by Janie Mason
Heidi turned her head at an angle and fluffed her hair, more in an attempt to break eye contact and gather her wits than any real need to primp. With a deep but silent breath, she found the fortitude to get back into character.
“I thought that might get your attention,” she said, pasting a smile on her lips. “Don’t worry, I’ll only keep you locked up for about another hour. Why don’t you just relax? You’ll see how the time will fly by. Besides, I really do need a male opinion.” Heidi prattled on in her best airhead impersonation.
“What do you think of this dress?” She did a milder version of a runway model’s walk and turn, stopping at the spot where she’d begun.
Rafe sat stone silent, frowning.
“You don’t like it,” she said as a statement, hoping the opposite was true. “That’s okay. I wasn’t sure about it either. I’ll try on another one.” She returned to the bedroom, adding an extra sway to her hips as she walked in the form-fitting dress.
The digital clock on her nightstand read seven thirty-three. Heidi breathed a small sigh of relief. Barbara might already be on the prowl for a stand-in bed partner.
“You’re probably right, Rafe, it’s not me,” Heidi called out, a satisfied smile on her face. “A simple black dress is so conservative, and we both know I don’t come from a conservative family.”
A drunk for a father and a mother who deserts her husband and seven-year-old daughter—not exactly Carol and Mike Brady. Although, Heidi admitted to herself, there were more similarities between her and any of the Brady boys than the girls.
Which is why it was good that her best friend was a clotheshorse and wore the same size, otherwise Plan B would have included modeling her own khaki collection. She tossed the black dress on the bed and pulled a fuchsia knit dress over her head. Much like the black one, the hot-pink tank dress was as formfitting as a sausage casing. Heidi had planned to leave the black heels on but—used to wearing work boots most of the time—her ankles were already plotting a mutiny. She pulled off the sandals and headed to the living room in bare feet.
Heidi felt Rafe’s eyes latch on to her the second she stepped out of the bedroom. Not sure how to interpret the dark scowl still on his face, she decided to ignore it.
“How about this one? It definitely isn’t conservative.” Refusing to focus on Rafe’s menacing look, Heidi concentrated on her modeling routine. She turned and swayed, paused and posed. That sexy feeling was back, and she was having fun pretending to be an international supermodel at a photo shoot.
“You’re not saying anything. You hate this one, too?” Deep into her role-playing, Heidi had been avoiding Rafe’s eyes. Now she saw them focused on the dress, their intensity almost powerful enough to vaporize the fabric right off her skin. Aroused, Heidi’s nipples pebbled through her thin bra, showing Rafe the effect he had on her. His heated gaze melted any embarrassment she might have been feeling.
Then Rafe’s eyes shifted to meet hers, and there was no mistaking the desire smoldering there. She felt the electricity pulsing between them.
“Heidi, you need to let me go right now.” He didn’t bark the order as he had before. His voice was soft, and yet infused with power.
“Why?” she asked, trance-like and dangerously close to complying with any demand he might issue.
“If you don’t let me go right now, I might do something we both know would be a mistake.”
Heidi took one step toward him, placing herself only inches out of his reach.
“What might you do?” she whispered, so turned on her entire body hummed. More than anything, she longed to hear Rafe say he wanted her.
“I might not leave when you unlock me,” he said, causing the pounding of her heart to mimic the throbbing between her legs. She took a tiny step toward Rafe.
“What would you do if you stayed?” Another final step brought her within his easy reach.
Suddenly the temperature inside the house felt like two-hundred degrees, and one touch from Rafe might very well cause her to spontaneously combust. Heidi’s heart pounded against her ribs, trying to burst free from the confines of her chest. His gaze, and the anticipation of what she hoped was going to happen, were making Heidi go out of her mind. Crazy with lust.
Just when she couldn’t take another second of waiting, Rafe raised his free hand, resting it on the back of her ankle. Then he slid it, ever so slowly, up her bare calf. Heat radiated up her thigh and settled between her legs, where it warmed the oils of her arousal. His hand continued higher, up the back of her thigh and under the short hem of her dress. Rafe’s burning gaze held hers captive as he stroked her cheek through the silk of her panties.
Heidi mouthed his name, but the only thing that escaped her lips was a shaky puff of air. Then Rafe’s thumb hooked over the top of her panties and began dragging them down her legs. He broke their visual connection when he helped her step free of them. That was when Heidi noticed the massive bulge at the fly of his jeans. Such undeniable proof of his desire made her heart leap with joy. He wanted her. She’d waited so long to connect with him in a way more intimate than friendship. Her gaze returned to meet his and she slid the tip of her tongue between her lips to moisten them, wanting his kiss, wanting to be swallowed up by him.
“Heidi,” he half-whispered, half-growled, “God help me, I can’t stop myself.”
“I don’t want you to stop,” she confessed as his hand slid higher over her bottom, dragging the soft knit fabric of the dress up to reveal her mound. His warm breath on her sent waves of fire throughout her body. With his hand on her behind, Rafe urged her forward.
And before she knew what to think, he kissed her. There. She’d heard all about this kind of intimacy from Gigi, but the actual experience wasn’t at all the embarrassing or repulsing act she’d imagined. This was Rafe, and his gesture touched her soul as much as it pleased her body. She’d never felt so connected to him, and Heidi wanted it to last forever.
“Spread your legs a little bit more for me,” he whispered. His voice was such a deep purr; Heidi thought she could almost feel the vibration in her core.
She did as he asked, and Rafe’s tongue found her clitoris, making her twitch with a new, mind-blowing sensation.
“So sweet,” he said, his breath fanning her sensitized skin. He urged her back in place and stroked her once again. Heidi felt her knees grow weak and she grasped his shoulders for support.
“Rafe, my l-legs.”
In response, his hand tightened on her bottom, and his cuffed hand grasped her ankle. A strange tension began mounting inside her, intensifying exponentially. And yet Heidi couldn’t, wouldn’t, back away from the certain collision that must lie ahead of something so powerful.
And then suddenly it hit, an orgasm backed by at least five hundred horsepower. Heidi’s head fell back, and her cries of pleasure filled the tiny house. Yet another reason to be glad she lived out in the country, a quarter mile from the nearest neighbor. Ecstasy pulsed through her body like pounding surf, and she lost all sense of time and space.
Heidi felt limp as a rag doll as Rafe lowered her into his lap. How much time had passed? Seconds? Minutes? She couldn’t say.
“That was an awful lot of heat from such a little candle.”
Drained of all energy, she would have been content to nestle in his arms forever. But after waiting for years for his touch, Heidi wasn’t about to give Rafe a moment to talk himself out of taking their relationship to the next level.
She wanted him inside her, their bodies joined as intimately as a man and woman could be. A man and woman in love. And she did love him. Had ever since she was sixteen and he’d let her start working at the garage after school. But she was no longer a teenage girl with a bad case of hero-worship. She was a responsible woman who’d come to know Rafe better than he knew himself. And that knowledge told her not to lose the momentum they had going. She made herself speak when her spent body cried for rest.
“That was incredible, but I need to feel yo
u inside me.”
And before he could respond, Heidi pressed her lips to his. Their first kiss, but it held no innocence. Heidi opened herself to him completely, giving him her tongue and taking his with unencumbered eagerness. She felt Rafe’s arousal, hard and hot against her bottom. Knowing she had this effect on him was the ultimate aphrodisiac, and her body hummed for more. More of Rafe, now.
“Wait,” she said, shifting to straddle his lap, her dress still baring her almost to her waist. He squeezed one bare cheek in his palm, pushing his groin up against her folds and groaning in apparent frustration when the metal cuff clattered against the bed frame.
“Can we get rid of this damned cuff?” he growled between her breasts.
“Oh, quit your whining,” she said, knowing he wouldn’t take offense. Heidi reached into her bra and pulled out the key.
Rafe nibbled at her breast through the cloth while Heidi released his wrist, leaving the other end of the cuff still affixed to the frame. Then she raised herself on her knees and attacked his belt, the metal button at his waist and his zipper. A sexual novice—and therefore clumsy in undressing him—Heidi was grateful when Rafe whipped his shirt over his head.
Heidi froze, mesmerized by the swirls of dark hair covering his chest. God, he didn’t have to do anything more than pull off his shirt, and she forgot her own name.
Rafe smiled, and just as she reached out a tentative hand, he pulled her parted lips back to his. Yes, his chest was magnificent, but his kisses defined hot, and soon Heidi was burning for him.
“Easy, babe,” he warned when she pulled open his fly. Understanding, she took special care when freeing him.
“Oh, my.” The virginal words slipped out before she could check them. This was a night of many firsts, but Heidi didn’t want him to know it.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he chuckled.
Surely not all men were as huge as Rafe, she thought as her gaze went from his laughing eyes back to his erection.
Heidi almost voiced her doubts about whether he would fit inside her but managed to bite down on her bottom lip just before her mouth engaged. That’s all she needed, to look like a frightened child. Rafe would be out the door before she could blink.
“Heidi?” he said, the humor diminishing in his voice.
Thinking fast, she smiled an evil smile and softly bit his bottom lip. He devoured her mouth in response, pushing her dress up to her ribs with eager hands. Heidi reached down between them and took him in her fist, pushing her hand down to the base and then back up to the head.
“Jesus,” he said, breaking the kiss and gasping into her neck. “I’m already so hot for you. Any more of that and I’m going to come.”
He disengaged her hand while kissing one of her breasts through the knit cloth of the dress. She combed her fingers through his thick, dark hair, offering her breast, and more.
“Hurry, Rafe, I need you inside me.” Heidi squirmed and pressed herself against him.
“Wait, Jesus, I need a condom,” he replied with a raspy voice.
Heidi was so far gone, the fact she had forgotten birth control came and went in an instant.
Rafe held her waist with one hand and lifted one hip, tugging his wallet out of his back pocket. Wanting to consume him, Heidi covered his face with slow, teasing kisses as he retrieved the small, square packet. He opened it and must have sheathed himself by feel alone since Heidi held his jaw in her palms, demanding his mouth.
They kissed hungrily as his hands slid around to cup her bottom. His gentle kneading, along with Heidi’s own rocking motion, brought her forward to meet him. He reached between her legs with one hand and massaged her sex with her body’s warm dew.
“You’re so wet,” he whispered into her open mouth.
Heidi had no idea how to respond to such an intimate statement. Luckily Rafe didn’t seem to be waiting for a reply. Instead he trailed hot kisses over her jaw and down the side of her neck. Then she gasped in pleasure when she felt him gliding the tip of his penis through her folds, positioning himself to make them one. It was finally happening.
If I’m dreaming, please dear God, don’t let me wake up.
As both of his hands came to rest on her hips, instinct overcame inexperience. Heidi leaned forward to kiss him and slowly sank onto his erection. Rafe stretched her, filled her, both body and soul.
“Oh my God!” The initial discomfort was fleeting, and Heidi called out in ecstasy when her bottom came to rest on his upper thighs.
Rafe’s reply was unrecognizable but no less audible, and Heidi thrilled at his primitive outcry. Then, led by his skillful hands, she began a rhythmic wave of her hips, which drove him even further into her. The sweet pleasure-pain with each rocking motion had her mindless, and the tension that had continued to build approached astronomic levels.
And then her last inner coil snapped. Heidi climaxed just as Rafe stiffened in release. Out of her mind with pleasure, she rode him as if trying to outrun their lovemaking’s inevitable ending.
Much too soon, Heidi slowed and fell exhausted against his chest. Rafe stroked his calloused hands over her short hair and all the way down her back to her bottom.
“I feel as weak as a newborn kitten,” she purred.
“Mmm,” Rafe agreed. “I’m pretty sure Attila could take me right now, too.”
He lifted her chin with the tip of his finger and kissed her, tender and yet sustained. When he broke the kiss, she snuggled her head under his prickly chin. Funny, she hadn’t noticed his whiskers earlier. Rafe shifted, and Heidi felt him leave her, surprised at the sudden and profound sense of loss.
“Give me a minute,” he said. “I need to get rid of this.” He helped her up onto shaky legs. As she sank onto the sofa, which wasn’t even a distant second in comfort to his arms, Heidi watched Rafe make his way to the bathroom.
Chapter Four
Rafe had hoped he only imagined the resistance when he’d penetrated Heidi’s sweet body, but when he switched on the bathroom light, his initial suspicion was confirmed. Blood. Not a lot, but definitely blood. Virgin’s blood.
“Shit,” he said between clenched teeth. Rafe disposed of the condom and got himself put back together, all the while cursing a blue streak under his breath.
Why in the hell didn’t this occur to you? I’ll tell you why, because you let your dick do the thinking.
Rafe leaned over the sink and splashed his face with water, trying to cool both his residual desire for Heidi and the fury he felt at his lack of self-control. Turning off the spigot, he glared into the mirror, drops of water dripping from his nose and chin into the basin.
“You had no right to take it,” he admonished the reflection in a low growl. “Heidi’s virginity was meant for her future husband, not for you.” Guilt and disgust already gnawed at his gut like flies on a rotting carcass. How could he have let this happen? He’d known it was wrong, known Heidi wasn’t meant for him, but that hadn’t stopped him.
“You’re just as weak as she thought you were.” He scolded his reflection. “Shit, maybe she’s right. Maybe Barbara could have tricked you into the sack. But even that wouldn’t have been as big a mistake as making love to Heidi.”
“What?”
He swung around to see Heidi standing in the doorway. In his absence she’d rearranged her dress, but the task hadn’t kept her busy quite long enough. The fury in both her tone and expression told him she’d arrived in time to overhear his last statement.
Great. Not only do you rob her of her virginity, now she thinks you didn’t even enjoy it. He was about to correct her very incorrect assumption, when Heidi exploded.
“Well, maybe you can still catch Barbara before she hooks some other fish!” She whirled and left the open doorway.
“Now wait a minute, Heidi.” Rafe followed her, but she waved him off behind her back.
“No, no, I’ve made you suffer enough. God only knows how you stood it.” She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face him.
“But then again, you didn’t have to stand, did you?”
If looks could kill, he’d be incinerated.
“Listen to me, Heidi—”
“Get out,” she said, her voice suddenly turning lifeless and flat. She opened the front door and pushed the storm door open. It was obvious she was waiting for him to cross the threshold.
He knew her all too well. She was furious, holding herself in check by only a narrow margin. Maybe he should give her some time to cool off before he tried to explain.
Yeah, and maybe you need some time to come up with what to say to try and fix this.
Rafe bent to pick up his shirt and wallet from where he’d tossed them on the floor. As he leaned over, he spotted Heidi’s silky, pink panties. Remembering when he’d removed them, his guilt battled desire once more.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, standing to go. “We need to talk about this.”
“Don’t bother,” Heidi said, drilling him with a glare. “I’m with you; it was all just a colossal mistake.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, you didn’t. I believe you said—and allow me to paraphrase—you would have preferred to fuck the Black Widow.”
“That’s not what I said, and you’re deliberately misinterpreting this,” he said, his defense mechanisms powering on out of sheer frustration. Rafe stood his ground in front of her.
“Oh, so this is all just a silly misunderstanding on my part?” she said, fists on hips.
“Exactly,” he said. Wait—he realized too late—wrong answer.
The fire in Heidi’s eyes shot lightning bolts through him. She shoved him out the door, her petite hands pushing against his upper chest with adrenaline-charged, anger-invoked strength. Then the wooden door slammed with a force he suspected might threaten the structural integrity of the house.
Great, just fuckin’ great. Rafe turned and stumbled down the stairs, looking around the empty yard for something he could pulverize.
—
Twenty hours later, Rafe still hadn’t scratched that particular itch. He’d managed to destroy the mini-blinds in his bedroom, jam his toaster, char his two remaining pieces of bread to blackened slabs, and set off the smoke detector. After being forced to stand there fanning the damned thing with a magazine until it stopped screaming, he’d given up on the idea of eating and left. Upon arriving at the garage, where he’d fooled himself into thinking he could catch up on some paperwork, he’d broken the key off inside the lock. Maybe his need to mangle something was really a need to mangle someone. Instead, Rafe spent the next hour and a half replacing the lock and brooding about what a mess he’d made of the previous evening.