Filthy Rich, Wild with Lust

Chapter 41

I step back from him and head into the bathroom to take my makeup off. He follows me in and sits on the bathroom counter to watch me.

It’s the weirdest thing. It’s like he’s fascinated with the mundanities of my day. He watches everything I do with the greatest of interest. I can’t help but wonder if this is the first time he’s ever been like this with a woman. He seems captivated by everything I do. “Tell me about your day,” I say.

“I had meetings all morning, and then I went to lunch with Antony.” He takes my scrunchie from me and begins to pull my hair up into a high bun on top of my head.

“Where did you go for lunch?” I ask as I stay still.

“Bellissimo.” He tightens the bun on my head.

“Oh, Italian.” I smile. “Yum.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“No.” I put some makeup remover onto a pad and wipe one eye.

“I’ll take you there one day.” He takes the pad from me and does my other eye.

I watch him concentrate on his task. “Are you always like this?” I ask.

“Like what?” He tilts my chin toward him and softly kisses my lips.

“Have you ever taken anyone’s makeup off before?”

A frown flashes across his face as if he’s surprised by the question. “Does it bother you?”

“No.” I put my hands onto his hips as he sits in front of me. “That wasn’t what I asked.”

He stays silent as he wipes all my makeup off. “No. It’s not something...” His voice trails off.

Progress.

“I like the way you look after me,” I whisper.

And he does. The care that he looks after my body with is like nothing I’ve ever felt. He doesn’t say how he feels... but he doesn’t have to.

I can feel it in his touch.

He smirks down at me. “If I’m too extra...”

“You’ve got it just right.” I lean up and kiss him.

He smiles against my lips as he takes my face in his hands. Our kiss deepens, and for a long time we stay lost in the moment, kissing, drinking each other in, my heart floating around my bathroom.

He undoes my jeans and slides them down, his fingers circling over my s*x through my panties.

“Hen,” I whisper against his lips.

“I know.” His eyes are closed as we kiss.

“We can’t.”

“Why not?” he breathes.

“It’s not...” I pause as I stop myself.

He pulls out of the kiss to look at me. “It’s not what?”

“That’s something you do”—I hesitate, embarrassed—“with your husband or boyfriend.”

He frowns as he listens.

“It’s... it’s way too intimate,” I whisper.

“You said you were mine.”

“I am.”

“So why can’t I have that?”

“Why would you even want it?” I frown.

“I don’t know.” His lips take mine again. “I just do.”

“Have you done that before?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“You’re a clean freak. I don’t think you’re going to like it.” I give him a lopsided smile.

His eyes search mine. “You said you were mine.”

He wants the intimacy of the act.

And isn’t that the point? Isn’t that the entire reason we are here?

We kiss again and again, and damn it, I want to give it to him, but what if it backfires? What if he’s so freaked out that he runs for the hills? I mean, I don’t think...

It’s pretty full on.

His lips take mine. “Please,” he murmurs against me. “Do you want me to beg?”

The last of my resistance leaves my body, and I tug his T-shirt over his head and pull him off the counter to take his jeans off.

And he undresses me, and I know this is the precipice of something new. The good, the bad, and the ugly of what it means to be a woman.

“Get in the shower, and I’ll go to the bathroom.” I lead him in under the water and go to the bathroom down the hall and sort myself out. When I walk back into the bathroom, I see the beautiful man under the hot water. Wide shoulders, broad chest with a scattering of dark hair. Rippled abdomen, and lower, perfectly kept pubic hair, his thick c**k hanging heavily between his legs.

But it’s the look in his eyes that melts me.

He takes me into his arms, and we kiss in a moment of perfect clarity.

I am his.

I want this too.

He lifts me, wraps my legs around his waist, and slides in deep in one sharp movement.

The steamy room, the hot water, the extra lubrication magnifies the perfection between us.

His body stretches mine, and with our breath quivering, our hearts pounding, we make slow gentle love as we stare into each other’s eyes. Millions of emotions swimming between us, those three sacred words swirling on the tip of my tongue.

This was written in the stars long before we met. It was inevitable and meant to be.

I’m totally and irrevocably in love with Henley James.

Henley

Juliet lies in bed with her back to me, naked, and I’m curled around her back.

Her gentle pattern of breathing is calming, like a balm to my soul.

Many nights over the last week I’ve stayed awake just so I could listen to it.

My hand roams up over her skin, and without thinking I drop my lips to her temple and kiss her softly. I tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear so I can see her face clearer.

Perfect bone structure, porcelain skin, and dark eyelashes that flutter as she sleeps. Her pink lips are big and kissable.

I’ve never known such a beautiful being, and I’m not even talking about the outside packaging.

Something happened tonight.

I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel a storm brewing deep inside.

I’ve found myself swimming in a bottomless ocean, far, far from the shore.

Unsure of what to do.

Taken back to the fifteen-year-old boy who has lost his protector and his safe place to fall.

I rest my face against Juliet’s just so I can be closer, hold her tighter.

She stirs while still sleeping and turns her head and kisses my cheek. “Hen,” she whispers.

“I’m here.”

She smiles softly, her eyes still closed. “I love you.”

I close my eyes.

No.

Why did you have to ruin it?

Juliet

I wake alone.

Nothing new—I wake alone every day, but because I know where Henley spends his mornings, I don’t mind at all. What a beautiful man he is to care for his dad so well.

I smile up at the ceiling. Last night was incredible...

There are no words for how dreamy my man is. I get up and go to the bathroom and peer through the curtains over to Henley’s house. I wonder if he’s home yet.

Stop being clingy.

You are seeing him today, I remind myself. We have a date tonight, so I’ll have to be patient until then. I make my way downstairs and see that Barry has been let out and fed his breakfast. I go to turn my kettle on and beside it see my pink teacup on a saucer with a teabag in it just waiting for me to make it.

I smile broadly. That’s Henley’s way of making me a cup of tea.

Damn it, I am done. Has there ever been a dreamier man on the face of the earth?

I don’t think so.

With my cup of tea I walk out and sit on the back steps in the morning sunshine.

It’s going to be a great weekend.

3:00 p.m., and I hold the dress up to my body as I look in the mirror. “Hmm, or this one.” I throw that dress to the side and grab another to hold it up instead. “I want to look perfect tonight.”

I slip on some nude strappy stilettos. Or would the black ones look better?

The doorbell sounds from downstairs. “Who’s that?” It rings again. “Coming,” I call. I bound down the stairs and open the door to see Taryn. “Taryn.” I smile. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She beams. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” I step back to let her walk past me into the house. “What’s up?”

She flops onto my couch. “What are you wearing tonight?”

Huh?

“Umm.” I frown. “Sorry... What’s tonight?”

“Our double date.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Henley came over this morning and arranged it with Mason and I.”

I stare at her as I try to get my brain to catch up. “So you and Mason are going on a date?”

“No.” She rolls her eyes as if I’m stupid. “Henley and I are going on a date together, and you and Mason are hooking up... remember?”

“Oh... right.”

What the f**k?

“Okay.” I try to think on my feet. “Where are we going to, again?”

“Club SoHo.” She frowns over at me. “Were you listening to Henley at all when he organized this with you?”

“Obviously not.” I smile through gritted teeth.

“So... what are you thinking?” she says. “Pure, slutty, supermodel... What look are you going for?”

“Psychopathic works for me.”

“Juliet, honestly.” She throws her head back and laughs out loud. “You’re such a hoot.”

I’ll hoot you in a f*****g second.

“I don’t know what I’m wearing. I’ll play it by ear, I guess,” I tell her.

“I’m going to wear my tight white dress. I really want to blow Henley’s brains out.”