Craving Cinderella: My Curvy Valentine Read online

  She reaches down and pulls off her heels, her bare feet against my marble floor.

  "Sorry, my shoes were killing me," she mutters apologetically. Something about her feet against the ground, bare and exposed, feels intimate, and I can already feel my desire starting to take control of me.

  "I have a hot tub outside, if you want to relax," I suggest. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize how flirty they sound. I’m essentially asking her to get out of that dress and join me in the steamy confines of the tub, and I half-expect her to tell me not to jump to conclusions about what it means that she has come back here – but instead, she flicks a glance over her shoulder at me, and nods.

  "Sure," she replies, and I am sure that I can see her cheeks starting to turn a little pink at the suggestion. "Where is it?”

  I lead her outside, where the tub is situated on the balcony that overlooks the river down below; it’s quiet out there, the air cool, and I kick on the tub so that it bubbles to life beneath us.

  "Could you help me with this?" she asks me, pointing to the zipper that runs down the back of her dress. I move towards her, my brain starting to cloud with just how much I want her, and I grasp hold of the gold zipper and begin to trace it down her body. The dress parts like a pair of lips, showing off her skin beneath, and it takes everything that I have not to trace the shape of it with my tongue as I help her undress.

  Instead, I let my hands roam to her waist, pull her against me. I am already getting hard. She must be able to feel it. I lower my mouth down to her neck, and she lets out a soft groan as I trace my lips over her perfect skin, tasting the sweetness of her skin against my tongue.

  I push the dress down and find that she is naked but for a pair of panties underneath – even in the dim light that the tub is giving off, I can see how gorgeous she is. How perfect. She turns to me, winding her arms around my neck, and I swear, just touching her feels like more than I can take. I want to take a bite out of her, feast on her, but I know I have to restrain myself.

  "I’ve been thinking about this all night," I murmur against her ear. And, finally, I move my mouth to meet hers, and we share our very first kiss.

  As soon as our lips meet, everything else that we might have been holding onto falls away, just like that. I push my tongue into her mouth, let my hands roam down to grab her round ass and push her against me. My cock is getting harder and I long for nothing more than to push inside of her, to feel her around me.

  Her hands are as eager as mine as she strips me down, pulling off my tie and jacket, tossing them aside until I am in nothing but my boxers. The two of us climb into the hot tub together, the air cold but the steam surrounding us with plenty of heat. When she takes the stairs, she covers herself self-consciously for a moment.

  “Don’t,” I growl. “You are perfect, just as you are.”

  And she is. Her ass is nice and round, her panties are pink and tiny, and she’s showing off plenty of skin. Her breasts gorgeous and full. Fuck, she is everything I dream about.

  Once in the tub with her, I pull her towards me, and she runs her hands over my chest and down my arms, feeling my muscles, my strength, before she kisses me again.

  She climbs on top of me, straddling me, and I wrap my arms around her and kiss her hard. She kisses like she’s hungry for me, kisses like she wants this worse than I do, and it’s impossible to think about anything but taking her right now.

  I know that this is our first date, that I should probably hold back a little longer, but honestly? Honestly, I don’t care about the rules. I just want her.

  I pull off her panties and toss them out of the tub, moving my mouth down to her breasts so that I can taste her properly – I roll my tongue around her nipple and then bite down on it softly, feeling her whole body tense and relax as the sensation rushes through her. Her ass is perfect, and I can’t help but steal a little squeeze as I push her onto me. She must be able to feel how hard I am for her right now, how much I want her, and she seems as unwilling to wait for this as I am.

  "I want to be inside you," I growl into her ear, and she arches her body against mine, the closest she seems to be able to get to words right now. “But what do you want, Ellie?”

  She whimpers. “You. This. Don’t stop, Ethan, I don’t want this fairytale to end.”

  “Good, princess,” I groan, taking off my boxers. “Because neither do I.”

  I slide my hand beneath the water, between her legs, and push her thighs open so that I can guide my cock inside of her for the very first time.

  As soon as I feel her envelop me like that, it’s like everything else has fallen away entirely. My entire body tenses and then relaxes as I flex my hips and push inside of her. She grips my shoulders tight, her fingers digging into my skin, but I don’t mind. I want to feel her, everything that she has to offer. Even if it hurts. As long as I can call it mine.

  "Oh," she moans softly, her head sinking down onto my shoulder as I push inside of her. I take hold of her curvy hips, moving them down and against me, feeling her smooth, warm wetness surrounding me. Her body feels like it has been made for mine, as though we have been built to fit into each other like this.

  I pull her against me, kissing over her neck, her shoulder, her collarbone, as she grinds down on top of me and I thrust up into her. The way we feel is beyond anything that I have experienced before. She tastes perfect, she feels perfect, the sounds she makes, the little moans and sighs as I take her more than I can handle. Her pussy feels incredible as I drive myself into it, and I wonder how long I’m going to be able to hold out before I tip over the edge and into something that I can’t avoid.

  I am not sure how long the two of us lose ourselves to one another like that, but it feels like an eternity, in the best way possible.

  I don’t want it to end. Ever.

  We find a pace that suits us, her pushing down as I thrust up, and she pushes herself back off my chest so that she can look me in the eyes as she rides me. God, she feels good. Her lips are slightly parted, as though there is something on the tip of her tongue that she wants to tell me but she can’t quite remember what it is – I kiss her again, determined to get it out of her.

  I can tell that she’s getting close to the edge – her breath comes faster, more ragged than before, and she is beginning to tense below the waist. I grasp her chin in my hand, push her head back so that I can see the look in her eyes, and sure enough, they are misty, distant, her pleasure the only thing that she can think about. I move harder, driving myself into her pussy, every inch of my cock buried inside of her, over and over again.

  I watch as her body crumples on top of mine, and she cries out with pleasure, her pussy clenching around my cock until it feels as though there is no room for anything else. The increase of pressure is enough to push me over the edge myself, and I feel myself finish inside of her, the sensation tingling all the way up from my balls to my cock and flooding her with my hot seed.

  I wrap my arms around her, hold her there just a little while longer. I don’t want this to be over. Not yet. I plant a kiss against her shoulder, my hands on the small of her back, as she whimpers against me, breathing hard.

  And I know that I am far from done with her for the night. Far from finished with everything I want to do with her.

  Chapter Six

  Ellie

  I watch as he returns from the house, with a glass of champagne in each hand for us, and I can’t believe this is really happening.

  There is no way that this can be real. Is there? No way that any of this can actually be happening. After an hour in the hot tub, we are both just now beginning to catch our breath.

  He is bare-ass naked as he slips back under the water, and I can’t help but admire his body once more. He’s just as perfect as I imagined he would be, and honestly, seeing him in person just makes it all the hotter to me. I love the way he looks. His hair is a little damp from the hot tub, and I reach up to brush aside a strand of it that is clinging to his f
orehead before I take the champagne glass from him and take a sip. It’s delicious – probably crazy-expensive, but that’s what I get for hanging out with a man like him.

  "Thank you," I murmur, and he grins at me.

  "My pleasure," he replies, raising his glass to me and taking a sip. I lean back in the hot tub, feeling less self-conscious about my body than I thought I would be, and wonder where the hell I am meant to start when it comes to him.

  "What are you thinking?" he asks, reaching out to take my hand.

  I guess I should just be honest, right? "I don’t know why you’re so interested in me," I confess. I know that I should be trying to exude confidence right now, but honestly, I just want to know what a man like this sees in a person like me.

  He cocks his head to the side. "Really?”

  "Really," I admit. "I mean, I’m just – I'm just a teacher at an elementary school. It’s not like I live anything close to the lifestyle that you’re used to."

  "Remember how we met?" he reminds me.

  I nod.

  "At the school gate, bringing stuff in for Tallie?" he continues. "That’s the life that I’m used to. All the Hollywood stuff, that’s just set dressing. Being with my family, that’s what I really care about. That’s what really matters to me."

  I feel a little pang of sadness, and I have to glance away from him before I let it get the better of me. Whenever someone talks about their family, I am reminded, with a sharp pain, that I am never going to get to see mine again. Not after what happened.

  "What’s wrong?" he asks. I am surprised that he has been able to sense that something is up – most people wouldn’t even notice that I had changed at all. I shake my head. I don’t want to bring him down. This is meant to be fun, and it’s not going to stay that way if I go ahead and dump all of my shit onto him.

  "It’s – it’s nothing," I try to offer, but I know that he doesn’t believe me.

  "You can talk to me," he tells me, and he brings my hand to his lips, planting a kiss against my knuckles. I don’t know if this is a good idea or not, but hell – if he wants to know, then I am going to tell him.

  "I... I lost my parents a few years ago," I confess to him. "There was a fire at their house, neither made it out alive. They were both just... gone, so fast. My entire family. I’ve never really known my extended family and I felt like I just lost any connection that I might have had to anything that helped to make me, me. You know?”

  I shake my head. He must think I’m crazy, dumping all this on him out of nowhere. But instead, he squeezes my hand tight, as though he understands exactly what I am feeling right now.

  "I’m so sorry," he murmurs. His words sound genuine, and it’s hard not to feel the emotion starting to rise up and get the better of me. I keep talking, hoping that if I go fast enough, I’ll be able to keep anything too intense from getting under my skin.

  "And ever since then I’ve just wanted a family of my own again," I tell him. "I’ve just wanted someone to settle down with, someone who can make me feel like all of it’s going to be okay again, you know? That’s why I got into teaching. I know that I can have an impact on those kids in a way that matters. All I want is to know that I’m doing some good in the world, and that people will remember me as someone that helped them. Someone who cared about them. Because I know how hard it can be to feel like you’re alone in the world..."

  I trail off. This is too much for him to take in. We have only just met. But there is something about the way he looks at me, something about the way he touches me, that makes me feel as though we have known each other forever.

  It’s hard to deny how good it feels to be the focus of his attention, to have his curious eyes on me as he waits for me to keep talking. I want to tell him everything. But there is no rush for that. I need to show a little restraint, or else I am going to scare him off with everything that I have been through.

  "You’re not alone," he tells me, softly, and I swear that my heart swells in my chest as soon as I hear those words out of his mouth. I’m not sure how he can say that and mean it, but I know that he does. Whatever it is that’s between us, however short-lived it is, is real. And I can’t fight how good it feels to hear him say that to me.

  "I know it’s not the same thing, but I get how you feel, at least a little," he explains. "My sister and her husband, they got married and had their daughter Tallie, and ever since then, I feel as though I’ve been just...thinking about what comes next for me. What I’m meant to be doing with my life. I see what they have, and I want it for myself. I want to have that kind of stability. I want to have someone to come home to."

  "I know what you mean," I reply, and our eyes lock – and though neither of us will come out and say it, I know that we are both thinking it.

  Maybe it is the champagne, maybe it is the romance of this night, or maybe it’s something else entirely, but we can both see that we are the answers to each other’s problems.

  We can both see that as clear as day, but neither of us is willing to admit it out loud.

  At least, not yet.

  I take another sip of my champagne and close my eyes, letting my head lean back against the back of the hot tub. The warm water is still lapping peacefully around my body, and, in the distance, I can see the glittering ocean.

  And I feel, in this moment, that this is exactly where I am meant to be.

  Chapter Seven

  Ethan

  When I wake the next morning, the first thing I hear is her soft breath next to me. And I smile before I turn over, knowing that I am going to be able to see her gorgeous face first thing, and knowing that it is about the best way that I could possibly start my day.

  Sure enough, there she is. Her blonde hair splayed out over the pillow beside me like a sunrise, her lips slightly parted as she rests peacefully. She looks younger when she is asleep, as though the weight of the world that she is always carrying on her shoulders has temporarily cut her some slack.

  Last night was perfect. Every moment of it. We sat up and talked in the hot tub for hours, and then retreated to bed, where we lay in the dark beside one another, held each other close and whispered as though we were worried that someone was going to overhear us. She dozed off eventually, and I lay there next to her, watching her sleep, wondering just what I had done to deserve such a perfect woman in my bed.

  She had opened up to me last night, about losing her parents, and I remembered what my sister had said and had been as gentle with her as I possibly could be. I know that I don’t have the same losses in my life, but it feels as though the two of us are looking for the same thing. That the two of us are searching for someone to make our lives feel full, even when everything else feels like it has no grounding around us.

  And I know that’s a good sign. Maybe that’s why I felt so drawn to her the first time I saw her, because I could sense that we were looking for the same thing. Now that I know it’s true, I’m going to do everything I can to prove to her that I’m the person to fill that gap in her life. And, hopefully, she can see that she’s the one to fill it in mine.

  Her eyes open slowly, a little bleary from sleep, and she smiles as soon as she sees me.

  "Well, hey," she murmurs, and I reach over to pull her against me, planting a kiss on her forehead.

  "Well, hey, yourself," I reply, and she nestles her body against mine. I can’t get over how perfectly we fit together. It doesn’t seem to matter how we shifted in the night, I would always wake up with her pressed against me like she was filling a gap that I hadn’t even known was there.

  She’s still sleepy, and I can feel how much she just wants to stay in bed – it's a Sunday, so she has nowhere to be. She could lie here with me all day if she wanted to. I sure hope she does, because I can’t think of much better right now than spending the rest of the day in bed with her.

  "You want to get something to eat?" she asks me.

  I grin, brushing my lips down her cheek and towards her mouth. "I think I’ve got som
ething right here," I tell her playfully, and she giggles as I pull her on top of me, letting her feel how much I want her right now. She kisses me properly, and the two of us are just getting lost to each other once more when my phone rings and throws a bucket of cold water over the two of us.

  "Sorry," I murmur, with a groan. "I have to get this."

  "It’s okay," she replies, slipping down onto the pillow beside me. "We have all day, anyhow..."

  I smile at her, drop a kiss on her cheek, and then take the call, sitting up in bed, assuming it’s going to be my agent with the reviews from the movie last night. I am already thinking about where I want to take Ellie for breakfast – she must be hungry after everything that we got up to last night, and I want her to know that I am more than willing to do everything I can to take care of her.

  "Ethan?” Tammy’s voice comes through the phone. She sounds stressed. But then, she always does.

  "What’s up?" I ask my assistant.

  "You need to pack your stuff and get ready to go to Europe," she tells me.

  I furrow my brow. "What?”

  "They’re reshooting some scenes for the new Mandolin movie," she explains. "They need you there by tomorrow."

  I look over my shoulder at the woman beside me, who has already closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep again. There is no way that I am going to just up and leave her, not when it feels like we have made such a connection.

  "Tell them that I’m not doing it," I reply.

  "You don’t have a choice," Tammy tells me, as though she’s been ready for me to come at her with this. "It’s in your contract. You agreed to any reshoots that they would require."

  "Shit," I mutter. I don’t want to leave right now. I don’t want Ellie to think that this was just some one-night thing and that I am kicking her out as soon as I get the chance. She’s my Valentine’s date, and I’m not willing to say goodbye to her so soon.