Page 29 of Elijah’s Whim

“Beauty?”

“Oh, I think you’re the beautiful one in this room, man. My God, you are glorious. I want to take your picture and send it to my sister so she understands what I’m dealing with here.”

I waggled my brows so she understood I was being playful. “Do you want me to pose on your bed? Or more of a candid?” If she wanted to snap my picture, I had no problem with it.

Hannah continued to stare, but now it was disbelief in her expression. “You would really go along with that?”

“I think I’d do just about anything you asked me to do, Hannah. But I have to admit, I like that you’ve been talking to your sister about me.” Shit, I thought I might be blushing and was grateful once more for the olive skin tone.

“You don’t even know what we were talking about. I could’ve been saying the most insulting things,” she suggested and started taking the decorative pillows off the bed, so I went to the other side to help.

“For one thing, I don’t think you’re that kind of person. I realize I don’t know you very well—or at all, in the grand scheme of things—but it’s not the impression I get from what I do know. Secondly, the fact that you talked about me to your sister means I was on your mind, and I like that. Because I think about you all day, too.”

After my admission, we both just froze on either side of the bed, each with a pillow in hand. I was cursing the giant mattress between us, but given her skittishness before, Hannah was probably grateful for it.

“Does that bum you out?” she finally asked, breaking the tension that mounted between us like a house of cards. Beautiful and breathtaking but precarious and fragile at the same time.

I tilted my head to the side, hair flopping with the momentum of my body’s shift, letting her know I didn’t understand the point she was trying to make.

“Well, you said yourself you enjoy punishing women. If I obey all the rules, you won’t have an opportunity to punish any—”

And that was where she stopped talking. Just cut off midsentence and didn’t offer an explanation as to why. It had been three years since I’d weathered the Hensley storm, but I swore women were more complicated now than ever.

Isn’t navigating through this shit supposed to get easier?

“What? Why did you stop so abruptly?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Never mind. This day has already been long enough. I don’t need more problems. I just want to get in bed and go to sleep.” Hannah dropped her robe, pulled the covers back swiftly, and then raised one knee to the mattress. “You have very nice bedding, by the way.”

I was transfixed, watching her climb onto the mattress in a pair of little shorts and matching tank top. I’d seen women dressed in everything from the finest silk and lace lingerie to designer evening gowns, but nothing came close to the vision of Ms. Hannah Farsey in her cotton tank top and booty shorts sleep set.

Fantasies assaulted me as she got comfortable beneath the sheets. I had to close my eyes to stop myself from mounting her and claiming her. It would all happen so fast—she wouldn’t have a moment to utter a single word of protest. Mental images of pulling the cotton crotch of those shorts to the side and finding the treasure nestled behind the soft fabric pummeled my brain. When I grazed across her pussy for the first time with the back of my knuckles, I would be able to feel the heat from her core and the wetness of her arousal on my fingers.

“Sweet mother of God,” I murmured with no intention of her hearing me. “Do you mind if I get under with you? I can hold you better that way. But if you’d rather I keep the bedding between our bodies, I will respect that.”

“So noble, Mr. Banks.” I could hear the smile in her voice, but since she already lay with her back to me, I couldn’t see her face.

In response, I admitted, “Not always, I’m afraid. But I know you had a long day, and I don’t want to make it worse than I already have.”

“I think you can be trusted under the covers with me. Just don’t make me regret that decision, okay?”

“I’m not a high school boy, Hannah. I can control myself.”

I slid between the sheets and arranged the pillows to my liking. Fuck me, this bed already smelled like her, and whatever chance my dick had of not perking up to a full erection was completely lost after I pressed my nose into the pillow a third time. I’d have to be sure to tell the staff to keep the bedding on the bed when she left my home. That way she’d never be too far if I needed to catch a fix. A smell fix, at least.

“Are you a cuddler?” she asked while turning off the lamp by her side of the bed. I heard a shimmer of mischief in her husky voice as darkness settled over the room.

“I suppose in certain circumstances. Like right now, for example. I’d pay money to cuddle with you. To hold your perfectly delicate body against mine. What about you?”

“I’m not really sure, to be honest.” She settled onto her back, and it was better to talk this way. Now I could see her expressive face in the filtered moonlight that bathed the room in a bluish glow.

“How can you not be sure?” I placed my open palm on her abdomen. “Either you like snuggling or you don’t.” It seemed pretty simple to me.

“Elijah…” She sighed heavily after saying my name.

Christ, why was just saying my name such a weighty, burdensome task for her?

“Yes?” I finally answered.