Under Her Skin

by Michelle Love

  I take in a ragged breath. I’ve never allowed anyone to just look at me like this. It’s unnerving a little, but the way his eyes shine as he takes in every inch of me has me feeling like it’s okay. Like it will all be fine.

  Slowly his eyes and fingers trail back up to my face and he runs them over my cheeks. “Thank you, I know this isn’t easy for you.”

  “It’s not. I don’t let myself be this vulnerable, ever.” I close my eyes as he runs his hands through my hair.

  “I’m glad you’re letting me get close. I promise you’ll never regret it,” he says then his lips touch mine, and he kisses me so softly I think I might cry.

  He’s not going to make this easy on me!

  Blake

  Softly, I take her lips and run my tongue over them, lightly. I stroke her bare breast with my fingertip, feather light. Her body is gorgeous, tiny yet full. Voluptuous breasts that quiver with my touch beg to be taken.

  Tonight isn’t about sex, tonight is about learning about one another. All her life she’s kept her true self hidden deep inside and I want her out in the open with me.

  Her hand presses against my chest and she moves it over my pecs. I can tell she likes the way my muscles feel. I pull away from her and sit up, pulling the T-shirt off. The way her eyes light up as she looks me over has me smiling.

  I take her hand and hold it to my abs. She smiles. “How did you manage to get an eight pack?”

  “The usual way, hard work.” I wiggle my eyebrows at her. “When not playing video games, I work out. I have a whole gym in my parent’s living room. I don’t really go in there to hang out and watch television like I used to when they were there.”

  A frown covers her face.

  “Is it lonely? I mean, I’ve lived by myself for nearly three years now. The apartment I have in L.A. has always been just mine, so I don’t have anyone to miss there. Where you live used to be full with your parents and you. You have to miss them.”

  Her skin is light and glows in the dark room. “The truth is I do miss them. I miss them more some days than others, but I miss them more often than I let on.”

  The way her hand moves over my stomach makes me tremble and she notices. “You hide a little your own self too, don’t you?”

  I hate to admit that to myself more than anyone else, but she’s right. “I suppose I do.”

  “Why do you stay there?” she asks, with slight confusion on her face. “I mean, why not buy yourself a grand mansion like the other billionaires have?”

  “I guess I don’t see a reason to do that yet. I’m fine where I’m at for now. And I’m not ready to leave my home at the moment.” I lean down and nuzzle her neck. The way her hair smells like honeysuckle is amazing.

  She strokes my cheek. “Maybe I could help you look for a place. That might be fun. Where is it you want to live?”

  “I have no idea. Wherever you are sounds nice,” I say with a chuckle.

  The way her hand runs over my back and up into my hair sends chills through me. Her words come out soft as she says, “We’ll see if you continue to think that way, Blake. No one else ever has.”

  A knot forms in my throat at how she must feel. Her own mother gave her up, of course she thinks she’s unlovable. I press my lips to her neck and move them until I find hers.

  I pull them away and look at her, tracing her lips. “Spend the night with me.”

  “Here, in this bed?” She pats the blanket under her.

  “Yeah, let me hold you all night. I swear I won’t do anything other than that.”

  “Take your jeans off and let’s climb under the blanket. I think I’d like to see how that works. Truth be told, I’ve never been held all night.”

  I get up and drop my jeans and kick off my shoes as she moves up and pulls the blanket down. I climb in beside her and pull her to me. Little kisses I give her cheek and sigh.

  “It’ll be hard to keep myself from ravaging you, but I want you to trust me.” My hand runs over her breast under the blanket.

  “I’d like to trust you, Blake. If it helps, I’m exercising great restraint. I’d really like to feel you all over me.” Her hand runs over my shoulder and I can see lust burning in her blue eyes.

  I want to see more than lust in them though. I kiss her forehead and whisper, “With you, I need more than sex. I feel like you and I can have a real connection if we take things slow.”

  It’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I have to follow my instincts.

  Rachelle

  Warm breath on the back of my neck wakes me up. An arm is draped over my waist and a leg is thrown over me. Seems Blake held me possessively all night long. I really expected him to let me go and roll over, away from me in the night.

  He and I talked in whispers until we fell asleep. He wrapped me up in his strong embrace and I’ve never felt more comfortable. Safe and cared for is what I felt and find it hard to believe the man was a stranger less than twenty-four hours ago.

  Something moves behind me and a long pulse presses into my back. Seems someone is getting morning wood. Let’s see if he can maintain this restraint he’s been exercising.

  I roll over and kiss the tip of his nose. A light, blond stubble covers his handsome face and I have to touch it. I run my hand over his cheek and his blue, brown eyes flutter open.

  Immediately, he grins. “Hey.”

  I press my bare boobs against his broad chest. “Hey.” I wrap my arms around his neck and cuddle into him.

  “What a sweet way to wake up,” he says. His lips touch the top of head and I grow warm as I rest my body against his. “I could get used to this.”

  I could too and that’s a bad, bad thing!

  “Well, better get up. We’re leaving today. I don’t want to make them wait on me,” I say and pull away from him.

  His hands close around my back, halting my retreat. “Where does that leave us, Rachelle?”

  “I’m in Los Angeles and you’re in Lubbock. Why don’t you tell me where that leaves us?” I say as I blink back tears.

  “I could take you home, you know. I could hire a private jet and take you home.” His hands roam over my back and they send waves of want throughout my body.

  “What happened to taking things slow?” I ask as I think about how this will never work. “I’ll go back with Peyton and Kip. We can talk over the phone and get to know one another better before we go any further.”

  His arms tighten around me, holding me to him and his ever growing erection. “You sure? Think how nice it would be to wake up just like we did today. Think about how nice it felt to sleep with me wrapped around you.”

  “This was nice. Nicer than anything I’ve ever done.” I pause and try to think of a good reason why I wouldn’t want to keep this going. I have nothing and he seems to know it.

  “I won’t push you. Come on, let’s get up and enjoy what time we have left before you’re whisked away from me.”

  He pulls away from me and gets out of the bed and I feel colder than I’ve ever been.

  This is going to be so hard!

  Blake

  Zane is wrapped around Rachelle and glaring at me. He looks up at her as he hangs on her leg. “I thought you said you don’t have no boyfriend, Chellie!”

  She smiles at him and looks up at me with a wink. “I don’t.”

  I step forward and throw my arm around her. “Yes you do, if you want one that is.”

  Zane sticks his tongue out at me. “Her is mine!”

  I lean down and tussle his blond hair. “Isn’t she a little old for you?”

  He shakes his head. “She’s pretty, and she’s sweet and her is mine!”

  Max grabs the kid up and tosses him in the air. “I’m sure Rachelle has plenty of love to go around, Zane.”

  The word, ‘love’ he tossed out so effortlessly has Rachelle frowning.

  Too fast, too soon!

  With Zane out of the way, I run my arm around her little shoulders and pull her alo
ng with me. I have to have at least one kiss before she gets on the helicopter that will take her away from me until I can persuade her to let me come to her.

  The pool house looms ahead of us and I take her inside. As the door closes she throws her arms around me and her lips are on mine before I even have a chance to ask for a goodbye kiss.

  Her mouth is hot, and she kisses me like I have the air she needs to live. My hair is tangled into her fingers and she presses her small body into mine. I pull my head back and look at her.

  I push her dark hair back. “Say the word, baby and I’ll come to you. The minute you ask. Understand?”

  Her eyes search mine. “Really?”

  I nod and press my lips to hers again, backing her up until she hits the wall and I pull her ass up as she runs her legs around my waist. I grind into her and wish like hell she’d change her mind.

  Her chest heaves with her ragged breaths. “I have to go.”

  And with those words, I let her go and pray she decides to let me go to her, and sooner rather than later.

  Part 2 Lucky Investments

  Blake

  Out the window I gaze as I talk to Rachelle on the phone. The full moon fills the last pane of glass and I press my hand to it. The same moon hangs over her sweet head right now. It’s where I want to be so desperately.

  “So, finals, huh?” I ask, despondently.

  “Yeah, tomorrow is the last one,” she says. “But it always takes me a few days to unwind from the stress I put myself through to pass them all. Want to know what recipe I’m making for my baking class in the morning?”

  “Is it the one I got from Mom’s cookbook of French recipes?” I ask as I run my finger over the glass, tracing it around the rounded moon.

  “It is,” she says. “Only I’m adding a little extra French vanilla and instead of lady fingers, I’m using graham crackers and homemade whipped cream. Instead of calling it Tiramisu, I’m calling it Taramisu. In honor of your mother, Tara Chandler. I’m also dedicating the recipe to her in my written recipe.”

  My heart pounds at how sweet she is. “She’d love that, baby. She wasn’t a good cook, but God knows she tried hard. You should let me come to celebrate the end of finals with you. I could take you out or we could stay in or something. Whatever you want.”

  “That’s nice and I know most people would really love that, Blake. I just want time alone though. I hope you can understand. It’s been a ton of pressure.” She pauses and I can hear a long sigh. “Oh, and for my class where I’m learning to cook different types of proteins, I picked to make a ham. Wanna know why?”

  “I do,” I take in a deep breath and wonder how long she’s going to keep me away. She’s let me in a lot. Told me so many things over the phone I doubt I would ever get to know if we were face to face. “Please tell me, baby.”

  “I picked a ham so I could call my recipe Cam Ham. In honor of your dad, sweetie. I’m putting an injection of a jalapeno, cream cheese mixture all throughout it. What do you think about that? Oh! I’m dedicating the written recipe to him as well.”

  Her voice is so high, and she’s so excited. “I think you’re the sweetest, most compassionate and sentimental woman I’ve ever known.”

  “Nah! There’s much better women than me. Anyway, it’s cool too because the college makes a cookbook that sells all over the world and your parents’ names will be in it. That’s the real reason I did it. So you would have a cook book with their names in it. You said your mom had tons of cookbooks.”

  The woman is too great. “That’s amazing you even thought to do that, Rachelle. You seem to be more than able to do things for me. Let me do something for you, baby.”

  “It’s nothing, really. It was fun for me to think about. I’ve made recipes for my grandparents too. No big deal. Anyway,” she says and her voice goes soft and a lot quieter. “Do you miss me?”

  “So damn much it’s not fair.” I chuckle. “Tell me how you did that to me. One night with you and you consume my thoughts. I kinda ache to hold you in my arms again.”

  “You ache?” A long pause she makes then she sighs. “Me too.”

  The fact we could be together if she wasn’t so afraid of being left by me haunts me. I feel mad sometimes then remember her mother left her at a children’s home full of strangers when she was only three years old.

  How afraid she must’ve been. It makes my heart ache with the thought, but she never seems to want to talk about how she felt. She merely maintains she has no memory of that time.

  “So, how’s that noisy neighbor?” I ask as she’s complained about some young man who plays video games all night.

  “He’s gone I guess. I didn’t hear anything last night, and it’s nearly nine tonight so he must’ve went somewhere,” she says.

  “Or got a girlfriend to occupy his time. Lexi’s brother, Josh, my next door neighbor, has asked me several mornings as we pick up our newspapers out of our driveways if I’ve been picked up by a spaceship or something as my house is much quieter than it’s ever been.”

  “Why’s that?” she asks.

  “Because instead of nights full of playing video games and making all the noise that goes with that. I’ve been watching movies in my bedroom. Love stories, mostly.” I wait to see what she says about that.

  “You’re full of crap!”

  “Maybe, a little.”

  One love story I watched, and I had to watch anything else. The truth is I’ve been working out like a maniac. Burning up energy has been my topmost priority.

  “Why do men even try to pull that line? Women are not fools! So what have you really been doing?”

  “Working out. Okay, there it is! Happy! I’m addicted to working out.” I end with a maniacal laugh.

  She’s quiet then she takes in a breath. “So, you’re even more built than when I saw you?”

  Half my mouth moves into a quirky smile. “I don’t know. You want me to come to L.A. and you can tell me?”

  The way she hesitates lets me know she does. But I’m ready to hear her say the words I’ve heard every single time I’ve talked to her in the least two weeks.

  ‘I’m just not sure yet.’

  “Well, I do miss you like crazy,” she says.

  Those aren’t the words!

  My heart stops and I wait, holding the phone to my ear as I cross my fingers. “Rachelle, it would be fun. I promise not to make a big deal about your accomplishments, I swear.”

  “Let me think about it and get with you after my exams tomorrow. The last one is at two in the afternoon. I’ll call you after that and let you know.”

  It’s the first time she hasn’t given me a straight out, ‘no’ so I take it. “Okay! I’ll await your call then, baby.”

  “Good night, Blake.”

  “Good night, Rachelle.”

  Rachelle

  Beads of rain drip down the window as I finish up my last test. The day’s been long, but it’s almost over and I can go home and make myself a cup of coffee and read a book.

  It crosses my mind that Peyton wanted to take me to a special dinner to celebrate the end of this semester, but I just feel like unwinding at home, alone. Kip and Peyton have been the best friends I’ve ever had.

  Friends are a thing I’ve kept at bay as well as boyfriends. People confuse me. When there’s only me, there’s no threat of upheaval. I’m not going to screw myself over, so it’s safe that way.

  I turn in my test after answering the last question about food safety and leave the classroom. It’s four in the afternoon, but you wouldn’t know that as the sky is grey with rain clouds.

  Even if I wanted Blake to come, he’d not be able to make it in this weather.

  I should’ve told him he could come yesterday. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I want him to come like I want air to breathe, but I can’t say the words.

  My umbrella opens, but half of it pulls up and breaks as the wind pulls it. I ditch it in the nearest trash can and make a run for my car.
The little white 2012 Honda Accord’s lights flash as I hit the button to unlock it.

  I slip into the driver’s seat and put on my seatbelt. One look into the mirror on my visor shows me a soaking wet girl, with wide eyes. She looks back at me with water streaming down her face.

  The fact some of that water is tears is something I’d rather not think about. Some of the other people who I have classes with talked about the parties people were throwing them. Others talked about where they were going to celebrate.

  Though no one’s fault but my own, I’m feeling sorry for myself that I shut out all who wanted to make this a special time for me. I grab a few napkins from the glove box and wipe away the tears.

  My face is left pale and my eyes look huge and tired. I am tired. So damn tired of living life like this. I shake my head and water is thrown all around my little car as the rain leaves my long hair.

  With slight determination to make some much needed changes in my life, I press the gas and leave the parking lot. No school for a month and all the time in the world as I have the month off from the restaurant I intern at.

  The boss said I could go in if I want, but I don’t think I’ll want to do that. I’ll go home, take a nice, hot bath and put on my PJ’s and relax.

  Alone.

  Blake

  The rain pounds the windshield of the car I rented this morning at the airport. Thank the good Lord I decided to take off super early this morning instead of waiting to see if Rachelle would let me come see her after she finished her classes.

  Using the GPS and the address Kip gave me to her apartment. I wait outside of it for Rachelle to come home. My heart pounds as I have no idea of how she’ll take this.

  I pray she doesn’t see it as an intrusion into her life. But truth be told, I think that’s the only way to get into her life is to force your way in. I have a bouquet of flowers in the passenger seat and a bottle of red wine too.