Starting Line

Her mother had always told her that with time she would grow up and meet that perfect man that would check all her boxes; that she would get married, live in a comfortable house with her children, and grow old. But that's the thing. Her mother was a fat liar. Mrs. Bressett didn't tell her that the idea of a perfect man was an illusion.

This happened fifteen years ago, but tomorrow, Naomi would walk down the Isle with the only man that she had ever let into her heart.

Declan Meruda was the CEO of the biggest tech corporation in California and the story of how they met began with that company. Naomi served her senior year internship at Merudas Inc.

The company employed her full-time after the first three months, but she had caught her boss' eye within the first three days. It wasn't something that they could hide. Naomi and Declan became the talk of the town so easily and created a huge buzz in the media. After two years in, tonight was her bachelorette and only her mother was to blame.

Naomi didn't like to dream. While she was a child, she watched her mates sink themselves in fantasies that were beyond reality's reach. Naomi wasn't like them. She preferred living in the here and now, taking risks and living her best life without a single thought about tomorrow. If her mother didn't lie, she wouldn't have believed in a fantasy for fifteen years.

The old Naomi would have scoffed and outrightly declared that love didn't exist, but the woman she was now couldn't breathe without one man. She detested the amount of power her fiancé had over her, but there was no way that she could help it. Mr. Meruda owned her.

Speaking of ownership, he pressed Naomi up against a bathroom wall at present. It turned out that Declan had gotten insanely jealous because of Naomi's earlier unacceptable behaviour. He was staking a claim on what was his alone; she.

This was Naomi's favourite part of the night. She was just as hungry as he was. The last time he had taken her was in their bedroom that morning, and he had made her cum so many times that the memory of it alone made her knees shake with need. Naomi wanted this man and with the way he looked at her, like he wanted to feast on her without drawing blood, she grew desperate.

They had been like this for about a minute. Heavy breaths tangled in one. Faces inches away. Bodies pinned against the other. The materials of their clothing were the only things keeping them apart. She could feel the hard ridges of his torso through his shirt, rippled and well-defined. Her desire for him deepened. It burned through her skin and pooled at her centre. Naomi wanted to feel him, to touch all of him. She had arched her back the more when Declan spared a sly smile.

"Easy there, baby." He whispered daringly in her ear.

Even his voice did things to her. It was rich and raspy on the edges that the heat between her legs swelled at the sound of it. She had to fight the urge to rub her thighs together. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of watching her beg, even though she was on the verge of doing just that.

"I'm not supposed to touch you." He tugged at her earlobe and Naomi moaned helplessly, angling her face to give him room to please her.

Declan buried his face in her neck, taking deep breaths as if to savour her sweet smell. His actions had left her tongue-tied with need and her hands itched at her sides. Naomi wanted to sink a hand into his jeans and feel the rock-hard length of him. She didn't realise it when her hips ground hungrily against him. Naomi moaned again, this time breathlessly.

Her undoing.

This man, the object of her pleasure, wasn't perfect. He didn't tick all her boxes, but she saw him fit into her life like lines of symmetry. She wanted him as the father of her kids and a lifelong partner, nothing less.

His breathing had turned jagged. Hot choppy breaths fanned her temple...

An unabashed whimper broke the heat.

Declan had quickly caught her by the waist and stilled her movements. Aside from that devilish glint in his eyes, a look of pain was written all over him. The wait was killing him, too.

"We are getting married in less than twenty-four hours. Let's not skip the process."

His firm lips hypnotised Naomi. She struggled with his hold on her, but it was gently ironclad.

"The process didn't matter when you fucked me this morning on your bed, on the floor, against the wall; in the bathroom."

In her mind, she was like 'screw this' and pressed on. Naomi begged him to take her however he wanted.

"Declan, please, I need you. Make love to me till I cum hard."

His responding groan spelled out his frustration.

"It was your idea to skip your bachelorette. We have to be the craziest couple in history."

Naomi arched a brow in mischief and pouted. "Didn't you have more fun playing my game?"

Dark brown eyes shot to her lower face immediately. His lids had drooped even lower. She was a seductress, Declan thought.

"I hate the way those assholes in the club were ogling you."

Naomi giggled. She knew this man way better than he knew himself. He was her idiot.

"Shut up, you loved it." She pushed her b-cups impossibly higher. "You enjoyed watching them scramble for something that you knew they couldn't get. It was like pleasure to that big ego of yours."

When he didn't answer, Naomi knew she had pushed just the right button.

Declan's face inched even closer and the smile there mirrored a promise of all the things he was going to do to Naomi in the next second.

She noticed now that his hands had still not left her waist and her heart beat faster than drums. She knew he would kiss her like a starved man, and she was ready.

"Quit undressing me with your eyes." He baited instead. "We are in a public bathroom. Anyone can walk in on us."

Naomi didn't listen. She guided his hands to her perfect ass cheeks, squeezed, and spoke against his lips. "My panties are soaked, Mr. Meruda. Let them see just how much I want you."

Before Naomi could finish her sentence, he had hoisted her up the bathroom vanity top in one go. Declan was a tall Adonis, but their distance in height couldn't matter at that point, nor could the uneven angle.

And just when she thought he would finally taste her, he didn't. He had made her mad with desire instead. Declan peppered hot and wet kisses on her jaw. He glided his mouth along her skin, assaulted an earlobe, then dipped his head lower again.

She heard the pleased sound he made the minute he discovered the deep V-neck of her halter top. She had really made it easy for him.

Yet, he stopped again.

"No. Keep your mouth on me, Declan, please."

The amount of begging she had done that night could atone for even the devil.

But Declan let go. He stepped back an inch and Naomi had thought she would die from sexual frustration.

"You've been a bad girl the whole night. Dancing with every other man in the room except me. Teasing me with your eyes. I've been walking around with a fucking hard on since we got here."

Oh boy.

The huskiness in his voice stroked her centre. Naomi couldn't swallow the little moan that came after.

"I want to bend you over, slide my cock inside you and fuck you till the entire building hears you scream my name."

She moaned louder this time. Her palms caught the countertop's edge to stable herself. It was funny how he hadn't even touched her, yet she felt like she could burst.

"Make love to me, Declan."

He shot back again, lips against her ear. "Easy there, baby. I will, but let me taste you first."

Naomi had the choice of helping herself out with her fingers or doing what she did next.

She kissed him, and there wasn't anything slow about it. Their tongues were at war.

Declan's hands were all over her like he couldn't get enough. She tangled one of hers in his short black curls and let the other wander. The feel of his warm lips had made her dizzy with lust. His scent intoxicated her and each dive of his tongue spread fire in her abdomen. The throbbing at her sex began dialling up by a thousand notches.

Then, all the buttons of his shirt snapped to the ground. Declan palmed her breasts and gripped her ass firmly, pulling her closer. The juncture of Naomi's thighs flooded as her nipples perked into hard points. She had craved for friction and Declan gave her the opening she needed. Naomi started grinding again.

"Fuck! I want you," he said.

Declan had torn his mouth away from hers and popped her breasts out from her top. He found her nipples and stroked with his tongue, one at a time. Naomi released an unidentifiable sound as he took it all in with his lips.

She didn't expect it when he pushed aside her panties and cupped her mound, teasing the entrance before circling her clit. It was like a sweet inferno down there. Naomi shuddered. He had finally pushed a finger inside her; Declan was in a rush.

But so was she.

"More. Give me more," she said, and her voice wasn't anything like she remembered.

Mr. Meruda listened attentively and thrust in a second finger. Naomi began riding his fingers on cue. He worked her up to a writhing mess, adding more fingers and curling them deep inside her to hit that spot.

"Ahhh." She screamed.

Declan still didn't hold back. His fingers kept ramming into her like they were on steroids. "Damn, you're so wet for me." He groaned.

That sound always did something to her.

"Declan, please, I can't," Naomi said. "Don't stop."

She could feel her orgasm building up. Her core tightened around his fingers and her breath shortened the more. She was on the verge of another longer scream.

"Oh, baby. I can't wait to be inside you," Declan said, dipping his face in her neck and sucking on her skin. "I can't wait to feel you clenching and cumming on my cock."

The next thing she knew, her denim shorts were coming off. Harsh cool air replaced his warmth, and she missed it the instant. Declan hadn't even spared her lace panties a single glance before he ripped them off and dived in.

He kissed her thighs. It was the only time he slowed down since their lips had touched in this bathroom. His intention was to worship her because she was his queen and she deserved nothing less. Naomi remembered him calling her that so many times during sex. He would also say things like he was doing now.

"I love your thighs. They're thick and soft to feel. Your stretch marks too. They drive me crazy."

As much as Naomi enjoyed hearing him praise her body, there was something else she wanted more at that moment; it was her release.

He said in between, "I need you now, baby."

Abruptly, Declan had flipped her over.

She faced the bathroom mirror. Mr. Meruda wasn't done with her yet; he was only getting started.

Bracing herself on the countertop, she felt his hand brush her long hair away and grip her shoulder gently. She could also hear his belt coming undone behind her.

He spread her legs further apart.

"Mhmmm." Naomi purred as his cock poked at her entrance. She had orgasmed a minute ago, but she could feel another one building right up.

Declan slammed into her, hard and deep, and her eyes rolled back into her head. She gasped loudly at the intrusion and didn't even have the time to recover when more powerful thrusts returned, again and again and again.

Naomi made sounds she couldn't decipher as she watched him take her from behind through the mirror. A frown creased his forehead. He was biting his lips that he could draw blood; eyes entirely focused on the spot where their bodies joined.

"My queen, you feel like heaven." He ground out, working his hips faster and faster.

The sound of unhinged moans and their bodies slapping together filled the space. She didn't mind the burn his jeans caused against her skin; she had felt him swell inside her. He was close and Naomi wanted him to climax with her, so she created a counter-circular rhythm with her hips just as he pistoned his body into hers.

Declan rammed his length in a couple more times and had hit that spot again when Naomi crashed. Her legs shook relentlessly and her body quaked with immense pleasure. She had tightened down on him so hard that she began milking out his own release.

One last thrust and Declan stilled inside her, emptying all of his nut in her hole with a deep grunt.

A lapse of silence filled with heavy breathing came. He didn't pull out until Naomi could feel him hardening inside her again.

Declan acted straight away. He used his ruined shirt to clean her up quickly and said, "You can still make it to your bachelorette. The girls must be worried by now."

"I don't want to. My party is right here, with you." She had folded her arms, pouting like an angry toddler.

"Baby, I don't want you to regret this day later on. It will last for only a few hours, trust me."

She was playing with the curls on his head. Naomi had always liked his hair. She thought it looked exotic. Her fiancé was right. This happened only once in a person's life.

But don't blame her, though. She was Naomi Bressett, after all. She never listened, not for once.

"I said I'd rather be with you than at some stupid bachelorette party."

He stood up straight, fastening his zipper and belt as he regarded her. "Are you sure?"

Of course she wasn't.

Naomi picked her shorts off the floor and stepped into them sans her panties. She had paused halfway, meeting his stare dead on.

"Yes, Declan. I am sure that I want to spend this night and the rest of my life in your arms and in your arms alone."

An intense look had passed between them and a genuine smile crossed Declan's face. He fought it off just as it came. He didn't want to look soft by letting his emotions overwhelm him.

"Let's get out of here."

He had winked and those butterflies in her stomach came alive.

Naomi shoved her ruined panties into a pocket hole, adjusted her top and hair before sliding her hand into his outstretched ones. They approached the bathroom door in seconds, ready to leave and enter the next phase of both their lives.

Declan was about to pull at the handle when she tugged him back slightly.

"Wait a minute." She took a breather. "Before we leave, promise me one thing first."

"Okay, I promise." He flashed a charming smile, gazing deep into her eyes like they were the only things in the world he could see.

Naomi tried her best to return his gesture, but it never reached her eyes. It just couldn't.

"After our honeymoon, let's not travel home immediately. Take me to Boston city, please."

He had spared her a confused look and asked. "Why?"

Naomi seemed fazed at first. She couldn't answer the question hanging between them, but she had her feminine wiles as a breakaway.

Leaning forward on tiptoes, she pressed a kiss on his mouth and lingered there for a while to savour the moment.

"Nothing in particular," she said, shrugging.

He had arched a brow and eyed her strangely.

She didn't sound convincing, but it had been his queen's request. Declan couldn't have refused her, even if he wanted to.

He sighed.

Lifting a shoulder, Declan said, "Alright. Your wish is my command, Mrs. Meruda."