Once he finished washing and rinsing me, Damien shut off the water valve and carried me out of the shower. He grabbed a towel off the linen rack and made his way over to the sink. Setting me on the countertop, he draped the towel around my shoulders and began to dry me off. All the while, water dripped from his shirt onto the tiles around his feet. He seemed unconcerned with the mess.
I suddenly felt extremely shy, and I blushed when I peered up at him. "Do you happen to have a spare toothbrush?"
He bent forward at the waist to reach around me to grab his toothbrush from a cup holder before returning to me with it in his hand.
"I can"t use yours!" My eyes widened in horror.
"Why not?" His head jutted back on his shoulders, clearly missing my point.
"Because my mouth is dirty!"
His mouth twitched in amus.e.m.e.nt, and he appeared completely unfazed by my declaration. "So, wash it"-he waved the toothbrush at me-"with this."
When I made no move to retrieve the instrument from his hand, he demanded, "Now, Raelyn."
His stern voice made me want to dirty up his toothbrush, so I s.n.a.t.c.hed it from his grasp. "Fine," I huffed. "But first thing in the morning, I"m buying you a new one to replace it."
His brows rose, and he smiled. "Whatever you say, gorgeous girl."
I didn"t feel gorgeous since he"d just witnessed me hugging his porcelain, but that didn"t seem to stop me from reciprocating his delighted expression.
Damien grabbed the toothpaste, twisted off the cap, and smeared the blue-and-white paste across the bristles.
"Thank you," I said before sticking the toothbrush in my mouth to set about brushing my teeth.
He studied me, still holding the toothpaste, as I leaned over to turn on the faucet and lightly spit. Still feeling dirty, I sat upright and clutched the toothpaste from between his fingers to apply a second round to the brush. Damien"s soaked chest silently vibrated with amus.e.m.e.nt as I continued to brush my teeth.
When I finally felt minty and clean, I rinsed off his brush and scanned the bathroom. "Where"s your garbage can?"
He gently s.n.a.t.c.hed the filthy toothbrush from my fingers and replaced it in the cup holder before intently eyeing me. "Don"t even think about hitting me with any of your sa.s.s. The toothbrush stays."
"That"s just"-I shook my head in wonder-"so wrong."
He shook his head right back at me and swooped me up off the counter to carry me to bed. "Get over it. You can find a way to sanitize it in the morning, if it suits you."
"I"m going to scrub the s.h.i.t out of that thing with rubbing alcohol," I said, unable to hold my tongue.
"I"m sure you will." His tone was completely unfazed. "Whatever makes you happy."
Damien lightly laid me on the bed, removed my towel, and tucked me beneath the sheets. "Do you need anything? Water, saltines, anything?" Concern filled his features once again.
"No." I smiled. "I"m fine. Just tired."
He nodded his acknowledgment, and then he walked to the bathroom door while pulling his soaking wet shirt from his back. He tossed it on the chair, every muscle flexing with his movements.
I might have been tired, but that didn"t stop me from being stunned into silence as my body flamed to life at the sight of his bare torso. My greedy eyes traveled from one end of his shoulder to the other, drinking in the beauty of his ink.
Without glancing at me, he sauntered over to his dresser to pull out a dark-colored shirt.
"Don"t," I whispered, feeling my heart stop beating in my chest.
It destroyed me a little every time he concealed this part of himself from me. I knew something awful had happened to Damien and that he didn"t want to talk about it, but him hiding it from me hurt beyond any other physical pain I"d ever experienced.
His arms paused midair, and he gazed over his shoulder. From his side profile, I saw the instant his body tensed, and his jaw clenched.
"Please..." I swallowed thickly and dug for courage. "You want me to stay. And I want to lie with you...with nothing between us." I realized I was being unfair, but I was that desperate.
A visible tremor shook through him. It felt as though an eternity had pa.s.sed before he spoke, "Don"t touch them."
My heart swelled within its confined s.p.a.ce. He was going to trust me.
"I won"t," I breathed in relief. "I promise."
"Don"t ever break a promise to me, Raelyn." He slowly lowered his arms and pivoted to face me. "So, don"t make one if you can"t keep it."
"I keep my promises," I vowed with the utmost sincerity.
"As do I. Always." His voice was reverent. He released a rush of air before he dropped the shirt and came to his side of the bed to climb in.
I met him in the middle of the mattress. At first, I thought the mattress shaking under me was him shifting about, but it wasn"t. The movement was coming from his body trembling.
He lay flat on his back. After a second, he began to turn on his side and then appeared to think better of it. "f.u.c.k," he cursed under his breath, raising his hands to run them through his hair. "I really f.u.c.king need you to keep your promise, Raelyn. So, please, turn on your other side."
Tears burned the back of my eyes. It wasn"t because he didn"t want me to face him. It was because of the palpable anxiety and agony from the mere thought of me accidentally touching his scars. I had a feeling that this man hadn"t been touched since those tattoos were engraved on his flesh. And before that had to be from the injuries themselves. I felt guilty for requesting that he leave his shirt off and for the anguish this was causing him.
I rolled over onto my opposing side to face away from him. My knees came to my chest as I curled into a ball, distraught over the idea of hurting him. It instantly vanished when Damien laid his arm over my center and hauled me to his chest. His nose nuzzled into my hair.
I closed my eyes and reveled in the warmth of his bare skin along mine. My heart was smiling. My body was content. And my soul was utterly at peace.
I"d nearly drifted off into a tranquil slumber when I heard Damien"s voice.
"Nothing has ever felt so right, Raelyn." He pressed his lips into my hair to kiss me. "Nothing...until now."
I couldn"t agree with him more, and at the same time, his admission frightened me with its truthfulness.
I awoke to feeling as though my body were on fire as Damien"s finger repeatedly teased my s.e.x with soft and slow undulating circles. My torso automatically arched against him on a desperate cry for more, and I immediately felt his hard erection against my backside.
"Damien," I moaned, pushing my c.l.i.t into his hand, craving more friction. I"d only been awake for seconds, yet I was already aching and wet for him. My body was primed.
"You"re so f.u.c.king gorgeous when you writhe beneath my touch." His hot breath seeped over my neck as his lips trailed kisses across my skin. "Someone"s feeling better," he noted.
I could tell by his voice that he was grinning.
"Yes," I replied breathlessly. All I could think about was the heat and liquid desire surging forward and pooling at my core.
"I"m glad to hear that." His voice was gruff with unabashed l.u.s.t.
Without pausing his motions, Damien shuffled behind me. I heard the unmistakable noise of a plastic wrapper tearing behind me.
My hands came to the back of his head to impatiently grasp his hair as he quickly sheathed himself. Then, he whipped the covers off of us before his palm came to my hip to shift the angle of my position on the mattress. He snuck one leg between mine to force my thighs apart, completely exposing my center.
I gasped when he rocked his pelvis forward and ever so gently slipped into my slick heat from behind, filling me to the max. The feeling was incredible. My hold on his hair tightened as I bowed at the waist to let him sink even deeper inside me.
"Christ, you feel amazing." His palm came to my neck and lightly glided down the length of my spine while gently pushing me forward. His touch left a tingling shiver in its wake.
He pulled back along my sensitive tissues, and I impulsively squeezed around him at the sensations he drew from me. His spare hand went to my breast where he firmly kneaded it before rolling my nipple between his thumb and forefinger on another forward thrust.
"This is going to be quick, Raelyn," he gritted out through clenched teeth, as though trying to maintain control.
My blood sizzled in my veins as it headed straight for my groin, making my s.e.x tingle and throb. There would be no delaying my o.r.g.a.s.m. I could spontaneously combust just from the sound of his rough command.
As he kept delivering powerful drives with his hips, his grasp on my breast tightened, just to the brink of pain. But when he rewarded me with a precise angle of his hips, driving deep, pleasure rushed forward, wiping the trace of discomfort away.
His hand skimmed up my chest to my throat where he softly seized my jaw to bring my mouth to his. Those gray eyes flashed with emotions. Unimaginable pa.s.sion seemed to fuse our gazes together.
"I want you to feel every part of me while I"m buried deep inside you"-he reinforced his words with another grind of his hips, penetrating the depths of me-"with everything I have to give you"-he tenderly kissed me, adoringly, as though he were trying to heal my damaged heart-"and I want you to take it all."
His words practically tore me in two, and my heart expanded against the armored walls I"d worked so hard to rebuild. It was becoming difficult to tell where he ended, and I began. I was drowning in him.
He hadn"t unveiled much of himself to me, yet I could sense this was his way of doing so-with his body and the way he touched me.
As he continued to move in and out of me with silky smooth thrusts, my arousal increased with every unsteady breath and each uneven heartbeat. I"d never felt so taken before. I felt like I was his. And I savored the emotions he invoked in me.
"Let your body tremble for me." He placed a chaste kiss on my lips before gently sucking the lower one into his mouth. "Only me," he possessively reiterated with conviction in his tone. "You"re mine, Raelyn," he growled against my mouth as I felt his length hardening inside me. "Mine."
His strides became more urgent, as if he were f.u.c.king me senseless. I lost my breath as my stomach muscles constricted. I was wound too tight.
"Give me what I want," he whispered.
I briefly wondered if he meant me or my release.
I didn"t get long to ponder because my need took over when Damien surged forward one last time with a meaningful yet hard thrust.
My head rolled back on his shoulder as my o.r.g.a.s.m hurtled over its peak and threw me into oblivion. I barely heard Damien"s guttural groan as his pace slowed. He pumped languidly, prolonging my o.r.g.a.s.m, as he found his own release.
Damien wrapped his arm around my center and let his face lay alongside mine as the both of us breathed heavily. As my heart slowly returned to its normal rhythm, I felt that something prominent had just transpired between us. But I swiftly shoved the thought aside, knowing I wasn"t ready to acknowledge any such feelings yet.
Surely, the o.r.g.a.s.mic haze was clouding my head.
As we still lay in bed with my back pressed to Damien"s chest and his arms wrapped around me, I found it hard to resist the desire to turn in his hold. Instead, I focused on the feel of his bare skin along mine as my mind began to wander.
I had to break the silence and address an issue that was bothering me. "Damien?" I felt nervous about disrupting our perfect morning.
"Yes?" His hand continued to caress a trail up and down my arm.
"We need to talk about Cale." I was unsure of how to go on. I needed to hear Damien"s feelings on the matter.
His movements paused as he asked, "What about him?"
"I need to know what your intentions are for him and how you plan to recuperate your money from him."
His head shook behind me, a clear sign of denial. "I"ll deal with Cale in my own way. There is no reason for you to be concerned."
Needing to see his eyes, I maneuvered myself to my stomach next to him. Damien rolled onto his back as I supported my upper body weight on my forearms to gaze at him.
"It worries me a great deal, Damien, when the future of my company and its reputation are on the line."
He pulled his brows together in a frown, looking rather adorable with a pout on his facial features. "You think I"d put your company at risk?" he asked, sounding hurt.
"You have every right to sue Cale to regain what he stole from you."
This wasn"t about me and Damien. It was about Damien taking equitable actions against Cale"s wrongdoing. It wasn"t Damien"s fault that I was tied to Cale with Adam & Jennings Accounting Services.
"Raelyn"-he sighed-"I"m well aware of what will happen to you if I pursue Cale legally." He brushed his finger along my cheek. "I wouldn"t do that to you, so don"t ask me to."
I couldn"t just accept the easy way out. I"d take responsibility for my disloyal business partner. "Then, you"ll let me pay you and settle my company"s debt," I stated.
"It"s not your debt." His eyes narrowed, causing me to squirm.
Gone was my gentle, attentive lover, and here was this overbearing s.e.xy alpha who was about to put me in my place.
"We are not arguing over this anymore, Raelyn. I will not accept your money. Ever. End of."
My lower lip quivered, overwhelmed by the gravity of our situation. "But it"s so much money, Damien. That"s not fair to you."
"Don"t get me wrong. I will handle Cale-on my own terms-without it impacting you in a negative way." He brushed his index finger over my lower lip, instantly soothing me, and he smiled softly. "Besides, do you have any idea what Heathman Enterprises earns per calendar year? I can a.s.sure you that sixty-seven grand is nothing to me, so my actions toward Cale will be based solely on principle, not because I need to recover my losses."
I wanted to ask him to expand on what he planned to do to Cale, but it wasn"t my business to pry if it didn"t directly impact Adam & Jennings Accounting Services.
As if sensing my lingering anxieties, he brought his arms to my sides and pulled me onto him. I rested my cheek over his sternum and listened to his steady heartbeat.
"Your company will be okay, Raelyn," he said reverently, running his fingers through my unruly morning locks. "I promise."
I didn"t understand how that could be true when my business partner owed him an unfathomable sum of money, but I was quickly distracted when I realized where I was. Damien had placed me on his chest-his bare chest.
I slowly rotated my head to press a gingerly kiss over his heart before nuzzling back against him while being extremely mindful not to reach up and touch his shoulders or biceps.
I felt my body rise as Damien inhaled a deep breath and held it. Every muscle in him went taut, as if he realized where I was.
I had no intentions of going higher up his body and breaking my promise by touching his scars. I"d never break his faith in me, yet I wanted to show that he could trust me to shower him with affection while respecting his wishes.
So, I kissed the same spot once more before lowering the side of my face back to his skin. My body lowered as Damien released all the air from his lungs.
I let my eyes drift shut on a smile at the small progress Damien and I had made last night and this morning during our lazy Sunday. I just wanted a few more harmonious minutes in Damien"s arms where I was hidden away from the rest of the world.
After relaxing in Damien"s arms in complete bliss until nearly noon, he and I showered and dressed. His reservations about me seeing his bare shoulders returned as he covered himself with a navy-blue cotton T-shirt before we left his bedroom to make a late brunch together. He had already opened up to me, so I wanted to let him be.
Once we finished eating, we continued our day with two movies and half of a bottle of Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2009. It was a mouthful to try to p.r.o.nounce, so I focused on its exquisite taste instead. I also learned that Damien had a severe weakness for comedies and action-packed adventures.