by Jade Allen
“Why are you doing this?” she asked him suddenly.
He pursed his lips for a moment, “I think it goes without saying.”
“No,” Natalia denied. “Tell me….please.”
He gave her a strange look; one that she couldn’t read. “You know, I’ve known you since elementary school. We were in a few of the same classes for a couple years. You never looked at me; you never really cared. But I would watch you as you studied, and I couldn’t help but wonder why you never cared, when literally everyone else wouldn’t leave me alone.”
He paused for a moment, lifting a hand to rub at the muscles of his neck. The movement was entrancing and made Natalia’s mouth dry up.
“When we got to high school, I did everything I could to get you to notice me. I messed around with lots of girls, but you never even blinked in my direction. You weirded me out, Natalia. And it drove me insane. Then we graduated, and you disappeared for years and I sort of just stuck around here. I got a few odd jobs, fooled around a little more, and even had a girlfriend for almost a year...but nothing seemed to be enough. Then you showed up, and when I saw you, you still had that uncaring look on your face; I honestly felt ridiculously excited. I was a nervous wreck when you agreed to come here, God knows why. I figured, hell, I’ll get in and get out—get that fill and move on with my life. But then you got on top of me and when I felt you, I realized exactly how deep in shit I was.”
“What do you mean?”
Jace grinned at her, and even with a split lip he looked like he was carved from marble or granite stone. Beautiful, untouchable, and completely desirable. “I want you, Nat. I want you more than anything I’ve ever needed before.”
Then he was reaching toward her chin, lifting her face to meet her wide eyed gaze with one of intent and desire. She knew better than to fall for his words, than to listen to a single thing he said, but something inside her was taught, reverberating like a string with every little touch he cast on her. He made music erupt in her skin, and it had been unlike anything she had ever felt before. Curious and aching, Natalia allowed Jace to press his mouth over hers, and the familiar heat that exploded in her body yesterday reappeared with a brilliant vengeance.
Throwing caution to the wind, Natalia pushed herself to the tips of her toes, closing the distance between their figures and wrapping her arms tight around his neck and shoulders. Jace responded in kind, parting his lips against hers, letting her in to taste that strange, yet intoxicating flavor she found herself addicted to. His hands drifted around her waist, dragging down her back and around the flare of her hips.
The touch sparked her hips to grind against his, forcing Jace to part from their kiss with a sharp hiss. “H-hey, you sure you…?” he trailed off when Natalia tipped her chin to recapture his mouth between her teeth. She gave him a soft moan, pulling at him to lead her back to his bedroom.
Jace shuddered beneath her fingertips, dragging his broad hands down to her thighs before hooking them under her knees. Natalia gave a little bounce at his insistence, wrapping her legs around his waist as he peppered her mouth with kisses. They stumbled a couple of times, and she felt him smile against her mouth when they pushed into his room. When they fell upon the bed, Natalia could feel the heat in her body shoot down to her core and she knew he could see it reflected in her half-lidded gaze.
Their movements weren’t as urgent as their first time together. Jace took his time peeling her clothes off. His hips bucked against hers with more deliberate grazes that left her gasping against his neck and reaching to dig her hands into his hair. When his tongue found the edge of her collarbone, Natalia had found she could no longer deal with his slow pace. She shoved him off, tackling him down to the bed before sealing her mouth over his once more, noting how he moaned when she straddled him.
His hands reached down to her ass, pushing down as she ground hard against him, making the friction rough and delicious.
“Jace,” Natalia moaned, feeling his hands dip past the fabric of her shorts. “I-I want…”
“Yeah?” he replied, rolling over her once more to pin her to the bed. With several frantic kicks and bucks of their hips, the last of their clothes were shed, drowning them both in the sensation of their flesh rubbing together. “Hold on, let me get a condom,” he muttered, but Natalia refused to release him.
“Forget the condom,” she huffed, “Just—just do it already!”
“Are you—” he paused, groaning when she spread her legs wider apart, making him rub against her drenched folds. “Are you on the pill?”
“YES!” she snapped, impatient and wanting him to enter her that very moment. Jace let out another groan, reaching down to rub his fingers against her clit, dragging torturous circles around the sensitive nub. Natalia gasped out a loud moan, bracing her feet against the mattress to grind against his touch. In moment, she felt him align with her entrance, teasing her with mock thrusts that had her biting down hard on her lip.
“Do you want it?” he asked, and Natalia let out a whine.
“Uh-huh,” she huffed, feeling dizzy with desire. She spotted his grin above her and she nearly kicked him.
“I don’t think you do.”
“Jace!”
He chuckled, deep and throaty, “Alright, alright.” He shifted his hips, burying his length between her legs. They both let out a series of moans, basking in the sensations of filling and being filled; the sensation of completion. “How can you be so tight?” he groaned.
“Mmm,” Natalia hummed in pleasure as he began to move. “Oh—oh, yes. Like that.” Her moans rose in pitch as Jace’s fingers blazed fiery trails over her shivering skin. She let out a particularly loud whimper when his fingers found her perked nipples, dragging jolt after jolt of electric pleasure through her body. Her legs wrapped around waist, hips bouncing as he thrust deeper inside of her.
“Faster,” she urged, but Jace had another plan. Suddenly, he pulled out; when Natalia let out a cry of protest, she could only yelp when he grabbed her hips and spun her over to her belly. She pushed herself up to her elbows, gasping as he hovered above her, lifting her hips up to meet his. She could feel him grinding against her; Natalia’s back arched when one of his hands trailed down below her belly to spread her legs out further, his fingers trailing over entrance just as his cock found its way back inside her.
The new position felt amazing, and when he pushed her further down, she could feel him thrust as her nipples rubbed against the sheets beneath. Each touch of his fingers on her folds made her seize, her muscles tightening and clamping hard before releasing. This time, he didn’t hesitate to plow into her, driving into her with such force it was almost impossible to hold back the screams from escaping her throat.
“Oh! Oh, God—Like that! I’m so close!” she heard herself cry, felt her body spasm and flail as he pistoned his hips against hers. It was incredible. It was amazing.
Suddenly, Natalia’s orgasm slammed into her with the force of a tidal wave. Her inner walls clamped down hard over Jace’s cock, milking him and fluttering over his throbbing length until she was seeing white. He bucked harder, faster, panting wildly in tandem to the sound of their bodies slapping together until she felt him stutter against her, his hot release blooming deep within her.
The two lovers collapsed on the mattress, gasping for air as they waited for the waves of bliss to pass and leave them sighing gently in each other’s arms. Shifting, she felt Jace’s arms wrap around her waist, pulling her close to his chest, pressing languid kisses over her neck. She met his gaze with a half-smile and a caress to his cheek. She could picture herself really liking him, really liking the curve of his jaw, the perk of his smug lips. Natalia found herself envisioning something with Jace different from anything she’d had with anyone before.
“Can I ask you something?” Jace muttered some time later.
“What is it?”
“Would you…” he trailed off, cheeks flushing sheepishly—she found the sight to be so heartbreaki
ngly endearing. “Would you like to stay with me… just a little bit longer?”
There was a strange warmth in her chest, a strange sensation that made her feel like she could reach out and grab that picture of happiness between her and Jace. She knew her family would shout and shake their heads, and Nathan would probably be insanely mad at her for this, but she had been alone for years, and she was quite tired of the isolation.
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I’d like that.”
And for the first time in a long time, Natalia was content, wrapped in a pair of warm arms and a bright smile.
Who the hell cares what other people think?
THE END
Desire On The Run
PART ONE
Chelsea had finally managed to sink into the depths of the sleep she craved after spending an entire night tossing and turning, her mind going over the petty details and stresses of her week at work. Finally, as the sky had already begun to lighten, her mind had succumbed to the bone-deep exhaustion of her body, and given up the task of enumerating all of the things she needed to do. She was in the midst of a dream—a sweet, uncomplicated, comforting dream—when the siren-slide sound of Hot Hot Heat’s “Future Breeds” reached into her brain, splitting the air and cutting through the threads of her dream state. Chelsea groaned, the sound almost a sob of frustration, as she reached out and blindly grabbed for her phone where she kept it; not on her bedside table, which she knew from experience would make it easier to turn the alarm off altogether, but on the desk next to her bed. Fumbling, she closed her fingers around the slippery device and by memory thumbed the snooze feature.
Chelsea knew that the nine minutes’ silence would not actually help; it felt as if every joint in her body had been attacked by bat-wielding assailants, as if her eyelids had been replaced with sandpaper. The dull throb at her temples told her readily that nine minutes was simply not a replacement for the hours of sleep she had missed. But for a precious few moments, at least, she could pretend she didn’t have to get up and out of bed, that she didn’t have to go to work. Chelsea let the phone fall onto the blankets, curling in on herself tighter and burying her face against the pillows in denial of the idea that it was already morning.
She began to slip into a doze, her muscles relaxing one by one as the silence stretched out. Maybe—just maybe—she’d get a few minutes of quality sleep. Chelsea’s breathing evened and slowed, and she was on the edge of falling asleep once more when she found herself once more pulled sharply into wakefulness by the sensation of her phone vibrating. Her sleep-fogged brain at first protested that it couldn’t possibly be nine minutes yet; but then, if it had been, she would be hearing her alarm tone—not feeling the buzzing vibration of her phone’s silent “ring.” Someone was calling her.
“It’s like no one in the entire world wants me to sleep today,” Chelsea muttered to herself, opening her eyes and scrubbing at her face in self-pity. Her phone continued to vibrate, and she ruefully gave up on the idea of getting any more sleep. The only people her exhausted mind could think of who would call her at such an early hour were her coworkers; her friends knew better, and the few members of her family still alive and speaking to her did as well. Chelsea yawned as her hand found the phone where it was buried in the blanket. She picked it up and squinted against the light in the room as she tried to force her dry, sleepy eyes to focus on the number flashing on the screen. It wasn’t a number she recognized. For a moment—a flicker of a thought—she considered throwing the phone across the room, curling up once more, and considering the day a complete failure to launch. But Chelsea realized that she was already fully awake; and if it was a telemarketer, she at least could get the lesser comfort of verbally tearing whoever it was into pieces.
“Who the hell is this?” she asked as soon as she had tapped the “accept” icon on her screen and saw that the call had connected.
“Chelsea Davies, good morning. You are in a great deal of danger, and I strongly advise you to call into work sick today. In fact, it would be best if you remained exactly where you are in your apartment for the next thirty minutes.” Chelsea took the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen for a long moment, confused and irritated.
“What are you talking about? And just how do you know my name?”
“You have plenty of sick time. You should take some of it today, and stay right where you are until you hear a knock like this.” Chelsea’s frowned deepened as she heard a tapping pattern over the phone line: tock-tock-tock-ti-tock. “Did you get that, Chelsea?”
“I’m not going to agree to anything until you give me some answers,” she said irritably.
“We don’t really have time for this; I need to be off of the phone in the next thirty seconds. Be a good girl and listen to that knock one more time, and tell me clearly whether or not you understand what I’ve told you.” Once more she heard the tapping pattern. Curiosity overwhelming her irritation at the mystery caller and the interruption of her sleep, Chelsea listened to the pattern carefully.
“Okay, fine, I heard it,” she said sulkily.
“Good girl. You’ll hear it again in about thirty minutes. Call your office and tell them you’ll be sick for a couple of days and stay exactly where you are.” Chelsea opened her mouth to protest the peremptory command when she heard the low-toned beep-beep-beep that signaled that the call was disconnected. She let the phone slip from her fingers and sank down against the pillows, puzzling over the mysterious call and the equally strange caller. Chelsea frowned, her eyelids descending over her eyes as her deep fatigue settled over her once more. He had known that she had plenty of sick time—that much was true; she had banked almost a full week of sick time. You’re not calling in sick because some mystery asshole told you to, Chelsea told herself as she forced her eyes open and reached for her phone once more.
“I’m calling in sick because I am exhausted and I’d be useless at work anyway. It’s a mental health day.” Chelsea opened up her contacts list and found the number to the office, coughing a few times experimentally to roughen her voice. She waited for the automatic prompt to come on—the office didn’t officially open for business for another hour and a half—and put in the number for her manager’s extension. Elise wouldn’t be at her desk either; Chelsea knew that she’d go straight to voicemail, which was for the best. When she heard the tone, she coughed again. “Hey, Elise,” Chelsea said, pitching her voice low and giving into the fatigue she felt in every bone of her body without any pretense. “I’m not going to be able to come in today. I feel like I just got ran over with a Mack truck.” She coughed again for effect and sniffled harshly. “I may check my email just to keep on top of things and send a message to HR, but I’ve gotta stay in bed today. I’ll give you an update later.” She ended the call and let her head fall back against the pillows, yawning again.
Chelsea’s irritation rose as minutes passed; she felt vaguely silly about responding to the call, even if she knew that she was too exhausted to be of use in the office that day anyway. Her bladder gave a spasm, informing her that it was uncomfortably full—and that she should take care of that issue. Her mystery caller had told her to stay exactly where she was; but surely he just meant in the apartment. Chelsea grappled with the idea before deciding that literal adherence to an order from someone who hadn’t even been courteous enough to introduce himself was ridiculous. It’s not like he’s going to know, anyway.
She picked up her phone absently as she climbed out of bed and padded towards the bathroom, yawning a few more times as she made the short trek. She felt faintly ridiculous that she was waiting in her apartment for the mystery caller—or at least, she assumed that the coded knock would be coming from him—when she had no idea of who he was, what he wanted, why he had called her. Wasn’t there some kind of urban legend with this set up? This is the way that women get abducted, isn’t it? Chelsea washed her hands and splashed water on her face when she finished taking care of her needs, and went back into the bedroo
m, resenting the intrusion on her sleep, her routine.
****
Chelsea had once more fallen into a doze, with nothing better to do to pass the time waiting—she had told herself that the caller was probably a prank in the first place—when she heard, at her door, the knocking pattern that the man on the phone had performed for her. Opening her eyes, Chelsea groaned, sitting up in her bed. “No one wants me to get any sleep today, that has to be it. The whole world is in on it.” She flung the covers aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, getting to her feet unsteadily. How do you even know you can trust this guy? He’s probably here to abduct you, and you’re playing right into his game plan. Chelsea frowned and grabbed at her phone. She heard her mystery guest repeat the coded knock at her door and stirred herself to pad out of the bedroom.
Considering, she opened up her recent calls and checked for the unfamiliar number; she didn’t know for certain if the caller and the person on her doorstep were the same individual, but it was worth making the phone call anyway, wasn’t it? She hit ‘recall’ and stood, a few yards away from her door, waiting as it rang. “I’m here,” the voice said the moment the call connected.
“I assumed as much from the knock-knock-knocking at my door,” Chelsea said wryly. “What I don’t know is whether I should let you in.”
“You should,” the man said. Now that she was more awake, she could detect a faint accent in the man’s deep, almost rasping voice, though she couldn’t identify where the accent came from. “I promise you, Chelsea, that I’m not here to abduct you. You are actually in some danger right now. If you let me in I can explain it to you.” Chelsea glided her tongue along the front of her teeth, hesitating only a moment longer.