Read WIth a Twist: (The Club #9) Online
Authors: M. Stratton,The Club Book Series
Bryant
We spent the first half hour on small talk, getting to know each other, biding our time. I loved the sound of her voice and listen to anything she said. Sitting across from her, I was once again taken aback by her beauty, this time she looked so different from the pure sex personified she embraced before. I watched as she casually stirred sugar into her coffee. I was amazed how she could do something so simple, yet it could captivate me.
As the night went on, we talked of deeper and deeper subjects, argued over politics and laughed at nonsense. I was amazed when I looked out of the window and saw the sky getting lighter. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had stayed up all night talking.
I leaned on the table, getting closer to her and lowered my voice. “We’re both adults, we know exactly where this is heading. Why don’t we say no more games and get down to business?”
She mimicked me and also leaned in. “Tell me, Bryant, is that all this is to you? Business?”
“Do you believe in fairytales?”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, there’s a change of subject.”
“Not really, bear with me and answer the question.”
“No, no I don’t.”
“Hmmm… now that is strange.” I picked up one of her hands and started playing with her fingers. “I’m going to stereotype genders now, but typically the female is the one who believes in them, even to adulthood, and it’s the male who doesn’t. It would seem in our case, it’s reversed.”
Starr shrugged. “I wasn’t raised with them. Since I didn’t have the typical childhood, I never had friends growing up to even know what I was missing.”
“I’m sure it’s different for girls, but for boys, the fairytales were all about the adventure. Slaying the dragon, saving the princess. Even as adults, even though we would never admit it, we still want the adventure, we still want to find our princess and slay her dragons, keep her safe. So what I mean by getting down to business is the fact that I’ve found you, and now I’m looking around for your dragon that I need to slay.”
“I don’t have any dragons.” She shook her head.
“Are you sure? It doesn’t have to be your typical evil queen or wizard, maybe it is as simple as getting past the castle walls you’ve built around yourself and showing you it’s okay to let someone in. I’ve been listening to you talk all evening, and you’ve lived alone more than with someone, even when you were with your mother, she was never really there. I can be there for you, but you have to give us a chance.”
“Do you understand how strange this all sounds? We just met for Christ’s sake. Things like this don’t happen unless…”
“Unless you’re in a fairytale, or a movie. But really, go on any social media site and ask the question, ‘Does love at first sight happen in real life?’ and I’ll bet good money you will get dozens of stories within the first hour of people who met their spouses and fell in love at first sight, or at least within the first few dates. It does happen, Starr, and it’s happening to us.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“How can you not be sure? Tell me, has anything like this ever happened to you before? I’ll answer for you, no it hasn’t. Close your eyes.” I waited for her to do it and I laced my fingers through hers. “How does it make you feel when I hold your hand like this?”
She took a shaky breath. “I feel your strength, your conviction, your honesty. My stomach is full of butterflies as I see a future like none I’ve ever dreamed of.”
“Do you want that dream?” My voice was hushed, her answer meant so much to me.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Then just let it happen.”
Opening her eyes, she looked deep into mine. “I want to, but I have a request.”
“Anything.” If I could have her, I’d promise her anything.
“I need twenty-four hours to think, by myself. Let me get my head around this. I feel like I’ve been blindsided and my heart and head are telling me two completely different things. Give me this time and then we’ll see where this crazy ride takes us.”
“I know exactly where it’s going to take us,” I growled. I didn’t like the thought of her being up in her head for a whole day. I wasn’t too macho to admit it scared me spitless she would decide not to give us a chance, but I knew I had to give her the opportunity to figure everything out. In the end, there would be no second guessing herself years down the line. “But you can have your twenty-four hours. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven in the morning and we’ll spend the whole day together. Just the two of us.”
“Thank you.” She slid to the edge of the booth and stood up. “I need to walk home, by myself. My time starts now.”
I stood up and wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her close to me while the other cupped her face. Starr Fields, be careful, you are my everything now. I won’t allow anything to happen to you.”
“I know.”
She pulled out of my arms and turned away, walking out the door as the sun broke the horizon and bathed her in morning light.
As soon as she was out of sight, my cell phone was to my ear, making sure my security team was following her. I didn’t want her running away in the middle of the night like her and her mother had done so many times, and I was sure there were more times than my team was able to find. Not to mention the fact there was no way I would allow her to walk over here in the middle of the night alone, or even walk home without someone there to make sure she was safe. I wasn’t so naive that I didn’t believe in dragons. Dragons still existed, they’ve learned to mask their evil better. Now you could be sitting right next to them and you’d never know it.
Starr
I sat there on the couch, twisting my fingers together, and then apart. I’d stand up and pace around, then sit back down again. Only to repeat the whole process over. I’d spent the past twenty-three and a half hours thinking in circles about everything that had happened since I saw Bryant at The Club. He was such a contradiction, somehow I thought he’d always keep me on my toes. And wasn’t that what I’d always wanted? I tried to think back about books or movies I liked, and I was always drawn to the ones where the main characters challenged each other, maybe brought out the best in each other.
I’d spent a considerable amount of time doing research on the internet. Trying to forget everything mama had ever said about love, and took into account all of her failed relationships. After everything was said and done, what it boiled down to was if I was eighty and I looked back at this exact moment and I hadn’t trusted in Bryant and I hadn’t taken the risk and saw where this went, would I regret it? And the answer was yes, I had to see where this went. Sure, it could burn hot and burn out in days, weeks, months, but my oh my, what kind of days and nights would they be?
Besides, I had always been an excellent judge of character, my “force” had saved me from getting into a bad situation many times in the past. If he just wanted to have sex with me, he would have tried something the other night, and there was no way he would wait twenty-four hours to see me again. He didn’t seem like the type of guy that ever had to wait for anything.
Before I knew it, there was a knock on my door. With his resources, I knew that he’d find out where I lived, and that didn’t bother me. In fact, if he hadn’t taken the time and effort, even if it was just to make a phone call and have someone else find it, that would have told me he wasn’t committed to seeing this through.
Once again, I was in jeans and an old flannel shirt. I had no idea what we were doing today, but I wanted to be comfortable. I may not be your typical princess, but in my heart, I knew I was worthy.
I looked up into his serious face and smiled. “Right on time.”
“You’re important to me. And don’t you ever look through the peephole before you open the door?”
I frowned. “How did you know I didn’t look through the peephole?”
“Here.” He pulled me outside the door and held up a finger, he went inside the apartment and closed the door. I frowned and looked at the peephole, which had a bright light coming out of it, then it was blocked before the light shone back through. He opened the door back up. “See? You can never be sure, what if it wasn’t me?”
“You’re right. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Bryant smiled. “Thank you.” He pulled me into his arms. “God, it’s been a long twenty-four hours. Tell me.”
“Can’t you tell?”
“Yes, but I want to hear you say it.”
I nodded, fully understanding why he needed to hear it. “I can’t walk away from this. I don’t know what is going to happen, where it will lead, but I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”
His eyes shone bright and his head dipped and his lips touched mine for the first time. It wasn’t like any other kiss I’d ever had. It was so gentle and filled with love. I’d heard of kisses that the world stood still for, but until this very moment, I was sure it was a myth. I wasn’t even sure of how to explain it, the feeling went so deep. I never wanted to leave this world we were creating.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Yeah.”
“You should have done that when we first met; if you had, the last twenty-four hours we could have spent together instead of apart.”
He groaned. “What are you trying to do to me?”
“Letting you know that sometimes, actions speak louder than words.”
There was a glint in his eyes as one of his hands wrapped around my ponytail and he pulled my head back. “Oh really, Little Starr, and what is this telling you?” He walked me backwards until I was against the wall and started nipping at my exposed neck.
“That you want to be buried deep inside of me.”
“Fuck yeah I do. God, so badly.”
I reached around and grabbed his ass, pulling him in closer to me, enjoying the feeling of his hard cock against my stomach. “Then what are you waiting for?”
“Timing is everything. I need to show you that you mean more to me than just a quickie against the wall, no matter how badly my body is begging me to take you right here, right now.”
I stuck my bottom lip out at him and looked up at him through my eyelashes. “Maybe if you show me that you can’t control yourself around me, it will show how much I mean to you.” I batted my eyelashes a few times for affect.
Laughing, he leaned down and nipped my bottom lip. “Nice try, but I’ll be happy to show you later how much control you really have over me.”
“Oh!” I could feel my eyes light up. “Really? Well, now I’m intrigued. Is it later yet?” I had to admit, he had awakened things in me I never knew were there, and I fully wanted to explore them with him.
“Come on.” He held onto my hand and started to pull me towards the door. “Before I take you over my knee.”
“Oh now, see, there you go again, teasing me.”
He stopped and turned around to look at me. “Are you going to do everything in your power to torment me until you get what you want?”
“Why, of course.”
Raising an eyebrow at me, he nodded. “Just know, two can play at that game.”
I didn’t bother to try and hide my excitement about what the day might hold.
Bryant
I had taken Starr to a park outside of Karim. We’d hiked in a bit and were now laying together on a blanket in the shade, listening to the leaves rustle in the wind. True to our words, we had spent the whole morning tormenting each other. I felt like my cock had been hard more than it had been soft. What she didn’t know, was how close I was to losing control with her. I’d never wanted anything like I wanted her, but I needed to show her I thought more of her and wasn’t going to fuck her the first opportunity I had.
When a little sigh escaped her lips, I looked over at her, nestled next to me in my arms. It was almost like a memory, this feeling of her here in my arms. Like we’d done this time and time again across the ages.
I rolled her over so she was on top of me. “Your beauty astounds me. I took one look at you and my soul recognized yours. There are some things in life you just know are meant to be. This, us,
we
are one of them.”
“The more we are together, the more I believe you are right.” She cocked her head to the side. “You make me want to believe in those fairytales.”
“We can make our own.” I couldn’t wait any longer. I kissed her, my hands running up and down her back. Feeling the vibration through her body as she moaned was almost my undoing. My fingers found her ponytail and I pulled at the hair tie, freeing her hair to fall down around us.
Shifting, I rolled over so she was on her back. I deepened the kiss, loving how our tongues battled. I slid my hand under her shirt, feeling her skin quiver as I enjoyed the contours. When my hand finally cupped her, she arched her back. Seeing how responsive she was to my touch was my undoing.
Her fingers started to fumble with the buttons on my shirt as I worked on hers. It didn’t take long before she was laying there, her flawless skin exposed and a black lace bra covering up what I coveted. Leaning down, I started to kiss and trace patterns with my tongue over her stomach, moving down her body. Unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them down over her hips, I left her panties on.
Loving the feeling of her response to my touch, I continued, wanting to give her everything I could. My one goal was to make sure she was completely satisfied. The more she moaned and bucked as I kissed, licked, and touched her, the harder I became. I’d never been in this much pain before, aching for a release.
As I took her over the edge, I almost became a savage beast when her cries filled the small canyon we were in, startling a flock of birds. Quicker than I thought possible, I had a condom on and was waiting for her to look at me, my cock twitching, wanting to buried deep inside of her. When our eyes finally locked, I slid into her, feeling her warmth envelop me.
Slowly, I moved in and out of her. I knew it wasn’t going to take much to push me over the edge, but I wanted this to last. I needed her to know that I would do whatever it took, she was that important.
“Don’t hold back,” she whispered.
I closed my eyes, it would seem she already knows me. I couldn’t stop the moan that left me when she easily pushed me to the side and climbed on top of me. Once again, my cock slid into her and I never wanted to leave. Looking up at her as she rode me, she arched back and grabbed my ankles, her tits bouncing as she slammed down onto me, driving me deeper in her.
Sitting up, my tongue flicked at her nipple while I used my fingers to pinch the other one. Our breathing was heavy as she flung herself at me, our mouths met, and again we battled for supremacy as we moved faster and harder together.
Her nails raked down my back and I shuddered at the feeling of pain and pleasure. I flipped over so she was under me again, hooking my arms behind her knees. With her pussy up in the air, I easily slid deep inside her and moved faster and faster until we were both screaming our release.