by Rona Jameson
I slip my fingers into the back of his jeans and scrape his butt with my fingernails. Rafael shudders hard and grunts while I laugh. “It’s really hot having you react the way you do. I never knew what power over a man was until now.” I smirk and meet his narrow stare as he turns his face to me. “I’ve never had power to do anything before, so this here with you, makes me happy.” I press my nails into his skin knowing that his body is reacting to my daring touch. I feel him growing hard, pressed between my legs. “It makes me dizzy that you want me. I’m nobody. The weird girl in class, yet the new bad boy wants me.”
He smiles and nuzzles along my jaw before a large hand holds me still. I can’t move, not that I want to.
“Now I’ve tasted you, you can’t be letting anyone else near you. Ever, Wren.” He drops his forehead to mine. “I never knew I was possessive until now.”
“I’m glad.” I rake my fingernails up his sides and realize he is ticklish. He wiggles and tries to capture my hands to no avail. “Have I discovered something else about you?” I murmur as I tickle him some more and can’t keep my hands to myself. Curiosity at this much lighter side of him gives me courage to slip a hand down the front of his jeans. It happens so quickly and the moment I reach inside, and my fingers connect with his penis, he rears up and presses himself into my hand. I’m not sure that was supposed to happen, but that’s how I end up stroking him.
“Wren,” he groans. “I’m sticky.” A blush covers his cheekbones.
“I can feel.” I grin and tighten my grip, the tip of him leaking onto my wrist.
“I’m not sure I can handle you like this.”
“I’m enjoying handling you.” I tease.
Rafael laughs, which turns into a groan. He briefly closes his eyes and shudders before he gazes straight at me. Seconds later, he shoves his jeans and briefs down, and quickly repositions us.
My belly quivers from sitting astride him, and when his hands grab my butt, he moves me directly over him. My eyes roll when my sensitive parts meet his hard length. The hair covering the root of him tickles me.
He holds me tightly and waits for me to meet his gaze. “I thought you would be shy when I got you like this. When I touched you. I never expected you to put your hands on me without encouragement. It’s hot.”
I smile. “So, you’ve thought about me naked, huh?”
“Maybe.” He wiggles his eyebrows and my grin grows wide.
“I’ll never tell,” he adds.
“I bet I can make you tell me anything.”
“No way.”
“Yes, way.”
His eye glitter with excitement. “Make me, then”
Nerves flutter in my belly, but another kind of flutter starts between my legs. Before I can change my mind, I grab my dress and toss it to the floor, followed by my tank top.
Rafael offers a garbled response as his eyes take in my firm breasts. I look down wondering what holds his attention. I’m on the larger side but my nipples look big and feel tight. They tingle and ache the more he stares. My eyes drift lower and I catch my breath at the sight of his penis stretched up toward his belly button with my pussy lips open to him. It’s a naughty sight but I can’t look away.
I reach out with a finger and circle the tip. Rafael curses, his belly quivers and his penis twitches, leaking onto his belly.
“Dark and light,” he whispers hoarsely. “I’m going to come if you keep doing that. Having you on display above me has lit a fire inside me.”
“I want your hands everywhere.” I move mine up his sides and rest my hands on his chest. I slowly slide up and down his penis, my breasts swaying.
Rafael suddenly sits, his mouth latching onto a nipple while his fingers play with the other. I squirm on his lap, desperate for so much more. I grab a handful of Rafael’s hair and pull his head backwards. I wait until he meets my gaze and tell him, “I want you to make me a woman, Rafael. I want to feel you moving inside of me.”
Slipping a hand between us, I wrap my fingers around his length, watching as Rafael’s eyes flutter. “You like my hands on you?”
“Fuck, yeah!”
I jerk him a few times, enjoying watching the tip leak with his excitement, and the way his breathing has become heavy. The way he trembles under me. I do have a confession to make, though, so he doesn’t get the wrong idea. “I’ve never done this before.” I lick my lips while continuing to slowly stroke him. “I’ve never had sex, but I don’t have a…barrier.”
I feel a blush start but push through it. I mean I’m sitting naked on top of him. I shouldn’t be embarrassed. “A few years ago, I was up in the rafters of the church. I shouldn’t have been up there but, anyway… I always wanted to do gymnastics, so I was walking the ‘beam,’ otherwise known as the rafters. The Reverend suddenly appeared and yelled up to me. Furious. He made me jump and I lost my balance.” I wince. “I slammed down so hard that I saw stars and nearly blacked out from the pain. I was lucky I didn’t actually fall below. But, the force in which I fell, broke it.”
Opening my body to him, I push the tip inside my vagina. Rafael quivers and his hands grip my hips. “I can’t think with you wetting my dick.” He pants. “I am glad I won’t be hurting you, though.”
“Me too.” I nervously lick my lips again. “Will you distract me?”
His eyes darken to granite and, the moment his wet mouth connects with my nipple, I slide down, pushing myself on him. I’m really full as my body spasms and tries to push him out. Rafael curses and hisses and then he thickens, spilling inside me. His body quivers and trembles and his hands squeeze my butt.
Grunting and panting for breath, Rafael buries his face in my shoulder and holds me tightly. “I’m sorry. Too excited. Couldn’t wait,” he mumbles. “Make it up to you.” He turns and captures my lips with his. The kiss is warm and deep, soon turning to heated.
Rafael flips us so I’m on my back and starts to slowly move over me. His chest rubs my breasts, the pleasure going straight between my legs.
My breathing becomes heavy as I try to move, but Rafael holds me down with his hands on my hips while he continues to move. He doesn’t stop, even when lights explode behind my eyelids, he continues. My pussy squeezes and quivers around his penis as I lose myself in him.
“Oh,” I murmur, clutching him tightly.
Rafael pants into my neck and chuckles.
Ten minutes later, we lie on my bed pressed together, his heart beats steadily against my ear, which is relaxing. Then he says, “We didn’t use protection.”
I frown wondering what he’s talking about, then it clicks. “Oh.”
“I never thought about it and I should have. It was my responsibility to make sure I was wrapped.” He sits up and tugs at his hair, his eyes full of apology.
Crawling back into his lap, I say, “I’m as much to blame as you. I know I haven’t done this before, but that’s not an excuse.”
His eyes bore into mine as though he’s trying to tell me something and his Adam’s apple bobs when he swallows hard. “You’re my first time too, Wren,” he admits. “I’ve jerked off countless times.” He gives me a wry grin. “But, I’ve never stuck it in anyone until you.”
I gasp and, laughing, push him away. “You stuck it in me, huh?”
He grabs me around the waist, and we fall on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs. Laughing, Rafael pulls me up until my head is on a pillow and then he’s on top of me, cupping my face between his large hands. “I may have stuck it in you”—he smirks and then becomes serious—“but I made love to you, Wren. All of this was me loving you.”
Sliding my hands up along his neck, Rafael shivers and closes his eyes. I pull him down to me and take my time kissing his eyes, the tip of his nose, along each cheekbone, paying special attention along the scar. He sighs and settles further down my body, his head resting on my chest.
“I love you too, Rafael,” I whisper softly, sliding my hand through his hair. “I liked you being inside of me with nothing be
tween us. It felt really good when you came. Warm.”
His head lifts before he dips and kisses between my breasts. He continues kissing a path down my body until he gets much lower. My pulse quickens as he dips his head, and then I feel the touch of his tongue between my legs.
Heaven.
31
RAFAEL
THE TASTE of Wren lingers on my tongue as I try and softly move up the porch and slip into the house without Dad catching me. I smell of sex and I never want to shower again. I grin like a fool becoming aroused all over again thinking about the girl. Her response to me had been nothing like I’d expected. I’m not sure what exactly I expected, but eager and wanting to lead hadn’t been it. I turn and glance through the kitchen window over to Wren’s bedroom, and I see her silhouetted in the moonlight just before she closes her curtains.
“You had sex with her.” Dad accuses, and I tense.
It doesn’t bother me that he knows. I’m twenty, soon to be twenty-one. However, it’s the way he said it, as though she’s beneath me, or maybe he’s saying she’s too good for me. Shaking my head, I turn to face him, shutting out my previous thoughts. Dad knows me better than anyone, so he knows that my heart is involved. So is Wren’s.
“What if I did? You know how I feel about her.” I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and sit at the table with him. We keep the lights off so not to be seen.
“She’s seventeen and—,” he hisses between his teeth before taking a large inhale. “Never mind. What’s done is done.”
“I told her my age and about that day. It wasn’t easy but easier than it has been in the past when you made me talk to a shrink.”
“You used protection, right? Because I have not seen you buying condoms.”
Oh fuck!
“Instead of getting on my back about Wren, what happened with Ken and Jeramiah?”
“Clever.” He tilts the neck of his beer toward me. “I noticed you didn’t answer, which means no.” He clumsily places the bottle on the table and leans closer. “You are an idiot. If you have sex, you wrap it!” He rants. “How many times have I told you?”
“Fuck.” I push away from the table and lean over. “You’ve told me lots of times.” I run my hands through my hair and tug. “I wasn’t thinking, okay?” I admit. “I love her, and I didn’t think. I’m an asshole.” I drop my butt down into the chair again silently cursing myself. “She’s mine anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he repeats, good and mad. “You are twenty. She is seventeen. You do not want a baby. Are you nuts?”
I’m angry now too. “No,” I shout, getting in his face. “I’m in fucking love with her.” I slam a fist on the table and his beer tips over. The liquid trickles out of the half empty bottle. “I love her,” I whisper. “I screwed up, okay? We’ve already talked about it.”
His eyes stay fixed on me and he sighs. “I know you love her, son.” He adds, “And I love you. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.” I offer him a wry smile. “I won’t get hurt as long as Wren is okay.”
“I’m too old for this.” Dad rubs his hands over his face. “I worry that we’re in over our heads.”
“That’s not like you.”
“I don’t usually have anyone to worry about when I’m working other than my partner. I have my son and his girlfriend to think about.” He sighs and stares at nothing, his mind not in the here and now for a few seconds. “They found the remains of a body in the tub.”
My eyes snap to his. Surely, I didn’t hear him correctly. “A body?”
“Yes. The guys moved it and took it to the coroner in the city. They’ll keep it hush-hush for now. Although I suspect someone will be looking for it real soon.”
“Is it Wild?”
He winced. “No idea. Haven’t seen him around but, then again, he tends to keep to himself so that isn’t news.”
“Wren wants to go and look for the man tomorrow. She caught the Reverend washing behind the house with the hose last night. He took off after she’d told him about Wild.” I sigh. “She’s worried the Reverend has done something to the man.” I groan and drop back into the chair. “I don’t want to take her there, but maybe, if she’s with me, it will be easier to explain later about what is going on here.”
“Be careful. Out of the two of you, I suspect Wren will be the safest. Come back here afterward and I’ll talk to Wren, okay? I also need to know you’re both okay.”
I raise a brow, knowing exactly what he’s going to do. “Don’t let the mosquitos get you when you follow us.”
“Go to bed, Rafael.”
Laughing, I rise out of the chair and give him a hug. “I love you too, Dad.”
Without looking back, my feet eat up the distance on the stairs to my room. I’m going to be really sorry to see this house go when we’ve done what we’ve set out to do. One of the reasons is that I can imagine Wren here with me. Spending our time cuddled up on the armchair in my room in front of the window together, watching her butterflies dance and hover at the open window. No matter. Wherever we go after this, Wren will be with me.
32
WREN
ALTHOUGH IT IS REALLY good to be ignored by the Reverend, it worries me. Once again, he signed my journal and dismissed me—no anger at the words Mr. Bradshaw had written the day before. Dinner, he said, would be eaten elsewhere, and I’d been left to my own devices. A quick sandwich washed down with milk satisfies my hunger after the even stricter day of school.
Now it’s time to visit with my butterflies and wait for Rafael. Our mission tonight is to go and check on Wild. I’d planned on sneaking out of the house, but now I don’t have to. It would have been tricky because we’re going before nightfall so we can see around us. I hate being in the forest in the dark. I find it spooky.
My butterflies love my attention, but their needs aren’t demanding—all they need is the food plants, and they are plentiful around the glasshouse, and inside.
In my eagerness to spend time at my glasshouse, I jump down the back steps and wince. My body is different after what Rafael and I had gotten up to the night before.
Smiling, I step into the tropical paradise I’ve created and inhale the scent of the tomato plants. To some, it would probably be overwhelming but, to me, it’s home.
The more I look around, the more butterflies I count. At least fifty are inside either feeding or sleeping. They watch me and flutter their delicate wings.
“I’ve never seen anything as beautiful,” Rafael whispers, startling me.
My heart thumps heavily against my breastbone as I slowly turn and see his gaze is on me and not the butterflies. “Oh.”
He smiles. “They’re beautiful, too,” he adds. Stepping closer, he turns me in his arms so that my back is against his front. “No one is as beautiful as my girl.” He kisses my neck. “How are you feeling?”
My breath leaves my body in a rush as heat travels through my limbs. His mouth tickles my ear as he whispers, “I feel the same rush you do when our bodies touch.” He slides his hands along my arms and catches hold of my fingers, lifting our joined hands out to the sides. My butterflies hover and then land along our outstretched arms, shoulders, and of course, Tiger Lily on the tip of my nose.
Rafael chuckles. “I’m almost jealous.”
“Almost?” The butterflies are sensitive to noise and the last thing I want to do is scare Tiger Lily.
“Hmm.” Rafael sighs. “I get to feel you against me.” He kisses my ear. “So yes, I’m almost jealous.”
“You’re sweet.”
I feel the stillness in him. “I’m not sweet, Wren.”
My brows draw together in a frown because his voice sounds flat. I gently move my arms and when the butterflies fly back to the plants, I turn and face Rafael. My breath catches at the sorrow written all over his face.
Instinct has me reaching out to him. My hands cup his face and I search his eyes for a sign of
what is going on with him.
“My mom used to say that to me.” He swallows hard and tries to pull away.
I won’t let him and wind my arms around his neck. “She loved you, Rafael. You have to remember that, and I’m sorry my words brought back memories.”
He wraps his arms around my waist and holds me tightly. “I try not to think about her and Roman because I get a really bad pain in my stomach. It’s like fire and I don’t know what to do with it.” He sighs and keeps his face buried in my neck. “She would have loved you.”
I move slightly so that I can see his face. “Knowing you, I’m sure I would have loved her too.” I offer him a small smile and clear my throat. “So, are we going snooping?”
His eyes roll and he laughs, but I sense there is something in the hidden depth of his gaze. He looks almost wary. “We have to be careful, Wren. We both know there is a lot going on in Port Michael they don’t want anyone else discovering.”
“Your father appears normal.” I wince the moment the words leave my mouth. “I mean, different than the Reverend.”
Rafael laughs and continues to chuckle. “Wren, I hate to break this to you, but not many people are like the Reverend.”
My eyes roll at the amusement I see in his. “So, back to my original question. Your father is cool?”
“Yes, my father is cool.” He takes my hand and intertwines our fingers, pulling me out of the glasshouse. “If we find anything we need to share, then we can go to my dad, okay? He’ll know what to do.” Rafael won’t meet my curious gaze as he continues walking.
Our feet crunch on the mulch in the forest at the back of our properties as we make our way toward Peter Wild’s house. The man lives in a small cabin on the outskirts of town, which the Reverend had once said was just what the man needed. Now, I’m not sure exactly what he had meant. Is it what Peter Wild had needed, or the Reverend? And what for? I hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but after the weird comings and goings of the Reverend, I wonder.