laugh came through his chest and vibrated through me.

“Ever heard of edging, Duchess?”

Distantly, my brain tried to piecemeal the words together. “I read.”

His teeth lightly scraped up my neck to my ear. “Do you read those spicy books?”

I couldn’t think as his fingers pulsed in me and his other hand lightly toyed with my nipple. Keeping up with the constant change in how he touched me and trying to think at the same time didn’t seem possible.

He stopped and I groaned, my ass grinding against his thighs.

“Do you read those books?”

“No.”

He nipped at my ear. “You sure?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do. Which ones. The lusty fairy stuff or the darker ones?”

Leah had left one behind after one of our all night work-a-thons. Distantly, I remembered the cover with the man with the mask. “I don’t know.”

“Liar.” He used his fingertips to tease along my soaked slit. “What kind?”

“He wore a mask. He didn’t want her to know who he was.”

God, that was too close for comfort. I didn’t want anyone to know who I was—not truly. I wore a mask of helpfulness.

The golden web of slick, wet lust started to fade as guilt broke through.

Then his fingers drove into me, and I cried out. The guilt and need fought, but his insistent strokes won.

I let them.

I let him carry me away and into the undertow that was Xavier Hastings.

Who needed to breathe anyway?

Suddenly, he pushed me forward, my breasts flattened into the cool tile and he changed the angle of his thrusting fingers. “Let me inside you again.”

“Yes.” I spoke into the misty heat. “Yes.”

The head of his cock slipped between his fingers as Xavier opened me wider for him. I felt exposed and raw and so close that words didn’t matter just then.

Again and again he rocked into me, his fingers playing with my clit until the fullness and sensitivity pushed me past any limits I thought I had.

He held me through it all.

I thought I was going to dissolve and wind my way down the drain, but he held on.

He wrapped an arm around me as the tempo increased, and I was locked inside the shelter of his body as he destroyed me and somehow put me back together.

I turned my head and met his mouth in a wet, messy kiss. He caught my moans too.

Caught everything.

His free hand slapped on the tile and the arm around me slid away so he could grip my hip and drive into me until I was on my toes with each slap of his hips against my ass.

I was full and locked in the haze of the perfect pleasure. Like I was at the very top of a rollercoaster. The drop would feel like death, but I was ready for it.

Except I wasn’t alone on the drop.

He was with me.

I’d never felt glory before. Never felt connected and safe, the way I did with him.

We were both panting and a little delirious from the steam. He still had me pinned and God, he was still inside me.

“I don’t want to leave your perfect pussy.”

I shivered and felt his mouth smile against my shoulder.

Slowly he straightened, and we stumbled out of the shower like we’d had far too much to drink. We didn’t speak, but it wasn’t awkward. We both bundled into the fluffy towels and collapsed on the bed.

At home, I’d never have eaten on my bed, but it felt intimate and perfect at that moment.

We shared each other’s food. They didn’t reheat very well, but it filled the void.

After we ate, we both curled on the lounge chair on my balcony and watched the sun slip behind the trees. I must have dozed off because it was full dark the next time I was fully aware.

Xavier’s arms were still around me and as lovely as it was to be in his arms, he wasn’t the softest guy to cuddle with. He was athletic and warm with all sorts of delicious muscles. Hard ones.

I pushed myself up and looked down at his sleeping form. He’d propped his head up on one of the bolster pillows that we’d discarded. It looked incredibly uncomfortable, but he’d stayed.

“Don’t make me fall in love with you,” I whispered.

He moved a little but didn’t wake up, thankfully.

I didn’t need him to hear that little confession.

I quietly and slowly removed myself, and his legs instantly shifted and his arms crossed at his middle. His curls fell over his forehead and softened his features. Dammit, he was far too adorable.

And I couldn’t moon over him.

I quietly went back inside and cleaned up after our meals and straightened the bed. I gasped at the state of my hair when I caught my reflection. I tried to push it back, but spotted Xavier in the doorway in the same mirror.

He stretched out his arms, yawning hugely. His boxers rode low on his hips and his T-shirt was twisted.

I tried to push my hair back, but it was fairly hopeless.

Mid-yawn his face slid into a smile. “What time is it?”

“Late.”

He glanced down at my nightshirt. “I will forever love Sailor Moon.”

I flushed. “It’s soft.”

“It sure is.” He crossed the room. “I know firsthand.” He swept his hand down my back, dragging me against him.

I stiffened, unsure what to do with his easy affection. But he didn’t seem to notice, just slowly drew me into an unhurried box step. “What are you doing?”

“Finding a reason to touch you.”

“There’s no music.”

“Sure there is.” He maneuvered me until our legs were tangled. “Like a heartbeat.” He hummed lightly and widened the circle until we were dancing a bastardized waltz. “The one thing we have in common—knowing how to do this stupid dance.”

I laughed and let my feet fall into step with him.

I didn’t have much cause to dance, but I’d been to enough charity functions that I knew the basics so that I wouldn’t stomp on an investor’s foot.

Mostly I left the charm to my mother. She preferred it that way, but there was something to be said for the easy way Xavier held me.

Everything was easy for him. Charm came off him in a wave of pheromones. For once, I didn’t feel left behind.

And when he lowered his forehead to touch mine, I forgot the state of my hair and the ancient nightshirt I’d had since boarding school. I always packed it when I had to make a longer than overnight trip.

I had so few things that were a constant in my life other than work. Even my home was a sterile showcase for furniture that never quite made it to manufacturing. It was good enough to watch television for a few minutes while I shoveled in a premade meal from the cook my mother kept on retainer.

Not to care for me, but to keep my calorie count where she wanted.

“Where did you go?”

“Hmm?” I lifted my gaze to meet his. “Sorry.”

“Good side trip?” He lowered his mouth, teasing my lips with a barely there kiss.

“Better now.”

He smiled into the kiss and I let thoughts of home float away. If I only had one night to forget my directives and twisted family, I didn’t want to waste it.

I linked my arms around his neck and went on my toes so my breasts brushed his chest. The barely there material left my nipples sensitive and tight. His arm tightened around me as his other hand slid down to tease with the hem of the shirt, then he groaned as he noticed there was nothing beneath.

I sighed as he cupped my ass then lightly drew little circles along the slope up to the small of my back and slid his leg between mine until there was no space between us. It was easy where the other times had been overwhelming and drugging. Now, I let my fingers learn his body.

He flipped his T-shirt off, and I met his deep dark blue eyes. They crinkled at the corners as he smiled for me. There was pride there that I was enjoying the view, and an easy grace that I envied. He was comfortable in his skin and with me. He didn’t worry about messing this up.

Because he had nothing to fear.

I was the one who was lying.

I coasted my fingers up his chest and shoulders then around to all those delicious muscles at his back. He was made for touching and dammit that was what I was going to do. His eyebrows shot up as my hand dipped down to grip his rather delicious ass.

And this time when he tumbled me into bed, there was laughter woven in the moans. And when his name tumbled from my lips it was a sigh.

When morning came, I was wrapped around him and the sound of his breathing gave me more peace than I’d ever known.

And I slipped away before he woke.

It was my room, but I knew I couldn’t quite face him in the light of a new day.