Thrust

by Sybil Bartel

  “It’ll work perfectly.”

  “Worked, past tense.” I tried a bite of salad. It sucked.

  “Work. Present tense,” he argued. “I told you, you didn’t want to know why.”

  The wind kicked up and one of the dogs cried. I glanced behind us, but they were all on their blankets. “Why what?”

  “Why I came for you.” He ate his last bite of chicken and downed the rice in three bites.

  “Because you’re crazy?” Normal people didn’t go driving in hurricanes.

  “No, because you’re mine.” He stood to clear his plate and the power went out.

  One of the dogs started crying and Olivia’s fork hit the counter a second before her stool scraped across the floor.

  It was black as pitch, and I couldn’t see shit. “Hold up.”

  “I’m going to the dogs. They’re scared.”

  Jesus Christ, she was stubborn. “They’ll be even more scared if you trip on them. Wait one second.” I pulled my phone out and used the light from the screen to get to the crate on the counter. Three seconds later, I had the battery-operated lanterns lit. “Here.” I handed her one. “Put this by the dogs while I clean up.”

  She took the lantern, and I cleared the dishes. The wind kicked up and it sounded like a fucking freight train was going directly over the building. I hastily washed up, and when I cleared the napkins, I fucking smiled. It’d taken an act of God not to laugh my ass off when she’d crumpled that shit in front of me.

  I grabbed our beers and another lantern and headed to the living room, but she was on the phone.

  “You’re cutting in and out. I can’t hear you… I said I was fine. Me and the dogs are at La Mer…. I know…. I know… what?” She looked at the phone and swore then hung up.

  “The boyfriend?” I put her beer and the lantern on the coffee table and sank into the couch. “Didn’t want to tell him who you were with?” The small female dog got up and came to my feet.

  “He knows who I’m with, and for the hundredth time, he’s not my boyfriend. He already has a girlfriend.” She snatched her beer and drank half.

  “And he kissed you?” I chuckled, even though it still pissed me off. “Who’s the player now?” I looked at the pathetic bitch at my feet. Her tail wagged.

  Olivia sneered at me. “At least he only has one girlfriend.”

  “As opposed to my many clients?” I knew what she wanted to know, but I wasn’t going to make it easy on her. I’d already said too fucking much. She could work for it if she wanted to know about me. The dog nudged my leg, and I picked it up and dumped it on the couch next to me.

  “You said it, not me.”

  The dog got on my lap and settled in. I scratched it behind the ears as I finished my beer, but I didn’t bother replying. I should’ve been telling myself it was a mistake to go after her, power through the night, and then dump her and her fucking mutts off. But even knowing I probably didn’t have a chance in hell with her, I’d still rather sit here in the dark with three smelly dogs and spar with her than be anywhere else. And it didn’t escape my notice that, same as me, she would’ve ridden out the storm alone if I hadn’t come for her.

  The storm raged and we sat quiet.

  Two days ago, I didn’t know there was a hurricane or an Olivia Toussaint. Right at this moment, they were one and the same.

  Fuck, I was tired. Three years tired. I leaned my head back.

  She broke our silence. “What did you do after your first client?”

  I picked my head up and looked at her. The lantern throwing shadows on the angles of her face, she was so damn beautiful, she could be a model. “What do you mean?” I knew what she meant.

  She shrugged like it was a casual question. “I don’t know. Like after, were you upset or something?”

  I got my fucking dick sucked. Twice. “I’m not a goddamn PBS documentary. I took my money and bought a suit.” What the hell did she think I’d done? Rock in a goddamn corner?

  “I’m not an idiot. I didn’t think you’d cry in your Cheerios. I was just….” She sighed. “Whatever, forget it.”

  I leaned my head back, wondering why the fuck I’d told her she could ask me anything. Worst fucking mistake ever. “I had a suit made because rack shit never fit, then I paid my rent.”

  “That’s it?”

  “I charged the shoes and belt.” I’d figured I’d make it back in one night, and I did. Ten-fold.

  She laughed. “You’re so fucking vain.”

  Women liked to look at me. Always had. I just gave them a reason to appreciate me. That was the difference. I changed the subject. “Why didn’t Bob the Builder buy into your charity? Or fund it?” Now that I knew who he was, I knew he made bank. Not as much as me, but enough that he could’ve helped her.

  She inhaled then let it out slowly, and I could almost feel her breath. Fuck, I wanted to touch her.

  “I told him not to,” she admitted.

  “And he listened?”

  “Yep.”

  “What a fucking pussy.”

  “Why? Because he did what I asked him to do? Being decent doesn’t make him a pussy.”

  Yes, it did. “He’s a fucking pussy for not doing what was right by you.”

  “Since when is someone else paying for your dreams ‘doing right’ by them?” She put air quotes around doing right.

  “He wanted to fuck you, he wanted to keep you, but he stepped back and watched from the sidelines like a spectator?” Fucking absurd was what this conversation was. “He’s a pussy.” I couldn’t explain it any better than that.

  “You’re an ass.”

  Maybe. But I wouldn’t have left her adrift. “I would’ve done shit to help.” I pet the stupid rat’s head that was asleep on my lap like she’d never had it better.

  Olivia scoffed. “Right. Because cleaning out kennels is right up your alley.”

  “More than one way to help a woman besides shoveling shit.” But if she’d asked me at this point, I probably would’ve done it.

  “I’m sure all your clients love your help.”

  Goddamn it. “I told you I was out.”

  “Good for you.”

  Fuck this. “How many men you slept with?”

  “None of your business.” She stretched her legs out in front of her like a dancer.

  “Give me the fucking number, sweetness.” Damn, I loved to watch her move.

  “You don’t get to call me that.”

  “I’ll call you whatever the hell I want. How many?”

  “Nice try.” She crossed her arms.

  That meant one of two things. She was either rocking her college years or she was locked up tight. And since I knew exactly how tight she was, I had my answer. “Two,” I guessed.

  “What’s this going to prove if you find out how many men I’ve slept with?”

  “It’s not going to prove shit.”

  “Then why ask?”

  “Why not answer?” It was less than five, I’d bet my McLaren on it. “Three.”

  “No.”

  I egged her on. “You embarrassed?”

  “It was four, okay, four. You happy?”

  Not by a long shot. I hated those four fuckers. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

  “Oh my God, what the hell? I’m not telling you that.”

  “Sixteen?”

  She looked pissed.

  Shit. “Fifteen?” Damn.

  “I was nineteen, asshole.”

  “A guy a year on average.” I took a sip of my beer. “I fucked Kristie Peterson after a football game when I was seventeen.”

  Her eyes went wide with curiosity. “You played football?”

  Christ, she was a trip. “Yeah, I played.” My grades were shit, I’d needed to be good at something. “But that’s not the point. I enlisted after high school, and for the next three years, I fucked Kristie every time I had leave. We parted ways when she wanted more. I spent the next six years neck-deep in the Marines th
en I got out and started fucking for money. Do you know how many clients total I had?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “Twenty-four. Add the few women I messed around with after Kristie and that’s thirty-one. Two-point-eight women a year.” I let that sink in a moment. “You want to fucking condemn me for taking money for sex, fine. But don’t act like I fucked my way through hundreds of women.”

  She blinked.

  I fucking knew it. She thought I was a manwhore, and I was, but only in the literal sense. I shook my head, dumped the little dog on the floor and stood.

  “Alex.”

  Fuck. I hated how my heart jumped every damn time she said my name. “What?” She didn’t answer, so I turned and looked down at her. Except it wasn’t just her, three pairs of eyes were staring up at me.

  “Why?”

  Her voice quiet, the tone was too fucking close to sympathy for comfort, so I bit out a response. “Money.”

  “You could’ve earned it another way.” There wasn’t a hint of judgment in her tone, but I took it that way.

  “Don’t talk to me about money unless you came from nothing.” Money was always the bottom line, especially if you had none.

  Inhaling, she nodded like she understood. “Safety net, nest egg, I get it.”

  No, she didn’t. But that was my fault because I’d only told her half the truth. I wasn’t sharing the rest of that shit. No way. I went for another beer and Merry followed, dancing at my feet the whole damn way.

  I closed the fridge and Olivia was right there, holding the rat dog close like she needed protection. “She probably needs to go out.”

  I opened the beer, threw the cap on the counter and stared at her as I drank.

  She held my gaze for half a second then glanced around the kitchen. “So….”

  I stared at her lips.

  She licked them. “We can’t go outside yet.”

  Wind thrashed at the shutters and rattled the hell out of them. I stared at her neck.

  She swallowed and her voice turned quieter. “Probably not for a while.”

  My gaze swept over her tits.

  She shifted the dog to the other hip. “Say something.”

  I leveled her with a look. “I’m done talking.”

  “Oh-kay, well, that’s going to make for a long—”

  “Put the dog down.”

  She bent and did what I’d said, but when she straightened, she crossed her arms. “She needs to pee.”

  I didn’t care if the damn thing pissed on the floor. I’d just realized my mistake with her, and I was going to test my fucking theory. “You trust me,” I stated.

  Her mouth popped open. “I….” She stopped like she had to think about it.

  I had her. “Go ahead. It’s not a question, but answer it.”

  Her thighs pressed together and her chest rose and fell twice then her hands went to her hips. “I never said I didn’t trust you, but you lied.”

  I set my beer down. “Turn around.”

  “What?”

  “Hands on the counter.”

  “If you think for one minute I’m going to let you—”

  “Now.”

  She turned. She fucking turned. My dick already straining at my shorts, I stepped up to her back, but I didn’t fucking touch her. “What else did I say?”

  Her hands went to the counter.

  My eyes closed, air filled my lungs and relief like I’d never known hit me in the chest. But this wasn’t the victory I wanted.

  A fraction of a breath away, my mouth so close to her skin I could taste her, I spoke. “You want me touching you, commanding you. You want what I can do for your body. Your thighs are pressed together, your pulse is racing, you’re aching for it. You want me buried so fucking deep, you forget your name.” But that was never the problem.

  “Alex.” Breathless, my name wasn’t an order, it was a plea.

  The hurricane raging outside, turmoil churning in my gut, I threw down the ultimatum. “I touch you now, it’s for keeps.” I stepped back.

  Her chest rose, her shoulders stiffened, and her hands gripped the granite counter. “That’s not fair.”

  “Life’s not fair. Decide.”

  Waves thrashed the shore, hundred-mile-an-hour winds hit the building, but she didn’t say shit.

  I picked up my beer and one of the lanterns, and I walked out.

  My heart pounding, my body aching, I shook.

  I wanted him. I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything. The way he touched me, the way he held me, his voice, his strength, he made me feel like I mattered. He was more valuable than his past. I knew that.

  I was standing before I realized I’d gotten up.

  I was walking before I knew my feet were moving.

  I was following the light.

  Across the living room, down the hall, a soft glow filtered out of the laundry room.

  I stopped in the doorway.

  Vulnerability tumbled from my mouth. “What happens when another client calls?”

  My clothes in his hands, he stilled. “You trust me.”

  “What if I don’t know how?” Everyone I’d ever trusted let me down.

  Methodical and precise, he folded my jeans. “You do it anyway.”

  “What do you do?”

  He turned. Shadows cast across the angles of his face, the hurricane raged outside, and my world fell away to only one thing.

  “I want this to be real,” I whispered.

  His hands cupped my face, his body heat surrounded me and his lips covered mine. Crashing, falling, spiraling into the depth of my fears, I let go.

  And he caught me.

  Achingly tender, he held me. Searching the heat of my mouth, as if he needed me to breathe, he gave. Reverence, desire, need, he gave me what he had to give. With a truth no words could touch, he kissed me until the fear slipped away and a new truth seeded deep in my soul.

  His lips against mine, he gave me hope. “This is real.”

  “Alex,” I begged.

  “You’re mine.” He pulled back just enough for me to see his intent gaze. “I’m yours.”

  I needed more than words. “Show me.”

  He swept me up into his arms and grabbed the lantern.

  Without speaking, he carried me into his bedroom. The lantern was hastily left on the dresser as long shadows disappeared into dark corners, and a man I never dreamed would steal my heart set me on his bed.

  Pulling his shirt over his head, then dropping his shorts, he ripped my clothes off and crawled up my body with desperate need. An Alex I’d never met pushed my legs apart and surged. Caging me in, rushing me, gripping two handfuls of my hair, he sank his tongue into my mouth. And more volatile than the storm outside, we collided. His hands, his mouth, his tongue all over my body, he stole my heart and silenced my fears.

  I grabbed on to the tight muscles of his ass and pulled.

  A growl ripped from his chest as the head of his cock met my tight heat. Then he went perfectly still.

  Hovering, suspended at my entrance, he sucked in a labored breath, then another. “Olivia.” As if dragged across gravel, my name was a snarl of a command I didn’t understand.

  “Please,” I begged.

  Blue eyes the color of midnight looked fiercely down at me. “Decide.”

  My breath caught.

  This was it.

  This was my hope. This was my fear. This was my chance.

  Happiness wasn’t a choice. It was opportunity. Life had stolen my heart, but fate was giving me this moment to take it back. To take him. To let him take me. There was only one condition.

  All or nothing.

  I didn’t have to think about it.

  Breathing in, my knees came up and my feet braced on the bed. My heart racing, my movements slow, deliberate, I raised my hips until our bodies became one and Alex sank inside me.

  Sucking air past his teeth, his hard length pushed to my cervix. He gripped my hip and held me still. “You’re so goddamn b
eautiful. I wanna be inside you forever.”

  Words I never thought I would give away again ached to come out, but I held back. “Don’t break my heart,” I whispered.

  His hand caught my face and his unwavering gaze cut to my soul. “Never.” He pulled back then thrust forward, deep and slow, grinding his hips against mine.

  I held on to his strong arms. “Alex.”

  “Right here, sweetness, right here.” He stroked deep inside me. “You feel that?”

  Oh my God. I started to unravel. “Yes.”

  “That’s it, beautiful.” He kissed my neck, my throat. “Let it go.” Rhythmic, controlled, he stroked in and out of me.

  Swirls of desire licked up my spine, building until my muscles started to constrict around him and my head fell back. My eyes fluttered shut and need crawled out of my chest.

  “Christ,” he groaned.

  My arms and legs started to shake. I was sinking and I was flying but I couldn’t fall over that edge. Not without him. “I need you,” I panted. “With me.” Oh God.

  Huge hands gripped my face. “Eyes on me,” he demanded.

  I looked up.

  Dark, hooded, fierce, his penetrating stare stole my breath. “You look at me when you come.”

  The orgasm started to erupt in a thousand points of pleasure so intense it was painful. “Alex.”

  “Feel me come inside you.” His gaze locked on mine, he thrust hard one more time, then stilled.

  He released his desire inside me, and together, we fell over the edge.

  The hurricane raging, her body wrapped tight in my arms, I watched her fall asleep.

  The whole fucking world could disappear outside and I wouldn’t give a single damn.

  I had her.

  I had the woman I never knew I wanted. And I was fucking keeping her. I touched my lips to her forehead, and she innocently turned into me. My eyes closed, and it felt like I’d only been asleep for seconds when something cold and wet nudged the back of my arm.

  I opened one eye. The lantern still on, I glanced over my shoulder.

  The little bitch dog stood on the bed, wagging her tail.

  I groaned and she licked my face before nudging me again.