5. Paolo

CHAPTER 5

PAOLO

T he last thing I expected from this was to actually really get on with the woman I’m trying to marry. Obviously, I know that it would help matters, but I’ve never felt this before.

Chloe’s funny and gorgeous and smart, and best of all, she talks to me like I’m a human being. She doesn’t just like me because of my status. She likes me because of who I am.

Or at least I hope she likes me, anyway.

This plan seemed completely insane when Schultz suggested it. But for the first time since then, I really feel like it could work.

I glance at my watch and realize we’ve been talking for hours. It barely feels like any time has passed at all. If it wasn’t getting late, I could keep going forever.

“I’m really enjoying this,” I tell her.

“Are you?” she says. “So am I.”

“Good,” I grin. “Good. Me too.”

There’s a beat of silence, and I decide to try my luck. “Chloe,” I say. She hums and raises her eyebrows in question. “I think I’d quite like to kiss you now.”

She flushes a little, bringing her hand to her mouth in embarrassment.

“Would that be okay?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says quietly, a smile growing on her face. “Yes, I think it would.”

It doesn’t take much to lean in and close the distance so I can press my lips against hers. She’s soft and warm and pliable, and as soon as our lips touch, she melts into me, letting out a small moan of pleasure.

Suddenly, it’s not enough. I need to feel more of her. I get up, round the table, and wrap my arms around her, pulling her in for another kiss, harder this time. Deeper.

Her tongue flicks out to explore my mouth and I let her, our teeth clacking gently against each other, my hands roaming her back as hers do the same for me. My heart is racing, beating like a drum, like she’s holding the stick and playing me like a melody. I’ve had my fill of girls over the last year, but all of them have felt ephemeral, impermanent.

Somewhere inside me, I know Chloe won’t last either, but there’s a part of me that almost wishes she would.

A rapid vision rushes through my head of a life that I could have with a woman I’d never known before today. One where we have a marriage, a baby, a family. A life together .

I pull back with a jolt, my own mind frightening me. As soon as I do, her hands drop to her sides, leaving behind a cold ache on my body.

“You okay?” she asks.

I shake my head, then nod quickly, realizing I’m giving her a mixed message. “Yes,” I say breathlessly. “I’m okay. More than. Chloe, I know this is sudden, but I would just love to go home with you.”

Her blush deepens. “I can’t. I mean, my mom. Our apartment, it’s just not… it doesn’t work.”

“No, I get it,” I say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I meant, I’m staying in a hotel for the week and I would absolutely love it if you would come back and share it with me tonight.”

Her mouth opens as she draws a breath, looking deeply into my eyes like she’s trying to solve a puzzle, and then she nods slowly. “What the hell,” she says. “Promise me a good time and I’ll say yes.”

“I wouldn’t promise anything else.”

She grabs the front of my shirt and pulls me in for another kiss, hard and passionate, full of a lust that wasn’t there before. Every kiss we share seems to be better than the last.

“Come on,” I say, offering her my hand. “Let’s get out of here. I have access to the private bar at the hotel. Let’s get a drink.”

But we don’t even manage to make it that far.

As soon as we step into the elevator, I lean in close to her. She turns to me with that smile again, and I feel that magnetic compulsion to kiss her.

She melts into my lips and, without thinking, I wrap my hands around her back and pull her close to me. I’m half-expecting her to pull away, but she doesn’t. Instead, she grinds her hips into mine, and I feel a rush of blood flood to my groin.

“Want to skip the bar?” I whisper.

She nods hard. “Yes, yes.”

I punch the button for my floor, and the elevator gets us there in no time. I take her hand and, giggling like schoolchildren, we almost skip along to my room. I fumble with the key card, and the second we cross the threshold, Chloe spins me around and pins me against the door, kissing me hard.

I guess she knows what she wants.

Luckily for her, I want her too. I want her more badly than I’ve ever wanted anyone.

My hands come to her hips, feeling her body beneath her clothes. “Chloe, I need you,” I growl.

“Then have me,” she whispers, reaching up to start unbuttoning her blouse. I push her hands away to do it for her.

We stumble back towards the bed, our hands twining as we fumble with each other’s clothes, tearing buttons and zippers, and when we hit the bed, we tumble backwards, half-undressed and giggling.

Chloe rolls on top of me and leans in to kiss my face, my neck, my chest. She undoes the last few buttons on my shirt and throws it to the ground, and all I can do is cling to her as my desire builds. I’m glad the room was cool when we came in because I’m on fire now. My skin is burning with every touch, my blood pulsing through my veins like my heart is trying to burst out of my chest.

I can only hope she feels the same.

She looks down at me through her long, dark eyelashes, her eyes deep and enticing. “Let me make you feel good,” she says breathlessly.

“Please,” I gasp, my hand coming to her head to stroke her hair and brush it out of her face, then I slide it down to feel the curve of her cheek beneath my palm.

She shuffles down my body, tracing the outlines of my muscles with her mouth, then she settles between my legs, and her lips wrapping around me are so perfect that I could almost black out.

“Chloe… I’m going to…” I manage to get out before my hips buck and I come almost embarrassingly quickly.

She sits up on her heels with a grin. “I’ve still got it, then?”

I grab her wrists and tug her down on top of me. She lets out a little yelp as she loses her balance, but doesn’t complain as we collide in another kiss. Her lips are salty and damp, and my head spins with the lust bubbling inside me. “Yes,” I growl in her ear. “You’re too good at that.”

The second I regain enough control of my limbs to move, I reach out to her wetness and grin as she writhes on top of me. I slip my fingers inside her and hold her tight as I find her clit and start building her own climax. Her fingernails dig into my skin, and I know I’m going to have marks later, but I don’t care.

Only one thing is important right now, and that’s making Chloe see more stars than she ever has before.

When she comes, she cries out, the sound like music to my ears, and her whole body trembles. She shakes through her aftershocks, then starts giggling, which makes me start giggling. Unsteadily, she pushes herself back upright, then flashes me a hungry grin, noticing my length hardening again. “Do you have condoms?”

“Yeah, hang on,” I say, scrambling to the bathroom to grab the box I bought earlier that day. I stumble back to Chloe, and together, like we’re dancing, we arrange ourselves on the bed, Chloe straddling my waist, and my hands reaching out for her like I’m trying to hold on to smoke.

She rolls the condom over my hardness and wastes no more time. She sinks down onto me, and I don’t hold back my moan of bliss. Her hips start to move, and together we cry out, our bodies creating a harmony that sounds like a revelation to me.

This is sex like it’s meant to feel.

This is two people, connecting on the most intimate level, giving themselves to each other, trusting the other to undo them completely and not let go of any of the pieces. This is two people who aren’t afraid to let it be fun.

And it is fun.

By the time we’re finally wrung out, my chest hurts from laughing and my brain is the most contentedly fuzzy it’s been without an excess of drink in a long time. No one has made me laugh like this in years.

“Stay tonight,” I whisper as we lie together in our afterglow.

“Okay,” she whispers back, and the word is like magic to me. There’s nothing I would have liked to hear her say more.