Chapter 187: Kitchen Disaster

Naomi’s head tipped back. "Ah..." Her thighs tightened around him. She was close.

"Wait for me, baby." His breathing roughened as he ground the words out. "Cum with me." He moved his hips faster.

Naomi tried to hold back. She really did. She tightened every muscle she could, clinging to whatever little control she had left, but the effort only made the feeling sharper.

Dorian drove into her harder.

The pleasure climbed too fast.

"Dorian... Dorian... please... please..."

He was close too. She could feel it in the way his rhythm changed, in the way his body tensed over hers, in the rough sound of his breathing. "Now, babe. Now... fuck!" He rammed into her one final time.

Naomi shattered beneath him. Her walls clenched around him. The sensation hit him hard enough to send him pitching forward, his hand bracing beside her while his entire body locked. She squirmed beneath him, breathless and trembling.

Dorian lowered his head and kissed her. His hand moved automatically to her breast.

She made a protesting sound against his mouth.

Dorian smiled. He knew exactly how sensitive her body was immediately after an orgasm. He also knew she would be leaving for work soon.

And he intended to squeeze every possible second out of the time they had left. The rest of the week was going to be chaos.

And judging by how quickly her business was growing, probably several unexpected calls.

Dorian was not convinced they were going to have much time alone together.

So yes, he was being greedy.

He felt entitled to it.

Naomi finally opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her lips curved into a soft smile. "That was beautiful."

"I don’t want to let you go just yet." His fingers trailed down from her breast, gliding over her stomach.

Naomi immediately realised where that hand was going. "Dorian..."

His fingers moved lower, slipping between their bodies where they were still joined. He found the sensitive nub there and rubbed gently.

Naomi jerked. "Dorian..." She tried to shift away. Her nerves were still completely lit up, and every touch felt twice as intense as it normally would.

He trapped her beneath him with his leg. His fingers continued moving.

She groaned and dropped her head back against the pillow.

Dorian watched her face, completely fascinated by every tiny reaction. He had been with her enough times now that he knew exactly how quickly her body responded. "Doesn’t matter how many times I make love to you, I still want you with an intensity greater than the last. What have you done to me, Mrs Heathcliffe?" he asked, moving inside her again.

Naomi gasped at the movement, her fingers immediately tightening. "I should ask you the same."

Dorian laughed, before his hands settled around her hips. He made love to her all over again.

******

"When are you going to let me speak long enough to say ’I told you so’?" Tessa asked.

Naomi groaned.

They were in the Range Rover, heading toward the commercial kitchen Naomi had booked weeks ago for Ginny’s wedding preparations.

"I know. I know."

"No, No... I would like my moment. I have been waiting for this. I earned this."

Naomi laughed and shook her head.

Tessa had spent weeks watching Naomi deny things that had been painfully obvious to everyone except Naomi herself.

"It was all just so scary," Naomi admitted.

"Is it, though?"

Naomi thought about that.

Love itself had never really been the frightening part. It was everything she had learned to expect from it: pain, disappointment, control and eventually losing herself.

Dorian had somehow taken every one of those expectations and turned them upside down.

"I have the emotional range of a mustard seed, I know that."

Tessa snorted. "At least you’re self-aware."

"But I guess somewhere along the line, I knew there was a possibility I could love the man."

Tessa slowly turned toward her. "I think that was when you actually fell in love with the man."

The woman had a point. There had been no sudden magical moment where everything changed. It had happened quietly.

Somewhere between arguments and sex and stupid jokes and long conversations.

She had simply fallen. "Oh, it’s just so beautiful and liberating. And I feel this peace inside me."

Admitting had quieted her soul.

She no longer had to fight herself. She could simply love her husband.

Even thinking those words made her ridiculously happy.

Tessa watched her with obvious amusement.

This was the same woman who had once spoken about romantic love like it were a highly contagious disease best avoided.

Now she was practically glowing.

Naomi pulled into the restaurant area and parked. "Come on," she said, reaching for her bag. "We have work."

They both got out.

Naomi walked around to the back of the Range Rover and opened the trunk.

It was packed with baskets containing raw food, fresh produce and ingredients she had purchased.

Tessa grabbed one basket while Naomi reached for another.

They had barely started unloading when movement near the restaurant caught Naomi’s attention.

The manager of the restaurant was hurrying toward them. "Miss Bennett?" the manager called.

Naomi looked up from the basket in her hands. "Hi. I just came to put some things in place. I’m not staying long."

The man slowed as he approached them, his expression immediately made her uneasy. "There must have been some confusion. We sent you an email yesterday."

"Must have been buried beneath other emails. I’m looking into more organisation."

"Miss Bennett, I’m afraid we cannot lease the kitchen to you anymore."

"What?!" Tessa yelled it before Naomi could even process the words.

Naomi stood completely still.

The basket in her hands suddenly felt much heavier.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We tried to contact you so we could arrange a refund."

A refund?

For the kitchen she had booked weeks ago.

No.

Absolutely not.

"This isn’t happening."

The manager looked apologetic.

Naomi set the basket down before she dropped it. "Why exactly can you not lease to me?"