“Nothing.”
He grunted. “One moment, you’re all soft and sweet in my arms and the next moment, you’re pulling away. Tell me what just happened.”
She shrugged, pulling her hair out from beneath the fold of the blanket. “I just…” she sighed and looked away. “It’s stupid, Dimitri. And I’m hungry.”
“Fine,” he replied, standing up and pulled his pants on. “I’ll order something to be delivered. What are you in the mood for?”
She shrugged and peered out the window. “What time is it?”
“Time for you to tell me what happened,” he replied, gently wrapping his arms around her waist so that he could pull her back against his chest. “Be honest with me, Pepper. I’m not a mind reader. If you don’t tell me what I said, then I’ll probably do it again. I don’t want to hurt you with careless words.”
Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. “I just…” her chin trembled as she admitted, “I don’t like thinking of you with other women, Dimitri. That’s all. It’s silly, but…I just…!” she sighed, bowing her head. “I know that you’ve been with other women. I also know that it’s ridiculous to think that this might last longer than…well, however long it might last. But the thing is, I just…I don’t like it. Okay?” She peeked at him over her shoulder. “I don’t like thinking of you doing those things with another woman.”
He paused, thinking back to their conversation. He replayed the words in his mind, then closed his eyes. “When I commented on my expertise?” he asked.
“Yes.” The one word came out as more of a whisper, but he heard it and his arms tightened around her waist. She felt the kiss along her neck and shivered.
“No other woman ever made me feel this way,” he said. She heard the sincerity in his voice. “I haven’t been a monk, Pepper. But you’re different. And no,” he chuckled at her dubious glance. “I’ve never said that to anyone else. Ever.”
She relaxed and he turned her around, kissing her gently again.
“Well, that’s a bit nicer, I suppose.”
He kissed her again. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
She laughed, nodding as she reached up to lace her fingers together behind his neck. “Yeah,” she replied. “Very hungry.” And she reached up on tiptoe to gently nibble his lip, just so that he understood that she wasn’t talking about food.
With a growl, he scooped her up into his arms and, instead of returning to the bed, he carried her over to her kitchen table. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He kissed her, his hands moving to lift her legs up. “See,” he nipped at her lip, “I’m also very hungry.” He tilted her backwards so that she was now splayed out on the table.
Laughing, Pepper looked up at him. “What are you going to do now?”
Bending lower, he kissed her stomach, her hip bone. Then moved lower. “I’m going to eat you, my dear.”
When he kissed her lower, she gasped, shocked by his intent. Yes, she’d heard of this, but she’d never experienced it before. So, when his finger slid into her heat, she arched her back, surprised by the ease with which he could enter her. Apparently, it didn’t take much to turn her on! Or more specifically, it didn’t take much for Dimitri to turn her on.
“Oh, Dimitri!” she sighed, closing her eyes so that she could more completely enjoy his ministrations. But that was before she felt his mouth on her. There was no relaxation after that. “Dimitri!” she screamed as his mouth closed over that sensitive nub. In less time than she would have liked, she was screaming her release, arching into his mouth as her body throbbed with pleasure.
When she could finally breathe again, she opened her eyes to find him kissing his way back up her body. Languid and replete, she watched as he rolled a new condom over his erection. “I don’t think…”
“I know you can,” he told her and lifted her legs again, draping them over his shoulders. Had they been like that before? She wasn’t sure, but as she watched, her breath caught in her throat as he positioned himself at her opening, she thought about mentioning that this position definitely wasn’t ladylike.
But as he pressed into her heat, she banished all ladylike thoughts to the hills, loving the way she was so exposed, open and vulnerable. It felt different this way and she loved it. She loved it so much that she couldn’t hold back when he thrust into her, moving faster and faster until she couldn’t do anything but hold onto him, the pleasure almost blinding!
She was only vaguely aware of him finding his release as her body floated back down to awareness. When she opened her eyes again, straightening her fingers that had been digging into his shoulders, Pepper wondered about many things. But they were too jumbled to form a coherent thought. So instead, she smiled when he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to bed. Moments later, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, warmed by his body.
Chapter 6
Pepper felt as if she were in an odd universe. Every morning, she woke up in Dimitris’ arms, smiling as his hands slid over her skin. In almost no time at all, he had her screaming out his name as he rocked her world with pleasure so intense, it was hard to think straight.
After a mind blowing orgasm, they would shower together and get ready for their day, parting at the door with a kiss. It felt so…domestic. So strangely perfect, that Pepper was almost afraid of how happy she was.
Her work days shifted too. Instead of shopping the consignment shops on the weekends, she’d make sure that she went out during the week to find more clothes, because she wanted to spend her weekends with Dimitri. It turned out that the new schedule was better for everyone involved. Instead of shopping on the weekends, she’d go out on Mondays or Tuesday morning, then spend the afternoons working on designs. Instead of designing from her loft, she’d go into the office. That meant that, as soon as she had a design ready for the seamstresses, they could immediately start cutting and sewing. Nancy was able to get the pictured clothes up onto their website as soon as they were finished and get them out to the buyers, sometimes as early as Wednesday or Thursday. That meant additional revenue coming in since their buyers could count on getting their newest fashions for the weekend!
Everyone agreed that the new schedule was much more streamlined than the previous timeline. But even better, when she left on Friday afternoons, Pepper knew that she could leave everything at the office and spend all her free time with Dimitri.
Almost every night, she’d either cook for him at her place, or he’d order food to be delivered to his penthouse. Oddly, they spent more of their time at her place. On her part, she hated his penthouse. It might be expensively decorated with fabulous views. But it was a miserable place to be. His furniture was too hard and uncomfortable, and the ambiance was cold and uninviting. She suspected that he agreed, at least concurred subconsciously, which was why he came over to her place most of the time.
Or maybe it was more that he just enjoyed her cooking. Sometimes, he’d bring ingredients to her place and dump them onto the countertop with a challenging glint to his eyes.