Chapter 68
Julian grinned again and pulled off his pants, leaving me a wide-eyed, lust-crazed mess. It didn’t matter how many times I felt him, or saw him, or held him in my arms. I knew I’d always want more- I wanted us close enough to melt into the same person.
He pushed inside me with a slow thrust, setting a deep pace that reached places I’d never shared before with any man. I cradled his hips and let my fingers twine through the silky curls of his hair. The pace he set, the way we held each other-it was more intimate than anything I’d ever experienced before.
He was everywhere and everything, my world beginning and ending with him.
Above us, through the mesh in the tent flap, I could see the sprawling Milky Way in a mixture of stars and galaxies and eternity. A light twinkled as it sped across the dark sky.
“Julian,” I whispered. “Julian, there’s a star falling above us.”
He dropped down onto his elbows and laughed silently into my hair, still inside me. I felt his shoulders shake with mirth. “Ace, I’m giving a great performance here.”
I wrapped my arms tighter around him and joined in the laughter. “Sorry. Sorry. I’ve just never seen it before.”
“I’ll just have to compete with the night sky,” he murmured huskily and did something with his hips that left me speechless. He covered my mouth with his, brandished me with feverish, quiet kisses and continued to move with excruciating slowness.
The intimacy, the deep pace, it was all too much. I clutched him tight in the darkness as my orgasm racked through my body, the stars silently watching us from far, far above.
I held Julian close as he began to shake, as he groaned his release into my ear and his hips jerked erratically into me. I felt every pulse deep inside and dug my fingers into the taut skin across his back. I felt as if we’d just shared our souls, bared our innermost selves. What we’d had before was sex, what we did in that tent… that was making love.
Julian tucked me close against him and we both basked in the afterglow, our breath heavy. I snuggled closer and relaxed in his warmth. There might have been other tents in the distance, but at that moment I felt like we were the only people in the whole entire universe.
“I love camping,” I murmured.
Julian laughed silently. “You know, I have a new appreciation for it too.”
I turned over and rested my head on his shoulder, my hand tracing patterns over his chiseled chest and abs. I’d take every part of this man I could, and I’d never give it back. He was mine.
“Do you take all girls out here?” I teased. “Make them giddy with your skills and the stars?”
Julian turned to me, the starlight illuminating him enough that I could make out his gentle smile.
“No, I’ve never taken a girlfriend camping before.”
My hand stopped tracing his chest. “Before? I’m your girlfriend?”
Julian leaned closer and rested his forehead against mine. I could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke. “Aren’t you, Emily?”
I shifted closer so that our bodies were pressed together, not an ounce of space between us, my leg sliding between his.
“Yes,” I said softly. “Yes, I am.”
“Rafe, man, just get yourself a girl.”
I heard Rafe’s annoyed sigh on the other end of the line. “No, dude. This is the one thing you can’t do. You can’t tell me that just because you’re all loved up. You’re not even thinking rationally-you’re thinking with your dick.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, if there is one person I know who could use a feminine touch, it’s you.”
“I get enough feminine touches on my own, thank you very much.”
“Alright, alright. But I’m telling you: one day it’ll be your turn.”
“Don’t count on it.”
“We all must fall,” I declared. “Alas, today it was me. Tomorrow-”
Rafe hung up. It had been a long time since I’d messed with him so thoroughly, but he’d pushed me hard enough in the gym that morning that he deserved it.
Besides, I felt like spreading some happiness. I had enough inside me to power a small sun. If only that was how energy worked, we could have solved climate change overnight. An endless source of renewable energy, courtesy of Emily.
Looking down at my phone, I saw the photo of Emily struggling to fold the tent poles. I had set the photo as my home screen. I knew it would annoy her when she saw it, and it made me grin every time I looked at my screen.
Tim’s voice cut through my office. “Mr. Hunt, Ms. Giordano from marketing is here to see you.” His tone was neutral, which was Tim-speak for disapproval. She didn’t have a pre-scheduled appointment and I knew that messed with his organizational nature.
But a Ms. Giordano from marketing? I had time.
“Send her in.”
Emily slipped into my office with a thick stack of papers pressed to her chest. She smiled at me and I grinned back-I couldn’t help it. The reaction was immediate.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi.”With her dark hair in a ponytail and a smattering of freckles across her nose. She was breathtakingly beautiful. I wondered if I’d ever get used to the physical punch in the chest when I saw her.
I highly doubted it.
She put the stack of papers down on the desk but remained standing. I didn’t mind, as it gave me an excellent view of her ample curves. A shift dress skimmed over her hips and cut high enough to give me a view of her shapely legs. “You’re absolutely stunning.”
She smiled and walked around my desk slowly. “I’m ambushing you.”
“Oh? What does that mean?” I glanced down at the stack of papers. “Is this business, or pleasure?”
“That’s a decoy. They’re marketing evaluations from 2009. I think. I found them in the recycling bin.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
I grinned. “So you’re here on pleasure?”
“If you’re not too busy?”
“I’m never too busy for you.”
I pushed my chair back and opened my arms wide for her, wanting to feel her against me. But she just shook her head and gave a gentle tsk.
No, she did something that nearly gave me a heart attack instead. Gracefully, she sank to her knees in front of me.
“Ace?”
Her hands stroked my thighs and she smiled up at me, with smoldering eyes. “I’ve thought about you all day.”
I gave a half-assed nod, my blood rushing south at the mere hint of what she was considering. What she was so close to doing. “I’ve thought of you too. What are you doing?”