by Rue, Rebekah
Just barely his lips briefly press against mine, my body leans into his, and my lips part, giving him my world. Firmly he cups my shoulders and holds me at bay. “That’s all you get.”
All I get? What? My insides feel like a live wire sparking wildly. I track his movements when he leaves me on the floor and walks to the kitchen, throwing the rag in the sink.
“What the hell kind of a kiss was that?” I get up and march my ass over to him.
He watches me, leaning with his back against the counter. “You want me one minute; you don’t want me the next. Make up your mind!”
“Maybe I don’t know!” I push, getting in his face. Suddenly our positions are reversed, and he has me up against the counter, firmly holding me. Eye to eye.
“You don’t see me stringing you along, do you?” We hold gazes. “It’s not even a thought for me.” His voice is so quiet saying the last part.
That only makes me sad. He always chooses me. Even when I moved on and hated him, he still chose me. He fights and I don’t. His words clash in my head, bleed out in my heart. How many times will he dodge my bullets before I hit something vital with one and he leaves? I don’t want him to ever go away. We’re much stronger together.
I lean up on my tippy toes, pressing my body into his, and slip a simple kiss over his mouth, throwing out all kinds of mixed signals. He stops me from pulling away this time, holding my face still, preventing our mouths from barely touching. “You’re so damn confusing. You know how much I want you. Don’t do this.”
My heart suddenly feels like lead. It’s hard because, from day one, Heath and I have struggled to be together, every moment temporary. I hate it. I can see him dying.
Our eyes meet, and I hold my breath, hoping after all my pushing him away he’ll still choose me. He moves cautiously as one of his hands lightly grazes up the side of my body and over my breast, taking a handful. I moan and shamelessly push into his touch, grinding into his thickening manhood. Logically, I should stop, but I can’t seem to curb the desire to be around him. “Pull me out,” he orders, low and husky.
Goose bumps follow his sweet kisses up my neck, and my hand dips down and unbuttons his jeans. Fingers trace the length of his erection before pulling him out. There it stands, bold and swollen to its full length.
I take him in my palm and firmly rub up and down, circling my hand around the head. “Oh”—he inhales sharply through his teeth—“that’s it.” His hands run up over my ass and come around, sliding between us. With a flick of the button and a pull of my zipper, my pants are down around my ankles. Heath steps on them and lifts me onto the counter. He kisses me as I expected to be kissed, before, on the floor. Temporarily, he removes his lips and pulls my shirt over my head. I lift my arms willingly, watching him toss my shirt over his shoulder. Pulling back, he peruses my chest, exhaling slowly, watching the swells rise and fall. “These are magnificent,” he says, lightly running the tips of his fingers over the tops and circling down the sides to cup my breasts, testing their weight in his hands. His right hand slips under the material of my bra and kneads the flesh, plucking at the nipple, and his other dips into my panties.
At first touch, I go breathless. Small circles, so soft they have me squirming, circle my hips in the motion of his caress. “Right there,” I breathe, tilting my head back with my eyes closed, envisioning what his fingers are doing. Heath moves in, burying his face in my neck, teasing the delicate flesh, while I hear his hammering breath in my ear. The tension in my groin is growing unbearable.
“Hey, stay with me,” he gently commands, pushing my head upright. His thumb is perched at the edge of my mouth, and my tongue sneaks out and catches it, drawing it past my wet lips. I suck. I suck it like I would his cock. Such want passes over his features, his eyes half open. Half his attention is on my mouth and the other half rubs passionate friction between my folds. Then he pushes a finger up inside me. I’m losing focus, hanging on the edge by a thread, and then . . . my mouth opens in a big O. He watches my face, completely taking me in. “God . . . I’m keeping you. You’re so beautiful.” He leans in and kisses the corner of my open mouth, holding my shaking body as I come.
My heart is a wild mess, slowly picking a beat it can handle. When I look up at him, he smiles, and suddenly, I feel really embarrassed. So I look down. His penis is still erect, the tip wet with precum.
It’s only fair he gets his release too; I want to give him that. Please him with my hand. I circle my hand around his shaft, my thumb and middle finger parted with a gap, and stroke over the tight flesh, downward. Before I can drag my fist back up, his hand comes down over mine, making my gaze shoot up. Did I do something wrong?
“Oh, love, we don’t have to do this now. Trust me when I promise there will be plenty of other times you can make it up to me.” He confidently smiles and winks.
I peek at his dick and back up to him, unsure. “It’ll go down, eventually.” That has us both laughing. He helps me down off the counter, kissing the top of my head, before we return to work. More boundaries have been crossed. Lines are quickly being blurred.
The living room is completed, which took most the evening, and I’m back in the kitchen, cleaning out the brushes in the sink when I remember something. Looking out the window out back, I call, “Heath?”
“Yeah?”
“Is the garage out back open?”
“Yeah, why?”
Tossing the rag down from drying my hands, I head out that way, making it out the back door before being caught around the bicep. “Where do you think you’re going?” I point out back at the same time as he shakes his head no. “That garage is a mess; it could be dangerous. I haven’t had a chance to clean in there yet.”
“So?”
That baffles him for a second. “Fine, but you’re not going alone.” That sentence coming from Talon would have had me feeling like a bird trapped in a cage, but with Heath, my heart warms, wanting his protection. And to be completely honest, I’m a bit afraid of what might be in there.
Smirking, I shrug my left shoulder and spin from his gentle grip. The garage is a walk from the house, but when we get to it, the door is beaten and blackened. Someone has bent and pried the door open, leaving it barely hanging on its hinges. Slowly, I push the door open with a creak and peer into the darkness.
This room looks nothing like I remember. So much black soot is dusted over everything that I can’t tell what’s from the police investigation and what’s ash. “This is too much,” I say, shaking my head. This is the first time I feel defeat over this situation. When I left, I took everything of importance with me, but this room . . . This room holds tons of memories. “I’m never going to get all this done in four days.”
Heath circles me in his arms, pressing his cheek to my hair, holding me in a perfect hug that feels so good. I can’t resist sliding my arms through his and cupping his shoulder blades. He’s too big and too tall for me to reach his shoulders, but I could hide in these arms. I press my cheek to his chest. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
We’re showered, fed, and watching the sun fade out into a dark sky before us, sprawled out on the L-shaped couch overlooking the pool. Correction, I’m watching the sky go to sleep. He’s watching me. My head is in his lap, sideways, and he’s weaving his fingers through my hair. “Does he touch you, love?”
Intentionally, I stretch out the uncomfortable silence, stalling my response. The thought alone hurts him, I know, and the answer will downright kill him. It’s wrong for me to lead two lives; the secret’s nearly killing me. Back in the old days, I would have been stoned for what I’m doing: having relations with more than one man. A harlot. A woman with loose morals. A disgrace. I need to choose one of them and end it with the other.
He never receives an answer and thankfully lets it go. When a simple touch caresses my forehead, I twist and tip my head upward to look at him. His lids blink over soft affectionate eyes as the pad of his finger traces down the peak of my nose and circles around
my eye sockets. My eyes close when he brushes over my lashes. That finger studies all the lines and angles over and over on my face, paying special attention to my delicate lips. It tickles, so I smile, and his face mirrors the same thing.
“Tell me you’ll come back. Promise me.”
I just stare at him for a minute then sit up and move into his lap, hugging him as if I might lose him. His grip is much tighter as he nestles his face into my neck. When I close my eyes, it feels like nothing has changed at all. Our feelings are just as strong as they were a year ago, our pull for each other only stronger.
We know that when we leave that couch and go to bed, those are our last starving moments. Tomorrow I’ll return to another life, another man, and he’ll be busy flying all over. So we stay on that couch as long as we can. When it gets too late, we both retire to his bedroom.
All night we kiss, kiss, and make love till the sun rises again.
Chapter 24
Talon
As soon as I get the text that she’s landed, I breathe a sigh of relief. Four days is too long to be without her. If she ever has to go anywhere again, I’ll go with her. No excuse to what I’m doing. That blond hair is the first thing I spot until the sea of busy travelers parts and her whole body appears. The cross bag she loves bounces on her hip, and a bead-filled neck pillow is draped over her arms. Person to person her eyes bounce off faces, and when she finds me, my heart dances a jolly jig in my chest. It only moves for her anyway.
My feet stumble a couple of steps back when she runs into my arms, burying her face in my neck and wrapping her legs tightly around my waist. “Fuck, baby, I’ve missed you!” I carry her over to a corner where we’ll have more privacy and pull her head back so I can really appreciate her. God, she’s beautiful. My lips crash over her kissable lips over and over, and then I let out a long breath, knowing she’s safe. I can’t keep her safe if she isn’t with me, and I vow it to be my job. Time to get her home.
We hold hands the whole way. I pull her out of the airport and to my truck; we’re giddy in love like we’re a set of high schoolers with no worries. On the way home, she tells me everything she got done, and my parade gets pissed on when she mentions she needs to go back, just as we’re walking through the front door to my place. “When?” I snarl, stopping and grabbing her elbow. She stutters a bit, telling me she doesn’t know. “Fine, we’ll discuss this later.” She attempts to walk away, thinking I’m done. My hold tightens and I get down right next to her ear so my words will give her a chill. “But right now, all I want is to fill your tight-ass pussy up with my dick. Your body is mine tonight.” See, there’s that chill I promised. “I will take any hole I want.”
“Holy shit.” She gasps.
Caveman style I scoop her up and throw her over my shoulder, walking over to the stairs that lead to the second floor. I lay her out flat on her back on the fifth step—her legs descending on steps four, three, and two—flip up her dress, and rip down her panties, leaving them to dangle around her ankles. “As long as you’re staying with me here, you will wear no panties, understand?” All I get is a spicy moan. I kneel on step three. The level change is perfect for fucking, allowing my dick to strike at an upward angle. “Four fucking days felt like seven years to not be inside of you. By the time I’m fully satisfied, we’re both going to be rubbed raw.” She stares up at me, practically panting. I bend her knees and raise them so one foot is in between the balusters and the other foot is propped on the wall, her hands gripping the lip of the step above her head. She’s about to get a pounding and she knows it. Parting my jeans, I pull out my dick. Four damn days and no release, that’s a lot of built-up testosterone. “Do you want my dick like this?” I breathe out, tapping the head of it over her pink clit.
“Oooohhhhh.” She squirms, then vigorously nods, saying hell yeah in a broken whisper.
“Good, because this isn’t going to be gentle—”
“Just do it already!” As you wish . . .
Her head bows back when I shove it deep inside of her, and my eyes close with the ungodly sensation of her muscles pulling me in tight. The feel of her is one of a kind. I support her legs and thrust into her harder, over and over, pushing all my power through my pelvis. Her pussy responds so well, soaking my dick and balls.
Her pussy is throbbing. That’s what makes this position so magical. It gives me the ability to fuck like Hercules.
Repeatedly she screams “Don’t stop,” and you know what? I’m happy to oblige. I slip a hand under my sac and in the juices my dick is playing in, and I wet my pinkie finger. Watching her face, I inch down and play with the pucker of her ass, taking that finger and gliding it between the firm muscles.
Well, that does it.
Not three seconds later her eyes lock on me and her body jolts from her intense release. The sight alone makes my balls pull up and my semen overflow deep within her. Slowly dragging out of her, I bend down and kiss her. “I think I found your magic button,” I say in her ear. We both laugh and smile because it’s true.
It’s three in the morning and something wakes me. A small glow catches my eye. Lo is turning off her phone at the same time as I roll over to face her. “Who you talking to?”
“Hmm? Oh, um, Maggie.”
Maggie? At three a.m.? Lo shimmies into me, snuggling her face into my chest, and sighs.
We feel so amazing together that, for that moment, I don’t care who she was talking to.
Lo
“Class dismissed!” The commotional roar bounces off the high ceilings as students filter out. I’m pulling my bag over my shoulder, heading out the door, when Michelle and her boyfriend catch up to me from behind.
“Lo.”
I give her a friendly smile. This is the second class I have with Michelle. I like her. She’s soft-spoken and not catty. “Hi, Michelle, how do you think you did on that quiz?”
She lets out a groan like she’s in pain. “Terrible! If this was only a quiz, can you imagine what Ms. Sumner’s tests will be like? I’m doomed!”
“Yeah, I can sympathize.”
“That’s why we wanted to talk to you, Lo.” Her boyfriend, whom I didn’t know yet, said, “We’re putting together a study group to prepare for the first test next week, and we were hoping you’d come.”
“Definitely.”
We pencil in a day to get together, and I go outside to Maggie and her Jeep.
“Hey, bitch.” She sings when I shut her door.
My gaze flips to her from her words. “Wow, do you call everyone that?”
She shakes her head. “No. OUT OF THE WAY, FUCKERS!” she screams out her window at a group of stoners loitering halfway in the road with their skate boards.
“I’d hate to hear what you call your enemies.”
It’s the way she smiles that makes her look evil. “Friends.”
Talon meets us at my place. He brings over a pizza, and the three of us are watching a movie. It’s half through when his phone rings. He checks the screen and points to the hall so he can hear whoever it is on the other end over the bomb scene that is playing out. From the corner of my eye, I watch him pace the hall with his head down, when my phone vibrates against my leg.
Heath: Come to me. I’ll be here through the weekend.
The picture he sends is a skyscraper skyline. Clicking open the paperclip attachment, I see an airline ticket pop up.
To: New York City
Departure: Undetermined
Return: Undetermined
A kick storm of remorse swirls up in me as I glance over my shoulder at Talon, who is still pacing. My stomach churns with guilt, and I wipe my hands on my clothes before I text back. There’s no way I can go. I’m trying quickly to type back a reply when Talon emerges from the hallway, off his phone. Carefully, my hand slides to my side, cupping my phone and tucking it between the cushions of the couch.
“What’d I miss?” he whispers, sitting back down, pulling my bent legs into him.
“Nothing mu
ch.” He seems okay with that.
We both fall silent. Talon zones in on the movie, trying to catch up, and all I can think about is the elephant between the cushions next to me. My heart splinters with hurt, pondering how I could have both men and not hurt either one of them. When I’m in Florida, I want Talon, and when I’m in Texas, I need Heath.
Once the movie finishes, I walk Talon to the front door.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” Talon says. I give a nervous nod and wait. “I’ve got to leave town for a couple days.” He sighs. “I don’t want to do this, but Stone needs help transporting a custom-order piece back from Georgia. It’s too delicate to ship, and the customer is padding our pockets for us to go pick it up.” Talon links our hands in front of us, lowering his face to mine. “Wait for me?”
I giggle. What is that? Relief? My lips don’t move, but I mentally smile. It feels strange to secretly seek out moments to be away from Talon and cowardly do it behind his back. He takes a step closer, drawing my hands up to his chest, and whispers a kiss on one cheek. He shifts and whispers another on my other.
I refocus and giggle again, trying to push him away. “You’re not going to war. You’ll be back.”
“I know. I’ll just miss you.”
“Oh stop, silly boy. Go. Get your job done. Nothing is going on here anyway, and I’ll be waiting with open arms when you get back.”
“You know you’re the best, babe.” My eyes do a silly roll, and he swoops in with a kiss.
An hour later Heath’s text gets a reply.
Lo: Be ready for me.
I skip class on Friday. I’ll most definitely pay for that, but for now, I’m going to enjoy myself.
I haven’t seen Heath yet since I’ve landed, but everything has been arranged to perfection. After departing the first class cabin, I’m greeted in baggage claim by a driver holding a sign with my name on it. He then delivers me by limo to The Ritz Carlton Hotel.