“I know you can,” he says, grabbing my jaw with his hand and bringing my face to his for another kiss, this one more demanding. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful. The men at the clubhouse are going to go nuts for you, except I’m going to fuckin’ murder them if they even look in your direction.”
I roll my eyes and slide off his lap, then fiddle with the button on his jeans until he moves my hands out of the way and undoes it for me and pulls them down, exposing himself to me. I slide my panties off impatiently and lift my dress up and over my head.
“Take your T-shirt off too,” I demand.
He looks amused, his eyes dancing, but does as I say, flashing his ripped body as his T-shirt lands on the floor next to my dress. I straddle him, my mouth slamming down on his as he practically rips off my bra. Reaching between us, he slides himself inside me, both of us moaning at the feeling. I start to ride him, bouncing up and down, controlling the speed and rhythm. When he moves his mouth away from my lips to suck and lick my nipples, I fuck him harder, giving it all I have.
“Fuck, Valentina,” he growls, lifting his head and looking me in the eye. “Harder.”
Harder?
I go harder.
When I feel myself on the verge of coming, somehow Ardan must know it too, because he says, “Yes, come all over my dick.”
I don’t know what my tell is, but I like that he’s so in tune with my body.
A hard slap on my ass sends me over the edge, and through my haze of pleasure I hear him say, “Going to come.”
“Yes,” escapes from my lips.
Yes to everything.
After he finishes, I sit on his lap, him still inside me, and bury my face in his neck, exhaustion taking me over.
“I’m going to sleep like this,” I announce.
“Me too,” he replies.
I kiss his neck, soft and gentle, telling him without words how much I appreciate him. He wraps his arms around me and holds me while I close my eyes and just enjoy the moment. When I’m about to fall asleep, I decide I should probably move off him, so I do so, but I don’t go far, lying down on the couch and laying my head on his thigh, my arm wrapping around him. His hand instantly finds my hair. After a few moments, he lifts me in his arms and carries me to my bed.
“So now you want to go to bed,” I grumble, yawning.
He chuckles deeply, lifting the blanket to cover me.
“You can’t stay a little longer?” I ask when he doesn’t get in next to me.
“If I do, then I’ll never leave.”
A long, lingering kiss, and then he heads to the clubhouse, while I fall asleep.
NINE
WHEN Ardan cancels on our plans again, I get a bad feeling in my stomach. He said he was needed by the Wind Dragons and that the second he could, he would be back to see me. Trying not to think about it too much, I keep myself busy on my day off by tidying up the apartment.
When Jess texts to see if I want to go to dinner and a movie with her, I take her up on the offer. It’s the first time I’ll be seeing her outside of work, but I’m happy she invited me. When I think about it, because I’ve been spending most of my time with Ardan, I haven’t really made any other friends here, apart from the girls at work, which is stupid of me. I should be out meeting new people and seeing what this city has to offer. I dress casually in a pair of jeans, a black V-neck top, and flats, and then drive to the theater Jess asked me to meet her at. I find her standing in the lobby, looking down at her phone. She’s wearing all black, a Harley tank top, and jeans.
She glances up as I approach and smiles.
“Hey,” I say, smiling back at her.
“Hey, yourself. I got our tickets but I didn’t know what snacks you wanted, so I thought I’d wait for you.”
“What would you like? I’ll get it,” I say, pulling out my purse. “I’m just going to get some popcorn and a drink.”
“Sounds good,” she agrees as we walk toward the counter.
I pause and grin. “Maybe some chocolate too.”
I don’t want to ruin dinner afterward, but I’m kind of hungry.
She laughs and says, “My kind of girl.”
I buy the snacks and we go into the movie. After it’s over, we have dinner together before I head home. I really enjoy the night and tell myself I need to do this again. I need to have balance in my life; not everything can be about Ardan, because then when he’s busy I get bored and don’t know what to do with myself, and I don’t want to be that girl. I send him a quick message before I go to sleep, telling him I hope he had a good night and that I’m going to bed.
I fall asleep before I get a reply.
“Hotline Bling” by Drake plays over and over as my phone rings. Half asleep, I reach around for it in the dark, finally finding it under the pillow next to me. I press the green button and say in a sleepy voice, “Hello.”
“Valentina, open the door,” Ardan says, making me sit up in bed.
“You’re here?” I ask, confused.
“Yeah, open the door, darlin’.”
I hang up and rush to the front door, unlocking and opening it. When I see him standing there, his face looking paler than usual, a bad feeling settles in my gut.
“What happened?” I ask, closing and locking the door behind him.
“What makes you think something happened?” he replies, stepping inside and wrapping his strong arms around me. “Fuck, I just need to be in bed with you right now.”