No Strings Attached (13 page)

“Because I want to hold you. Because I miss you.”

Her stomach clenched. “You can have sex with anybody, Clay.”

“I don’t want to have sex with anyone else anymore, Ella. I want to have sex with
you. Just you. Only you. Forever and ever. For as long as we both shall live.”

Her heart stuttered. “What?”

“I love you.”

She stumbled a step and Clay’s firm grip held her upright. She knew she gaped at him,
at a loss for words.

“I know this isn’t what you want, that you wanted no strings, someone to give you
a good time in Hawaii and nothing else. I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I’m wound
around you tight, just like this thing you’re wearing.” He tugged on the strings of
her corset. “I want strings, Ella. I want to be tied to you.”

Now she really couldn’t breathe. “Take me out of here.”

He gave a sharp nod, swept by the table so she could grab her purse, and led her out
a side door where his car was parked. She slid into the passenger side, her mind awhirl
in everything he’d said.

He loved her. He’d damn near proposed to her. Right there on the dance floor.

Hadn’t he?

“Where do you want to go?”

“My house.”

They drove in silence. Ella spent the entire time staring down at her tightly clasped
hands, more unsure of herself and her feelings than ever before. When they got to
her house she fumbled in her purse for her keys and ended up having to hand them over
to Clay. He opened her door and she stepped in, turned on the lamp next to the door,
bathing the room in soft light. She laid her purse down and he helped her out of her
coat.

“Would you like something to drink?”

He shook his head. “No. I want you to talk to me.”

She moved into the living room, sat on the sofa. Clay followed and picked up her hands.

“Your hands are cold. You’re pale. I never thought a declaration of love would make
a woman sick.”

She managed a laugh. “I’m not sick. Just…shocked, I guess. Here I thought I’d be the
one doing all the talking and you beat me to the punch.”

His brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

She half turned to face him. “Ever since James died I’ve poured myself into work,
into showing everyone how strong I was, how I was able to cope and take care of myself.
But the one thing I wouldn’t allow was the possibility of loving anyone ever again.
Because losing him hurt me so much, Clay.”

“I know.”

“And then came you. And Hawaii. Probably even before that, actually, because being
around you was so easy, so natural. And Hawaii proved that. I thought I could keep
it physical and fun and be done with it. But I couldn’t. Because you had already been
in my heart even before we had that week together, only I didn’t know it then. I didn’t
know it until after I set down those rules about no strings. I realized after Hawaii
that I was in love with you.”

He smiled.

“And it thrilled me and it scared me. It mostly scared me.”

He nodded. “I know that feeling.”

“I love you, Clay. I loved you even before Hawaii. You’ve been there for me since
James died. You were my friend before you were my lover, and that’s more important
to me than anything. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose you. And I think
I was afraid most of all of losing you.”

He rubbed her hands. “I’m not going anywhere, Ella.”

“I know. At least I think I know. But I’m still afraid of losing you. Either you leaving
or not really wanting what I want. Or of you dying.”

He gave her a slight smile. “There are no guarantees. You know that. I won’t sit here
and promise you I’ll live forever. I can’t. But I can promise you that I’ll love you
for as long as I live. For as long as that is.”

And that would have to be good enough. Because he was right. He couldn’t guarantee
forty years, or fifty years, or even ten years. None of them knew how long they had.
She of all people knew you had to take each moment and live it as if there would be
no tomorrow. “I’ve been afraid to live. And I’ve missed out on so much. I don’t want
to miss out anymore. I want to love you. I want you to love me.”

His eyes were as clear as the ocean. She’d always loved his eyes. Now even more so,
because she saw what he felt for her.

“I do love you, Ella. I promise to always love you. It’s all I can give you.”

“It’s enough. God, it’s more than enough.” She moved onto his lap and wrapped her
hands around his face. She pressed her lips to his, sighing against his mouth. It
felt so good to touch him again.

Clay curled his arms around her and leaned back into the couch to bring her closer
against him. She loved feeling his strength pressed against her, his heart beating
against her arm as he bent down to deepen his kiss.

She’d never tire of him kissing her, of the sensation of being lost
in his taste, the way his mouth moved over hers with deliberate intent, as if he knew
exactly what he was doing to her. She melted from the inside out, and when he moved
his hand over her belly and laid it against her hip, she felt the burn there. Yeah,
she had it bad for Clay, but it was so much more than physical.

Now that she’d let her fear go, she could touch him with her heart, and it was so
much better than just being physical with him. She poured herself into kissing him,
into roaming his chest with her hands. And suddenly there were too many clothes between
them, and her corset was too constricting.

He sat her on the sofa and stood, shrugging out of his jacket and tie, then began
to unbutton his shirt. She watched as he took off his shirt, kicked off his shoes
and then let his pants drop, leaving him wearing only boxer briefs—briefs that outlined
his erection. She leaned forward and laid her hands on his hips, then tilted her head
back to see him looking down on her.

She grasped the briefs and pulled them down his legs, letting them drop to his ankles.
He stepped out of them, but didn’t move. His cock was right there—at her face—and
she reached out with her tongue to lap at the soft-crested head.

Clay hissed at the contact. Ella’s body fused with heat and desire. She dropped to
her knees.

“Your dress—”

“I can’t wait.” She wrapped her hands around him, cupping the globes of his fine ass
as she brought his cock to her mouth once again. She rolled her tongue around the
tip of his cock, then brought him inside, covering his shaft with her mouth.

“Ella,” he whispered, his hand coming down to rest in her hair. He pulled out pins
and tangled his fingers in her hair while she sucked him, licked him, cradled his
ball sac in her hands. She loved the feel of him, the taste of him, the way he responded
when she loved him with her mouth.

She took his shaft at the base and guided him deep in her mouth, swallowing, squeezing
the head of his cock until he groaned and pulled away.

“Enough. I want to come inside you.”

He lifted her, took her mouth in a hard kiss, his tongue diving in and rasping against
hers with demand, with need. By the time he broke the kiss she was panting, wet, aroused
past the point of reason.

“Fuck me.”

He removed the last of the pins from her hair, his gaze so intense it brought tears
to her eyes.

“I’ve never loved anyone before, Ella,” he said, nipping her bottom lip as he said
it. He wound one arm behind her and pulled at the corset strings. “But I want to be
tied to you. Marry me.”

She stilled. Of all the places she’d ever imagined she’d be proposed to, him naked,
her fully clothed, in the middle of making love, she’d never imagined. And yet it
was perfect in its imperfection. It was so Clay. She cupped his face with her hands
and smiled, laughed, nodded. “Yes. I love you. I’ll marry you. Now make love to me.”

He turned her around and they both laughed while he fumbled untying her corset.

“Damn thing. I could get my knife and cut it,” he muttered.

“Don’t you dare. I got proposed to in this dress. It’s special.”

He unzipped the skirt of her dress and let it fall to the floor, then laid his mouth
on the side of her neck, murmuring to her. “Leave the corset on. I’ll fuck you in
it.”

She sucked in a huge breath as she stepped out of the skirt and turned to him clad
only in the corset, black silk panties and her stiletto heels.

His brows raised. “Now, that…that is a sight to behold.”

He lifted her and carried her to her bedroom, laid her down on her bed and slipped
off her shoes, kissed her toes, her calves and her thighs as he mapped his way up
her body with his mouth. When he reached her sex, he pressed his mouth to her pussy,
exhaling against her. His warm breath against the satin nearly sent her over the edge.

He slid the panties down her legs and she waited in anticipation, spreading her thighs
as he returned to her, covering her sex with his mouth almost immediately, taking
her to orgasm within seconds as he sucked her pussy and licked her clit with his amazingly
talented
mouth. She writhed underneath him while he licked her and brought her to the edge
again, then stopped.

She raised her head to see him smiling up at her.

“What?”

“You’re beautiful when you come.”

She was way past blushing. “I’ll do it again if you hurry up and get your cock inside
me.”

He slipped on a condom, then paused.

“I’m going to get a test. Then when it’s clear I’m going to fuck you without one of
these things.”

She shivered, the thought of his naked cock inside her making her wet, eager to feel
the slide of him. “I love you, Clay.”

He gathered her into his arms, rolling her to the side and lifting her leg over his
hip. He slid inside her with one easy thrust, grabbing on to the laces of her corset
and tugging them tight. He bent down to lick the rim of the corset where her breasts
spilled over the top. Her pussy contracted around him.

“Strings,” he said as he drove against her. “Mine.”

“Yes. Yours.” She trembled all over at the feel of him inside her, filling her, expanding
inside her every time he drove against her. Her pussy gripped him as he dragged his
shaft against her sensitized tissues.

Love and lust was a powerful combination, and it drove her desire to new heights.
She clung to him, kissed him, conscious of his gaze on her as she climbed to the edge.
But she held back, wanting him to come with her this time. She wanted to see him,
wanted this moment to be in tandem with him.

She swept her hand into his hair, held on tight, and rocked against his cock.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice tight with strain. “Fuck me.”

She did, sliding on and off his cock, so close she gritted her teeth to keep her orgasm
at bay. And he tangled his fingers tighter in the laces of her corset.

“Fuck me harder.”

His voice was gritty with strain. Ella fought to hold on, so near to orgasm she teetered
on the ragged edge. But still, she held back.

“Come with me, Clay.”

He rolled her over onto her back, slid his hands under her and grabbed her ass, tilting
her pelvis up to meet his, then drove hard and deep, sliding against her clit and
shattering her.

She couldn’t hold back anymore, and neither could he. At his first guttural cry she
let go, arching against him and digging her nails into his arms as her orgasm swept
through her like a tidal wave of sensation and pleasure, rocketing her over and over
again until she fell to the mattress, Clay with her.

She didn’t know how long they lay like that, Clay on top of her, Ella caressing his
back, listening to him breathe. He finally rolled them back to their sides and she
opened her eyes. One by one he undid the laces on her corset until she let out an
exhale of pure relief.

Clay pulled it aside and kissed her breasts. “You’re beautiful in that. Wear it for
me again.”

“I will.”

“On our honeymoon?”

She laughed.

“I love you,” he said. “I hope you can get used to me saying that. A lot.”

“I love you, too. And I hope you do say it a lot because I’ll never tire of hearing
it.”

They cleaned up and Clay grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt out of his car while
Ella threw on sweats and a long-sleeved thermal tee. She made coffee and they sat
at the table. She found it incredibly domestic, and as she did she realized she hadn’t
thought of James the entire time they’d been here, which was unusual.

Maybe it was time to finally lay her husband to rest. Not that she’d ever forget him,
but he had been the first chapter of her life. Clay was the second.

And with putting James to rest, she put her fears to rest, too. It was time to start
living again, to take a chance on love, on those
strings she’d been afraid of. There were no guarantees in life. She’d just have to
love Clay every day, and make sure he knew it.

“So now what?” she asked. “We both have separate businesses.”

He took a sip of coffee and shrugged. “Haven’t gotten that far in my thinking yet.
I’m still getting used to the idea of only having one woman for the rest of my life.
Give me time.”

She punched him in the arm. “Asshole.”

He laughed and leaned over and kissed her. “We can do it either way. Keep the companies
separate or merge them.”

“You’re not going to demand I quit my job? You could live with us being competitors?”

“In business? Sure. It’s worked fine for both of us for years. Why would we stop now?”

“You’re an amazing man.”

“And you’re an amazing woman. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend the rest
of my life with.” He took her hand and pulled her onto his lap. “Details are details.
We’ll figure them out. We’re together, and that’s what’s important. Are you sure you
can handle the strings that tie us together?”

Her future. Her love. She was so lucky. “I’ve never wanted strings more in my life.”