Page 40 of A Discovery: Love and Other Things

There was only one place I wanted to be right now, and it wasn’t my bed.

Chapter 18

I pounded on the door. It was late as fuck, but I didn’t care.

It had taken a lot of fast talking to convince the concierge to allow me upstairs. I’d had to drop the “distraught intern” card, lying through my teeth that I desperately needed to speak with my mentor about my fake dissertation, before the balding man in an ill-fitting suit would allow me to take the elevators up to the top floor. I supposed the tears streaming down my face and llama pajamas had been enough to convince him, or at least get me the hell out of the ritzy lobby without causing more of a scene.

The wait was killing me. I banged on the door again.

The lock clicked from inside, and then the door swung open, revealing a drowsy James.

His shirtless torso, sweatpants, and bare feet only confirmed that he had been asleep, when here I was, storming his floor like a banshee. Surely, Mr. Cranky Concierge had paid him a quick phone call to alert him that a crazed woman was throwing a fit to see him, so my presence wasn’t a complete surprise.

“Sanura? What are you doing here? It’s midnight, and we have to meet at the site at five.” He ran his fingers through his mussed blond hair. “How did you get here from the hostel?”

But I couldn’t speak.

His eyes must have gained some focus because they went wide when they caught sight of my tears. His hand grasped my elbow. “Kitten, what’s wrong?”

I launched myself into his arms, my lips crashing into his. The taste of my salty tears mixed with the peppermint of his toothpaste as my tongue sought refuge in his mouth. We stumbled into the penthouse and the heavy door shut on its own.

My fingers glided down the hard grooves of his pecs and abs. Hard like perfectly chiseled stone, even at rest. The desperate need to be close to him fueled my kisses. But the mere stroke of our tongues wasn’t enough to satisfy me. I pulled at the waistband of his pants frantically, yearning to feel all of him against me, on top of me, and inside of me.

“Wait.” He gripped my shoulders, stopping me from undressing him. “Tell me why you’re crying. Is it because of the PI? Did he have bad news?”

No. Only good news.Everything was right.

How could I begin to explain how I felt? This man in front of me was so mercurial and confusing. Never would I have expected him to do something so selfless for me like paying for a PI.

“I just need you,” I pleaded. I didn’t want to talk, I just wanted to feel. I wanted to show him my gratitude.

I toed off my flats and kicked them aside. My hands worked the buttons of my baggy pajama top, releasing each one quickly before James tried to stop me again. As I’d hoped, his eyes remained transfixed on my breasts. Next, I slid my pants and panties down my legs and stepped out of them.

The vein in his neck pulsed as his heavy-lidded gaze raked over my bare body in the dim light of the living area. I was desperate as fuck to be under him, but now that I was naked, I felt self-conscious. I fiddled with my frizzy mess of hair, bringing it forward to cover any part of me it could to keep from being so exposed.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Don’t hide yourself from me. I need to commit every inch of you to memory.”

I had a hard time accepting that a beautiful man like James could worship my body like it was gold. “Why me?”

He pulled on a tendril of my hair and coiled it around his fingers as if it were smooth as silk. “I should be asking you the same thing.”

My forehead creased with confusion. He could have had any woman he wanted. He was gorgeous, brilliant, and successful, a literal wet dream for any lucky lady out there. But here he was, eyes hungry just for me. No man had ever looked at me the way he did, turning my core into molten heat with one glance.

The pad of his index finger pressed against the sensitive flesh in the valley of my tits, burning me on contact. “Your light shines so bright, and God help me for wanting to bathe in every inch of it.”

My heart doubled in size at his words, and the yearning I had felt when I walked through his door morphed into something deeper.

I dropped to my knees before him. His breath hitched as I tugged on his sweatpants, revealing his length. My gaze locked on inch upon inch of rigid steel and my mouth watered for a taste. His cock was just like the rest of him, a work of art—hard yet magnificent.

I swiped my tongue over my lips, wetting them in preparation. I had done this a number of times before, but somehow, this time felt like the first, like I was a blow-job virgin.

I could feel his eyes scorching my skin from above.

The bead of precum threatening to drip from the tip was enough for me to give into temptation. My tongue swiped over the smooth head, the salty silkiness tickling my taste buds. His low groan rumbled through my core.

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