by Paula Cox
“Something like that,” Michael said. “Come here.”
His arms pulled her off the ground. She nearly settled against his chest, savoring the musky waves pouring off his neck as pulled her closer. Meeting his eyes, she tried and failed to decipher his cold stare.
“What if I don’t want to?” she said. “What if I…?”
Lily’s voice trailed off, and her head spun again. She couldn’t focus on anything but her own ragged breath as Michael’s hold intensified and he kneeled to the ground.
“Easy.”
He cradled her head with his hand and laid her out on the sand. Grateful for the solid surface against her back, she sighed into the feel of his fingers touching her cheek.
“You’re okay,” he crooned. “No worse for the wear.”
He leaned closer, his lips curled above hers when she turned away with a light smirk.
“What can I say? Guess I got a hard head.”
“I won’t argue that.”
Michael rested his body at her side and dragged her fingers down her cheek.
“Something to be thankful for,” he said. “Maybe not the only thing.”
As her fallen bike continued to smoke from its final resting place, his fingers firmed around her chin, and she forced her stare into his eyes.
“You… Sally said it was real.”
Lily’s lips parted to echo her own words when another dizzy spell overtook her. Needing rest, she settled into his shoulder.
“It was,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“But you did,” he said. “A fiancé?”
Finding her focus and his eyes, Lily caught the light in his stare. It felt as if he was giving her a chance to change her story, his lips ready to kiss her and just get back to where they were. Wanting nothing more than to take that chance and see it through, Lily nearly met his lips when he questioned her again.
“Who is he?” Michael asked. “Can you at least give me a name?”
He was being tender. Probably in light of her fall. But Lily saw through it and bit back her anger as she curled closer to his chest.
“Dan,” she muttered. “Okay?”
She felt his body tense around the sound, but when his hands pressed into her back, and he did not pull away.
“Never saw a ring,” he whispered. “You lose that before the auction?”
“No,” she started. “Because there never was a ring. Never a proper engagement.”
His eyes brightened, and Lily felt sure that she felt his heart lifted as he shot up, his eyes till peering down at her. “So what did he even mean to you?” Michael asked.
With a sigh, Lily leaned forward and savored the support of his hold. “It’s… complicated,” she finally said.
Michael lowered is eyes and sadly nodded his head. “Still sounds serious,” he said. “And it kills me.”
Seeing the pain in his stare, Lily reached for his face and kept his eyes in hers. “I… I left home because I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I wanted to see what else was out there.”
Lily looked at him without blinking as his hands moved down her neck. Holding her there, he spoke softly.
“So now you see,” he said. “I bought you. I tried to make you mine.”
Tried?
“Michael, I wanted all of—”
“But of course you want to get back to what’s really real,” he said. “Because you had a life before all of this. This is just a fantasy or—”
“It’s not. I—”
“Come off it, Lily!”
Pushing away from her, Michael sat up and held his face in his hands. She watched his back tense, his shoulders lift and fall. Trying to touch him, Michael shrugged her off and moved further away from her.
“All this time,” he muttered. “And all you’ve wanted is to get back to another man.”
Lily started to reach for him again when she drew back and punched a small fist into the sand.
“So maybe I didn’t tell you,” she started. “But I was leaving him. I… I wasn’t even sure if I would ever go back.”
“Whatever,” he said as he got to his feet. Watching him go caused her lips to twitch, and she barreled forward, her arms around his legs as she forced him to the ground.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked as he tried to block her frantic blows.
“I told you that I wanted to stay with you!” Lily cried. “And you… you just walked away from me.”
Seizing her wrists, he turned her to his back and straddled her suddenly. “Get the hell off—!”
“Thought you said you want me to keep you close,” he spat. “Well, which is it, Lily?”
Her blood boiled as his mouth curled into sneer. Lily’s hands were useless, but she twisted her legs around his and brought the heel of her sneaker to his shin. As soon as he winced, Lily wriggled from his grasp and found her way to her feet.
But she did not run.
“It’s gray,” she said. “Me wanting you when I should want to go back is not one thing or the other.”
Struggling to his feet, Michael brushed his hands on the backs of his jeans and stared at her hard. “Then is it anything?” he said.
Lily’s shoulder slumped as she hung her head, speaking softly into her chest.
“It’s… it’s everything,” she muttered. “And I only left because I’m a jinx. It’ll be better for everyone if you just try to forget me.”
Michael made no move as he appeared to ponder her words carefully. Now he would agree and send her on her way. Maybe he would offer her his bike in place of the one she had wrecked and tell her to keep going and try to steer clear of trouble. Lily started to turn away from him when he quickly pulled her back into his arms and brushed the hair from her eyes.
“Now how the hell am I supposed to do that?” he asked.
Lily’s tongued tied as she tried to reiterate all the reasons that her departure was the right call. But his hold intensified around her body, and he breathed into her eyes as he spoke softly.
“It ain’t happening,” he whispered. “I…” He rested his brow to hers and kissed every inch of her face as he murmured into her skin, his hands, his lips spilling down her sides. “I won’t lie to you,” he said. Lily started to back away at the veiled insult in his tone, but there was no escaping the force of his embrace.
“Sure,” he continued. “Crossed my mind for like a split second when Brendan told me what you did to Sally.”
“Is she okay?” Lily asked sadly.
“Girl’s a lot tougher than she looks,” Michael said. “Gave me your message and more.”
“What do you mean?”
“She said that I shouldn’t let you go without a fight. So I’m here, okay?”
His speech stopped and started right there even as Lily waited for him to say, to do something else. “And that’s it?” she asked. “You don’t have anything else to say?”
Pulling her closer, Michael brought his lips close to hers. She felt as if she would swoon at the feel of the warm stream escaping from his mouth.
“I’d rather show you.”
Bringing his kiss to her lips, Lily struggled for all of a second and tried to push him away. His arms were too hard, his hold too strong, and Lily started to melt into him when he left her lips and searched her face.
“How’s that?” he asked. “Did you buy it?”
She was on the verge of nodding when she suddenly held still as stone and peered into his eyes.
“Maybe,” she said. “But you could show me more.”
Kissing her again, Michael’s arms surrounded her shoulders, and he pushed her into a slab of hard rock shining under the first light of dawn. Blinking past the sun, she found his face again and dared to stroke his cheek. “That all you got?” Lily asked.
When he failed to make another move, Lily started to fume. Wriggling against him, Michael tried to claim her mouth again as she flattened her palm against his cheek and sent him spinning. As she watche
d him fall, Lily felt a tear at her heart, and she started towards him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I… oh!”
Grabbing her ankle, Michael started to wrestle her to the ground. As her body began to crash to earth, Lily curled her fingers into fists and started beating against his chest. Michael easily absorbed her blows, and she screamed and kicked as he caught her arms over her head and pressed her body in place.
“Why does it always have to be like this?” she whimpered as she tried and failed to kick him again, his knee against her leg as he peered into her eyes.
“Like you don’t love it,” he challenged.
“I—”
“And stop lying to me already.”
Lily licked her lips and felt his face burning over his. She turned her head away, and he made no move to stop her as she spoke slowly.
“I… there was someone else,” she said. “But he wasn’t you. No one’s ever been you.”
Daring to look at him again, she held her breath at the sight of his face a mask of slate.
“And what exactly am I?” he asked.
“I already told you,” Lily said. “Everything.”
Michael started to kiss her again when he pulled back and laughed into the rising sun.
“But still you left,” he muttered. “No goodbye or—”
“Sally got you my message. I don’t know what else you want me to do.”
She squealed as he pressed her deeper into the ground and fell against her. The rhythm of his grinding hips hiked her skirts up and over her thighs. Lily felt his cock growing harder through his denim as he fell into her body, his lips close to hers before he finally spoke again.
“Moan for me.”
Releasing one of her wrists, Michael lowered his fly in one swift motion and pushed his cock to her mound. His tip teased her and circled her soft flesh, and she arched her body to feel more of him when he lifted up and away from her.
“Do it.” he ordered. “Now.”
Lily gritted her teeth, desperate to defy him even as her body burned when his lips fell to hers. His kiss was as soft as his cock was hard, and he started to slip inside her when he pulled back and simply looked down at her.
“Now, Lily. Let me hear it.”
Forgetting the nearness of his cock, she peered into his eyes, her breath heaving in her chest. “Is that all you need?”
“Why do you have to fight me on everything?”
“Because you love it,” she challenged. “Isn’t that really why you came after me?”
His eyes flashed, and his fingers pressed harder into her wrists. She felt as if he could break through her skin and crush her bones if he wanted to. But Lily knew that she couldn’t; a part of her didn’t want to. And she was ready to bear up under his blows when Michael relinquished some of his hold.
“Sure,” he whispered as he curled his touch under her finger. “I love this. And you.”
Starting under the force of his confession, Lily stared at him disbelief.
“You said it first,” she said.
“What’s that? Did I beat you to the punch or something?”
Slipping inside her again, he fell closer to her body and wrapped his arm around her waist as he dragged her body, her cunt nearer to his cock, expanding him around him as he filled her quickly. Now she moaned as he started to pulse inside her. Lily’s hands were at his chest, moving under his sweat-soaked shirt. Feeling his pecs, Lily sighed at the feel of his heart pounding, his skin shivering as she pressed her nails into his flesh and stretched up to kiss him.
“Maybe,” she whispered. “I—”
“Then say it.” He pushed her back to the ground. Lily expected him to leave her until she gave him the words that he wanted most. But Michael stayed inside her and stroked her hair as he sighed into her neck.
“Say it. If I’m going to lose you anyway…”
Seizing the chance, Lily moved closer to him and took her face in his hands. His cock still throbbed within her, but Lily shook the sensation away and stared into his eyes. “Of course I love you,” she whispered. “You don’t have to ask that.”
He kissed her again and only left her lips to bring his mouth to her ear. “I knew,” he said. “I knew from the first night. But I’ve been waiting.”
Looking into his eyes again, Lily grazed her fingers against his cheek and kissed him softly. “Sorry to keep you in suspense,” she whispered. “I’ve known for a long time, too.”
“Then why the hell are we still talking?”
Lily fell silent and offered no resistance as he pushed her back to the ground, his cock driving deeper as he moved around her. He made no attempt to capture her wrists again. Grateful for the chance to just touch his arms and move her fingers towards his hips as he expanded inside her, Lily’s fingers curled around his, and he gripped her hands as his cock swelled. When she moaned again, he managed to smile into her eyes, and his lips fell to her hers.
“Jesus fuck, Lily…”
He held back as her body shivered underneath him, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him back to her eyes.
“Please,” she begged. “No one is you. Make me feel good again, feel loved.”
His face seemed sad, but when she turned around his cock, the sorrow left his eyes. Michael fell against her, his hands at her bare breasts as he drove deeper and set her pussy on fire.
“I want you,” he moaned. “I couldn’t let you go without—”
“Stop talking,” Lily whispered as she grabbed his face and kissed him quickly. “I love it. I love you.”
“Lily…”
Pushing up, his cock seared her soft folds, and Lily gasped as he penetrated and exploded inside her. She let his lust coat her insides as she steadied her shaking form with his palms. His head fell between her breasts, and she curled her body to meet his mouth. Michael kissed her nipples and bit her mounds as her head spun in delight. Leaving her breasts, his tongue moved down her skin. The tip of his kiss swirled around her naval, and she savored the trembles crossing her flesh when he lifted his head to her shoulders and rested against her.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “That’s something that I can live on.”
She tried to hold him again when he sadly pulled his cock out. His hands stayed on her face as he peered down at her.
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked, her cunt still aching at the loss of him, only wanting him back.
“Haven’t cared this much about someone in a long time,” he admitted. “Guess I’m kind of rusty.”
Thinking of all that he had lost, Lily took him into her arms and held him close as she kissed his hair and stroked his cheeks.
“You did just fine,” she said. “And it’s more than I can live on.”
He started to speak but fell back with a sad sigh even as he rested his head to her breasts and kissed her there.
“When you’re gone, I’ll never forget.”
Could she go now? Did she really have to? As he lifted her to her feet and lowered her blouse, Michael just held her and sighed into her ear.
“But maybe I don’t I have to.”
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE Lily turned her head to his eyes and searched his face for an explanation. He wasn’t… he couldn’t really…
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Just saying,” he started. “You got no bike. And maybe this is the way to make things right.”
Holding her hand tighter, he started to drag her back to his bike. He nearly had her off the ground when she fought against him again and twisted her head over her neck.
“No!” she screamed. “You can’t be a part of this! It’s too dangerous!”
As he had her body against his bike, Michael pushed his fingers into her arms and steadied his face under her gaze.
“Wasn’t a thing when you were willing to give everything up for me,” he said. “Why can’t I return the favor?”
She was tempted; she wanted him to come with him
, to see there through the storm that promised to be the reunion with her parents and Dan. But as she started to take his hand, as she felt his fingers curling around her wrist, Lily pulled back and hid her face in her hands.
“Lily, I want to,” he said. “Trust me.”
He tried to hold her again, and Lily started to slip into his arms as he pushed his fingers into his arms and drew her closer.