Restoration & Forgiveness (Renovate Book 2) (21 page)

"I'm sorry, so sorry that I wasn't here."

"This isn't your fault. You're not responsible for her actions. Obviously, it was my mistake to walk away from her. I should have just let her verbally attack me."

He looks at my arm again, and kisses my forearm where a raised red welt has formed. I've been given the worst Indian burn of all time.

"Well, it's never happening again; I promise you this will all be over as soon as possible. I don't care what it takes. Don't ever believe anything she says; she has no idea, never has, and never will," he tells me.

His words are comforting, yet I'm still a little shaken from the confrontation. He kisses my temple and leads me to a bank of elevators. I try not to notice the stares from the people loitering in the lobby, but it's obvious they have all just witnessed the ugly scene.

Chapter Twenty

"Do you want to report this? There were plenty of people who witnessed it," Keegan asks, as he sits next to me with a bag of ice.

"No, I think that would just make things worse. They are just a couple of scratches."

"These aren't just a couple of scratches, Aimee, it looks like she got you pretty good."

My arm is the least of my worries at the moment. I'm sure our problems just became a lot bigger. The entire way up in the elevator, Keegan held me close. When we reached the suite, he immediately ordered me to sit. I told him I was fine, but he insisted on being my nurse. I told him the ice was unnecessary. The room has a first-aid kit that had some ointment, so he rubbed it on my arm.

"I didn't provoke her, if that's what you think. I tried to walk away, and she wouldn't let me."

"I never would think that, ever."

"Why now? What I mean is, why are you suddenly having a change of heart with Gretchen? She's not acting any different toward me."

He looks at me, his piercing blue eyes regretful. "I guess I didn't see it before. I knew she wasn't happy that we were together, but I thought it was because she was just so used to me alone; that she would get to know you and change."

He ignored something that he thought would solve itself, but all it did was make things even more complicated.

"She called my ring pathetic."

"What?" he asks.

"She basically said I was beneath the two of you. That you were bigger than me," I confess.

"Has she been berating you like this a lot?"

Try the whole time. I swear he's just had a revelation, and I'm angry with him for letting her take advantage of him.

"Yeah, she has, and you just ignored it."

He stands up and runs his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth. Removing his tie and tuxedo jacket, he throws both over a chair.

"Look, what's done is done, but Keegan, she's out for blood now. You embarrassed her, and among other things chose being with me over her."

He stops. "I know what she's capable of."

I don't think he does; he sees her through rose-colored glasses, as a friend first and foremost. That's the least important part to her.

"Do you really?" This has slowly twisted into an argument, but a needed one.

"I'm trying here, okay?" He kneels, taking my hand.

"I know you are, but she's been using you, manipulating you since you were eighteen, and I get that there are things you both share that we don't."

He catches a tear with his thumb.

"Aimee, you're my heart, and soul. Everything that happened when we were apart just reaffirmed that it doesn't compare."

"When you left and I didn't hear from you, I felt abandoned. It was one of the worst times in my life, next to losing my mom, and almost my dad."

"Mine too," he admits.

"I moved on, and I thought I was happy. Then being with you, I now recognize just how empty my heart was without you. She did that, Keegan, she set the last eight years in motion, and not because she loved you, because she admitted that to me."

He's silent with understanding. I've poured the rest of my heart out into his lap.

"That's the past, and we can't change that. I need you to be careful because I'm afraid you're going to lose more than just money.

"That's not going to happen, and even if that was a possibility it wouldn't change my mind. There is one good thing that came out of tonight. Since I'll be working from home for the foreseeable future, and you will be there more often, we get to be together more often."

I smile, because spending more time with him is in no way a hardship, and never will be.

"True."

"Do you want something to drink? There is champagne, and strawberries," he informs me.

"Where did you learn to be so romantic? It's like you're my book, boyfriends come to life. Definitely cheesy at times, but the clichés are my favorite part."

"Don't you know, my sweet Aimee, I was made just for you, and everything I've learned has been all to make you happy."

There he goes, saying the most perfect words at the most perfect time. He was made for me. I'm positive of that.

We lazily lounge on the bed, watching bad television, and enjoy the champagne and strawberries. I dip my fruit in my glass and suck off the bubbly wine.

Keegan stares at me with a lustful look in his eyes.

"What?" I ask.

"You know how badly I wish I were that strawberry right now?" I cough at his flirting. Clichéd indeed, and I love it. I've loved him more and more every day that I've known him. There hasn't been a day that I have loved him any less than the previous. My heart is filled up to the top, and it's all for him.

I take another strawberry and suck harder, making a delicious sound of satisfaction. I watch as his eyes darken with desire. It's the most amazing feeling to pull this reaction from him.

"I want to touch you, Aimee; please tell me I can," he begs. I like hearing him beg. The way he is looking at me sends tingles through me not from the champagne.

He doesn't wait for an answer, just takes the glass out of my hand as I swallow the strawberry. He doesn't remove his smoldering eyes from mine.

Keegan runs his fingertips from my cheek directly down my nape to the top of my chest. He hooks his fingers inside the material, moving them back and forth, teasing me.

"I'm wondering if I kiss you, will you taste like that sweet strawberry you have been torturing me with," he whispers softly in my ear.

"I didn't mean—" My words are cut off as he licks the crease of my lips and makes a delicious sound.

He backs away and I hear my heart beating between us. I'm sure it's trying to break through my chest so it can reach his. It's pounding so hard it sounds like there are drums in my chest.

"That just may be my favorite taste, ever," he says huskily, turning the rest of me to mush.

"Better than homemade brownies right out of the oven?" I ask.

"One hundred times better." He smiles, his dimples on full display.

He turns me on my side to unzip my dress, then returns me to my back as he slowly pulls it off, leaving me in nothing but my black bra and panties. Moving over me, he runs his eyes up and down my body. His chest rises and falls with rapid breaths that match my own.

He's holding back, and I'm positive it's because of my stupid arm.

So I do what he can't: I grab his shirt, undo the buttons one by one, and move it down his arms. He throws it on the floor. When I grab his pants to undo his button, he stops me.

"There isn't anything sexier now than watching you undress me. I'm trying so hard not to be rough with you, but my restraint is a thin thread right now. I want to give it to you so good that everyone can hear you scream my name."

My breath hitches in my throat. I don't know what to say to even describe how on fire for him I am right now. I'm not as versed in my desire as he is, but I'll try for him.

"I'm going to take these pants off, and anything keeping my mouth from your big hard cock, and then I'm going to show you how hard I can suck it."

Keegan lets out a moan that is a cross between pain and pleasure. I don't care if I'm no good at dirty talk; as long as I get that kind of reaction out of him I'll never become embarrassed.

"You don't even know how sexy and sweet you are." He dips his finger in my underwear and between my folds. I'm dripping with yearning, and when he sucks that same finger, it's singlehandedly the most erotic thing I've ever seen. Not that I have a lot of erotic things to look back on, but every one includes this man, and the pleasure he brings to my body.

So, I let go of what I've been holding in, grab his face, and lick his lips, tasting myself on him. I plunge my tongue into his mouth and let our tongues wage a war. We kiss long and hard, until we are completely breathless.

I decide enough is enough, and I'm going to show him what I'm capable of. I remove his pants and black briefs like my life depended on it. It just may, since I might die if I don't have him.

I wrestle him onto his back, and he puts both his hands behind his head. He's getting comfortable, and with that sexy look on his face, I'm more determined to make this the best blowjob of all time.

I grab him tight with both hands and lick in a circular motion at his tip, then up and down so I've licked every inch of it. He grabs my hair, holding tight as I take him in my mouth. At first I suck the top like it's my favorite flavor, then slowly I take him in till I feel him hit the back of my throat.

"That's it, take it all baby." His grip tightens on my hair.

I moan at his erotic words, then do as he asks and take all of him. What started out slow but it quickly speeds up. He helps by guiding my head as it bobs up and down. I can feel the wetness in my panties I'm so turned on right now, doing this to him.

He takes his foot and slides it between my legs and I can't help but moan again.

"Does that feel good, huh?" he asks.

Why is he asking me questions, when I obviously can't answer? I try to speak but it comes out garbled. He chuckles, so I just suck harder and faster. I'm going to show him that this isn't anything to laugh at. My hips move with his fingers as he rubs my clit.

"You're dripping all over my fingers. I think you are more turned on than I am." He moves his finger in and out at a fast pace, and I continue my assault and feel the soreness in my jaw. Is this what a porn star feels like? Of course, they aren't giving head to someone like Keegan, but as my thoughts drift my body gets close to release. My intention was to blow his mind, but the tables seem to have turned and he's about to make me explode. I do my best to concentrate on the task at hand.

We are both trying to give each other an orgasm. It's suddenly become a competition where we both will win. His hips jut up as he starts fucking my mouth, and I moan; he's getting closer, I can tell by the sounds that escape him. Pleasurable moans, and as he finally lets go, I do the same. I'm the victor, and I've already won my prize. I wanted to dominate this man, and he's just allowed me to feel like a queen; he's given me my throne.

I don't scream his name, but he does mine, over and over. I let out several moans of total gratification at the same time as I suck every last drop of what he's given me.

I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to sex, but I can't remember ever having this feeling of ultimate and pure satisfaction. I finally understand why people need a cigarette after great sex. I've never smoked a day in my life, but I could go for one now.

We settle into one another, and my body is sated, yet it's like a live wire at the same time.

"I think you are turning me into a nymphomaniac," I confess.

He laughs lightheartedly. He may think I'm kidding, but all I want to do at the moment is touch and kiss him all over. I want to love every single inch of him.

"I'm serious, have you had this effect on the other women you've been with?"

"What other women?"

"Good answer." I snuggle in to him, running my fingertips along his chest.

"We aren't going to sleep? Right? I'm not tired," I say, hoping he's thinking the same thing as me.

"You are a minx, Ms. Brennan, soon to be Mrs. James," he says playfully.

"Well, you didn't quite make me scream your name, like you said you wanted me to."

He moves over me in a flash, and I can feel his hard length between my legs. I guess we in fact are on the same page. He brushes my hair off my face and looks at me, his eyes once more filled with wanting. I believe mine are the same.

"Do you want it hard?" He grinds into me.

"Yes."

"Do you want it deep?" I moan.

"Answer me, sweet sexy thing,"

"Yes, and yes."

"Do you want it now?" He grabs my hands and nuzzles my neck, then teases me by sliding himself along my slick center. I moan again, and this one is needier.

"Aimee, you have to answer me."

"Yes, please."

He jumps of the bed quickly finding his wallet and removing a condom. Faster than a speeding train he opens the package and rolls it down his length.

He grabs my hands, pulling them above my head and holding them. I'm excited about what's going to come next.

"Just promise me one thing. Don't hold back, and I won't either."

"I promise," I whisper in his ear.

Those are the last words spoken before he enters me, and he shows me just how good it can be giving over control, letting go and ravaging one another. He gets what he wants, because my throat eventually becomes sore from screaming his name. The evening just did a 180 degree turn, and for now I am not worried about what tomorrow will bring. My life is perfect when I'm wrapped in the arms of the one man who has given me almost everything I've ever dreamed about.
 

Chapter Twenty-One

There's nothing better than waking up tangled like a pretzel with Keegan. I'm not sure of the hour, but light filters in from the window. It's a workday, but all I want to do is remain like this, in this bed. I'm comfortable like this with him. It's safe, and no one can harm either one of us. Locked away forever wouldn't be so bad. I'd be happy living just the two of us.