Contractual Obligation

Chapter Fourteen

Doug knocked on her door promptly at seven thirty the next morning. She was ready, and he looked yummy. He gave her a broad, beaming smile when she opened the door.

“Good morning,” he said.

She stood on her toes and kissed him. “Good morning.”

“How did you sleep?”

She set the alarm and locked the door behind her. “I had some very pleasant dreams.”

“So did I.”

He opened her car door for her. She loved that about him. She’d never had to ask him to do it and didn’t know if it was something Gorden prompted him on or not, and she didn’t care.

He was a gentleman.

They rode in comfortable silence until an accident on the interstate slowed them to a crawl. “I stopped by the drugstore on my way home last night,” he said.

She caught the pleased smile on his face. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She laid her hand on his thigh and felt a warm thrill course through her when he laced his fingers through hers. “Good. Maybe we can try again tonight.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’d like that very much.”

“So would I. How about I cook you dinner? I don’t get many chances to cook for anyone other than my dad.”

“I’d like that.” He glanced at her when he had to stop for more traffic. “I brought an overnight bag. And told Mom I probably wouldn’t be home tonight.”

She grinned. “Hot damn.”

At the office, she wasn’t behind her desk more than three minutes before Gorden walked in, shut and locked the door behind him, and turned on her, his arms crossed over his chest

Oh, crap. Here we go. “Yes?”

“I had an interesting call last night from the head of security who wanted to know if you’d meant to leave your car in the garage all night, or if there was something wrong.”

Crap. “You what? And why would security call you?”

“Because your father has left explicit instructions over the years to pay close attention to your comings and goings around here in case something ever happened.”

“What? He’s spying on me?”

“No, but if your car is still in the parking garage and you’re lying unconscious on your office floor in a diabetic coma, it’d be nice if someone found you before you died.”

She had no idea her father had done that. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d left security those orders?”

“Because you’d be as pissed off then as you are now.”

Dammit, she hated when he was right.

“Well?” he asked.

“Well, what?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that crap. Where were you all night?”

“I was at home.”

He glared at her. “And who was with you?”

“Don’t you start with me.”

“You weren’t the one getting calls all night, and three so far this morning, wanting to know if I’d heard what happened at the business card exchange. Including one from your father!”

She should have known the gossip network would cast its reach over Gorden, too. “Daddy called me last night before we even left there. Why would he call you, too? He knew I was fine.”

“To ask me if I knew anything about Doug being your boyfriend.”

“Yeah, well, what did you tell him?”

“I told him I keep my nose out of your private business. And no, I didn’t rat you out. But what’s going on?”

“Julia started it, Doug finished it, and…” Her face heated. He was like a father to her, and she wasn’t comfortable discussing her sex life with him. “Let’s just say Doug and I genuinely are close now. I didn’t intend it to happen like this, but it did. Neither of us are complaining about it, either. By the way, he’ll be spending the night at my house again tonight. So can we just drop the subject?”

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Harper.” He unlocked her door and left, closing it behind him.

So do I, she thought. So do I.

She had a difficult time trying to concentrate on her work. Now that Doug knew where she lived, he would meet her there after work. She wanted to get a workout in and hit the grocery store before she went home. As she left for the day, she stopped by his office. He looked up and smiled when she appeared in the doorway.

“Hi.”

She smiled back. “Hi. I’m going to hit the gym and the grocery store before I go home. Is seven okay for you?”

“Perfect. I need to join a gym.”

A thrill ran through her. “I’ll get you a corporate membership at my gym. Gives us another excuse to be together.”

He laughed. “I have a feeling you won’t have any trouble coming up with excuses.”

“You’re absolutely right. See you at seven.” She headed down to her car. At the gym, she thought about Doug and their night together while she warmed up doing a mile on the treadmill. She wouldn’t deny he had consumed her thoughts to the point of distraction all day. She couldn’t wait to take things to the next level with him. If last night’s preview of his talents was any indication, she had a feeling tonight would be one she’d remember for a long, long time.

By the time he arrived at seven, she had showered, prepared shrimp scampi and a spinach salad, hidden her medication in the fridge out in the garage, and hidden her blood sugar monitor in the back of a drawer in her bathroom cabinet, behind a box of tampons.

She suspected he’d never look there.

She greeted him at the door with a kiss. Damn, could he kiss! She wanted to skip dinner and go right to serving herself as his dessert.

From the feel of the bulge in his slacks pressing against her, she suspected he wouldn’t mind in the least.

Focus! Must eat. She’d taken her medication before he got there and needed to eat or there would be a problem. “Glad to see you remembered how to get here.”

“Not that I could forget.” He smiled. She wanted to kiss him again, right then and there. “Go ahead and put your stuff down in the living room for now,” she said instead. “Dinner’s ready.”

“It smells delicious.”

She couldn’t help preening over the compliment. “Thank you.”

By the time they finished eating, she was ready for him to take her right there on the dining room table. Instead, he insisted on helping her clean up the dishes before he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

“Now we can enjoy ourselves,” he said.

She nodded, feeling giddy as well as horny. “Absolutely.” She felt herself melting against his body as he took charge, kissing and nibbling her lips, stoking her passion until she begged him to take her to bed.

He chuckled. “Are you horny, sweetie?”

“Yes!”

He slipped a hand inside her shorts and panties. “You are a very wet girl.” He pulled his hand out and touched his fingers to her lips. She opened, sucking them in and laving her tongue over them.

Intense lust burned in his deep-brown gaze. “You’re such a good girl. I have a reward for you.” He pushed her down to her knees.

Without any further coaxing, she unzipped him and sucked his cock into her mouth. Part of her let go of any semblance of control, content to be under his direction. She didn’t want to think, she just wanted to feel, to let go to him, to do nothing but let him have his way with her.

He stroked her hair. “Such a good girl,” he hoarsely said. After a few minutes, he fisted a hand in her hair and urged her to stand up. “Let’s go,” he said, guiding her in front of him with a hand still firmly in her hair.

He marched her to the bedroom, pushing her face down onto the mattress. Her clit throbbed, pulsing, her panties soaking wet from her juices. She’d never felt like this before.

She’d never let anyone take charge like this before.

“Don’t move,” he said. She didn’t, listening as he removed his clothes and dropped them to the floor. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her back up to him, kissing her roughly as his fingers dug into her ass, kneading her through her shorts. “Get these off,” he said then he smacked her on the right butt cheek.

She scrambled to strip, seconds later standing before him completely naked.

“Good,” he said with a playful smile. He pushed her back to the bed and spread her legs. “I want to hear you moan before I get down to the business of fucking you properly.”

His tone as much as his words melted her. When his lips closed around her clit, the first orgasm exploded through her seconds later, taking her totally by surprise. He seemed to know exactly where to flick her with his tongue, when to nibble, and when to lightly suck on her, knowing perfectly what to do to drive her wild. It wasn’t until he’d coaxed two more out of her that he relented and sat up.

Before she could even catch her breath, he was sheathing his rigid cock in a condom and pressing the head of it against her wet cunt. He felt even bigger like that, and she couldn’t wait to feel him inside her pussy.

“You ready for the ride of your life, baby?”

She threw her legs around him as he plunged home. He held still at the bottom of his first stroke, his gaze boring into hers. She loved the way he pleasantly stretched her, pressing against her G-spot in a way no toy ever had. He felt hot and hard inside her.

“I’m going to fuck you good, baby,” he softly said.

This side of Doug was nothing like the quiet, easygoing man she was used to working with. This dominant man had her melted into a submissive puddle, and she had no desire to get away.

“Beg me to fuck you,” he whispered.

Unbidden, the words fell from her lips. “Please, fuck me!”

He nibbled on her neck, nipping just hard enough she suspected she might have faint marks there in the morning.

She didn’t care.

“You can beg better than that,” he chastised.

She squirmed against him, her swollen clit also rubbing against the base of his cock where it was buried inside her. “Please, fuck me good! I need a good, hard fucking.”

“That’s better.” He took a hard, deep stroke, making her gasp. “Much better.”

She held on as he picked up speed and force. Her nails raked down his back as she felt another orgasm, smaller than the others but emotionally more satisfying, roll through her. She’d never come from being fucked before.

“I felt that,” he playfully teased as he sat up. He grabbed her ankles and slung them over his shoulders. Pressing forward, he drove his cock even more deeply inside her. “Let’s see if you feel this.”

With that she felt him grow bigger inside her. He let out a cry as his whole body stiffened as his own orgasm washed through him. His cock throbbed inside her. For a brief moment, she wished he wasn’t wearing the condom.

As he recovered, he pulled her into his arms and rolled to his side, kissing her. “You okay?” he asked, his tone back to the Doug she knew.

“Yeah. I’m better than okay,” she said with a smile. She loved curling up in his arms. “So will you still respect me in the morning?” she teased.

“Absolutely. Maybe even tomorrow night, too.” He smiled.

“You’re just full of flattery, aren’t you?”

“I’d rather be full of flattery than flatulence.”

She laughed so hard she snorted, making her laugh even harder. Doug joined in with her. When she finally regained her composure, she sat up and looked at him. “How about you move in this weekend?”

“What?”

“Yeah. Why not?” Threads of doubt ran through her. He wouldn’t back out now, would he? Not when she realized she really wanted him around?

“Um, I just wasn’t expecting it this soon,” he said. Her heart nearly stopped while he took a couple of breaths. “Okay. My mom will be bugging me to meet you, though.” He grinned.

Her turn to gulp. “Why?”

“Yeah, if you’re supposed to be my girlfriend, and I’m moving in with you, she’s going to want to meet you.”

Oh, shit! Panic struck. She wasn’t ready for this, to meet his family. On her own terms, sure, but not now. Not yet.

Her mind raced. “Tell her you’re going to be house-sitting for me while I’m out of town for a while.”

“Are you going to be out of town for a while?”

“I’m going to Boca, to my Dad’s, for the weekend. I leave on Friday after work. We just don’t have to tell her when I’m coming back, right? Then you can tell her I offered to let you stay at my place permanently since we already spend so much time together. It’s not like I don’t have plenty of room. We don’t have to tell her I’m your girlfriend yet.”

He propped himself up on one elbow and studied her. “What’s going on?”

“I just don’t want to put you on the spot with your parents. This way, it sort of eases you in. We’ve already travelled together. This won’t be much of a stretch for them, right?”

“Yeah, sure. Okay.” He didn’t look convinced. She suspected he’d revisit this topic later.

She curled up next to him again. “So, this weekend?” She’d already had an extra key made, and programmed an alarm code in for him. In the morning, she’d go through all of that with him.

For tonight…

He stroked her hair. “I hope you believe me when I say I’m doing this because I genuinely like you. If we’d met under other circumstances, I’d still want to be with you.”

She closed her eyes and smiled, content, as she inhaled his scent. “I believe you.”

They drifted to sleep. At some point in the middle of the night, he awoke to find Harper’s mouth engulfing his cock. He reached over to the bedside table, where he’d left the other condoms, and grabbed one, handing it to her.

“How about you put this on me.” He crossed his arms behind his head and tried not to laugh as she eagerly ripped the pouch open, tossed it to the floor, and rolled it onto him. She straddled him.

Before she could put him inside her, he stopped her. “Uh-uh.” She looked up at him, startled.

“What?”

“Ask me for it. Good girls ask for things. They don’t just take them.”

A sultry smile replaced the shock on her face. “I want to fuck you.”

“I said ask for it.”

She grinned even wider. “May I please fuck you?”

“Hmm.” He wanted to toy with her. “Have you been a good girl?”

She eagerly nodded. Then she started rubbing her clit up and down the underside of his cock. She was already soaking wet, he could tell from the way she slipped and slid across the condom.

“I guess you can, then. But I want you to put me inside you slowly, all the way in, and wait until I give you permission to move.”

She softly moaned as she did, the hot walls of her cunt feeling great even through the thin layer of latex separating them as she obeyed him, taking her time slowly impaling herself on him.

He grabbed her hips and firmly dug his fingers into her flesh. “Start moving. Slowly.”

She braced her hands on his chest as she did. In the dim light, he loved the look in her eyes, the barely constrained passion. This was the side of Harper he knew only he got to see.

He realized, with not a little bit of surprise, that he would do everything in his power to keep it that way, to keep her as happy as he could, for as long as she’d have him.

He lifted her up as he thrust into her. She let out a soft gasp. “Do you want me to fuck you, baby?”

She nodded. “Yes!” she whispered.

He let his hands travel up her sides, to her breasts, where he played with her taut nipples. He tweaked them, causing flutters in the muscles of her vagina that nearly caused him to blow his load right there.

“Are you my good girl?”

She nodded.

“Will you do what I tell you?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Then start moving and fuck me, baby.”

She’d never felt anything this good, this right. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in bed with him. It scared her that she was so willing to cede control to him.

She’d analyze it later.

Right now, all she wanted to do was get her brains fucked out. She closed her eyes as she rode his cock, every touch of his hands sending hot sparks through her flesh and straight to her clit. She didn’t have many partners to compare Doug to, but as of now, he was by far the best lover she’d ever had. And no one had ever been able to make her come by fucking her before.

“You like my cock, baby?”

“Yes!” It felt like she had no strength to do anything but ride him, to feel his cock stroking against her clit with every thrust.

Then his hands glided down her body to her swollen clit. He gently pinched and rolled it between his fingers. “Show me how much you like it. Come for me.”

She sobbed as her orgasm hit her. He waited a moment, then rolled her over onto her back, her ankles over his shoulders and her wrists pinned over her head. “Come for me again,” he growled in her ear as he slammed into her.

She didn’t think it possible, but her body responded as the sound of his flesh slapping against hers filled the room.

He chuckled. “Such a good girl.” He thrust hard and deep as waves of pleasure assaulted her. Then he sank into her one last time, deeper than the others, with a loud grunt, and she felt him coming.

Silence descended upon them. He lowered his forehead to hers and kissed the tip of her nose.

She burst into tears.

Alarmed, he rose off her and gathered her into his arms. “I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

She clung to him, sobbing harder. “I’m…fi–fine!” she cried. “Th–that was g–great!”

After a moment, he pushed her just far enough away he could look into her face. “Those are good tears?”

She vigorously nodded, unable to speak anything else right then.

“It’s okay, sweetie.” He gathered her tightly against him, stroking her hair. “It’s okay.”

It had scared him at first when she started crying. Then it took everything in his power not to laugh at her when he realized they were happy tears. He held her tightly until her sobbing subsided and she had regained her composure.

“Are you all right?”

Sniffling, she nodded.

He gently brushed tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. Nothing’s wrong. I don’t know why I cried like that.” She snuggled tightly into his arms.

He rubbed his chin against the top of her head. Her hair felt wonderfully soft against his flesh. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere unless you want me to.”

She held on tighter. “I don’t want you to.”

“Okay, then. We’re in agreement.”

No, she didn’t want him going anywhere. It scared her a little how much she didn’t want him to leave.

Okay, scared her a lot.

She knew she would come to rely on him in the working aspect of their relationship, but now that things had progressed much faster than she’d anticipated, she fought against the niggles of worry that wanted to creep in and steal her joy. It felt so good—beyond-description-good, she’d say better-than-sex-good, except that it was sex—to let go of control to him for a little while. It didn’t matter he was a couple of years younger than her. He had a calm and comforting air about him that had worked through her usual defenses.

And she didn’t want him out. She wanted him there, beside her. Better yet, she wanted to curl up in his lap and close her eyes and enjoy the peace she felt when she was with him.

She snuggled up with him, pulling his arm around her waist as she ground her backside against him. “This feels good.”

He kissed the back of her neck before untangling himself. “Yes, it does, but I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

He pointed down at his drooping cock, which still had the condom on it. “Unless you want me to make you take care of this.”

She smiled. “Hurry back.”

“Don’t worry.” He was gone only a minute before he slipped back under the covers with her, resuming their previous snuggle configuration. “See? I’m back. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.”

She immediately dropped into the best sleep she’d had in years.

They spent Thursday night together at Harper’s house. After making love, they snuggled in front of the TV and watched the late news. He’d again taken control in bed, melting any defenses she might have still had against him.

“This feels good,” she softly said.

“Yeah, it does.” He nuzzled the top of her head. “I mean it, I’m doing this because I like you—”

She gently shushed him. “I know. I believe you.”

She loved his smile. Hell, who was she kidding? She loved him, even though she wouldn’t dare admit it to him yet.

“Thanks, Harper. For everything. Especially for trusting me. I won’t let you down.”

“I know.” She closed her eyes and deeply inhaled. He didn’t wear cologne, it turned out. Just his body wash and deodorant and naturally good smell.

If her days never got any more perfect than that moment, she realized, she would be a happy woman.