Brazen Ivy, page 7
He retrieved the remote control to ECHO, and the drone powered down with a low hum. My mouth dried, because this darling man just proved I was his sole focus. Not his research. Not his project. Not his plans. Me. Was there anything sexier?
Unable to stop grinning, I swam to the shoreline, walking the last few feet to the bank. My nipples puckered with the change of temperature. Julio met me on the rock-lined water’s edge. Naked longing tightened his face. Tightened his everything. I couldn’t miss the growing bulge in his swim trunks. He clutched a large green and yellow striped beach towel in his hands as he approached me. Julio gently wrapped the terrycloth around my shoulders and over my back, leaving my breasts still bared to his gaze.
With a shuddering breath, he cupped me. “Is this okay?”
“Anywhere you want to touch me is okay,” I assured him.
His other hand lifted and, he molded and shaped my tits until I moaned. “You make me feel good, Julio.”
“I’ve been wanting to do this forever,” he admitted against my lips, then he kissed me.
I felt all the longing and desire and pent up need as his mouth passed over mine. He traced the seam of my lips with his tongue, then plunged forward, our tongues twining in the most sensuous kiss I’d ever shared.
The towel dropped to my feet as I raised my arms and wrapped them around his neck. Over and over his tongue ran across mine. His fingers plucked and toyed with my nipples until they ached.
“I want to touch you all over,” he said after breaking off our kiss. His chest rose and fell as his heartbeat raced.
“Do it,” I urged.
His hands roamed over my back, down my waist until he gripped my hips. With a jerk, he tugged me against the hot, hard length of his cock. I ground against his shaft and he groaned. “Have you been wanting to do this forever?” I asked.
“Yes, and so much more,” he said, his voice nothing but a groan.
“Show me what you wanted to do.”
Julio’s hands moved again, and he cupped my butt. “You have no idea how difficult it was not to stare every damn time you left a room. I could get off just thinking of your sweet ass alone.”
“You don’t have to get off alone now.”
“Really?” He pulled away from me to gaze into my eyes. Questions burned in the brown depths. I’m topless, writhing against his chest and grinding my pussy against this cock. How can he still be confused?
I grabbed his hands and put them on the strings that held my bikini bottoms in place. “Pull.”
There was no asking twice. In seconds he’d yanked those bottoms free of my body and I stood before him naked. He bent and swooped me over his shoulder. I yelped and giggled as he carried me, fireman style, to the dock. He eased me to the planked wood, my feet sinking into the softness of the blanket I’d spread out for our lunch.
I reached for his trunks but he waved my hand away. “I just want to look at you.”
“Okay.”
The hunger rolled off him in waves, as his gaze traveled over my body. I should feel awkward, but his appreciation of my curves and imperfections made me feel beautiful. I longed for Julio in ways I’d never expected. Our first time together should be intimate and connected.
“I like looking at you too.” He possessed that lean, lankiness of a swimmer and the light reflected off his tat. Hairless, except for that delicious trail leading into his trunks.
He sucked in a breath, and his face tightened. “Ivy, I don’t have a lot of experience, and well... I’m not sure how long I’ll last.”
My heart swelled even more. “Don’t worry about that. I just want to be with you.”
“But I want to make it good for you.”
If I’d entertained any doubts, Julio’s last words sunk them to the bottom of the lake. I put my finger across his lips to still his concerns. “It will be.”
With a growl he nibbled on the tip of my finger. I reached for his trunks again. “Let me.”
He gave me a tight nod, and I lowered his clothing. His penis sprang up, hard and ready. I tamped down the overwhelming urge to grip him and run my palm along his shaft. But I sensed he wasn’t exaggerating when he said he wouldn’t last long. He might release in my hand after a few strokes. Luckily I’d searched the internet for the best positions to help a guy out in this situation. I wasn’t studying only physics in my room.
I pointed to the blanket. “Sit.” He sunk and I lowered myself onto his lap, facing him. Our lips met as I wrapped my legs around his back. “Touch me,” I pleaded against his mouth
His fingers sunk between our bodies, and I groaned when he grazed my clit. He broke from me. “I live for that sound.”
Leaning away, I balanced on my arms behind me and lifted my hips while still straddling him. This angle gave him easy access and a full view. “Then keep touching me there.”
He circled the bud of nerves at the apex of my thighs with his finger. His eyes narrowed as he watched my body’s reaction to his touch. How my skin pinkened. How creamy I grew.
“Feel how wet you make me,” I suggested.
Julio bit his lip as he sunk a finger inside me. “Fuck, Ivy, you’re drenched.”
“That’s how much I want you.”
“Seeing you like this is making me so hard.” The muscles along his neck strained with his effort to keep himself under control.
“Then touch me with your cock.”
His fingers left my body, replaced by the crowned tip of his penis as he guided himself over and around my clit. My breath lodged in my throat. I hadn’t realized how revved up I’d get by him caressing me with the crown.
I gripped his forearm. “That feels so good. You’re going to make me come.”
Julio only ramped up his efforts, stroking me a little harder, circling me a little faster. He wanted me to climax. To come in front of him as he watched, his length just out of reach. The pressure inside me built and built until I shattered. My cry of pleasure echoed through our small inlet and my core quivered and clamped. My fingernails dug into the blanket I was so desperate for him to fill me.
“Ivy, I can see your pussy clench.”
“I want you inside me. I want to clench your cock.” He aimed the tip of him at my opening and slowly slid into my wet heat. “Julio that’s it. That feels amazing.”
Sweat broke out on his forehead. “For me too.”
Pushing myself off my hands, I wrapped my arms around his body, and gravity did the rest, slowing dragging me down the hard length of him. Our gazes collided as he fully seated inside me. His eyes dark and full of passion; his mouth open in the wonder of our union.
“I want to make you come,” I said.
His fingers sunk into my hair and he pulled my head lower so our lips met. “Mi sirenita, I’m yours. Do anything you want.”
I ground my clit against him as I lifted my hips up and down his length. His grasp grew tighter and tighter as I rode his cock. Inside me his dick surged, and I knew he’d blow soon. But while the penetration was deep at this angle, he couldn’t thrust the way instinct dictated.
“On my back,” I told him. He shifted his legs, and lowered me against the blanket, stretching out on top of me. His whole body shook with his effort to contain his need to drive inside me. “Go. Hard. I want you to.”
His eyes flickered closed, and his face tightened in utter concentration.
“Let go,” I urged.
Julio slammed into me. I gasped, and he stilled, but I locked my ankles around his back. “More.”
He pumped into me, groaning with each thrust. The sound of him, the weight of him and the slide of him inside me drove me over the edge and I keened as I came. His thrusts became wild and untamed, ratcheting up until his muscles seized and he went off like a detonation.
We lay wrapped in each other’s arms and legs entangled until our breath returned to normal. I expected him to roll off me, but instead he cuddled me to his side and his lips met mine in a leisurely seductive kiss.
“How does it feel to wreck a girl your first time at bat?” I asked when we both came up for air.
He buried his mouth against my neck. “Like I’m ready to do it again.”
Chapter 6
Even with the slower pace of was summer, the guys still preferred taking the weekends off. Except for Elliott and his projects. By noon on Saturday, he’d already trimmed the limbs of the trees near the power lines and run them through the wood chipper for mulch. By nightfall he’d slowed, and we sat together on the back patio facing the lake, enjoying the quiet breeze and feeling lazy.
The delicious scent of grilled burgers and brats wafted through the air. I’d completed the meal with potato salad and baked beans, but Graham still manned the grill. The guys talked while I read a romance novel off the Kindle I’d gotten on sale as we waited for the meat to finish cooking.
“If he thinks not going won’t affect his future, he’s losing it,” Elliott said.
Archer shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’ve tried.”
Julio glanced in my direction. “Maybe Ivy can talk some sense into him.”
I lifted my gaze from the reader. “Sense about what?”
“Graham’s on scholarship with LZF Gaming,” Archer explained. “The executives are having a team building retreat next week, and they’ve invited their grant recipients. Graham says he won’t go.”
“I’m not down with mandatory fun,” Graham called from where he stood before the grill.
Archer rolled his eyes. “He’s basically sitting on a guaranteed job after graduation. At least six figures and pissing it away.”
Graham made a grumbling sound. “LZF should hire me because I’d program the shit out of their games. Not because I can play pin the tail on the donkey.”
Elliott stretched his neck, working the kinks out from his hard, physical day. “True, but you know that’s not how the world works.”
“They want to make sure you’re not a complete douche before they put you on payroll. Or in your case, see how well you hide it.” Archer laughed at his own joke.
Graham stiffened and focused on jabbing at the meat with his spatula.
“Hey asshole, the game plan was to help, not convince him to dig in his heels,” Elliott told him with an irritated sigh. Then he turned his blue-eyed focus on me. “Why don’t you talk to him?”
My hand fluttered to my chest. “Me? Why?”
“Because you have real life experience, not just college,” Elliott said.
“And, I think he’d listen to you,” Julio added.
They must believe I’d graduated top of my class from the school of hard knocks. Still, their faith in my ability to persuade flattered me. They had a point. This team building opportunity was probably a test. CEO’s avoided employees who couldn’t participate or get along from day one. With a nod I left my reader on the picnic table on the porch and crossed to the back deck.
“Mmm, that smells good,” I told him as I approached.
Graham glanced my way, his eyes wary. “Ah, I see they brought in the big guns.”
He sounded chagrinned, the stiffness of his shoulders waned when I neared. The guys might be onto something. Graham relaxed around me and seemed less guarded. Perhaps I could convince him.
“I hate to say it, but I think they’re right. These people have given you a lot of money, and if a job is at the end of these four years, you owe it to them and yourself to go.”
His lips twisted. “Yeah, I know. It’s just...”
“Just what?”
“I’m not the best at first impressions. I get tongue-tied and well–” he slammed the spatula on the metal grate of the grill. “Work should be what matters. Not whether I can schmooze.”
I gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You don’t make a bad first impression. You certainly didn’t with me.”
His lip quirked up into a half-smile. “That’s because I was in a group and not alone. The others acted as a buffer. Plus, you make it easy to be around you.”
An idea began to formulate in my mind. “I realize it’s a team-building thing, but is there a social part too? Are you allowed to bring guests?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice hesitant but hopeful.
“I could go with you,” I told him. I worked to make my offer appear casual and fun rather than pity. “I’ve waited so many tables; believe me, I know how to keep people happy. I’d love to act as your buffer. If you’d have me.”
“If I’d have you?” Graham made a scoffing sound, but his green eyes filled with appreciation. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course,” I replied, smiling up at him.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say I have a date,” I told him with a nudge to his arm.
“You have a date.”
LZF Gaming rented out a training facility nestled in the canyons and bluff carved by Cedar Creek. Beautiful green scenery passed by our window as we drove. It took us a little under three hours, but Graham and I spent the time laughing and listening to each other’s music. Car trips always excited me. Something about stocking up on candy and chips from a convenience store and hitting the road hit a sweet spot for me. We also found our groove together on the trip. When we arrived, Graham was as relaxed as I’d ever seen him.
Graham and I hadn’t yet fooled around, but I hoped this weekend changed that status. As we passed each green mile marker on the highway, my attraction to this moody gamer grew.
As we neared our destination, I called out navigation from the map on his phone. We located the training facility without having to double back, reroute or ask for direction. Just another way we already worked in sync. The center was a two-story rustic lodge of log and stone, framed beautifully by the Petit Jean Mountain.
“Wow, this place is gorgeous,” I told him as we parked under an overhang near the entrance to check in.
A woman greeted us inside the lobby, sporting an LZF Gaming name tag. She flashed us a welcoming smile as we approached. “Hello again, Graham. And you must be Ivy. We’re so glad you’re both here. There will be a social on the verandah with cocktails and finger foods for company employees, scholarship recipients and their plus one. Afterwards, we’ll begin our retreat into the woods for the overnight team-building activities.”
“Sounds great,” Graham said, and I almost believed him. He’d booked me a suite in the lodge. Once he left for the retreat, I planned to laze in the king-sized bed, order room service and watch pay-per-view movies all night.
“I’ll see you both on the verandah then.”
Graham and I crossed to the front desk where he presented his credit card for incidentals and grabbed us two keys. Although I could count on one hand my experience of staying in chic places, I had access to TV and the internet. I’d never seen such a blend of rustic elegance and modern convenience. I tried not to stare at the stunning crystal baccarat chandeliers hanging from the wood planked vaulted ceilings or imagine sinking into the deep leather chairs surrounding the gorgeous Steinway piano.
After parking the car and grabbing our bags, Graham ushered me upstairs to our room. I’m so excited to sneak a peek at our suite, and thrilled to finally get my hands on Graham, I’d forgotten to be anxious about sex with a new man. Graham swiped the keycard and pushed open the door. My feet sunk into the thick, luxurious carpet but it’s the towering canopy bed that elicits a squeal. I hop onto the mattress and take a moment to indulge on the softest bedding I’d ever felt.
“You like?” he asked.
“I love.” Then I popped up. “As amazing at the bedroom is, imagine the bathroom.”
I grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the marble-clad bathroom that smelled of lavender and mint and designed for pampering. He whistled as we surveyed the walk-in glass block shower big enough for two. The deep soaker tub, encased in a wall of windows to allow in the natural light, stunned me. With a touch of a switch, the glass fogged for privacy. And was that a large screen TV perched across from tub? I’ll miss Graham after he leaves me for the retreat, but I made mental plans with a glass of wine while watching a movie from that tub topped with bubbles.
Graham sucked in a breath. “They’ve blown a ton of money on me.”
Guilt rocked me on my feet. I was supposed to be helping Graham ease into the company socially, and I’m thinking of my personal comfort. There was no sign of his carefree attitude I’d experienced on our car trip. His smile had vanished and a tiny line formed between his brows.
Green worried eyes met mine as his tall frame stiffened. “How am I supposed to…?”
I twined my fingers through Graham’s and his words trailed off. “You’re getting too worked up. Remember, these people want to like you. And they will,” I promised as I led him from the bathroom and back to the suite. “They already know the competent Graham on paper. The skilled programmer from your work. In an hour they’ll meet the amazing you in person.”
A shrug was his answer.
“C’mon, you need to relax and I have the perfect thing for relaxation.”
He lifted a brow. “A back rub?”
I reached for the buckle of his belt. “Even better.”
His eyes widened as I lowered to my knees. In a flash I dropped his pants around his ankles. Next went his boxer briefs. His rod sprang forward, beginning to harden. I dropped a kiss on the head. “This okay?” I asked.
He nodded quickly. “More than okay.”
As a reward for his enthusiastic response, I placed delicate kisses along the top of his cock. His skin heated under my touch, so I followed that up with tiny nibbles.
Hiding a secret smile, I lifted my mouth from his penis and stared up at him. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing a green hue so deep, the color turned almost brown. “Hand me that pillow,” I told him, angling my head toward the decorative throw cushions at the headboard. “I plan to take my time and get comfortable.”
His jaw flexed, and he stretched to grab not one but two pillows off the bed and place them on the floor. “You get all the comfort you need.”
With a smile, I positioned the pillows under my knees and set to work. But first... I reached between his legs. “I’ve really neglected your ball.”
