His gaze alone was a separate touch, sending little slivers of pleasure under my skin everywhere his eyes landed. He moved under me, sliding up onto the pillows. His mouth closed over a nipple, and I cried out, gripping his hair in my hands. He shifted his hips slightly, his cock sliding back and forth across my wet clit. Pleasure spun tight in my center, radiating outward, I rose up and reached between us, positioning him and sinking down onto his cock.
His head fell back with a groan.
“Sophia,” he murmured. “You've ruined me.”
Something about him, or perhaps it was me with him, made me feel wild and powerful. I held myself still, and then began to ride him, rising up and sliding down on his shaft. His hands gripped my hips, and we set a rhythm. It was controlled only for a few beats. Neither one of us seemed capable of maintaining any sense of control once we were tangled up in each other.
Before I knew it, I was riding him roughly, chasing after that sweet peak of release. His fingers were digging into my skin, his stubble a rough scrape on my breast, his teeth biting down on my nipple and sending me hurtling over the edge. My core convulsed around his cock, and I cried out, distantly hearing my voice saying his name over and over. I felt him go taut under me, and the heat of his release poured inside of me.
Pleasure pinged through me as my pulse gradually slowed. As I caught my breath, I looked down at him. My palms had fallen to his chest. He still gripped my hips tightly as if to hold me in place. I wouldn't have minded never moving again. He eased his grip and slowly slid one palm up my spine, pulling me down. I curled up against him. With him buried inside of me, breathing in his scent, I felt bound to him. It was a depth of intimacy I hadn't expected. With his hand stroking in slow passes up and down my spine, I fell asleep against him.
Chapter 16
Lucas
I leaned back in my chair and looked over at Danny, drumming my fingertips on my drafting table. “What do you mean it won’t work?” I asked.
Dann
y arched a brow, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Apparently, they have a scheduling conflict with the dates. While we're on the topic, mind telling me what this abrupt change of travel plans is about? I tried to remember the last time you did something like this, and I couldn't.”
I stared at him, contemplating my answer. I didn't have to tell him a damn thing, but he was my friend and had been for years. No matter what I said, he might come to his own conclusions. I also knew that Sophia would be vehemently opposed to me sharing even a hint of a breath of a word about anything that had passed between us.
It was taking an act of pure discipline to stay in my office and function the way I normally would at work. The knowledge she was a moment or two away made it so damn tempting to seek her out. Much as I might want to talk about this with Danny, I didn't. Instead, I came up with a bad idea, which I recognized only after I said it aloud.
“Fine. Let’s keep the original dates. Leave my travel for next week, but I'd like you to schedule for Suzanne and Sophia to go with me. You too, while we're at it,” I added.
Danny's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open before he closed it quickly. “Are we your traveling entourage now?” he asked.
Though he was my personal assistant, Danny was almost always in New York City. There wasn't much he couldn't handle from here for me, and I knew it was important for him to be here to help care for his mother. He also had a boyfriend here.
“I know I don't usually bring everybody along with me, but I have a few things to plan for to get approval for the necessary permits over there,” I explained.
This was true on its face, but still nothing that couldn’t be handled online. I didn’t care to explain further. I knew if I only brought Sophia with me, it would set off too many alarm bells of curiosity. The only alternative was for all of them to come with me.
“It's only a five day trip. Do you mind?” I asked, knowing him coming with me meant he would need to make arrangements for his mother's care while he was gone.
“Of course not. My sister can take care of my mom. I've only been to London once. Do I get to bring Roberto with me?” he asked with a grin.
“Of course,” I replied, thinking to myself I would need to let Suzanne know she could bring her husband, which would then make it seem like three couples.
Whatever. I was bringing Sophia with me no matter what. It occurred to me I hadn’t even had a conversation with her about this. I’d somehow convinced myself during my short trip out to California that I’d needed once more with her and that would get her out of my system. Clearly, that wasn’t the case. The more I was with her, the more it fed the raging need inside of me. For now, I didn’t care to ponder the meaning of that.
Danny stood from his chair, pausing before turning towards the door. “Just so you’re aware, Sophia mentioned the interviewer wanted to ask a question about your father. She ruled it out, but I trust her, so I filled her in on the history.”
I stared at him, thinking I should’ve been angry. But I wasn't. The story of my father wasn't much of a story. It was an old cliché. A rich guy abandoned his wife and child because he couldn't be bothered. Really, it wasn't a big secret. It just rubbed me the wrong way for anyone to be curious. The downside to how successful Chandler International had become was the media attention to my company and the need for me to play nice. I needed approvals and permits, and I needed our company to have a good public image.
I’d rather the attention be about our business, but people were nosy, naturally so. They loved the story that my father was an oil executive, and I’d become a revolutionary change maker for sustainable energy. Whether or not my interest in sustainable energy was a reaction to my father's own career, I didn't know. All through school, I'd loved to build things. When I landed at MIT, I was assigned a project on sustainable energy and that formed my career path.
I was more interested in the technology of the future, not the past. Oil was the past—a finite resource that was guaranteed to end. I enjoyed developing technologies that helped ensure a more sustainable world for the future.
I looked across at Danny and shrugged. “It's fine. I trust Sophia too.”
For the second time today, Danny's mouth dropped open and then a slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, you do?” he asked.
I grinned. “Her instinct was to say the question is already off-limits. That's why I trust her. You and Suzanne chose well.”
“I can't wait to tell her,” he said.