“Oh God.”
He was sensing a theme. Her inability to speak more than guttural, pleasure-filled words. Which meant he was accomplishing his goal. He ran his tongue along her clit, teasing with soft flickers back and forth until she shook hard, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders. He eased her back with long laps, soothing her and letting the waves ebb before taking her up again.
“Fuck,” she murmured, her nails digging into his skin, her sex arching, pushing at his face, her body pleading with him for harder suckling.
He had no problem complying. With his face pressing against her sex, she began to rock against him, and he gave her the pressure, the force she needed in order to break apart.
“Derek!” This time the scream was accompanied by a full-body climax, and he let her ride out the storm, drinking in her juices, her scent, her essence.
He rose to his feet, legs weak, when she met his gaze. “Fuck me. Now. Hard.”
God, he wanted to. “Condoms in the bedroom.”
She gripped his head in her hands, her eyes wild with need. “I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone in years.”
“Me neither. And tested for life insurance.” He bit the words out at the same time he lifted her up and slammed her down on his cock. He speared her with one thrust, and she cried out in pleasure.
“Yes. Yes.” He drove into her, her back pressed hard against the stone tile, pummeling her with driving need.
His balls ached, drawing up, everything inside him on the edge.
“Coming. Now. Oh God, oh God.”
He thrust again harder as she shattered, her orgasm a force that took him along with her, his entire body and mind consumed with pleasure.
He came back to himself to find a starry-eyed Cassie leaning against the wall, looking as sated as he felt.
He didn’t know what the future had in store, but the here and now was pretty fucking great.
Chapter Eight
For the next two weeks, Cassie alternated between showing up at Derek’s office and being at home, packing and moving into her new apartment. She’d hired a company to do the breakables, the things she didn’t have to go through one by one. She chose what she wanted to furnish the apartment with and what she wanted to store, hopefully for a house in the future.
And during the process and the day of the actual move, she avoided her brother as best she could, her anger at him for displacing her growing instead of abating. For Cassie it was the principle of the thing, because she was beginning to look forward to living in Manhattan.
And she knew she had Derek to thank. She wanted to be closer to where he lived. To not have to rush out to take the train home after an intense sexual encounter, either in his office behind closed doors or at his apartment after work. She refused to think about what this thing between them meant, choosing instead to focus on enjoying what they shared. She’d never had a relationship that was easy, and this one was.
While at his work, she stayed in the background although she was always aware of Derek and their electric connection. As was he. He would always seek her out, his gaze falling on hers, no matter how busy he happened to be.
If he held a staff meeting, she’d be in the room, taking notes on how he handled his employees, but always aware of him. Of the authority he emanated, even if he was wearing jeans and a long-sleeve tee shirt. He didn’t need a power suit to make his point. Because he was an easygoing and fair boss, his staff was loyal and appreciated him.
As for his daily routine, whether business ran smoothly or there was stress, Derek was calm under pressure. While Kade tended to blow up first and ease off later, Lucas and Derek were more mild-mannered. But all three men got the job done. They worked like a well-oiled team, and Cassie was impressed.
The day after her first night in her new apartment, she had lunch with Amanda, who she hadn’t seen in a while, and then spent the afternoon at her office to catch up on what was going on and check in with her staff in person. Her second-in-command had been handling things while she was out on assignment, and he was happy to do it. She met with each of her writers, talked to the editors, and got a general feel for what had been happening in her absence, more than she’d been able to glean from phone calls.
When she’d decided to take over Take a Byte, the reporters and staff had embraced her because prior to her arrival, nobody cared what kind of magazine they put out. Morale had been low, rumblings of firings rampant. Cassie had insisted to her father that she wanted this project, and he’d agreed.
She realized now that he hadn’t seen the inherent value in Take a Byte or how it could help rejuvenate the rest of the company. If he had, she’d be sitting in his old chair now, not her brother. She tried not to focus on what she’d lost; instead she promised herself she’d line up an impressive list of people after Derek and make her magazine one that the tech world turned to for information.
She was about to wrap up for the day when a knock sounded on her door. “Come in,” she said without looking up from notes she’d been studying.
“So this is where you work.”
She paused at the sound of Derek’s voice, her stomach flipping happily at the sight of him.
“Hi! This is a nice surprise.” She rose from her seat.
“I had a meeting nearby, and since you said you’d be in your office, I decided to stop by and say hello.” He stepped inside, a sexy grin on his face. “Actually I just missed you.”