Corporate Fire: Corporate Romance Book 1 (8 page)

She started breathing again. He was holding her instead of running out the door. After a moment, she put a hand on his cheek. “I've never told anybody any of that. I prefer people think I'm a little kooky rather than full-blown insane.”

“I think you're the strongest person I've ever met. To overcome all those impulses without medication is amazing.”

Relief and happiness surged through her. “Kiss me again.”

Royce carried her to the bed and placed her back against the pillows, gazing into her eyes the whole time. He leaned in, and she closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers. He pushed her lips apart, and their tongues slipped together with a passion that pumped through her blood.

His fingertips grazed her shoulders, down her arms and to the crooks of her elbows. Goosebumps flared, making her shiver and wrap her arms around his back. His hands moved to her sides and waist, where his fingers splayed across her body, his thumbs just below her breasts. They continued to kiss while she caressed his back and pulled him closer and closer to her without thinking.

The heat from his hands seeped through her dress and into her body. She'd always felt a coolness between her and men, making the fire between her and Royce new and erotic. His thumbs slid up to her erect nipples and pressed down gently. A moan escaped the back of her throat, and she tightened all the muscles in her body to keep from squirming, causing her leg to sting.

He closed his mouth against hers and drew one hand away from her breast so he could lean on his elbow and lay next to her. His other thumb drew gentle circles around the material over her nipple. He kissed across her cheek to her ear, then behind the earlobe. Grace arched her back slightly, and his thumb pressed into her nipple again. She reached up and undid one button on his shirt—a tiny part of her brain wondering what the fuck was she getting into while the rest of her wanted to remain in the limbo of pleasure.

Royce's thumb moved up to the edge of her dress's neckline as if he would pull it down but stopped. “Can I see you?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“See me?”

“Your nipple.”

Oh god. This was getting really intimate. It was so far out of her comfort zone that she should've retreated by now and curled up into a ball, but Royce seemed to have some sort of magical antidote to her anxiety. She reached for her dress strap and noticed her hand was shaking.

He saw too and wrapped his fingers around hers. “It's okay. I shouldn't have asked. You're beautiful and sexy, and I'm having a really hard time controlling myself. But I'll wait.” His voice was outright husky. She'd never heard lust like that before.

“No, I want to show you.” She slipped her hand out of his and tugged the strap of her dress down. The neckline was a low V-neck, so it wasn't long before she'd revealed the first pink of her nipple. She heard an intake of breath, and Royce tugged the cloth away and licked her nipple with the tip of his tongue. She wished she had a photo of it. It was the most erotic moment she'd ever seen. He swirled his tongue around the pink before taking the nipple between his lips and sucking.

She gasped and squirmed, the pain in her leg bringing tears to her eyes, but she didn't want the pleasure to stop. She ran her fingers through his hair and pushed down on his head—she needed to be even closer to him. Her skin perspired, and she could feel herself getting wetter and wetter between her legs. Her body had never experienced so much pleasure, and they hadn't even taken their clothes off.

He moved his hand to her thigh and then up and under her skirt until his fingers edged between her ass and the mattress. His lips broke away from her nipple, “God, Grace. You don't have a bra or panties on. How can I stop myself from making love to you right now?” He rolled on top of her with his hard cock pressed against her, and her legs parted.

Her body tensed for one second before arching up against him with pleasure about to spike: she couldn't believe what was about to happen or do anything to stop it. An orgasm shuddered through her, making her dig her fingers into his back, pressing the bulge of his cock harder against her. She cried out, losing all control in the moment. He gasped and wrapped his arms around her until she didn't think they could be any closer unless he was inside her. The shudders of bliss eased into ripples until the last one rode out like a lake wave lapping at the shore.

Their cheeks were skin to skin, and he whispered, “Did you really just orgasm?”

Her emotions broke, leaving her paralyzed. Tears leaked out of her eyes. The pain in her leg finally pushed through to her consciousness, but she couldn't even break the paralysis to grimace.

Royce pulled back to gaze down at her before brushing his lips against hers. His cock was still hard between her legs, but he made no moves with his hips. He took one hand out from underneath her and wiped away the tears with his thumb. “What's wrong? Is it your leg?”

“I'm sorry.” She didn't know why she said that—maybe out of sheer embarrassment for letting go so completely.

“Sorry? For what? That was amazing. Amazing Grace.”

A smile formed on her lips, but she frowned a split second later. “I just have no idea what you must think of me. I allegedly have all these rules, and yet I just--” her voice trailed off, unable to say the word. “I...” she took a deep breath and finally got it out. “I rarely orgasm during sex, and I hardly know you. I don't understand how I can just let myself go when I'm around you.”

He kissed her long and slow, and yearning grew inside Grace again. When the kiss ended he said, “I hope when the drugs wear off you'll decide it's because of my charming personality. Just please don't feel awkward about this later. To me it was a beautiful moment. One I hope to repeat in the future.”

She blinked fast, feeling stupid at how teary she was. Her leg hurt like crazy now that the pleasure had ebbed, but his words made her want him despite the pain. She said, “How about now?”

He rolled off her and pulled up the strap of her dress so her breast was covered again. He took her hands in his and raised them to his lips. After he kissed them he said, “Believe me, it's because I want you more than any other woman that I'm forcing myself to stop. We got off to such a bad start that I want everything from here on out to be perfect. I think I'm falling in love with you.”

Her eyes bulged. She was the one who'd just orgasmed, not him. She waited for the panic to set in, but there was no shortness of breath or tightness in her chest. In fact she wanted to pull him to her and whisper that she loved him too.

“See, I just scared you silent. I'm going to get some ice for you and some for my cock, and I'll be right back.” He headed for the door.

She had to giggle at that, and it relieved some of the tension. “I think I'll change while you're gone then.”

He stopped at the door. “If you change and I change, when I come back it'll be the start of our second date.”

She full out laughed, took a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. “You could've had me just now, and you're counting dates?”

He caught it and threw it back to her. “I'm trying my damnedest to be a gentleman here. We'll see how long it lasts.”

When he left, Grace leaned back against the pillows.

She must be falling in love with him.

She closed her eyes and remembered the moment her body had succumbed to the pleasure of his attentions. Though she reveled in it, it made the relationship off balance. A wild notion ran through her head. It'd be so unlike her, and she really had no idea how to do it well.

She tried to dismiss the thought, but the more she tried, the more she felt the pressure to even out their physical relationship—the same feeling she got when faced with an unorganized bookshelf or closet. She had to make it right. She grabbed her phone off the nightstand. The Internet was the source of all answers.

A pang of guilt hit her when she saw all the texts from Jill again, along with a few new ones. She took a moment to text that she was alive before she pulled up a search engine. Jill would never believe what Grace was about to do.

She typed in ‘giving a good blow job’.

10| The Second Date

After reading several tips and suggestions, Grace sorted through her clothes. Royce was right about waiting for intercourse: it would be better if she wasn't reeling from her job loss, her broken leg, her new relationship with him. Still, she felt like someone binging after a long, restricted diet and having her doughnut ripped out of her hand. She wanted to make love to him all night, she wanted them to feel together the intense pleasure she'd just experienced.

Her hands shook as she sorted out her clothes and changed. It really shouldn't be so nerve racking to offer a guy a blow job. That's what they all wanted, right?

The ache in her leg didn't help, but she refused to take her medicine. She didn't want him to think she was offering because her brain was loopy.

She put on her red knit pajama shorts and white cotton cami—not lacy lingerie, but she hadn't planned on being with a man tonight. She was supposed to be dining alone and returning to her room to work on her app. She folded up her dress, placed it in the outside compartment of her suitcase and zipped it shut. What a depressing night that would be compared to how it'd turned out, broken leg and all. She collapsed back into bed, exhausted from the effort. After resting for a moment, she ticked off the techniques she'd read about online for giving good oral sex to a man, but she knew she'd already forgotten some. She grabbed her phone to refresh her memory. When Royce knocked on the door a few minutes later, she closed the window and put the phone on the nightstand.

“Come in,” she called.

She heard the whir and click of the electronic lock before the door swung open. Royce stood in a black t-shirt tucked into jeans. The stubble over his bruise gave him a bad boy air that turned her on.

He said, “Hey, sexy.”

Who was he kidding? She was just in her cotton pajamas. She wrinkled her nose at him. “Sorry, I didn't bring any lingerie with me.”

“Are you kidding? There's nothing more enticing than a woman looking comfortable. I love that you didn't brush out your hair.”

She combed her hands through her hair, just realizing she hadn't brushed it. She'd been too worried about blow job techniques. But that's not what she told him. “Shoot, I got distracted by my leg. The pain makes it hard to think straight.”

“Don't worry, it's a big turn on. It reminds me of what happened here just a little while ago.”

She smiled at his words, placed her hands in her lap and forgot about her hair.

He sat at the foot of the bed and put the ice pack across the bottom of her leg where it was wrapped. “Did you take your medication?”

Grace shook her head.

He glanced at the clock and said, “I think it's safe now.”

“I don't want it.”

He lifted her unwrapped foot and massaged it. She hadn't noticed the muscles in her good foot were already sore from taking up the slack from the broken leg. His hands eased the tension and soreness out.

He said, “This isn't like your OCD medication. It'll just help you through the pain for a few days, and then you can be done with it.”

Her mind drifted in pleasure. She didn't say anything right away and just enjoyed the moment. His hands left her foot and moved up to her calf, kneading through what were probably knotted up muscles. She wasn't filtering any thoughts when she said, “Mmm, that feels good. When you realize you have a crap job, you should go into massage therapy.”

His hands froze, and then he stood up. “Where'd you put the pills? I'll get them for you.”

Grace wished she could be more like her name, but she was always so tactless. Now the pressure was really on to give good head.

She opened her eyes and said, “I really don't want them.”

He stopped halfway to the bathroom. “Why?”

She stared at him a full minute before rolling her eyes, exasperated. She said, “Because you don't believe me when I say I want to be with you. You keep telling me it's the painkillers, and maybe it was at first, but I still want you right now.” She lowered her eyes and voice and said, “The moment we had earlier was incredible.”

He sat down next to her on the bed and took her hands in his. “Can we make a deal that I believe you, but we still won't make love tonight? I'm sure I won't be able to wait as long as it takes you to heal, but I don't want you to remember our first time mixed with the agony of your leg, and I don't want you to be higher than a kite either.”

He dropped her hands and cupped her face. “It's going to be earth shaking, and I want you to be able to recall every last tremble.” He leaned in as he spoke each word and ended with a kiss.

The kiss was brief, making her worry he was still upset about her comment about his job. She said, “All right.” Her hands fell to her sides and clutched the bedspread.

He noticed and asked, “Where are the pain meds? The bathroom?” He stood up and walked into the bathroom as if the matter were settled.

She ran her fingers through her hair again in an attempt to unmuss her hair despite what he'd said. The thought of it being messy bothered her. She almost stood up to go brush it but made herself stay. He said he liked it. She could brush it later.

She scooted to the edge of the bed, trying to keep her broken leg straight out and propped up on the bed while she put her good foot on the ground. Her mind spun to the problem of their relationship being uneven. She had to focus. She had to level the relationship. She gripped the side of the bed and took a deep breath to keep her thoughts from spiraling out of control.

Her internal struggle at least distracted her from the pain a little. As she tried to adjust herself better, she noticed her shaking hands.

Maybe she should take her camisole off. No. He might turn her down, and then embarrassment would overwhelm her. She clenched and unclenched her fingers, wrinkling the bedspread beneath them. She wished she wasn't crazy.