His left hand found its way back to my face, cupping my cheek, and his other hand wrapped around my waist, simply holding me to him. I tightened my leg around him, still needing to be as close to him as possible, knowing he was going to pull away eventually and I'd have to give him up forever.
When he did tear his lips from mine, it was only far enough away to say my name against them.
"Lena," he whispered. "I'm sorry." His words we pained but his touch was still soft. "I didn't want this to happen here."
"It's a little late for regrets," I said, letting my leg drop back to the ground.
"No," he said, gripping me behind my knee and pulling my leg back to his hip. "I could never regret touching you. I just regret doing it here. I wanted you in my bed, Lena. I want you naked, lying down, completely bare and spread for me. Open for me to see and feel. I want every piece of you, and I want to be able to make you scream my name without worry of who might hear. I didn't want to fuck you with my hand in a broom closet."
"Then why did you?"
"He had his hands on you," he repeated his words from earlier.
"He's my husband." I repeated mine.
"I don't care what some stupid piece of paper says, Lena. You've been mine since the very first time I saw you walk into that bar."
My eyebrows scrunched at his words. "You couldn't have watched me walk into the bar. I beat you there. I watched you come in."
His thumb came up and traced over my bottom lip. "Will you always underestimate me?" He said the words with a smile, but I felt the word ‘always' like it hit me in the gut. We wouldn't have an always. We had a ‘right this instant,' and it was closely followed with a ‘this is so terribly wrong.' I couldn't help but feel like it was the best wrong I'd ever had.
"I beat you there by about twenty minutes, but I was waiting outside. As I watched you walk in to that bar, I knew everything in my world was about to be flipped upside down, and I followed you in anticipation of that."
"Preston," I said softly. "This," I said, using my hand to motion between us, "It doesn't change anything." I took in a breath, hoping the words didn't hurt as much coming out as it did holding them in. "When I walk out of here, we can't be together again. It's too dangerous. I can't even believe I let this happen, here, with Derrek just in the other room." I put my hands back on his chest, trying to push him away again, but his hands were firmly planted on my thigh and waist, and he wasn't letting go. "I need to deal with my marriage. I need to put that behind me before I can even start to think about being with someone else."
My leg fell back down as his hand moved from my thigh to cup the side of my face, then moved just slightly into the hair pinned back, pulling me closer to him.
"You need to let me worry about Derrek. I'll get what you need. But you can't push me away, sweetheart. You've already let me partway in, and I plan on getting all the way in soon. In every sense of the word."
"What if I don't want you in at all?" I tried to use a voice more forceful and strong, but I was sure I sounded shaky and unsure.
He pressed me up against the wall again and I could feel his cock, rock hard still, between us. I whimpered involuntarily, unprepared to feel him hard and huge against me, and as he leaned down and nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, he ground his hips into me, my traitorous eyes fluttering closed.
"You're a shit liar, Lena. You're dripping for me right now." Even as he said the words, his hand ran over my opening, making me cry out, a sound of pleasure mixed with surprise. He pushed his fingers into me again, slowly, and I couldn't hold back my moan as I exhaled. "Here's what you're going to do." His fingers slid out of me and my eyes snapped open, looking to him for explanation. "You're going to walk out of here," his fingers pushed back in, making my mouth gape open. Then he pulled out and made a slow circle around my clit, eliciting more cries from me. "You're going to walk right out of this gala." He lazily slipped his fingers back in and then out again. "You're going to get a cab home and then wait for me." The warmth of his hand was then absent altogether, and I hated that I missed it.
"You're going to fuck everything up," I said, accepting the fact I wasn't in control anymore, and that even though Preston was, the odds were against me.
"Hardly, sweetheart. I'm going to fuck you. But it's not going to be in a closet, and it's not going to be fast or quick. I'm going to fuck you in my bed, slow and hard, and then I'm going to do it again and again until we're both exhausted and sore in all the good places."
I swallowed hard, both completely aroused by his promises, and scared about the reality that waited for me outside this utility closet.
"I can't just leave. Derrek will wonder where I've gone. We're supposed to be putting on a show for everyone, parading our happy marriage for all to see."
"I'll take care of Derrek." My eyebrows rose in doubt. "Trust me," he said, reading me.
"Okay," I whispered.
"Good girl," he said against my lips, before he took them again in a scorching kiss. It was wet and hot and long. It was also full of promises – vows made directly to my body, which I instantly and stupidly believed.
He pulled away from the kiss, his hands trailing down my neck, and he said, "Go now, sweetheart. I'll meet you at your house."
For reasons I couldn't quite understand, I did exactly as he asked. I left the utility closet and walked straight out of the gala, not speaking to anyone except the clerk working the coat check when I retrieved my coat and purse. I walked out of the building, hailed a cab, and rode home. All the while, I was painfully aware I had no panties on.
For most of the ride, my mind flipped and flopped from thinking about how stupid I was being for even entertaining the idea of getting involved with Preston, to then picturing his hand as it thrust inside me, making me come inside a closet. By the time the cab pulled up in front of my house, I had really only come to one conclusion.
I wanted Preston inside me. Desperately. All of him.
So I walked inside to prepare to give myself to someone other than my husband. I had everything to lose and practically nothing to gain, but I couldn't bring myself to care.
END OF PART ONE
Part Two
Private
Encounters
Chapter One
I watched the city streetlights blaze past the windows of the cab, my mind reeling just as quickly as the buildings flew by. I closed my eyes and all I could see was Preston tucking my panties into his breast pocket, his gaze searing my body. My clit pulsed as I remembered what it felt like when his thumb stroked it. My eyes opened quickly and fluttered to the cab driver, making sure he wasn't watching me. His focus was on the road, which was good, because one look at me and he definitely would have been able to tell my thoughts were dark and dirty.
With just a few more blocks to travel to my house, my phone pinged in my purse.
**Pack an overnight bag. I'm coming to get you.**
The text from Preston made my insides liquefy, but I wasn't sure if going with him was the smartest decision. My body wanted to leave with him, of that there was no question, but the cab ride had given my brain room to breathe and it was leading me in the direction of not doing more harm to my already crumbling marriage. Not that I was concerned with saving it, but I was concerned with getting out unscathed and with the money I was entitled to.
I paid the cab driver, walked up the driveway, and then heard the unmistakable sound of Preston's Lotus coming around the corner. I watched as he passed his normal spot down the street and instead pulled right into the driveway as if he belonged there. That was a problem. He opened the door and got out, walking toward me as he pressed a button on his key fob, making the car's lights flash and its horn beep two short, quick blasts.
He stalked toward me in that ridiculously attractive tuxedo, his eyes locked on mine and giving no indication he planned to move them. In fact, his eyes stayed on mine until he was right in front of me, only breaking the contact when he gently placed his hand around my elbow, turning me, and leading me toward the house. He came to the electronic keypad and with precision, keyed in the passcode.
My mouth gaped open as he hauled me into the foyer.
"How do you know the passcode to my house?" Without stopping, he pulled me up the stairs toward my bedroom, but spoke to me as we walked.
"Again, Lena, knowing things, especially secrets, is my job."
We entered the bedroom and his hand released from my elbow, but he continued to the closet, flipping on the light from the inside.
"Have you been in my house without me here?"