“Screw dinner.”
His mouth came down and laved her breasts, pulled her nipple between his teeth and sucked. She groaned and urged him to go faster, wanting him to lose the fragile thread of his control when he loved her, wanting him to stop holding back. Arianna grasped him between her fingers and worked him up and down, sliding her thumb over his sensitive tip, guiding his length between her thighs.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted, thrusting her hips upward, ready to claim him and both explode over the edge.
“You want this?” he asked, his cock moving into her, sliding inch by precious inch.
Arianna punished him with her fingernails and her teeth. She bit his earlobe, raked the skin over his back, and urged him to come inside her. She wanted, no, needed, him to surrender to her tonight.
“If you want it, tell me. Tell me everything.” His voice was a low growl as he massaged her breasts and teased her clit with the hot flesh of his arousal, getting her so close yet not close enough.
“Put your cock inside me!” she demanded, opening her legs wider, her back pressed against the hard wall, willing him to do it, just do it.
“Not until you come for me. Come. Now. Now!” He grasped her hips, positioned her, and slammed his cock into her wet opening.
Arianna came hard in a rush of wetness, her voice tearing on a scream that cut through the studio. But he wasn’t done, he thrust in and out of her, again and again, lifting her up and up until the second orgasm ripped through her and then she collapsed against the wall, falling against his hot, damp skin, his erection still pulsing inside of her with hot demand. She groaned and admitted defeat again. He didn’t come inside of her. Not until it was on his terms.
The thought worried at her like a mouse with a piece of string, but then he was easing back and forth over her sensitive, clit, slowly, so slowly she didn’t even realize he was moving until the tension built again in delicious intervals, the friction of his cock against the swollen nub so outrageously pleasurable, tears burned her eyes. She fought the fall, not wanting to have another orgasm, and she cursed him, but he just laughed and held her still, working himself inside of her again and again until she came, her flesh pulsing almost painfully from the release.
This time he let her slide down to the floor, still inside of her. Only then did the full emotions hit like a hurtling freight train, and tears leaked from her lids as she surrendered to the final collapse of all of her clever ideas of love and distance and realized Grant Madison had changed her life and she would never be the same.
Grant held her close, stroking back silky strands of her hair from her face as she cried.
The tears dropped slowly on his bare chest and a piece of him broke loose inside of him. Her vulnerability and openness tore him apart. He tried to release his sudden tension as he realized she needed to tell him something, something he wasn’t going to want to hear. Grant calmed his mind by breathing slowly and waited for her to speak.
“The promotion.” She paused. “I have to leave. I have to move to Chicago by the end of the month.”
The breath whooshed back out of his chest and he sought to find a grip as he sorted through the complications. “OK. For how long?”
“If I succeed? Probably permanently. If I fail? They’ll give me two years to make a go of it.”
He battled his sudden weakness to beg her to stay. Grant reached down deep and vowed he’d never ask her to give up the promotion for him. This was her dream, as the creation of his school was his. He understood the passion of loving what he did, the pull of the work as a constant tease to his consciousness, the pleasure of completing a day with students. He fell into bed at night and felt full in a way that had nothing to do with food. Arianna was a talented woman who was going to make partner. She’d run the Chicago office and make a name for herself, far away from her Iowa origins. He loved her even more for it, understood her like he had no other woman. In that moment, he decided to let her go.
And never tell her about his true feelings.
His tone contradicted his slowly crumbling heart. “Then we have a month together and we won’t lose a moment.”
Arianna stiffened. Her words were hesitant. “Do you want to do the long distance thing?
Grant, I can’t imagine walking away from you. I—“
He stopped her by smothering his mouth over hers. If she said the words he wanted to hear, he’d fall apart. She would stay, and they’d never know what she could have been. Her lips softened, became pliant beneath his until she quieted.
“I don’t want to lose you, either. But you’re moving because this promotion is what you’ve been waiting for. I’m so damn proud of you, Arianna. You go to Chicago and kick some ass. But I think we need a clean break. You don’t need the distractions of a long distance relationship, and I don’t know if I can handle it.”
The starkness of his words took her breath away, but Arianna fought through the fog of pain and swore she’d never ask him to wait for her. If he wanted a clean break, she’d honor his wishes. She wouldn’t tell him she was madly in love with him. She wouldn’t confess having him in her life may be more important than the promotion of her dreams.
Because he didn’t want her.
At least, not enough to ask her to stay. Or to remain in the relationship.
Arianna felt the tears dry up and leave her slightly cold. He felt the chill in her skin and rubbed his hands briskly over her pebbled flesh.
“Come on, it’s getting late. Let me take you to dinner and we’ll talk more.” She allowed him to help her up and get dressed. She allowed him to take her to dinner and drink wine in the candlelight of the expensive French restaurant. She enjoyed the crisp white linens, the rich sauces and delicate fish. They toasted to her success and talked. But not about the promotion or the unspoken questions they both wanted to ask.
And didn’t.
Chapter Seven
Arianna laughed at her team members as they hummed Chicago around the conference table. She looked down at the farewell cake with a Rosebud garter belt discreetly tattooed around the edge. “Funny, guys, real funny. At least you remembered to make it chocolate.” She cut large pieces of the sugary treat and passed them around. Conversation revolved around work accounts, football season, and raunchy jokes. Tim handed her a glass of champagne from a cheap plastic glass. “Drink up, boss. You won’t get much free time once you hit Chicago.”
“Hmm, I’m already burning the hours on my smart phone and videoconferencing to get a leg up.”
“How’s yoga guy?”
She shot him a glare. “Good.”
“Hmmm.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tim threw up his hands in defense. “Nothing, just wondering. Are you guys gonna do the long distance thing?”
The wound throbbed, but she forked up a piece of cake and soothed it. “Nope. We’re making a clean break.”
Tim brightened. “I think that’s for the best.”
She stared at him with suspicion. “You’ve never been so interested in my love life before, Tim. What’s up?”
He shrugged. “I was worried about you. Sanders picked you for one reason. I didn’t want you to make the wrong decision.”
Unease settled low in her gut. Arianna didn’t want to ask the question, but like a train wreck unfolding before her gaze, she stepped on the track. “What are you talking about? What reason?”
“Come on, Arianna, it’s no secret you practically live, eat and breathe this job. You’ve slept on the conference room couch to meet a deadline. Sanders had a few people to pick from, but they all had families or girlfriends. No one had the killer instinct to give everything over to the job. But you did.”