by Paula Cox
“You left me.”
“I’m here now.”
“You left me.”
“So did you.”
Alyssa froze. She felt shell shocked. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck her. She had never once seen it that way. She wasn’t sure she saw it that way even now, but it was hard to argue with Prince’s touch on her skin and his eyes looking at her like that.
She thought about something, anything to say now, but no words came to mind or, for that matter, to her tongue.
As it turned out, however, she didn’t need any. Prince pulled her even closer—impossibly so—and kissed her. Alyssa’s brain, usually so sharp and rational, short-circuited on her. There was a small voice in some corner of her head telling her that this could not happen, that it was a bad idea, that it was a disaster. That voice died down quickly, as soon as Prince’s tongue was in her mouth.
He didn’t taste like coming home. Theirs wasn’t the kiss of two long-lost lovers finding each other again. It was a kiss of pent-up emotions, of unspoken words, and of unexpressed feelings. It was a kiss between two virtual strangers, and that made it all the more intense.
Prince let go of her wrist, his arm going to encircle her waist instead, his other hand coming up to grab a fistful of her raven-black hair as he deepened the kiss. Alyssa responded immediately. She grabbed at the front of his T-shirt—still stained with his friend’s blood—with both hands and held on for dear life. She probably should have let go, but she couldn’t bring herself to.
It felt as though her whole body was on fire, wracked with an all-consuming, electric energy that she had no other choices but to let out. She didn’t even notice they were moving until her back hit the door of the fridge—hard. Their hands roamed all over each other’s bodies, tugging at garments, touching skin, and grabbing flesh. It was as though they were trying to melt into each other.
Alyssa didn’t fight it; she couldn’t have, even if she had wanted to—and if she were to be completely honest with herself, she really didn’t want to.
Eventually, they emerged for a breath. They were both panting, and Prince’s green eyes had gone dark with something entirely different than his dark past.
“Fuck,” he said, breathing heavily. “I want you, Aly.”
“Don’t call me Aly,” she said automatically, but with no heat to it. “I want you, too.”
It was all they needed. Once their mutual desire was finally expressed out loud, all taboos were lost. Alyssa pulled Prince to her, and he didn’t fight her. She didn’t fight herself, either.
Chapter Ten
Prince’s body was not like coming home either. It had changed, too, and if you asked Alyssa, it had changed for the better. He always had a smoking body, but back then it had been the body of a boy. This was the body of a man, and it was driving Alyssa wild just to run her fingers over it. Prince was lithe, muscular, and powerful. Perfect.
So perfect, in fact, that Alyssa didn’t even comment on the Devil’s Fighters’ red Satan tattooed on his muscular, flawless back. It was like having sex with a wet dream, except that Prince lying on top of her on the kitchen’s floor in her parents’ house was very, very real.
For a split second, Alyssa considered telling him just how often she had fantasized about him being on top of her, but she quickly decided to keep her mouth shut. Besides, her mouth was busy kissing him or gasping for breath as his lips went on an exploration trip of her body.
His breath on his skin was warm, and it was almost enough to drive her mad right then and there. Every now and then that annoying little voice in her head would pop up, telling her to push him away, telling her that this was madness and that she would so regret it in the morning. But she shushed it quickly each time, because for once in her life Alyssa didn’t want to think—she just wanted to feel.
And it was impossible not to feel Prince. He was everywhere—over her, around her. In that moment, he was all of her perceptions, and Alyssa decided that she wanted it that way. In fact, she couldn’t wait for him to also be inside of her.
“I dare you,” Prince said as his hands traveled down her belly and his fingers began to dance in a tantalizing rhythm. “Tell me that you don’t care about me. Tell me you want me out of your house and out of your life. I dare you, Aly.” He smirked down at her, his dimples making him impossibly sexy. “Tell me not to call you Aly.”
Alyssa didn’t say any such things. She looked up at him, enthralled. Even if she had been able to find her voice and say anything to him at all, she realized then with startling clarity that all she wanted was for him to never walk out of her life again.
She didn’t tell him that either. Instead, she told him, “Shut up.”
Not very sexy, perhaps, but it did the trick. Prince’s grin widened. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and he shuffled down until his head was at level with her navel.
Groaning in anticipation, Alyssa spread her legs to better accommodate him. Her whole body was on fire with a kind of energy she had not felt in a while—perhaps she had never really felt it at all. She craved Prince’s touch in a way that she had never craved any other man’s.
The tip of Prince’s tongue teased her navel, and he took his sweet time before he actually began to deliver what he was promising. He let his hands roam all over Alyssa’s naked figure, his fingertips leaving what felt like streaks of fire on her skin whenever they touched her. It was as if he was trying to learn her every curve with his hands, and Alyssa was more than happy to succumb to his sweet exploration.
Before he finally concentrated on her awaiting clitoris, Prince came up for yet another kiss, one of his hands cupping her cheek as he did so, his thumb stroking her cheekbone. There was a passion behind his every move that Alyssa had never experienced before, but there was also tenderness, a gentle touch that she could only hope stemmed from the same feelings for her that she had been harboring for him for over eight years despite her best efforts.
When he finally moved to the southern area of her body and stayed there for a while, Prince revealed herself to be a more skilled lover than Alyssa could ever have imagined. Once again, he took his sweet time, but Alyssa surely wasn’t in any hurry for him to finish. The tip of Prince’s tongue was a thing of beauty, teasing her in ways nobody had ever teased her before. It was a gradual process—gentle brushes of his tongue over her clitoris at first, followed by more energetic flicks and tantalizing little licks.
Prince knew that he couldn’t just rush into it. He knew Alyssa needed to feel that this wasn’t a race, but rather an experience they were enjoying together. Damn her if she knew how he knew that, but he did. He sure seemed to be enjoying every minute of his maneuver, gently but steadily coaxing her into readiness.
Alyssa had never had an orgasm from oral sex alone. In fact, she almost thought those oral sex-induced orgasms were mythological creatures, like gargoyles or chimeras, but she came incredibly close this time. In fact, she probably—and happily—would have tipped over the edge if Prince hadn’t stopped—so sudden that she could not hold back a groan of protest.
He grinned down at her. “Don’t worry, Aly,” he said, and once again she didn’t dream of correcting him. “I’m not done with you.”
“I should hope not,” Alyssa said, shivering in anticipation.
The tiles of the kitchen’s floor had been cool against her skin at first, but now they had grown warm with the heat of their naked bodies. For the first time since she had been back in Louisiana, Alyssa didn’t mind the heat one bit.
Prince once again moved to her mouth. She could taste herself on his lips, but she didn’t mind that either.
“Do you want me to finish what I started?” he asked, his voice rough with his own desire. He ran the tip of his index finger from her collar bone all the way down to her pelvis. “Or do you want me inside you?”
Oh God. “I…uh…” Try as she might, Alyssa found that she couldn’t form a coherent sentence.
Prince grinned. “How about bo
th?”
Alyssa moaned her assent, and he didn’t have to be told twice. In no time, he was back to give her clitoris and other lips his undivided attention. He was more eager and less delicate this time—but still gentle enough to not hurt her. His tongue twirled and swirled to create patterns that Alyssa had never known and that drove her crazy.
It was all-consuming, and when she finally came, she learned that an oral sex-induced orgasm was like a lightning bolt. She welcomed the aftershocks and the sensation of her pelvic muscles clenching and unclenching repeatedly.
When she finally regained enough coordination, Alyssa reached up and tugged Prince down for a deep kiss. His hunger matched hers at first, but then he slowed the kiss down to something so intimate that Alyssa actually shivered. She cupped his face with both hands, stroking his cheekbones in the same way that he had done hers. It was personal in a unique way, and she simply couldn’t get enough.
Their bodies moved on their own accord then, bringing things to an escalation. Alyssa’s hips arched and Prince’s hips lowered until they met each other and began a slow, tantalizing dance of their own.
Alyssa heard herself moan. She wasn’t normally a moaner, but with Prince she couldn’t help it. He was simply too…well, everything. God, but she wanted him. She wanted him in her life, and she wanted him inside of her. She had spent most of her life wondering what that would feel like, and she simply couldn’t wait any longer to find out.
She moved her hand until her palm was resting on the small of his back; he had dimples there too. Then, she pressed down to pull him even closer.
“I need you, Prince,” she said. Whether she meant physically or emotionally, she couldn’t have said—perhaps it was a little (or a lot) of both. “I want you. Now.”
The last word came out in a growl, and for a moment he looked taken aback by her sudden aggressiveness. Then, his impossibly sexy grin came back.
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, kissing her again, long and deep and oh-so-eager. He pulled back just enough to put himself in the right position, and then, for the first time since they had started whatever this would turn out to be, he looked lost as he threw a look around.
Alyssa arched a black eyebrow. “I’m afraid we won’t find any condoms on the floor of my parents’ kitchen,” she teased. She reached out and stroked his face tenderly. “It’s okay, anyway. I’m on the pill.”
He relaxed instantly. His green eyes flashed mischievously, and just like that they were both back in the moment.
When he finally—finally!—slipped inside of her, the glorious feeling of it took Alyssa’s breath away. She had tried to imagine this moment a million times, and yet none of her fantasizing could ever do it justice. “Glorious” didn’t even begin to describe it. It was as if Prince simply belonged there, and for some reason he seemed to know exactly how to move to drive her wild in a matter of seconds.
Alyssa pressed her head back into the hard floor, and she arched up into Prince. She couldn’t get enough of him, and she was all too eager to let herself go completely and abandon herself to his every touch and movement.
Prince danced a dance that Alyssa discovered she not only loved, but she also knew how to dance, too. Soon they were playing off each other and finding their own rhythm and cadence together, teasing each other with strokes and flicks, with clenches and swiveling of hips. They moved between hungry thrusts and slow, languid strokes that were Alyssa’s favorite. The continuous and unexpected changes in pace were driving Alyssa mad—and she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Prince thrust deep inside of her, and Alyssa was always ready and eager to accommodate him.
She couldn’t have said how long it went on; it could have been minutes as well as hours. She didn’t really care. All she cared was that throughout the whole wonderful, sweet affair, Prince gave her two more orgasms. She loved how unrestrained she was with him and that he seemed to be letting go just as much and as easily. When he came, Alyssa wrapped her arms around him and shared his orgasm. Prince’s abandon to his own ecstasy was as intense and uninhibited as everything else about his lovemaking. Eventually, he lay spent but very happy on top of her.
Neither of them dared to move and break the spell for quite a while, but eventually the hardness of the floor made itself known and penetrated their afterglow haze.
With a grunt, Prince pulled himself up and out of her, and he rolled off of her as gently as he could.
Neither of them spoke as they slowly stood and got dressed. Eventually, Prince looked over at her with an uncertain smile.
“Coffee?” he said weakly.
Alyssa laughed, somewhat bitterly. Just like that, they were back to where they started—in Pinebrook, where every spell eventually got broken.
Chapter Eleven
For some reason, the coffee tasted bitter. It was funny; after what they had just shared, Alyssa would have thought anything would have tasted sweeter. But reality crashed back on her, fast and furious and unavoidable.
Prince seemed to share her feelings, because he was quiet as he nursed his cup of coffee. Eventually, though, he spoke, albeit uncertainly.
“Should we…”—he began—“…uh…should we talk about what just happened?”
Alyssa looked up, studying him from over the brim of her mug. “I don’t know, should we?”
She could feel herself slipping back into a defensive attitude, but she couldn’t help it. She hated the thought of her heart getting broken again, and yet she had the sinking feeling that she would be unable to stop it.
Prince seemed to think about it for a moment. “I think we should,” he finally said.
“OK.” Alyssa took a sip of her coffee, wishing that it was alcohol. “Did it mean anything to you?”
Prince blinked, taken aback. “Of course it meant something to me!” He hesitated. “Didn’t it to you?”
“It did,” Alyssa admitted. As much as she wanted to protect herself, she also knew that being honest about her feelings (to Prince as well as to herself) was the only way she was ever going to get out of this alive—emotionally speaking.
Prince nodded. “So what do we do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I…I think I never stopped loving you.”
Alyssa stared at him in shock. A million things she could say flashed through her head. Of all of those, for some reason, she blurted out the less kind: “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Prince’s eyes widened in surprise at such brutality. “I…uh…I’m not. I told you; it wasn’t easy for me either.”
Alyssa scowled fiercely. “You can’t just drop a bomb like that on me, Prince.”
“What else do you want me to do? Lie? This may be the only chance I get to say it. You’re going back to Canada in two weeks.” He hesitated. “Are you?”
“Yes,” Alyssa said firmly. “I am.”
“Maybe you could consider—”
“No. I couldn’t.”
“Oh.”
“I love you, too,” Alyssa said, unable to stop herself. She smiled at the shocked expression on his face. “Come on, I know you knew.”
He smiled weakly. “Frankly, I was starting to have my doubts just now.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes, but she sobered up quickly, the weight of their situation rapidly squishing any humor out of her. “We both know it can’t work, Prince.”
Prince nodded sadly. “I guess not.” He hesitated. “Maybe we could make the best of these two weeks?”
Alyssa shook her head. “No. We can’t.”
“Why?”
“It would be too hard.” It was only a half-truth, but it was a truth nonetheless.
Unfortunately, Prince picked up on it instantly. He looked at her carefully. “What is it that you’re not telling me, Aly?”
Once again, Alyssa didn’t bother to tell him not to call her Aly; after what had just gone down between them, she figured it would be quite pointless.
“Nothing,” she said quickly. Too quickly,
she realized.
“Alyssa,” he said pointedly.
Alyssa sighed. “Bennie paid me a visit early this morning.”
Prince’s handsome face darkened instantly, and that was when Alyssa recognized the shadows on his features and in his eyes for what they actually wore—the Devil’s Fighters.
“What did he want from you?” he all but growled.
Alyssa shivered at the fierceness in his voice and eyes. Not for the first time, she wondered what Prince was truly capable of. She quickly decided it would be wiser to tell him the truth. He would find out for himself anyway; she knew that as well as she knew her own name.
“He gave me a warning,” she said. “He told me to stay away from you.”
“Son of a bitch!” Prince hissed furiously.