“You still want to go on a date?” I ask, not believing this guy wants anything to do with me.
“Can you really cook?” His smile makes my knees weak.
“Of course. It’s one of my favorite things to do.” I actually miss the kitchen back home, but the one in my apartment isn’t terrible.
“Then after work we’ll go to my place, and you’ll make us dinner.”
“Okay,” I find myself agreeing with him without an ounce of hesitation.
Slowly, he leans down and brushes his mouth against mine. “Sorry, Bunny. Like I said, I have no control with you.”
When he pulls back, I can’t help but think he has a lot more control than I do right now. I stay frozen in place as he goes to the door and unlocks it. But before he walks out, he turns back to me and smiles.
“Oh, and Bunny, stop emailing the temp agency. You’re not going anywhere.”
10
Bastian
“I can’t remember the last time I went to the grocery store,” I say as we unpack what we got from the store.
“You don’t look like you visit them on a regular basis,” Lux teases, setting out what she needs for dinner.
“What do I look like?” I lean against the counter and loosen my tie, feeling warm all over with her eyes on me.
After work tonight we went grocery shopping, which felt so simple, yet I craved that kind of normalcy. It’s been so long since I’ve done the kind of thing I used to do every week with my mother and sister. Since I began making money, I hired all those things out. Why take up valuable time buying food, when I could be making deals that earned me millions more in my bank account? I’ve weighed everything against it for so many years now that it’s left something hollow behind. How much of my life have I missed by letting someone else do it for me?
“You look like the kind of man that has his own personal chef.” She gestures around the kitchen that she said is larger than her apartment.
“My housekeeper makes food for me that I can heat up when I get home.” I smile, and when she smiles back, she truly lights up like her name. “I can’t remember the last time I had a non-reheated meal in my home that wasn’t takeout.”
“I’m happy to put this kitchen to good use.”
She chops the peppers and onions and moves around the kitchen with ease. She’s taken off her shoes, and something about seeing her barefoot in my space makes me hard. I take a seat at the bar nearby and open a bottle of wine. It’s something so normal, yet everything about this feels new and exciting. We talk about family and cooking, and I tell her about my mom and all the amazing things she used to make.
Our conversation at the cigar bar was about Lux and her life, and it feels like tonight I’m revealing more of myself than I ever have to anyone. My sister knows me better than anyone, but talking about my life out loud is different. Selma learned about me as we grew up, but I’m allowing Lux to have a piece of me, and it feels so fucking good.
A while later we’re stretched out in the living room as she makes me tell her stories from my childhood.
“You were not terrible!” she says in disbelief, and I shake my head.
“I struck out every time I got to the plate.” I shrug as I look at how pleased she is by this news.
“And to think Bastian Starnes isn’t perfect at everything. I shouldn’t be so happy about it.”
“You really shouldn’t,” I tease, then grab her foot and place it in my lap.
We’re on the couch, which faces the lights of downtown Atlanta, but nothing could compare to the sight of Lux in my home and taking up space. I hold on to her foot and begin to massage it as she lies back on the pillows.
“You have no idea how good that feels,” she groans, and the sound goes straight to my dick.
I grab her other foot, and she offers no resistance as I bring it next to the other one and give it the same treatment. Between the wine and the foot rub, she’s like a puddle next to me, and I have this urge for her to stay for a lot longer than she might want to.
“Maybe I can trade foot rubs for more information.” She opens an eye to look at me, and it’s so cute I laugh. “Next time I’ll get you to let me talk to Juno instead of you sneaking into the bathroom.”
She sits up so fast she almost topples off the couch. “You listened, you little sneak!”
“I think your whisper needs work.” I wink at her, and her cheeks flush. “It’s okay. I like what little I happened to hear.”
“How much did you hear?” Her question is soft, but I smile as I lean in close to her.
“Enough,” I answer before placing my lips on hers.
The kiss is like the last, where the moment our connection is made, my body responds with pulsing need. All thoughts of her whispered conversation fade away, and I only focus on what’s in front of me. Her arms come around my neck, and she pulls me closer at the same time I pull her ass onto my lap. I can’t get close enough to her body or my arms more tightly around her waist. I need all the space between us to vanish because the only thing on my mind is keeping Lux.
“I don’t do this,” she says between kisses, and I smile.
“Me either.”
“No, I mean it. I’ve never made out with a hot guy in his apartment before.”
“Me either,” I say again, and she smacks my chest.
“You know what I’m saying.”
I cradle her head as I look into her eyes. “Lux, I’ve never had another woman besides my sister in this space. I don’t do casual.” I run the pad of my thumb along her lower lip. “This is serious for me, and I don’t know if you’re ready to hear this, but I’m playing the long game.”
“How long?” Her question is barely above a whisper.
“Stay with me tonight,” I say instead of answering. I don’t want to scare her off by saying forever, and that my soul woke up the day she looked at me. So instead, I try for tonight.
“I don’t have any of my stuff.” She looks around the room like it will magically appear.
“Is that the only reason?” I lean forward and press my lips to her neck. “Are pajamas the only thing keeping you from spending the night?”
“Well, I mean…” She starts to say something else, but then it’s cut off by a moan as she tilts her head back. My tongue tastes the soft skin of her shoulder, and she goes limp in my arms. “Face wash, toothbrush.” Her words are jumbled as my hand cups her breast over her shirt. “Clean panties.”
“Are the ones you’re wearing too wet?” I ask, my voice husky, and then I pinch her nipple.
“Oh god, Bastian.”
“Let me worship you tonight,” I say, sliding my hand between her legs and cupping her sex. I don’t want her for just one night, but she really is like a bunny that could be scared off so easily.
“Okay,” she finally agrees, and with that one word she’s sealed her fate.
My hands go to the bottom of her shirt, and I wait for her to raise her arms. When she does, I slip it off over her head, and she’s sitting on my lap in her bra and pants. I look at her and feel her soft skin as I kiss her neck and then her collarbone. I tug down the cups of her bra so I can kiss her breasts and pinch her peaked nipples. She gasps and arches her back when my mouth latches on to one and I suck the tight bud into my mouth.