His Challenging Lover (13 page)

The weekend was filled with laughter and exploration. Xander showed her all of his favorite places on the lake including a water fall, a secluded field that was filled with sunshine and hiking along the trails and into the forests. Since the water was still warm from the summer heat, he convinced her get into the water with him, but she refused to do it without her bathing suit. By the time they were back up on the front porch of his cabin, she was naked and desperate for him to take her, unconcerned about anyone seeing them because he’d gotten her to the point where she didn’t care any longer.

When they weren’t exploring the trails and lake, they were exploring each other. She’d never even known that men like Xander existed. He loved cooking and they competed with each other to make better pancakes, each making their own batch then sharing with each other. For dinner, he grilled the chicken and she made a potato casserole and salad. He opened a bottle of wine and they sat in front of the fire, eating, talking and sharing until she couldn’t take his distance any longer and she crawled up onto his lap and made love to him the way she’d been thinking of doing ever since she’d seen the fireplace.

They talked and laughed, cooked and made love while intermittently exploring the outside world as well. By Sunday night, she didn’t want to be without him, feeling addicted to his large body being so close to hers.

When they were back in the city late Sunday night, he tried to convince her to come up to his place and spend the night with him, but she remained firm in her desire to go home. She didn’t have clothes to wear to work the following day and she didn’t want to be late, which she would be if she spent the night in his arms and had to rush home the next morning to change.

“I’ll make sure you’re on time,” he coaxed, nibbling on her ear until she was shivering again.

“You’ll just keep me awake all night again and I’ll be a walking zombie tomorrow, and I’ll definitely be late because you might wake me up, but…” she didn’t finish her sentence, blushing at the way he’d woken her up the previous two mornings.

He laughed and slipped his fingers underneath her flannel shirt. “You know I’m very good at waking you up,” he told her, his sexy voice close to her ear.

“You’re incorrigible,” she said and sighed as she forced herself to slip out of his arms. She drove home that night but she tossed and turned, not able to fall asleep without Xander’s arms around her and his body warming her own.

The following morning, she was late for work because she’d forgotten to put her alarm on and slept through when she would normally have gotten up.

She finally sat down at her desk only fifteen minutes late. When her phone rang at her elbow, she almost didn’t answer it, knowing that it would be Xander. In the end, she was too desperate to hear his voice so she lifted the receiver, smiling when she heard his gloating voice.

“I told you to spend the night with me,” he said softly and with that deep, sexy voice that she was becoming addicted to so quickly.

“How did you know I got into work late?” she asked, glancing to the open door of her office to make sure no one was coming in or might hear her.

“Are you kidding me?” he laughed. “I’ve been watching to see those long, sexy legs for the past few hours. I got in about six o’clock this morning.”

“You did not!” she laughed, not believing him for a moment.

“It’s true. I finally gave up on sleeping because you weren’t there with me. By five this morning, I gave up and just came into the office.”

She bit her lip since she’d had the same problem. “I…” she sighed, wishing she could be as open with him.

“I know, love. You had trouble sleeping too. But I’ll fix that tonight,” he said. “Have a good day today.” And with that, he hung up, leaving Autumn shivering and smiling like an idiot.

Thankfully, the day flew by and Autumn was frantically trying to clear up the last few issues so she could head home. She wanted to get dinner started so she could surprise him tonight. She stopped and looked around, frozen with the realization that she was just assuming he would be coming to her house tonight.

Her cell phone buzzed and she glanced down, reading the text message. “Leave now!” was all it said.

She laughed out loud as she read it, but she also shut down her computer and grabbed her purse. She was just about to leave her office when she got a mischievous idea in her head. Instead of heading towards the lobby which would take her to the bank of elevators, she turned instead and headed towards the stairs. Xander would probably be heading towards the elevators now as well. He was probably anticipating catching her on the ride down to the parking garage.

She smiled as she waved goodnight to Mary and then disappeared into the stairwell. She slipped off her heels and sped down the stairs, hurrying as fast as her feet could take her. She knew she wasn’t going to beat the elevator, but she wanted to beat Xander if at all possible. She had a plan in her mind. She wasn’t sure she was brave enough to follow through though.

She was out of breath when she reached the bottom and sprinted to her car. Pulling out of the parking spot, she thought she saw Xander in a group of other people exiting the elevator, but she wasn’t positive. She drove through traffic which, thankfully, was lighter at this hour. When she arrived home, she rushed up the stairs, pulled her hair up on top of her head and jumped into the shower. After taking a quick shower, she stood in front of her dresser with her underwear drawer open, now indecisive. If she were calculating things correctly, she didn’t have much time left so she grabbed a black, lace bra and matching underwear, pulling them on quickly. She applied a bit more makeup, a pair of black heels (the pair that he’d bought her earlier that week), and stood in front of her mirror, surveying her appearance.

She was pacing back and forth in her room, her hands twisting together nervously. When the doorbell rang, she froze in place, staring at herself in the mirror one more time. Her heart was beating so hard, she could almost feel it in her pulse. But no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn’t answer the door in her black, lace underwear and heels.

When the doorbell rang a second time, she grabbed her robe and pulled it on, tying it tightly at the waist. “You couldn’t have gotten a sexy, satin robe!” she admonished herself as she went down the wooden stairs to answer the door. “No, you have to get the frilly, flannel robe that makes you look like a creepy old maid with a hundred cats!”

She opened the door to find Xander on her doorstep. He looked angry and confused, and even surprised to see her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, still standing outside. His hands were on his hips and his broad shoulders looked tense.

Autumn’s hands moved to cover herself. She might be wearing a robe, but she knew what she’d intended to be wearing and she suddenly felt vulnerable. He looked like he was now regretting his suggestion that they have an affair. Where was the voracious lover of the weekend? Had he had enough of her? Already? That was so unfair. Other women at least got several weeks with him. But he looked like he was trying to tell her he wanted out after only one weekend.

“I’m fine,” she said, her hand gripping the belt of her robe. “Did you want to come in?”

He hesitated for a long moment before he said, “Do you want me to come in?”

Autumn thought she might just burst into tears. In fact, she felt the traitorous tears start to form in her eyes and she blinked rapidly to try and stop them.

Xander saw the look and the wetness in her eyes and he felt horrible. “Autumn,” he groaned as he stepped inside her townhouse, his hands coming up to pull her against his chest. “I’m sorry, honey. I don’t want to pressure you into something you don’t want.”

“What?” she gasped, pulling back so she could look up at him. “Something I don’t want?” she repeated. “You looked like you were changing your mind.”

He looked down at her, his hand moving from her back to cup her face, his thumb rubbing gently against her chin. “I didn’t see you leave. I thought maybe you’d stayed at the office to try and avoid me. Then, when you opened the door, you looked irritated, almost angry to see me.”

Autumn breathed in a shaky breath, letting her forehead fall onto his broad chest and almost laughed.

Xander didn’t understand what was going through her head, but he was tired of trying to guess. “Autumn, if you don’t want this, if you aren’t feeling anything for me anymore, just say the word and I’ll back off.”

She laughed softly, but it came out sounding more like a hiccup because she was fighting both the release of her despair and the overwhelming joy that he still wanted her. “I still want you,” she said against his shirt. She pulled back but still couldn’t look up at him. “Very much so in fact,” she whispered.

“Why did you look so sad when you opened the door then?”

One side of her mouth pulled away in an odd sort of grimace. “Because I was mad at myself.”

He shook his head, still not understanding. “What’s the issue?”

She sighed and stepped back, pulling at the tie to her robe. She couldn’t look at Xander, fearful of the amusement she would see in his eyes. “You have women throwing themselves at you all the time. This is a bit harder for me,” she finally said. When the tie was open, she held the edges closed with her hands.

“Autumn, I don’t think you understand about those other wo….”

He was going to explain about the women in his life, but she slipped the robe off of her shoulders, letting it slither down her body to pool at her feet. Xander was speechless as he took in her slender body with only the black lace covering the important parts.

He didn’t say a word. He stared. Hard. Autumn stood there, her nervousness increasing with his silence. Autumn couldn’t take it any longer. She had to know what he thought. If he was laughing at her, she’d just shrug off his amusement and pretend to laugh with him.

Slowly, with absolute determination, she lifted her eyes to his.

She didn’t see any amusement there. Only heat – and intensity – as he continued to look at her.

He cleared his throat slightly. “You rushed home to change.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“You didn’t rush back here to avoid me again.”

Autumn was so surprised that he would think along those lines that she moved closer to him, relieved when his arms automatically wrapped around her body.

“You’re beautiful, Autumn,” he groaned a moment before his mouth covered hers in a kiss that demanded complete submission. She was more than willing to give it to him, thrilled that he still wanted her.

When he lifted her into his arms and carried her up the stairs, she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his strong shoulder, her body throbbing and excited in anticipation of his touch. And she wasn’t disappointed. Xander was merciless, kissing every part of her body, teasing her and making her scream out with the need to find fulfillment. When he finally entered her, she sighed with happiness…until he started moving inside of her. Her fingers held on tightly, never wanting this moment to end. When it finally did end, she wasn’t sad at all. Just thrilled that he was still here, in her arms. She snuggled close, smiling in the dim light filtering in through the hallway.

“I liked your surprise,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest.

She laughed. “Maybe I’ll get confident enough to actually open the door that way in a few years.”

He chuckled as well. “I’ll look forward to that evolution.”

She thought it was sweet that he was even thinking he might still want her in a few years. And it warmed her heart whenever she thought back to the expression in his eyes when she’d dropped the robe. It gave her a bit more confidence sexually to know that he liked her figure that much.

“I’m hungry,” she said several minutes later.

He lifted her hair off of her shoulder and nuzzled her neck. “I can oblige.”

She laughed and shook her head. “For food,” she clarified. She sat up in the bed and looked around, wondering where her robe was.

“It’s downstairs on the hallway floor,” he told her, reading her mind and then laughing when she bit her lip in consternation. “You’re going to have to go down there naked to get it.”

She looked at him over her shoulder, eyebrows raised as she accepted his challenge. She slid out of bed and Xander pushed up on his arms to watch, smiling slightly.

She sat on the edge of her bed, debating how she could do this. “It doesn’t help if you’re staring at me,” she admonished him.

“What’s the point of walking around your house naked if you don’t let me watch?” he asked, pushing a pillow behind his head.

She couldn’t figure out how to do it and looked at the floor, wishing she had a throw blanket on her bed she could wrap around herself. And then she smiled triumphantly when she spotted his white shirt on the floor.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he growled, realizing too late what she had planned. But he was too relaxed and that gave her the head start she needed. She whipped the shirt up off the floor and got her arms into the sleeves before he could stop her. The next thing she knew, she was running down the stair, laughing so hard she almost slipped on her robe when he chased after her, grabbing her by the waist and tossing her over his shoulder. She yelped when he smacked her bottom and trotted right back up the stairs.

“You cheated,” he told her and tossed her into the middle of the bed. “For that, you’re going to have to pay the price.”

“What’s the cost?” she gasped through her delighted laughter. But she didn’t have long to wait. He kissed her, his body making her crazy.

Several hours later, she laughed as she pushed his hands away. “You can’t touch me again until I get some food,” she told him firmly. She stood up and grabbed her robe from the floor where she’d dropped it earlier, slipping her hands into the sleeves and tightening the belt around her waist. When she turned around, he was pulling on his jeans, buttoning the fly but he hadn’t put on a shirt yet. Even after hours of being in his arms and finding fulfillment over and over again, the man could still stun her with the beauty of his muscular shoulders, chest and stomach. He was cut like a Greek statue and she considered telling him to get right back into bed.