Suddenly, guilt settles in my stomach. Rowan is an amazing man, Nora is a wonderful friend, and I am lying to them both. Neither of them knows who I really am, what I am running from.
“Hey, are you alright?” Rowan asks, putting an arm around my shoulders.
I sniff lightly. “Yes, it’s just—” I stop and gather my thoughts; I don’t want to ruin this moment. “Everything is so amazing, Rowan.”
I turn and wrap my arms around his neck, then rise on my toes to press my lips against his. Rowan tightens his arms around me and deepens the kiss. We’re lost in each other until our bodies demand we separate to catch our breath.
“Let’s eat before dinner gets any colder,” Rowan says.
Our meal is delicious, and I’m more than a little surprised to find that Rowan prepared it himself. He laughs when I tell him so.
“I learned to cook when I was a kid. It was mostly a disaster at first, but I wanted to be able to give Nora a homemade meal, not processed food from boxes.”
He’d told me during one of our long phone conversations over the past few days how he’d looked after Nora since she was born. I’d started paying closer attention to the way Nora spoke about her brother, too. It is obvious that the two of them have a deep affection of each other. I’m happy for them, but a little jealous too, having no family of my own that I can rely on.
I help Rowan clean up dinner, carrying dishes into the kitchen where he sets them to soak in the sink. As I’m carryinga dish of alfredo, I cry out when I trip over the kitchen rug and spill sauce down the front of my new dress.
“Shit,” Rowan curses, rushing to my side and taking the dish from my hands. He grabs a kitchen towel and tries to wipe the sauce from my dress, but it’s no use.
“It needs to be rinsed,” I say.
“I can put it in the wash here, if you want?” Rowan suggests. “I can give you something else to wear.”
I nod. “Thank you. It’s new; I don’t want it to be ruined.”
“Go on into my bedroom at the end of the hall,” Rowan tells me. “There are t-shirts and shorts in the top drawers of my dresser. You can put those on, then I’ll wash your dress.”
I nod again, then do as he says. I pull a navy-blue t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts from his dresser, then look around his room. It’s masculine, like him, and smells like his cologne. My core tightens as I stand at the foot of the bed, imagining the two of us together beneath the soft gray quilt.
I pull off my dress, letting it drop to the floor. I hadn’t worn a bra or panties beneath the dress, and the cool air in the room causes my nipples to pucker. With my back to the door, I pick up Rowan’s t-shirt and move to pull it over my head when a familiar, deep voice stops me.
“No, keep it off.”
I turn my head to find Rowan watching me. His eyes burn a trail down my body, and his fists clench at his sides like he’s trying to stop himself from reaching out.
“Rowan?” I whisper, my breath shallow. I realize that I am completely naked in front of this man who’s taken possession of my head and heart so quickly. This is exactly where I hoped we’d be by the end of the night, but…now that we are here, I’m not sure what to do.
Standing here, open and vulnerable for him has my pussy pulsing with heat. I hold my breath when he takes a step forward, the sound of his footsteps soft on the carpet.
“Angel,” he whispers when he’s close. He lifts his fingers to the back of my neck and traces his thumb down my spine to the swell of my ass. “So perfect.”
He turns me around to face him and caresses his fingers over my chin, along my jaw, and down my neck before cupping my breasts. His eyes are nearly black, and his breathing is harsh as he teases his fingers over my nipples, leaving an ache behind.
“Oh,” I moan, and my pussy grows wetter at every touch, every caress, as he drags his fingers over my stomach and stops at my inner thigh.
“I was going to be good, Angel,” he whispers, leaning in and kissing a trail up my neck. My head falls back to allow access. “I was going to be good, fix you dinner and wait, but then I walked in here to find you…so perfect.”
My eyes flutter to a close when his shirt brushes against my sensitive nipples, and it feels so good. Rowan, still fully dressed, backs my naked body against the bed and gently pushes me down.
My lips open in a cry when his thumb rubs against my clit, teasing.
“Fuck, baby, I’m so hard for you,” he growls against my skin, nipping gently at my ear and rubbing his erection against my hip, using his leg to pry my thighs apart for him.
He traces his lips over my cheek and brushes them lightly over my lips, only to move away when I try to deepen the kiss.
“Rowan, oh...” I whimper as he drags his finger over my drenched folds, teasing my pussy with his middle finger.
“I thought about this my entire trip,” he whispers, pressing me deeper into the mattress. “All I could think was aboutlapping your juices until they were the only thing I could taste on my lips.”