The Invitation
: Chapter 22

I couldn’t help but kiss her.

After an entire day and evening looking at her with barely a touch, I’d begun to feel like a man who hadn’t eaten in days, and she was a big, juicy steak. So when the kid at the valet jogged off to get my rental car, I tugged Stella’s hand and pulled her to the side of the building.

“What are you doing?”

“Eating your face.”

She giggled. “Eating it? That doesn’t sound too romantic.”

“Trust me.” I wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her flush against me, while my other hand gripped her neck and tilted her head where I wanted it. “I’ll romance you—whispering in your ear, sending you notes to let you know I’m thinking about you. You just might want to shield your phone when you’re around others before you open my messages.”

She bit down on her bottom lip, and I groaned.

“Give me that.” My mouth descended on hers, and she surprised the shit out of me when she caught my lip and bit down.

Pulling her head back just slightly with my flesh between her teeth, she flashed an evil smile. “I might eat your face first.”

We were both still laughing as I sealed my mouth over hers for a long-ass kiss. The sound of a couple nearby was the only thing that kept me from feeling her up right outside the restaurant.

We returned to the valet station, and when our rental car pulled up, I waved the kid off as he went to open Stella’s door. I handed him a tip while she climbed inside.

I was glad it was a long drive to show her all of the touristy crap, because I needed some time to recover after that kiss.

Settling in behind the wheel, I buckled. “I was thinking we could hit the Hollywood sign and then go over to Hollywood Boulevard to take a walk. That’s where the Walk of Fame is. Maybe tomorrow we could check out Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, and a few other places.”

“Would you mind a change in plans?” she asked. “I was thinking we could just go back to the hotel.”

As much as I hated touristy crap, I’d been looking forward to showing her around. I definitely wasn’t ready to call an end to our first official date. But today had been a long day for her, so I hid my disappointment.

“Sure. Of course. You must be tired. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Actually…” She reached over and laid her hand on my thigh. “I’m not tired at all.”

And…the woman just kept on surprising me. I turned my head and caught her gaze. “You sure?”

She nodded with a shy smile. “How long is the drive back? I wasn’t paying attention on the way here.”

“It’s about a half hour.” I put the car into drive. “But I’ll get us there in twenty minutes.”

I replayed Stella telling me she wanted to go back to the hotel over and over in my mind as I broke a half-dozen traffic laws on the drive. She’d laid her cards on the table. She wanted to be alone with me, but I didn’t want to assume that meant she wanted to have sex. I’d have to remember that, because I tended to go from zero to a hundred whenever my lips so much as touched hers.

We’d gone to dinner early since we’d planned to go sightseeing after, so when we walked into the hotel lobby it was barely eight o’clock.

“Do you want to get a drink at the bar?” I asked.

“I haven’t touched the bar in my room, and it’s stocked pretty well.”

I smiled. “To your room then…”

Back in her suite, Stella slipped off her shoes while I walked behind the bar to see what she had. She hadn’t been exaggerating; the thing had more choices than any hotel room I’d ever stayed in.

I lifted a bottle of merlot and a full-size bottle of gin. “Are you in the mood for more wine or something else?”

Stella was rummaging through her purse. She sighed with exasperation as she tossed it on the couch. “Do you have condoms?”

Okay, then. Something else it is.

I set the bottles down and stepped out from behind the bar, keeping a few feet of distance between us.

“I do.”

“With you now?”

I chuckled. “Yes, with me now.”

She swallowed. “I went back on the pill a few weeks ago, but you need to be on it a full month before you’re protected.”

I took a step closer to her. “We’re good.”

“How many do you have with you?”

My brows jumped. “Big plans for the night?”

She flashed the goofiest smile. “It’s been a while for me. A long while.”

I smiled and closed the distance between us. Brushing the hair from her shoulder, I leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on her creamy skin. “I have two with me. But I have more in my suitcase back in my room.”

“Okay…” She looked away for a few seconds, and I could see the wheels in her head turning as her eyes lost focus.

“Is there something else you want to talk ab—”

I didn’t get to finish the question because Stella launched herself at me. Caught off guard, I stumbled back a few steps but managed to keep her in my arms. I’d heard the saying climbed like a tree before, but never actually experienced it. In one swoop, she jumped up, wrapped her legs around my waist and arms around my neck, and her lips came crashing down on mine.

“I want you,” she mumbled between our joined lips.

So much for being unsure where things were heading. Her eagerness was a total surprise, yet I fucking loved it. I would’ve gone slow, taken my time not to rush things. But this? This was so much better. We had all night for going slow. Taking long strides, I carried her through the living room and into the bedroom. Stella pushed her tits up against me and ground her wide-open legs up and down my already hard cock.

I groaned. “And here I thought you wanted romance.”

“I think I’d rather have you eat my face off right now.”

I set her down on the bed and dropped to my knees. “Sweetheart, that’s not what I’m about to eat…”

I was so fucking consumed with the idea of burying my face between her legs, that I couldn’t be gentle about getting her panties off. Reaching up, I gripped the flimsy material of her thong and tore it straight from her body. The gasp that spilled from her mouth was almost enough to make me come, and she hadn’t yet laid a finger on me.

I nudged one of her legs wider and tossed the other up and over my shoulder. Her pussy was beautifully bare and glistening, making me salivate. I couldn’t wait to devour her. Flattening my tongue, I dove in for a long stroke, licking from one end to the other. When I reached her clit, I sucked it into my mouth and drew deep.

“Ahh…” She arched off the bed.

The sound made me wild. I was so amped up that it wasn’t enough to have my tongue in on the action alone. So I pushed my entire face into her wet pussy, using my nose, cheeks, jaw, teeth, and tongue. And while I was in there, I stopped to take a deep inhale. Later, I’d have to remember to see if Stella could develop this as one of her custom freaking scents—for my private collection only.

Her hips bucked against me as I sucked and slurped, and when she cried out my name, I knew she was close to coming. So I slipped two fingers inside her. Stella’s muscles clamped down tight as I pumped in and out.

When her back arched off the bed again, I reached up and pressed her hips to the mattress, keeping her immobilized as I continued my feast.

She moaned. “Ah…I’m…ah…”

I began to be concerned I might finish at the same time as she did. And if that were the case, my finale would take place in a pair of three-hundred-dollar slacks and be reminiscent of a teenage boy. But the sound of her losing control was just that fucking good, and I actually didn’t give a shit if it came to that, because there was no way in hell I could stop.

Stella’s nails dug into my scalp. She yanked my hair as she moaned louder and louder and then…all of a sudden she let go, and I knew she was coming.

“Oh, God… Ohhhhhhh…God…”

I kept at it, lapping at her until every last quake had rolled through her body. Then I wiped my face with the back of my hand and crawled up onto the bed, hovering over her.

Stella had squeezed her eyes closed tight, but the biggest smile stretched across her face. She threw one arm over her eyes to hide them. “Oh my God. I’m so embarrassed.”

“What are you embarrassed about?”

“I basically attacked you.”

“And it was the best fucking thing that’s happened to me in as long as I can remember.” I peeled her arm away from her face, and she peeked one eye open. “Attack away anytime the mood strikes.”

She bit her lip. “You’re…really good at that.”

I smiled. “I’m really good at a lot of things. The night is just getting started, sweetheart.”

She opened her other eye and her face went soft. “You called me sweetheart. I like that.”

“Good.” I kissed her lips gently before pushing up off the bed.

Stella leaned up on her elbows and watched me as I slipped into my shoes. “Where are you going?”

“To my room.”

“Why?”

I walked back over and kissed her forehead. “To get the rest of the condoms. Two isn’t going to be nearly enough.”