Scandalous (9 page)

Without speaking, without planning, they moved simultaneously to touch each other. Dominic slid his hands up Cristal's sides, his fingers sliding easily over her sweat-slicked skin, and began to caress her breasts. Her eyes widened as he tweaked her nipples with his fingers and thumb, never tearing his gaze from hers.

At the same time, she moved her hand out and grasped his steel-hard member, stroking it in precisely the same rhythm that he played with her nipples. God. Her hand felt so good, so right, moving up and down his shaft. She sped up and slowed down in intervals, and he matched his pace to hers as he played with the tight and rock-hard nubs of her nipples.

The most powerful element of the entire silent exchange, though, Dominic recognized, was that they never tore their eyes from one another – not to aid in positioning their hands, not to roll them back in their heads and groan - not even to squeeze them shut in ecstasy. Nothing could come between the power and electricity that was flowing between them, not through the pleasure that their hands were giving each other, but through their expressive eyes.

The intensity only made Dominic want, need more connection and he bent his head ever so slightly to begin kissing her again. As their tongues pressed against each other and their lips moved frantically together, their hands began to take on lives of their own, roaming all over one another's bodies, the frenetic pace of their movements increasing along with the rapid pace of their breath.

Step by tiny step, Dominic gradually moved the two of them closer to the nightstand and then quickly dipped his hand down and grabbed a condom from the bowl beside his bed. He expertly ripped the package open and slid it on, and, as soon as Cristal realized what he was doing, she used her expert fingers to help him unroll it the final way down his length.

When they had gotten him completely prepared, Cristal climbed onto the bed, scooting herself until she was positioned in the middle of the large expanse of the King size bed, and then lay back on the pillows. He watched her, in awe, fascinated by the beautiful and graceful way that her body moved.

When her head met the pillow, she looked up at his face, meeting his eyes. A slow smile spread across her lips, a wicked smile – and Dominic felt an electric charge of lust power through the length of his body.

As she continued to look at him and to smile, she slowly spread her legs further apart, opening to him, inviting him inside of her.

He moaned, and then moved swiftly, climbing atop her to accept the invitation. As quickly as he could, he positioned himself at her opening and then thrust inside, putting every bit of the growing intensity of his feelings for her behind that single thrust. He buried himself into her up to the hilt and then paused there for a moment, supporting himself above her on shaking arms, feeling her muscles pulse around his rock hard erection.

He lowered his head down beside her, burying his face in her silky soft hair. Again, he made a conscious choice to commit every detail of this moment to memory. The fresh, citrus smell of her locks, the silken hot sensation of her inner walls throbbing around him, the hard tips of her nipples brushing his chest every time she took a heaving breath – he wanted to remember this forever, exactly what it felt like in the instant before he began to stroke in and out of her, before the rhythm and friction of their bodies took his mind to another plane of consciousness that he would never be able to fully recall.

He wanted to remember what it felt like to be inside of her – just BE inside of her.

When he could stand it no longer, he begin to move himself within her. Slowly at first, subtly. Just the smallest of pulses within her velvet walls.

He could tell that she felt every minute movement, however, because as soon as he began, she started to moan in earnest.

Finally, she gasped, “Oh, God, Dominic...what? Do you want me to beg? Fine, you've got your wish...please...PLEASE...I can't wait anymore!”

He smiled, and granted her wish.

He increased the speed and pressure of his strokes until he was pounding into her mindlessly, his head an unthinking swirl of sensation, only vaguely aware of her screams of pleasure and encouragement.

The one thing he did become clearly aware of was when she arched her back, grabbed him by both sides of his face and looked right into his eyes, gasping, “I'm gonna come again...yes, Dominic...make me come again...”

He groaned and lost all control, emptying himself in a rush of pleasure and ecstasy as he felt her body spasming in pleasure all around him.

He collapsed on his back on the bed, breath still hitching, body covered in a fine sheen of sweat, and felt her snuggle into his side, throwing an arm over his chest.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her even closer to him, kissing the top of her head and stroking her hair.

“That was amazing,” he whispered.

He felt her become still in his arms, although she didn't stiffen – that was a good sign. He knew she must feel she needed to say something in return, but he also knew that she must feel conflicted. Cristal was not one to hand out compliments lightly.

Finally, with an effort to keep her voice neutral that he could hear as she spoke, she said, “I don't usually come twice. Thanks.”

He smiled. She was crazy if she thought he was going to just let that go.

“Really?” he teased lightly, “Because I seem to recall a certain night where you came...oh, I don't know...four or five times, I believe?”

He felt her relax a little in his arms, and she even giggled a bit. “True,” she admitted, and he could hear the blush in her voice.

He still wasn't quite ready to let it go.

“So, what do you have to say to that, Ms. Hart?” he said seductively.

She looked up and gave him that patented Cristal Hart wicked grin.

“I'd say you'd better rest up. You've still got quite a bit of work to do tonight.”

--- ~ ---

Cristal woke the next morning very slowly. Normally as soon as she was conscious she was “up and at 'em” as Red would say. But not this morning. No, this morning she was having a hard time even making it out of bed.

Hmm, she thought as she luxuriated in the sensation of yawning and stretching her arms over her head, sex must make me sleepy.

As she sat up to get her day started she was struck by several things at once.

One: Dominic was already gone.

Two: Her body ached in places she had no idea muscles even lived.

Three: She needed to get her proposal for buying Red Hot over to Red as soon as possible. She wanted hers to be the first one he saw.

This realization definitely put a little pep in her otherwise languid step.

Of course, it's not as if she needed to put the proposal together from scratch. It had been sitting in her cloud account, being constantly updated, since Red had first begun to bring up retirement. All she needed to do was stop in at Kinko's on her way to the office and print it out.

She grabbed her phone on the way out of Dominic’s room and saw that it was 7:15. She had only gotten a few hours of sleep, but it had been a very deep sleep. They had finally passed out from sheer exhaustion around 4 am.

Well, good, she thought happily. Since Dominic had to be at work by 6, then there was no way he had time to go and drop his proposal off before starting his shift at the construction jobsite. She knew he wouldn’t be late for a job, even if it was just a cover job. He was definitely a man that stood by his word.

She happily walked back to her room down the hall to grab her clothes before heading into the bathroom. As she stepped through the doorway, she was stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes alighted on the bed.

It was still made from the day before, since no one had occupied it. Sitting on top of the cream-colored down comforter was the most beautiful arrangement of exotic flowers Cristal had ever seen.

Obviously, she knew who they were from – the possibilities were somewhat limited – but she did check to see if there was a note attached. She picked them up and the aroma washed over her. They smelled fresh and bright, like a little piece of heaven. As she leaned in to bury her nose among the abundance of plush floral display, she did see a small note nestled in between the vibrant petals of the flowers.

She gently plucked it from the bright bed where it lay. She couldn't help but smile as she worked the small, rectangular piece of cardstock out of its cream envelope. It read “Hey Beautiful! Hope you have a great day, see you tonight. Don’t miss me too much!”

Cristal knew that, for most girls, this considerate gesture would make their day. The man they had
just
spent the night with takes the time to, not only procure flowers for them, but also to write a note that's sweet...if not utterly charming? Yeah, that was serious day-making material.

For most girls.

But Cristal was not most girls. Her first reaction upon seeing the flowers and reading the note was, “Shit! If he had time to do this, then he sure as
hell
had time to go drop off his offer to Red.”

Damn. Cristal needed to get her rear in gear.

--- ~ ---

Cristal carefully parked in the back parking lot of
the Red Hot agency. She was reasonably certain that she hadn’t been followed. Not only were the roads fairly deserted, making it easier to spot a tail if one existed, she also had good instincts about that kind of thing. She always had some sort of physical reaction when she was being watched or tailed. It could range anywhere from something as severe as her entire body tensing up to as subtle as light prickles dancing up and down her arms or the hair on the back of her neck standing up – but, whether intense or subtle, there was always something. She had experienced none of these responses on the half hour drive to the Red Hot offices.

Nevertheless, that still didn't mean that it wouldn't be just plain stupid to walk right in through the front door!

She quietly made her way through the back of the building, which also housed a nail salon, an MMA studio, an insurance and a therapist's office. She felt a thrill of anticipation shoot through her, and she realized how excited she was that the day had finally come. She could finally put this offer in front of Red. She had been dreaming of it for two years now.

Red had never made any guarantees that he would sell to her, but she had a good feeling about her chances.

She knew that the company was his baby and she wanted him to feel good about passing the torch, as it were, so she had put together a comprehensive ten year business plan. This way, Red could see in black and white where she wanted to take Red Hot in the future. She hoped that seeing what good and capable hands he was leaving the business in would ease his mind a bit about letting it go.

And, hell...if it gave her the extra edge? If it pushed him, even slightly, in the direction of selling to her and not Dominic? Well, that was just icing on the cake.

As she walked into the rear entrance of the agency, she saw that the security system was already disarmed and realized that she wasn't alone. That had to be Raiza- she was always the first one in the office. She grimaced. Her feelings about running into Raiza were a mixed bag. On the one hand she wanted to see her BFF, just as she always did. But, on the other hand, she
really
did not need to deal with Raiza sussing out what had gone on between her and Dominic the night before, as she almost certainly would.

At the thought of the previous night's adventures with Dominic, a dreamy smile replaced the grimace, spreading slowly across her face as she remembered all the things that his hands, his mouth, and (her personal favorite) his tongue had done to her.

The man had a myriad of hidden depths and talents, both of which were making it very hard for Cristal to keep him at arm’s length.

Knowing this assignment had a very real, and very imminent, ending date helped a little with that - but not as much as she might hope that it would. Even after they weren't living in the North Hollywood house together, they would still be working side by side. Even with her metaphorical arm stretched as far as it could go, she didn't think that the “arm's length” she could generate was going to be very effective. In short, she wouldn’t be able to keep the kind of distance she would
need
in order to keep her emotions firmly in check. That kind of distance required NO contact, regardless of how brief and innocent seeming.

It had been difficult for her to get over the one night they had shared together almost two years ago, and move on with her life. It was difficult, but she had managed. She couldn't do it again! Not only was she still, in many ways, exhausted from the monumental effort she had had to expend to get over him that first time, but now there was another element in play. Getting over
him when it had just been insane chemistry and hot sex was one thing - but getting over him now that he had opened up to her and actually showed he cared about her? Next to impossible.

As she passed Dominic’s office, a thought occurred to her. Maybe she
would
get the space that she needed to maintain detachment, depending on what happened with the buy-out.