Armed With Love Page 3
“Are you high?” I asked, and he guffawed loudly, slapping his thigh in amusement.
“No! What? What in the hell would make you say that?” he asked, still laughing. My cheeks reddened even further and I looked away from him in embarrassment.
“Don’t act like it’s a ridiculous thing to think about. I already know I’m not every man’s dream girl, alright?” I said, before muttering that he didn’t need to rub it in.
Suddenly, he stopped laughing and his face was devoid of amusement. If anything, it was filled with such…intensity that I didn’t even realize that I had stopped breathing all over again until I could feel my throat and my lungs burning. He stood up and walked toward me with a sensual swagger in his step, but his movements were as deliberate as a predator stalking their prey. It made the little hairs on my arms stand up and my insides quiver.
He stopped in front of me, mere inches away and the tips of our shoes almost touching. I couldn’t help but release the breath I had been holding and then suddenly his huge arm had wrapped around me again, and his other hand holding my hips firmly, pulling it towards his crotch. My eyes widened as I felt a distinct hardness in his groin, making me swallow the saliva that gathered in my mouth the moment our hips made contact. Oh, sweet God, he’s practically lifting my body up, at this rate.
He lowered his head to my ear and I could feel his warm breath tickling the shell of it, sending me into another involuntary shiver. “Can you feel that?” he asked me, and I knew without a doubt he wasn’t talking about his breath on my ear. I swallowed again, audibly this time, and nodded. “Now why the fuck will I be sporting that since the moment I met you if I didn’t think you were the girl of my fucking dreams?”
“I…I don’t…,” I stammered.
“Say it,” he whispered softly, pressing me closer against him and making me gasp.
“S-say what?”
“Tell me you understand,” he ordered. “And say you will never say anything bad about yourself again.”
I faltered, my heartbeat increasing as I realized what he wanted. Any other day and in a different context, I would never let a man order me like this. But Dwayne…he was something else. His power, his intensity…they were so undeniable. And what he was asking me to do…it wasn’t for him, really.
It was for me. It was for my self-worth.
“Say it!” he hissed harshly, squeezing my hips even closer to him. I licked my lips and conceded.
“I understand, sir.”
Chapter 6
Emily was caught off-guard when her big brother and her assistant burst into her office the next day, the looks on their faces both serious and determined. She was expecting them to complain to her about the state of the preparations, but what Jann had brought up was even more intriguing.
“So, you want to be in charge of the Cromwell-McCallister nuptials?” Emily repeated, making sure she was getting the right idea. Jann nodded, licking her lips before nodding again. Emily then turned to her brother, who had glanced at Jann with amusement before staring back at her. “And you want to help her out?”
“Your staff needs to get organized,” he replied, nodding. It was his way of saying yes, he was going to help Jann out.
“Well, I don’t mind. I trust you both and everything, but please remember that a lot is riding on this Jann,” Emily decided, wrapping her hands around Jann like a silent plea for reassurance. “There’s still a lot left out of the perceived budget, of course, but if you can find a way to reduce costs, then that would add more positive feedback.”
“Don’t worry, Emily. I won’t let you or our clients down,” Jann promised, even going so far as to raise her hand like she was a swearing oath.
“Bro, please make sure everything’s okay, okay?” she asked, turning to Dwayne this time.
“You can count on me, brat,” he said affectionately, smirking a little too. Emily rolled her eyes and shooed her guests away, thanking them for their support. They discussed the rest of the budget, and some of Jann’s ingenious ideas that were actually a lot better and cheaper compared to Emily’s previous one, and they finished the reformatting plan fairly quickly. Emily did tell them that due to an important client requesting to meet up, she wasn’t going to be able to check on their work so she left the planning 100% in Jann’s hands.
When the duo finally left, Emily smiled and clapped her hands giddily and softly as she thought about her plan working. The moment she saw her brother holding her assistant in the garden, she immediately recognized the huge chemistry they had together and she immediately started playing the role of matchmaker. She had been concerned about how to get them together but it seemed like the universe was on her side and was giving the two soon-to-be lovebirds their chance.
“Now, all I have to do is wait,” she said in a sing-song voice before giggling.
This was going to be so much fun, Emily thought.
Chapter 7
Dwayne
Damn, planning a wedding was hard enough already, but do you know what’s even harder than that?
Try planning a wedding with another person that did nothing but constantly disagree with you.
I swear to God, all we ever did was argue left and right about literally everything. Don’t get me wrong, she really had a lot of great ideas, but the problem was that she was getting so wrapped up with making the wedding so fantastical that she was starting to lose sight of her earlier goal. Whenever I reminder her of that, though, she’d get this look on her eyes that I recognized form all those times Emily gave me the same look when she was pissed off on me but also knew that I was making sense.
There were some moments where it was kind of like magic, the symmetry was working between us because we would be so in sync and whatever we did or had asked to be done were complementing each other. I wish there were a lot of moments like that, but as the day of the wedding got closer, the more our arguments became heated, and at times, I felt like we were at the brink of going at each other’s throats.
Like today, for example. I had tried my best to get the other people on Emily’s staff to cooperate and work as a single unit, but it’s like I teach them in the morning, do great for the rest of the day, and then completely forget what I had just taught them before! I had reached the point where I just utilized my military training in setting them all straight.
Which was why when Jann came out of the building after asking the girls on the team to set up the lights and pictures on the netted panels, she saw me standing in the middle of the garden with the rest of the boys giving me 30 push-ups.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she screamed, stomping her way towards me. I noticed that ever since that day I caught her when she tripped, she had been wearing sneakers and combat boots ever since. I admired the way her legs and thighs curved so proportionately before I zipped my eyes back to her face. She looked like she caught me staring, but thankfully, she wasn’t those kinds of women that liked to create a scene.
“What do you think I’m doing?” I asked, before nodding my head towards these guys. “I’m teaching them a lesson they won’t forget, that’s how they like it, right?”
“Everybody, get up! Come on, stand up, guys. You don’t have to listen to him. Go back and do your jobs.” Jann exclaimed, clapping her hands together and trying to help some of them out. I frowned and pulled her arm, dragging her away from those imbeciles. “What is your problem? Push-ups? Seriously? Do you think you’re back in the Army or something?”
“Each time I get them organized and concentrated on their task but the next day, they’re back to working like headless chickens. They’re not retaining any information, and it’s time I jolted it into their heads,” I explained in annoyance.
“Stop treating them like that, though. These aren’t soldiers, they’re regular people!” she cried.
“You’ll thank me later for this when you ask them to do something for you and they do it efficiently. Besides, soldiers are people too, and right now, you’re being to
o lax with them. I’m just trying to restore the order,” I said. She gaped at me and glared, and I glared back, tilted as fuck. “What the hell is your problem then, sweetheart?” I couldn’t resist asking.
Both of our chests were heaving so heavily, you’d think that we had just run a marathon. We just stood there staring at each other until I realized that on one else was around us. It was just me and Jann, and the thick sexual tension surrounding us that I was unable to deny anymore.
***
Fuck this. The team could survive a day without us having to man them. For now, this moment was going to be all about us.
I pulled Jann inside the building, looking for a fucking empty room to ravage her, and she grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the women’s bathroom. It was small and only had two empty stalls, so the moment she turned on the lights and I quickly deduced that it was just the two of us in here, I locked the door and turned her around, pinning her against the door as I finally dove in and kissed her.
She closed her eyes and moaned loudly, and I took advantage of the small opening to push my tongue inside of her mouth, exploring and tasting her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I squeezed her waist before sneaking my fingers underneath her skirt until I brushed that secret spot between her thighs through her panties.
She quickly broke away from our kiss and I blinked slowly at her, dazed and confused. She patted my shoulder and unhooked her legs from my waist, straightening up and pulling her skirt down. She smiled bashfully up at me as she fixed her clothes and I just kept staring at her, wondering what the fuck I did to stop her.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her softly, and she shook her head.
“I don’t really want to have sex in a women’s bathroom,” she admitted, and I steeled myself, nodding.
“Right. I’m sorry,” I said curtly. I reached out to unlock the door but she took it in her hand instead, raising it up so that my knuckles were brushing against my cheek.
“I’m sorry. I’m not…flat out rejecting you,” she said carefully, tilting her head toward my hand so I could caress it. “To be honest, the past few days have been just a whirlwind of sexual tension and getting to know what kind of person you are and I just want to make sure the first time isn’t from the heat of the moment, you know?”
“Special. You want it to be special,” I summarized for her, and she nodded, biting her lip shyly. The corner of my lips quirked up in a soft smirk and I kissed her forehead in understanding. I heard her sigh happily. “I’m sorry, too. I thought you were cutting the connection we had and I just snapped at you. You didn’t deserve that.”
I wrapped my arms around her again, our hearts starting to beat slower than earlier as we relaxed. “I promise. I will find a way to make it special for you, babe.” She nodded, snuggling up against me.
When we had finally calmed down enough, I walked out of the bathroom first to check things out before telling Jann that it was okay to come out. I kissed her cheek before moving away to check on the team again, hoping that they hadn’t taken my moment of distraction with Jann as an open invitation to fuck everything up.
Chapter 8
Jann
It was the day of the wedding and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for what I had done for Madison and Jeff that I was so close to patting myself on the back. After Dwayne and I had set everything up, I asked the couple to come over and see what we made for them, and then we handed over the leftover money that we didn’t use and had set aside for them.
Madison just bawled as she saw how much we had actually saved and Jeff was totally impressed, he promised to recommend Good Events to other investors he’s worked with. I was just relieved to see the genuine love coming back in their eyes as they stared at each other. I had fervently wished that Jeff stopped getting cold feet and for Madison to loosen up a little bit, so I hoped that by tackling their main problem, which was the wedding expenses, would clear the air between them and they would finally start caring for each other.
We reported everything we did to Emily, and she was absolutely thrilled with our work. She complimented me specifically for a job well done and told me that because I was so good at organizing, she was going to have me taking some of the clients and organize events for them. I was absolutely floored. As for Dwayne, I heard her thank him for helping me out and let him pick which events he wanted to go to. He answered curtly and said that he had an affinity with leading teams and not really much about managing and planning events. In general, so Emily and I agreed that Dwayne would go where he was needed first, and he happily agreed. To be honest, I was just relieved to hear that he was going to stay on to work with us rather than going somewhere else, like back to the Army.
And on that note, I had figured out what I wanted to do with him, and I knew just what to do.
***
“Thank you so much, guys. You really saved us,” Jeff said happily, giving Dwayne and I a hug. The wedding had surprisingly gone off without a hitch, and the apprehension that we had seen from both of them had vanished completely. I even shed a tear when we sat there, listening as they read each other their vows and how they promised to never let any material problems get the best of them.
Dwayne and I spent the rest of the evening apart, actually. We were so busy taking care of the guests and the catering and the staff that by the time we had a moment to ourselves, the guests were already leaving and the newlyweds had long gone to the airport for their honeymoon. We were about to dive in and help out with cleaning up the place when Emily arrived and shooed me and her brother away, telling us that we deserved a good night’s rest. The teasing wink that she threw our way made me blush, but Dwayne merely raised his hand to her for a high-five, laughing as she jubilantly returned it.
Dwayne ran towards his jeep as he held my hand, and I followed after him while laughing, taking my heels off so that I didn’t trip over the ground again. He pulled out of the parking lot and took my hand in his again, and the butterflies in my stomach kept fluttering faster as I tried to contain the buildup of my anticipation.
We arrived at his place and as soon as we got inside, it was much like what happened in the bathroom all over again. He moved his hand further down my body as he kissed me, his fingers finding the hem of my cocktail dress and then deftly pulling it up and over my head. I hadn’t worn a bra, so I was now bare from the waist up, and I instinctively tried to cover myself up with my arms. He quickly stopped and pushed my arms back down to my sides gently, his eyes focused on my body and dark with lust and need.
“Don’t be ashamed of yourself. God, Jann. You are so fucking beautiful,” he whispered. He brushed his knuckles against my cheeks before kissing my forehead, my eyes, my cheeks, and then my mouth, and I almost cried at how tender he was being. I couldn’t help but bury myself into his chest so I could hold back from sobbing.
He swept his arm under me, carrying me the way Jeff carried Madison towards the car, all bridal and beautiful and special. He placed me gently on top of the bed and then he laid on top of me, kissing the curve of my breast before licking his way up to one of my nipples. I couldn’t help but gasp at the feeling, grabbing hold of his head as I tried to press him closer to me. I kept moaning as he continued to lick and nip at one nipple before doing the same thing to the other one, alternating until I was thrashing around in ecstasy.
He got up and took his suit jacket as well as his undershirt off, and I couldn’t help but put my hands over his skin and worship him. I wanted to explore and kiss every inch of his body the way he did mine, and he did. I started kissing him softly, starting from his bellybutton then up to his chest and then to his jaw. He tilted his head to catch my lips before flipping me underneath him on the bed again. Both of us tried to take each other’s clothes off without breaking our kiss, and we barely succeeded.
At long last, we were finally bare to each other, our hands and lips moving across each other’s bodies. We reveled in the sounds and twitches we made, and we took our time explor
ing each other. Now that we were finally together, we had mutually decided to prolong the moment.
…Or at least, we tried. It eventually came to a point where we could no longer curb our need for each other. Dwayne made his move first by creeping his hand down between my thighs. He groaned the moment he felt how soaking wet I was and he circled his finger around my clit.
He kissed me as he pushed me down and positioned himself to my entrance, teasing me a little with the fat head of his cock before burying himself in one clean stroke.
I winced at the slight discomfort I felt, and I quickly attributed it to my not having sex for a really long time. I think he realized it, too, because instead of going fast as I knew he wanted to, he started to push himself inside me at a very controlled pace, slow and steady and oh so incredible. After a few moments, he tried again, gaining traction and speed until it felt super comfortably. A bead of sweat fell from his forehead as he concentrated at getting me acclimated to his size and I finally moaned as he brushed against that sensitive spot within me.
He slowly pumped himself inside me before switching his pace to something fast and rough. I moaned even deeper, gripping on to his strong arms for support as he continued his uneven pace until he snapped his hips to mine.
I cried out in ecstasy, burying my nails onto his back and I think that’s what finally broke his control. He started moving inside me faster than ever, my gasps and cries possibly spurning him on. He snarled as I locked my legs around his hips, deepening our connection even further until finally, I felt it. I couldn’t help but scream as I felt my walls tighten and convulse around Dwayne’s shaft, making him drive into me a couple of times more before releasing inside me, spurning me into yet another orgasm. He collapsed on top of me, completely spent, and I wrapped my arms around him, breathing in his scent and his weight on top of me.