Until my parents knocked on the door a little while later, reminding us both there was a real world out there intent on tearing us apart.
17
Grey
“The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.”
~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Instead of feeling blissfully fucked out after the incredibly satisfying sex with Ellison, I felt restless and awkward. I was caught up in the crossfire of two parts of myself: the half that had loved every minute of being that close to Ellison, and the half that insisted on protecting myself from future disappointment at his hands.
Maybe it was a good thing his parents interrupted us. At least it got me out of a potentially disastrous conversation about our feelings, something I had no doubt Ellison would bring up at some point. I wasn’t quite ready for that level of intimacy. Give me someone’s body and I could enjoy intimacy all day long, but sharing actual vulnerabilities with another person? No, thanks.
“What do they want?” Ells whined, turning his face into my side and hiding under my arm. “How embarrassing.”
I turned onto my side and kissed the top of his head. “It’s early afternoon. We can’t exactly hide in bed all day.”
“Says who?”
His father’s stern voice cut through the door. “I know what you’re doing, bringing that man here, and you can forget about it right now. Just ask Ian. He knows Grey Blackwood is just using you to get to him. If you think Ian is stupid enough to agree to that scheme, you’re off your rocker.”
I felt Ellison tense.
“Need I remind you, this scheme was your idea?” I asked softly, trying to keep my calm.
“I know.”
“You don’t believe his bullshit, do you?”
Ellison sat up and stared at the door before turning to me. “What? No. Of course not. It’s just…”
I sat up against the headboard and ran my hands into my hair with a sigh. “It’s just what?”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. If Ian thinks you’re using me to get the building, Dad’s right. He won’t agree to sell.”
Ells had a point. That could become a problem.
“Maybe you should talk to Ian,” I said, moving off the bed to take a quick shower. “See what he’s thinking. I can’t quite get a read on the man myself.”
Ellison moved over to the bedroom door and told his parents he’d meet them on the patio in a few minutes. Then he joined me in the shower.
“Don’t do that,” he said, flaring his nostrils in annoyance.
“Wash my hair?”
He pulled the shampoo bottle out of my hand and poured some of the liquid into his own palm before setting the bottle down. Then he reached up to wash my hair for me. “No, don’t put on your asshole mask,” he said softly. “Pisses me the fuck off. I can’t tell what you’re thinking when you do that.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to know what I’m thinking.” I closed my eyes to keep the soap out but reached for his hips to keep from losing my balance. His wet, warm skin felt just as good in my hands now as it had a half hour ago. I wanted him again.
He tsk’d. “Too bad. I don’t want things to get awkward between us, especially because of my parents.”
Ellison’s fingers felt amazing in my hair. I took a moment to enjoy the scalp massage before he leaned my head back to rinse off the shampoo. While he ministered to my hair, I moved my hands around to squeeze his ass. “I think we should ignore your parents and have more sex.”
Ellison’s lips pressed into the side of my neck before he took my earlobe between his teeth. “Me too. Maybe this time I top you?”
“I don’t think so,” I said, trying to sound casual. The truth was, I’d thought about it plenty. I’d let the Ellison from my dreams fuck me all day long. But the real Ellison? The one I wasn’t quite sure I completely trusted? No.
I was a hypocrite. I knew that. But there was still too much water under our bridge for me to let myself be that vulnerable to him.
“Maybe later,” I added, opening my eyes to judge his thoughts. He didn’t look bothered. “But the next time we fuck, I want inside you again. Unless you didn’t like it?”
His eyelashes flitted together rapidly. “No, no. I liked it. I definitely liked it.”
I grabbed his chin and kissed him hard. “Good.”
We washed each other slowly and thoroughly, taking the opportunity to learn each other’s bodies. I kissed his slick shoulders, his spine, the indentions over his ass cheeks. By the time I was considering rimming him, he was hard as a rock and ready again.
“No,” he said with a breathless laugh. “If anyone’s sucking anything, it’s me.”
He dropped to his knees and began sucking me off again, just like he had before. I was plenty hard for him, and seeing him on the tile floor looking up at me with spiky wet eyelashes drove me even closer to the brink. I thrust into his mouth without thinking. Ellison’s eyes widened in surprise, but his hands tightened on my hips and pulled me closer.
I gripped his head and kept thrusting until finally shooting in his mouth with a muffled grunt. It was quick and dirty, but something about it seemed to please Ellison even more than the sex we’d had before the shower.
I helped him to his feet. “You okay?”
He grabbed my face and kissed me so hard, our teeth clacked and my lip almost got pinched. The taste of my cum coated his tongue, and the sweet smell of gardenia soap surrounded us in the shower steam. I wondered if gardenias would always remind me of tasting my release on Ellison’s tongue.
If so, I’d need to buy several plants for my condo.
I reached down to jack him off but felt his dick hanging flaccid against his leg. He sucked in a breath and pulled back with a laugh. “Already came. Shower floor.”
I looked down just as the last of his release swirled in the water and got washed away.
Knowing he got that much enjoyment out of sucking me off made me feel ten feet tall. We finished washing and dressed for the second time in a matter of hours. When Ellison left to meet up with his parents, I stayed behind to call and check in with my actual assistant.
“God almighty, I feel like I haven’t heard from you in twenty years,” Marcel said when he answered the call. “I’m not used to going this long between summons.”
I let out a deep breath. “No shit. And I’m not used to going this long without working. Give me some updates on where we are with everything.”
Marcel went right into business mode, summarizing our current issues and giving me several important items of new information I needed, including the latest communications from Ben Aldeen’s pack of sharky lawyers. He asked for clarification on some things and corrected me on others. I sat down at the desk and pulled out my laptop so I could digitally sign a few important documents and respond to several emails he wasn’t able to take care of himself.
“Now give me the scoop,” he said. I could hear the grin in his voice. “You’re actually at the shore and actually taking time out for relaxation. It’s like a miracle, even though you’re probably not taking advantage of it the way normal people would.”