Page 14 of The Stranger

Martin’s face falls. “He can’t even afford her annual shopping spree in Milan! I am the man for her!”

Dad turns to me with a smile, love shining in his eyes. “Have you met our Maura, Martin? She doesn’t need a man for money. She has more than enough as it is.”

6

TYLER

Maura’s apartment is where I would live if I won a billion dollars in the lottery. It’s not even the impeccable interior design nor the custom-made furniture.

No. The best part about her place is the view from her floor-to-ceiling windows.

Here, I can gaze out at the vast expanse of the ocean stretching out endlessly under the dark sky. The water is a deep, velvety black, and the moon hangs high above, casting a silvery path across it. Its reflection dances on the surface and creates a trail that seems to lead straight into the horizon.

“What’s your poison?” Maura asks from the minibar.

I turn my back on the spectacular view and walk to her. “None for me. I’m drunk from watching you.”

She chuckles and pours red wine into a glass. “You say that to every girl you meet?”

“Just you.”

“How about the others? What do you tell them?”

“There was no one before you, Maura,” I say, watching closely for her reaction. “No one after you either.”

With my gaze unwavering, I take slow, measured steps toward her. Maura sets the bottle down on the counter, and we stand looking at each other for a long, tense moment.

“You know I worship the ground you walk on, right?”

Her lower lip trembles, and her neck flexes. “Yes. Why?”

I reach and smear her lipstick across her cheek. “Because I’m about to pound you into a writhing, screaming mess. I won’t stop until you come.” I lower my head to bite her lower lip lightly and whisper against her mouth, “You’re my queen, Maura, but tonight … tonight, you’re my little slut.”

No sooner do those words leave my mouth that I kiss her like I don’t need air. She’s so much smaller than me that the only way to devour her mouth is to lift her off her feet and set her on the counter.

Before her, I hated the feel of other people’s skin on mine. Tattooing was fine since I wore gloves.

Now, with Maura, I can’t seem to stop. Can’t seem to last one second without at least brushing against her.

It’s as if I’m trying to make up for lost time. Making for all those years when I should’ve been touching her, but I wasn’t.

The silence in her apartment is shattered by the sound of rain drumming against the glass windows and the distant rumble of thunder.

I swipe my tongue along her jaw. “Have you ever been fucked in the rain?”

“N-no.”

Smiling against her skin, I loop her legs around me and carry her outside. We leave the cozy warmth of her penthouse, and I open the sliding door, the cool, moist air slapping my skin.

The sound of rain is louder out here, and a shiver runs down my spine as the cold droplets land on my arms and face. The rain soaks through our clothes quickly, and the fabric on Maura’s dress clings to her body.

“Too cold, little fairy?”

“Yes. So why don’t you set my body on fire, Tyler?”

My little fairy has demands, and I’ll never say no to her. Not while I’m still breathing.

I wrap one hand around her throat to tilt her face up for another kiss that leaves both of us breathless. My cock strains against my zipper, and I don’t know how much longer I can contain the beast inside me.

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