Filthy Desires: A Romantic Suspense Collection

by Parker, Kylie

  She turns down the lights and we start the movie. We’re only about five minutes into the movie before her hand lands on my knee, and I take it as an opportunity to scoot closer and prop my arm around her shoulder. We’re both really hesitant –how couldn’t we be after we’ve treated each other like shit for the past few months? Her hand starts rubbing my right knee, and for some reason it’s really turning me on just to have her touching me.

  Her hand slowly makes its way towards my inner thigh, and it stops there –massaging me slightly, her eyes still glued to the television. I move even closer; my head rests on her shoulder, and I breathe heavily against the back of her neck. She cringes, and I think I’m making her toes curl. When I catch her eyes look towards me, her head still facing forward, I lean in further. Finally, she turns her head, and I plant a kiss on those pretty lips of hers.

  “Mmmm….” She says as though she’s taking a bite out of something good. One of her hands reaches out and touches my chest.

  I take her face into my hands, pulling her closer to me. We’re no longer interested in the movie. Our breathing gets heavy as our lips continue to caress against one another’s. I slide my hands down her neck and then down her back towards her hips. She shutters slightly; I move my lips down to her throat. Now, with my hands on her hips, I pull her towards me, and she climbs into my lap. Laurel drapes her arms around my shoulders and leans forward, kissing my lips and face.

  My hands start to work their way up her shirt; she’s still got on a damn sports bra from earlier, so there’s no chance of me quickly popping her bra loose. I do, however, manage to slide one of my hands up underneath her bra to gently squeeze her breasts. My other hand reaches downward, and I go to unzip her jeans, but she stops me. There is this looming discomfort between us now –did I try to go too far? “Um…” she says, and her face turns red. I move my hand away from her groin and instead wrap both my arms around her waist.

  “Okay,” I say, “We don’t have to.”

  She looks embarrassed. She had been the one to invite me up and the one to turn down the lights and the one to start touching me. Maybe she feels like a tease? I don’t know exactly what’s going through her head, but I don’t want her to pull away from me just because she doesn’t want to sleep with me. As much as I really want to sleep with her right now, I’m pretty content where we are. I run one of my hands up and down her back and smile at her. She’s still seated in my lap; her head falls, and our lips meet again. Good –I didn’t scare her off.

  After several long, deep kisses, I manage to coax her out of her top and sports bra, but I don’t go for her pants again. There’s a clear line that’s been drawn tonight, so I don’t intend to be the one to try to jump over it. I suck on her nipples, making them hard, and she gasps slightly when I do so. We wind up lying down on the couch, facing one another. I continue to play with her breasts, to kiss her lips, and to stroke her bare back and her arms. She gets me to take off my shirt, and I feel a rush of adrenaline I normally only feel during sex when our bare skin touches against each other. She presses her chest against mine, and I wrap her tight in my arms.

  I’m not sure how to express how I am feeling in this moment. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this sort of passion. Its passion… mixed with a bit of sexual frustration, but it’s still endearing. We kiss and touch one another some more, and soon it grows late. Its pitch black outside; I’m pretty sure it has to be close to three in the morning. Laurel’s eyes start to droop, but she keeps pulling me back in for more kisses –but I don’t mind.

  There’s a clock hanging on the far side of the wall; I confirm that it is 3:15 in the morning. “I should go,” I say, but I look down to see that she’s passed out on my arm. I smile and lay my head back down beside her, pulling her closer to me.

  Did I really just stay up half the night making out? I haven’t done that since I was fresh out of high school. Normally, I never would have stuck around if a woman had slapped my hands away the way Laurel had, but for some reason I stayed. I stayed, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I fall asleep beside her, and for the first time in a long time I actually sleep well.

  44

  I cannot even begin to describe the sexual frustration I am feeling as I leave Laurel’s apartment this morning. She’s acting shy and embarrassed about last night –a sort of demeanor that I did not think was possible on her. This morning she had jumped up quick to throw on a shirt, but she had made me breakfast. I’m not sure what to make of that. She won’t look me in the eye, and she seems really flustered, yet she still made me pancakes.

  We eat breakfast together, and I don’t talk about what went down last night. I just smile at her. Alex gave me a few days off work, but I know Laurel will still be heading out to the gym this morning. I decide not to overstay my welcome –it’s kind of obvious she is confused about whether or not she wants me to stay or leave. “Thanks for breakfast, Laurel,” I say in the kindest voice I can muster.

  “Of course,” she says, staring down at her plate to avoid looking at me. She’s sitting at her kitchen table across from me, playing with her food. “Listen,” she says, “I’d invite you to stay, but I’m about to get ready to meet the other girls at the gym.”

  “I understand,” I say and rise from my seat, grabbing my plate to put it away in her sink. I haven’t put my shirt back on; I suppose that would have made her slightly more comfortable if I had done that. I search for it, and I hurry to get it back on. She’s still sitting at her table, scraping her fork slightly against her plate to make it seem like she’s actually eating. I can’t help myself. I come up behind her and lean over her, draping my arms over her shoulder. “I’ll get out of here so you can get ready,” I say, but I don’t leave just yet. I trace my lips across the back of her neck, and I can feel her tense up in my arms. “I hope you had fun last night; I know I did. You’re one of a kind, you know that?” I tickle her neck, and she arches her back.

  “Uhg….” She groans slightly, but then she pulls forward and out of my reach. “Um… yes, yes, last night was nice.”

  I smile, and I pull away from her. We say our goodbyes, and she walks me to the door. I’m pleased that I do get a kiss from her before leaving. So far, it’s shaping out to be a pretty decent day.

  * * *

  The day went by pretty quickly; tonight, I’m going out with the guys at one of our old hangouts. We haven’t been in a while –not since I joined AA. I won’t be drinking, of course, but I could use a night out. Because money has been so tight, I haven’t been enjoying myself much. Tyler and I take the birth control mobile since his car is still in the shop. We meet Marty and Bobby at this hole in the wall bar; Tyler and I head inside, and we see that Bobby and Marty have already found a booth and are pretending it’s not awkward that I hadn’t been there to introduce them. I had invited Bobby along; he seems to be kind of a lonely guy. My bet is that his former alcoholism probably cost him a lot friends in his professional circles.

  Tyler and I grab a seat; I sit beside Bobby in the booth and across from Tyler. “What’s up?” I say Tyler and I grab a seat, and I’m pleased to see that Bobby and Marty are actually conversing as we arrive. As a boxing fan, Bobby is able to hold a conversation of similar interest with Marty.

  “Honestly, man,” I hear Marty saying, “I can’t believe you’ve seen my matches. I mean, I’m not Jonathan Trial,” he winks at me slightly.

  “Are you kidding? That match against you and Lettermen was insane!”

  My God –we are literally just hanging out with our fanboy. Tyler raises a brow, “Have you seen any of my matches?”

  Bobby frowns. “Sorry, man,” he says, and Marty and I laugh. It’s been a running joke that Tyler is not a real boxer; he’s still in the amateur leagues.

  “Whatever,” Tyler gripes.

  A server comes and takes our drink orders; Bobby and I both order waters. “Damn alcoholics,” Marty grumbles while he and Tyler argue over which pitcher to split.

  �
��Easy, Marty,” Tyler says, “Trust me –I’m not letting Jonathan anywhere near our booze. And if you’ve got shit to say about that, I’ll send him home with you and let him puke all over your carpet tonight.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure Amy would just love that,” I say, referring to Marty’s girl. “She still out of town?” I ask.

  “Nah. She just got back last night. She’s still passed out –jetlag,” he says and then grins. “So, check this out,” he reaches into his pocket and plops a small ring box on the table.

  “Oh, shit!” Tyler says somewhat excitedly.

  “Congratulations,” both Bobby and I say.

  I grab the ring box, “I got to see this. You and I both know Amy’s got expense taste,” I open up the ring box, and it’s a big, gaudy thing. “Yeah, she’ll like that,” I say before tossing the box back to Marty.

  “Speaking of girls,” Tyler says, eager to change the subject before we start asking him about his awkward single life, “What are we doing for Mary –are we still doing something, or were we just blowing smoke?”

  “Oh, we’re doing something,” Marty says.

  “Who’s Mary?” Bobby asks, and we pause for a moment to tell him all about our missing wheel –Gabe. I’m sure he pieces together that Gabe is the friend I spoke about at AA, and he looks sad for all of us when we tell him about our deceased, younger companion and his even younger sister.

  “So,” I say once we tell him about Gabe, “we want to do something special for her birthday. She’s going to be eight, and it’s her first birthday without Gabe.”

  Bobby smiles, “I have a thought. Is she into the whole princess thing?”

  “Are you kidding?” Marty laughs, “The girl’s room is nothing but toy castles, unicorns, pink tiaras, and Disney shit.”

  “All right, well, there’s this company down the street from my firm. It’s a costume rental store…” Bobby grins, “I bet she’d love to see a couple of Disney prince’s show up to a birthday party.”

  The three of us look at each other. “I’m not putting on a fucking costume,” Tyler says quickly.

  “Fuck that idea,” Marty says, “could you imagine if someone saw us? That shit would be on Youtube, and then I’d really have my ass kicked up at the gym.”

  “Yeah,” I say, “but Marty would really love that. I could image Gabe giving us all hell about it and laughing his ass off.”

  “Why you got to say it like that, man?” Tyler grumbles and sinks down in his seat. “Okay, we’ll leave that idea on the table –for now.”

  “Jonathan!” I hear a familiar voice shouting from across the bar.

  I look up, and I see Damion waddling his old ass over to us. I smile and stand up to give the old fuck a hug. “Damion, what’s up?” I say to my former trainer. I find it weird that he’d be at a bar; he’s so damn old, but I digress.

  “Man, you don’t ever come see me,” he says.

  “You kicked me out of your gym, you asshole,” I say, but I’m friendly.

  “Oh my God!” I hear Bobby practically squeal. “You’re Damion –The Mason!”

  Shit. Damion hates that old nickname. Back in his boxing days, Damion was notorious for cornering his competitors –the announcers started calling it “corner-stoning” which ultimately led to Damion being called The Mason. “Who’s the fucking fanboy?” Damion asks.

  I laugh, “Damion, this is my buddy, Bobby.”

  Bobby practically jumps up out of the booth so that he can shake Damion’s hand. I can see Marty and Tyler trying hard not to laugh at the poor guy. “Your match between Muhammad Ali was the first match my dad took me to as a kid,” he says excitedly.

  “Really?” Damion cringes, “I had my ass kicked at that one, kid. Thanks for reminding me.”

  “Oh, well, you know…” Bobby blushes, and we all have a laugh.

  We invite Damion to sit down with us, and he shrugs. “I’m too old to party with you kids anymore,” he says, “This old fart is headed home.”

  “I hear you, Damion,” Tyler laughs.

  “Listen, Jonathan, I don’t want to get your hopes up or anything…” Damion turns to look at me before he can head out, “but there’s this manager I’ve been talking to. He’s kind of low-key, but I just might be able to get you in.”

  “Damion, are you serious?” I question; I’m sure the excitement is plastered all over my face.

  “Easy, kid,” Damion says, “it’s a big maybe. Would you be interested?”

  “Of course!” I say.

  “All right. I’ll see what I can do.” Damion turns to leave. “Behave yourselves, fellas.”

  I sit back down by Bobby; the guys are all grinning at me. “That’s awesome!” Bobby exclaims, “And I’ve been making some calls for you about clearing up your record. Plus, I’m going to start putting those media nuts through the wringer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to help on the PR side of things.”

  “Where did you find this guy?” Marty questions, and I just laugh.

  I can’t really focus on anything else we talk about tonight; the thought of being able to box again is on the forefront of my mind.

  45

  I’m back at the gym today, and Laurel is acting like nothing ever happened. Am I really that much of an embarrassment? She sure is making it seem that way. After repairing some equipment and teaching one of my day courses, I decide to head over to the boxing corner where the professional fighters all hang out. Laurel and Marianna are sparring in the ring while the other women are doing various other exercises on their private equipment.

  “Ladies,” I say as I make my appearance, and a few of them roll their eyes. “I wanted to come over and thank all of you for signing up for my fundraiser.”

  Laurel and Marianna come over to the side of the ring and lean on the ropes to look over at me. The other women have all stopped their routines; it’s kind of nerve-racking having them all looking at me –that rarely ends well. “Yeah, well,” Britany, the loud mouth brunette of the group, rolls her eyes, “I think your buddy’s little testimony did us all in. That, and Marianna thought he was cute.”

  “Fuck you, Britany,” Marianna hisses.

  “Well, I really do appreciate it. With all of you helping, the gym will save some money not having to pay for additional trainers. And the point is to fundraise, so any money we can save is great,” I say and try to not make it obvious that I’m checking Marianna out to try to gage what Tyler would think. She’s slender but well built, and she is a redhead –something I know Tyler’s in to. Would it be weird if I tried to set them up since they all pretty much hate me? He’s been slumping around a lot lately since he broke up with his ex.

  “No problem,” Laurel says, and she has this annoyed tone in her voice. I guess we’re pretending the other night didn’t happen. I’ve learned my lesson after she reported me to Alex –I definitely won’t say anything about it in front of the other women, but I’m not going to just wonder off.

  I smile at them. “Is there anything I can get for you ladies while I’m over here?”

  “Yeah, pretty boy, why don’t you go get us some of those shakes at the smoothie bar? I could go for an energy booster,” LaWanda taunts.

  I just smile, “Okay. Which one would you want?”

  She gives me this blank stare. “Huh?” she asks.

  “I asked you if you needed anything, and you told me what you needed. I’ll go get you a smoothie. Anyone else want any?” I can see Laurel seething slightly; she doesn’t care for the sudden friendliness I’m showing everyone.

  The other women place their orders with me, but Laurel says she doesn’t want one. I head over to the smoothie bar and have the girl working the counter make something for everyone. All of them ordered the same thing –strawberry smoothie with energy booster, so I assume Laurel probably would have wanted the same thing so I have the girl make an extra one anyways. Since I don’t have anything else to do at the moment, I wait for the girl to finish the smoothies and take them over myself. I’m
actually a bit surprised that I get thank-you’s from them all –even Brittany.

  “I grabbed you one too, Laurel,” I say. Laurel just scowls at me.

  Marianna hops out of the ring, leaving Laurel behind, so that she can grab herself a smoothie. “Don’t be so rude, Laurel,” Marianna says, “so what if he almost fucked your drunk ass?” the other women all laugh at her expense.

  “Screw you guys,” Laurel hisses.

  “I’m calling for some truths,” I say and then hop into the ring uninvited.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Laurel asks.

  “Come on,” I say, “I want a rematch. You laid me out on my ass when you surprised me with your MMA shit last time.”

  “Oh, I got to see this,” Katie says, “I’ll go grab his gloves.” She runs off, returning shortly.

  “I’m not boxing you,” Laurel says, “I’m not a boxer. You’ll knock my damn teeth out.”

  “So we can spar MMA style, but you won’t box me?” I question. “Your skillset must be pretty limited, then.”

  “Ooh,” Britany chants.

  “I bet I could get three jabs in before you could,” Laurel snaps. I’m pissing her off.

  “Wanna make it interesting?” I say as I start putting on my gloves; suddenly all of them gather around the ring, sipping on their smoothies with these looks of satisfaction.

  “How so?” Laurel asks.

  “First one to get three clean jabs wins,” I say, “And if I win, I want to take you on a date.”

  The other women all go starry-eyed in the excitement of this drama that is in progress. “Ha!” Laurel laughs, “forget it.”

  “What’s wrong? You think you’ll lose?” I ask.

  Laurel grimaces. “Okay, fine, what do I get if I win, though?”

  “What do you want?” I ask.

  She steps forward, “I want you to quit your job here at the gym.”