by Irons, Rose
Those were the good times.
It was hard to admit to herself that she was beginning to look forward to Russell's visits more so than even her internship - which she loved. But it was hard not to notice how her heart skipped a beat when he smiled at her, and when he gently touched her hand. She began to notice him as a man, and more than anything, that terrified her.
It was embarrassing that she couldn't stop thinking about him. He was such an important man - he was her boss - but whenever she met his eyes, she felt a heat growing between them that was hard to deny. At the office, she forced herself to look away and tried to think of her unborn child, but at home... at home, sometimes she couldn't help but dream about his burning gaze, his soft lips, the way his hands would feel around her...
Closing her eyes, Marissa let her hand drift lower, resting it on her most private places as she thought about Russell. She remembered the look he had given her during her presentation that day. Remembering the heat of his gaze made her quiver all over again. Should she tell him what it was she was thinking?
What she was thinking...
God. Marissa felt herself blushing at just the thought. She was only an intern, and he was a rich and powerful man. He would never be interested in her. No, this was just a fantasy.
But in her fantasy, he held her close and whispered sweet things to her. He kissed her lips, her neck, her breasts, and her belly. He called her child theirs and promised to be with them always.
It was as though she could really feel him with her. His tongue on her thigh, his breath on her panties. And then his fingers pulling back the thin layer of sheer fabric to give his tongue free reign within her folds.
Marissa imagined the sweet torment of his mouth sucking at her clit while every movement wracked her body with spasms of longing and pleasure. He would be good at it, she was sure, and her pussy ached for him to prove it. She could almost feel Russell's tongue inside her.
She could imagine the long, slow licks he would take, as though he was tasting the very core of her. Her whole body shivered in forbidden delight as she lay alone in the darkness, wishing that she dared hope for her dreams to come true.
~
Nervously, Marissa waited for her billionaire boss to reply. She had just shown him a new program she had designed to try to track illegal logging activities. It was the most important project she had ever worked on, but all she could think was how she wanted him to be pleased with her.
"I'm very impressed with your work, Marissa."
She felt a blush rising from her cleavage up. He was pleased!
"I think we should implement your app immediately," Russell continued. "I'll get a meeting set up with IT for tomorrow morning." He handed her back the files and started to leave.
On his way out of her cubicle, he paused. "You're going to save a lot of trees, Marissa. You've made me very happy."
Marissa shivered at the look in his eyes. It was so close to the look she had been dreaming of only last night - but she had to be imagining things. He was her boss!
She forced herself to look away and tried to pretend that she was only glad about the trees, and not that she had made him so happy.
True to Russell's word, she met with the IT department the next day, and before she knew it, the entire company was using her app. Her boss even called together a surprise party in her honor. She was so shocked when they appeared at her cubicle with cake and fruit punch that she nearly shrieked.
"Let's all toast Marissa. Two months in, and I'd already be lost without her!" Russell's face was bright and happy, and she wished she could kiss him.
But the twinkle in his eye was just for her, and that was enough. He raised a glass of fruit punch. "To her future here at Branch Industries."
"To her future!"
The chorus rose around Marissa. For the first time since she had lost Jake, she felt truly at home.
~
Only a few days later, Russell stopped by her cubicle with some exciting information. "Your app has been picking up some unusual activity in this area." He pointed to a quadrant on the forest map that hung over her desk. "The police say they chased off some illegal loggers a few days ago. I thought you might like to go with me to see the trees you've helped to save in person while I check things out."
"Oh!" Marissa blushed. "I don't know." Days alone in the forest with her boss? Did she dare?
"Unless my company is so terribly unpleasant that you would rather sit behind a desk for three days than be around me." His eyes twinkled.
Marissa laughed then, deeply and truly - what felt like the first real laugh she had had since her fiancé left.
"Of course I'll go with you." She smiled up at Russell. "I'd love to."
~
They hiked through the lush and green undergrowth, reveling in the majestic forest they'd helped save. Russell paused often to be sure Marissa wasn't straining herself on his account, and she always told him how she would have such stories to tell her child. He'd point out grouse and once, a turkey, as they walked. The first night, they huddled before a field Russell had built before a makeshift lean-to. Marissa couldn't remember ever being so happy
"This is perfect," she said aloud as a wolf's howl rose over the teeming woods.
Russell nodded, his face surprisingly closed. "I know. I love it here. Since the moment I stepped foot here first ten years ago, I knew I loved it. I would do anything to keep them safe. But these woods have done more for me than I could ever repay."
Curiosity ate Marissa up. What a curious thing to say. But she could tell by the look on his face that he meant to say no more. "I love it here too," she told him quietly instead. "I promise I'll help you keep these woods safe."
"I know you will. That's why I hired you."
"Russell..." She bit her lip, and then forced out the words she had been worried about for weeks. "I was so afraid you wouldn't let me stay when you found out I was pregnant. Why did you hire me?"
"You were right for the job." Russell's eyes wrinkled as his face finally relaxed into a smile. "And you told me so."
Once more she laughed, the sounds of her joy ringing out over the forest. Here, she felt freer than she had in months. And safe. Was it just the forest, or was there some other reason?
"Marissa." Russell's voice was suddenly very serious. "I want to ask you something completely improper."
Her heart beat a little faster. "What is it?"
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I wonder why your fiancé are no longer together."
"Oh." There wasn’t anything in particular that she had wanted him to ask, but she felt strangely disappointed anyway. "It's a long story. I guess he just didn't want the responsibility of a child." She forced a smile. "She can just be my child, and she'll always know she is loved, by me if not by him."
Russell stood, looking angry. "I'm sorry to say it, but your fiancé is an idiot. Any real man should be proud to be by your side."
A flood of emotions washed through her. No longer disappointed - instead, she felt a rush of... desire?
"Thank you," she managed, not daring to meet his eyes lest he read something in hers she wasn't ready for him to see. "It's nice of you to say."
"Marissa," he began and then stopped, his face twisting. She opened her lips to ask what was wrong, and then he was kissing her. "I was not just saying it. You are incredible, Marissa, and you deserve someone who knows it."
"Russell," she moaned against his mouth. "Please."
"Please what?" He pressed her back against the ground.
Marissa felt leaves and twigs at her back, but her whole world was caught up in him, and how badly she needed him. "Please make love to me."
It was all she needed to say.
With aching, infinite tenderness, Russell kissed her once more. Slowly, his hands slipped down about her shoulders, and then to the buttons of her shirt. He undressed her then, kissing each part of her as he revealed it until she was lying underneath him, complet
ely naked.
"You are perfect," he murmured.
Marissa felt a sob catch in her throat at the utter truth and love in his voice. He was looking at her as though he had never seen anything so beautiful, even with her big belly.
"I'm pregnant," she forced out.
Russell kissed her belly. "And?"
She shook her head, hardly daring to speak. "What have I done to deserve you?"
He laughed then, and she raised her head, almost ready to be angry. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because," he kissed her again, "you didn't have to do anything other than be yourself. Who you are is amazing, Marissa."
"You're crazy," she whispered, but without much conviction.
He captured her mouth again then, and she gave herself up to him completely. With Russell as her guide, she rediscovered the beauty of her body, even the belly she hated as much as she loved. He trailed his fingers down between her breasts, showering her with soft kisses and tasting the very salt of her skin. She shivered under each touch, feeling as though he were opening her like a precious flower.
When he finally undressed and pressed his body against hers, Marissa awaited his cock eagerly. But for long moments, he just held her close, gently stroking her hair.
The intimacy undid her. It was as though a dam had been locked inside her ever since Jake had left, and now, finally, she could be free.
She ran her hands down his muscled chest and reached for his cock. It was thicker than she had imagined it would be, and it was hard and straining under her touch. She could feel the first drops of his need on the tip of it and felt a rush of excitement knowing that he could soon be inside her.
"Please?" she whispered, looking up into his face. "I want you to feel every inch of me."
"Anything you want," he murmured.
They lay, side by side, as he gently guided himself into her. Marissa felt her breath catch at the size of him pressing into her warm pussy. He was so big for a moment she was afraid he wouldn't fit - but her body was ready for him, and when she drew him into her tight sheath she heard him gasp in pleasure.
"Marissa," he moaned.
They rocked against each other, Russell thrusting in and out ever so slightly. She whimpered at the teasing feeling of it. She needed him, all of him. She never wanted him to stop touching her.
He stroked her back and neck as he moved inside her. She could feel every thrust of his cock. Each movement was sweet torture, sending shivers throughout her entire body. Every few thrusts he would hold, deep inside her, and she could feel him pulse against her.
Marissa whimpered in need. Her whole body was full of him, aching with desire. She could feel how he moved within her, but it was also as though he was all around her, protecting her, drawing the deepest desires and passion from her and breathing it to life.
Her whole body shuddered as he thrust again and again. One of his hands slipped lower, gently parting her folds above his cock and stroking her in time with his movements. Marissa cried out as he found her clit, massaging it.
As Russell pressed deeper inside her, his fingers circled her clit, working her harder now as she drowned in pleasure, lost in his embrace. Her whole body was shuddering against him now, and she was crying out in need. Each movement threatened to drown her in pleasure until she came in a riot of cries on his cock.
He held there for a long moment inside her, and she could feel his member pulsing inside her in time with her own orgasm.
"You are perfect," he repeated.
This time, she believed he meant it.
~
Marissa was shy at first the next day, but her boss was a perfect gentleman. He made her breakfast, and smiled when she helped clear their tent. "You are perfect," he murmured.
"You're just saying that because of last night." She tried a laugh, but it came out high and tight.
"Marissa." Russell's face was unwontedly serious. "Last night meant everything to me."
"Oh," she whispered, feeling her heart thump painfully against her chest. "To me, too."
He stepped toward her with a look of such love on his face that it shook her to her very core. She reached for him, eager to kiss him and feel his soft mouth on hers once more, but then he stopped.
Russell suddenly froze. His nostrils flared and he looked about them wildly. Marissa caught an expression on his face she had never seen before. It looked like death.
"Run."
"What?" She stared, not sure she had heard him correctly.
"Go!" he shouted at her. "Get out of here!"
Only then did Marissa hear the crackling of the bushes. She froze, terrified, as several rough-looking men appeared before them. They carried chain saws - and guns. These must be the loggers the police had chased off only a few days ago.
Slowly, she tried to back up, but one of them was already drawing his gun. She heard Russell shout, and then there was shot.
Marissa stumbled backwards in shock, and collapsed to her hands and knees. Before her, Russell fell to the ground. "No," she whispered. "No."
The logger stepped forward.
Her heart raced, and Marissa held her belly, certain she was about to die. Forgive me for not protecting you well enough, she thought to her unborn child.
One of the loggers leveled his rifle at her, and she squeezed her eyes closed.
As she waited for the shot, she heard instead a mighty roar, so loud and fierce it shook the very ground beneath her.
In shock, Marissa looked up. She couldn't believe her eyes. A great bear had appeared, as if from nowhere and it was attacking the loggers. She knew she should be afraid, but she found herself urging the bear on. She felt strangely drawn to its power. She felt... safe.
"We're going to be okay," she whispered to her child. "We're going to make it."
One of the loggers stumbled and fell. Marissa had to turn away as the bear ripped into him. His screams echoed in the forest where only minutes before the birds had been singing. How had everything gone so wrong so fast?
Her eyes flew open in sudden realization. Where was Russell?
Panicked, she searched for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he run off into the jungle? The last of the loggers was running as fast as he could to get away from the bear, and Marissa didn't blame him - and yet, somehow she felt sure Russell wouldn't leave her.
But where was he?
The bear took one step after the fleeing logger. As Marissa watched in horror, he growled once, and then fell. The crash seemed to shake the forest around them. Only then did she see the bullet wound in its chest, bleeding into its thick hair.
But the bear hadn't been shot. It was Russell who had...
Slowly, Marissa took a step forward. "Russell?" she asked the bear. "Is that you?"
With a groan, the shape before her rippled and changed, and became the man she knew. The man she loved, bleeding to death at her feet.
"Oh God," she choked out, hurrying to his side. "Stay with me."
She covered his wound with her hands, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood. She could feel the heat of his life slipping through her fingers. "No!" she screamed. "No!"
Inside her womb, her unborn child kicked as if feeling her grief.
Russell's breath rattled in his chest, and then he was still.
Marissa screamed aloud, crying out in anguish to the skies. The birds and trees were her only witnesses, but they knew the full extent of her grief. She had only just found him, and they had only now begun to be together! It wasn't fair to lose him like this. Not now.
Breaking down, she leaned over his chest and sobbed. Marissa could feel his blood on her chest, but she didn't care. She was too lost in sorrow.
A s she cried, the forest returned to normal around her. Birds began singing once more, and she found herself hating them for continuing with their lives when her world had just fallen apart.
And then a hand smoothed her hair.
Marissa closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of b
eing comforted for the briefest of moments before she realized what that must mean. She jerked up and stared, wide-eyed, at Russell.
He was alive.
He was pale and still covered in blood, but smiling at her with that damn smile she loved so much, and he was holding his hand to the back of her head and then she was laughing and crying all at once and holding him tightly. "I thought I'd lost you."
"You did, for a moment." He propped himself up. "But here I am."
Marissa stared. Where before there had been a weeping gash of a bullet hole in his chest, now there was only clean pink skin. She could still see the blood on him, she could still feel it all over herself, but his skin was unbroken. "How?"