“Well, that’s really sweet. I don’t know what to say.”
I didn’t know what to say either. I got out of my chair and started to pack my things.
She picked up the crate. “I’ll put this in your executive office on the way and take care of those copies first thing in the morning.”
I took the crate from her and carried it to the cart. “You think we could have dinner with my friends on Friday night?”
She considered the request, probably thinking about what Lizzie was doing that evening. “Yeah, that should be fine.”
“Great. They’ll love you.”
“You think?” she asked as she walked beside me in her heels.
“Definitely.”
“I don’t know…I’m not a supermodel or anything.” It didn’t seem like a jab, just a moment of insecurity.
I set the crate in the back of the golf cart. “That’s debatable.”
She chuckled at my compliment.
I turned back to her.
“Supermodels don’t have stretch marks and thick thighs.”
“And they don’t have hearts of gold, kindness, and integrity either, at least not in my experience. But you have all those things. You’re the version of a supermodel that I want…and you’re perfect.”
I woke up at the same time that I did every day, hit the gym, and completed my workout before I showered and got ready for the day. But instead of having breakfast, I skipped it. She let herself in at the usual time she would meet me at the curb.
Her hair was curled and over one shoulder, and she was in a long-sleeved sweater dress with thigh-high black boots.
My gaze lingered for a while, and I reconsidered the whole breakfast idea.
She set her purse on the entry table and approached me at the dining table, smiling as she looked at me in the morning light, like it was the weekend and we had all day just to be together. We’d never been in the penthouse at this time with no immediate deadline to leave. She came closer to me then moved into my chest slowly, like she wasn’t used to being able to touch me at this hour. Her eyes dropped down to look at my chest as her palms flattened against my body. “Morning.”
My hands snaked around her body, and I held her in my grasp, feeling the fabric of the dress under my fingertips, the deep curve in her back, inhaling her perfume and her infectious energy. I looked down into her face, seeing her thick, dark eyelashes, the beautiful color of her lips. “Morning.” I’d never wanted Fleur or anyone else the way I wanted Emerson. My breath was never taken away when they stepped into the room. Whenever it was just the two of us, I was more aware of my beating heart, the way it reverberated against my chest and my entire body.
My fingers automatically lifted her dress as I slid them underneath to feel her bare skin, even though it was dangerous to touch her that way when the whole point of our morning was to get out of the penthouse and do something together. But instead of feeling her soft skin, I felt lacy fabric.
My eyes glanced down, and I realized she wore a one-piece black teddy…with an open crotch.
Jesus Christ. “How am I supposed to have breakfast with you knowing you’re wearing that?” I was hard in my jeans the second she stepped into the penthouse, looking like a fucking wet dream in those boots.
“You’re not.” She lifted herself onto the edge of the table, the place where I did my work in the evenings. Then she opened her legs and grabbed my pants by the belt loops and tugged me closer to her. Her eyes were on me as she unfastened the belt and dropped the zipper, getting my bottoms down so my throbbing cock could emerge, ready to slide into her creamy slit.
An uncontrollable moan came from the back of my throat as I tilted her back and lifted her legs so I could slide myself inside her, slide into my favorite place in the world. She was just as perfect as always, drenched and anxious to feel me pound into her. Ten years had been spent wrapped in condoms, and now it was just me and one woman, me and this woman, nothing in between us except each other.
Her fingers dug into my arms so she could hold on, a loud moan escaping her lips as she felt all of me, my anxious body that was desperate to make love to her on my dining table, to see the tears run from her eyes when she came for me.
We held on to each other as we moved together, the window right behind us, the street chaotic but our world at peace. We breathed hard and moaned when our bodies hit each other perfectly, when she felt the pleasure I gave her, and I felt more because I succeeded. I’d always been good in bed, always been selfless with my lovers, but with Emerson, it was so much more…took so much more of me.
Because I gave her everything.
We sat across from each other at a table near the window, the restaurant still busy even though most New Yorkers were at the office at this hour. We both had mugs of coffee, and I had steak and eggs, while she had a stack of pancakes drenched in syrup.
We didn’t say much.
I kept replaying that scene in my penthouse, lifting up her dress and having her while she still wore those boots. That was way better than all the screws in the alleyway, in the men’s restroom, in the front seat of my car because we couldn’t wait to get back to my place. Having such a deep connection to another person was so much more satisfying than empty sex. It was hard to believe I went so long without trying again, but it wasn’t really that hard to believe…because I hadn’t met Emerson until recently.
She dug her fork into her pancakes. “You sure you don’t want some?”
I shook my head and took a bite of my steak and eggs.
“It’s pretty good…”
I gave a slight smile before I continued to eat. “Not much of a sweet tooth.”
“Oh, then we’re never going to get along.”
I chuckled.
She sat there across from me, eating like she had no idea how beautiful she looked. Her glow didn’t come from the sun shining through the window on the fall day or the endorphins in her blood after the sex we’d had at my penthouse. It came from within, from her pure soul, from her heart. “So, Astra Books is scheduling a book signing here at the big bookstore in Times Square. It’ll take up a few hours of your Saturday. But once they started sending out information about it, they got a huge response.”
Just lost my appetite.
She studied my face, like she knew what I was thinking. “It’ll be fine, Derek.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“I know you’re going to be great. You have no idea how charismatic you are.”
I released a sarcastic laugh. “Baby, let’s not forget our first couple interactions.” Even in my anger, I still loved calling her that instead of having to use her first name all the time. It flowed off my tongue much easier.
“And let’s not forget what happened after we got past those interactions, and I got to see who you really are. So, let’s skip that beginning part and get to the good stuff.”
“What am I supposed to say to these people?”
“‘Hello? How are you? Who do I make this out to?’ Stuff like that.”
I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm.
“Maybe smile…”
I dropped my gaze and continued eating.
“You were so revered at your TED Talk, Derek. Just be yourself, only less cold. Remember, these people will be coming from all over so you can sign their book. They’re fans. They have no hostile intention toward you.”