Katie’s perfume announces her presence behind me. “Did you know they were going to fire her?” Her tone is accusatory, but her eyes bleed sadness.
“I just heard about it today, I swear.” I force myself to swallow a mouthful of sweet potatoes that I’d normally devour, but now can barely taste. All evidence of Rachel was already packed up and gone when I arrived at the cabin. She was shipped off on the first ferry out, apparently, as Henry had demanded.
“They’re a bag of dicks,” Katie grumbles.
That has been the general consensus around the staff lounge, the murmurs carrying to my ears. Everyone knows that Rachel is gone, and everyone knows exactly why. Rachel broke rules. Wolf Hotel is strict on following rules, and Mr. Wolf is a hard-ass who waltzes around with all his money, looking down on everyone, and not giving anyone a break.
“I’m so sorry. I know, it sucks.”
“I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. Come on, it was the lead singer of Death Jam! Wolf wants him telling everyone about how awesome this place is. And thanks to Rachel, he will. How can you have a rule about sleeping with guests, anyway? What she does off-shift is her business. Seriously! I get having rules about fucking your boss, but…”
Just keeping chewing your food, Abbi. Hopefully that will keep the guilty panic from showing on my face. Not that Henry and I have had sex but, if what he said today is true, it’s only a matter of time before we do.
The thought of it gives me heart palpitations.
“Did you try talking to him? Reasoning with him? He knew she was your roommate, right?”
“I’m not sure. But I know she gave that guy a bunch of high-end alcohol for free without getting permission.”
She rolls her eyes. “A few drinks and that’s stupid. They could have written it off, easily. You don’t fire someone over a few drinks.”
The way she looks at me, I feel like I’ve failed her. “I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything I could do. Plus, I was too busy begging him not to fire us.” That may not be completely true but it’s close. “Wolf found out about us using the spa room. A guest complained to Belinda.”
“Shit,” Katie mumbles. “What happened?”
“I got written up, but I told them that I made you do it, so hopefully nothing will land on you.”
“Damn. I heard Wolf was strict on employee conduct, but I didn’t realize exactly how strict until now.” She pauses. “How do you work with him day in, day out? I mean, is he always so rigid and law-abiding?”
I stifle the snort that wants to escape. A part of me wants to defend him, tell her that he did what he thought was right, that he has thousands of employees to keep in line, beyond the hundred or so here. But I’m afraid she’ll see through my defensive words to what hides beneath. Lies, to protect a hypocrite.
I don’t know what else to call him. By his words, I should be fired. And, technically, so should he, if it’s possible to fire the owner. According to his father, it is.
And yet I wasn’t about to stop what happened between us today. Nor will I do anything to stop it from happening again.
“He’s all right when you get used to him,” is all I manage to say, struggling to keep my face from going red. I’m still reeling from the sudden change in course. It’s mind-boggling, how quickly I went from quietly pining for Henry to being naked and on his lap. I guess there were signs; things that, were I not such an insecure, inexperienced person, I would have seen.
Who am I kidding? Never in a million years should I expect a man like that to be interested in a girl like me. But it appears he is. I can still feel how much he is every time I shift in my seat, where he stretched me with his fingers, and every time I press my fingertips to my lips to test the swelling there.
So what now?
Do I let this happen, knowing it’s wrong? That it’s against the rules? His rules? That it’s against everything that I’ve been raised to believe in? If we go any further than we have, it will change everything for me. And what about Jed? I’m thousands of miles away from him, making it easier to forget the hurt that he caused me, to assume I’ll be able to turn him away. But this thing—whatever this thing is between Henry and me—isn’t going to last past the summer. So then what? I go back to Chicago for my last year of college, sexually educated by the hotel billionaire himself, and I’m no longer hurt? A lifetime of memories with Jed no longer affect me?
What if Jed does come back to me?
What if I can get past the hurt he has caused, only to lose him because I slept with another man?
Katie sighs, eying the food line. “This really sucks.”
“It does.” My work phone beeps with an incoming message. It takes everything in me to not dive for it in my pocket, knowing it’s Henry.
She heard it and now glares at my pocket through narrow eyes. “I’ll let you get your message from the devil. I’m going to get dinner.”
She heads for the line and I pull my phone out.
How are you?
Before I can chicken out, I type:
I’m confused.
I want to rescind the text as soon as it’s gone. He’s at Lux now. Even though he asked, I’m sure the last thing he wants to get is an emotional “confused” text. What if it makes him regret what happened?
I sit there, biting my thumbnail. Trying not to wait for a response.
Ten long minutes later, as Katie’s heading back with her tray, the three telltale dots appear, showing me that he’s typing. My heart flutters with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.
I’ll clear up things in the morning. See you at seven.
Always so cryptic. I set my phone on vibrate and stick it into my pocket, restraining myself from messaging back because what the hell does that mean?
Is every day here going to leave me reeling?
~ ~ ~ ~
I step through the service entry door to the sound of Henry’s angry voice. “I don’t care what their focus groups have told them. This is not what my family’s business stands for!”
He leans back in his chair, rolling a pen between his fingers as he listens to the man give reasons for the strategy—demographics, the future, a successful Sandals campaign—over the speaker phone, the morning sun streaming in through the window, highlighting the streaks of golden brown in his hair.
Henry’s face is stony, his jaw taut. And yet he’s still oh so beautiful, dressed in a simple charcoal suit, white shirt and silver tie that coordinates well. “I don’t give a fuck what worked for Sandals. This is Wolf! We’re not a bunch of copycats and we’re not going ahead with this campaign, Blake.” That’s his six thirty call with Wolf’s vice president of marketing. At least he’s on schedule today. “Tell them to scrap it and start over and if they can’t do that, we’ll find an agency who can. Got it?” Without even acknowledging me with a glance, he gestures me over with that infamous two-fingered waggle.
I approach, unsure of how this morning is going to go. I’m guessing it’s not a good idea to bring up last night until I’ve tested the waters.
Blake grumbles an unhappy, “Yeah.”
“I’d like to see a new concept in a week for approval, since I can’t rely on my VP to get it right.” Henry slams his finger on the orange button to hang up. The finger that was deep inside me last night, bringing me to a quivering mess in mere minutes. I squeeze my thighs together with the memory.
“Morning,” I offer softly.
Finally, Henry turns to me, stress and anger painted across his face. “I have a meeting right now?”
“Yes. A conference call with Wolf Shanghai.”
He punches a couple of keys on his laptop and sends a meeting cancellation through Outlook.
Spinning his chair to face me, his legs splayed on either side of my body, he reaches beneath my skirt, his hands running up my outer thighs. His touch makes me wet almost instantly, the dull, needy throb between my legs appearing out of thin air as if it’s been simmering there for days without relief.
“Don’t wear these anymore,” he mutters, grabbing the top of my nylons and unceremoniously tugging at them until they slip to my feet. He reaches back up to grab the sides of my panties and pulls them all the way down my legs. “Or these.” I let out a small yelp as he grabs me by the hips and hoists me onto the smooth wood as if I weigh nothing at all. Peeling my shoes, nylons, and panties off completely, he demands, “lie back.” The soft, sensual Henry from yesterday afternoon is absent.
I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I stretch out across the hard wood surface. It’s not exactly comfortable. The sun is streaming down over me, forcing me to close my eyes and shield my face with my arm. It’s warm, at least.
Henry pushes my skirt up until it’s pooling at my waist and I’m bare. With hands gripping the backs of my thighs, he pushes my legs up and apart.
“What are you doing?” I ask with a shaky voice, acutely aware that I’m exposed in broad daylight and Henry is at eye level with the space between my legs.
“You said you were confused.”
I gasp at the first swipe of his tongue along my cleft, my legs closing of their own accord.
“No,” he growls, his firm hands denying me the moment of modesty, pushing them even farther apart, until the sides of my knees are grazing the desk’s cool surface and my pelvis is completely open to him.
“People will see!” I hiss, and yet I feel myself growing wetter with excitement.
His low chuckle vibrates against my sensitive pink flesh, only amplifying his tongue’s intoxicating strokes. “Don’t worry. No one’s going to see.”
His tongue dives deep inside me and swirls, eliciting a moan from deep within my chest.
“I was wrong,” he whispers, his breath skating across my most private spot. “Your pussy tastes even sweeter than your mouth.” He licks me again, this time flattening his tongue against me.
I’ve never had anyone speak to me like Henry does. It makes me uncomfortable and yet I crave hearing him say those words. I’m arousing him, and that makes me more aroused, more confident, more comfortable with what he’s doing to me.
I try to relax. With Henry Wolf’s face between my legs at 7:00 a.m.
It feels a thousand times better than I ever imagined it would.
His tongue leaves my core to give my clit some attention, twirling around it like Katie did for Rachel that night before he clamps down to suck and toy with it mercilessly until I whimper.
“Are you sore?”
“No,” I lie, reaching down to weave my fingers through his mop of waves. I am sore, but I forgot the discomfort the second I stepped into the cabin, longing for more of this.
He releases one of my thighs, but I no longer feel the urge to close my legs. I gasp as his finger slides into me, followed by a second.
“I’ve never felt a pussy this tight before.” He pushes a third finger in slowly and stills his hand, waiting for my body to adjust.
“Is that a problem?” I moan softly as his fingers find that same magical spot and he puts pressure on it again. I can’t help bucking into him, wanting to get closer, his tongue working my clit harder.
“No. It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
I smile and close my eyes with his words, my inhibitions quickly melting away. I no longer care that I’m half naked on Henry’s desk or that his face is in my crotch. All I want is to revel in the feel of his tongue against me, knowing that he enjoys it, and that it will end with a mind-blowing release from this pressure lower in my belly.
Henry slides his fingers out and reaches around to grip my thighs again, making my skin slick as he slides my body toward the edge of the desk and seals his mouth over my clit, sucking with punishing pressure.
“Oh!” I cry out, curling my fist through his hair as that tingle builds deep inside me, rolling my hips upwards, on the brink of another monstrous orgasm. I can’t get his mouth and tongue close enough. I grab the back of his head and pull him to me as I grind my hips against his face shamelessly.
My orgasm comes on fast and strong, making me arch my back and gasp aloud as the blood pulses between my legs.
I’m faintly aware of him kissing the insides of my thighs, his freshly shaven jaw leaving a slick trail of me along my skin. Strong arms pull me into a sitting position, and then I’m pressed against Henry’s chest in a cradle hold and he’s carrying me toward his bedroom.
I giggle, taking in his glistening mouth. “I’m all over you.”
“You are,” he whispers, no longer agitated as he was when I first arrived. He leans down to press his lips against mine until I can taste the odd muskiness. “You thoroughly fucked my face.” Setting me down on the bed, he adds in a low growl, “Now I’m going to thoroughly fuck that pretty, tight pink hole of yours.”
Flutters erupt in my stomach.
“Take your clothes off.”
He simply stands there and watches with hungry, impatient eyes as I unzip and slip off my rumpled skirt, letting it pool on the floor by my ankles. With shaky fingers, I unbutton my blouse and slip it off, then unhook my bra and cast it to the side.
And I’m naked in front of Henry once again.
“Watch me. Don’t be shy.” He takes his time, working at the knot in his tie, unbuttoning his shirt, shedding every article of clothing until he’s naked in front of me, stroking that intimidating, swollen cock of his.
I move to take him in my mouth again, to devour his delicious, salty cream, but he demands, “Lie down.”
As gracefully as possible, I scoot back and lie down. With only a moment’s hesitation, I pull my knees up and spread my legs for him.
“You don’t need to be nervous,” he murmurs, strolling over to open his nightstand drawer and pull out a condom.
How can I not be, when I look at that engorged thing in his hand, when I’m worried that I’ll be terrible, that he won’t enjoy this. I want to remind him that I’ve never done this before, that I hope he enjoys himself anyway, but I bite my bottom lip and keep those fears to myself.
Henry isn’t attracted to insecurity and, soon enough, I’ll no longer be a virgin.
I watch with fascination as he tears open the silver foil pack with his teeth and rolls on the clear rubber ring, his demeanor calm and confident. Not a single shake in his hands.
As small as the condom is, it stretches over his entire shaft.
He smirks. “You have a very curious look on your face.”
“I’ve never seen a real condom before,” I admit sheepishly.
He frowns. “Not even in Sex Ed?”
“You don’t teach with condoms when you’re promoting abstinence.”
He shakes his head and grumbles something incoherent as he kneels between my legs, his sheathed cock jutting toward the ceiling, his hand immediately going for my core. He pushes two fingers in and sighs, pumping in and out, stirring that potent musky smell in the air once again. “Fuck, you get so wet for me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I whisper shamelessly.
“You have a beautiful pussy,” he murmurs, his heated gaze on me as his hand works against me, sending tingles directly to my clit. “Spread a little wider for me.”
I pull my legs apart, my embarrassment over his words or his perusal of my most private area no longer enough to keep me from tempting him.
“I’ll go as slow as I can. At the beginning, anyway. After that, I can’t promise anything.” Lustful blue eyes settle on mine, and I feel him assessing me, silently asking me if I’m ready for this.
I simply nod.
And then suddenly he’s hovering above me, resting his weight on his elbows to keep from crushing me beneath his massive body. The head of his cock nudges at my opening.
In this moment, I sense a part of me slipping away. Jed’s sweet, innocent Abbi… She will be irrevocably lost after I let this man inside me, after I give him a piece of me that I can never get back.
I rope my hands around Henry’s head and pull his mouth down to mine, my tongue sliding against his in an erotic dance, kissing him with all the passion and emotion that I feel in this very moment.
His hard cock pushes into me.
I gasp as my body begins to stretch around it.
“Relax.” He stops pushing, letting me become accustomed to his girth. This feels nothing like one or two or even three fingers.
But I take shallow, calming breaths, trying to relax, to simply enjoy this moment, and the feel of his weight pressed against my body. My hands explore, to slide over his triceps, his bulging shoulders, and that delicious collarbone.
He pushes deeper inside.
“Fuck, you are so goddamn tight,” he growls, his jaw clenching.
“It doesn’t hurt you, does it?”
He starts to laugh. “No, babe. It’s just taking all my willpower not to shove my cock straight into you. But I need you to relax.”
“I’m trying.”
He leans down to kiss me, his mouth softer and more pliable, less animalistic and hungry. It’s an affectionate kiss between lovers. I feel myself responding, growing wetter, the tension beginning to slip from my limbs.
He edges his cock a little deeper as he keeps kissing me, coaxing my body into submission.
He’s so hard. I wonder if all men are this hard when they’re inside a woman.
His lips leave mine to skim across my jaw and along my neck, sending shivers down my torso. Instinctively, I arch my back as his mouth approaches my breast and he captures my nipple, sucking on it like he sucked on my clit earlier. I sigh with the wet, hot sensation, ticklish and yet erotic, stirring the blood between my legs more.
Opening me up even wider.
He puts all of his weight on one elbow, allowing him to fill his hand with my breast, massaging it gently as he toys with my nipple.
And he pushes deeper inside.
I’m so completely, utterly full with him, I don’t know how much deeper he can get. I’m afraid to ask, but I trust that he knows what he’s doing and he won’t hurt me. Not intentionally anyway. Not physically.
I don’t want to think about the future emotional downfall of this, even though my subconscious is already preparing for the inevitable.
He repositions himself above me, one arm hooking beneath my knee and lifting my leg up to curl around his back so he can push in. Oh God, he’s so deep. It’s so intense and though not painful, not entirely enjoyable.
“Breathe,” he whispers against my mouth. “I’m there.”
“You are?”
He smiles, slipping one hand beneath my neck while the other one reaches down between us to rub circles against my clit.
And then he slowly pulls his hips back, dragging his long, hard cock out of me, leaving me feeling suddenly empty.
But only for a second, and then he’s back, pushing in, that intense, almost unbearable fullness forcing a cry from my lips.
Over and over again, so slowly, Henry pulls out and thrusts back in, each time becoming a little easier, my body accommodating his size more easily, then more greedily, until I feel the urge to move my hips with him.
He moans, as if he’s been waiting for that moment and his body begins plunging harder into me, lifting my pelvis with each thrust. His hips slap against my thighs, the rhythmic sound competing with the creak in the bed.
My breasts bounce violently and I know they’re going to be sore later, but right now I don’t care, reveling in the growing slickness between my legs as my body accepts all of Henry. I wonder if all sex feels this incredible, or if it’s just sex with Henry that makes me feel euphoric and free.
My hands slip over his skin, now coated with a thin sheen of sweet as his hips pump into me again and again, mercilessly, his hooded gaze locked on my face, smiling every time a gasp or moan escapes my lips.
“Henry…” I moan, trailing my tongue along the salty edge of his collarbone.
“I want to fuck you harder.”
“Yes,” I hear myself whisper, because instinctively I know I want him to, though I have no idea what that may feel like, and whether I can handle it. But I know I want it.
His eyes are full of amazement as he pushes up and back to rest on his knees, hooking arms behind my legs to lift my hips, his cock never slipping out. He slips his thumb over my clit again, applying pressure and rubbing circles around it. “You’re going to come with me.” It sounds like a demand. One that I think I can meet, my entire body blushed and humming with uninhibited desire, that same sensation I’ve felt twice with him already hovering in the recesses.
His powerful body thrusts into me and I cry out, his cock so deep inside that it’s borderline painful, and yet the idea of him being that deep turns me on, makes me want him to do it again.
And he does, hard and fast, slamming into me relentlessly, lifting my body off the bed, pulling a gasp each time.
It’s when my body welcomes the almost violent intrusion, giving itself completely over to Henry, that the warmth begins to spread through my middle, the tingle creeps along my spine, the urge to spread my legs and open myself up as much as humanly possible as my muscles tighten hits me.
I cry out as my orgasm rips through my spent body.
A guttural sound tears from Henry’s mouth, his face contorting, the last few slams against me coming so fast I can’t catch my breath, and then I feel him swelling inside me, his cock pumping out streams of cum.
And I can’t help but fantasize that he was shooting into me, instead of the condom, the primitive core of me craving his seed.
Henry slides out of me. I’m too spent to miss him in me yet, but I’m sure I will. My body sinks into the fluffy, soft bedding, now damp from our sweat and bodily fluids, and I listen to Henry’s shallow pants. He still looks as glorious as ever, resting on his haunches with his eyes closed, his lips parted, and his head tilted back, that lickable Adam’s apple jutting out.
“So, that’s what sex is like,” I mumble, earning his laugh.
He rubs his hand along my leg casually. “That’s just the beginning, Abbi.”
I meet his eyes and see the promise in them as they rake over my naked, boneless body. He’s still erect. I’m beginning to wonder if this guy ever isn’t. “You look like an angel that accidently fell into my bed,” he murmurs. “If I could keep you here and fuck you all day, I would.”
As sore and used and exhausted as my body is, I feel his words between my legs like a teasing caress.
With a sigh, he climbs off the bed, pulling the condom off and depositing it into a tissue. He glances at the clock. “I have a breakfast meeting in fifteen minutes, don’t I?”
“At eight. Yes.”
He heads for the shower. If I could find it in me to move, I’d like to get in there with him. But he’s on a timeline and I’ve noticed he doesn’t like being late.
It’s a quick shower, and then he’s out, toweling off and redressing quickly.
“I need you to call Rich Rowley and ask him to contact Shanghai today for a status update, and then send me a full recap.”
Just like yesterday, the moment it’s over, the seductive, attentive Henry is gone, replaced by business.
“Okay.” I pull myself up, swinging my legs over the end. I’m not entirely sure I’m capable of standing.
He slips his arms through his dress shirt sleeves. “About your text to me last night. Are you still confused?”
“Honestly? I don’t know what I am right now.”
“Besides no longer a little virgin farm girl?”
My cheeks burn with embarrassment, making him chuckle as he buttons his shirt with expertly fast hands. He holds out his silver tie.
I stand and take it. “Seriously? You tied your own tie this morning! Unless you had someone else do it,” I joke, slipping it around his thick neck. But my face falls as that thought settles. Maybe he did.
“I know how to tie a tie.” He smiles, easing my paranoia. “But I like having you do it. Is it such an unpleasant job?”
“No. I enjoy it actually,” I admit. I feel his gaze on my face as I loop the ends and pull them through, adjusting the knot with my fingers. “There.”
“You know, you’re very good at it.”
“It’s not hard.” I slide the silky material through my fingers. “Especially when they’re such high quality.”
The pad of his thumb slides over my bottom lip. “I wasn’t talking about the tie.”
“Oh,” I sigh, and then my cheeks begin to burn. I’ve just had sex with this man and I’m still blushing over sexual suggestions. Will that ever go away?
“Remember,” he leans down to tease my lips with his own, “I’m Mr. Wolf outside these walls. Just another rich tyrant. You have no idea how good my cock feels driving into you. Right?”
“Right,” I whisper, shakily. “But you’re not a tyrant.”
“If anyone calls me a tyrant or an asshole, don’t defend me. In fact, if you want to agree with them, I’m okay with that.”
The staff gossip from last night rings in my ear. “Because what we’re doing is wrong?”
“Is it against Wolf corporate rules? Yes. Is it wrong?” He sighs. “Every time I think about you, every time I’m near you, I don’t give a shit about what anyone else thinks.”
His frank words make my chest swell. “You think about me?”
He chuckles. “Yes, too much, which is why this happened in the first place. I have a hotel to get off the ground so I had to either fire you or fuck you.” His hand slips behind my neck, rubbing it affectionately. “I didn’t want to fire you.”
“So, what now? What are we doing here, exactly?”
He grazes my cheek with his knuckles. “You’re getting over an idiot ex and fucking your boss for the next four months. I’m running a hotel and fucking my assistant for the next four months. That’s all.”
That’s all. There’s no mention of a relationship or exclusivity and now is not the time to bring it up. Perhaps before I spread my legs would have been a good time, but I already know that had he come out and said that he can’t give me either, I likely still would have allowed this to happen.
Because I feel happy and wanted and desirable for the first time in a long time. And that pain in my chest over Jed’s rejection?
It’s been buried under a heap of lust for Henry. The idea of spending the next four months working and sleeping with this man is enough for me right now, as shocking as that is for me to admit to myself.
“Will you get into trouble?”
His smile slips off. “Once the Wolf chain is officially handed over to me, no one is going to tell me that I can’t fuck you.”
“When is that supposed to happen?”
“June 30 is the official date. Just around the corner. Until then, no one can know.” He reaches up to cup my left breast, full and overflowing in his grasp, a “goddamn” slipping out under his breath.
He glances at his watch and then silences any possible next words with a peck on my cheek. Grabbing his suit jacket from a nearby chair, he heads for the door. “I’ll text you later.” His feet slow. “Don’t take anything I say or do while we’re outside these walls personally. Okay? I don’t mean any of it.”
I nod.
