I exhaled and spun back to face him. “I’m not playing games, Grey. I just don’t want to live in fear that if things didn’t work out between us I’d lose everything. Can’t you understand?”
“Frankly, no, I can’t,” he stepped close to me, like the day we’d first met, leaving less than a foot between us as he continued. “There is no ‘us’, Maddie. I’m offering to invest in your business. Nothing more.”
I held his gaze for a moment or two but as his intensity and focus increased, I broke away and looked down at the ground. I wasn’t even sure where to look.
Just… away.
Grey continued, “Do I want to throw you down on that dining room table right now and take you? Hell yes. Am I willing to do that and risk throwing away a business deal with you and an investment in something I believe has real promise? No Maddie, I'm not.”
I swallowed at his unlikely confession. His words stoked my carnal urgings once again. Shit, no matter when I was around him, they were always there, tormenting me. I fought every instinct I had to just fall into him and let him do with me what he would. Yet somehow, I resisted, as Grey continued to speak.
“Despite what you may have heard or have to come to believe about me, I don’t say things I don’t mean. I’ve made my interest in you, as well as your business, clear. I can keep the two separate. But if you cannot, then that’s understandable. You might think that I’ve got the world by the tail, that there’s never a downside risk for me in anything I do. But, in fact, all I have in life are downsides, Maddie. If you can imagine waking up every day wondering who is going to lie to you to get ahead, then you’ll have some idea of that it’s like to be me.”
I turned my head back towards him and locked my eyes on his. “I am not lying to you, Grey.”
“Nor I to you.”
I felt sick to my stomach. I hung my head and tried to think of anything I could say to tell him how sorry I was, that I didn’t mean it and no, I didn’t understand what it meant to be him. I wanted to say all that and more, but I couldn't because all those words weren’t necessary when only the next three would suffice.
“Grey, I’m sorry.”
“I am too, Maddie. I am too. But it’s time for you to go now.”
I nodded and turned my back to walk towards the front door of the room. As I moved, Grey trailed behind me until at last I reached the entrance. I stopped and turned back to face him for what I supposed was the final time, but before I walked out on him forever, I had to know if it was true.
Tugging my hair behind my ear, I made a quick motion with my tongue and moistened my lips.
“Did you mean what you said? About, you know…”
As he listened to me, I looked into Grey’s eyes. His eyelids moved with slow, rhythmic blinks as if they kept time to a metronome in his head. I felt my torso fall back a couple of inches until the cool sensation of the huge oak door pressed against my backside.
Grey only looked at me, but didn’t speak, as he closed the gap between us. Once he’d moved to less than a few inches away, he lifted his hands up towards my face and with a single smooth motion, cradled my chin in them. I felt a terrible lump form in my throat and then press against his fingertips as I swallowed it down. My heart raced with erratic pulses and thumps as he held me, for the first time touching his flesh to mine. “There’s no turning back,” he whispered. “If I get so much as a taste of you, I won’t be able to stop. Not until I’ve taken what I want. You must understand this about me. This is your one and only warning.”
His pupils bore into me as he spoke. I hesitated for a moment before my mouth drifted open and with a silent nod, I invited Grey’s lips to mine. Without hesitation, Grey crashed his mouth on mine and as he did, my lips spread open in eagerness. He continued to cradle my head in his hands as our tongues flicked and licked at one another, at last able to taste each other for the first time.
My hands pressed against Grey’s midsection and I squeezed the fabric of his shirt, tugging him closer to me. Beneath it, just beyond my reach, I could feel the hard ridges of his defined midsection. His musk permeated my senses as he leaned into me. I moaned when I felt the evidence of his arousal press against the softness of my curves. My hands continued to travel down his midsection until I reached his belt. Once there, my fingers moved with precision as I scrambled to free him from the restraint of his clothing.
While I worked to loosen his belt, Grey’s hands dropped away from my face and snaked their way down to my waist. As he dragged his fingertips along my torso, goosebumps erupted on my arms. After I’d released his belt, I reached down to his pants and started to unfasten them. As I did, I felt his hands travel up and down the center of my back as he searched for the zipper to my jumpsuit.
Gasping between kisses, I said, “It’s on the side.”
“Mmm, hmm,” he grunted.
In the less than a second, his hand swiveled back around to my left as he tugged at the zipper of my jumpsuit and pulled it. Afterward, he hooked my sleeve and pulled it off my shoulder. I wiggled from the other one and within a few more seconds, I stepped out of my outfit, leaving precious little fabric between us.
Grey licked his lips as I removed my bra, while he tossed my jumpsuit aside.
“My turn,” I said, as I stepped close to him.
Grey reached up and slipped his tie off with a flourish. Afterward, he grabbed his shirt and began to unbutton it, but I snatched his hand and pressed it against his shirt, pinning it there. Grey wrinkled his eyebrows, daring me to continue.
He reached down towards my hips and wrapped his large, warm fingers around me, pulling me close as I began to unfasten his shirt. My tongue flicked inside of my mouth as I looked down at his chest. One by one, I eased each button out and as I did, I leaned in towards his tan skin and kissed it, peppering him with my wet lips as I went.
His tanned flesh wrapped hard across the musculature of his midsection and twitched as I kissed and licked it. After undoing the final button, I released the fabric of his shirt from my fingertips. It fell open, exposing the chiseled center of his perfect v-taper to me. My eyes were drawn further down, and as lust raged inside me, I grabbed hold of his pants once again and unfastened them with haste, finishing what I’d started a few minutes before.
Releasing his grasp from my waist, Grey rocked his shoulders from side-to-side as he peeled his shirt away. It sailed to the ground and disappeared from my peripheral vision. Just then, I yanked with everything I had, pulling his pants and his boxer briefs down in one fell swoop. My eyes widened as his cock pulsed straight, long and hard before me.
Grey’s face darkened as he lurched towards me and lifted me up, sweeping me into his arms. He held me with his right arm, while with his left he swiped at the china and glassware on the table nearest the entrance to the room. Dishes flew like Frisbees, glasses crashed against the wall and sent shards in every direction, creating a terrific crash.
Unfettered by obstacles, he lowered me on the table and after hooking my panties with his fingers he slid them down and off my legs. Desperately wet, I arched my back up towards him as he stood at the edge of the table. He reached up, grabbed my thighs and slid me close to him. My breath hitched in my chest as he yanked my backside along the tabletop. No sooner had I pressed against his thighs, than the inevitable moment happened, stealing my breath from me entirely as it did.