by Rosa Foxxe
The run back was a bit more competitive than the one there. Tom jogged up to me halfway up the first street and we pushed forward together. Our feet synced up and by the second corner we were pushing to be ahead of one another. Feet pounding with our hearts, faces flushed with exertion and a will to win, and our mouths pulled up into smiles that sometimes made it difficult to run and breathe at the same time.
Tom kept pace for most of the run, but at the end his feet started to falter. As much as he had stamina, he obviously wasn’t used to running at this kind of speed, and I couldn’t help but grin as I shot forward in a final sprint for my apartment building.
I skidded to a stop in front of my building and turned to grin at Tom, who was jogging across the parking lot. He was shaking his head. I breathed hard and bent double, pulling in long, even breaths just like down at the waterfront. This time, Tom did the same thing and we both looked up to smile at each other mid-pant.
Above me, a low rumble sounded off in the sky, and as I looked up, it began to rain. There were barely any clouds in the sky and the sun still shone brightly as the flash of cold, refreshing rain tumbled from the sky. I laughed and threw back my head, letting it soak me completely. My sweat mixed with the rain and the light wind chilled me, reminding me that it was already November. I caught Tom’s hand and tugged him into the lobby of my apartment building. He blinked a few times when we stopped and I snickered at the rain dripping off his nose.
“What?” he asked me, frowning curiously. I shook my head and fought back a giggle.
“Nothing,” I said, my smile strengthening to a grin. “Absolutely nothing.”
Then, without a second thought, I leaned up and kissed him square on the mouth.
Chapter 6
The few minutes after I kissed Tom became a blur even as they were happening. Tom kissed me back, with more passion than I’d ever seen him muster for anything else, but his hands hadn’t touched me even then. I pulled them to me. As we parted, I dragged him up to my apartment, heedless of the people around me and Tom. There was a want in my stomach, a deep, hot want, and it would not be denied.
Inside the apartment I kissed Tom again, tugging his head down to mine with my fingers buried in his hair. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and groaned into his mouth. It was nothing to him, and he didn’t even stumble from my weight. I guided him to my room with mumbled words against his lips.
We tumbled back onto my bed a moment later. With my hands, I scooted back to my headboard, grinning. He grinned back, his face was flushed. I knew mine was too. Tom went to stroke my leg, but stopped just short.
“Is it all right if I touch you?” he asked. I blinked, remembering what I’d said to him before, and nodded, pressing my lips together.
“Yes,” I said, thankful that he’d asked. Tom nodded back and his hands slid up my bare, soaking legs. As his fingers skimmed my shorts, I let my head fall back against my pillows. His hands were rough and calloused. His gaze so strong I could feel it more than see it. His hands found my shorts and he ran a finger across the inseam. I pressed my lips together. He pressed a bit harder and found my sex. A hiss passed through my lips.
Tom chuckled, a low sound that lodged a lump in my throat. I gasped. His mouth pressed into the inseam, nuzzling and pressing deeper. A moan escaped me. Then his mouth was gone and I looked down to find him smiling up at me. He slid up the bed, hands running up my sides, and nudged at my shirt. I pulled it off without a second thought. His mouth found my neck and he pressed hot, wet kisses to my collar bone. Another moan left me and I tipped my head so he could get better access. Heat rushed around my body, my heart pounded in time with my want. A wanting so powerful it made me see spots and filled me to my core.
Tom unhooked my bra and we tossed it aside. I was naked from the waist up, but he was still fully dressed. “That’s just not fair,” I murmured, reaching for his shirt. He twitched out of my reach and shook his head. His head came back down and his usually grim set mouth latched onto one of my erect nipples. I gasped, a sharp sound that followed me as I arched into his touch. Pleasure danced across my body, lighting a fire in my veins. I wanted more. No. I needed more.
My hands found his hair and buried deep into the short, dark strands. “Tom,” I moaned, the sound stuttering off as he let his teeth just barely graze my sensitive skin. It was a thousand sparks dancing across my body, each tipped with pleasure. “Tom!” And it had been so long since I’d have any company in this bed other than my hand that I didn’t care if I sounded desperate. But, if the rumble that came from Tom’s throat was any indication, he didn’t really care.
Tom hooked one thumb into my shorts and had them, my socks, and my shoes off in one quick movement. “Navy teach you to do that?” I asked.
“In a matter of speaking.” His attention returned to my neck. One of his calloused hands ran over a nipple, giving it a light pinch before rubbing tight circles around and over it. I arched into the touch, letting my fingers run down his covered back. They slid back up and found his hair again. One of Tom’s hands slid lower, into my panties, and tugged them off with a deft touch. He grinned into my neck as I wriggled with impatience.
His hand pressed into my sex and he ran his fingers over the nub of my clit. I hissed, twitching back from the touch. I was too over-sensitive there right now. He hummed in understanding and went lower, pressing a single finger inside me. The heat rushed up my body, sending pounding blood to my head and leaving me dizzy and breathless. It really had been too long. Tom coaxed me open slowly, his finger twisting and curling as it set fire to my insides and turned me to liquid heat. His mouth slid lower and lower, finding my nipple again. As he sucked on the nipple he slid another finger in. I gasped and tightened my hold on his hair, reveling
Wet heat around my breast and a rough finger in my own heat left me dizzy. I stared at the ceiling, as I didn’t think I could handle looking at Tom. He chuckled and the sound reverberated through my body. I shivered again. And he chuckled once more. Then his mouth slid lower and another finger joined his first and I lost thought for a while.
Heat. Always heat. More and more building in me. Two fingers, rolling and flexing together to crook and brush and find those spots of lightning within me. His mouth kept sliding lower and lower. It found my ribs, my stomach, and my belly button. His tongue dipped and swirled into my belly button. He trailed wet kisses lower and lower, down the front of my belly and to the tight, curly hairs I kept mostly tamed. I felt air as he exhaled slowly. Then his nose was buried in the hairs and his tongue found my clit.
I jerked, hips arching against the sudden spike of over-sensitive pleasure. Tears pricked my eyes and held for seconds. His tongue swiped to the side, lessening the pressure. A tear slipped, but the rest dried. I lowered myself, panting hard and gripping the sheets. I would not break. Over-sensitive or not, I would not break. Tom chuckled again, his mouth and tongue rumbling as he did. I pulled his hair in a fit of mischief and the chuckle turned to a startled yelp. Before my smugness could overtake me, he pressed his fingers deep with me and crooked them. They brushed a spot that sent lightning through my body once more.
The heat and lightning points built. His hands and tongue sent me spiraling up and up into the sky. I could barely feel the bed beneath me anymore. My body ached with want and need. The heat pooled, condensing. The lightning fast sparks came quicker and quicker. I gasped, letting the pressure overtake me. For a moment, I hung at my peak and time seemed to stop. Tom’s tongue dancing around my clit, his fingers curled within me – it all seemed to slow. Then it rushed forward and white hot heat rushed through me as I found my climax. I moaned. The heat overtook me. My vision was gone. My senses were gone. Everything was focused on that one point of pleasure. I gripped hard at my only lifeline – Tom. I gripped and I moaned and I felt. I felt.
And then it was over. I was blinking at the ceiling, gasping for air. My hands were aching from clenching around Tom’s h
air and I felt strangely empty. Tom was leaning next to me, a curious expression on his face.
“Wow,” I managed. He laughed - a light sound that lit up his face. I grinned at him. “You are amazing.”
He shrugged. “It was my pleasure.” Pleasure? I blinked as something came to me.
“But you-” He shook his head.
“Don’t worry about me.” He kissed my forehead and slid out of my head. “Get some rest, won’t you?” I wanted to protest, claim it would be my pleasure to give him what he had given me. But I couldn’t move, let alone stand up. He had completely drained me. With some reluctance, I smiled tiredly and nodded to him. My eyes drooped as I watched him stand up. By the time he was walking out the door I was almost asleep, and seconds later the world faded as sleep claimed me.
Chapter 7
Tom was gone when I woke up. And Tom wasn’t back the next day, or even the next. Three days passed after our mid-morning activities before I saw him again. When I did see him again, I wasn’t pleased.
I had just gotten off work and was preparing to catch a bus to head home. My car was still in the shop, but it would be out in another few days. The thought of my car made me sigh. It was something that I had never meant to lose. I’d banged it up in October – completely totaling the frame and most of the engine. It had cost a small fortune and several weeks to get it back in working order, and even now it was still being worked on. Even though I could have bought another car for what I was paying to get it fixed – actually, what my Dad was, considering the accident was technically his fault – I couldn’t give up my car. I’d had it since I was sixteen. It was my baby. My navy blue baby.
At the bus stop, a minute before the bus showed up, I saw Tom. He was standing in the shadows with his hood pulled up. He was wearing the same hoodie he’d worn the day we had fallen into bed together. I ignored the small rush of heat in my lower stomach and let my anger overtake it. I gritted my teeth and stomped across the street to Tom. His eyes widened when he saw me, but he didn’t run.
“Hey, asshole!” I shouted, a growl rising in my throat. Tom, to his credit and to the credit of his training, didn’t even flinch. He locked eyes with me, a cool gaze in his mostly expressionless face.
“Hello, Michelle.” I stopped in front of him, thought for a second, then stepped back and slugged him as hard I could. My fist connected, and his head snapped to one side. No other movement. I gritted my teeth again and clenched my fists, preparing to swing once more.
“Don’t you ‘Hello’, me. What the hell is your problem?” I snapped. “We go running; we have sex; then you disappear for three days?” I threw my hands into the air. “I don’t even care that you ran after sex.” I did, actually. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. “You are supposed to be my bodyguard. You are supposed to protect me.”
“Just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I’m not around.”
“Prove it.”
Tom blinked. “Yesterday you woke up at 0500. You ran for thirty six minutes to the waterfront and it took you twenty nine to get back – a new record of yours, by the way. You left for work at oh eight hundred oh six and arrived at oh eight hundred twenty-nine. You worked until seventeen hundred thirty and went to the donut shop for a soup lunch with Cindy at twelve hundred. You then went to dinner with Taryn and Cindy after work, rented an action movie to watch with Taryn, and shut off your lights at twenty-three sixteen.”
I stared, my jaw dropped and my eyes wide. Had he been watching me? How did he know all this? I shook my head. “How do you-” And then it hit me. “Right, you’re a SEAL, ex or not that’d be in your training, wouldn’t it? Honestly, you’re like a ninja.” He cocked an eyebrow, a wry smile on his face. “Don’t look at me like that, I don’t like it.” I folded my arms and shook my head. “Asshole,” I repeated.
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. Really? He ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was stupid and scared and I ran. I was scared of what we’d done, what it would mean, and what to say when you woke up, so I ran. I ran and I hid and that was cowardly of me.” He looked into my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You better be,” I replied. “And you better be willing to explain everything and make this up to me, because I am not just going to take your kicked puppy expression and be done with it. You hurt me. You might recognize that you hurt me but that doesn’t change the fact that you did.” I scrubbed my face with one hand and cursed under my breath. “Tom, we are adults. Consenting and mature adults. We could have talked about everything once we woke up. But instead of acting like an adult, you acted like a child and you ran.”
“How can I make it up to you?” he asked.
“You can start with dinner, I want chicken. After that, we’ll see.” He nodded. “Come on.” I turned on heel and walked back across the street.
“Where are we going?”
“’The Workin’ Chicken’,” I said. “Best chicken strips in town, not that pricey, and we can get in with what we’re wearing. You’re going to buy me dinner, laugh at my jokes, and tell the waiter I’m the most beautiful woman you’ve ever met.” I looked over my shoulder and smirked. “Then, we can talk.” Tom stared at me with wide eyes and parted lips, and then he shook his head to rid himself of the expression.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s go.”
It was a quick walk to ‘The Workin’ Chicken’. I’d found the place after work one day when I’d gone for a jog. It was a family run business with an elderly couple working the after-hours bar and the front podium. Their children were the main chefs, and the chefs’ children acted as main servers when they weren’t at school. It was never packed, but I secretly hoped it was tonight so no one would notice me and Tom. He had a military way of carrying himself, with his posture perfectly straight and a distant battle aggression in his eyes. I worried it would draw attention to us.
My prayers had been heard by some higher power, because the restaurant was absolutely packed. We were informed there was a single booth available – and it was even at the back of the restaurant. Once seated, the server woman handed up our menus and smiled.
“Can I get a drink to get you two started?” she asked.
“Coffee,” said Tom in a gruff voice without looking up from his menu. The woman started, her eyes widening. I cursed inwardly and kicked Tom under the table. He winced and offered the woman a mumbled apology.
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll have a chocolate shake, please and thank you.” The woman nodded and slipped off, throwing a worried look over her shoulder as she went. I sighed. “So much for not drawing attention to ourselves,” I muttered.
“Attention?” He raised an eyebrow.
“It’s nothing.”
He shrugged, looked thoughtful, and then turned his attention back to me. “A chocolate shake?” he asked, with more than a touch of amusement in his voice.
“Hey, these guys have the best chocolate shakes in town.” I smiled, shrugging off my coat and tucking myself into the corner of the booth. My boots slipped off my feet and I tucked them under me. “Can’t go wrong with a chocolate shake and chicken.”
Tom stared at me for a moment. Then, he shook his head, a soft chuckle shaking his muscular frame. “You really are something. I don’t know what, though.”
“Not yet, anyway,” I replied. A smile touched my lips, pulling them into a serene expression with fond eyes and a tilted head. Tom caught me staring and flushed. I snickered. “Tom the Navy SEAL, brought to his knees by little ol’ me.” I drawled the last bit and leaned into the booth. Tom was saved from having to respond because the server showed up again. She slipped my shake in front of me, complete with Oreo cookie stuck in the center topped with whipped cream, and then slid Tom’s coffee and a small array of sugar and cream to him. I rubbed my hands together and grinned.
“Excellent, thank you.”
“I’m suddenly scared of you. No one looks at a chocolate shake like that.” I loo
ked up and flashed him my most devious grin. He gave an over-dramatic shudder.
The server laughed and took out her pad. “So, any ideas what you’d like?”
“I’ll have the chicken burger – strips, not patty – with fries and a side of onion rings. And can you bring tartar sauce instead of gravy?” I asked. She nodded. Tom mouthed ‘tartar sauce’ at me, his nose wrinkled in confusion. I grinned. Most people had that reaction to my dipping sauce of choice.
“And for you?”
Tom scrambled to open his menu and scanned it quickly. He coughed. “Um.”
“I always recommend the house special,” said the server, waving her pencil in a circle. “That’s a barbeque chicken burger with spicy mayonnaise and cheese, and a side of the house fries.” He nodded and handed her the menu.