Charmed by Richard Page 2

  Once inside, his hand seared through my clothes, getting rid of the coat, and the inner white shirt. Gasping as he latched his mouth on my neck, I struggled to get him out of his own coat. “Oh,” I groaned as he swiftly undid my bra, continuing his downward trail of kisses.

  “Richard.”

  “Huh?”

  “My name is Richard.” He growled against my body, “Say it.”

  “Oh Richard,” I shrieked, my eyes lolling back as he fixed his mouth on the peak of my breast, causing my waist to buck. “Richard,” I said again, but in agonized impatience this time, digging my hands into his hair as I stood trapped against the wall in the living room.

  He continued his delicious assault for a few moments longer, then it seemed that even he could wait no longer. With quick, expert movements, he discarded the rest of his clothing, gripped my waist with his large, manly hands, and hoisted me up.

  I had no choice but to wrap my leg around his shoulder, effectively bringing my slick, wet, pulsing folds right against him.

  Gasping at his sheer size, I rested the back of my head against the wall, bringing both hands to his face, unable to think. “Richard...”

  He wasted no more time.

  In a slow, sensual movement, he pushed himself within me and the world seemed to stop. There was a slight pain at first, followed by a feeling of intense fullness. But I clutched his back, keeping myself at his mercy, and soon enough, I was riding the waves of ecstasy with this stranger.

  My head lolled to the back and I grunted, gasping as both our voices bounced around the spacious living room.

  Richard held me, led me, molded me with desire and I, his willing victim, was powerless to stop the onslaught.

  Chapter Three

  Richard

  What time is it?

  I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of my phone vibrating against the table beside the bed, blinking groggily.

  Roving my eyes around the white ceiling overhead, the sleek black and beige décor of the hotel room, the white sheets covering me and finally, the mass of blonde hair spilled across the pillow onto my chest, I smiled at the woman who lay by my side.

  Rachel Ivy.

  Raising my hand to that blond hair, I slowly tucked it behind her ear, revealing her face. Such an innocent name, for an innocent face.

  Her eyes were closed soundly in sleep, lips slightly puckered because of her sleeping position. The memory of how active that mouth had been all through the night came and I smiled.

  What a woman!

  After years of being with women of different types, I’d honestly begun to believe that no one could match my libido.

  But after meeting Rachel, I stood corrected.

  She’d taken me in every way possible. Not only that, but she’d also given just as much as she took, meeting my passion thrust for thrust and never for once letting go or complaining, even when we did try the more unusual positions.

  Just from looking at her, I began to feel myself harden and that monster between my legs raised its head in response.

  Diving in, I placed my lips on her forehead, slowly planting a trail of kisses down her face, to her lips… inevitably waking her up.

  “Uhhnnn…” She groaned, shifting her body on the bed as she slowly began to wake up. Smiling, I kept on kissing down her neck, slowly approaching the rest of her naked body.

  She opened her eyes.

  “Richard.” She groaned… or moaned. I couldn’t really tell the difference. All I knew was that I was enjoying this more than any morning coffee I’d ever had. I opened my mouth and slightly nipped a sensitive place on her neck, swirling my tongue around the spot.

  “Ahh… come on… it’s early.” She brought up her hand to my head. But instead of pushing me away, she kept it there.

  “I know, sunshine.” I whispered against her skin, my hands now making their way down her body, “Good morning, beautiful.”

  She giggled as I approached a ticklish spot, writhing below me on the bed. Fully exposed to my eyes, there was nothing covering her body from me now. I smiled, giving her a devilish wink as I slid my hand down her soft, luscious curvy and damn sexy body.

  “Come on” She playfully swathed my hands away, “What’s the time?”

  Casting a quick, cursory glance at the alarm clock on the table beside the bed, I said, “9:27 am.”

  “Oh shit! Nine o’clock? Are you bloody serious?” She gasped, her movements immediately seizing as she screamed.

  Suddenly sitting up, she untangled her limbs from mine, whipping her head from side to side. Her clothes were strewn all over the floor and she immediately went after them, one after the other.

  “Wait, what’s wrong?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows as I sat up and ran a hand through my hair. Watching her run around the room as different cuss words fell out her mouth, I sighed. Rachel… She’d been so innocent when we met that seeing her ruffled like this was… heartwarming.

  Heartwarming? I raised my eyebrows, instantly banishing that inward and very unwelcome assessment.

  “I’m so sorry, Richard,” She said as she hopped around, almost fully dressed, her shoe in hand. “I have an assessment today and I was supposed to be there by 7:30 am to prepare for everything but now I’m so freaking late I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m so, so, so, so sorry I…” She smiled nervously, casting another glance at the alarm clock before rushing to pick up her bag. “…have to leave now. Where the hell is my purse?”

  “Oh…It’s… It’s fine.”

  I’d barely said those words when she finally found the purse under the bed. With another glance towards me, she smiled, waved a hand and promptly ran out of the room.

  The room suddenly became so silent, so fast. I looked at the ruffled part of the bed where she lay just minutes ago. That happened quickly.

  Why did I feel a pang of disappointment?

  Well, I sighed, jumping off the bed and making my way to the bathroom, it’s good she left like she did. Saved me the trouble of having to ask her to.

  Now, what on earth had I meant by that word ‘heartwarming’?

  I could have any fun I desired, and sleep with any woman I wanted, as long as words like ‘heartwarming’ never came into the deal. ‘Sexy’… ‘hot’…‘horny’ and the likes were all fine but never, ever ‘heartwarming’.

  Now that I thought of it, I’d almost broken the rule which I’d lived by for the last five months – the Merry Men pact I’d sworn to live by. It was a promise I’d sworn last year with four other wealthy, business savvy men who I personally saw as brothers. My old friend, Tom, had introduced me to the billionaire’s club and initiated me into the brotherhood.

  Simply put, no matter how enjoyable a night, a weekend, a week or even a bloody month with a lady was, it never, ever spilled beyond sex. The ultimate sin was to actually profess love to her because, as proven by the numerous times in my life when I’d given a woman my heart only to have it shattered, love was a phantom.

  Love did not exist.

  It was dangerous, turned sensible men to mush and destroyed lives. Like mine. That was why I’d gladly joined the brotherhood and professed myself to a lifetime of bachelorhood.

  But damn... I’d even been thinking of asking Rachel to spend the day with me. What would we have done together? Talk about the future and having babies?

  As I turned on the tap in the bedroom, getting ready for the day, I steeled myself. That had been a close call, but thankfully, I’d dodged it. Heavens forbid, any more second with her and I probably would have started professing my love.

  ***

  “So you’re saying it’s right around the corner?” I shouted into the phone pressed against my ear, trying to make sure Jack could hear me over the noise of vehicles moving up and down the busy street.

  “Yes. It’s right beside the library, a red, tall building. You can’t miss
it.”

  Well, obviously, I could. I’d been walking up and down this street for the past twenty minutes and still hadn’t located this building. Why did I choose to go out today in the first place? I could have just remained in the hotel and ignored the boredom and other strange feelings that began to overcome me.

  They began when Rachel left and it took me hours to realize the startling truth. I’d started missing her, that golden-haired girl with whom I’d done countless things last night.

  The memory of her sleeping naked on my bed just refused to leave my mind. By the time I started to imagine just how it would feel to hold her again, I knew I’d been in the room for far too long. It was time to go out.

  Again, I’d had many options. I could have gone to the bar, the lounge, or one of the many other places which surrounded the hotel.

  But then I just had to think that since Jack was the reason I was in the city in the first place, he should take responsibility for my entertainment.

  So here I was, in the middle of some street whose name I didn’t even know, my eyes roving over billboards and buildings, trying to locate where he claimed an art show was currently taking place.

  I refused to ponder on why I’d voluntarily go to a damn art show in the first place. Was I so desperate to escape thoughts about her… about how things could have changed if I’d just opened my mouth in the morning and asked her to let me come along?

  Before her, I’d been able to keep the nights with other women strictly about sex and bodily pleasure. It never went beyond that.

  So what was it about Rachel that made my thoughts so… uncontrollable? Could it be that heady mix of innocence and decadence I saw within her?

  Throughout the night, she’d smiled shyly at me at one moment only to transform into an insatiable vixen the next. By all things holy, she was like an expert seductress and a virgin all rolled into one. She’d woken me up at many intervals throughout the night with her slow, seductive kisses and I had a bewitching time trying to figure out what she’d do with my body next.

  I’d never met a woman like that.

  The traffic light turned green and I took advantage of the moment to cross over to the other side of the road, my mind divided between looking for the evasive red building and pondering on the paradox that was Rachel Ivy. A woman I just met last night.

  Jack gave a few more instructions through the phone. It took a lot of walking, asking around, swearing but I finally, finally found the building.

  Thank goodness!

  Scowling at the tall bungalow, I barked into the phone at Jack. While he’d graciously told me the building was red, one thing he failed to mention was that it was right at the entrance to the street. I’d been walking further down, checking the older buildings.

  “If you’d just told me, I would have walked right up to it for goodness sake.” I shouted, nearly scaring an old lady who stood by the entrance of the library. Giving her an apologetic look, I continued in a lower voice, “Now where the hell are you?”

  Following his instructions, I entered the building beside the library, climbed a flight of stairs, went down a corridor, and then climbed another flight of stairs, only to turn into another corridor. Just when I started to get worried that maybe I’d been misled again, I came across a door marked in black block letters ‘THE METROPOLIS, GALLERY’.

  I stopped. This was it.

  Running a hand through my hair to straighten my appearance, I cleared my throat before raising my hand and knocking on the door.

  Within seconds, it was opened, and I was greeted by soft music, laughter and the smiling face of a red-haired lady.

  “Welcome to the exhibition. Come in, please.”

  Raising my eyebrows, I stepped inside and roved my eyes around the room.

  Fancy.

  Judging from the outward appearance, I never would have guessed such lavish décor adorned the insides. The smiling lady closed the door and gestured towards the first painting to my right.

  I gave it a casual glance, now wondering if I’d entered the wrong room.

  Surely Jack had told me he was attending a friend’s art exhibition, but he never led me to believe it was such a closeted affair. I’d been expecting to see some cameras, at least. Besides, I hadn’t even seen the man himself.

  Turning around, I ran my eyes over the many pieces hanging on the walls, the well-dressed people engaged in hushed conversations, the glamorous ladies, the waiters dressed in black and white walking around the—

  My thoughts stopped, heart screeching to a halt.

  Are my eyes deceiving me?

  Blinking, I swallowed as I looked harder, pinning my gaze on the golden hair which flashed again as the owner threw her head back in tinkling laughter.

  Her voice floated all the way across the room, hitting me like a punch to the chest. And even from afar, there was no mistaking who she was.

  Rachel Ivy.

  Chapter Four

  Rachel

  Last night was awesome. Great. Splendid. Fabulous.

  But today… today has been… inexplicable.

  I wrinkled my eyebrows as I looked at the laughing face of the dark-haired man who’d given me pleasures I only ever dared to imagine. How exactly could I describe this? I wondered.

  Many words came to mind, but they all seemed too shallow, too bleak to correctly express the depth of what I now recognized as very deep, very dangerous feelings.

  Is this normal? I just met him last night for goodness sakes.

  I’d been shocked beyond words when, without warning, he’d materialized by my side this morning while I was at the exhibition. Needless to say, the well-crafted assessment I’d been giving my professor hung in my throat as his heavenly face came into view. I couldn’t even breathe, coughing as my cheeks caught fire, my mind suddenly assailed by the images of what we’d done the night before.

  I was pretty sure Professor Martin, the dear man, wouldn’t want such an image of me.

  My shock quickly turned into fear, but Richard had been perfectly professional. In fact, I stood there, stunned, as he introduced himself as ‘a friend’ and charmed the socks off my professor and everyone else who came our way. He laughed at the right times, chipped in a word or two when the occasion called for it, even when the conversation turned towards one of the art pieces on the wall.

  He never missed a beat. And then, at some point, when the whole gathering was being addressed and no one was looking, he conspicuously snaked his strong right arm around my waist and placed it right on the small on my back.

  “What are you doing?” I’d whispered furiously, placing my left hand on his with the intention of taking it off. But that only served to initiate a skin-to-skin contact between us, making my breath hitch.

  “I miss you.” He said in a low voice, bending so he could speak directly into my ear. The warm feeling of his breath fanning over my neck made goosebumps pop all over my skin.

  I swallowed, my heart beating fast, “B-but we’re…”

  “I know.” He said, brushing a kiss on my neck as my mouth opened up in shock, my pupils dilating, “Want to get out of here?”

  I couldn’t even form a reasonable excuse not to leave with him because he’d been with me all along, discussing with my professor, and he knew that my assessment was over.

  With a shaky breath, I raised my head to look into his eyes, licking my lips and gave a quick, small nod.

  That was enough for him. And within minutes, after some maneuvering, we were outside, racing down the street towards his car, a giddiness coming over me as he held my hand tight in his, feeling like a teenager skipping class to go out with her bad boy first crush.

  And Richard, as I came to discover, was the very definition of a bad boy.

  How could he make my heart stop with just a smile of his? I couldn’t understand.

  Granted, all through high school,
college and even up till now, I’d been somewhat a nerd, caring only about my academics. But I had met men before and even got close to them, yet no one ever made me feel as… happy as he did. No one made my body fizzle with a touch. No one had me hanging on his every word.

  Certainly, no one was crazy enough to suggest that we travel miles to visit an amusement park despite the fact that we were both dressed formally.

  “Come on, now. Don’t just stand there.” He shouted, waving at me as he hurried off from the car, towards the entrance to the park.

  Has he never been to one before?

  “Slow down,” I called out as I went after him, wondering if this story would end with me going home in a ripped skirt. Pausing, I noticed he was pointing towards something far away, something which, even from where I stood, could be fully interpreted as a dangerous ride I would never ever take. “You want me to go on that with you?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows as I gave a pointed look to my straight skirt and office jacket.

  His lips stretched into one of those mischievous, heart-stopping smiles again, “Are you scared, my Lady?”

  “Scared?” I said, cocking my eyebrows. I knew he was baiting me. On the ride here, I told him a brief story of the one time the ten-year-old me went to the amusement park with my family, but refused to go on any rides because she felt like they were too high.

  Now, like the very devil, he was taunting me to do what I didn’t do twelve years ago. Damn him for using that smile because it bulldozed through my defenses, turning him into an even sexier devil.

  “Do you admit defeat, Miss Rachel?” He folded his arms on his shoulders.

  But before I could think of a smart retort to that question, my phone rang out.

  Whipping it out, I raised my eyebrows as I saw the caller I.D.

  Why would dad be calling me now?

  “Yes, dad?” I spoke into the phone, as I walked towards Richard and placed a hand on his shoulder, an apologetic look on my face. He smiled and clasped his hand over mine, telling me it was okay.