ElleWe’re lying side by side in his bed, and there’s no place on earth I’d rather be.
“Wow,” Nic says, propping himself up on an elbow. “That was . . .”
“Worth the wait?” I ask, looking up at him with a grin.
His eyes meet mine, and he caresses my cheek
with his thumb. “Definitely worth the wait.”
He leans down and kisses me gently on the forehead before rolling over.
“Do you need any water?” he asks, standing and stretching.
Biting my lip, I admire the muscles in his back
as they flex. Every time I look at him, it’s like he
gets even sexier.
“That’d be great, actually, thanks,” I say, lean- ing back against the pillows.
“I figured after all that moaning, your throat might be a little dry.” He smirks, pulling on a pair of shorts.
I snort and throw one of his pillows at him. He laughs as he leaves the room, and I slide back down underneath the covers, still not ready to leave my post-sex haze.
When Nic doesn’t come back right away, I get curious. I slip into an oversized T-shirt I find in his closet and head into the living room, wondering what could have distracted him. I notice that the bathroom light is on, and I see Nic bending over the tub.
“Wait, don’t look yet,” he says quickly when he sees me coming in, but it’s too late. Nic has set up a bath, complete with candles and rose-scented bubble bath.
I can’t believe it. This is more than anyone’s ever done for me. “What’s all this?”
“It’s for you,” he says, putting his hands on my shoulders.
I pause for a moment as he lights the final can- dle, still more than a little stunned at how thought- ful he is. “Did you grow up in a romance novel or something?”
“I’m not usually a romantic guy,” he says, smirking at me. “But for the right girl . . .”
“I am pretty lucky, aren’t I?” I put my arms around his neck, and he gives me a short, sweet kiss. I tighten my hold, wanting him closer, but he pulls back.
“You’re not coming in?” I ask, disappointed.
“This is just for you to relax, to say thank you for being so sweet to me earlier,” he says. “But don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you’re done. And I’ll be picturing you in here, naked.” He winks at me as he pulls the door shut.
I smile to myself as I pull off the T-shirt and slip into the tub, breathing in the rose scent. There’s even a glass of ice water sitting on the counter for me, along with a fluffy white towel.
I can’t believe how thoughtful he is. He’s noth- ing like the playboy Christine tried to make him out to be. I shake my head, not wanting those thoughts to even enter my brain right now. In this moment, I just want to be happy with Nic.
After a while, I decide I’ve had enough alone time. The warm tub, romantic candles, and calm- ing scent of the bath are making me tingle between my legs, and I want to see Nic again. I towel off and wander into the living room. I find him sitting on the couch, fully clothed again, sipping a water. When he looks up at me, his mouth drops open.
“I got lonely,” I say, watching him take me in. His eyes move from my face, along my curves barely concealed by the towel, down to my legs and back up.
I saunter over to him and kneel in front of him on the floor. He swallows, watching as I unzip his jeans.
“What are you doing?” he asks hoarsely, part- ing his legs so I can kneel between them.
“Returning the favor from earlier,” I say, pull- ing down his jeans and boxer briefs to reveal all eight perfect inches of him. Dear God, this man . . .
He’s already hard when I take him in my mouth, and I run my tongue along the tip of his erection. He groans as I move my lips farther and farther down his length, gently caressing his balls as I move my head up and down. He grips my hair in his hands as I move faster, and the sound of his heavy breathing
is turning me on more than I expected.
“Fuck, Elle.” He groans, his hand tensing on the back of my neck. “I’m going to come soon,” he says, his breathing ragged as his hands slide down to my shoulders.
I take my mouth off of him and straddle him on the couch. He unknots the towel fastened around me and tosses it onto the floor.
I kiss him, my tongue slipping into his mouth as his hands caress my breasts, teasing my nipples before sliding down my sides and then along my legs. He runs his hand along my inner thigh before touching me gently between my legs. I shudder as his fingers begin to work. He is so talented. So good. At everything.
“You’re so wet, baby,” he groans.
It feels so good that I can’t wait any longer. I pull his hand away and rub myself along his erec- tion, slowly and then faster. We’re both breathing heavily, and when I finally guide him inside me, I let out a moan as his erection fills me. He moves a hand to my breast, pinching my nipple as I rock my hips faster and faster against him.
“You feel so good,” he whispers, moving his hand to my other breast.
I’m rocking harder and harder against him, wanting him fully inside me. He kisses my neck, and I arch my back as he thrusts and grips my back- side to pull my hips closer, lifting me up and down over him. I let out a cry as he plunges even deeper inside me, and feel pressure building in my core.
“Don’t stop.” I moan as he thrusts harder, and my head falls back.
Nic bends to kiss my breasts, murmuring sweet little encouragements about how sexy I am riding him. I can’t catch my breath as our bodies rock against each other, and when I come, I lose control, my entire body shuddering with waves of pleasure.
Nic slows his pace, watching me with a hooded gaze. “Fuck. So sexy,” he groans. “Gonna come soon.” Still gripping my ass in both hands, Nic thrusts up, his eyes sinking closed as if this is the best pleasure he’s ever felt. “Where do you want it?”
“Inside me,” I murmur, bringing my lips to his.
He groans again, hugging me close as he finally
climaxes.
We don’t move for a few minutes afterward, waiting for our breathing to slow. Nic brushes a strand of hair out of my face, looking into my eyes.
His look even sexier than ever, hazy from sex and full of emotion. Slowly, I climb off of him and pull on my towel, knotting it at my breasts again.
He stands up and presses a tender kiss to my lips, then pulls on his briefs and T-shirt. We walk together into his bedroom, and I start to get dressed.
Since he hasn’t asked me to stay, I don’t want to wear out my welcome. Things tonight have been perfect, but I can’t forget about how he disappeared on me a couple of days. The last thing I want to do is rush anything if he’s feeling overwhelmed.
“I should get going. I have to get up early to- morrow.”
I feel his gaze on me as I pull my clothes on, but he doesn’t say anything. It seems like he’s deep in thought, but I decide not to ask about it. There will be time to get answers later. For now, I just want to savor everything that’s happened over the past few hours.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he says as he walks me to the door. He holds the sides of my face and gives me a gentle kiss on the forehead before I leave.
Despite all my unanswered questions, I’m
floating as I walk to my car. I know it’s crazy, but
this man makes me feel like I can do anything.
I only hope that he’s being truthful with me when he says he’ll call me tomorrow. I’m not sure I can handle him ghosting me again after the night we’ve just shared.
“Girl, did you get a facial or something? You’re glowing.” Christine looks me up and down.
I met her at the farmers’ market this morning to do some shopping since we haven’t seen each other in over a week. I’m not surprised she com- mented; I’ve been in a particularly good mood ever since my night with Nic earlier this week. I haven’t exactly been in a rush to tell her about the develop- ments with Nic, but it seems dishonest to keep it a secret now that we’ve had sex.
“Well, to be honest,” I say, picking up a bou- quet of flowers and smelling them. “It’s Nic. He’s amazing, Christine. I can’t believe you set me up with him.”
I try not to gush, but I can’t stop myself. All I want to do is scream from the rooftops that I met the most amazing, thoughtful man in the world. Not
to mention he’s about as sinfully sexy as it gets.
“Elle, you’re not still seeing him, are you?” Christine asks, her face crumpling.
“Yeah, I am. What’s wrong with that?” I ask, purposely playing dumb. If she wants to finally tell me what’s so bad about Nic, she needs to just come out with it. “You’re the one who set us up. I’m sick of you acting like it’s so wrong that we’re hanging out.”
Christine pauses with an apple in her hand. She looks at the ground for a few seconds before look- ing back up at me, biting her lip.
“Christine? What’s wrong?”
She seems conflicted, but it’s time she told me the truth about Nic. I’m tired of her cryptic warn- ings about him, and I’m going to push her until she finally admits what her problem is.
“Look, don’t get mad,” she says, setting the apple down and turning to face me. “But you were really stressed out about seeing Jeremy at the wed- ding, and I knew he was going to be there with that new bimbo, and I felt really bad about it. I just wanted you to have fun.”
“What are you talking about? Isn’t that why
you set me up with Nic?”
“The thing is, it wasn’t really a setup. Or it was, but not like that.” She looks into my eyes, anxiety etched on her face. “I don’t really know Nic from college.”
What? My heart is pounding hard. I don’t know what she’s talking about, but it suddenly feels like someone dropped a lead weight into my stomach.
“Christine, what do you mean?”
Even though I’ve asked the question, some part of me doesn’t want to know. The past few weeks have been so amazing, and I have a horrible feeling she’s about to drop a huge bomb on me.
Before continuing, she takes a deep breath. “I hired him. I just wanted you to have a date for the weekend to pick your spirits up, and that would be it. I didn’t think he’d keep pursuing you after.” She waves her hands in the air. “I didn’t think it would lead to all this.”
I feel like I’ve been sucker punched, and my
heart just skipped about fifteen beats.
“Christine, what are you talking about? You hired him from where?”
“He’s a male escort, Elle. He sleeps with wom-
en for money. But I didn’t hire him for that; it was just to hang out with you and make sure you had fun at the wedding. I specifically told him to be a gentleman, and I definitely didn’t tell him it was okay to pursue you after the wedding was over.”
Christine won’t look at me, and I suddenly feel faint. I try to breathe deeply, but I can’t seem to catch my breath.
“But he said he worked in finance . . .” My
words trail off as all the pieces come together.
The reason Christine has been so weird, and why Nic will never talk about his work. The way he kept hesitating to sleep with me, and all those little moments where he seemed guarded and I had no idea why.
Now I know why he blew me off those few days; he was probably afraid of us getting closer, given that our entire relationship so far has been based on a lie. All the clues have been there and I’ve missed them all, consumed by my feelings for him.
But he was paid to make me feel these things, and he’s damn good at his job. I’ll give him that.
Nic is a fraud.
I feel disgusted with myself. I had sex with him—without a condom.
Oh God. I feel sick.
I stare at Christine, tears filling my eyes, but I don’t say anything else. After weeks of question- ing, I finally have all the answers I need.