Forsaking Gray (The Colloway Brothers Book 1) (16 page)

I catch her eyes again and smile sadly. Addy didn’t know me. Not really. If she knew all my baggage, would she still think I’m deserving? Doubtful. “Thanks,” I manage to choke.

“Whatever it is, Livia, I think you’re selling yourself short to believe he won’t understand. And if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here.”

The doorbell rings and all the butterflies sitting in the pit of my stomach take flight at once. I feel their wings fluttering wildly against my insides. I’m nauseous.

“Showtime,” she whispers excitedly. I smooth down my short dress, which fits like a glove and shows off every single curve I’ve managed to gain back over these last two years. I walk to the front door, standing with the knob in my hand so long that the doorbell rings a second time and I jump.

I take a deep breath before turning it, knowing my entire life will change the second I open it.

Chapter 19

Holy fuck.

That’s all I could think when she opened the door and I saw her rocking the dress I’d sent. My cock was instantly, uncomfortably hard. That toddler was going to be difficult to hide in my fitted dress slacks.

I was literally speechless as my eyes traveled slowly down her sexy, curvy body. The silver sheath showed a fair amount of cleavage and hugged her flared hips perfectly, ending at mid-thigh. When I got to the heels, the only thing I could picture was her standing naked in front of me, wearing nothing but those, before I took her against the wall and they ended up digging into my ass as I pumped repeatedly into her. The urge to bail on dinner and gorge on Livvy instead was so great I almost pulled out my phone to call Conn.

“You look mouthwatering, Livvy,” I finally manage to utter when our eyes connect. I feather a finger down her cheek, my thumb tugging across her parted bottom lip. I lean into her, my lips a whisper away. Her eyes have darkened and dilated and her chest rapidly expands and contracts with each shallow breath. “My lips ache for yours,” I warn right before I claim them, exploring the mouth I didn’t get enough of yesterday.

After a brief hesitation, her arms wind around my neck and our bodies mash together, our kiss quickly brimming with passion and longing. I turn her slightly to steady us against the door jam and run my hand up her torso, palming a pert breast, thumbing her hardened nipple through the thin fabric. Her moan has my hand traveling back south, very intent on determining what type of lingerie lay underneath this sexy wrapping.

A throat clearing in the background is the only reason I pull away, but as I do, I tug her bottom lip between my teeth and place one last chaste kiss on her before facing our unwelcome interloper, pulling Livvy close to my side.

A striking tall brunette is bouncing up and down like she needs to pee. She thrusts out her hand toward me with a sly smile. “You must be Gray.”

“Addy, stop,” Livvy hisses.

I look at Livvy and can’t help the broad smile that breaks out as her face reddens. Her roommate knows about me and I’m surprised at how much that warms my blood.

“I am,” I reply, turning back toward her, taking her hand briefly in mine.

“I’m Addy, Livia’s roommate. Nice touch, by the way. She looks hot.” She nods toward Livvy, and I suspect she’s referring to the clothes I sent.

“That she does,” I reply, but now my heated stare is locked on my woman. She’d look great wearing a potato sack. It’s the woman that makes the dress look incredible, not the other way around.

“Have a great time, tonight. Don’t rush to bring her home.”

“Don’t wait up,” I reply. Her friend’s grin is contagious, and I return it. I have no intention of bringing Livvy back to her apartment. She’s spending the night with me, and if I have anything to say about it, every other night for the rest of our lives.

“Umm, hello? I’m right here.”

I grab her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips. “Do you need to grab anything before we leave, angel?”
Like all of your belongings?

“My purse,” her soft voice whispers. She’s just as affected by me as I am by her and, if possible, that makes my cock even harder. I have absolutely no fucking idea how I’m going to get through the next three hours without being inside of her.

She grabs her purse and a wrap and soon we’re on our way to the restaurant. Tonight Henry is driving. He’s my part-time chauffeur, but he’s so much more than that. He’s a long-time friend of the family. He worked for my father for twenty-five years and when I took over my father’s company, Henry insisted that I’d also need his services, even though I protested I would never be so pretentious as to need a driver. Turns out, it’s not pretension, but necessity, to have Henry handy sometimes; otherwise, I’d be a distracted driving hazard. It’s not very smart to host a conference call from the driver’s seat as you’re navigating Chicago rush hour traffic to O’Hare Airport.

Take tonight, for example. There’s no way I could do what I wanted with Livvy on our thirty-minute drive back into the city if I was driving.

“Come here,” I say. She’d positioned herself as far away from me in the back seat as possible and I meant what I told her in the message I’d delivered earlier. There would be no space between us ever again. Especially of the physical kind.

Her eyes flick to Henry’s, catching his in the rear view mirror before landing on mine. Not waiting for her reply, I grab her arm and slide her across the slick seat, pulling her into my lap, against the protests she’s voicing. She does that way too much. I want her to beg for my touch, beg for my tongue, beg for my cock. The only time I want to hear her protests are when she’s pleading for me to fuck her harder and faster, and then complaining when I’m spent and can’t.

“I’ve been hard for hours envisioning you in those shoes,” I whisper, nibbling her perfumed neck. She smells so fucking good, I almost tell Henry to take us to my apartment instead.

“Just the shoes?” she breathes.

“Fuck yes.
Just
the shoes.”

“Gray—”

I know that tone and I hastily silence it with my lips, swallowing whatever she was about to say so I don’t have to hear it. She quickly melts into me, winding a hand in my hair. I slip the hand not holding her head up the inside of her bare thigh. If I don’t find out what she’s teasing me with underneath before dinner, I may just blow. Hell, I may blow once I
do
find out.

As I reach the juncture, I feel her radiating heat. As my fingers graze her silk panties, I feel the dampness of her want. And as I slip them underneath the wet fabric, I am scorched by her desire.

She breaks the kiss, trying to squirm out of my arms. “Gray—”

“I need to feel your body quiver in my arms, Livvy, and know that it’s me causing each one.” If I could get away with taking her in the backseat, I would.

“Not in the car,” she breathes, but it’s choppy and not at all convincing.

“He can’t see anything where you’re positioned,” I taunt against the shell of her ear. It’s true, but I find I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t. It’s only been twenty-four hours, but the burning need I have to bury any body part inside of her is tearing me apart. She’s silent for several moments and I know I’ve tempted her. My intense want for her throbs against her almost bare ass.

“But he can hear,” she murmurs against my cheek.

My fingers crawl back up her bare flesh until they slip once again under her soaked panties, caressing her wet, smooth womanly flesh. A low moan escapes her lips. I know she’s succumbed when I feel her lashes close against my skin.

“Then be quiet, angel.”

Before she has a chance to change her mind, I bury two fingers in her wet pussy and, after dragging through her moisture, feather my thumb over her hardened bundle of nerves. She hides her face in my neck, a gasp escaping her lips before she begins to ride the hand I’m ruthlessly driving in and out.

My Livvy was always so responsive and I’m glad to see nothing has changed. In less than sixty seconds she’s quivering in my arms, panting against my neck, just as I’d craved. She bites her lip to stay quiet, but there’s no way Henry doesn’t know what’s going on back here, and I don’t give a rat’s ass. At least he’s discreetly looking ahead, and not back here.

With my fingers still moving slowly inside her sex, as her tremors subside, I rasp, “When I get you home, you’re riding my cock. I want to watch you unravel with me buried deep inside you. I need to feel my come coat your insides as you scream my name, Livvy. I need to know you’re mine.” She clenches my wet digits and it takes everything in me not to rip her clothes off right now.

“Sir, we’ll be arriving in just a few minutes.”

Once again, she tries to escape, but I refuse. I hold her eyes as I withdraw from her heat and slowly suck my fingers clean. She watches in rapt fascination, her lips parted. “Hmmm, that’s all the appetizer I need, baby.” She blushes and I love it. I love
her
.

I hold her in my arms, feathering kisses across her temple, her cheeks, her lips until she sighs and relaxes against me. I tighten my arms around her, never wanting to let her go.

Christ, I love this woman so much my chest constricts with the thought of being without her ever again. I honestly feel like my heart may stop beating if I were to lose her a second time.

I simply refuse to think that’s an option.

Chapter 20

The past two hours have been extremely awkward and uncomfortable and I push around the bananas foster that was just set in front me, picking up my wine instead. I think I’ve had three glasses so far, but it’s hard to keep track when Gray keeps refilling it before I’ve even finished. I know he’s trying to ply me with enough alcohol so that it’ll be easier to convince me to go home with him, but he needn’t worry. I can’t get the dirty words out of my head that flowed like smooth melted chocolate from his wicked tongue straight to my core. Since he had his fingers buried deep inside me, he had to feel how every single syllable made me drip more.

God, you’re pathetically easy, Livia.

When Gray and I arrived at the restaurant, everyone was already seated. Asher and Connelly are here, along with three men from some investment company Gray briefly mentioned while we were walking in. While neither of Gray’s brothers were rude, neither were exactly welcoming either. As much as I wish it was different, I don’t blame them. They were left behind to pick up the shattered pieces of their broken brother, and if the shoe were on the other foot, I would echo their sentiments. And I’ve not given them any reason not to feel otherwise, either.

The other three men have been very cordial all evening and John, a very handsome investment banker sitting next to me, keeps trying to politely engage me in conversation.

“So Livia, what is it you do?” he asks. When we first sat down, Gray introduced me as an associate and I have to admit, it stung a little. I got the distinct impression that I wasn’t supposed to be present at this business dinner, and I wondered why Gray brought me in the first place. It made me angry that he felt the need to drag me around like a pet.

“Nothing exciting, I’m afraid. I work at HMT Enterprises as an executive assistant.”
For a fucking idiot,
I think, but don’t add.

John’s eyes flick momentarily to Gray, who is engaged in serious conversation with the others. I wonder why John is paying attention to me, versus the business dinner he’s supposed to be participating in.

“Not his,” I say softly.

“You look very familiar. Have we met someplace before?” Mental eye-roll.
Really, guy? You can’t do better than that?

I don’t know why I feel so out of place being here, but I do. I should be used to polite conversation, I did it all the time when I waitressed, but the way John is scrutinizing me as if he wants to eat me up is making me very edgy. And on the verge of unleashing my inner bitch, which would likely be frowned upon by all present.