Embracing Ellie: K&S Securities Series Read online

  “I’m going to see if one of the guys will go get blankets with me.” I tell them, walking down the hall toward the office. There is a big linen room a few floors down where I should be able to get more than enough for anyone who needs one.

  I know that I’ve reached the right place when I hear the rumble of male voices from behind a closed door. Screwing up my courage I rap lightly on the door and wait until the door opens revealing Xavier. He smiles kindly at me. I think he knows that he still frightens me.

  “Hey Ellie, what’s up?” He asks, his voice mild and kind like it always is when he addresses me directly.

  “I need someone to help me get blankets and pillows from downstairs.” I say quietly.

  He nods and opens the door the rest of the way, looking over his shoulder he asks, “Anyone wanna help Ellie get some blankets from downstairs?”

  “On it.” Blake says, rising from the big leather chair where he was seated with a grin.

  He follows me closely down the hall toward the door and I smile and wave to Ana and Faye as I walk by doing my best to ignore their wiggling eyebrows and soft laughter. Such brats, but I can’t lie and say that if I was in either of their positions I wouldn’t be doing the same.

  The elevator doors slide shut, enclosing me, shoulder to shoulder, with Blake. Wanting to apologize but not knowing what to say or how to start I reach out my finger and hook my pinky around his and lean my head against his solid bicep. I hope that for now it’s enough to show him that I’m sorry.

  His lips brush the top of my head softly as the doors slide open, making me feel lighter somehow. When he gets back tonight I promise to stop hiding my fears from him. He deserves to know why I have been avoiding him, and I’m ready to tell him. The more I think about it the more certain I become that I over-reacted terribly. Blake isn’t the kind of man who would ever try to hold me back or control me, but he’s a protector, and I know now that’s all he was trying to do. Protect me from Lawrence when it was obvious that I wasn’t going to stand up for myself.

  Blake keeps me tucked close against his side as we stroll silently down the hall toward the linen room in easy silence. It’s nice. I’ve always been quiet and content with my own thoughts, so finding someone who doesn’t feel the need to fill every hushed moment with needless chatter is like winning an unexpected jackpot. Just being close to him for a few minutes has all the jagged edges of my emotions realigning after days of feeling raw sadness and self-recriminations.

  When we reach the door to the linen room, I slip my master key from my dress pocket and open the door to the large room. Automatic lights come on as we enter, illuminating shelves of clean linen and full laundry carts, waiting for someone to put everything away. Clean blankets and pillows are easy to locate, and Blake helps me load a small wheeled cart with the needed items. He stops me with a hand on my shoulder when I move to push it toward the door.

  “Let me,” he offers.

  “Thank you,” I murmur. I’m more than capable of managing a pile of blankets, but something about his tone has me stepping back and allowing him to maneuver it into the hall while I lock up behind us. I turn to face him, ready to go back upstairs and he is putting his phone back in his pocket, a half-smile on his full lips. I can’t help but smile back, so happy just to be spending time with him again.

  “What?” I ask with a laugh.

  “We have some time to kill. Sounds like everyone is taking a little alone time.” He wiggles his eyebrows in an exaggerated way, making me giggle and blush at the same time. Knowing what everyone is up to is a little weird, even though it’s not a secret. If we don’t have to go right back up maybe that means that we can...

  Electric heat floods my limbs, making them heavy as the ghost of remembered pleasure lights up my body. I look up at Blake from under my eyelashes and suck my bottom lip between my teeth searching for any trace of the taste of him, but it’s gone. Washed away by our meal. I want it back.

  “Don’t look at me like that, Ells,” his voice is rough and deeper than usual. My nipples pucker in response to the sound of his desire for me. I release my lip and slick the tip of my tongue over the bow of my upper one, checking again for the flavor of his kiss. A tortured groan breaks loose from him and he steps toward me, closing the distance separating us. Satisfaction like I’ve never felt before bubbles in my chest. Knowing that he wants me as much as I want him makes me long for the feelings only he has unleashed in me. How could I have been dumb enough to push this man away? I must have been temporarily insane.

  The thought breaks the spell around me, and I reach out my hand for his. I need to tell him how I feel. “Blake, I’m really sorry…”

  “You don’t have to apologize, angel,” he says gruffly, pulling me close, his green gaze clashing into mine.

  “I really do,” I start again, only to be cut off when he gently sets his calloused fingertip on my lips stalling my words and the feelings of urgency I had about confessing my feelings.

  “Later then? When we have more time?” he asks. I nod my agreement, not really wanting to get into my explanation when I know that he is going to have to leave soon.

  “Okay. I really am sorry though,” I say, giving him a contrite smile.

  “I know you are. I also know that there are reasons for what happened, and I do want to hear them. I just want to know that when we talk there won’t be any interruptions. You know that, right?” he tips my chin up so he can lock his eyes on mine. They radiate sincerity. Not that I would have expected anything else. Blake has never been anything less than completely honest with me. I’m the one who kept my feelings hidden and caused everything to go off the rails.

  “I know,” I reassure him, happy when the small furrow between his eyebrows fades and is replaced by a smile and crinkles around his eyes.

  “So, what are we gonna do while our friends do each other?” he laughs, making me blush again and I shake my head.

  What I’d like to do is a repeat of earlier… with a little more privacy, but I’m too shy to say that. So instead I say, “Let’s take this upstairs and leave it in the hall,” I gesture to the cart with a shrug. I don’t have to say anything else; he must see the naughty thoughts behind my eyes because he leans down with a chuckle to kiss my lips.

  “After that, wanna go to my place and make out?” he whispers provocatively before rubbing the tip of his nose against mine.

  Making out sounds like the greatest idea ever! I rise onto my tiptoes and kiss him back. “Yeah.” I whisper back. There is no way that I’m going to miss out on that opportunity!

  He winks and tips his chin at me. I swear he’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know how I got so lucky, that he’s giving me a second chance. There is no way I’m going to blow this again.

  It only takes a few minutes to take the blankets upstairs. We abandon the cart in the hall outside the penthouse door. I can’t help my startled, and equally excited, squeal when Blake’s strong arms slip behind my back and knees sweeping me against his chest.

  “You better be ready, babe,” he growls playfully in my ear as the elevator doors swish closed and we start to descend. Winding my arms around his neck I nod.

  “Umm hmm,” I mumble against his throat, unable to put the feelings rioting through me into words.

  Somehow, he manages to unlock the door to his apartment without setting me down. I haven’t been inside since the day I was here to clean. Carrying me into the cool room he finally lowers me to my feet but keeps me held in the loose circle of his embrace. In the dim light coming through the partially covered windows everything looks neat and tidy. I’m not sure who has been taking care of it since I was here. It hasn’t been assigned to anyone that I’m aware of.

  “Who’s been cleaning for you?” I ask curiously, looking around when he lets me go to flip a switch, revealing that, as I suspected, everything in the room is in order and spotless. His arms wrap around my waist, his chin propped on my shoulder looking over his sp
ace from my vantage point.

  “Just me,” he says wryly.

  “I’d be happy to come back and do it if you want me too,” I offer, remembering how freaked out I was by the urge I had to crawl into his bed and surround myself with his scent. I feel the same way now as his warm, spicy aroma assaults my senses with the same result, liquifying my brain and sending my hormones racing into overdrive. I’m not scared of those feelings this time. Now all I want to do is act on them.

  “Thank you for offering, but I don’t want you cleaning up after me. I’ve already told you that. You’re my girl, not my cleaning lady.” He says pushing my ponytail out of the way and kissing me the tender nape of my neck before carefully dragging his teeth over the sensitive spot. Shivers wrack through me as goosebumps race along my skin. His low laugh is sinful and full of promises as I turn in his arms to face him again.

  “I am?” I ask, sliding my hands up his hard chest and encircling his neck in a loose embrace.

  “Am what?” he teases, his lips just millimeters away, his clean breath feathering against mine. I want him to kiss me. Pressing closer I lift my face offering my mouth for the kisses I want so badly.

  “Your girl?” I breathe, my voice a plea for him to touch his mouth to mine, to say I’m his, to forgive me for being stubborn and stupid.

  His answer is everything, “Yes, angel. You’re my girl. You’re my everything. Can I keep you?” His lips caress my forehead before moving over my fluttering eyelids. I sigh at the butterfly-soft kisses trailing over my cheek until they brush against my waiting lips.

  “Yes,” I mumble against his seeking mouth. I want that. Want to be his.

  “Yes, what babe?” His teeth carefully scrape over my full bottom lip, driving me crazy. I scratch my nails through the short hair at the back of his neck, searching for the longer strands on top and using them to tug his mouth closer to mine.

  “Yes, you can keep me.” I pledge, opening my mouth slightly and pulling him against me as I gather my courage, sweeping into his mouth and over the sharp edges of his teeth until my seeking tongue finds his. With a hoarse groan he wraps my long ponytail around his fist and drags my head back, exposing my throat to his exploration. I gasp with a combination of pleasure and mild pain when his teeth sink into the tendon, sagging in his arms as my knees go weak, and giggling against his throat when he sweeps me into his arms again, carrying me to the couch and sitting, keeping me tight against his chest.

  “I think someone said something about making out…” I quip, his closeness making me confident in a way I’ve never been before. I nuzzle closer to him and take in a lungful of his clean, delicious scent before nipping carefully at the pulse pounding at the base of his throat.

  “You’re right,” he rumbles, “someone did.”

  It’s not the first time we’ve been alone, but it is the first time that my mom, Lizzie and Auggie aren’t in the next room or just inside the house and I’m not about to waste this opportunity. Breaking our kiss I wiggle around so I’m straddling his lap, my ugly grey dress riding up my thighs. His long fingers dig firmly into the soft curves of my hips, rocking my core against the solid ridge of his arousal which is straining the heavy twill of his black fatigues.

  The little buds of my nipples tingle and tighten inside my dress, the friction of the scratchy polyester fabric sending little currents of electricity shooting straight from my heavy breasts to the cleft between my thighs.

  I want more. No, it’s more than that. I need more.

  Blake shifts his hips, thrusting his hardness up against my welcoming softness, grinding hard against my still sensitive clit. In a flash I’m lost. With a throaty cry an orgasm explodes through my entire body, white heat racing down my arms and legs making them heavy, but he doesn’t stop his rhythmic movements. Strong hands cinch tighter and continue to guide my body as I quiver and moan on top of him, another wave of pressure already building low in my belly.

  “Blake…” I gasp, feeling another climax hurtling through me.

  “Give it to me,” he orders gruffly. I struggle to maintain the drugging rhythm when his hands release me and move to the row of small black buttons running down the front of my dress. Blunt fingers deftly undo them one by one before pushing the material down over my shoulders, trapping my arms against my sides. Distracted momentarily by the feeling of being restrained, I fight to free them but he leans forward, lapping one bared nipple and then the other with the flat of his tongue.

  “No fucking bra,” his groan is tortured. When he repeats the caress, I cease battling with my restraining garment, my hands settling quietly on my thighs waiting to see what comes next. I don’t really need my arms.

  “You stopped,” he complains, pushing his hardness up against me again.

  “Sorry,” I murmur, “I think you turned my brain into mush.” I admit.

  “Good.” He smirks, grasping my waist and tipping us so that I’m horizontal, the soft cushions of the couch under my bare back. My arms still pinned to my sides, my skirt rucked up around my waist, thighs spread wide accommodating the bulk of his frame for the second time today. I love how womanly I feel beneath him.

  How small and vulnerable.

  Cherished and protected.

  “If I’d known that your tits have been bare under these dresses…” He sits up on his knees between my legs, palming the ridge tenting his pants and adjusting it with a pained look on his face.

  “If you’d known?” I whimper, relishing his narrowed gaze devouring the sight of my rosy nipples before moving south to the place where I can feel wetness saturating the soft cotton of my panties.

  “I’d have had you on your back under me a week ago.” His voice is a feral growl as he slides to his knees on the floor, moving me like a ragdoll until my butt is hanging off the edge and my legs are draped wide over his forearms.

  A wave of insecurity ambushes me. It’s been a long day. I haven’t showered since before daylight this morning and I move to pull my knees together, the frantic desire I felt just a few moments ago dimming under the weight my nerves.

  Blake crowds closer leaning over me until we are nose to nose. “You okay, angel?”

  His tone is rich with concern. I don’t think anyone, not even my mom, has ever talked to me that way, like my next words will be the most important ones ever uttered.

  “Just…” I wave my trapped hand awkwardly in the general direction of my underwear. “I’ve never… I mean, I might need a shower.” I stumble the words, feeling the heat of embarrassment burning my face and creeping down my neck. Way to ruin the mood, Ellie.

  What Blake does next shocks me. He laughs, a full throated, amused laugh.

  “You think that you need to shower?” the laughter stops, his voice serious again, and I quickly nod in response. “You silly, silly girl.” A grin unlike any I have ever seen crosses his face. Usually Blake is sweet and kind. Relaxed and friendly. This smile is dark, hinting at depths he hasn’t shown me yet. Depths that cause my pulse pick up and my blood to throb in my veins.

  His big hands slide under my thighs, placing my knees over his wide shoulders before sliding them under my butt. Lifting my core towards his face he shocks me more when he nuzzles his face into the crease of my thigh brushing against my... pussy… there I said it… He inhales deeply. My entire body jerks, a rush of fresh wetness soaking my panties as my feminine muscles spasm in response to the intimate caress.

  “You smell sweet,” he rasps, “so damn delicious, Elinor.” Moving closer to my center and nudging the stiff bundle of nerves below my mound with his nose.

  “Oh!” The single strangled sound comes from my throat when he bumps it again, his hands sliding up the insides of my legs. Slowly he pulls my underwear down, giving me plenty of time to object if I was of a mind to. I’m not. I don’t want to stop.

  When my legs are as bound by the damp cotton of my panties as my arms are by the sleeves of my dress, Blake sits back on his heels releasing the button on his pants, th
e quiet grating of his zipper the only sound other than our ragged breaths. I try to sit up, my curiosity about seeing him completely almost tangible, but my position and the tangle of clothing around me holds me immobile beneath him.

  Another rush of heat courses through me, at the helplessness of the position I’m in. It centers between my legs with deep, throbbing insistence. His eyes never leaving the place that he bared.

  “Patience, Ells.” He murmurs, the sound of rustling fabric teasing me as I imagine him pushing down his pants and taking it out.

  “I want to see you too,” my voice is pleading. “It’s not fair.”

  That dark smile curves his lips again. “What do you want to see, angel?” he asks.

  “You,” I whine, my eyes pinch closed. Penis sounds so clinical and it’s been drilled into me my whole life that nice girls don’t use bad words. I don’t know what to call it.

  “You can’t see me if your eyes are closed, babe.” His voice is muffled against the skin of my inner thigh where his tongue is tracing wet circles on my flesh before blowing on them. My skin prickles. He’s right. I open my eyes and look down the length of my body.

  I’m reclined against the back of the couch, throw pillows supporting my head and shoulders. I’ve never seen myself this way before. I have an unimpeded view of my high, round breasts thrusting up, surging with my labored breathing. My deep pink nipples are tightly pebbled and damp from where he tasted them. My belly is tight and flat and my waist nips in before flaring out into lush hips. My dress is open. In my haze of desire, I didn’t notice when he removed it. My thighs are spread wide to make room for him and I can see myself glistening with arousal, my lower lips slightly parted like they are begging for his kiss.

  Then I see him. My Blake. My legs are draped over his shoulders, his heavily muscled chest heaving, eyes glued to mine as he watches me looking at us this way.