CHAPTER 5

Elara's POV

I somehow wasn't nervous but I wasn't exactly relaxed either. Then he moved closer to me on the bed. He brought my naked body up against his and God, it felt amazing.

His lips touched mine, he kissed me, our first official kiss and that made everything easier. His lips felt amazing, so good that I silently scold myself why we didn't do it sooner. I could only focus on how wonderful the kiss was, the taste of him, the feel of him.

Everything felt good, too good it somehow felt unreal. It was amazing. His body was so warm, it was like snuggling up against this big bear. I could feel the hair on his chest, I could feel his perfect toned legs, his arms and his... cock. The first cock I've ever felt, like this.

Then his hand that had been holding my face slipped down and cupped my breast, and that was amazing too. He teased my nipple in a way that sent zings of pleasure to between my thigh, my pussy pulsed with need. He used his thigh to gently rub my pussy.

I could feel his cock pressed against my belly. It was very hard and very hot and it felt way bigger than I dreamt about.

The way it felt, I wasn't sure it was going to fit in me, it was huge. Everything was so good. He kissed my neck. He slid down on the bed and kissed the tops of my breasts.

He sucked my nipple into his mouth.

I moaned out something inaudible, the sensation of my nipple in his mouth was magnificent. "You're so beautiful, too beautiful." He said as switched to my left nipple. "Your tits, they're the most beautiful I've ever seen." He added.

He then lifted his head, the lights were dim but I could still see the glimmer in his eyes. He was enjoying my moans and my pussy was so wet, I know he could feel how wet I was on his thigh that was in between my legs.

He slid lower and this time I could feel the stubble of his chin along my stomach. Suddenly his fingers were covering my pussy.

"I want you to spread your legs for me." He said and I obeyed opening up for him, my horniness overpowering any shyness I had left in my body.

He was sliding down again and I did as he asked. Because I somehow I trusted him. He was going to make this the best first time ever.

"Oh!" I gasped as I felt the warm sensation of his tongue, I started to back away, but he held my hips in place.

"I promise you this is going to feel so good." He kissed all over my lower belly and it did feel good, so I did what he asked.

I understood the concept of oral sex. I knew people did it, even though I haven't done it before now.

His tongue, wow. "Fuck, God." He was sooooo right. His finger gently pushing inside me and his tongue was licking all around, the feeling was something I've never felt. I've read words like ecstasy and I imagined this is what ecstasy was.

I twisted and twisted, but he was relentless and when he pushed a second finger deep I came so hard.

He seemed to have figured it out. It might have been me screaming or clenching my fingers in his hair so hard.

I felt so good, almost high with the feeling. And it wasn't over, we had more to do. I could hear it happening when he tore open the wrapper on the condom.

Then he was pushing between my legs, spreading them again.

"I thought about you," he admits his eyes never leaving mine. "I could barely think about anything else anymore." I loved his admission, I showed him that by kissing him, hard with tongue, I loved how he kissed. Like he was eating me up, sucking on my tongue.

I felt his cock hard as it juts out between us. I breathe in when his fingers find where I'm wet, moving in small circles before he replaces them with his cock.

The first push was hard and it stung, it was a tight fit he was huge and as he moved slowly to settle himself it stung. My body was wet and relaxed so that helped. He was slipping in and in slowly and that felt better, a little uncomfortable.

He pulled away and then he looked up at me. He slipped back in and again it was this hard press of pressure. It stung again. Not as bad. And just when it was getting too intense he pulled back.

It was crazy but in that moment, even though I knew it was going to hurt, I wanted him back.

"Are you okay?," He asked.

"Yes." I whispered breathlessly my hands were wrapped around his neck.

And Wow. That feels nice.

"Still okay?" he asks again, and this time I bring my legs around his hips and tighten, pulling him forward.

He exhales as he pushes inside, stilling when his body is flush with mine. His small sounds vibrate along my skin and I nod to tell him I'm good, to keep going. He pulls out, pushes back in. His hair brushes along my chest when he looks down between us, watching the way he moves in me. Over and over.

I'm aware of every breath he takes, every word and grunt as it leaves his lips, the sound of his skin where it slaps against mine.

"You're so beautiful." He tells me again, his words heightens my pleasure. It feels good, too good.

His hands go between us and it's a surprise when he touches me there, my clit I'm guessing. I whimpered a little but he was relentless. He continued to move in and out, in and out.

He groaned and his head fell back and then his hips started to move a little faster. The feeling in my center kept building and building and it was different than when he had his mouth there this felt like it was coming from inside me.

I moaned out loud, crying out with pleasure. And then it happened, this incredible feeling of pleasure and a little pain but more of pleasure that I couldn't stop. My whole body fell apart and it was unlike anything I could have ever imagined.

His hips snapped hard against me. He was so deep inside me. His breath was harsh against my ear. It was all so animalistic.

"Fuck! Fuck!," he shouted even as he continued to thrust into me. Then he collapsed on top of me, somehow he held his weight so he wouldn't crush me.

After a minute he lifted his head. "You okay?"

"Yes." I said nodding.

His always serious face was now calm and soft, peaceful. Then he got up, to deal with the condom I think, he used my en-suite bathroom. I suddenly aware of everything, I didn't have any regret and for my first time it was magical. But I also felt empty without him. I was sore and achy but I wanted him back. Inside me.

He came back and I wasn't exactly certain what to do, he came with a warm towel which he pressed in between my legs. It felt good as he cleaned me up, I could see the red spots on the towel, my blood.

After he cleaned me up, he climbed into bed and pulled me back into his arms, his head on the pillow next to mine and kissed me.

Soft and slow. I guess we weren't done.

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I wake up alone in bed. I was in a strange bed and memories of last night came back to me.

A strange bed that smelled like my mysterious older guy.

I felt a smile creep over my face. Last night was amazing, I had sex and it was amazing. Really really good, we did it more than once.

I don't remember when he left, I sit up looking for my phone and finding it on the bedside table. it was 11am, I over slept and I had 10 missed calls. 3 from my grandmother which was more scary than the 1 from Ryan and 6 from Lila.

My stomach tightens as I stare at the screen, trying to process it, because something has to be wrong, my grandmother never calls more than once, not unless it’s important, and Ryan… Ryan doesn’t call me at all.

I quickly open my calendar, double-checking the date as if I might have missed something, but the Whitmore event isn’t until tomorrow, which only makes everything feel more unsettling instead of less.

And then another thought hits me, sudden and sharp.

What if it’s my grandfather?

My heart starts beating faster immediately, the panic rising before I can stop it, and without thinking any further I press call, holding the phone to my ear as I wait.

“Elara.”

Her voice comes through stern, exactly the way it always does when she’s not pleased.

“Where the hell have you been? I have been calling you.”

“Sorry, Grandmère,” I say quickly, forcing my voice into my normal tone, something believable. “I had a headache, so I went back to sleep.” The lie comes easily and for a brief moment there’s silence on the other end of the line that makes me wonder if she believes me or if she’s simply choosing not to question it.

“Alright,” she says at last. “Courtney Whitmore wanted you to join her for tea today. She would like to introduce you to the Whitmores before tomorrow at the event.”

Courtney is Ryan’s aunt.  I swing my legs over the side of the bed, suddenly very aware of everything I have to do.

“What time did she say?” I ask, already moving, already shifting into the version of myself that knows how to handle things like this.

“In the evening,” my grandmother replies.

“Okay, then I’ll get ready,” I say, though the words feel automatic, like I’m saying them because I’m supposed to.

There’s another pause, longer this time, and when she speaks again, her tone has changed just enough for me to notice. “Are you sure you’re alright? You sound… different.”

For a second, I hesitate, my mind flickering back to last night, to Ryan, to everything I heard and everything I chose to do afterward, but I push it all down just as quickly.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I say, getting up from the bed and forcing movement into my body so I don’t have to sit with the feeling any longer. “I just need to wake up properly. I’ll call you later, Grandmère.”

I end the call before she can say anything else, lowering the phone slowly as the silence settles around me in a way that feels heavier than it should.

And then, just like that, everything comes rushing back.

Ryan. Last night. The things he said about me.

The way he said them so easily, like I didn’t matter, like I had never mattered.

My grip tightens slightly around my phone as the reality of it presses in, because now, somehow, I have to go and meet his family, sit across from them, smile, and pretend that everything is exactly the way it has always been.

Like nothing has changed.

---------------------

Four hours later, I was back in the city, preparing myself for tea with the Whitmores at their estate, the transition from what happened last night to this moment feeling almost surreal, like I had stepped out of one version of my life and into another without any time to process the shift in between.

They had sent a car for me, of course, because this was how things were done, and by the time I arrived, I had already slipped back into the role I was expected to play, the version of myself that required no questioning and no hesitation.

I was dressed in Chanel, my hair styled perfectly, my makeup flawlessly done, exactly what I was meant to be. I looked like the future Mrs. Whitmore.

By the time the car pulled up to the estate, there was no trace of last night left on me, I hadn't locked last night deep somewhere.

The staff welcomed me immediately, guiding me through the house and out into the garden, where an elaborate tea setting had already been arranged, everything carefully and perfectly arranged.

Courtney Whitmore was the first to notice me. She stood slightly apart from the others, mid-conversation, her attention shifting the moment I stepped into view, and her expression brightened instantly as she moved toward me.

“Elara, darling,” she said warmly, pulling me into a hug before I could fully greet her.

“Hello,” I replied with a polite smile, allowing myself to settle into the warmness.

“Come, meet everyone,” she said, guiding me forward. “You know my sister, Heather, and her husband, Jamie.” Heather didn’t hesitate before pulling me into another embrace, her energy more open and friendly, while Jamie followed with a firm but friendly handshake.

“And this is our cousin, Avery,” Courtney added. Avery smiled as she hugged me as well, her gaze lingering just slightly as if assessing me with a smile.

We all moved toward the seating area together, settling into the chairs as naturally as if I had always belonged there.

“She’s so pretty, isn’t she?” Heather said, not lowering her voice in the slightest.

“She’s gorgeous,” Courtney agreed easily.

I smiled, used to this kind of attention, though a little uncomfortable.

“Where’s Ryan?” Avery asked, turning to me with curiosity.

For a brief moment, I hesitated, my mind scrambling for an answer, because the truth was I didn’t know.

I hadn’t called him back. I hadn’t wanted to.

“Yeah, I thought you were coming together,” Courtney added.

“He’s coming with Victor,” Jamie said casually, as though the name alone explained everything.

A server approached the table just then, placing drinks in front of us, and we each reached for one, the small distraction giving me a moment to calm myself.

“You’re at NYU, right?” Avery asked.

“Yes,” I replied, nodding.

“That’s my alma mater,” she said with a small smile. “The only Whitmore who went there instead of Columbia.”

“Well, excluding Ryan, who left the entire country and went to Oxford,” Heather added lightly.

And then, footsteps. I didn’t need to turn to know it was him.

Ryan walked in, but he wasn’t alone.

The moment I saw him, I felt it.

Everything inside me went completely still. Because walking beside him—

was him.

The stranger. The man from last night, the man I had in my bed.

For a second, I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t even fully process what I was seeing as the realization crashed into me all at once, sharp and disorienting.

His eyes met mine.

And I knew, instantly, that he recognized me too. The shift in his expression was subtle, almost nonexistent to anyone else, but I saw it.

I felt it.

My head spun slightly, the world around me blurring  as Ryan stepped closer, his arm slipping around me, pulling me into a hug as if it was the most normal thing.

My eyes remained locked on the stranger, on him, even as Ryan leaned in and kissed me on my lips, the contact barely registering to me.

My full attention on the man beside him.

Because the man I had spent last night with, the man I lost my virginity to, was standing right in front of me.

And then Ryan turned slightly, his arm still around me, completely unaware.

“Dad, you’ve never met Elara, right?” he said.

The word hit harder than anything else.

Dad.

My breath caught, my chest tightening as the reality settled in fully, impossibly, making everything feel like it was moving beneath me.

His father.

I slept with my fiancé’s father.

This couldn’t be real.

The dizziness came fast, overwhelming, and I instinctively held onto Ryan, my fingers gripping him tightly, because I was certain that if I let go, I would collapse right there in front of everyone.

“No, we haven’t met,” his father said calmly.

His gaze never leaving mine.

“Nice to meet you, Elara.”