Chapter Seven Evan Sterling’s POV (Present Time)

After the first round of our sexual indulgence, I bundled her off of the bed with her squealing with surprised delight to have a shower with her. I later left her in the bathroom to change the bedsheets, then returned to her to have her again in the shower stall. I was like an insatiable Stallone and I could only blame it on the alcohol, and the adrenaline caused by the chase and the escape from reality.

With the few drinks that I had—okay, more than a few drinks—coupled with the emotional roller coaster and the pleasure of release with the only woman that I have ever wanted so desperately, it wasn’t a surprise that I slept off after getting her back in bed. Wrapping my arms around her firmly like I was afraid she was indeed a dream, nothing but a cruel play of my faculties.

The sound of my phone ringing jolted me out of sleep, and I saw we had repositioned ourselves. She was now having her back to me, pressed snugly to my front in a perfect fit. Even with the blaring sound of the insistent ringing of the phone, I paused to bury my nose in her hair to draw her scent into my nostrils before reaching across to pick my phone from the nightstand.

“You dog!” Jacob’s voice blared in my ear, and I couldn’t help the slight quirk at the corners of my lips. I breathed contentedly with the warm feel of Estera against my skin.

“I’m sorry,” I said, sounding quite hoarse, “and I can explain,” I added.

“Well, maybe you should keep the explanation for later. Right now, there are two lovelies here, who seem to have the impression that you stole their friend. What do you have to say for yourself?” he said with great relish. I couldn’t help chuckling.

“Put me on speaker, please,” I said.

“Requesting speaker mode… now speak,” Jacob said, still in his theatrical tone of voice.

“I’m sorry to have made you worry, ladies—” I started to say.

“Is she with you?” a familiar British accented voice asked urgently, cutting me off.

“Can we speak with her?” another voice I guessed must belong to the other friend, demanded.

“Of course,” I replied. “Babe?” I called, gently shaking Estera awake, when she opened her eyes to crane her neck to hold my gaze, I kind of lost myself in the picture she posed. Her hair was disheveled. Her face was bare of makeup. Her lips were even lusher and inviting, and Christ those eyes.

“Evan?” she called to snap me out of my daze. I literally shook my head to focus. I seemed to have forgotten how hypnotic her striking features were.

“Your friends—”

“Oh!” she said, jerking up to accept the call, and the action made the sheet that covered her full round breast slip down to her hips. I swallowed hard, staring at her swollen pink nipples.

“I’m fine, I promise. I am so sorry I made you worry. Yes, I will … see you in the morning… I promise,” she said, and handed the phone back to me, lifting her eyes to hold my gaze.

Whatever she may have seen in them made her eyes dart in their sockets hurriedly and her lips parted as she breathed, then I realized I had scooted closer and my left hand was gently caressing the side of her breast.

“Evan?” Jacob called and his voice sounded muffled and so far away. I allowed my thumb to gently brush her areola before slowly stroking her nipples as she panted and shut her eyes.

“Jacob, I will see you tomorrow. I got to go,” I said, and before I pressed the end call, I could hear him laughing.

I reached forward and framed the side of her face with my other hand, using my thumb to brush the corner of her lips and my fingers stroked the nape of her neck. She gently moved her cheek against my palm, moaning quietly. I went on my knees and slowly made her lay back on the bed and replaced the thumb, caressing her nipple with my lips and tongue, and this time I was gentle.

Her back shot up from the bed as she arched her body against my front and I could feel her sucking the thumb I was using to stroke the side of her lips now. I moaned deep in my throat.

“Estera—” I gushed out with her name sounding like an enthralling command. She was doing it to me again, dragging me down into the hole of blissful pleasure. I felt her reach down to frame my face and her slim legs wrapped around me as she lifted her head to cover my lips with hers.

And with quite an impressive shift, she deftly flattened me on the bed, and before I could catch a breath, her lips were trailing down my front, lingering on my flat nipples as she lapped the tip of her tongue against them until the inverted bud hardened, then she drew me into her mouth and sucked gently.

I drew in a sharp breath, panting hard, she continued to torment me with her mouth, slowly finding her way down my front and taking her time to kiss my inner thighs. My entire frame shuddered in anticipation.

When I couldn’t take it anymore. I gripped her jaw and looked deeply into her eyes, thinking to topple her and bury my throbbing cock inside her, but then she wrapped her fingers around my pulsating member, pumped it gently, making me quiver visibly, before slipping me into her mouth. I almost lost control.

Falling back to lie on the end, I picked up one of the pillows to my left side and held it to my face, muffling a very loud grunt. I felt her wet mouth taking me into her mouth, then she licked and sucked the crown with her hand holding and pumping the hilt. It took all the strength in me to hold still for about two minutes, before I threw the pillow away, not caring where it landed.

I reached down for her jaw and brought her face up to meet mine. I latched my lips to hers and kissed her like a savage, tasting myself on her tongue. I toppled her over, gripped her thighs, widening her well enough for me to slip into her. With one hand holding her by the neck and the other gripping her thigh, I pumped into her, hard and fast. Chasing my pleasure and giving it to her, watching her cry and writhe under me as the passionate being she was.

“Evan!” she cried. “Baby don’t stop! I’m—” I didn’t let her finish as I covered her lips with mine, silencing her cries.

We both shuddered repeatedly afterward as the tremors of our release still passed through us. I held her to my chest and she wrapped her arms around my neck as if I were an anchor she couldn’t afford to let go of.

“We need to talk…” I said, pressing a kiss on her temple.

“Mmm…” she mumbled, nestling against me. I waited for her to elaborate but she didn’t, and just when I was about to repeat myself, she framed the side of my face with her hand, pressing a kiss on my skin, and whispered, “Not yet, my darling… I want to revel in this heavenly abyss you have plunged me, don't make me remember… Not yet, Evan. Please, my love.”

My heart tightened, knowing very well what she meant. It had been quite a night for both of us and I also wanted the same thing, to have a few hours of respite from our cruel reality. And I didn’t miss that she called me her love. My heart palpitated with joy.

“In the morning then?” I said in a deep, quiet tone.

“Mmm…” she mumbled against my neck.

It was the most satisfying night I have had for as long as I could remember and when I slept. I actually did sleep. Not the fitful ones that I have had over the years which always ended with me giving up and getting out of bed as early as 3 a.m. to work. My sleep was so deep that when I woke up I found I was the only one in bed. The room was still plunged in darkness as a result of the drapes. I groaned and sat up, combing my hair with my fingers.

“Estie?” I called but didn’t get any response. I got out of bed to check on her in the bathroom and found it empty. Standing at the bathroom door, it slowly dawned on me that all her personal effects were gone.

My heart slammed hard against the wall of my chest as my eyes continued to scan the room, then they settled on a white paper by my nightstand and my heart sank. Even before I grew the courage to walk back to the side of the bed and pick the paper up, I knew it was going to be something that would steal my newly found peace.

The two words written in her familiar handwriting made my eyes blur with tears and I held the paper in my hands for a long time as my tears slowly soaked the thin sheet.

“Forever yours… ” I read aloud, and my voice seemed to echo eerily in the room, shattering my heart all over again as the memory of her saying these words to me replayed in my head.

“Estie why?” I whispered in anguish. Deep inside me, I knew where to find my answers.