Note from the Author 16 page

“Eden.”

Eden raised a hand to the site of her pain, center left side of her chest and found the muffled battering of her heart against her damp hand. “We had a deal,” she said quietly, distractedly soothing at the dull ache. “It’ll be good for both of us.” Abuse only produced more abuse, in some form or another. This was why Eden needed to leave him. She didn’t want to be the victim who later became the abuser. She would cut off both arms before she ever laid a hand on Liam, but words damaged just as deeply.

“God, fucking listen to us. Ruining our girls’ night talking about fucking men who don’t deserve us! Well fuck that and fuck them.” Jenna wobbled to her feet, gripping Eden’s shoulder when she teetered. She thrust her glass up in the air, the contents spilling on Eden, who deciding to come to her feet lest she end up covered in margarita followed in best friend’s antics. “Let’s fucking drink to us and the awesome dildos that can rightfully take their places.”

Hell yeah fucking right. “Power to the Dildos.” Yes, she very damn well clinked to that. Tossing the too strong margarita down the hatch like it was a shot, she laughed as Jenna grabbed her hand and they jumped around like silly school girls to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping”. It was fun being this uninhibited. Jenna ended up using the empty bottle of tequila as her microphone while Eden gyrated drunkenly in front of her to The Divinyls “I Touch Myself”. Eyes closed, mouth moving sensually over those provocative lyrics, Dominic was inclined to scoop her over his shoulder and play out the fantasy for them both. He exercised restraint, however, when he stepped out onto the pool deck. Though he had eyes only for Eden, Dominic’s cock noticeably stirred at the sight of the two women, and the very lurid picture they presented rubbing up against each other. It was a very strong, very male reaction that he instantly stamped down.

Her eyes fluttered open and from beneath dark lashes that curved beautifully in half-moons, she met his gaze levelly, the sultriness of the stare she pinned him with had blood rushing down the cock that instantly stood to salute her. “Look, Jen,” she called, there was an added smokiness to her voice that Dominic found sexy as hell, “it’s my baby daddy.”

“Hello,” he said in greeting, noting that his own voice seemed a bit off as he approached their private party. “I didn’t realize you were having a party.”

“Oh yeah…private party,” she looped her arm back to wrap around Jenna’s neck, her full mouth drawing up. The smile of a temptress. “But there’s room for one more. Wanna join?”

“You’re drunk.”

She caught her full lower lip between her teeth, fluttering those lashes before reaching forward for his tie, wrapping it around her hand to tug him forward. They towered over her as she stood sandwiched between them, and for a brief moment, Dominic’s gaze looked over her shoulder at an equally drunk Jenna, who looked back at him with interest, waiting to see exactly what he would do. “Come on, Dom, I know you want to…” He stood close enough to her that she could feel the prominent length of his arousal. “Should I get on my knees?” she breathed and Dominic’s imagination sparked at those words as his gaze trained on her luscious mouth, tinged pink, like forbidden fruit calling him to taste, calling for something far more indecent than a kiss. “You’re way too overdressed...”

This was a trap. Warning bells clanged, horns blared, and Dominic was wise enough to heed the warning. “Party ends now,” he delivered curtly, easing his tie out of her hold. “Jenna head inside,” he called without a second glance back as he dragged Eden behind him.

She resisted halfway up the stairs, and Dominic’s caveman etiquette kicked in as he hauled her over his shoulder and continued on his way unperturbed. A firm, well deserved smack on her plump ass stopped her flailing legs. He walked past her bedroom. And with their son sleeping peacefully with the housekeeper, Dominic headed towards the master. He dropped her unceremoniously on the bed and heard her giggles. She fought her way up to her knees, tendrils of hair framing her flushed face as it loosened from the ponytail she’d gathered it in. Her radiant smile was three parts alcohol and one part lucidity. “You could’ve had us both, you know.” She crawled to the edge of the bed, her eyes focused on him, making Dominic her prey.

“That is not what I want.”

“Liar.”

“Eden.”

She failed to take caution. “You know what bugs me about you?” she continued on heedlessly, sitting on the edge of the bed now, facing him completely. “Every time you’re near me, I feel exactly like this.” She slipped a finger into the belted loop of his pants and tugged him towards her, bracketing his strong, masculine thighs with her smooth caramel legs so that she faced nothing but groin.

“Like what?” he prompted, staring down at her with hooded eyes as she worked at the buckle of his belt.

“Like I’m naked and drunk, riding a roller coaster without the proper restraints.” She tugged down pants and briefs with surprising strength, freeing his rigid cock from its dark confines. “You have a beautiful cock, Dominic.” The sultry smokiness of her voice retuned, and he sucked in a sharp breath as she took him in a firm yet gentle hold, her fingers wrapping around it, moving indolently up and down the shaft. “It’s long, and thick, feels like steeled velvet. I love that you’re cut. I love the golden brown color, and,” she caught her lip between her teeth and thumbed the head, using his pre-come to skate over the slit, “this bulbous tip. Do you know how good it feels when it slides in between my wet lips, the way its curves slightly to the right so that it strokes and hits my G-spot so fucking right? I should mass produce it and let other women experience your beautiful cock.” She met his gaze, that kittenish smile reeling him in.

She was drunk, he reminded herself. If she were in her right mind, she wouldn’t be doing this. He needed to stop her. Now. A touch on her shoulder to push her away turned into a tight grip as she lowered her head and took him into her mouth in one swift motion, swallowing him to the balls.

Honorable intent flew out the window at the engulfing heat of her talented mouth. He stared down, enthralled by the dark head bobbing up and down, sucking and releasing, lips slicked with spit as she tongued him down and took him back in, her stroking hand working in perfect sync with the sweet, hot suction of her heavenly mouth. She cupped his balls, and he released a long groan, his hand in her hair clenched reflexively, while he moved his hips in shallow thrusts.

He filled Eden’s senses, completely male. With her hand at the base, she moved her mouth, lips, tongue and hand working simultaneously to increase the sensation. Pre-cum coated the back of her throat, salty, clean, all Dominic. She swallowed it and continued, her head bobbing up and down with vigor.

She made these sexy, throaty little moans as if his cock was the best thing she’d ever had in her mouth, and the vibrations sent tremors up and down his shaft. Dominic wove a hand through her hair, and his eyes narrowed to slits as he watched his cock disappearing in and out of her mouth, her reverent tongue licking him from base to head and back again. Dominic curved a hand to her cheek, his thumb stroking her soft cheek edging closer to her hot, wet lips that stretched wide to accommodate his girth. The controlled suction of her beautiful lips, worked together with the firm grip she had on him, as she went down again, relaxing her jaw and working the muscles in her throat to massage at the tip.

“Fuck.” His balls drew up and tightened, with a curse Dominic anchored the hold in her hair as he thrust shallowly in her mouth, against her throat, making her choke. So close. Too damn close. Denying himself release, he pulled away from her, the release of his cock from her mouth making a wet popping sound. He gripped her hair to tug her head back and bent down to devour her mouth, plunging his tongue between the seam of her lips to taste strawberries, tequila and his cock, a heady cocktail that went to his head.

“Turn around and get on your hands and knees.” Triumph surged through his veins as she carried out his bidding and smiled iniquitously as she presented the delectable globes of her round ass. The bottom half of her swimsuit hid what he wanted to see most, but one simple tug on the strings took care of the issue, the offending piece of clothing falling to the bed, instantly forgotten. She was perfect and he stared, mesmerized at the masterpiece of her backside. His green eyes stroked her as his hands would, starting from the flawless slope of her back to the smooth contours of a waist that rounded out to form her heart-shaped ass. “Spread your knees and arch your back,” he said throatily, and wanted to reward her when she carried out the command without hesitation. She stretched her back like a feline, dipping down so that her ass stuck out for him allowing Dominic a view of her glistening pussy lips and the sweet, tight little bundle of her virgin hole.

Presenting herself this way, in this very vulnerable, very primal position, handing her submission on a platter for him humbled Dominic to the core. He would make it good for her, he vowed quietly to himself. He wrapped a hand around his rigid shaft to ease the strain, while he moved behind her. Palming one ass cheek, kneading the yielding plumpness, before prying it apart. She made a desperate sound, a sweet little mewl as he teased slid the tip slowly up and down the drenched lips of her pussy. “You’re so wet,” Carnal appetite thickened his voice to a growl as his warm breath grazed sensually against her ear. “I could drown in this pussy...”

“Dom...” she purred, arching so sweetly for him. She tipped back against him, needing him to dive in. But he denied her the fullness, continuing the steady, teasing slide of his tip down the center of her pulsating cunt. He was driving her insane.

“Dom... Please...” she begged so prettily for him, and Dominic wanted to give in, give her exactly what she wanted, but he wanted to pay homage to the perfection of her body that was a pleasure he would not deny himself.

“Soon, sweeting, I promise,” he soothed. She moaned softly as he licked her ear, dropped soft warm kisses across her shoulder blades, he moved down her back, a wet tongue and hot mouth traced and kissed each vertebrae, making a slow and steady progress down her spine. It was a torturous progression that boiled the blood in Eden’s veins as she waited in bated anticipation. Breath stilled in her lungs, eyes widening when he drew apart her butt cheeks and ran his tongue down the wet crevice, from clit to the puckered rosebud of her hole and back again. It was undoubtedly one of the most erotic things he’d ever done to her body, and Eden didn’t know how to breathe properly. She gripped the sheets beneath her hands and bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep from screaming.

It was like a shot of adrenaline straight into her vein. It was blood vessels dilating, her heart galloping uncontrollably in her chest, it was gasping for breath when the air she drew in wasn’t enough. He owned her body, ate it like sun ripened peaches and drank the flowing juices of her weeping womanhood with his rapacious tongue. There were fingers there, slipping between the folds to dive deep into her blistering heat, while his thumb worked at her puckered hole, his wicked, wicked mouth showing Eden exactly how very little she knew her of own body. There was nothing but the explicitness of this act, the hyper awareness that made her feel like each inch of her body was struck by lightning, that killed her and gave her life all in one electrifying jolt. He was merciless and perfect, inviting her to shove her hips back and ride his face.

Death was imminent, sweet cataclysmic death seduced her into the gaping, welcoming arms of her orgasm. She plummeted, shattered into delicious little pieces on his tongue and fingers. Recuperating wasn’t in the stars for her as he gripped her hips and plunged into her depths in one long stroke. Pulling her arms and folding them at the small of her back, he held them there with one large hand as he sank in deeper, so deep that it hurt so good. Ass high in the air, face down in the sheets, Eden was at his complete mercy, filled to absolute capacity with his cock, and she whimpered, the vulnerability of her position giving her a sweet high.

“I’m going to beat this pussy, Eden, and you’re going to scream my name.”

And she did, a promise made completely true as he fucked her like a porn star. She screamed like the world was falling, his repeated strike against her G-spot making her see stars. It was too damn much, his jarring thrusts so deep that she could taste him, spurred her fall and she orgasmed on every inch of his cock.

* * *

“Well, your resume is very impressive, Eden,” said Kennedy Archer with a smile, pulling her horned rimmed glasses from her eyes, she set them on the desk in front of her and regarded Eden down an aquiline nose. Eden returned her smile with a bright one of her own, still unable to believe this was even happening. She pinched her hand beneath the desk and knew by the sting that she wasn’t dreaming. Archer Realty was the second largest real estate brokerage in the state, specializing mostly in high end real estates and corporate properties. This was huge! The excitement Eden currently felt was hard to contain. They’d called her two days ago asking if she was available Friday morning for an interview and she’d been so stunned that she’d nearly blown it. But a quick stammering recovery had reassured the receptionist on the phone that she hadn’t called a nutcase.

She’d been in a virtual state of shock, even when she and Jenna had lined outfit after outfit for her to try on. They’d settled on a pair of grey, wide leg tweed pants, a white, sleeveless ruffled top, and her favorite black heels. She’d gathered her hair in a topknot with tendrils framing her face and had kept the makeup light. She wore very little jewelry, only a gold watch around her wrist and gold stud earrings. Shedding the image of waitress in the revealing outfit, Eden reverted back to the woman she’d been a few months ago. The woman who’d built a career and had been filled with drive, but had been knocked down by circumstances was once again. She was back on her feet. Ready and willing to work hard for what she wanted.

“Thank you, Mrs. Archer.” She beamed.

“There’s no need for formalities, Kennedy will do fine. We’re all very casual here, and I think you will definitely be an asset to our team.”

Eden’s eyes widened. “I have the job?”

Kennedy stood. “Yes, if you want it.”

“Oh my God, thank you!” Eden curbed the impulse to hug the other woman and instead reached out to shake her hand.

“I’m sorry I have to rush you out, but I have a meeting uptown in fifteen minutes and need to get going. Franca, our receptionist, will give you a tour of the place and tell you what you need. “

“Thank you so much for this opportunity. You won’t regret this,” Eden said with sincerity as they walked out of the office together, Kennedy holding the door open for her.

“I know I won’t,” she said confidently. “Aside from your stellar resume, you came highly recommended by one of our best clients.”

Eden’s brow furrowed slightly, but her smile remained. “May I ask who?”

“Dominic Armstrong.” Even before she said the name Eden knew. “We’ve procured a few international properties for him. Have you worked closely with him?”

No, but she’d had his tongue in places that would make most people blush ten shades of red if they knew. Feeling her face warm, Eden hastily shook the image from her head. “No, but I know who he is.”

A little while later found Eden in her favorite flower shop, her feeling of elation from this morning now marred by the thought that Dominic had been the sole reason Archer Realty had even called her. Anger, confusion, and resentment formed a horrible storm that raged in the pit of her stomach. It was a horrible feeling to know that she probably got the job not based on her own merit, but only on Dominic’s clout. That feeling only grew worse the harder she thought on it, realizing no one had called her for months when she’d initially passed out her resume. And then suddenly she gets this amazing opportunity without so much as a “we’ll take a look at your resume and call you.” Places like Archer Realty didn’t just hire small time real estate agents. And despite her many accomplishments, Eden knew she was small time. She didn’t doubt her abilities to do her job; she knew how to close on a home. What troubled her was that Kennedy didn’t necessarily know that.

“Thank you for shopping at Jade, have a nice day.” Eden spared a halfhearted smile for the salesgirl as she grabbed her newly purchased bouquet and walked out of the store.

The drive to the cemetery from this side of town took a little longer than usual but the ride afforded Eden time to think. Damn him for interfering in her life this way. Just when she thought she had him figured out, he does something like this and shifts the ground beneath her feet. This was why she couldn’t trust him. Why she couldn’t risk loving him like every inch of her heart yearned to do when there was too much fear there; fear that he acerbated when he did things like this. Wrenched control of her own life out of her hands and manipulated it to his satisfaction, making her feel helpless and lost. He conquered her completely in the bedroom, and she allowed him that, surrendered her body in the way she could not surrender her heart and permitted him to take her to heights unseen. But that was the only place she wanted him in control. Everything else she could manage, but he didn’t understand that. And everything reverted back to his disastrous childhood where he’d been made the most powerless. Eden sighed in frustration, pulling at the hair tie in her hair to loosen the pressure at her scalp. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, she shook her hair out and massaged her throbbing head. She arrived a short ten minutes later and parked her car close to the curb.

There was one thing that she could always count on when she came here: the tranquility of the cemetery. The warm air blew sweeter, the sun shined a little brighter through the leaves of giant trees that circled the grounds, and the singing birds made it feel like she was stepping through another realm. She had to walk up an incline to get to her mother’s grave and with the heels it was a little difficult, but Eden persevered. When she finally made it to her destination she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the man standing over her mother’s grave. Her heart skittered along her ribcage because she knew it was him. He had his back to her, the shirt he wore fitting perfectly to his broad frame was tucked into fitted dark slacks. He had his hands in his pockets with his head bowed low in deference. She heard the timbre of his voice but could not immediately make out what he was saying. Stepping a little closer, Eden saw a bouquet of flowers resting on the ground directly in front of the headstone, the same flowers that she’d seen many times before but had never known who’d brought them. Until now. Stunned couldn’t even begin to describe how she was feeling in that moment, but even more pressing she wondered why he was here.

“What,” she cleared her throat, “what are you doing here?”

He turned his head to the side to look at her. “Paying my respects.”

“Why? You didn’t know her.”

“She was your mother, Eden; there is no other reason than that,” he supplied. “There is something freeing in speaking to the dead.”

“Do you…you know where your mother is buried?” Eden regretted the question the moment she uttered it when she saw him tense. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

“I don’t know and I don’t care to.” His frigid tone raised goose bumps on her skin.

“I’m sorry.” She involuntarily stepped closer to him, her shoulder grazing his arm. “This is the last place I ever expected to see you, Dominic.”

“The night you left…I came here, on the off chance that you might be here. I was very desperate to have you back.” he admitted dryly. “I’ve fallen into the habit of coming here when I need to clear my mind.”

“She was a good listener.” Lowering herself to her knees, Eden rested her bouquet next to the one already there. “Always gave good advice, not that I ever took it.” She smiled tremulously, the dull ache of her mother’s absence making itself known. “But she was a really good mom. She always made sure I had enough.”

“You miss her.”

Eden came to her feet, standing once again next to him she blinked away the tears that refused to ebb. “A lot,” she choked.

There was nothing for a long moment after but the sound of chirping birds and a breeze rustling quietly through the trees. And then she felt it. The ghost of his touch whispering on the back of her hand before interlacing their fingers, his large hand nearly engulfing hers. “I’m sorry she was taken from you.” The sincerity of his words went a long way in soothing the ache, and in that instant, Eden was glad that he was there with her.

* * *

“I would like to take you out later this evening, if you are willing?”

Eden could tell that it was hard for him to ask rather than tell her and although it was weird for her too, she found herself pleasantly surprised by his awkward attempt. “Where to?”

“I’d like it to be a surprise.”

Eden gave him a sidelong glance, wondering what he was up to. Any attempt at gleaning that information from his impassive features proved futile. The man could give a statue a run for its money.

She thought about it long and hard and “no” flirted on her tongue but, “okay,” came out instead. Her signals were all crossed, and she knew she was sending out all the wrong ones, maybe even leading him on a little, but a very large part of her was liking this gentler side of Dominic, even if he was a consummate control freak.

“I didn’t need your help finding a real estate job, Dominic, especially with a prominent brokerage like Archer Realty,” she stated sharply.

“I did nothing but point them in your direction. If you received the job it was strictly on your own merits,” he retorted laconically, his logic grating. Eden hated that he made her feel ungrateful and she hated even more the embarrassed flush that swept her cheeks at his silent admonishment.

“This intervening in my life thing you do…it has to stop,” she said after a moment, sweeping her hair behind her ear.

“It’s a habit I’m too old to break. Old dog, new tricks and the like,” he imparted with infuriating calm.

Eden sighed in exasperation and pulled her car door open with far more force than she intended. “I’ll see you home,” she said curtly, slamming the door with the same vigor, stepping on the gas, and taking off without a second glance back.

* * *

“He’s trying really hard to get back in your good graces, Ede,” Jenna intoned from Eden’s bed, flipping through the magazine without much care to what was inside. “I bet your letting him hit it again.”

Eden blushed down to her roots and focused a little too closely on her reflection. “Shut up, Jen.”

Jenna laughed. “Fucking knew it. But I don’t blame you. I don’t’ know how you lasted this long, the man has been practically eye fucking you since you moved back here.”

“What do you think about this one?” Eden asked, turning so Jenna could look at the dress.

The blond woman scrunched her nose in distaste. “Are you going to church?”

Eden sighed and rolled her eyes, tugging the dress over her head and tossing it on the pile of rejected clothes on the floor. “At this point I’d be better off going naked.”

“Something I’m sure Dominic would not mind. How about the nude bandage dress?”

“You don’t think it’s too much?”

Jenna snorted. “Better than the granny dress.”

The bandage dress fit her like a second skin; it was unforgiving in displaying every unflattering flaw of a woman’s body, right down to the awkward stomach pooch. But luckily for Eden, it simply accentuated the litheness of her body, giving her curves where there was little. It made her ass look amazing. “So where’s he taking you.”

Eden was about to shrug but thought better of it as Jenna brought the curling iron to her hair. “I don’t know. He wanted it to be a surprise I guess.”

“He sure knows how to make a girl feel special, though.” She sighed wistfully, meeting Eden’s gaze in the mirror. “He’s trying really hard.”

“I know and that’s what makes this so confusing and frustrating. He wasn’t like this before—the wining and dining, and being kind and gentle—that’s not the Dominic I know.”

“Maybe that wasn’t the real him. Maybe he had reasons for being a prick. I don’t know what went on in your marriage, Eden, and I can’t speak for him because I don’t know him, but I think he’s trying to show you that he cares about you. People can change.”

“Not that quickly. I’m not trying to be a bitch. I just want to protect myself. You don’t know how easily he can hurt me.”

“I know, trust me, Eden, I know. But you can’t let fear of heartbreak keep you from something that might be really good. I’m not saying you have to proclaim your undying love, but maybe you both deserve another chance at this?”

What she said made sense. But saying things was far easier than actually carrying them out. Eden wasn’t ready to walk the talk, not by a long shot. “I don’t know, we’ll see.” It was all she could manage. Time would tell. It had certainly healed over some wounds, but there were others that could not be so easily mended.

* * *

She never ceased to take his breath away or make his cock stir, and it took incredible restraint to keep himself from hauling her back up to their bedroom to see exactly how much of that dress was painted on her Venus body. Dinner was at Dulce, Franklin’s restaurant, and Eden found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on her meal with his smoldering gaze heating her skin. She might as well have been naked with the way he was eye fucking her.

“Stop it.” she gritted through clenched teeth, staring at him pointedly across the dimly lit table.

“Stop what?”

“You’re staring.”

He angled a brow. “Am I?”

“You know you are, and I want you to stop.”

When he ran the tip of his tongue across his full lower lip, Eden’s pussy clenched reflexively, dampening her thong instantly. “Do you?”

“Dominic.”

“Should I tell you what I’m thinking about?” he queried, his voice deep and dark and everything sinful, rousing Eden’s passion. The wicked gleam in his hooded green eyes did not bode well for her at all.

“No,” she said curtly. She didn’t want to know. And she lied to herself so prettily.

His chuckle indicated that he knew it, too. She didn’t even remember what she had for dinner or dessert, all that consumed Eden was Dominic’s intrusive stare and how wet it made her.

“I wanted to spread you on that table, hike your dress up, slip between your panties, and have you for my dinner,” he murmured huskily in her ear before helping her inside the passenger seat.

It was mean of him to say that to her knowing she couldn’t do anything about it. Frustration kept her silent and kept her legs clenched together, hating how embarrassingly wet she was. She fumed all the way up until the moment she saw where he’d taken her, and her anger burned away, the ashes blowing away like plumes of smoke against the dark night sky.

Eden instantly recognized the club, and as though plucked from her memories, it appeared utterly unchanged. She’d been nineteen the last time she’d come to Better Blues. Halting at the threshold, Eden stared at Dominic bemusedly as he held the door for her. She struggled to find words, but they failed her, so she simply shook her head and walked inside.

Everything was the same, from the lazily strung white Christmas lights adorning the low ceiling, to the distinct scent of pot laced patchouli that hung over the dense crowd. The seating was minimal, the prime real estate being the ten small tables with mismatched chairs at the center of the room, which were all occupied. But as luck would have it, a couple abandoned their seats in the far left corner of the room and they were close enough to nab it before anyone else could. Eden looked around her surroundings as memories flooded back.

For a good year of her life, this place had been her escape, her haven when she’d needed a break from life at home, school, and the constant worrying about money. Every Thursday, sitting in these worn, wooden chairs with the scent of patchouli laden in the air, open mic night had ushered in poets who’d shared a piece of themselves and singers who’d awaken the music in Eden. Until one evening she’d finally scrounged up the nerve to expose herself, expose her voice. It had been one the most frightening and exhilarating experiences of her life, and when she’d finished, the thunderous applause had fed her soul. Singing had been fun back then, freeing, and it had been sheer bliss when her mother had attended. However rare her appearances had been, Eden had delighted in the short three minutes when her mother had heard her sing. She’d been Eden’s biggest fan, hell, her only fan.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 590