A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

The sun blocked out as he hovered over her, her eyes still closed as she blissfully attuned to the feel of his lips lightly on hers until it wasn’t enough. He was waiting for her bidding, she instinctively knew that. She could smell the bitter orange and bergamot undertones of his cologne, his breath mingling with hers, and after seconds that seemed to drag forever she gave him her consent with her mouth, pressed her own lips into his.

The greeting was acknowledged by the reward of his cool tongue parting her lips, slipping inside, and that delicious taste of him, the intimate feel of his mouth inside hers, his tongue languorously capturing hers, playing a slow teasing game, long strokes that made her want more, countered by a tiny feather-light stroke on the tip of her tongue and then a gentle sucking as he dragged her deeper into him.

And it was the most erotic of kisses yet the most frustrating, because still nowhere else did he touch her. Only their mouths were touching only their mouths in contact, and she wanted more, her body arching, trying to convey her needs. But he misread them, just kissed her ever on, till she burnt for more, literally ached for more, and only then did he give it, but in a selfish, measured dose.

The hand that she desired, that she anticipated around her waist to pull her towards him, instead lay on the soft inner flesh of her thigh, and the impact was as acute as if he’d struck her with a branding iron. It was her thigh, for heaven’s sake, Nina mentally begged, just a few square inches of flesh, and it wasn’t even moving, but it was intimate, it was so damned intimate that it was surely wrong to be lying here beneath him now. She wished his hand would move, but it didn’t. Instead, it pressed harder, almost imperceptibly at first but slowly she could feel his fingers digging into the tender flesh. Her breath in his mouth was coming faster now, and just as she went to push him away, to move his hand to safer ground, Julian was the one who stopped.

Propped up on his elbow, she could feel him gazing down at her and she lay there vulnerable, reluctant to open her eyes, terrified, excited at the same time, wondering what he would do next.

“I’m sorry,” He said. His words confused her, talking inappropriate now, his touch what she needed, not the mind games he played. “I’m sorry about what you went through at your old company, and for how it affected us. What exactly happened?”

“I’ve told you,” Nina gulped, screwing her eyes closed tighter wishing he would just leave it, and sure he knew she was lying. She wanted to drop the topic.Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

“Not all of it,” Julian said, his finger trailing along her arm as she spoke, the nub of his finger lingering on her radial pulse, like some perverse lie detector as he dragged her secrets out. “It wasn’t your fault. You know that right?”

“It doesn’t help,” Nina croaked, her eyes still screwed closed, unable to look at him as she revealed her shame. “I never had an affair with my boss. We were close, but not in that way. Someone who was jealous for some reason just made it look that way. And once the story got out like that, there was nothing I could do about it. So I ran. I left…. I just wanted all of it to go away. But somehow it kinda followed me and happened all over again. I was ashamed of the whole thing and I just wanted to put it behind me. I’m sure you must have been embarrassed when…. ”

“I don’t care what anyone says… Or said. I’m not embarrassed. I believe you. No one else matters… What people think doesn’t matter to me” Julian breathed, interrupting her, confusing her again. “Does it still matter to you..?”

“Of course not, I mean…. I did. But now, especially with the baby, I think I have other important things to worry” Nina started, but her voice trailed off, not sure what he was getting at. Her body was still throbbing with desire, an argument starting somewhere deep within…. Julian still wanted her, right?

Doubt was starting to ping in, her eyes snapping open, terrified that he was laughing at her, maybe judging her, dreading being humiliated again. But in one movement he grabbed her wrist, rammed her tense hand between his legs. She pulled back as if she’d been scalded, the strength of his erection shocking her, the feel of him in her hand a bit terrifying. But Julian pulled her hand back, holding it there till the fear abated, till the arousal that had always been there between them stirred again.

“You make me feel like this, Red.” he said. “You always have. Always will. Nothing changed.”

She could feel him growing in her palm, feel a trickle of sweat between her breasts as he swelled harder beneath her touch, a bubble of moisture between her legs as his fingers crept up her T-shirt now, tiny, delicate strokes as he inched up slowly further, and it had gone too far, way, way too far.

She murmured her protest, attempted to halt things, but he kissed her again… harder this time, captured her protest with his tongue and silenced it. She could feel the fleshy pad of his index finger circling her aching nipple as he held the soft plumpness of her bosom in his palm. Only now did his lips release hers. Any sooner and she would have begged him to stop, would have halted things.

But now she was putty in his skilled hands, pliable, warm, willing to move, to let him do with her what he wanted, and, oh, how he did-kissing the pulse leaping in her throat as she wriggled out of her top. The second her breasts were free, his tongue paid them the attention they deserved, tender attention, kissing the swollen, needy tips in turn, his finger retracing his steps, working downwards now. Her stomach tightened in renewed tension as he slid down the zip of her shorts, but for the first time since contact he spoke, the liquid deep tones of his voice not breaking the spell but somehow deepening it.