by Nashoda Rose
He wasn’t.
He was lying naked in my bed.
I crossed my arms. “What are you doing?”
“If you insist on two nights, I plan to make them last.”
“You can’t stay the night.” Shit, this was backfiring. I expected him to fuck me and leave, not lie next to me all night.
One leg was bent and the sheet pooled at his hips, dipping where there was a light trail of sparse dark hairs. He was half-perched up by two pillows under his shoulders and I hated that he looked hot in my bed, relaxed, as if he belonged there.
“You going to throw me out, London?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him. “I’m not sleeping naked,” I grumbled as I walked to the bed and climbed in with my yoga pants and shirt on.
“We’ll see,” he said and pulled the sheet up over me. His thigh landed on top of my thighs. Then his arm came around my shoulders and tugged, pulling me back against his chest.
I fumed.
Because I liked him wrapped around me. I liked the feel of him. I liked him in bed with me.
And I’d never felt so protected in my life. The irony was I had the feeling that Kai could very well destroy me.
TWO MORE NIGHTS.
I paced back and forth. Tonight, I had dinner at my dad’s and I hated not being able to say anything to him. But what made this all feel like it was worth it was that the worn, worried frown he’d had for months had eased, although he was still pale and looked tired.
Even though I wanted to ask him about Kai and the drug he was working on, I couldn’t. No matter how old I was, I’d always be his little girl and he’d want to protect me. Finding out Kai and I were sleeping together would be catastrophic.
Kai was someone my dad couldn’t protect me from. Although with each encounter, I felt more and more like Kai was the protector and not the threat.
By one in the morning, he still hadn’t shown, but it was nothing unusual. I realized this was how he liked to play it. Keep me waiting so I was thrown off. I poured myself a glass of wine and tried to study, but I read the last paragraph four times and still didn’t take in what I was reading. I listened for the key in the lock and every time I heard the ding of the elevator, my heart raced.
It was the weekend and I didn’t have classes, but still, staying awake all night waiting for some guy wasn’t something I did. I laughed to myself because this wasn’t just some guy or some usual night.
I stood, parted the curtains and looked into the alley. I had no idea why. It wasn’t like he’d be down there. I couldn’t picture Kai standing in an alley. He wouldn’t sneak around. He’d go wherever he wanted.
My phone rang and I nearly dropped my glass of wine at the sound. I hurried over to my desk, set my wine down, and glanced at the display, Unknown Number. I normally avoided answering calls like this, but in my gut I knew it was him. Who else would call at this time.
“Hello?”
“London.”
“Kai.”
“Baby, I need you to do something for me.”
I remained quiet. I didn’t like the sound of that.
He continued, “I will forfeit one night if you do what I ask.”
He was willing to forfeit a night? A hint of disappointment hit me. Whatever this was, I wanted to have sex with him and I had to accept that. But he didn’t need to know.
“Agreed?”
My stomach dropped and goose bumps popped up along my skin. I didn’t like agreeing to something I didn’t know what I was agreeing to.
“Does it involve hurting anyone?”
He laughed. “No, baby. That’s my job, never yours.”
I was also uncertain how I felt about him calling me baby. It was different than his nickname for me. It was personal and familiar, like we were something more than a deal.
“One less night. And no one gets hurt.”
“Yes,” he drawled.
“Fine.”
“Good girl. Go to the freezer.” I frowned, holding the phone to my ear as I walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer door. “On the bottom shelf. Metal container.”
My eyes scanned over the frozen corn, the Häagen-Dazs ice cream, then stopped. I swallowed as I slowly took out the metal container and peered through the small window in the lid. It had a dildo with a blue embossed swirl around it.
“You have it?”
I nodded.
“London?”
“Yes.”
“Take it out of the box.” I did. “Now get into bed. And take off your clothes.”
Shit, he knew I broke the rule once again and was wearing pajamas.
Once in my room, I slipped them off and crawled onto my bed.
“Prop yourself up and bend your knees,” he instructed.
Oh, Jesus, I knew exactly what I was supposed to do with this. The most experience I’d had with sex toys was a tiny clit stimulator.
“Need you to talk to me, London.”
“Yeah. Okay, but—”
“Legs apart.” I swallowed. “Wider,” he growled into the phone.
To my mortification, tingles erupted between my legs. A man on the phone was telling me what to do with a dildo he’d put in the freezer.
“Now, rub it between your legs.” I stared at the toy in my hand and thought about it. It was cold. Really cold. I didn’t like jumping in a swimming pool below eighty. I was one of those people who took their time inch by inch and if it was too cold, I didn’t even bother.
Could I pretend to do what he said and not do it?
“Never hesitate, London. Hesitating will get you hurt,” he said. It was like he was warning me, not because he was angry, but for my own good.
I switched hands with the phone and the dildo, as it was already too cold in my hand. Then I closed my eyes and lowered it between my legs.
My breath hitched as the hard cold met my heated soft skin.
“Slide it up and down your pussy. Get it wet, baby,” he directed.
The phone crackled with my heavy breath when the pain from the cold sifted through me. “It’s too cold.” I pulled it away.
“That’s the point. Your body will warm it enough to put inside you.”
I didn’t want to. I didn’t like being cold and I didn’t like doing this. I felt awkward and silly.
I tossed the dildo aside and yanked the sheet up over me. “I’m not doing this.”
I hung up and shut my phone off.
I sat up against the headboard, my knees to my chest, arms around them. My pulse raced as I wondered what the hell I was thinking considering shoving a freezing cold dildo up inside me.
It was only five minutes before I heard the dead bolt click, and the door opened. Kai stood there, looking larger than life. He was larger than life—at least in attitude.
“Kai,” I breathed as he stalked toward me, his cell still in his hand. “I thought….” I clamped my mouth shut as he tossed his phone on the bedside table, grabbed the sheet and yanked it off me to pool on the floor. His gaze scanned the bed then stopped on the dildo where I’d tossed it.
He took two steps to the right, leaned over and picked it up. Only then did he look at me.
I was terrified by what I’d see, but he didn’t look angry. But he wasn’t happy either. I couldn’t tell what he was feeling and that bothered me more than anything because I had no idea what he’d do next.
“Don’t ever hang up on me.”
Yeah, Kai wouldn’t appreciate that. I held my legs closer to my chest protectively. Despite my balled-up shielded appearance, I met his eyes and refused to flinch or look away.
“You don’t want to do something, say it. But don’t ever hang up on me.” He grabbed my ankle and a small scream escaped as he yanked and I landed flat on my back.
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
He completely ignored what I said, dropped the dildo between my legs and it bounced once on the mattress. He unclipped the belt on his stylish charcoal grey dress pan
ts and pulled it through the loops. He held onto the buckle and wrapped the leather around his hand twice then left the rest dangling.
My eyes widened as they went from the belt then back at him. “You can’t,” I stammered.
His brows rose. “No?”
Holy shit. He was going to spank me for hanging up on him? Shit. I dove for the side of the bed. “You’re crazy,” I shouted as I scrambled to my feet and ran for the door.
I heard him come after me, but he took his time and I realized why. I was naked.
This was why I slept in clothes. This. An emergency like this. Okay, not like this, but an emergency and this was an emergency and now I was naked because he told me to be.
I had my hand on the doorknob wondering if I should scream bloody murder running naked through the hallway and then have to move out of the building or… or what?
I turned around and he stood watching me while leaning against the large wooden beam between my living room and my bedroom. He still had the belt in his hand, arm lowered to his side.
“What are you going to do, London?”
“I’m not into that stuff if that’s what you’re planning. I don’t like it.”
“Have you tried?”
“I don’t need to try something to know. My body knows,” I threw back at him.
He half-smiled. “What did I tell you?”
I frantically searched my brain for what he was referring to. “Don’t hang up on you.”
“Yes,” he drawled. “What else.”
“Be naked in bed and I was.”
“Yes, but you weren’t until I told you to.”
I swallowed, my hand reaching behind me to undo the dead bolt. The sound of it clicking was like an elephant just burst through the door.
“What else?”
He was so fucking calm it was maddening. I was betting his heart rate was non-existent while mine ran a marathon, and I hated running. I was a bookworm, not a sports person.
“Are you going to spank me?” God, that sounded… pathetic.
“London.” He shook his head back and forth and slid the leather across his palm on his other hand. My eyes kept going to it. “Baby, what else?”
Him saying baby made me a little calmer. “I… you said….” The leather slipped from his palm as he lowered his arm. I looked back up at him. “You said to tell you if I didn’t want to do something.”
He gave a subtle nod.
“I don’t want you to spank me,” I said. “I’m not into that.”
He tossed his belt on the couch. “Good girl. Lock the door again.” Then he walked back into the bedroom and undressed.
It took me a few minutes before I was able to walk across my loft to the bed. My legs were still shaking and my heart had slowed to a half-decent beat. Naked, Kai sat with his back up against the headboard, the vibrator beside him.
Before I joined him, I asked, “Where were you when you called?”
He answered immediately, “In the lobby.”
“The lobby? My lobby?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you call me from the lobby?” I frowned. Why would he be in the lobby calling me?
“I wanted to see if you’d do what I asked.”
I narrowed my eyes on him, spine stiffening. “What? Why the hell would you do that?”
“A test. To see how far you’d go without me. And because I want you to learn that if you ever don’t want something, you need to tell me. That’s twice now.”
“God, you’re an asshole.” This was an arrangement for seven days, not a relationship and yet I couldn’t help but feel like it was more. “This isn’t some game. I don’t need testing and I sure as hell don’t need you telling me what to do.”
He laughed. The sound vibrated through the loft, a deep, gravelly sound that sent shivers across my skin. “I love your courage, sweetness. I’ve had few…” he paused, “… no. I’ve never had a woman speak to me as you do.” He patted the mattress. “Lie down. I want to try this on you.” He picked up the dildo.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?”
But from his relaxed expression and shrug, he wasn’t.
When he merely ran his finger down the length of the toy. I scrunched my nose to match my frown.
“I don’t want to do that.”
“Now, you’re lying,” he replied. He placed his finger in his mouth, wet it, and then ran it down the shaft of the glass. “You didn’t want to do it because you were alone. Now, you’re not.”
I shifted, putting my hand on my hip and wishing again that I had clothes on. My sex pulsed as I watched him.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said.
“I think one deal with you is enough.”
He quirked a half-smile and lowered the dildo to the mattress. “If you’re wet, I get to use the toy. If you’re not, I’ll get you wet and fuck you with my cock.”
Jesus. It was like he had no filter, which was a total turn on.
“I know you’re wet, London. I can see your pussy swollen and glistening from here.” God, I hadn’t even caught him looking at my sex. “I would never make you do anything you didn’t want to.”
I thought about it for a second. It was a dildo and probably not cold anymore. I wasn’t that much of a prude, was I?
“Fine.”
“Good.” He nodded to the mattress and I knelt on it. A little self-conscious, I was uncertain what to do. “Thought it could end,” he said, shaking his head while watching me, piercing green eyes intense. “It can’t.”
I was uncertain what he meant, but when I opened my mouth to ask, he said, “Lie down. Do exactly as I told you on the phone.” He held out the vibrator to me.
“What?” I tried to sit up, but he put his hand on my neck and kept me down. “Kai. I thought… I thought you were going to do it.”
“Now that would be too easy. Let’s see how brave you are.” He went to the end of the bed and came to his feet, then walked over to the dresser and leaned up against it. I could barely see him in the shadows, but what was clearly visible were his green eyes and they were focused on me. It was disconcerting having him watch me because, like it or not, I wanted him to see that I was brave.
“Pick it up, London.”
I glanced at the dildo he’d dropped between my legs. Brave. I was brave. I wasn’t afraid to try new foods. I went bungee jumping with a group of school friends from my chemistry class a few years ago. When I was picked on by a bully in eighth grade, I punched him. I was a geek, but it didn’t mean I didn’t have backbone.
Fuck it.
I grabbed the dildo, bent my knees, widened my legs and pushed it inside me.
My breath locked in my throat as the cool met the heated wetness and I closed my eyes at the strange sensation. Shit. It felt… good. I slid it out then pushed it in again. A thrill of excitement soared through me not only from what I was doing, but that his eyes were on me. Actually, that was a bigger turn on because I liked his eyes on me.
I parted my legs further, arched my back and moaned as I pushed it in and out. My sex tweaked with need and I lowered my other hand and circled my clit while I continued to push the cool dildo in and out.
“Fuck.”
He came out of the shadows and was on the bed within seconds. He grabbed the toy and threw it across the room so hard it made a dent in the drywall.
He was already wearing a condom as he slid his cock up and down between my legs once to get it wet before he pushed inside me—hard.
But I was ready for him as he ruthlessly took me. His hands grabbed my wrists and locked them down on the mattress on either side of my head. There was a wild look in his eyes as he hovered above me thrusting with his hips. His lips pursed together, brows lowered as if he was angry.
“Christ,” he growled.
I was already close to coming before he entered me and it wasn’t long before I went over the edge and came violently around him. “Kai,” I gasped as shudders tore through me.
&
nbsp; “London,” he shouted as he pumped hard and fast a few more times before he groaned low in his throat and came too.
It was several minutes of him on top of me unmoving, eyes closed, hands still locked around my wrists. He finally rolled to the side, releasing me. We were both breathing erratically with the smell of sex and sweat in the air.
Unrestrained. That was what it had been. I didn’t pretend to know this man, but I suspected he rarely lost control—until me. I saw it in his expression, the furrowed brow, the unsettled look in his piercing eyes.
I perched up on my elbow, my head resting in the palm of my hand as I faced him. I reached out and trailed a finger down his chest. His arm was thrown over his face covering his eyes and one knee was bent as he lay on his back beside me.
“Kai?” I traced one of the scars that went from his pectorals down to his abdomen. “Who did this to you?”
He moved his arm from his face and tilted his head to look at me. When I saw the darkness in the depths of his eyes, my heart jumped with a tinge of fear.
“We fuck, London. Not share fairy tales of our past.”
I yanked my hand away and despite his words feeling like a slap across the face, he was right. But from the look in his eyes and the depth of his scars, his past was no fairy tale.
Why did I care anyway?
Because I did. I cared about everyone. It was the type of person I was and I couldn’t help it. I saw the good in people even when most saw none. I had no doubt the scars contributed to who Kai was and it saddened me to think that someone hurt him so badly it had molded him into a man who was dangerous. I wanted to know more. I wanted to understand him because Kai wasn’t all bad. If he were, I’d be either dead or he’d have beaten me out in the woods as a warning.
But he was right. None of this mattered and the less I knew about Kai, the better. One more night and he’d disappear from my life. I’d get my head back into my studies and pretend this never happened.
But I knew pretending I never met Kai, never having had him inside me, pretending he never existed was never going to happen.
I turned over on my side and closed my eyes.
At some point, he curled his arm around me, tugged me back against his chest, and then gently kissed my neck.