“I rent it. I could have bought one, but I wasn’t ready. And I wasn’t sure how I’d feel living in this kind of setup long term.” He stepped next to me as I absorbed the amazing view. “I’ve never lived in a high-rise building before, and I always saw myself living in a house with a yard. So I figured that this was temporary until the time was right.”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head, unconvinced. “Is there a gym?”
“Downstairs. A gym, pool, hot tub, sauna, gift shop, tennis courts, racquetball, and a country mart.” He listed off the amenities like a hotel concierge.
“Uh, yeah. I’d never move. You’re crazy. Who wants to take care of a yard when you could have all of this taken care of for you?” I turned away and looked back out the giant window. “This view, Frank,” I practically purred as I looked at the marina down below and the boats bobbing in the water. It was spectacular and so peaceful.
His lips pressed against my exposed shoulder, and I sucked in a breath at his unexpected touch. He kissed me again before moving to my neck. I reached behind me, finding his head and weaving my fingers through his hair as I pulled at him. His mouth roamed over my exposed neck and shoulder, sucking and licking until I couldn’t take any more.
I turned, grabbing his face and crushing my mouth against his, tasting the salt from my skin on his tongue. His hands grabbed my ass, squeezing and kneading as he whispered my name, only fueling the fire inside me. I wanted his body on mine. I wanted him inside me. I wanted to connect with him in the most primal way possible.
“Up,” he demanded, pulling at me until I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist.
My back crashed against a wall as he ground his hardness against me, kissing me until I was breathless. I couldn’t get enough of him—my tongue pressed against his, our mouths moving in perfect sync as heat built within us.
“I want you,” he whispered into my mouth, and I couldn’t help but smile against his lips.
“What are you waiting for?”
He pulled back to look deep in my eyes. “You’re sure?” His chest rose and fell and I stared at it, mesmerized by the man before me.
“I’m sure,” I whispered back, and he pulled us away from the wall and carried me into his bedroom.
It was only once we were in his room that I remembered he used to share this space with someone else. Would I be having sex on the same bed where they used to sleep and do whatever they used to do?
He laid me on top of the down comforter and moved over me. Instead of arching into his touch, I hesitated, my body tensing.
“What’s wrong?” Frank asked immediately, sensing the change.
“I just—” I wasn’t sure how to say it. “The bed? Is it . . .”
“It’s new. Brand new. I swear.”
“You bought a new bed?” I leaned up, taking his face in my hands so I could look him in the eye.
When he nodded, I couldn’t believe how damn lucky I was. Frank was considerate and thoughtful, always one step ahead of me.
“Thank you,” I said before lying back down, my hands working to unbutton his shirt.
“You’re welcome.” His eyes feasted on me, taking me in as I pulled the shirt from him and tossed it to the floor.
“Are you okay?” I asked, and he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry. If you’re bad at it, I can always take back my whole forgiving you.”
“Don’t worry,” he said with a low chuckle. “I’m not bad at it.”
And he wasn’t. Lord, how he wasn’t. If there was a book on how to make love to every single inch of a woman’s body, I would have bet money that Frank had written it.
He kissed me from head to toe, literally, telling me over and over how beautiful and perfect I was. I had never felt more attractive naked than I did when Frank touched me, drinking me in with his gaze. A fire burned in his eyes when he looked at me, and that fire was for me. Nothing ignited me more than seeing the passion he had for me, for us.
He made love to me like he couldn’t get enough, like he’d never get enough. His body worked mine thoroughly the first time, so slow and sweet. But the next time was harder and rougher, more demanding, and so was the next. The man filled me in every way possible, and I loved it. I’d had no idea how much I could love having a man inside me as much as I loved having Frank there.
“God, Frank, harder.” I pulled at him, wanting him to go deeper than was physically possible. His dick was a thing of beauty, hitting all the right places like he was made for me. Maybe he was?
“You feel so fucking good,” he said, his breathing labored as he moved in and out of my body, thrusting so hard and deep, I thought I might fall apart in his arms.
I moved with him, against him, our bodies crashing into each other in a sweaty, hot mess of ecstasy. I came once, and then just when I thought it wouldn’t happen again, my body reacted with his, the two of us finding our release in unison. I’d heard about that kind of thing happening, but had never experienced it before.
We fell asleep in each other’s arms, our limbs entwined, the sheets a tangled mess.
• • •
When I woke up early the next morning, I had to gather my bearings to remember where I was. The heat of another body wrapped around mine should have been my first clue. The utter soreness of every part of me should have been the next.
I pulled myself out of Frank’s arms and tiptoed quietly across the wood floor. He groaned but didn’t wake as I made my way into the bathroom for a quick shower. My plan for making us both breakfast before I had to leave for work was thwarted when the glass door of the double-headed shower slid open and Frank stepped inside.
“I can’t escape you.” I eyed his naked body, taking note of every hard part.
“Were you trying to escape?” His eyes were wicked in the morning, and before I could answer, his mouth was on mine, stealing my words and my breath. Hot water splashed off our bodies, ricocheting around us.
“I don’t know, Fisher. Not sure how long I’ll keep you around.”
“How can I convince you?” He licked his lips and dropped to his knees.
“I’m just waiting till Christmas so I can see what kind of gift-giver you are,” I said before his tongue found me.
“I’m an amazing gift-giver,” he mumbled, then devoured me like I was his last meal.
I struggled to stay standing, struggled to form words that made sense in response. “Says the person giving the gift,” I managed to get out between breaths.
He stopped worshiping my body and looked up at me. “I’m rich, Claudia. That automatically makes me a great gift-giver.”
I swatted his shoulder because he was right. And then I dug my nails into it as he brought me to my release. When I could catch my breath, I panted, “Well, mine will be more romantic or more thoughtful than yours, because I’m not rich.”
“We’ll see about that.” He winked before grabbing the soap and lathering up my body.
“Yes, we will.”
It gave me pause for a minute, wondering how on earth I could ever compete with him in that way, but then I realized that Frank would never expect me to. It was ridiculous for me to even think that he would.
Frank pressed my naked body against the shower wall, and I gasped at the coldness of the tile. Taking advantage of my open mouth, he kissed me like he owned me, as if every sore and aching inch of me belonged to him.
“I’m going to fall in love with you,” he said between kisses. It was a declaration, a promise of what was to come.
“I’ll probably be okay with that,” I whispered back, knowing I was already falling.
He held me suspended as he entered me slowly at first, inch by excruciating inch. It wasn’t until he reached the depths of me that he started working me harder. The warm water still fell around us as I tightened my legs around his middle, taking him as deep as the position would let me.
Wild, we moved and bucked against each other, his biceps flexing as he held me up e
asily, as if I were weightless. And when I came, I yelled out his name over and over again, like there would never be another name I’d speak in my entire life. Because I knew deep in my heart that there wouldn’t be.
There was only Frank.
There would only ever be Frank.
And nothing in the world felt more right.
Epilogue
Frank
Ten Months Later
After staring for the hundredth time at the diamond ring in the velvet box, I closed the top and stuffed it back inside my drawer, hiding it behind some clean socks.
Each day I went through the same routine. I took the ring out, looked at it, smiled, and quickly put it back in its hiding place. I’d always known that Claudia was the one, which was why I’d had the ring for months.
I guessed it was true what guys always said, that you’d know it was the right girl the moment you met her. Hell, I knew she was the right girl the second I first saw her.
That fact was a lot easier for me to swallow and admit now. Everything with Claudia had fallen into place so quickly and easily, but in the back of my mind, I had kept harboring residual guilt over the way our love story had started.
It took me a while to get past what I’d done to Shelby by moving on so quickly, even though my heart told me with every beat that I had done the right thing. Regardless, my conscience still liked to punish me over it every now and then.
But an email from Shelby where she actually thanked me for breaking up with her helped me a lot. She told me she could see clearly now how we had stayed together for all the wrong reasons, and for way too long. Hindsight for her had been twenty-twenty once we finally split up, she’d said. She also wanted me to know that she had moved on, had found love, and was really happy. It helped me tremendously to know that she was okay.
It helped Claudia as well, who had teared up when I told her that Shelby was dating someone. Claudia genuinely wanted Shelby to be happy, and it only made me love my girl more. Neither of us had wanted our coming together to be at someone else’s expense, but it had been, and that fact had taken a toll on us both. Even though we tried not to focus on it, some days were harder than others. Shelby had given us a huge gift by sending that email.
Claudia still worked at the bank and lived with Britney. Even though I wanted her to move in, I respected her decision to wait and give our relationship time to grow. It was ironic, considering she spent almost every night at my place anyway, but I knew better than to push my feisty Colombian before she was ready.
“What are you doing?” Claudia called out from the kitchen.
“Nothing, why?”
“Then where the heck are you? Your food is getting cold!”
I hustled into the kitchen with a smile.
“It’s like you don’t even appreciate my culinary skills,” she said before kissing my cheek and sitting next to me.
I looked down at the burned toast and rubbery scrambled eggs on my plate and laughed. My girl wasn’t a chef, but I couldn’t have cared less. She was the best at all the things that mattered, like keeping me on my toes and smiling and challenging me in the best ways. Claudia made me a better man, and I hoped I made her a better woman.
Our relationship was give and take, so perfectly balanced that sometimes I felt like I should pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I didn’t even care when Ryan made fun of me for turning into such a romantic sap, especially when he admitted that he was just jealous. I finally understood what he had been whining about, the one thing he claimed to always be searching for. I’d found it, and everything made sense after that.
When I took a tentative bite of my toast, it crumbled into tiny black pieces. “Delicious. Thank you,” I mumbled while I chewed.
“I got distracted,” she said.
“Huh?”
“That’s why it’s burned. I got distracted online and forgot I was making it.”
Her words made me smile. My girl was always burning things. A cook, she was not.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind burned toast.”
She laughed. “You’re a terrible liar, you know that?”
Reaching out, I wrapped my arms around her and tugged her onto my lap. “I’m not lying,” I said against her skin as I kissed her shoulder. “I don’t lie to you.”
I kissed her neck and her head tipped to the side, an invitation that I didn’t have time to take her up on, unfortunately. I moved to her mouth, my tongue sweeping along her bottom lip before dipping inside.
“I’d love nothing more than to make love to you right now, babe, but I’m already late.”
When she grinned against my ear as she sucked and bit at my lobe, I instantly hardened.
“Claudia,” I growled, and her whispered response into my ear only made me even harder, if it was possible. “Dammit, woman.”
I stood up, carrying her giggling in my arms as I moved this conversation into the bedroom.
Tossing her on the bed, I pretended to scowl as she scooted away from me playfully.
“Naked. Now,” I demanded.
She didn’t hesitate, every bit of fabric that had been on her body stripped away before I took my next breath. Ripping off my own clothes as fast as possible, I threw them on the floor before hovering over the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.
“I’m sorry I can’t be gentle right now,” I said before pushing into her. She cried out in pleasure, her nails raking down my back, stopping at my ass as she pulled me harder.
“Yesss,” she hissed out before I hooked an arm underneath her and flipped us both over.
Claudia riding me was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen. I found myself wanting to memorize the way her eyes opened and closed, how she moved up and down my length, the way her hair and tits bounced in unison, and the seductive way her hips rocked, like she was dancing to a song only she could hear. She was a fucking work of art, my girl, and she knew I saw her that way.
When she climaxed, I came hard and fast, simply from watching her. That was how deeply she affected me. I could find my release simply from watching her have hers.
When she slipped off of me and headed toward the bathroom, I sat up and followed her.
“I need a note.”
She wrapped a towel around herself, covering up all that delicious nakedness, and scrunched her face at me. “A note for what?”
“So when Nick yells at me for being late, I can make sure he knows it was all your fault.”
Claudia giggled and left the bedroom as I grabbed my clothes and quickly dressed again. As I was putting on my shoes, she reappeared with a folded piece of paper in hand.
“Here you go. One late note.”
I unfolded it and grinned from ear to ear.
Please excuse Frank Fisher for being late today; he had some work to do at home.
On his woman. In the bedroom. Naked.
Please call me if there are any problems or issues.
Thank you for understanding.
—Claudia
“Perfect. Thanks, babe.”
“I’ll see you later,” she said as she swatted my ass. “Go, you’re late.”
I kissed her once more. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
I rode my bike to the bar, and just like I had expected, Nick busted my balls the second I walked through the doors.
“You’re late, jackass.”
I tossed the note at him and walked into the office to put my bag down. When I made my way back behind the bar, I found Nick grinning.
“This is great. Can I hang it up in here? Frame it?”
Ryan snatched the paper out of Nick’s hands before he could protest. “What’s it say?” He scanned it quickly, his eyes wide with awe when he looked back up at me. “Damn. I want a note like this.”
When I clenched my jaw, he quickly backtracked.
“Not from Claudia, you idiot. From my own woman. Jesus, caveman, calm down. No one’s trying to steal your girl.”
>
I bit out a sarcastic laugh because that was a flat-out lie. Every time Claudia was in here, some idiot who didn’t know she was with me hit on her. Everyone was always trying to steal my girl. The same thing happened with Jess too, but the second Nick saw it happening, he made another declaration to the girl of his dreams, the love of his life, or whatever shit happened to spill from his lips in that moment. Guys usually backed off after that.
I could have done the same sort of thing, but that wasn’t really my style. And I was pretty sure Claudia would have my balls if I tried. She’d told me on more than one occasion that she could handle herself, but if she needed me, she’d let me know.
“Look who it is. Dr. Claudia,” Nick said with a laugh. He lifted his chin in the direction of the front door and I whipped my head around, searching for her.
“Did you like my note?” she asked as she took a seat at the bar.
“We all liked it.” Ryan grinned, pointing to the wall where he had just pinned it up.
“Oh my gosh, get it off the wall! Frank!”
I shrugged, knowing that if I pulled it down, one of my brothers would put it right back up unless I tossed it in the trash, and that wasn’t happening.
“Thank you, sweet baby Jesus, for blessing me with the most perfect girl in the entire world,” Nick called out, which could only mean one thing. Jess was in the bar. “No offense, Claudia.”
“None taken,” she said with a laugh.
Jess moved to the empty stool next to my girl and they hugged, laughing and talking like the best friends they had become.
Claudia had fit into my family dynamic like she was born to be a part of it. Nothing had ever made me happier than seeing us all together. And I would know, because I’d lived without happiness for far too long, and I recognized the difference now.
I’d been true to my word about being the best gift-giver ever. For Christmas, I had bought round-trip tickets to Colombia for Claudia, her mom, her stepdad, and myself. Her parents knew about the tickets, but Claudia had no idea. When she’d opened the envelope, she burst into tears, claiming I was the best boyfriend ever. The trip was happening later this year, and I planned to propose when we were there, surrounded by her family.