Bella came out of her kitchen to join me. “It takes a few minutes. My coffee maker is as old as I am.”
I laughed. “That’s not very old.”
She frowned, apparently not liking my comments about her young age.
Wanting to reduce her annoyance, I said, “You know, my wife and I had a place like this in Tribeca. Except it was a walk-up and we lived on the seventh floor.”
She smiled as she joined me by the window. “That’s where you started JoXander.”
“Yes. Jo for Joanna and Xander for Alexander. That’s how I proposed to her. At that time, the company was a thesis project that needed a name. I suggested adding mine to hers.”
Bella’s smile was dreamy like I was telling her a fantastic love story. I supposed it was, except there was no happily ever after for us.
“And she said yes?”
“She did.”
She sighed as she looked out the window. “I’d like to find someone like you. Who’d love me the way you love her.”
I noted she said love in the present tense, not the past as most used since my wife was dead. Her acknowledgment that my love hadn’t died with her touched me.
“You’re a smart, beautiful woman. I’m sure there’s a good man out there for you.”
She pressed her hand against the window as if she was searching for something. Then I noticed she was touching my reflection, placing her hand over my chest.
“I don’t know. I don’t have any experience.”
“In love?” There was something sad in her voice. Had she never had a boyfriend to care for her? That seemed unlikely. She was a captivating woman.
“Any of it.”
I frowned, not sure what she was getting at.
“You think I’m young, but I’m pretty sure I’m the oldest virgin in the city.”
I jerked my gaze to hers through the reflection in the window not believing what I was hearing. She was a virgin? This smart, sweet, beautiful, sexy woman?
She turned to me. “I’ve never been touched by a man.”
My dick shot to full tilt and while my conscious screamed for me to leave, the wine must have dulled the rest of my brain because all I could think about was touching her. My gaze raked over her body, scanning all the luscious parts of her there ware to touch from her firm plump breasts, round backside, and curve of her hips.
That booze filled part must have taken over or maybe it was my libido because I asked her, “Do you want to be touched?”
Her breath hitched, and I had the urge to press a kiss against her neck where her pulse began to beat faster. “Yes.”
I stared at her and the longer I did, the hotter and thicker my blood coursed through my body. It had been so fucking long since I’d touched a woman. My dick was screaming to fuck her, and yet I stood there, unable to move.
“Why haven’t you then?” My voice was rough with need. Did she notice? If she looked down, there was no way she’d miss my hard-on, but her gaze remained glued to mine.
She shrugged. “No opportunity.”
“I don’t believe that.” She had to be joking. She was beautiful and had curves made for sex.
She gave a small smile. “When there was an opportunity, I didn’t have the interest.”
“Have you ever had the interest?”
She bit her lip, her teeth sinking into its plump flesh and the image of those lips wrapped around my dick flashed in my brain. If we kept this up, I’d come in my pants.
“Yes.”
“But he wasn’t interested in you?” That seemed impossible.
She looked down. “I don’t think so.” I studied her, as she turned her gaze out the window. It boggled my mind that any man wouldn’t be interested in touching her if she wanted him. Even in her work clothes, she was a stunning woman. As I looked her over, I noticed that her nipples were poking through the soft fabric of her dress. Jesus, was she turned on too?
She couldn’t possibly be interested in me. I was her boss, for Christ’s sake. I was a widower nearly twenty years older than her.
“Why don’t you think he was interested in you?”
She turned to me; her blazing blue eyes clouded with what I recognized as desire. Holy fuck, she was talking about me. She simply looked at me like she could not form the words. Her vulnerability made my heart ache. Her beauty and sensuality made my dick throb with need.
I took her hand and pressed it against my erection. “Are you sure he’s not interested in you?”
Bella
I’d had more to drink than ever before in my life, but I was sober enough to know this wasn’t a hallucination. Blake, my boss, just put my hand on his long, hard dick. Having never touched one before, I had thought little about what it would be like. It’s a body part like any other, right?