Deal With the Devil

by Annmarie Ortega

  She knew this, and had probably always known, but she didn’t like it at all.

  Nate had told her months ago he only wanted occasional sex from her and not a relationship. He had been very clear on that from the beginning. Her feelings of jealousy were unexpected, and rather embarrassing.

  “I’ll tell you what though, darlin’,” he said. “I’ll be back again this month and we’ll have a couple more laughs.”

  Even though she knew they didn’t have a “real” relationship, his light tone and casual attitude towards their lovemaking was really annoying. Somewhere along the way, she had lost sight of their true agreement, and had allowed herself to develop feelings for him when she knew she shouldn’t. Just because he had asked her some questions about herself and had some conversations with her didn’t mean anything had changed between them.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid!

  “See you later,” he said, and in a flash he was gone.

  Marie smirked at his abrupt parting words and sat up to pull her comforter over her suddenly chilled body. His abrupt departure felt like a slap in the face, instantly ruining their wonderful night together. He had, in fact, shot the night straight to hell. She could only laugh at the irony. It was much better than crying.

  Chapter Six

  Marie snuggled on the sofa in her new apartment, wearing her favorite pajamas, her hair pulled up into a simple ponytail, watching the end of a movie. She had spent most of the day unpacking the last of the boxes from her move, but as she looked around the room, she was happy with the results of the day. She loved her new apartment. But since her thoughts were never far from Nate, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be able to find her. She had never given him her new address.

  “Of course I could find you, Marie,” Nate said from his position on the sofa. “I always know where you are. There’s nowhere you can go that I can’t find you.”

  Marie jumped and put her hand over her now racing heart. “Damn, someday you are going to give me a heart attack.”

  Nate laughed and reached up to play with the ponytail on the top of her head. “Aren’t you happy to see me? I thought you could give me a tour of your new place.”

  Marie brushed away his hand from the top of her head. “Yeah well if you kill me I won’t be able to show you anything.”

  Nate stood up and extended his hand to Marie. “Come on, I want to see your bedroom first.”

  “Oh you do?” Marie asked him, smiling as she stood up and put her hand in his. She turned to move through the living room and down the hall toward her bedroom. Before she reached it, she turned around. “Wait a minute, you already know where my room is, don’t you? You already know what it looks like.”

  Nate laughed. “Yeah I do,” he admitted, “but come on, show me anyhow.”

  Marie sighed and said “Okay,” before she turned to lead him by the hand to her bedroom. She would play along for now.

  As soon as they entered her bedroom all of their clothes disappeared, including Marie’s ponytail holder. Nate scooped her up and placed her on her bed, then stretched out beside her and had her sit on top of him so she straddled him at his waist.

  Marie immediately impaled herself on his erection. When she had wiggled herself down against him they both moaned in pleasure. Marie could feel him raising his hips up, pushing himself even further into her. She closed her eyes and just breathed, taking in all of him.

  She leaned down to place a kiss on Nate’s mouth and her lips trembled against his. When she leaned forward her hair fell forward, surrounding them, a curtain of soft brown silk. His tongue probed her mouth as her body slowly raised until only the tip of him was still inside of her, then lowered herself back down his length, grinding against him.

  As she rode his cock, his fingers found her swollen clit. Marie hissed in pleasure as his fingers played with the hypersensitive nub.

  Nate moved his hand from her clit and rolled her over on her back until he was lying on top of her, their bodies still joined. He lifted one of her legs so her calf rested against his shoulder, the new position allowing him to enter her more deeply than before.

  Marie reached up and stretched her arms up over her head, delirious in pleasure, while Nate drove himself into her faster and harder with each thrust. When he reached his orgasm he held his breath and shut his eyes as his body spasmed inside of hers, releasing his seed into her. Marie followed him quickly with her own orgasm and her body contracted around his out of control.

  After a few moments passed, Nate opened his eyes and smiled down at Marie, his breathing still labored. He moved, sliding his cock out of her body and lying down on the bed next to her.

  He reached for Marie and she went to him, laying her head on his chest. This was the only moment of closeness she would allow right after making love. She had to remember that this wasn’t a show of affection; it was simply something he liked to do after having sex. She pushed away any thought of how many other women had rested their head on his chest after making love, enjoying the closeness just as she was now.

  It’s not a real relationship, she reminded herself. It was a mantra she kept repeating to herself over and over. He doesn’t love you. This isn’t real.

  The problem was, no matter how many times she repeated the words she couldn’t deny her own feelings for Nate. Despite her knowing better, she had fallen in love with him. She knew that it was only going to lead to heartbreak, but the feelings were there and out of her control. She couldn’t change what her heart felt.

  But still, she tried desperately to keep her emotions for him and under control. He wasn’t capable of being with just one woman. Suppressing her feelings was the only chance she had to save herself from heartbreak.

  “So do you have to go now?” she asked.

  “Well I got here early because I really do want a tour of your new place.”

  “But you already know what my place looks like. You don’t actually have to be here to see it.”

  “True,” he agreed, “But I have to actually be here to make love to you in every room. I’m thinking this tour is going to take a while.”

  She mentally counted the number of rooms in her apartment.

  “Six,” Nate stated with no explanation.

  “Six?” Marie asked back, not sure what he was talking about.

  “There are six rooms here. Seven if you count the enclosed back porch.”

  “Are we counting the back porch?”

  He smiled. “Yeah we are. In fact, we might even count closets. There’s a huge walk-in.” As he spoke the sliding door to the closet slid open and the light came on, showcasing the roomy interior.

  “I thought you were kidding.”

  “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” Nate said as he got up from her bed. “But now I think it’s time to move to the next room.”

  As Marie took his hand she thought it was a good thing she didn’t have to work the next day. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night.

  Chapter Seven

  It was getting progressively harder to stay emotionally unattached to Nate. In fact, Marie knew without a doubt that her heart was in serious jeopardy. It was her birthday, and Nate had shown up right after she had changed out of her clothes to go to bed. He had already made his second monthly visit, so she hadn’t expected to see him for a while.

  And she certainly hadn’t expected him to arrive with the most beautiful, blood red roses she’d ever seen. It would have been a perfect moment if he’d given her the opportunity to enjoy it.

  “Don’t think we’re dating now because I’m giving you flowers,” he’d joked, as he handed her the bouquet.

  “Of course not.”

  If he noticed the tone in her voice, he didn’t mention it. Marie rolled her eyes at his sarcastic remark as she took the flowers into the kitchen. His attempt at a joke only made her heart ache. She tried to act nonchalant with his surprise appearance but deep inside her heart raced with excitement even tho
ugh he always reminded her that there was nothing really between them.

  “I’m surprised you’re here,” she told him as she filled a crystal vase with water. Nate leaned against her kitchen counter and folded his arms across his chest, watching her. Even that simple, casual movement turned her on. It didn’t matter if she wanted to slap him at the moment.

  “So what’s with the flowers and the extra visit this month?” She didn’t dare let herself think he had come because he missed her or cared about her.

  “Well, I couldn’t forget my little birthday girl,” Nate teased as he walked over and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her from behind.

  As soon as she was in his arms she knew she couldn’t resist him. She put the rest of the flowers on the counter and turned to hug him back, breathing in his raw, masculine scent.

  “I didn’t know you knew it was my birthday today,” she said. She couldn’t remember ever giving him that information.

  “Are you kidding? I know everything about you. I can look into your past and see everything that you’ve ever done, anything that’s ever happened to you.”

  He leaned in to kiss her and she kissed him back. She couldn’t help herself. It was easy for her to lose control with him.

  He pulled back from their kiss and looked deep into her eyes. “Happy birthday, Marie.”

  Her stomach flipped over. He had this way of looking at her, as if he was looking in her soul. It was unsettling. “Can you look and see my future?”

  “No, I can only see the past. Usually, I can look into people’s minds and see what they are thinking right at that moment. I’ve done it with you. It doesn’t work all the time, though. Sometimes people can keep me out.” He paused, lifting one dark brow in question. “Why do you want to know about the future?”

  “No particular reason. I was just curious.” Marie struggled to hide a triumphant smile. He had just given her some important information without even realizing it. She wondered how some people could prevent him from reading their thoughts. Could she do it if she tried?

  Nate let go of her and took her by the hand, leading her to her bedroom. Despite telling herself that she was foolish for having feelings for Nate, Marie knew she was in love with him. When she was with Nate she was happy. She felt complete. Time went by too fast with him and she hated it when it was time for him to leave. She found herself thinking of him when she shouldn’t be.

  And the worst part was when she would fantasize about how their relationship could be if their circumstances were different. No matter how hard she had tried to fight it, she loved Nate. She was in love with the devil.

  As soon as they reached the foot of the bed all of their clothing disappeared. When Nate opened his arms, she stepped into them like second nature. He kissed her neck, his lips hot on her cool skin. He always radiated a heat.

  His mouth traveled down her breastbone then moved down to one breast where he took her nipple in his mouth. His tongue rubbed against her erect nipple sucking hard. One of his hands found her other nipple rolling it between his thumb and forefinger.

  He suckled the hardened peak still in his mouth while his other hand left her breast and moved down her belly, traveling down to the curly hair between her legs. Marie unconsciously moved her legs apart for him. It was only a second before his finger slid into her, her warmth surrounding him. One touch from him and she was dripping wet. She had no control of her body when his hands were on her.

  Nate removed his mouth from Marie’s breast but kept his finger deep inside of her.

  “You’re so wet, so ready for me.”

  “I know,” she replied, unable to control the trembling of her legs. In fact her entire body shook. Her feelings for him rushed to the surface, and she struggled to hide them. She remembered what he said about not being able to read everyone’s thought, and quickly tried to clear her mind before he could read it.

  “What is it Marie?” Nate withdrew his finger from her heat and raised a brow, his eyes questioning. “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” She was glad she had changed her thoughts when she did. Apparently her attempt at keeping Nate out had worked. If she could maintain that block, he never had to know how she really felt about him.

  “Really, nothing is wrong,” she said again trying to give him a smile. She stepped up closer to him, rubbing herself against him. “I’m so happy you came here for my birthday. I just want you to make love to me now Nate, okay?” This time she spoke nothing but the truth. She wanted him badly.

  He looked down at her and his erection throbbed against her stomach.

  “Anything for the birthday girl,” he said, and in one swift movement, scooped her up into his arms and placed her onto her bed.

  Marie leaned back to welcome Nate’s solid weight between her thighs. He nudged her knees apart with one of his own, then gently slid sheathed himself to the hilt in one swift stroke, not even attempting to kiss her first.

  Marie closed her eyes and allowed herself to simply enjoy the feel of Nate’s hardness inside her body. She was all too aware that their time together would not last forever, and would very likely be over all too soon. This was an extra visit from him that she never expected. She was going to make the most of every second they were together.

  Chapter Eight

  Marie hung up the phone after speaking with one of her biggest clients at work. They had called the day before to inform her the package they were expecting that day never arrived. They were totally irate, to the point of wanting someone fired over the mistake. Marie knew their package was supposed to ship overnight. They had called and told her it was imperative they receive the data they needed.

  A sick feeling churned in her stomach as she sat back in her chair, thinking about the missing package. She had filled out the shipping form herself before walking the package to the mailroom yesterday.

  As she got up from her chair to head toward the mailroom, Marie cursed at herself. Yesterday she had been in such a rush to get home; What if she had filled the form out incorrectly? There were only two days left in the month and Nate still owed her a visit. She had been in a hurry to get home and see if he would appear. He hadn’t. Her race home had been for nothing.

  Marie asked the mailroom employee to pull the shipping form she’d filled out for the package. After the employee handed her the form, Marie looked to see she had in fact filled it out wrong. She had checked the wrong box by mistake. She thanked the girl and handed the form back across the counter. Marie walked back to her office wondering if her deal with Nate would prevent her from losing her job. She figured she would know soon enough.

  ****

  Nate licked the taut pink peak of Marie’s nipple with the tip of his tongue before pulling the erect bud into his mouth. Marie pressed her thighs together, feeling heat spread from between her legs up to her belly.

  Despite her pleasure, it bothered her that her body was able to betray her so easily. The rational part of her brain screamed that she was a fool for loving Nate. No good would ever come from her feelings. Yet her traitorous body didn’t seem to care.

  “I’m sorry tonight I’m going to have to leave earlier than I normally do,” Nate explained to her. He bent down to kiss the length of her neck.

  “You do?” It was difficult to pay attention to what he was saying while his mouth was on her.

  “Yeah, I have lots of other people I have to meet with tonight,” he confessed as his mouth worked its way down to her breasts, his words throwing the metaphorical bucket of cold water on Marie’s arousal. She immediately pulled away.

  “By people, I assume you mean other women.” She could feel a knot forming in her stomach.

  “Come on Marie, you know what they say about assuming,” Nate tried to joke as he looked up at her. She stared back, unsmiling, and not the least bit amused. “Yes, there are other women I have to see tonight.”

  “And exactly how many women are out there waiting for you tonight? How many hav
e contracts, like me?” she asked him. She dreaded hearing the answer, but couldn’t resist asking the question. She wanted him to say that there were no other women, that she was the only one. She wanted him to tell her that there was no one else he wanted, that she was the only one who fulfilled him.

  “I don’t know off-hand. Hundreds, maybe thousands? It really shouldn’t matter to you. This isn’t a relationship, remember? We’re not dating. I’m not your boyfriend, I’m the Devil. Let’s just enjoy each other now. Open your legs for me Marie. I want to taste you.”

  As Marie obeyed his command, she fought back tears that threatened to escape from her eyes. His words cut through her heart like a knife. She inhaled a shaky breath as Nate’s tongue danced over her clit, one finger sliding in and out of her in fluid motions. It was the most exquisite pleasure and pain at the same time. Her body craved the pleasure, but her heart was being torn apart.

  “Marie, tell me you’re mine forever,” Nate said to her after he stopped his delicious assault.

  Marie still had her eyes closed as she murmured the words he wanted to hear. They easily rolled off her tongue, their truth never in doubt. She completely belonged to him forever. She wondered how many other women had told him the same thing.

  “Say it again, but this time look at me when you say it,” he asked of her.

  When Marie opened her eyes to look at Nate, one of the tears she had tried to hide escaped slowly, rolling down her cheek. She inhaled slowly, loving him and hating him at the same time. Neither of them said a word.

  Nate saw the single tear roll down her cheek and he climbed up the bed to sit by her side. He reached down and wiped the moisture from her cheek, bringing his hand up closer to his face. Nate stared at the clear liquid as if he’d never seen a tear before.

  Marie sat up and tilted her head forward, so her hair shielded her face from him. She tried to compose herself but couldn’t. Once that first tear left her eye she knew that the rest were not about to stop.