Lick & Devour (Monster Novelette) (4 page)

With a sigh, Eden approached her co-worker. She knew it was a risky move considering how pissed Allison was, but she was confident that the other woman wouldn’t resort to violence. At least she hoped not. “I didn’t poach your client, Allison. Mr. Blake was…”

“All you had to do was show him the goddamn property! It was that fucking simple, even an airhead like you could’ve handled that. But instead you batted those stupid lashes of yours and put on that ‘I’m so innocent’ act that you have the whole office believing in and stole him from me. Jesus, I should’ve seen it coming!”

“Allison I didn’t steal him away from you. You’re overreacting, if you would just listen to me…”

“Save it! I’m just glad you finally showed me what a monumental bitch you are, at least now I know how to act around you. Just do me a favor and stay the fuck out of my way from now on.” With that she made her grand exit out of Eden’s office, trudging an angry path down the center aisle of desks occupied by the receptionists. With absolute certainty, Eden knew the entire office had heard the altercation. Honestly, it wasn’t like Allison had tried to be quiet about it. But she wasn’t given time to recover from the verbal attack when minutes later her phone rang and she was summoned to her boss’s office.

With Kennedy Archer being her typically blunt self, it was a short meeting. She’d cut straight to the chase, telling Eden about Allison’s relationship with Mr. Blake, a relationship Eden was oblivious about, but it seemed was well known in the office. It was rarely acknowledged for obvious reasons, Mr. Blake’s marital status and his continuing business with the agency. Business he now apparently threatened to take somewhere else if he wasn’t properly accommodated.

“He dropped Allison this morning and has asked that you take over this deal and all future transactions he’ll be making with us. The fact that his business remaining at Archer real estate was contingent on you saying yes, was definitely implied.”

Eden frowned, “So what, I say no and he walks…?”

With a nod, Kennedy replied, “We lose a good client, yes.”

“Is my job relying on this?”

“I didn’t say that. You’re one of our best agents and you’re an absolute asset to this agency. Which is why I’m asking you to take one for the team and see this through. We’ll figure out what to do after you sell him this property but for now, be the best and do your job.”

Do your job.
It wasn’t an outright warning, but Eden knew how to read between the lines. Shut up and get the commission. She could most certainly refuse, but then it would mean ending up on Kennedy’s shit list, the last place anyone at the office wanted to be.

“The guy is huge sleaze, Kennedy.” And that was putting it mildly. “He’s married and he goes around hitting on women. I’m not sure what sort of thing he had going on with Allison, and honestly you telling me it was more than just business makes this situation that much worse. But if you need me to close this deal I’ll do it, but that’s it. I won’t handle any of his future business.” She countered, meeting Kennedy’s gaze evenly.

“You got it. I’ll have Allison talk to him again and see if we can work something out. But thank you for taking one for the team, Eden. Your efforts aren’t going unnoticed.”

Yeah, just let it reflect in my paychecks
. Eden thought wryly on her way out.

This day, unlike the one before took a turn for the better after Eden discovered the bouquet of roses was from her absent lover. Plucking the little white card nestled within the arrangement, Eden’s face flushed brilliantly as her eyes skimmed over his message.

I count the seconds until I can eat from the heaven between your legs and sink into your sweet Eden. I’ll be seeing very soon, my pet. All my love.

D-

Well played, Mr. Armstrong.
And right on Valentine’s Day. For someone who wasn’t much for romance, he sure knew how to make a girl feel special. Everything else after that was a complete and utter blur, not even having to call Mr. Blake and schedule another showing could burst her happy little bubble. Pacified by Dominic’s romantic gesture, Eden resigned to spend the latter portion of her night soaking in the tub with a glass or ten of wine, gorge on the assorted box of imported chocolates he bought her and cap the night off with her majestic wand. Exactly in that order. At a quarter past eight she said goodbye to the last two remaining agents at the office as she steadily made her way outside with the huge bouquet in tow. The drive home was a relatively uneventful one and by the time she parked her car in the circular driveway she was just about ready for the long relaxing dip in the tub. She didn’t expect Liam to be up, but she had every intention of heading up to his room for a goodnight kiss before she tended to herself. The minute she stepped inside her home, toting her purse, briefcase and the vase containing her roses,
Eden stopped short, a sharp gasp escaping her lips at the sight that greeted her. Suspended from the ceiling, hanging inches above her head were floating tea light candles. There seemed to be hundreds of them encased in small frosted glasses and like stars they glittered brilliantly transforming the entire entry way into a sea of lights.

They also covered every inch of the foyer’s marble flooring, their flickering flames placed strategically to frame the thick layer of crimson and pink rose petals forming a path to the grand staircase.

Dominic
.

He was home!

With heart racing and a smile that could’ve rivaled the sun in brilliance, Eden left everything at the front entrance and sprinted up stairs, practically tripping over her heeled feet. She got rid of the four inch heels at the top of the staircase and followed the rose petal path to the master bedroom. Stepping inside their bedroom, she expected to see him, preferably naked and waiting for her on their bed. He wasn’t there. But the mild disappointment Eden felt instantly vanished as she took in their bedroom. There were crimson rose petals everywhere! They covered every inch of their sleigh bed. Ambient flames from even more tea light candles flickered beautifully inside the bedroom.

“Dom?” she called, impatient to lay greedy eyes on him, but he was nowhere to be found and there was no immediate response as she ambled forward to search for him. It was then that Eden heard the soft strains of a moan. Turning her head slightly to the left side of the room, a deep flush washed over her entire body, blooming along her cheeks as she saw herself on the flat screen television hanging inside the entertainment center. It was a video of her, and although Eden wasn’t sure when it’d been recorded, that small detail seemed inconsequential to what it recorded her doing. She was pleasuring herself. With one hand teasing and trailing, gently pinching the nipples of her breasts, the other moved sensually between her thighs as she writhed shamelessly on the sleigh bed, completely oblivious to the world around her. She was a woman without inhibition moving beautifully to the erratic strokes of her own pleasure, the name of only one man escaping from her mouth as she found glorious release. The recording switched again, to another lonely night when she’d resorted to the wand. And then again and again, each scene culminating her orgasm before moving on to another. It was odd seeing herself this way, her secret moments exhibited in front her. But the longer she watched, riveted scene after scene, Eden could not deny the eroticism of the video. Heat simmered in her blood, gathering hot at the center of her belly as flames of arousal licked between her legs.

“Hello, pet.” Eden’s heart catapulted out of her chest and into her throat at the husky rumble of his voice. She hadn’t noticed his silent approach until he stood behind her, flush against her, his arm like a band of flesh spanned her waist, dragging her possessively against his formidable physique. She felt him,
all
of him through the layers of clothes that separated them. Hard and solid, the velvet steel of his dick nestled snugly between her butt cheeks and he drew her to it so that she felt just how painfully aroused he was. “I see you’ve kept yourself busy in my absence,” he murmured, brushing her hair to one side of her shoulder and lowering his face to her neck. The even puff of his whispering breath blew hot against her flesh sending delicious currents down her spine. “Look at how beautifully you touch yourself…you’re like a porn star…” his voice was silky sin as it seduced her senses. Pulse racing, Eden swallowed hard around the sudden dryness in her throat. The carnal hunger and fierce desire that vibrated between them temporarily robbed her of breath, while her heart raced wildly inside her chest, a dangerous cocktail of exhilaration and dying anticipation making her weak in the knees. Indolently tracing the column of her neck with his warm open mouth, he captured her earlobe between his teeth and gently nipped. “
My
little porn star.” It was a possessive growl, primitive in a way that put Eden completely at his mercy. Even more so when his large hand reached beneath the hem of her skirt, the fabric bunching as he slowly traced up the inside of her thighs. She sucked in a breath when his palm came against the fragile barrier of her damp thong, her eyes widening as thick fingers replaced that palm. He set a pace, staying just outside that flimsy barrier he moved his middle finger back and forth in a slow, tormenting friction that drew a long moan from Eden.

“Oh god, Dominic…” She wiggled in his arms, wanting to see his face, to touch him and feel the drugging slide of his mouth on hers while he touched her this way. But he kept her still, kept Eden exactly where he wanted her, the utter power he wielded over her absolute when she desperately began to rock her hips against his fingers, frantic for more.

“Should I tell you how many times I’ve jerked off to these videos of you, pet?” the hoarse inquiry did things to Eden. To know that she was coveted and desired by a man like her husband was as heady as the maddening way he stroked her. He increased the pressure, his finger curling as he scraped down the center of her wet thong, tracing the plump lips of her drenched pussy. “Far too many times that I’ve lost count. But nothing compares to the real thing, Eden.” Turning her around with fluid finesse, his hand remained between her thighs as he took possession of her mouth, parting her lips and thrusting into her sweet warmth like it was his to claim. Abandonment was in the way as Eden clung to him. Mind in a whirlwind, body on fire she met the demanding thrust of his slick tongue with frantic sweeps of her own, her hands and fingers diving into the thickness of his midnight hair to pull him further down into her insatiable hunger.

He drove them back until her back thudded against the nearest wall, giving her a moment to breath he moved his mouth across her cheek, his five o’clock shadow scraping deliciously against her skin as his tongue lapped her like she was made of sugar. Moving the scrap of wet fabric aside allowed him full access to the swollen bud of her clit and when he simultaneously rubbed his thumb against it and plunged both his index and middle inside her heated core, Eden chocked on a tortured gasp. “Don’t be cruel, kitten,” he growled against her throat. “Let me hear how good it feels. You know how much I get off on your moans.” She whimpered for him, he played her so finely, plucked her strings with such expertise that her gasping moans filled the air between them. With hips rising and falling Eden followed the cadence of his fingers, riding and riding until—

“Not yet.” His cruel whisper had Eden nearly screaming as he denied her that sweet explosion of release, his wet fingers slipping out of her heat to invade the space between them. Blinking through the haze, she met his smoldering green gaze and her pussy clenched when he brought his fingers, glistening with her juices to her mouth. “Taste yourself,” he ordered roughly and when she did, he watched her like starving predator. The savage growl that escaped him had him fisting a hand through her hair as he replaced his fingers with the dark, intoxicating heat of his mouth. He angled her head to gain better access as his tongue dove deep, fucking the breath from her lungs. He made short work of her blouse yanking savagely on one side until it flew open beneath his aggression. Heedless of the little black buttons that scattered to the ground, he broke the kiss to stare down at the lush mounds of her heaving breasts that were barely contained by the black bra. “Delectable,” he rasped unevenly and as though in a trance he lowered his dark head to her chest, taking one distended nipple into the heat of his mouth. Eden groaned, her brain turning to mush as she felt the slow stroke of his tongue through the lacy fabric of her bra, greedily sucking and nipping at her nipple.

“Dom…Dom…please…need you…”

“Tell me what you need, pet,” he raised his head, mouth now poised at her lips as he continued to fondle her through her bra.

“…please…”

“Say it,” he bit out.

“Need your dick, need it deep inside me, please Dom…give it to me…”

“Then take it out.” The order was an aphrodisiac and he knew it too as he watched her reach frantically for his belt. She freed him without missing a beat, his rigid length springing free of his trousers made Eden’s mouth water for a taste of him,
but she wanted those glorious nine inches somewhere else far more desperately.

“Please…fuck me, Dominic…”

He grasped her jaw, “I love how you beg, kitten.” He whispered throatily and with one deep kiss, he hiked her leg up his thigh, her skirt riding up as he cupped her ass, kneading the round globes as hitched her further up the wall, positioning himself at the apex of her cunt. Hooking her legs around his waist, Eden clutched his shoulders, her nails digging into the corded muscles as he drove his hips upwards, simultaneously dragging her onto the unforgiving length of his dick. She released a whoosh of air, besieged by the powerful sensation of being stretched and filled so perfectly she leaned her head back against the wall, eyes clutched shut, barely able to catch a breath. It was an invasion, a primitive assault on her entire being, but it was one that Eden instantly succumbed to, welcoming the carnal onslaught. She contracted around him, her walls tightening in a series of flutters that pulled him deeper into her body. His curse was a harsh labored sound that reverberated hotly against her skin as he buried his face in the hollow space between her shoulder and neck. “If you don’t stay still,” he breathed, watching her through dark green shuttered eyes, his unrepentant hunger for her palpable. “I’m going to nut so deep inside you that you’ll be able to taste it.” Those words…God, those words and the gritty, almost savage way he uttered them had Eden melting around him. He moved and she moved along with him, meeting his every upward thrust with a matching jerk of her hips. It was a wild rhythm, he went in hard and
went in deep, slamming her against the wall without an ounce of mercy. His teeth scraped her skin, his large hand grasped her jaw applying enough pressure that her mouth fell open allowing him to insert his fingers between her lips. The guttural utterance of, “Fuck yeah, kitten…” when she wantonly sucked on those fingers, swirling her tongue around each digit and imagining it was another appendage violating her mouth, he groaned, jacking his hips to smash against her G-spot. Stunning waves of orgasm soared through her, the pulsing heat blazing through Dominic pushed him to drive deeper into her. The unrestrained roar of his release was only slightly muffled by resting his head against her shoulder while he held her pinned to the wall. For a long, long moment afterwards nothing was said. There was nothing to be said that their mutual labored breaths in the silence did not convey.