The Private Serials Box Set(53)
The elevator doors opened and I walked out, heading right for the Lotus.
“What is it you’re angry about, exactly? It seemed like you enjoyed yourself in there.” He yelled across the parking structure, his voice echoing throughout.
“Enjoyed myself?” I turned on him, my dress flaring up around my knees, hair fanning out.
“You came hard, sweetheart,” he said with a smug grin.
“Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me, Preston. You did that to me even though you knew I didn’t want you to.”
Suddenly, he was right in front of me, pressing my back against his car, his front pressing into mine.
“You can be angry at me any day, Lena. You can throw your cute as f*ck tantrums and stomp around, throwing your sass around like it weighs a ton, but don’t ever insinuate that I forced you to do something you weren’t onboard with.”
“I was uncomfortable,” I managed, even though I was sure my voice was too small to be heard.
“Good. You’ve been comfortable for far too long, from what I can tell. I wanted to make you uncomfortable, I wanted to show you that sometimes it’s okay to trust me.” As his words fell from his mouth, his eyes softened, as did his grip on my waist. One hand came to cup my cheek and his gentleness caught me off guard. “I would have stopped if you’d told me, if you’d even said anything remotely close to no. But you enjoyed it and that’s okay, Lena. In fact, it was amazing. Watching you fall apart, knowing no one else in that room knew what I was doing to you. It was hotter than f*cking anything I’ve ever seen before.” His thumb moved back and forth over my cheekbone, his tenderness melting the residual anger I felt just moments before. “Are you upset because it happened, or are you upset because it felt good to let me be in control?” His face came close and his forehead rested against mine, waiting for me to respond.
“I’ve been lost for so long, Preston. It’s scary to all of a sudden be front and center, experiencing things for the first time with someone new.” I inhaled, trying to find my next words. “And I did like what you did to me, after I got over the initial shock of it all. I’m sorry if I insinuated it was forced, it wasn’t. Highly discouraged, perhaps,” I said, a smile tilting the corner of my mouth upward.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“That’s not a promise you can make to me.”
“Perhaps not. But I can make it to myself. All I’ve ever asked you for was your trust.”
“And my panties,” I giggled, finally feeling the pressure of our argument falling away.
“Lena, I’m serious.” His other hand came up and both were now on my face. “If I know you trust me, and you know I’ll always protect you, then there’s nothing else to discuss.”
I looked him deep in his eyes, which always reminded me of chocolate, trying for the life of me to make the right decision. Trying to decide the course of my life in a parking garage, pushed up against a man’s car, who had my panties tucked in his front pocket.
I leaned my forehead against his again and brought my hands to his chest. “Don’t make me regret this.”
“Regret what?” he said, his voice full of hope.
“This. Us. Moving forward, together.”
His eyes lit up and his mouth found mine. He wasted no time taking the kiss deep, his tongue taking wide and delicious sweeps through my mouth. He growled as his hands moved down to wrap around my neck and his hips pressed into mine. I was reminded, again, that I wasn’t wearing panties.
“Not here,” I whispered against his lips, having met my limit on exhibitionism for one night. He kissed me again, softer this time, less needy. When he pulled away, there was a handsome smile on his face that made him look younger somehow, as if my agreeing to living with him had altered him.
“Let’s go home, then.” His smile only grew with his words.
“Let’s,” I agreed.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, I was awoken by the vibration of my cell phone from across the room. It was still in my purse, which had been flung to the floor before I had been flung on the bed. I hadn’t been allowed to leave the bed for hours after, as Preston made it his mission to make me come as many times as possible in just as many positions.
I was surprised the phone wasn’t dead, but ambled slowly to my purse to see who had the nerve to bother me so early. It was a text from Derrek.
**Meet me at the house at eight am. Come alone and tell no one. Your future hangs in the balance. Make the right choice.**
When I walked into the house, I knew Derrek was there. I could feel his smarmy presence making the air in the house dark and dank. I placed my purse on the hall tree by the door and took my jacket off, laying it over my purse.
“Lena, is that you?” Derrek’s voice echoed through the house as if it were empty. It wasn’t, of course, all our belongings were still there, but the house was empty. There was no family living there any longer, no warm feelings, and no life. It was just a very expensive storage locker for all the physical representations of a life we were both desperately trying to leave behind.
I didn’t answer him but I did follow his voice. I wasn’t surprised at all when it led me to his office. When I saw him sitting at his desk, for the slightest moment I was struck with how handsome he looked. He’d always appeared powerful to me, always seemed as if he was in charge, and I knew that had attracted me to him. But just as quickly as my mind noticed the things about him I found appealing, it was remembering all the things I’d learned in the last few weeks that made my stomach roil. On the outside, he looked like the perfect package, but on the inside, I knew he was rotten.