by Amber Burns
He raised the glass towards the girls, and they all brought their drinks to their lips. Carmichael watched for a moment, and then he turned to me. But he did not press the blue drink to his mouth. Instead, to my shock, he pressed it into my hands.
“For you, my sweetest honey,” he wheezed, his smile dripping with syrup.
I blushed and tried to push the glass gently back towards him.
“Oh no, no thank you, I shouldn’t, I’m working, after all,” I stuttered, shaking my head and forcing a laugh.
Carmichael stared at me, his eyes suddenly narrower, more electric again.
“Oh, my little pretty, go on,” he said, and he grabbed my hand in his own and wrapped my fingers around the stem of the glass. “Do go on. I insist. After all, it is not very polite to refuse a gift freely given. Now, is it?”
I stared at him for a moment and he stared directly back at me. A fake smile was plastered across his face and his eyes gleamed with that unreadable something that sent chills down my spine. I did not want to drink on the job; I was fairly certain that was grounds upon which I could be fired… if I was not already going to be fired for nearly fucking my employer thirty minutes ago. But I came to the quick conclusion that it was probably better to just have one drink and get away from this weird, creepy man and his circle of doting, intimidating girlfriends.
After all, it was one drink, and by the looks of it, it was something overly sweet and therefore probably low in alcohol content. What harm could that do? Mr. Cartwright would not even need to know. I figured that as soon as I had downed it, I could hurry away from this odd, disconcerting gathering of silk and gold teeth and back to somewhere… well, anywhere, so long as it was not in the company of these eight awful party guests. So, coming to that decision, I awkwardly raised the glass towards first Carmichael, and then, for extra effect, towards the seven woman, forcing a smile across my lips.
“Bottoms up, then!” I said, and I pressed the glass to my lips and poured the creamy blue liquid down my throat.
I was surprised to find that it was not the overly sweet drink that I expected. Rather, it tasted strange, almost like something metallic was mixed with berries that had been left out in the sun too long. I choked the liquid down and then slid the empty glass back into Carmichael’s hands.
“This has really been oh so lovely and wonderful, and I am so glad that I had the pleasure of having a drink with all of you this evening. But, if you do not mind, I uh, I have to go back and process the party umm… paperwork. Yes, that is what I have to do. So if you will excuse me!”
I rushed the words out of my mouth and then, before he had a chance to grab at me, I slipped away and was rushing blindly across the dance floor and through the crowd. As I pushed my way through white suit jackets and skinny, pointy elbows, I knocked glasses of alcohol this way and that, Yelps of annoyance followed in my wake and I started to feel strange which each further step I took. My body felt heavy, and I began to feel as if I was moving through very thick water. I pressed on, slipping and wading through the mass of party goers, until I had finally reached the edge of the dance floor. There, a darkened, narrow hallway stood just a meter from where I teetered. I rushed towards it, my movements feeling slower and slower, my head starting to feel more and more cloudy.
Last thing I remembered was this: something about Mr. Cartwright, a corner, and the lights from the hall playing off his perfect physique. Then a flash of Mr. Cartwright’s eyes. First angry, then concern. I remembered his strong hand, reaching, reaching, as I seemed to sink back into a pool of complete and confused blackness…
10
Molly
It had all come back just as suddenly as it had happened. I stared at the old woman, my mind awash with what had happened the night before.
“Oh,” I finally responded just before the massive doors to the bedroom swung open.
“Is everything okay in there?”
It was Mr. Cartwright’s voice. I immediately knew it and felt a wave of relief flow through me. My head snapped towards the door, and I pushed my glasses up my nose. He slipped quietly through the double doors, as if he was afraid I might still be sleeping. He inched in carefully, his eyebrows raised in care, when his copper gaze met my own. As soon as our eyes met, his shoulders relaxed and his face fell into a relieved smile.
“Oh holy shit, thank fuck,” he gushed and rushed across the room. Nearing me, he stopped suddenly, coming to an awkwardly abrupt halt just inches away from where I sat perched on the edge of the bed. “Molly,” he breathed, still smiling, though looking as if he had no idea what to do with himself. “Molly, I am so glad you are alright.” He grinned at me in that absolutely irresistible way for a moment, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. Then, suddenly, the smile fell from his lips, and his face became overwhelmed with concern. “Are you alright?” He asked, his expression consumed by worry.
I could not help it, I laughed.
“Yes,” I assured him, nodding a little and glancing at Gloria.
She smiled and winked at me before standing up from the bed. Her gentle hands took mine, and she gave me a pat as if to say ‘you’ll be alright now.’ I returned her smile, and the old housekeeper turned to exit the room. Nikko broke our gaze to give Gloria a knowing nod, a ‘thank you,' before she left the room. Once we were alone, I returned my eyes to my employer.
“Yes, I am quite alright, thank you for asking. And,” I added, thinking of all that Gloria had revealed, and all that she had provoked me into remembering. “Thank you for everything. Last night. And everything that you...um, didn’t do… um, I mean,” I blushed, still combatting a bit of brain fog. I cleared my throat and shook my head, wiping the slate clean, trying again. “Ahem. Just... Thank you very much, Mr. Cartwright.”
Mr. Cartwright appeared to be taken aback. He looked at me, and a funny expression crossed his face. His lips parted, and he tilted his head to the side and ran a strong hand over the stubble that lightly kissed his face.
“Please, Molly,” he said earnestly, looking at me in that way that dripped with honey and stung like cool metal pressed against the skin. “Please, call me Nikko. After all that has happened, even so far.” And at that, he ran a hand over his face and through his slightly disheveled morning hair. His eyes glanced away and, after a moment, his lips parted with unexpected laughter. “After all that, please at least do me a favor and call me Nikko.”
I gazed up at the statuesque man that stood before me. His dark hair was pushed away from his face in a charmingly messy, morning way. He wore a white long sleeved cotton shirt with tiny buttons that reached up towards his neck. The buttons were part way undone so that the strong lines of his muscular chest peeked out through the shirt. I shivered as my eyes caught the form of his abs, working beneath the thin material. He wore dark jeans that clung to his legs and emphasized his every contour. I forced my eyes away from his perfectly shaped body and looked down at my hands. He seemed for the entire world to be hammered together out of strong, smooth, pale stone.
“Nikko, then,” I said quietly, my fingers dancing around each other. “Thank you, Nikko.”
Nikko smiled then, and it was as if the entire room filled with light. I felt my stomach flip over, and my heart begin to leap up joyously into my throat.
“That’s so much better,” he beamed, grinning that trademark grin, the corners of his mouth twitching up in that impossibly sexy way. “The way my name sounds, falling from your lips…”
He stared at me, for a moment, just looking into my eyes, as if he had forgotten he had been mid-speech. I felt my cheeks burning but I did not dare look away; he was pouring those copper irises into me, and I was too greedy to let the moment pass.
Gloria cleared her throat just then, and we both jumped slightly, surprised to see her lingering in the doorway. Nikko’s head snapped her way, his face flushed slightly (a sight which made me quickly swallow a private smile). He shoved his hands into the pockets of his tight jeans and nodded at Gloria.
“Thanks again, Gloria, honey,” he said in a somewhat rushed voice.
Gloria looked at Nikko knowingly and smiled back.
“Of course, my dear boy,” she said. “Of course.” Then the old housekeeper turned to me and winked before she scurried out of the room and softly closed the doors behind her.
Nikko turned back to me, his chiseled face open and earnest.
“I really hope it didn’t scare you when you woke up this morning,” he said honestly.
I looked up at him and shook my head, feeling my tangled hair slapping me lightly on my still pink cheeks.
“No, not at all,” I lied, and then stopped myself. “Well, it did throw me off a little bit,” I admitted. “But only because all I could remember was what we… when we… well, you know, in the lounge.”
“Right,” Nikko nodded knowingly.
“Yes,” I continued. “So of course, that kind of made me think, what if I had actually been that stupid? I mean, I know that what happened in the lounge was just…” I paused, and Nikko looked at me, his face blank, his eyebrows cocked up in interest. I looked away and shook my head. “I mean, you were drinking, I was… well, I was being… I wasn’t making good choices and… and I know that that’s just kind of who you are… And please,” I added quickly, glancing back up at him. “Please don’t take that the wrong way. You really are a very lovely person, really you are, but obviously, you are so attractive, and we both know that you often like to do this sort of thing. Which I mean there is certainly nothing wrong with at all, not at all, I don’t judge anyone’s lifestyle ever, and I think that’s just what some people do and what other people don’t and that’s perfectly alright and all and I just… I know that you didn't intend for it to mean anything but I guess that I sort of got carried away and why am I even saying this right now I I…”
I stopped, having completely run out of breath, having said more than I had ever intended, completely embarrassed and breathless and awkward. I sat in silence for a moment, avoiding his eyes, catching my breath. Then I looked back up at him.
“All I’m trying to say,” I said quietly. “Is that I know it meant nothing to you, and I know it will never happen again, and both of those things are very much okay.”
Nikko gazed down at me silently, his eyebrows still arched in interest.
“What if it did?” he said.
The words dropped from his lips lightly, and his brows moved to frame his face with a look of amusement. I gaped up at him, confused.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Nikko’s lips twitched and the ghost of a smile shivered across his face.
“You said you knew it meant nothing. That it wouldn’t ever happen again.” Nikko slipped his hands onto his hips, his biceps bulging from beneath the thin material of the shirt. “I’m saying… what if it did?”
I felt my heart begin to race and I swallowed.
“You mean… what if it did matter? Or what if it did happen again?” I asked. The words shimmered as they slipped across my lips. I could barely believe this was happening.
Nikko shrugged, his eyes never once leaving my face.
“Both,” he said as he leaned forward and kissed me.
The kiss was electric; his lips blessing me with some sort of ecstasy, an explosion of fireworks inside of the pits of my stomach. I gasped and then leaned forward, into the kiss, my heart racing with adrenaline, my fingers flying through the air to grab fistfuls of his hair. I wanted to pull him closer to me. We fell backward on top of the bed, and his lips found my eyes, my cheeks, and my chin. Then he began to kiss me passionately, tenderly, tracing a path down the side of my neck. I trembled in bliss and watched as this beautiful man began to lick at my collar bones, kissing a path down my heaving chest until he reached my waist. And then he stopped. Completely. Just as suddenly as he had started kissing me, Nikko halted, pulled away, and looked up at me.
“What?” I asked breathlessly, my breasts bouncing as I breathed heavily. “What is it?”
And that’s when he grinned and wrapped his arms around me and pulled at my already unzipped dress. I returned the gesture as I grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head as he feverishly yanked and pulled the dress away from my body. My breasts bounced before him, and he groaned.
“Oh, fuck yes,” he said, and he grabbed my tits in his hands and lightly squeezed my nipples.
I fell back, breathing in glee, but then pushed forward again to free the shirt completely from his body. He stood before me, shirtless; his perfectly carved muscles, his full set of abs, gleaming in front of me. I ran my hands over the contours of his body and felt my insides writhing with pleasure.
“Holy fuck,” I gasped as he leaned forward and began to lick at my already hardened nipples. “Holy fuck,” I repeated as I ran a hand down his washboard abs and shivered with pleasure. “You’re perfect.”
“Speak for yourself!” He roared, and tipped me back down upon the bed and leaned over me.
His tongue began to lick and tease at my breasts. He traced circles around my nipples, his eyes staring up at me, and I began to squirm with attraction. I could feel myself getting wet, and it simultaneously excited me and scared me. Yet I could not think. All I could do was ride the waves of attraction, the roiling, explosive feelings that were taking over my body as Nikko’s hands slipped across my hips, squeezing and grabbing and embracing my curves. His tongue and lips worshiped my breasts, and then his fingers worked the dress over the shape of my hips, sliding the fabric free from my body.
Nikko dropped the dress to the floor and began to kiss a path down my stomach, licking a trail past my navel, down towards my naked thighs. My flesh quivered with excitement as this perfect man’s lips lightly kissed the skin of my inner thighs, and then his teeth lightly pinched the band of my underwear. He looked up at me, and my stomach flipped over yet again. I found myself staring into those impossibly devilish, yet tender copper eyes. Those eyes that were gazing so seductively up at me from between my shaking legs as his teeth clutching the band of my underwear. My eyes rolled back, and he laughed teasingly as he pulled the underwear away to reveal me.
He began to lightly kiss my pussy, softly teasing me with his soft, full lips. And then he glanced up at me with those honey filled copper eyes and slid his tongue down and began to trace around my clit.
“Oh god,” I moaned. “Oh wow. That is… oh, that’s fucking amazing.”
Nikko breathed back.
“Mmm,” he said, his lips playing over my clit, and I felt myself growing wetter and wetter still. “No, no… This? Eating you out? This is fucking amazing.”
Nikko slid downwards and began to slip his tongue inside me. I clutched fistfuls of the blankets, my back arching and my legs shaking as he worked his tongue inside of me. Then suddenly his lips were back around my clit, and his fingers were sliding into my pussy.
“Oh fuck yes,” I breathed, my back arching.
He grinned a wicked grin and began to slide his fingers in and out of me, pressing up against my insides. I cried out and sat up to watch him as my tits bounced and his muscles worked, his fingers sliding in and out of me.
“Oh yes, baby, oh fuck yes,” he gasped, biting at his lips as he watched his fingers dance within me. “I’m getting so fucking hard right now.”
He pulled his fingers out of me and wrapped his arms around my blissfully trembling body. He began to kiss me, but I took over. I threw him over and mounted him, my naked flesh pressing up against his own, and then I began to kiss him fiercely, ferociously, my fingers finding the buckle of his belt and pulling the brown leather free. I kissed his naked chest, every inch of that impossibly beautiful, god-like body, and then I slid down over the rock hard lump in his jeans and unbuttoned the pants.
Nikko reached forward and pulled his cock from his briefs, and I nearly passed out right then and there. He was so big, hard and ready to be inside of me. He was throbbing, and I leaned forward without thinking and wrapped my l
ips around his thick cock. I began to slide him in and out of my lips, licking at the sides of his throbbing shaft, taking it all in, feeling myself dripping for him.
“Oh fuck yes, Molly baby,” he moaned, and his fingers reached forward and pushed the hair from my face so that I could continue to thrust him deeper down my throat.
Having him between my lips like that was delicious. His cock, and the cum leaking from the tip, tasted so fucking good. He was so hard, and I was so wet, that I could not stand it one moment longer. I licked the top of his dick and watched it pulse and then, working my hand up and down that thick, rock hard cock, I looked up at him.
“I want to fuck you,” I heard myself saying… and hearing the words fall from my mouth, so direct, so forceful, turned me on even more.
I felt myself dripping onto him, my pussy wet against his muscular thighs. Nikko looked at me, and I could see in his face and in his eyes that he had been waiting for this longer than I had thought.