by Lady Keisha
“I don’t remember anything,” I told him. “The last thing I do remember is seeing…something in the sky, and then falling.”
He put the tray down beside me with some fresh water in a glass pitcher with a heavy drinking glass.
“You were very lucky,” he told me. “Truthfully you didn’t fall more than five feet. Unfortunately, the impact against the rocks knocked you unconscious. You were unresponsive when I got to you. I had to carry you on my shoulders up to the top of the mountain to bring you here, to my home. It wasn’t easy. Thankfully you don’t weigh much.”
I tried to move, to get up, and I had my silky caramel colored leg out of the sheet before I realized that I wasn’t wearing any clothes. I pulled the sheet tight against me and looked at him for some kind of explanation.
“Was it necessary to strip me bare and leave me vulnerable and exposed like this? I’m not trying to tell you how to be a good hero, but I think you might have taken a couple of liberties that were not exactly necessary.”
With his shirt open, I could see what looked like a small tattoo on the upper side of his left shoulder. It was red and as he got closer, I saw that it was a twisting, coiling dragon. That must’ve been what I had seen, before I passed out. The red eyes and the creature with the wings. Sure. For some reason it had manifested into a creature in my mind.
“I had to take your clothes off. They were ripped and you were bleeding and the only way to get to your wounds was to have easier access. I’ve seen all sorts of bodies. I was a medic in a past life. It’s not something that I like to talk about, but I know how to field dress a wound while people are shooting at me. I think that I can handle a young beautiful African American woman that falls into my lap.”
When he was within a couple of feet of the bed, I was finally able to see him more clearly. Along with that dragon tattoo, he also had a couple of scars that were probably a byproduct of his time in the armed forces. I wanted to reach out and trace them with my fingernail, but I thought that might be going a little too far into his personal space. Then again, he had already stripped me naked and could envision me naked anytime he wanted to.
He was over six feet tall, taller than me even, at least 200 pounds of solid muscle with not an ounce of fat that could be seen anywhere on his body. I would’ve liked to get a closer look, maybe a detailed inspection of each one of those muscles, including the one that was showing a little bit of excitement from seeing me naked and at his mercy. He had the weirdest eyes, green with these yellow flecks. They didn’t look human.
He must’ve seen that I was looking at his eyes. “It’s from an injury. I’ve never found a reason to fix it. It doesn’t hurt and I find that it gave me back the eyesight I had when I was a child.”
I instantly liked him and felt safe. I’d never imagined that happening to me with any man. Eric was my best friend, but he certainly wasn’t the manly sort that would jump in front of a hail of bullets to protect somebody’s life. I could see that this guy would do that for me or for anyone and that was a testament to his character.
“I’m sorry for your injury, but tell me what’s going on. Where exactly am I? That might sound ungrateful, but it’s not every day that I wake up in a stranger’s bed with no clothes on.” I remembered a few drunken binges in college that ended up exactly like that. They were fun at first, but each new one left me with lower self-esteem. After the third time, I swore off any more one night stands. I had no interest in shacking up with anyone that had a kind smile and a nice package to boot. Speaking of a nice smile and a nice package, my hero here had that in spades.
The intricate detail on the dragon tattoo showed some amazing artistry. Whoever had done it made it look like it was alive and the eyes seemed to follow me wherever I went. It must’ve been some kind of optical allusion, but it was definitely worth whatever money he had forked out to have it done.
“You’re in my cabin,” he explained to me. “We’re about five miles away from where you had your nasty spill. I think that you may have broken your ankle. You might be feeling a little numb. I had to use some morphine to dress your wounds. I have this chronic condition and I need constant injections to keep me from flying off the handle.”
I turned my arm and saw the puncture marks on the inside of my elbow. Damn.
I lifted the sheet and saw that my ankle was swollen two times its size and covered in a bandage to make sure that I didn’t move too quickly. “I don’t normally say this, but you are an amazing man. I’m very lucky that you came along when you did. If it’s all the same to you, I would like to call for an extraction team.”
He gave me this face and I got this feeling like he wanted to tell me something, but didn’t know quite how to say it. “Here’s the thing. My place is off the grid and I would really like to keep it that way. I enjoy my solitude and without the stress of a real job, I’m able to stave off that chronic condition I mentioned for days at a time, before I need another injection. It’s the only reason why I gave you one of them, because I could spare it. There is no cell service out here and I don’t have a landline or even a computer to contact the outside world with. To be honest, I never had any need to have one and I like it that way. I do have a generator, but basically it gives me TV and all the hot water and electricity that I need for one person.”
The one thing that I had to do was make sure that he didn’t think that I was some dainty little flower. I had no interest in being coddled and I showed that by slipping my legs out of the sheet. I was standing in front of him completely naked with my bald crease calling the attention to his eyes. I liked the shaved look and I had no reason to be embarrassed about my body. My breasts were enormous and without the bulky denim shirt, he could definitely see that they were a mountainous terrain that would be worth climbing.
“Unless you’re going to keep me here like your prisoner from that movie Misery, then I would suggest that you move out of my way, so that I can go and find something to eat.”
I tried to take a few steps on my own, but the pain that came shooting up from my ankle and other places was more than enough to make me stumble and fall into his arms, even against the morphine.
My hands came in contact with his bare chest and I inadvertently squeezed his pectoral muscles and gave them the once over. His hands had cupped my breasts from underneath and even though he had only done it to prevent me from injuring myself, it did feel damn good.
“I have a few things on the stove that I think that you’ll find to your liking. If you would allow me, I will be more than happy to escort you to the table and we can eat there. You must be hungry. I brought you these and I doubt that they’ll fit, but it may still suffice for the time being.”
I got back on my feet. This was the first time ever that I had touched a White man, this intimately. Except for Eric. Usually, I kept with my own race, but I was starting to see that maybe I was denying myself a different kind of low hanging fruit. The contrast in our skin colors was very erotic and brought to mind the first time that I had seen Eric naked. He wasn’t the only one that could call upon that image anytime he wanted to.
“I know that this might sound like a strange question to ask, considering that you did save my life and all. I’m wondering if you’re just going to stand there and watch me get dressed. If you were a true gentleman, you would turn around and give me a little bit of privacy.”
“I was just going to leave, but then you got up and gave me quite the shocking sight. I thought that you might be telling me something, but maybe I’m just an oblivious man that has no idea what a woman wants.”
I seemed to have struck a nerve. It wasn’t my intention to make him feel that he had done something wrong. My mouth was open and I was drawing breath but before I could say anything he closed the door and left me to my own devices.
I forced myself by sheer will alone to move, with a few grimaces, along the way to the window. I looked out to find everything was surrounded by trees. There was no sign of life or other cabi
ns in the vicinity. I went back over and took my phone and brought it over to the window and tried to get a signal. No good.
The pants that he had left me were a pair of blue jeans. They were too big for me and rode low on my hips but at least they didn’t fall back down. I didn’t know who they belonged too, but they were definitely a woman’s. He had also left me my denim shirt and I could see that it was freshly laundered and my bra and panties were right there underneath it all. I could’ve taken off the jeans and put the panties on, but I decided not to bother. Going commando gave me a sort of freedom. The feel of the rough material against my slit sent nice little jolts up into my core as I went to find my hero.
Chapter three
It took me a moment to get myself composed enough to leave the comfort of this bedroom. I walked down the hallway, stopping occasionally to look at the pictures that adorned the walls. There was this blond temptress in one with the eyes of someone who was in love, standing right beside the man that had saved my life. Come to think of it, I never did ask his name. I probably should, given the circumstances.
I made my way into the living room and found that the place was immaculate. It had this opened concept and the kitchen was right there with him behind the stove with billows of steam coming from at least three pots. He looked like he was testing the sauce and then he looked at me and it was almost like he couldn’t believe his eyes. I’d purposely pulled my hair back into a long, dark ponytail, which of course gave my breasts a lot more attention than I intended.
Then again, maybe I was looking for him to look at me like that. There was something sexual about the way that he stared at me that made me feel almost like he was looking for something intensely physical happening between us. Like I said, I’m not one for one night stands, but I could certainly rethink my position on that with a guy like him.
“April, I hope that you like your steak medium well? I have fresh vegetables on the stove that I planted myself and harvested just the other day. I don’t know how you feel about baby carrots and corn. I also have some mashed potatoes, or at least they’re supposed to be mashed. I never can tell. Usually I end up with lumps in the middle.”
“How did you know my name?” I’d heard everything he said about the food, but I also noticed that he had used my first name like we were best friends. “I know that I haven’t said it, which leads me to believe that somehow you figured out who I am.”
I followed his eyes and I saw my identification splayed out on the coffee table. “Well. At least you aren’t psychic. I don’t think I have to tell you that I’m not very happy with someone going through my stuff. I do hope you have an explanation for this. If not, then I’ll leave here no matter how injured I am. Crawling on my hands if I have to.” I was using the chair in the dining room to keep my foot elevated. The irony wasn’t lost on me that I was using the exact same words I’d told Eric not long ago, about crawling to get what I want.
“I really don’t know what you want me to say, April. I’m not very trusting and to be honest, I thought that you might’ve been sent here to find me. I wanted to know who I was dealing with. I certainly didn’t want to make you feel that I was taking advantage of you. If it makes you feel better, my name is Avery Black.”
I wanted to leave immediately, but I was compelled by his intense eyes to sit down and wait to see what culinary delights he had conjured up with his own bare hands.
“Why would somebody be looking for you? Did you do something wrong?” I didn’t mean to be intrusive, but I always believe that being forewarned was better than waiting to be surprised.
“I’ve had some strange things happen to me in the last few months,” he said as if that explained everything. “My fiancé and I were attacked in an alley. They moved quickly and I could barely put up enough of a fight before I woke up to find that she was dead. I tried to explain this to the police, but they immediately suspected me of foul play. They didn’t get me, but I could see the way that they were looking at me and I thought it best that I make myself scarce. They left me with a present.”
“What exactly was that?”
He opened his white shirt and showed me that tattoo of the dragon all over again. “I’ve never believed in tattoos and I thought it was silly for somebody to mark up their body like this. I awoke after finding my fiancé dead with this on my shoulder. I thought it was some kind of joke, but now I’m starting to realize that whoever did this wanted to make sure that I remembered it for the rest of my life.” The pain in his eyes was evident and intense.
“I can see why you would keep that to yourself. It sounds a little farfetched, but there’s no reason for me not to believe you. How long have you been living in relative obscurity out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“After I was questioned extensively by the police, I went home to find two men ransacking my condo. I watched them tear the place apart. I wanted to confront them, but I noticed that they were carrying weapons. Hard to fight bullets with fists. I decided to make a discreet exit, thinking that I’d either done something to get on somebody’s radar, or my wife had. I didn’t know what they wanted but I could see that they meant business. This cabin is known to very few. It’s something that I’m proud of.”
I was eating this wonderful meal and finding the flavor of what he put on the steak to be quite enjoyable. He had made the char marks exactly like a chef would do.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would swear that you had some culinary training.” I cut into the steak and it was like cutting into butter and those mushrooms that were sautéed with the onions and peppers were the perfect complement to what he had laid out in front of me. He had turned off the lights and left only candlelight, which of course made me think that he was romancing and trying to seduce me with his eyes and his body. I don’t usually go for romantic gestures but with him I felt this immediate attraction that had me literally wondering what he would taste like, as an after dinner treat.
“I did go to culinary school, but I never really pursued it, as a career. I found myself drifting and then getting into the construction trade by sheer convenience alone. Do you always ask this many questions? I feel like I’m back in front of those hot lights and those detectives holding me hostage after my fiancé was killed, until I had the good sense to ask for a lawyer.”
“I’m just asking, because I like to dabble with food myself. I have made all sorts of concoctions that make my friends drool. There hasn’t been one time that they haven’t liked it and raved over it. My claim to fame is seafood. I like nothing better than cooking something that is fresh from the ocean. Lobster is most people’s favorite, but mine is red snapper.”
The creamy potatoes melted in my mouth and the vegetables brought me back to those days when I was on my grandfather’s farm. “Avery, I was wondering about the candlelight, but I don’t think that you have romantic overtures in mind. This is to keep your generator from using up all that fuel.”
He nodded his head and then he continued to eat, but he would constantly look in my direction. It occurred to me that I might be the first woman he’d seen naked since his fiancé. He was gun shy.
He just needed someone to get him back in the saddle.
I moved my good foot over to his leg, making his eyes go wide with the feeling of my toes now creeping up along his calf and over his knee. There was a catch in his throat and he had his fork poised with a piece of that steak on it, but he didn’t put it in his mouth. I think that he was worried that he was going to choke on it. I was giving him every reason to worry.
“I’m not going to ask the obvious question. I’m just going to say that it’s been a long time and I hope that you’re patient.”
He swallowed hard, licking his lips and staring at me, as I unbuttoned my shirt, just enough for him to see the swell of my D cup breasts. I dipped my finger into the wineglass. I brought it back out and traced down my cleavage. I let that droplet slide in between and make this noticeable wet spot where it was now moving down towar
ds my belly button.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do,” he said to me, breathlessly.
He didn’t have to do anything.
I actually enjoyed the fact that he was allowing me to play him. It was a change for me. It’d always been the other way around and I felt this need to assert my own authority. The way that he talked about his fiancé and what he had gone through made me feel for him in a way that had translated with my toes now massaging his crotch. I could feel the embodiment of his excitement flexing against my toes and I was able to, with some difficulty, to pull down the zipper with just my toes.
He seemed relatively impressed by my agility. He didn’t try to stop me, as I stuck my toes up against his briefs. I could feel the wetness from his over aroused state.
“I would ask what you’re doing, but I would be pretty naïve if I didn’t know.”
I probably wouldn’t have done anything, but there was something about him that was basically turning my own libido against me. It overwhelmed me and it only got harder to resist him, as I worked my toes on him. I picked up my fork, moved it across in front of his eyes and then I dropped it, with my hand going to my mouth to feign surprise.
“It appears that I have dropped my fork. I guess I’m going to have to go and retrieve it.” I slipped underneath the table and ended my foot play, long enough to use my hands to spread his knees and see the object of my desire. My fingers grazed his thighs and I began to tug at those pants, until he got the idea and lifted himself up, so that I could pull them down to his ankles. I easily moved his knees apart, touching the inside of his naked thighs with my fingernails lightly grazing him. He jerked noticeably and I heard his hand slam down onto the top of the table.
“Don’t worry, you need to relax and you look like you’re a hair trigger from going off.”
He was breathing heavy and even though I couldn’t see what he was doing, I could surmise that he was probably wondering how he had gotten so lucky. A beautiful Black goddess was about to service him orally and the very idea of my exotic nature coming into play had given him a hard on that would’ve been able to rival most of my brothers from another mother.