by Hazel Parker
“Emma.”
“Who’s that?” she asked softly.
It amused him to note that there was a tinge of jealousy in her tone. He pressed a light kiss on her forehead and explained, “She was my daughter.”
She had been a happy baby and full of life. She’d laughed at anything Trevor did. The moment he’d held her in his arms, he’d vowed to be the perfect father because in his eyes, she had been perfect. Maybe that was why he hadn’t noticed the slight extra breaths she’d needed to take, why he hadn’t felt anything irregular when he felt her heartbeat.
“What happened to her?” Her voice sounded off in the distance, a lot like a ghost, keeping him firmly in the present though his mind threatened to drown in the past.
“She died.”
The silence stretched between them, and he had to swallow to be able to continue. “She had a rare heart condition…. By the time we found out, it was too late.”
It had been sudden. Her death. Something no one could have predicted or seen coming and, in a way, that had been worse than her being sick and dying. At least if she had been sick, she wouldn’t have disappeared from his life so abruptly. He could have prepared himself for the brokenness he’d felt when she was gone. But she hadn’t been sick. She had been perfect, laughing and crying like a normal baby. One day she’d gone to sleep in her cradle, and the next day she hadn’t woken up, and Trevor’s life had fallen apart.
“I’m so sorry,” Alissa said, squeezing the hand that was wrapped around her waist. “How old was she?”
“Two and a half.”
“Oh,” she said, squeezing his hand more tightly though not as tight as his heart squeezed in his own chest.
“Yeah…. I know.”
It was terrible. That much everyone could agree on. Her death had been terrible, and everything that followed after had been terrible as well. He wasn’t sure that his life stopped being terrible after Emma’s death until Alissa came.
“I know you’re probably tired of people saying they understand, but I really do. I know what that kind of loss feels like.”
“You do?” His skepticism sounded loudly though he tried to censor his disregard.
“I do.”
Her tone let him know she understood terrible and he gripped her hand tightly as she had his a few moments ago.
“I lost my twin sister.” She gulped and lay quietly before continuing. “She drowned.”
“That sucks, Ally. I’m sorry.”
“We were seven.”
He noticed the way she’d included herself in the time. It made sense. They were twins. He could imagine something died inside her when her twin died. Something had died inside of him when he’d lost his daughter.
“We were on vacation in a beach house and Alexis wanted to see the beach at night. She was always like that, suggesting we do crazy things… and I followed her. She was older by three minutes.”
He nodded along.
“I didn’t think she’d get into the water. I thought she wanted to see the stars. I thought it was just a sneak to the back porch kind of a thing. I didn’t know she would be there one minute and gone the next.”
“Riptide?” Trevor asked, wondering what could have happened that she didn’t follow her sister into the water.
“Yeah.” Her voice sounded hollow, like she was on the verge of dying herself. “She went out a little and asked me to join her. Said the water felt nice, but I was scared. I watched from the shore, telling her to hurry up so we wouldn’t get in trouble.”
Her body trembled against his, and he held her more tightly.
“She went out even further. She loved scaring me. Loved doing things she knew freaked me out. It was like she was proving a point. Or maybe she was just trying to get me out my comfort zone, showing me that if she could do it, so could I. She was the fearless one.”
“And which one were you?”
“The coward.”
He kissed the nape of her neck. “No, Ally. That can’t be true.”
“It was. I know I was. When she slipped into the black wave, I called her name, but I couldn’t see anything. I thought she was playing. I waited, biting my fingernails to a bloody pulp thinking in a few more seconds she would come back up. I kept giving her a few more seconds and when I realized she could never hold her breath that long, I ran to get our parents.”
The life went out of her as she finished. She hung limply in his arms, almost like she had drowned instead of Alexis.
“After that, I was the only daughter, and the pressure to be perfect got worse.”
“No one can be perfect, Ally.”
“But we can try.” Her voice sounded miles away.
“Or we can run away,” he said suggestively as he hugged her.
“I tried that. And, needless to say, I wasn’t very successful. Note the falling, hitting my head, and passing out.”
So she’d been running away?
He decided to let that go for the moment in order to keep the mood she’d shifted into. “I also note the falling into a stranger’s bed.”
“We’re not strangers,” she said, turning until they were face to face. “I think it’s safe to say that now we’re friends.”
They were friends. He had shared something with her he hadn’t said aloud since Emma passed and his marriage fell apart. But his heart raced in his chest as he realized that being friends wasn’t good enough. He wanted them to be more than that. But he wasn’t ready to say that out loud, so instead he said, “I know the circumstances haven’t been ideal, but I’m glad you’re here.”
His mouth couldn’t say what is really in his heart, but his body could. Their bodies seemed on the same page as she slid underneath him. He kissed her neck, sucking on the taut skin as her hands traced patterns on his back.
“I’m so glad I met you,” she mumbled against his lips.
She rocked against his growing length, whispering softly as his fingers rubbed against her body. Clothes had disappeared during the night due to the heat of the blankets and body warmth. For that, he was thankful. Women had often said he was hot like a furnace. That worked in his favor on cold nights. Alissa naked in his warm bed with her hair mussed and her lips swollen from his kisses was a combination more than enough to arouse him.
He’d taken her roughly before. He hadn’t meant to, but neither of them had planned it. This time, he wanted to take it slow. They were both broken. Somewhere inside, there were cracks and scars that they both hid from the world, but the fact remained that they were still here and, for once, he had hope that some of them might heal—hers at least. He wanted to help fix what he could while he had her… before she left. Before his time with her came to an end.
Her hold tightened as they made out. She squeezed him firmly and he enjoyed the feel of her breasts against his chest. Her hardened nipples and her quickened heartbeat made it that more intimate. She rocked against his erection, trying to rush it, but Trevor wasn’t in any rush.
He lifted up from her, sliding his hand down her body until a single fingertip brushed against her moist opening. Her gasp was inaudible, but her expression was clear. He smiled to himself as her hand clamped around his wrist, pressing his finger deeper inside her. Her sultry moans were a nice contrast to the rumbling in the sky. He propped himself up on the side to rub her nipples between his fingers while the other teased deep inside her folds.
She reached between them to take his cock into her small hand and stroked it with her fingertips, gently scratching with her nails. It felt good, and Trevor found himself twitching in response. It felt so damn good.
The rainfall increased in intensity and a crack sounded loudly before a flash of light briefly lit the room. The wind must have changed direction because the rain pelted the window, adding a new background to the moaning woman in his arms.
“Trevor.”
He could tell she wanted more. But not yet. He wanted to play for a little while.
He descended her body, peppering
kisses as he went across her stomach, making sure to dip his tongue into her belly button before sucking the flesh of her thighs, rubbing his stubble against her knees and pressing butterfly kisses on her mound. He took his time caressing the heated skin without truly touching her center. He spread her puffy waiting lips and inhaled.
“Please, Trev,” she whimpered, trying to lift her hips towards his salivating mouth.
He glanced up from his task, burning from her heated gaze but unhurried. He held her eyes as his head lowered, his tongue darting out once to caress her clit. Just barely.
She jerked, spreading her thighs wider as she inhaled a sharp breath. “Oh!”
His strong hands held her firmly in place as he sucked, going deeper, fucking her with his tongue. She moaned and writhed, but he was unyielding, cupping her ass to hold her closer to his mouth. She tasted like a fucking dream too. Each firm cheek in his hands, he gripped more tightly and her hand plunged into his hair, yanking a fistful to pull him back into place. He obliged, firmly tracing his tongue on her dripping pussy before French kissing each swollen lip. His head angled to slide his tongue in just the right way, and they both moaned from the sensation. Then he stroked her G-spot and clit at the same time. Her legs wound around his head as he licked her in long strokes, from the crevice of her ass to the tip of her clit. He could feel her trembling as he blew cool air on the tightened nub. Her muscles were tense as she humped his face, racing to come.
He knew her head was rolling back in pleasure from the loosening grip on his hair.
“Don’t stop!”
He had no intentions to. He nibbled, sucked while his fingers ran up and down the sides of her pussy lips down to tease the entrance of her ass. His fingers were long enough to skim along her slit, lightly pinching and spanking her cunt lips as he kissed the sting away.
Alissa was blissed out in lust, grinding her hips, catching all that he offered. Trevor could feel her juice on his face, and he rubbed his face into it, loving how wet she got.
A low moan built into a needy cry as he flexed two fingers inside her cunt. He murmured his desire against her clit, and he pulled his fingers in and out of her dripping pussy. She was so close he could taste it, but she needed a push. He rubbed his thumb into her juices and pushed it into her ass, and she exploded.
“Jesus! Fuck, yes! Trev!”
He slowed his mouth to slide slippery kisses over her pulsing clit and his tongue licked calm strokes through her leaking body. He knew how to pull an orgasm out of a woman. His fingers pinched her nipples, toying with the aftershocks of her orgasm as he grinned up at her.
“You are a bad man, Trev.”
“I think I can be worse,” he said, wiping his face with the back of his hand and putting his cock to her entrance.
He was not quite done teasing her. Instead of sliding inside, he purposely slid back and forth along her clit, sending visible shudders through her body.
She placed her hand on his hip, as if relaying the tremors back to him.
“No more teasing.”
She lifted her knees to tent the covers on either side of his body and he agreed.
“Oh, Trevor,” she moaned as he pushed inside.
Her eyes widened, and her chest froze like she’d stopped breathing. Both her hands grasped his hips as if to help guide him inside her. He stretched her until he could go no deeper, her wetness begging him to lose it. He wanted to, but this time was for gentleness, dare he say lovemaking.
Her hands were all over him, pulling him deeper into her body, feeling his heart beating, cradling his face as he dipped his head to kiss her. Some kind of connection sizzled between them, enhanced by the rainfall and the dim lighting. Their face, inches apart, communicated mutual desire more than primal need.
She pulled him flush to her, his weight pressing her into the mattress. Her gasps in his ear were thrilling as he plunged into her body again, deeper, not faster. He clenched the mattress above her head, wiling himself to stroke slowly and deeply, touching every point of pleasure within her just to hear that glorious sound one more time.
Another band of rain rapped against the window, washing over the cabin with an increased intensity as he ground firmly against her mound. Her writhing, her scratching, and sounds of delight were his reward. Each were benchmarks of her pleasure, and all that truly mattered to him. This was about her. He tried to pull himself up, but she pulled him back down on her, not caring that it made it more difficult to breathe. She gasped against his neck, in between moans and muscle spasms. Trevor continued moving inside her, cheek to cheek, even as his own warm breath bounced against the pillow and back to his face. He closed his mouth, trying to remain quiet so he could hear her soft squeals and lengthy moans better.
“Don’t stop.”
Her voice tickled his ear, followed by the sounds of her aching, straining pleasure. Still, he teased her by pausing.
“Trevor!” she cried, clutching him tightly.
As much as she was enjoying this, she was clearly frustrated. Before she could beg him to continue, he rolled them over until he was on his back and she was on him once again. Alissa threw the covers back and straddled him, not thinking of anything but her pleasure. Her natural beauty was on display from her pinkened nipples to her flushed skin to her blazing eyes as she chased her orgasm.
Her wetness glistened, winking at him every time she lifted herself up. He watched with amazement as her sex clenched, pleasuring him, but not enough for him to erupt. His hands repositioned to help her lift and crash into him until her orgasm surged through her and around him. Her fingernails curled deep into his skin and he groaned from the erotic pain, so good and yet leaving him unfulfilled. She collapsed, panting on his chest, and he bit his lips to stop himself from groaning due to the awkward angle and pain.
“You still didn’t come,” she said, frowning and sliding off to see his cock hard and sticking straight up. “Let me fix that,” she said, using her own moisture and fisting him tightly up and down.
She worked him from the base to the tip, adding a twisting motion on the down stroke and applying just enough pressure for him to come. His come shot up, some of it landing on his chest and a lot more dripping down her hand. He feared he’d disgust her, but she continued pumping, making sure he was completely emptied out before her hand stilled.
She slipped from the bed to the bathroom, ran water, and returned with a washcloth.
He reached to grab it, but she pulled away.
“I got it.”
She cleaned him in a few seconds and went back to the bathroom before returning to the crook of his arm.
“That was perfect,” she breathed as her body calmed and slipped into a peaceful slumber.
Trevor kissed her forehead and promptly followed her into dreamland.
Chapter 8
The next time Alissa opened her eyes, one thing was clear: the storm wasn’t as bad. She sat up, the covers falling from her body, and looked around. Trevor was nowhere to be seen. She grabbed a shirt from one of his drawers, not thinking anything about invading his privacy, before padding barefoot through the cabin.
“Trev?”
He didn’t answer, and she was led to peek outside by Chuck’s barking.
Chuck was moving at full speed, running back and forth, jumping in the air without any prompting, celebrating the pea-sized raindrops that were much friendlier than the buckets that had fallen for the past three days.
Trevor noticed her at the window and smiled. She tried not to notice how his wide smile sent lightning bolts through her body and waved. Seeing him walking towards her, she turned to collect herself.
“Morning,” he said, stomping his muddy shoes on the mat before opening the door.
Alissa felt the air leave the room as he stood in the doorway.
“Morning,” she squeaked out.
He seemed so big. In the bright light of the day, instead of the dim light of the storm, he was almost dangerous with his big body and capable ha
nds. He was definitely dangerous to her. More specifically, her heart.
She pushed the thoughts away, apprehensive to what they meant. Whenever she couldn’t process what something meant, she set it aside and focused on other things. She was good at that. “How long have you been up?”
“Few hours,” he said, puttering around the kitchen. “Ready for breakfast?”
“I could eat,” she said, sitting at the small table. “What are we getting into today?”
“Manual labor.” He set the bottle of orange juice on the counter before turning back to the open refrigerator. “You up for that?”
“Sure. I mean, I am kind of living here. I want to pull my weight.”
“We’ll see about that, Princess,” he said, one corner of his mouth lifting in a crooked smile, sending those damn lightning bolts through her body again.
With butterflies flapping in her stomach, she stood, her eyes homing in on the fact that he was using the stove. “Hey, the power is back.”
He dipped his head once. “Yeah. I checked on it when I heard the rain lighten up.”
“Cool.” She walked towards the edge of the kitchen. “I’m going to shower first. How long until it’s finished?”
“You’ve got ten minutes,” he said, cracking an egg into a glass bowl.
In the shower, Alissa washed, noting just how much she smelled like Trevor from his soap to his scent on her skin to the undeniable possessive scent of him in between her legs. According to her body, Trevor owned her, and she had never been possessed in such a way before. Never. And her sneaky mind decided showering was the perfect time to compare Trevor to her ex.
The first thing that jumped out was the fact that Lenard was entirely too in love with her to the point of suffocating her while Trevor gave her enough space to think. Lenard looked like he would break under a piggy back ride. Trevor, on the other hand, could carry her for days. And while Lenard, despite the fact that he could have it all, looked bored with life, Trevor lived with zest and passion. It didn’t matter that Trevor had chosen to live in relative isolation. Alissa could clearly see how he loved his way of life in the way he took care of his home and his dog, how he loved to see the world through someone else’s eyes and to learn, judging by the stack of books he owned, and how he always woke up energized, ready for a new day.