I Will Be There

Without missing a beat, Alex replied, "Someone is bringing you stuff momentarily."

It was said so casually, so matter-of-fact. But before she could ask what 'stuff' meant exactly—loungewear or lingerie?—his phone began to ring. He groaned softly, but not in irritation.

He picked up the call. "Hello…yes, yes, I know…I told you I was going to be at a party… I know I'm late…"

He glanced at Eva then, and their eyes met. For a second, his posture straightened.

"Can I have one more hour? ... You can stay up waiting for me… Yes, I will be there." He smiled faintly. Then he hung up.

"Son, I'm guessing?" Eva asked gently.

"Yes," Alex said, turning toward her again. "He has graciously bestowed me with one more hour."

She smiled, her shoulders relaxing a bit. "A little tyrant already?"

"You have no idea," he chuckled, shaking his head.

Eva laughed then. "God, I think I like him already."

"He's way more charming than I am," Alex said. "He'd probably convince you to marry him within a week."

"Yeah, well, his father is trying to seduce me, so he might still have some competition."

"I didn't bring you here to seduce you, Eva."

She raised an eyebrow. "You literally said in the car that you would fuck me again and again."

"Okay, I didn't bring you here just to seduce you," he corrected with a smirk.

"What do you need one more hour for?" Eva asked.

Alex's lips curled in a smirk that was pure sin. "Do you even have to ask?"

Her eyes widened. "Alex? No… I—" she exhaled, trying to summon reason into a conversation that clearly had none. "You have to take me seriously."

He stepped closer. His eyes dropped briefly to her lips before rising to meet her gaze. "Oh, I will be taking you…seriously."

Before she could roll her eyes or throw a pillow at his cocky face, the soft chime of the elevator interrupted them. The doors slid open with a whisper, and a small crew of uniformed staff walked into the penthouse.

They pushed in a full clothing rack with designer clothes wrapped in protective plastic, luxurious silk robes in varying shades and several shopping bags from high-end boutiques.

Eva's jaw dropped. She instinctively stepped aside as they wheeled the entire fashion parade past her and into one of the bedrooms without a single word. She turned to Alex, bewildered.

"Now you have everything you need," Alex said smoothly, as if this was standard Airbnb hospitality. "A personal chef will be by tomorrow morning. If you need anything else, text me."

Eva narrowed her eyes. "You're treating me like I'm your mistress or something."

"That's because you are."

"Are you hearing yourself right now?"

Just then, the staff re-emerged from the bedroom and exited the apartment as silently as they had arrived.

"Alex, look." Eva turned to him, trying to reel everything back into some sense of control. "I have so many things going on in my life currently. I cannot afford distractions."

He didn't interrupt her. He just watched her.

"And you…" she continued. "You are a dangerous distraction."

He stepped closer. He didn't touch her, but his presence alone set off warning bells in her head.

"If you share them with me, I could help lessen your burden."

She bit her bottom lip. The room, though luxuriously expansive, felt suddenly too small. "I just… I need to figure things out on my own."

Her voice was barely above a whisper as she took two slow, hesitant steps back—an instinctual retreat. Her spine hit the cool wall behind her. "Alex…" she added.

"See," he said, now just a few feet from her. "I too assumed it would just be a one-time fuck."

Eva swallowed, her breath uneven.

"But you gave me the most amazing fuck I ever had…" His eyes dropped, dark with memory. "Right there on your kitchen table."

"Classy," she said dryly, forcing a little laugh, trying to save herself with sarcasm.

"It wasn't enough." His words cut clean through her defenses.

She tried again. "The one in the bathroom at the party should certainly be."

Alex tilted his head, that half-smile appearing again. "Maybe when we try it on a bed," he murmured, inching closer, "I might reevaluate things."

Now he was right in front of her, so close she could smell the faint spice of his cologne and the ghost of champagne on his breath.

"But I seem to love fucking you, Eva."

Her mouth parted slightly, shocked more by the heat curling in her belly than by his audacity.

Then, he dipped his hand into his pocket and retrieved something she instantly recognized.

Her underwear.

He fisted the delicate lace and brought it to his nose, inhaling.

"I love the scent of you."

"And I love the taste of you."

The heat between her legs grew unbearable. With every filthy syllable, every slow, sultry movement of his mouth, he was unspooling her, thread by silken thread. Her knees wobbled. Her chest rose and fell.

She should stop him.

Instead, her hands gripped the front of his shirt, and she pulled him to her.

"Alex…" she breathed again, but this time it wasn't a protest.

"One more time." She said it so quietly, it was almost a breath.

Alex's lips curved into a slow, knowing grin. There was heat in his eyes. "I make no such promises," he warned.

Eva's hands went to the buttons of his shirt, one after the other, slowly revealing the skin beneath. Her fingers traced the planes of his chest, and her lips followed, leaving soft kisses that made his abdomen twitch in anticipation.

Alex tilted his head back slightly and placed a hand on the wall beside them, watching her with a hunger he didn't even try to mask. He didn't move—just let her touch him, kiss him, disarm him inch by inch. When her lips brushed over one of his nipples, he let out a quiet breath.

Then she dropped lower.