Page 29 of Undercover Billionaire

‘No.’ Ari shook his head. ‘It’s perfect. I’ve heard so many well-meaning platitudes this past three years I want to scream. People telling me that “there’s a reason for everything”and “at least she didn’t suffer” or that “God needed another angel in heaven”.’

He shook his head. He knew people were as much at a loss over something to say as Kelsey, but he’d rather they said nothing at all than something trite. He slid his hands onto her face, cupping her cheeks. ‘Itwasshit and you have no idea how good it is to hear somebody say that.’ Ari was glad he’d gone with the strange urge to open up. ‘You clearly have a gift with words,’ he teased, wanting to dissolve the frown knitting her brows together.

She gave him a crooked smile. ‘Oh yeah. I should definitely open my own condolence card company.’

He laughed. ‘Let me know if you ever need an investor.’

And then he kissed her, savouring her mouth for long, drugging moments. The scent of his soap on her skin and the feel of her breasts squashed against his chest was a dizzying combination.

He wanted this woman. Forbidden or not. Morally ambiguous or not. Risky or not. It made no sense. It just was.

But she broke away, the bow of her upper lip wet and a little swollen from his passion. ‘Is that what you meant earlier?’ she asked. ‘About being rusty?’

‘Yeah. There hasn’t been anyone else.’

‘Since she died? Forthreeyears?’

He nodded. The thought of being with anyone else after Talia had been about as exciting as a kick to the balls. ‘Are you freaking out?’

‘No.’ She shook her head slowly. ‘I’m… impressed.’

‘By the period of celibacy?’

‘Yes. And’ – she smiled – ‘your still-impressive skills. You’re like a wizard or something.’

He laughed as she slid her leg over him and pushed herself up, straddling his hips. She was glorious astride him like this, her hair in disarray, her skin pale against the swarthier tone of his, her rose-tipped breasts full and round and bouncy.

Gathering her hair to the side, she leaned in to kiss him and Ari met her halfway, raising his head off the pillow, kissing her quick and hard. She moaned as he stroked his tongue against hers and desire flowed like quicksilver through his veins and flooded his groin, his cock stiffening in an instant.

‘Mmm,’ she murmured against his mouth as she rubbed herself up and down his length. ‘You brought your magic wand, I see.’

He chuckled, his hands stroking down her back to her ass, holding her tight against him. ‘What self-respecting wizard leaves home without it?’

She ground a little harder, moaning in a way that went straight to his testicles. ‘It’s indefatigable, isn’t it?’

‘It is,’ Ari muttered, dropping a chain of kisses from the side of her mouth to her ear. After three years of celibacy, his cock had returned with impressive vigour. ‘Unfortunately for it, I’m out of condoms.’

Ari hadn’t thought to secure more. Because they weren’t supposed to be doing this again.

‘Oh no,’ she whispered, dropping her head to the side. ‘The poor thing.’

‘He’s very sad,’ Ari murmured, nuzzling down her neck, his tongue licking against the pulse fluttering in her throat.

‘Maybe I can kiss him better?’

Ari’s groin tightened. ‘I’m sure he’d enjoy that.’

He kissed her then, hard and deep one more time before Kelsey broke away and moved determinedlysouth. Down his throat, buzzing her lips and flicking her tongue over his nipples, licking around his belly button, tracing the trail of hair heading south from his navel all the way down to the root of his cock.

Ari groaned as she grabbed hold around the base and planted a string of kisses the length of his shaft all the way to the tip. When she reached the flushed taut crown, she licked at the bead of liquid that had formed at the slit and Ari’s hands bunched in the sheets.

The urge to thrust up, to push himself into her mouth, rode him like the devil. He wanted to see her lips stretched around him, he wanted to feel the head of his cock pushing into the soft give at the back of her throat, and he wanted to lock gazes with her as she sucked and released every inch of him.

But he didn’t. Because most of all he wanted to prolong this connection. Not just the wet suck of her mouth but the intimacy of the act. When he’d gone to that other woman’s room so long ago, he’d wanted two things – to forget and for it to be over.

It was different with Kelsey. He wanted to remember every moment and he never wanted it to end.

Ari didn’t know how he was going to feel about this time when it was all over – he expected it wasn’t going to be pretty – but right now he felt alive, and that felt good.

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