LuckoftheDraw (10 page)

He took off his sunglasses and propped them on top of his head.
The blue of his eyes was shocking in the bright daylight, sending a little
shiver along her spine.

“Not long.” His gaze scanned her face, searched her eyes.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“We got to say goodbye the right way.” She felt a lightness
she wasn’t expecting. “You know there was never a decision for me to make,
don’t you?”

Alex simply looked at her.

“The choice was made the moment I drew your keys at the
party that night.”

“I know it was the luckiest moment of my life,” he said.

“I love you,” she told him, finding relief in finally being
able to say the words.

He gave her a cocky, lopsided smile that went straight to
her heart. “I know.”

He put his arm around her and the thing she’d been needing
all day happened. He kissed her. It started with a soft press of his lips to
hers and quickly became something heated and urgent.

“I think you should invite me inside,” he whispered after a
few minutes, one arm holding her tight against his side and his other hand
cradling the back of her neck. “Otherwise I’m going to show the whole
neighborhood how much I love you by making love to you right here on the front
steps.”

She slid the hand she had on the inside of his thigh a
little higher.

“I’m really tempted to call your bluff right now.”

In a flash he was on his knees on the step in front of her,
taking off his jacket.

“All right, stop what you’re doing,” she told him with
feigned impatience.

He stood and held out his hand to help her up, the wicked
gleam she loved so very much dancing in his eyes.

He helped her out of her coat in the foyer, and she helped
him out of his. They were grinning at each other like lovestruck fools as they
kicked off their shoes and went hand in hand up the stairs, much like they had
the night of the key party—side by side, neither of them speaking but far less
nervous than they’d been back then.

They undressed slowly, standing on either side of the bed
from each other, both of them watching as each part of the other’s body became
exposed. He crawled to the middle of the bed and she met him there, pushed him
gently so he was on his back and straddled him. He was patient with her when
she went exploring in a way she never had before, kissing his neck and his
shoulders, stroking every inch of his long arms.

He was grossed out when she kissed his armpit, which made
her laugh considering the things he’d once let her do to his asshole, and her
tongue in his belly button made him too twitchy. Petra purposely avoided
touching his cock as she tested his reaction to her licking the tender line
where his thigh met his body and won herself a deep moan.

She tried it on the other side and he took himself in hand.
By the time she kissed and licked and nibbled her way down his legs he was
breathing hard and stroking himself slowly while he watched, the sight of which
was just too much for her to take.

Petra stretched her body over his and he rolled so they were
on their sides facing each other, her cradled in one of his arms. She threw her
leg over his hip and eagerly took him inside her body. He made love to her
slowly, kissing her deeply, the arm wrapped around her holding her close. His
other hand moved lightly over her leg, stroked her bottom lovingly, trailed up
and down her spine with just his fingertips.

They spent the entire afternoon tumbling and rolling over
the expanse of her bed, laughing and moaning and sighing together. And when he
brought her to the most intense orgasm of her life what felt like several
glorious hours later, it was with her lying pinned beneath his big body, his
gaze intense with emotions that poured out and made saying I love you
absolutely unnecessary.

“This really isn’t necessary,” Petra said, her protest
halfhearted as Alex opened the hotel room door and swept her into his arms to carry
her across the threshold.

“Yes I know, but all of this wedding nonsense has me feeling
kind of romantic.”

He never took his eyes off hers as he maneuvered them both
through the door without either of them touching the frame.

She couldn’t deny the day had left her feeling pretty
romantic as well.

Ben and Rachel’s late-May elegant garden-party wedding had
gone off without a hitch. It had been a small afternoon gathering held in the
backyard of Ben’s parents’ house followed by a short afternoon tea reception.

They’d gone to an intimate dinner that evening, just the
bride and groom, the bridal party—Petra, Bree, Alex and Cooper—and Ben’s and
Rachel’s parents. Their parents went home after dinner and the six of them had
gone out in a chauffeur-driven limousine to different bars and nightclubs,
drinking and dancing the rest of the night away.

They’d finished the night at the hotel where Ben and Rachel
planned to spend their first night as a married couple before leaving for their
honeymoon the next day. Their wedding gifts to the bridal party were suites in
the same hotel so they could all end the night in the same place, then wake up
and have breakfast together in the morning.

“So what do you say, Pete? With Ben and Rachel married and
Bree and Cooper engaged, do you think we should jump on the bandwagon and talk
about getting hitched?” Alex asked.

He set her on her feet near the end of the enormous bed and
took off his suit jacket.

She turned her back to him and lifted her hair so he could
access the zipper on the beautiful, summery blue dress she’d worn in the
wedding.

“Oh now, Lexi my love. I vote we rebel and continue to live
in sin the rest of our lives,” she answered casually, shivering when he slid a
hand around her waist through the open zipper and pulled her back against his
chest.

“That’s my girl,” he murmured with a chuckle, his mouth
close to her ear.

Petra wrapped her arms around his neck and arched her back
so her ass pressed against the growing bulge in the front of his pants. She
sighed as she angled her head to better receive the kisses he was trailing down
her neck.

All kidding aside, if he asked her to marry him she would
say yes. There was no question about it. And while having a family had never
been on her radar, if he wanted children, she would give him as many as he
asked for, as long as she was able.

But there would be time to talk about marriage and a family
later. For the moment all Petra wanted to think about was what his hands and
his mouth were doing to her.

He helped her out of her dress, holding her hand as she
stepped out of the layers of tulle skirt, and carefully draped it over the back
of a nearby chair. She turned to face him as she pulled the straps of her slip
off her shoulders, letting that slide slowly down her body before she handed it
to him. He tossed it in the general direction of the dress without looking. It
missed and fell to the floor in a small pool of ivory silk.

He exhaled sharply. “I knew you had something good going on
under there,” he told her, his eyes slowly taking in every inch of her body.

Petra had gone all out, wanting to make the night as special
for the two of them as the day had been for Ben and Rachel. She’d purchased an
ivory lace demi bra and the skimpiest matching panties she could find that were
also wedding-tasteful, just for the occasion. The matching silk garter and
stockings had been too delicious to pass up, and she could tell by the look in
his eyes she’d hit the mark with the whole set.

“Stay there,” he said quietly, holding up his hand to stop
her when she took a step toward him. He toed off his shoes and unbuttoned the
cuffs of his shirt.

Petra took a step backward and laced her fingers together
behind her back. If he was going to undress before he touched her, she was
going to watch as every inch of his beautiful body came into view.

Alex pulled his tie open, slid it out of his collar and laid
it over her dress.

“It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful you are,” he told
her, his eyes holding hers steady as he opened the buttons on his shirt.

She found it unbearably sexy that he was wearing an
undershirt. It made the quick reveal of his tight stomach and strong chest that
much hotter when he took it off.

Her mouth had gone dry in anticipation or she might have
been able to answer him.

His belt came open. “And it never ceases to amaze me that
you’re mine.”

And then he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs
that were just barely containing that glorious erection of his. Her mouth
watered and she found she was able to use her tongue again. Couldn’t wait to
use it—on him more than for speaking.

“Why would you be amazed?” she asked, dragging her gaze up
from his cock to his eyes. “You and I were inevitable, you know.”

One, two long strides and he was right in front of her. Her
breath caught as his hands slid around her back and held her close to his body.

“There was a very long time there when I didn’t think we
would happen.”

Even after all the months they’d been together, she could
still see the uncertainty that came into his eyes once in a while. She would do
whatever it took, for as long as it took, to permanently erase that look and
the fears still lurking behind it.

“Let me show you again, Lex,” she said, sliding her hands
across the broad expanse of his chest, running them over his shoulders and up
his neck, walking backward and coaxing him into following. “Let me show you how
you belong with me, how you and I are meant to be together.”

She was already shaking with hot, insistent need.

“It’s in the way our bodies fit,” she added just before his
mouth closed over hers and he groaned and pulled her against him even tighter.
“It’s in the way you make me feel like there is nothing in the world but you,”
she whispered into his ear when he dipped his head to kiss her neck.

He lifted her and she wrapped around him as he crawled onto
the bed.

“It’s in the way you make me feel all this love,” she added,
full of emotion as they lay across the top of the thick comforter together.
“Alex, there’s so much I feel like I’m going to come apart with it some days.”

His breath hitched and held the way he was holding her gaze,
suspended in time.

He nodded, stroking her cheek with the backs of his fingers.

“Go ahead and come apart, sweetheart,” he said, his voice
thick with emotion. “I’ll catch you and put you back together. Every time.”

He kissed her then, right when she needed him to, slowly and
deeply. He pulled down the soft cups of her bra just enough to expose her
nipples, kissing one and then the other, taking turns licking, sucking and
pinching until she thought she was going to lose her ever-loving mind.

He made his way down her body, removing each piece of
lingerie carefully before treating her newly exposed skin to the same thorough
attention. She was begging pitifully by the time he removed the last of her
stockings and stretched his body over hers, his cock and his tongue filling her
up at the same time.

She let him drive into her slowly for a few minutes before
she dug a heel into the mattress and rolled them so he was on his back. She
rode him hard, fingers laced with his and head thrown back as he thrust up
slightly to meet her, bringing her to orgasm with lightning speed.

He gave her no time to recover before he flipped her onto
her hands and knees and brought her close to the edge of the bed, where he
fucked her from behind while standing. She came a second time, moaning his name
with his cock hitting all the right places inside of her and his fingers on her
clit.

When she collapsed he moved her so they were lying with
their heads on the pillows and took her from behind. He made love to her
slowly, one hand cradling her head as he kissed her and the fingers of the
other stroking the inside of the leg she had thrown back over his. He came
professing his love for her and for the way she made him feel, his words so
tender they made her heart expand with their warmth and light.

Eventually they made their way under the covers, her on her
back and him with his head on her chest, his arm and leg wrapped around her,
heavy and welcome.

“Have you thought about how you’re to occupy your spare time
now that you’ve played Cupid with all your friends?” he asked long after she
thought he’d fallen asleep.

She ran her fingers through his wiry-soft hair and said
nothing.

Alex’s head came up. “You are finished matchmaking, right?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek.

He went up on one elbow. “Petra? Who’s left?”

She hesitated long enough he narrowed his eyes at her before
she answered, “Jude.”

His eyebrows went up.

She stroked the arm he still had around her. “I couldn’t
help myself.”

Alex knew she and Jude had been in touch since he went back
to Haiti. They’d all been exchanging emails, and they’d had dinner as a group
with Rachel, Ben, Bree and Cooper when he came to Chicago for a brief stay a
few weeks earlier.

“Who did you set him up with?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Michel.”

He laughed, shaking the whole bed with it.

“I had to do it,” she started, half defensive, half
laughing. “Once Michel found out Jude and I were in touch and that we really
weren’t going to get back together, he started asking me about him all the
time. It got annoying, so I set something up.”

Alex looked incredulous. “Jude specifically said he didn’t
want you to set him up with anyone. I heard him with my own two ears. How did
you manage to pull it off?”

She grimaced. “I don’t know if I did. It’s happening
tomorrow night.”

He
tsk
ed at her and shook his head.

“What are we going to do about this crazy habit of yours?”
he asked, shifting so his hips were between her legs. “Does everyone you know
need to be paired up with someone?” he asked, his weight on his arms and his
big hands smoothing back her hair. “Is it so wrong to have happily single
people in the world?”

She had yet to tell him she’d recently set her sights on
fixing up his dad with the colorful, classy owner of the coffee shop that had
just opened in their neighborhood.

That bit of news could wait, she decided, much more
interested in his hardening cock as it settled against the inside of her thigh.

“You don’t think everyone deserves a chance at what we
have?” she asked, her body starting to tingle with anticipation.

“You mean happiness with the person they love more than
anyone in the world?”

In one very smooth move their bodies came together. The
light in his eyes made her heart beat with a joy she could not have imagined
feeling less than a year earlier.

“Yes,” he whispered against her lips. “I believe everyone
should be this lucky.”