A Private Affair Read online

A soft smile covered her face and the leeriness Chaz had about her not relaxing enough to enjoy this dinner dissipated. It was obvious she loved her mother dearly. Just speaking about her had brought an air of contentment around her that Chaz didn’t see often enough.

  “Both my parents liked jazz. I remember it playing in our house all the time. When I came to live with my uncle, I didn’t hear it as much. He was more of an R & B kind of guy. But when I got my first MP3 player, I downloaded every jazz song I could find.” He still remembered how excited he’d been to see the songs on his playlist. For days that was all he’d done—lie in his bed and listen to the music because it made him feel closer to his parents even though he knew they were never coming back.

  “Your parents died when you were young, right?”

  “Nine.” He’d been young and scared to death of what would happen after the social worker and the police officer arrived at his house to tell him and his babysitter that his parents’ car was hit head-on by a drunk driver.

  “I’m sure that was tough. But your uncle took you in and you seem to have turned out well.”

  He chuckled. “Gee, thanks.”

  She waved a hand. “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, my uncle and his wife, Arlene—she was number four—they came to pick me up from the neighbor who had let me stay there temporarily so I wouldn’t have to go into foster care.” Saying those words after twenty-four years seemed odd.

  “Wait, his wife’s name is... Veronica. Right? She loves fur.” She reached for her glass and Chaz watched her slim fingers grip the stem.

  “Veronica is number eight, and yes, she loves fur. It’s all over the house.” He had to shake his head because the memory of Veronica’s redecoration of King Towers, as it would always be known to Chaz, was almost horrific.

  “For the record, I’m not totally against fur,” she said after a quick drink.

  “I’m not, either. But she definitely missed the ‘less is more’ lesson.”

  Ahh, there was that smile.

  “You are not wrong about that,” she replied with a chuckle.

  The server brought their food and conversation died for a few minutes. The steak was phenomenal, and when he looked up in between bites, he realized the company was exactly what he needed.

  “I’ve been inundated with meetings,” he said between bites. “Juggling the design work with the new app I’m launching is more tiring than I thought it would be.”

  She dabbed the napkin to her lips. “An app? I thought you owned a social network site.”

  “That’s where I started but Conversation Media’s sort of morphed into a few other directions. ChatMe is our new subscription-based platform and it’s launching in three weeks.”

  “Is this one for singles, too? How many dating sites does the world need?”

  Chaz could have taken offense but he was growing accustomed to Riley’s biting candor. There seemed to be absolutely no animosity in her words, just simple statements that meant what they meant.

  “This project is geared toward millennials, and no, it’s not specifically for dating. But let’s not talk about that.” He knew the moment the words were out she detested them.

  “Let’s not.” She picked up her knife and fork, cut a piece of steak and slowly put it into her mouth.

  He watched her lips moving and instantly thought of when they’d been wrapped around his dick. He dropped his hands to his lap and kept his gaze focused on her.

  “What?” she asked when she finished chewing.

  He shrugged. “Never thought the sight of a woman eating could be so sexy until now.”

  She looked like she was going to discontinue the meal but then shrugged just as he had, before cutting another piece of steak and putting it into her mouth. She liked him watching her. Her fingers shook slightly as she held the fork and guided it to her mouth. At the same time, color darker than the blush she wore fused her cheeks. He hadn’t planned on this but he couldn’t help it—his dick had grown so hard in the last few seconds, pressing firmly against his zipper, Chaz had no choice but to move his hand to cup the bulge.

  She finished that bite and licked her lips. He resisted the urge to groan. He desperately wanted to release his painfully hard erection and beckon her to wrap her mouth around him one more time.

  “Your food is going to get cold.” She lifted her glass to her lips and treated him to another peek of her tongue just before the deep red wine slid smoothly into her mouth.

  “I’m no longer hungry for food.” It was an honest reply, one that was hitting him with more force than he’d considered. Each time he’d thought of her this past week he’d recalled their time together in Milan, the sex and the talking. Tonight he’d craved both but had no idea the physical could be so jolting or encompassing.

  “But wasn’t that what this was about?” She cut a strip of asparagus into three pieces and speared one piece with her fork.

  Chaz’s gaze had gone to her plate, anticipation beating with his heart as he waited to watch the food go into the warm cavern he wanted so desperately to slip his dick inside.

  “This is about so much more,” he admitted.

  * * *

  This was insane.

  And empowering.

  Riley walked into her penthouse with Chaz a few steps behind. She dropped her keys and purse on the table a couple feet inside the foyer and reached for the buttons of her coat. His hands were there immediately, coming around her to pull the coat from her shoulders.

  “The closet is over there,” she said with a nod to the left.

  She moved deeper into the apartment, hearing him opening the closet door and envisioning him hanging her coat and then his own. Her heels clicked on the glossed wood floors and she went to her pale gray sectional to take a seat at the far end. She picked up the remote from the glass end table beside the couch and touched the button that would activate the window blinds. A low hum echoed off the twenty-foot ceilings as black custom-fit blinds came down over the floor-to-ceiling windows.

  “You buy the penthouse with the best view of the city but use blinds to close it out,” he said as he sat on the other end of the couch. He was across the room from her now and the sight of him relaxing in her apartment gave her pause because she’d never had guests, other than family, here before.

  During the ride from the restaurant to her place Riley had resigned herself to the fact that they would have sex one more time. It might be smarter, but it was definitely futile to ignore the attraction between them. Besides, from the moment she saw him standing beside the table in the dining room of a restaurant he’d rented solely for their privacy, she’d known she wanted to be in bed with him again.

  “I’ve seen this view all my life.” It was an even reply that she did not believe required more conversation.

  “And the blinds keep the outside from coming in.”

  He didn’t bother to phrase that as a question. He probably knew she wouldn’t answer if he did.

  “It’s a great space. I can see touches of you all around.”

  So they were going to have chitchat first. She could do that. Although she’d wanted to straddle him when he’d cupped his erection in the restaurant, and when they’d rode in silence, she’d wondered what it would feel like if he slid across the seat and slipped his hand up her skirt.

  “I hired a decorator.”

  He nodded. “Who knew you well.”

  He stood then and walked around. Her style was contemporary, the colors in this area of her home were soft gray, crisp black and cool white. There was glass, sterling silver, light-colored wood flooring covered in the center by a plush gray rug.

  Chaz was in her space. His tall, broad form seeming to dominate the area. He wore a black suit, slim-fit pants and a jacket, stark white shirt that added casual to the professional, shined Tom Ford loafers and a stai
nless steel Tag Heuer watch on his left arm. She was more than intrigued by the deep hue of his skin, the strong edge of his jaw and the shadow of a mustache and beard he wore.

  “This is an interesting piece.”

  Riley was not pleased by the instant pang of awareness she felt when he turned to face her, holding the phallus-shaped rose quartz in his hand. The soft warm color of the crystal against Chaz’s dark clothing was a jolting contrast that put Riley on edge.

  “I liked the color.” That wasn’t what she wanted to say. It wasn’t how she wanted to say it. She sounded like an idiot.

  Chaz looked down at it, holding it in his hands in the same way he’d held his erection.

  “A paperweight?”

  There was amusement in his tone.

  Riley jumped from the couch and crossed to stand near him by the mantel where the piece—the Heart, as she’d called it—had been placed.

  “A decoration,” she said and reached for it.

  He moved his hand just out of her reach.

  “A decoration that sparks something in your eyes.”

  She looked away from him but that made her feel like a coward, so she returned her gaze to meet his. “I use it when I meditate. The healing properties of the crystal assist in seeking calm and restoring energy.” She left out self-confidence and contentment because he didn’t need to know that she fought hard to maintain those things. And he definitely did not need to know that the idea of meditation had come from the therapist she’d been seeing for the past three years.

  “Does it work?”

  His fingers were still wrapped around the crystal, palm toward the wider base, thumb rubbing over the smooth tip. Her pussy throbbed and her heart rate increased.

  “How frequently do you meditate with it?”

  She swallowed when she finally looked up from his fingers to meet Chaz’s gaze. His eyes had grown darker, his voice deeper.

  “That’s private,” she said in a tone that also seemed huskier.

  “There’s no one here but me and you. Show me, Riley.”

  No. She couldn’t. It was a ritual she’d developed for herself. A safe space that refilled her when she struggled, empowered her when she felt weak and comforted her when the privacy she craved began to strangle her.

  He stepped closer and took Riley’s hand. He kept his eyes locked on hers while wrapping her fingers around the crystal. It was warm from his touch and the intense sexual energy he exuded seeped into her palm. He was silently daring her to share this very intimate part of herself with him. She shouldn’t, but she wanted to.

  Snatching it from his hand, Riley walked away. When she realized he was still standing in the same spot, she looked over her shoulder and asked, “Are you coming?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  SECONDS AFTER ENTERING her bedroom, Riley lowered the blinds. She placed the crystal on her bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand. After moving to the stand on the other side of the bed she turned on the second lamp, and the room was cast in a warm glow.

  Chaz stood in the doorway. Riley pointed toward the beige couch adorned with pillows near the window.

  “The best view is from over there,” she told him.

  He moved in silence over the beige carpet.

  Once he was seated, Riley stepped out of her shoes. She placed them neatly at the end of her bed instead of going into her closet as she normally did. There was nothing normal about this night. She unzipped her skirt and pushed it down her legs, noting the soft scrape of material over her nylon-covered legs. The jacket came next and she folded the garments, draping them over the end of the bed. When she chanced a look at Chaz, his gaze was riveted on her. A warm tendril of desire slipped slowly down her spine. Her bra, nylons, the thin wisp of lace panties were all removed and Riley climbed onto her bed.

  Her meditation routine usually included candles and the tracks of crashing waves and trickling springs she had programmed to a special playlist. Tonight there was only Chaz.

  Her heart thumped so loud she thought for sure he could hear it from where he sat about twelve feet from the bed. She lay back against the pillows, closing her eyes briefly and then opening them to stare up at the ceiling.

  She could do this.

  More important, she wanted to do this.

  Extending her arm, Riley grabbed the crystal. She closed her eyes and focused on everything from the feel of it against her palms, to its shape and its purpose. Surprisingly, the desired calm came over her even though she was not alone. She could hear the waves in her mind and feel the warmth of the sun against her bare skin. And the crystal began to warm. It started to feel familiar in her hand, but not only because she’d used it so much in the past year. It felt like another phallus she’d held just a week ago.

  She needed to clear her mind of everything but her happy place. Search for the good within herself and within the world that surrounded her.

  That was what she did whenever she meditated. It was her purpose in taking solitary time to aid in her healing. But tonight she couldn’t find that place. There was a new goal in her mind and right now it felt closer than peace and healing. She didn’t have to search for it because it was there in the room with her. In her hand and across the room.

  “When I close my eyes you’re there.” It was a quiet admission spoken just before she took the crystal in one hand and rubbed the tip over one tight nipple.

  “I’m here right now.”

  She hadn’t expected him to speak, but with the sound of his voice, her pussy throbbed and she spread her legs wide.

  “You’re a distraction.” Riley circled the crystal over one nipple while the fingers on her free hand toyed with her other nipple. On one she squeezed tight, pulling and tugging until her breathing came faster. The other was being massaged by the warm crystal. Her breasts felt full, sensation moving from each nipple down to her gut, settling like a pool of hot lava at her center.

  A soft moan escaped before Riley could pull back. She wanted to do this but at the same time she didn’t want to share too much, to show him anything deeper than a physical reaction. Her mind and her body fought to control which would be revealed.

  “I can’t go.”

  Why did she enjoy his voice so much? Her legs moved over the soft material of her champagne-colored comforter. She wanted him inside her, buried deep and thrusting powerfully until she couldn’t breathe, think or care. Riley took a deep breath and exhaled in a slow but shaky whoosh of air. She moved the crystal to the slope between her breasts, trailing it down her torso and stopping at her navel.

  “You can’t stay.” The words came out in a whimper. They needed to be said out loud because her body wanted nothing more than for him to join her on this bed, to take her to that sweet place where she’d soared a week ago. She missed that place. Every day this week she’d thought about it and missed it more. Too much. She’d berated herself for the thoughts but tonight it was a simple truth.

  “Not after tonight,” she whispered. “Not again.”

  She moved the crystal lower until it slid along the shaved skin of her mound. Riley loved the sensation of being shaved—each touch felt a million times stronger, and she experienced each lick on a deeper level. It was amazing. It was also one of the things that gave her a sense of power over her own pleasure. With one hand she parted her folds and with the other she dragged the crystal over the slickness of her clit, down past her opening and back again, letting the coolness of the crystal mingle with the heat from her arousal.

  With the crystal in one hand, she slipped two fingers into her aching center, gasping at the stretch and moaning with the pleasure streaking wildly throughout her body. She lifted her legs, flattening her feet on the mattress, and pumped her fingers in and out while circling the crystal over her clit. Her head thrashed on the pillows, teeth clenched tight. He wasn’t speaking but he was there. She coul
d smell him and feel him in the heat that swirled throughout the room.

  This wasn’t how her meditation usually happened. It wasn’t the feeling she normally sought. But this was good, too. In fact, it was magnificent. Her heart raced with the thrust of her hands. Her hips moved with the motion and Riley knew her release was near. She could feel it in every jolt of her thighs, the full sensation in her breasts. She heard it in the sound of her fingers moving against her coated walls, her essence dripping down between the crevice of her bottom and onto the bed.

  “I’m right there with you.”

  His voice was an intrusion. A pleasurable one.

  “You look so damn beautiful, Riley. So strong and talented. The way you know exactly how to find your pleasure. You didn’t let me stop you. You’re in your own world bringing every sensation that you need.”

  His words rolled around in her mind but they were hard to comprehend through the fog of desire. She was panting now, arching her back as she drove her fingers deeper.

  “Damn! You’re so wet. So pretty and wet. I can’t stand it.”

  Riley couldn’t, either. She needed this to end. She needed to fall over that cliff and float once again, to let the pleasure take her away. She dropped the crystal, using fingers from one hand to work her clit faster while the other hand continued to pump fiercely inside until her legs shook and a deep guttural moan eased from her throat.

  “Riley! What are you doing to me?”

  His voice was clearer now, in the few seconds just before her body stilled. Her release was intense, touching every part of her body, keeping her eyes closed tight, her fingers locking where they were, her toes curling into the comforter.

  “Chaz!”

  She hadn’t meant to say the name that seemed to be etched into her mind. She’d never called out a man’s name during sex, or during meditation.

  Coming down from her release was like falling onto a bed of cotton. Riley sighed into the softness, relaxing her mind, body and soul.

  Loud moaning caught her attention and she turned her head to see Chaz through pleasure-blurred eyes. He had removed his jacket. His legs were spread wide, the button, belt and zipper of his pants were undone. His dick was in his hand, thick and long and dripping with his release as he made one final jerk and cursed long and loud.