“I don’t think so, Savannah.”
“I’m helping. I know how to get there, and I’ll help no matter what.”
The numbness was abating because hearing her say those words resulted in a gentle warmth spreading through my chest. I’d never recovered this fast. Once the numbness had lasted six months.
“Then I’ll pick you up. Wear something crummy. There’s no need to shower because we’re going to need one after we deal with her bedroom.” She wouldn’t want to help once she saw the reality. I should just let her all the way in so she could take off running before I got any more attached.
Savannah’s eyes filled with sadness. She reached under the covers and ran her hand over my boxers. “Can I help you empty your head, er mind?”
She grinned at me with the most delicious smile.
I reached for her wandering hand and raised it to my lips. “I can’t think of a more amazing offer, but I’m going to need some time…” I had to bury what I’d seen deep inside me.
Savannah nodded, her big green eyes gazing into mine, as if realizing that I’d been through may have wrecked more than my soul. “A challenge for another day?”
In spite of myself, I managed a smile. “I’m not fulfilling my one-night stand expectations, am I?” I ran my hand over the curve of her hip.
“You’ll make it up to me,” she said. “I’m going to shower. You wanna join me?”
“After I call Nat. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’ll be wet and naked, so whenever you want to join me… Tell Nat hello for me. Make sure she has my number.”
Savannah
After class, I called the personnel line at the call center and told them I wouldn’t be returning. I probably would have suffered through another few days if it weren’t for Luke.
Madison had warned me that he was in a bad way when she texted me. I hadn’t expected the empty shell of a man I’d found in my room. What had his mother put him through all these years? My God. I didn’t know if I could handle helping him tonight, but I wasn’t going to let him go over there alone.
After parking at the theater, I went inside and pulled on the polyester vest and bow tie. This seven-hour shift on a sleepy weekday would normally give me a good three or four hours to study. Luckily I was caught up, more or less, with my classes because today I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything besides Luke, and Nat, and the us that was starting to happen whether I wanted it or not.
“Did you eat lunch?” I asked Luke as I climbed into his SUV.
He leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “I did. I ate a footlong sub, so you can stop worrying.”
“We should go through a drive thru on our way.” I didn’t think we’d want to eat after the task ahead.
“Okay.”
“You didn’t pass out from hunger and fall off a roof or anything?”
“No.” He held up his thumb. “I smashed my thumb with a hammer though.”
“Oh my God!” The thumb was swollen. “You need ice.”
“We can get it at my place.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Like the devil,” he admitted.
“Will you stay with me again tonight?” I asked. I didn’t want to pressure him, but sleeping with him next to me was so much better than I would have thought. Sex or no sex. I wanted him in my bed. I hoped he wouldn’t need too long before we got back to the sex though. I liked the sex a lot.
He reached out with his right hand, not the injured one, and clasped my hand in his. “I would love to.”
Now that he was behaving somewhat normally, I was dying to ask him a million questions about what in the world had gone on yesterday. He had taken his mother to the hospital. Nat said his mother had some kind of party the night before. Were we cleaning up red cups and half eaten bags of chips? I really doubted it.
When we pulled into the driveway, he cut the engine but didn’t get out.
He shoved his hands through his hair.
“I know it’s going to be bad,” I said. “I can handle it.”
He nodded and led me into the garage where he grabbed some giant trash bags.
“What about the ice?”
“Forget it. I don’t mind the pain right now.”
He handed me a couple of bags. “She had people over,” he said as I followed him into the house. “Four men and a woman. They were trashy, dirty, and when I found them passed out in the morning, they were mostly naked.”
Oh God. No wonder he’d been so sick at his stomach.
The living room was strewn with beer cans, two nearly empty liquor bottles, cigarette butts, and more than one used condom.
Oh God. I put my hand on his shoulder.
“If you can handle it in here, I’ll work on the bedroom. Be careful what you touch. There could be needles.”
“Needles? You didn’t tell me—“
“She doesn’t do drugs. But the people she brought home… I have no idea what they might be into.”
I cupped his cheek in my hand. “I can handle this.”
He nodded. “I’ll be back here,” he said as he went through the kitchen to what must be the master.
Had they defecated somewhere? The smell of shit was getting stronger the longer I stayed.
I heard him opening windows and what sounded like a sliding glass door. He came back to the kitchen, took some cleaning products out from under the sink and disappeared through the door again. I was still working on the beer cans, when he came through the living room with two stuffed contractor size garbage bags. He opened the front door, and tossed them out onto the porch.
“That was fast,” I said.
“That was the bedding and the towels.”
Oh for heaven’s sakes. I couldn’t fathom it, and I was so glad I couldn’t.
I finished the living room after finding the broom, dustpan, and vacuum. Luke was still in the bedroom. I cleared off the kitchen counters and wiped them down with spray cleaner and paper towels.
Tentatively, I made my way into the bedroom. The floor was covered with pieces from a smashed video camera. Ewww. He had stripped the bed, but the stains on the mattress made me shudder.
Luke came out of the bathroom, his expression bereft.
“I’ll get the broom.”
I swept up the floor. More condoms and wrappers.
“I think we’re finished,” I said.
Luke studied me for a second. “How strong are you?”
I’d never have the strength to deal with a mother like this. “Strong enough. What do you need?”
We carried the mattress out the front door and to the curb. Then we took the couch as well. Then I watched as Luke carried the armchair out with the rest.
“We should shower here, Savannah.”
I was feeling all creepy crawly, and I was happy to oblige.
We stripped off our clothes in the garage apartment and dashed for the shower.
“Do we have enough soap?” I asked, only halfway kidding.
Luke grinned and lathered me up all over. The citrus scent finally chased away the stench that had been lurking like a cloud. I returned the favor, and once our hair was clean and rinsed, he pulled me to him for a deep, probing kiss.
I reached down, cupping him, and looked to him for confirmation. He got that sexy smile I’d missed so much.
Slowly, I licked my way down his body as the warm water caressed us. I was about to take him in my mouth, when he pulled me back to my feet. “You’re going to drown down there, Savannah.”
“Totally worth it.”
“Remember the thing about fucking you against the wall?”
Oh. Yeah.
He kissed me again, fast, hard, and desperate. I squirmed against him, and he lifted me in his arms and held me against the tile wall of the shower.
“I need you now.”
“Then take me,” I said, breathless.
He lifted me slightly and then slid me down the wall to impale me with his erecti
on. I was pinned, trapped, covered, filled with his shaft. He moved slowly and then frantically in the rhythm I knew so well. I cried out his name. We came together, violently, and he leaned into me further, holding me against the wall as he fought to regain control.
Finally, he loosened his hold and let me slide back down to stand in front of him. We stood there, the water cascading onto us, breathing hard, arms around each other, and foreheads touching.
“Shit,” Luke said, shutting off the water and grabbing us each a towel. “I forgot to use protection.”
I put my arms around his neck and looked up at him. “It’s okay, Baby. I’m on the pill.”
“God, Savannah,” he said, pulling me against him. “What would I do without you?”
Chapter Nine
Luke
I carried her to the bed, still naked and damp. Then I climbed in beside her. She cuddled up against my back, spooning me again. Something about having her hold me like that made me feel, well, loved. I hadn’t experienced a lot of love in my life. I loved my sister, and I knew she loved me. I’d thought I’d found love with two of my girlfriends in high school, but the love-fest was probably just lust. Either way, it was short-lived.
The comfort, the peace, the feeling of all being right with the world lulled me to sleep.
My phone woke me shortly before nine that night. Savannah grumbled and pulled the covers over her head.
I got up and went over to my jeans which were lying outside the bathroom door. The phone stopped ringing before I got to it. I checked the number. Nat. I was finally in a good place. I wouldn’t have to fake it, fake being okay.
“Hey, Sweetheart,” I said when she answered.
“Luke.” She sounded tired.
“How’s it going at Hannah’s?”
“Fine. Can I really come home tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll pick you up from school around five.”
“I love you, Luke.”
“I love you too, Natalie. Everything’s going to be okay.”
When I hung up, Savannah was awake. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, with the sheet drawn up to her neck and her wet hair hanging in tendrils to her shoulders. It was getting so that the sight of her with wet hair was enough to turn me on. After all she’d seen today, she’d still trusted me enough not to freak out when I came in her.
There was something I needed her to know. I went over to the antique chest of drawers and opened the top drawer, where I kept all my important documents.
“What’s that?” she asked as I handed her the piece of paper. “Oh.”
“After what happened in the shower… which was mind-blowingly glorious by the way... I wanted you to know that you don’t have to worry about anything. I’m safe.”
She looked up from the test results. “Why would you get tested when you were only eighteen?”
“You know about the chaos in my life. At first I dealt with it by going a little wild. It wasn’t that I was enjoying my teen years and embracing what was offered. It was destructive, and for several years I pretty much…” How did I say this without looking like a man-whore? “I wasn’t discriminating.”
She met my gaze. “So you got tested, and then what? You’ve been celibate?”
“Not exactly. I’ve had two partners since that time, and I have always used protection.”
“Wow. You had serious long-term relationships?”
Taking her hand in mine, I said, “No. One serious, short-lived mistake of a relationship. The other was more of an… arrangement.”
“You were somebody’s mistress? Er, mister?” She grinned, teasing me.
“No. It was like friends with benefits but without the friends part. Acquaintances with benefits?”
“I think the term you’re looking for is fuckbuddies.”
“Probably,” I admitted. “I did some work for a woman, a single mother. She was a career-woman. Too busy for dating. She didn’t want anybody around her kids. She was hot, so we decided to be… available to each other.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That doesn’t sound horribly romantic.”
“It wasn’t, but it worked for me at the time.”
“Why did you stop seeing her?” She blushed. “You have stopped seeing her, right?”
“Yes.” I kissed her hand. “She moved away for a promotion.”
Savannah set the paper aside and pulled me down to lay next to her. “Do you miss her?”
I shook my head. “We didn’t have much in common. There weren’t any real feelings. It was sex. She was spoiled, selfish, and cold.”
“Cold?”
“Except when we were, you know, she was distant and aloof.”
“Good,” Savannah said. “You didn’t really need to share all that with me.”
“I wanted to. I didn’t want you to worry. Now, six months from now. I just wanted you to know that everything—”
Savannah didn’t let me finish. She scooted down on the bed and kissed her way to my cock. Then she took me in her sweet, wet mouth.
“What’s that for?” I asked when Savannah’s lips left my now throbbing arousal and looked up at me.
She licked her lips as if she were enjoying herself. “Thank you.”
“Will you ride me, Savannah? I love to watch you as you use me to pleasure yourself.”
She blushed.
For a minute, I thought she was going to say no. Then she crawled onto me as I rolled onto my back.
“Condom,” I said, reaching for the stash on my bedside table.
She touched my arm and shook her head. “No. It’s okay. I... I, um...” She lowered her gaze for a second. “I like it when you fill me with your cum.”
Hearing those words from this sexy woman made me desperate to claim her as my own, to mark my territory, to make sure she was never, ever empty again.
I reached out and lifted her, noting the look she got when she looked at my arms as my muscles bulged with her weight. I held her hovering over my erection as she hurried to guide me. I pushed into her entrance and then lowered her, penetrating deeply as she cried out.
I let her set the pace, and she rocked and bounced, and she came twice before I filled her with my seed.
She collapsed on top of me, with me still inside. “Don’t move yet,” she said.
“I’d stay here forever,” I said.
Sometime later, Savannah asked if we were going to her place.
“I guess so,” I said. I didn’t mind leaving. Despite having this amazing time with Savannah, the reminders of real life were creeping in. I had so much to do tomorrow. I had to find another couch for one thing. Natalie deserved a home that actually looked like a home.
“What exactly do you see me wearing for the ride home?” she asked.
I grinned. “I could keep you here against your will and make you my sex slave.”
“As good as that sounds, I’d probably have to do some laundry at some point so I’d be able to go back into the world.”
I kissed her. “I’ll find you something of mine.”
Savannah wore a pair of my athletic shorts home. She had to hold on to the waist to keep from losing them before she got into the house.
With the cleaning behind us and new thoughts of Savannah’s hot body and groans of pleasure, I was starting to feel like myself again. We made love again in her bed, and we fell asleep, naked, sated, in each other’s arms.
My morning wood woke me just before my alarm. I pressed myself against Savannah’s firm buttocks and reached for her breasts. Slowly kissing a line down her neck, I prodded her out of her sleep.
“Luke,” she whispered, grinding back into my erection.
“Good morning,” I answered, rolling her toward me and taking her bared nipple in my mouth.
“Mornings are getting better all the time,” she teased, and she reached for me.
“Are you sore?” I was pretty sure she should be, but I was holding my breath, dying for her to deny it so I could bury myself again.
>
“I’ll hurt more if you don’t put that thing in me,” she said.
God, I wanted to. She looked up at me with her green eyes, lids heavy with sleep and desire.
“Maybe we should start slow,” I said.
She started to protest, but then realized I was moving down her body toward her center. She stilled.
I threw back the blankets and spread her legs before me. Kneeling between them, I lowered my head.
“What are you doing?”
“Kissing it and making it better,” I said.
She giggled, and I showed her exactly what I meant.
When she writhed and quivered and called out my name, I kissed my way up her taut belly to her breasts.
“Better?” I asked as I lay once more beside her.
Instead of answering, she shoved me onto my back and climbed on top of me. My erection throbbed with urgency as she took it in her hand.
“Are you sore?” she asked, taunting me.
“Please make me better,” I begged, my breathing ragged.
“Are you sure?”
She was toying with me, and I couldn’t take another second. “Ride me, Savannah.”
I was a millisecond away from lifting her by the hips and impaling her with my erection when she finally guided me into her juicy core.
“Ride me hard,” I grunted.
She grinned, pleased with herself for having so much power over me. And then she found her rhythm, and pounded against me, squeezing me with her muscles as she moved up and down my shaft.
“Jesus Christ,” I panted as she ravished me. And I’d been worried she’d had too much.
She ran her hands over her breasts as she rode me, and I wanted to add to her pleasure. But I was practically incapacitated by the rush of my impending climax. She cried out as she found her pleasure, and her tremors coaxed me the rest of the way to my own. I roared as I pumped her with my release. Mine, I thought to myself. She belongs to me.
Savannah collapsed on me, a fine sheen of sweat on her flawless skin. I ran my fingers through her damp hair. It was all I could do not to tell her I loved her. I loved her. I loved her with my heart and soul. I wanted to keep her in my bed, filled with my seed, forever. I wanted to tie her to the bed so she could never leave, so she would always be here for me. God help me. I loved her.
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