CHAPTER 12

I stand outside of Ford’s office and nervously wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans. Glancing at the locker room door, I pray none of my coworkers come out to see me standing here. While I found out tonight that every single one of them had heard about Ford fucking me in The Orgy Room, I’d also been assured by more than one female coworker that he doesn’t do repeats, so the encounter was easily dismissed by most.

Because of this, I do not want anyone to see me standing outside of his office. They’ll either know Ford is asking for a repeat or think I appear desperate for his attention.

Before I can change my mind, I rap my knuckles against the door three times. To my relief, I hear Ford’s voice calling me in. I quickly open the door and step inside, surprised to find my nerves have quieted a bit. I’m thinking I was more nervous someone would see me than I was about what Ford and I might do tonight.

Ford stands from his desk and grabs his suit jacket that had been draped over the back. “Are you tired from your shift?”

“A little.” Truth of the matter is I’m physically fatigued to the point if I could lay down on the floor and go to sleep, I would. Walking around in high heels for hours on end with a heavy tray strapped to my shoulders isn’t for the weak.

“Little liar,” Ford chides me as he rounds the desk. He walks up to me and places his fingers under my chin so I’m forced to look up at him. “You look exhausted. Do you want to go home?”

I lift my chin a little higher and turn my face so that his fingers fall away, giving him a smirk. “That depends on what you have planned. If you want to run a marathon, count me out.”

Ford’s eyes go bright with amusement, and he chuckles as he reaches down to take my hand in his. “No marathons tonight. But you won’t be going to sleep soon.”

“No worries. I don’t have to be at work until seven PM tomorrow so I can sleep as late as I want.”

It was approaching almost three AM as the club closes at two thirty. I could technically stay up for several more hours and still be fresh for work tomorrow. Just the thought of Jerico spending hours on me causes a thrill of excitement to jolt up my spine, and I feel slightly energized.

Ford doesn’t walk us to his office door, but instead heads to a door at the back of his office. I’m imagining it might be his secret playroom, but I’m utterly surprised when he opens the door and we step into a kitchen. Correction… as I look around, I see we are inside of an apartment.

“You live here?” I ask as he drops my hand and I walk through the kitchen toward the wall made of glass that looks out over Las Vegas.

“It’s convenient,” he says.

I look over my shoulder at him and give a sardonic grin. “I can just imagine.”

Ford comes up behind me and my pulse races when he brings his hands to my hips. “What do you mean you can just imagine?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I’m just saying… you want to bring a girl here, it’s quite convenient.”

“What if I told you I’ve never brought a girl here before?”

This surprises me, and I turn to face him. His hands don’t fall away from my hips but merely circle around to clasp at my back before he pulls me into him. I look up and try to gauge whether he’s kidding me.

“You’ve never brought a girl here before me?” He cannot mistake the sarcasm or skepticism in my voice.

Rather than appease my curiosity, he merely gives me a secretive smile and says, “I guess it doesn’t matter what my answer is because I can tell by the tone of your voice you wouldn’t believe me if I told you that you were the first.”

I decide to leave that subject alone. It’s too confusing to me, especially since Ford laid the ground rules out, which included a very clear indication that we would not be monogamous, nor would we succumb to jealousies if the other person fucked someone else.

“You’re right,” I tell him nonchalantly as I slide my palms up his chest, over his shoulder, and lace my fingers around his neck. “I wouldn’t believe you.”

I don’t miss the flash of annoyance in Ford’s eyes, but he doesn’t respond. Instead, his head tilts to the side and he runs his lips along the side of my neck. When he pulls away and looks back in my eyes, I see nothing but pure longing.

“Would you believe me if I told you I’ve been thinking about you all day? Or that I’ve run through a dozen different scenarios of what I want to do to you tonight?”

“Technically, it’s morning,” I say breathlessly.

Ford’s eyes smile at me with amusement, and he shakes his head. Taking me by the hand, he turns and leads me through the living room toward a hallway. While he doesn’t address me directly, I clearly hear him mutter, “I swear I think I could actually sit down and have an actual conversation with you.”

I smile. It’s big and bright and he has no clue I’m smiling since he’s walking ahead of me. While the sex we had last night was beyond anything I could have ever imagined, and the blow job I gave him today was my best work, and I have been thinking about him all day as well as a variety of scenarios we might participate in, I think I am most pleased in this moment to know Ford views me as something slightly more than a convenient fuck. His statement just now tells me a lot about him, but most particularly that he doesn’t have any female friends, nor does he have any close female relationships. I have no clue what it is about me that makes him feel like I’m worthy enough to talk to, but that is a conversation for another time.

That’s because Ford walks me into the most sumptuous bedroom I’ve ever seen in my life. A massive four-poster king-size bed that is ornately carved takes up one wall. It’s covered with a navy blue and gold brocade comforter with gold braiding along the edges and gold tassels at the corners. A long dresser takes up another wall with a mirror above it. Both pieces having the same carvings as the bed. The walls are done in what appears to be silk of the same navy color that matches his bedding but with a subtly darker pattern within. A plush and expensive-looking oriental carpet done in golds, blues, and whites covers most of the hardwood flooring. To add final complement to the elegant decor, there’s a massive brass chandelier that hangs from the center of the ceiling with what looks like hundreds of candelabra lights.

I would consider Ford Louis Hendrix a sophisticated man, but I had no clue his style ran so traditionally. It adds complexity to the man I am still learning about.

Ford tosses his suit jacket on a gold brocade bench that rests at the foot of his bed and starts to unbutton his shirt sleeves as he walks toward what I believe to be the master bathroom.

“Get naked,” he says with his back turned to me. “Then get on the bed. I’ll be just a minute.”

He’s barely over the threshold to the bathroom when I retort, “Your foreplay sucks.”

Ford turns slowly around and stares at me impassively. I stare stonily back at him and cross my arms stubbornly over my chest.

The corners of his mouth turn upward, and Ford shakes his head as he walks back toward me. His palms come to my cheeks and his mouth comes to mine for what I thought would be a deep, hot, and wet kiss that was worthy of the term foreplay.

Instead, he feathers his lips briefly against mine before pulling back to smile at me. “You are going to be begging me to stop my foreplay, Thalia. It hasn’t started yet, but it’s going to drive you crazy. Now I’m going into the bathroom to get a few things that we’ll need and I would appreciate it if you would save me the time of undressing you or even possibly saving your wardrobe because I want you so badly I could see me tearing your clothes off.”

I blink at him. My mouth parts open in surprise.

Ford grins at me. “Any questions?”

All I can do is shake my head, which satisfies Ford. He returns to the bathroom, and I take off all my clothes before crawling into the middle of his bed to wait for him.

***

“Please stop,” I beg Ford as he continues to lick between my legs. I’ve had three orgasms so far, and I am going crazy with the need to have him inside of me.

Ford chuckles against me and I have to struggle not to slam my knees against the sides of his head in retaliation.

Fucker.

He was absolutely right. I am begging and pleading for him to move past his foreplay.

To my relief, Ford pushes up and crawls backward off the bed, using his forearm to wipe the back of his mouth, which is shiny with my juices. I’ve never known a man like Ford who enjoys pleasuring a woman orally so much. It’s with a little bit of melancholy that I realize once this thing runs its course with us, I’m probably never going to have it as good as I’ve had it with him again.

Reaching a hand out to me, Ford says, “Come off the bed.”

I clasp his palm and let him pull me up. When my feet hit the rug, my toes sinking down into its decadence, my legs feel like they’re going to buckle. Ford turns me around with his hands at my waist and sits down on the edge of the bed, pulling me in between his legs. Leaning toward me, his mouth closes over one of my nipples and he gives it a hard suck before letting it pop free from his mouth. I groan from the sensation and wait for him to do the same to my other breast.

Instead, his expression turns intense as he tells me, “We’re going anal.”

I jerk and try to step backward, but his hands are on my hips to hold me in place.

Shaking my head, I whisper, “There is no way your dick is going to fit in my ass.”

Ford laughs lightly and squeezes my hips with affection.

Yes, that was affection from the self-proclaimed hedonist.

“I’m going to start the process of getting you ready I should have said,” he amends.

Ford leans to the side and grabs something off his nightstand. When he straightens back up, he holds an object up for me to examine.

“So you’re going to use a butt plug?”

“A small one,” he clarifies with a wicked smile. “I promise you it will feel good.”

I study the glass plug, which is no thicker than his index finger and I have to admit, it doesn’t intimidate me. I don’t know if the fact I was able to have dirty sex in front of complete strangers with a man who is a virtual stranger broke something open within me, but I feel this adventurous spirit… Almost as if I’ve been freed from some sort of intangible shackles.

My gaze goes from the plug to Ford’s eyes, which seem brighter than normal. “Okay. Let’s give it a try.”

Ford’s hand shoots out to grab me behind the neck. He pulls me roughly to him for a hot, possessive kiss. When he releases me, his voice sounds like pure sin as he says, “Turn around and grab your ankles.”

Adrenaline, fear, excitement, and plain old giddiness course through me.

I turn around, bend at the waist, and grab my ankles.