Chapter 37

Karin's POV

I dozed for the next hour and woke as Adrien walked into the bedroom. He was wet with perspiration and breathing heavily, and I sat up on my elbows as I watched him. “Where the hell did you run to, Antarctica?”

He chuckled and shook his head, still out of breath.

“You must really run hard, huh?”

He nodded as he put his hands on his hips. “The harder I run, the better the effects.”

“Effects on what?” I frowned.

“My stress levels.” He disappeared into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

Oh, this was news. He had stress issues? Well, I guessed he would. His workload was huge, after all.

“Are you getting in?” he called.

“Yes,” I called as I ambled in. He was in the shower, and the water was running over his head. His breathing was slowly returning to normal. I got in, and he wrapped me in his arms and kissed me softly.

“Good morning,” I whispered.

“Good morning, my Rain.” His lips dusted mine.

I smiled goofily up at him.

“What?”

“I like it when you call me that.”

“You do?” He smiled.

“Your princess Rain.” I batted my eyelashes to prove my point.

He chuckled as he picked up the soap and began to wash me. “I have no doubt that underneath all that snarky Ms. Ellis act is a pure sweetheart.”

“I haven’t been snarky once,” I gasped.

He smiled down at me as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “And look how beautiful you are.”

I giggled and leaned against his chest. He washed my back, my shoulders, my breasts, and then down my legs. I watched him as he concentrated on his task. Then he moved down to my sex, and his eyes came to mine while he touched me there.

Our eyes were locked, but this didn’t feel sexual. It felt intimate.

I stared into his big blue eyes, and I swore this wasn’t the same man who ran Vale Communications. The man with me now was sweet and tender. Everything Adrien Vale wasn’t.

“Let me wash you.” I took the soap from him and lathered my hands together and roamed them over his broad chest and muscular shoulders and biceps, then down his rippled abs to his groin, and I clenched my insides while I washed him there. He leaned down and kissed my temple softly, as if knowing I was holding myself back from pouncing on him. We needed to stop having sex all the time; it was getting ridiculous.

The sexual attraction was so strong that neither of us could get our fill of each other.

“You’ve turned me into a complete sex maniac,” I whispered.

He smiled down at me as his lips dusted mine. “I think you already suffered that affliction before we met—if our first night was anything to go by.”

“I’ve never been like this before.”

“Like what?”

“You bring something out in me that no other man has.” My eyes searched his. “You’re different from anyone I’ve ever been with.”

The water fell over us, and I didn’t know why I had just told him that. I could feel myself getting attached, and I didn’t know how to stop blurting things out. I was going to ruin everything.

Stop talking, fool.

He took my face in his hands and kissed me. His tongue swiped through my open mouth, and it was deep, erotic, tender, and goddamn . . . so fucking perfect that I couldn’t even deal. “I’m taking you back to bed,” he murmured darkly.

“Please,” I whimpered.

We got out, and he dried us both and then led me back to bed and laid me down and spread my legs open.

I watched as he rolled a condom on and lay down on top of me. We stared at each other as he held himself up on his elbows, and his body found that place between my legs. I grabbed his behind, but he stopped me from pulling him in.

“I want it slow,” he breathed.

Oh God, my insides began to ripple in excitement. “I want you.”

His lips took mine, and our kiss became frantic as his body slid in slow and deep. My back arched off the bed in pleasure at his possession.

I moaned loudly, and his eyes rolled back in pleasure.

For twenty minutes, we slowly appreciated each other’s bodies; he was gentle and loving and so, so deep inside me. His open mouth roamed from my collarbone, up my neck, and across my jaw to my lips.

“Fuck, Karin,” he whispered. “You turn me inside out, baby.”

If I could reply, I would, but I was too busy in making-love heaven here. Being fucked hard by Adrien Vale was hot as hell, but being made love to by Adrien Vale was life changing. I’d never be the same. Where the hell did a girl go after sex like this?

It built inside me, and I began to quiver, but instead of getting harder like he normally did, he stopped still. “Take it,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Stay still, and take it from me. Clench your orgasm in.”

My eyes searched his. Holy mother fuck. I couldn’t deal with how hot this man was.

“Fuck me,” he whispered. “Don’t move a muscle, except for here.” He flexed his dick, and I felt it deep inside. “I want you to show me, just me . . . how you feel.”

“Oh God,” I moaned.

“Come on,” he coached.

I clenched, and he smiled darkly. “Harder.”

I clenched again, and his lip curled in excitement. “That’s it, baby.” His eyes closed in ecstasy. “Milk me, and show me who it belongs to.”

Something snapped inside me when I heard him say that his cock belonged to me. I brought my legs up and wrapped them around his waist and began to clench in a rhythm.

He hissed in approval.

“So . . . good,” I whispered as we stared at each other. “So . . . fucking good.”

To the outside world it would look like we were just cuddling as we lay perfectly still, but inside, every wall I’d ever built up was being demolished, clench by clench.

He began to moan, and it sounded too good—I couldn’t hold it. I clenched as hard as I could, and we both cried out as an orgasm tore between us.

And then he kissed me, and it was sweet and tender, and I felt emotion run between us.

I held him close, cheek to cheek, as I hung on to him for dear life.

“You’re so fucking perfect, Karin,” he whispered.

I ran my fingers through his stubble. “It’s you who’s perfect.” I kissed him softly. “You should stop it immediately.”

“Why is that?” He smiled.

“I think I may be addicted.”

He chuckled and rolled onto his back and pulled me over him. “No, I want you addicted.”

I laughed. “Why would you want me addicted?”

“Because I am, and I don’t want to be in this alone.” His eyes searched mine, and I felt my heart free-fall from my chest.

“You’re not in this alone, Rien.”

“Good.” He kissed my temple as he seemed to relax.

We lay together in a tangled mess, and he dozed back to sleep. My mind began to go into overdrive.

I had feelings for him—I knew I did. In just two days, I’d developed feelings for him. How was this going to end?

I was totally screwed.

An hour later, I woke to the smell of bacon cooking, and I smiled up at the ceiling. I didn’t know what this alternate universe was, but I liked it. I threw on a robe I’d found hanging in the bathroom and made my way out into the living area. I turned the corner and saw a glass wall with a view over Los Angeles and Central Park. Over-the-top wealth and luxury hit me in the face, and I stopped still on the spot. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that this was all his.

This money was his money.

My eyes roamed over the beautiful floors, gorgeous rugs, and furnishings, then to the fireplace and up to the huge gilded mirror above it. I’d never even seen an apartment like this in a magazine, let alone been in one. I felt so out of place.

“Hey, there you are.” He smiled as he came around the corner and saw me.

I gave him a lopsided smile.

He frowned as he saw my face. “What’s wrong?”

I twisted my hands in front of me nervously. “Your apartment freaks me out.”

“Why?”

I shrugged, embarrassed by my slummy standards. “It’s so fancy. I feel like I don’t belong here.”

He took me in his arms. “What does that mean?” I shrugged.

“Is that why you didn’t want to come here last weekend?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Explain to me why?”