He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again before replying, “It’s a little difficult to explain, but you’re right, I am agitated. Let’s just say I’ll be happy when we have the contracts signed and are on a plane back to London.”
“Huh.”
A silence elapsed as I studied him, then asked gently, “How has your mum been?”
My question took him off guard, as he brought his eyes to mine. For a split second I saw the sadness in them, and it caused my heart to thump harder. “She’s okay,” he answered, then paused, shaking his head. “Well, no, that’s not quite true. You saw how she’s been living — there’s nothing okay about it. But she’s been unwell in her mind for a long time, and sometimes that’s the worst type of illness. At least with a physical ailment you can find the cause and treat it. Mental illness is so much harder to get a handle on. Some days are better than others, but they’re never what you’d consider normal.”
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, my voice soft.
“Severe anxiety and paranoia, paired with a bad case of agoraphobia. She rarely likes to leave the house.”
I wanted to ask what had caused all that, but I knew it was none of my business, so I simply took his hand in mine and squeezed. “That must be awful.”
When he looked at me, his expression was pained, and for a second it felt like all the turmoil inside him was about to flood out. “It is awful. Do you ever wish, Alexis, that your heart was just that little bit smaller, so that you didn’t have to care quite so much?”
His question knocked the air right out of me. When we’d started having this conversation, I never expected it would turn so deep. I squeezed his hand once more and whispered, “Never. The bigger our hearts, the more beautiful our souls.”
Our eyes connected, his moving back and forth between mine as he absorbed my words, my meaning. I hadn’t anticipated my answer; it just seemed to come out naturally. For a long moment we sat there in contemplative silence. I didn’t want him to be down, though, and tried to cheer him up when I said, “So, how do you feel about romantic comedies?”
He blinked at me, bringing himself back to the present, and with no small amount of sarcasm, replied, “Oh, I adore them.”
“Well, isn’t that just fabulous, because you’re going to join me in watching one,” I said, ignoring his sassy attitude and patting the space beside me. King rose from his seat next to the bed and crawled on. I don’t know, there was just something about the visual that gave me tingles. A bed was new territory for us, and it inevitably made my mind wander. I hit “play” on the movie and King settled in next to me, our elbows touching. I tried to ignore the clean smell of his shower gel and the familiar scent of his cologne, but it was hard.
Man, I could seriously go for a bottle of that stuff…you know, just to have at home and spritz on my pillows every time I wanted to torture myself.
“What kind of cologne do you wear?” I blurted, because I’m me and that’s what I do. I blurt.
King’s eyes came to mine slowly, and they seemed curious. “Do you like it?”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Uh-huh.”
“It’s Estee Lauder Pleasures for Men.”
I let out a guffaw. “Ha! Why do they always insist on giving these things embarrassing names? It’s almost like they don’t want people to buy them.”
King shifted in his place and sighed. “Cynical marketing ploy, I assume. By naming it ‘Pleasures,’ they imagine our brains will make the connection that if we buy the product, it’ll somehow bring us exactly that: pleasure. I, for one, just like how it smells.”
“Ah, but has it ever brought you pleasure?” I teased. “That’s the question.”
He shot me a lazy glance and tilted his head. “I’m still waiting to find out.”
“Oh, you’re a scoundrel,” I declared, and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.
King just shook his head and returned his attention to the TV while muttering under his breath, “I wasn’t joking.”
I shot him a wide-eyed glance, but he was still staring at the screen. A silence filled the room. It would have been worse if it weren’t for the movie playing in the background. I felt a blush creep up my neck and glanced down to see King flex his hand, repeatedly opening and closing his fist. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, so I could see his forearms, and as usual they were way too much of a distraction. I began to feel a funny sensation, both in my chest and between my legs. An ache. My imagination was working overtime, showing me just how easily it would be for him to roll on top of me right then and make me see stars.
I wondered what he was like during sex….
He said he wasn’t one for love and romance, but I bet he put his all into a good old-fashioned fucking session. And really, if he put even half the effort into it as he put into his work, then he was probably more than I could handle.
And, funnily enough, I had a sudden craving for more than I could handle.
The tension had almost reached its boiling point when there was a knock at the door. It was room service, and King slid off the bed to go let them in. It was a good thing, too, because I seriously needed a moment. I feared the blush that had begun on my neck had spread all the way down my body by now.
“Do you want some?” King asked, picking the plate and his glass of wine up off the tray and carrying them to the bed.
“Sure,” I answered. I never said no to pizza, and this one looked delicious.
King settled back in place and took a quick bite, then held the pizza to my mouth. Now, normally I’d say something cheeky in this circumstance, perhaps make a joke, but my sense of humour was no longer present. I was aroused, and King’s eyes held a game. I wanted to play. Making eye contact with him, I bent forward and took a bite right from where he’d taken one. His nostrils flared, a new intensity in his eyes. He returned the pizza to his own mouth before bringing it back to mine again.
He was hovering over me, his fit, delectable body right there, and my hands itched to feel him. The movie was long forgotten as we continued our strange interaction. I had barely any clothes on, and since King was still in his shirt and slacks, I felt vulnerable and a little bit naked. His breathing grew heavy, and I saw his attention wander to the dip of my collarbone, fixating on it.
“We should….” he began, but then faltered.
“What?”
He looked down, his thick golden lashes shading his eyes. His voice was so quiet and gravelly when he continued, “I need to get this out of my system, Alexis.”
“Get what….”
Before I could finish the sentence, he was taking the pizza crust from my hand, tossing it on the plate, and levelling his icy blues on me. “We can fuck.” He paused, his accent over-emphasising the “K” and making my bones turn to jelly. “We can have sex once and still remain the same. I’m sure of it.”
“Well, we are both very pragmatic,” I agreed, my entire body coiled tight. I might not have believed a word I was saying, but right then I wanted him inside me, and my vagina was willing to let me lie to myself in order to make that happen. His hands were already on my hips, massaging.
“We are,” he echoed, voice lowering to a whisper as he brought his mouth to my collarbone, to the spot he’d been staring at so intensely. A moan escaped me, and I tilted my head back to give him greater access. He licked at my skin, humming in approval as he trailed his nose across the rise of my bosom. He nuzzled lightly at my cleavage, then began planting kisses all the way up the centre of my neck. I undulated beneath him, and when he reached my jaw, he nibbled at my skin, soliciting another moan from me. His lips made a quick journey to my mouth. But once he was there, he pulled back to stare into my eyes, and it took my breath away for a fraction of a second. He looked at me like I was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
Leaning in again, King placed surprisingly tender kisses to either side of my mouth, and I kissed him back. These tender kisses continued for a while, each of us nibbling at one another, learning each other until the kisses began to deepen. He slid his tongue gently past my lips, teasing me, tasting me. I was melting into a puddle on the bed, gripping his shoulders, his hard pecs pressing into the softness of my breasts. It wasn’t long before we were full-on snogging, grasping for each other, drinking one another in like we couldn’t get enough.