Sloane

by V. J. Chambers

  He ran his tongue over his lower lip.

  Geez, his lips were so perfect.

  “I’m interested in everything about you,” he whispered. “There’s something about you. I don’t know what it is, but you intrigue me.”

  Did he really just say that? Was that not the same freaking line he’d used on me? I gritted my teeth.

  The girl was obviously eating it up. Of course she was. I knew exactly what it felt like to have him looking at you like that, focusing his deep, soulful eyes on you like you were the only important thing in the universe.

  “Well…” She leaned closer. “Sometimes, they let me go to this other lab they have.” She looked around, as if to make sure that no one was listening. “You wouldn’t believe this place. You wouldn’t believe the kinds of things they’re doing there.”

  Axel brushed the back of his knuckles over her jaw. “Try me.”

  She grinned at him. “It’s all kinds of crazy experimental stuff. With…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Human test subjects. But most people who work in Costello Labs don’t even know where this place is. I was really lucky to even be taken there.”

  “I doubt it was luck,” breathed Axel. “It’s like I said, you’ve got the whole place wrapped around your finger. I’ve barely known you for half an hour, and I’d already let you anywhere you wanted to go.”

  She flushed again. “Do you really mean that?”

  “I don’t lie,” he said. “Honesty is very important to me.”

  I rolled my eyes. Yeah, he never used lines. Right. He was a broken record. I couldn’t believe I’d let that bastard kiss me more than once. I couldn’t believe I’d nearly slept with him.

  All I wanted was for him to get that girl to give up the location of the lab. After that, I was never going to speak to him again.

  He stroked her hair. “So, where is it? Where’s this secret lab?”

  She tittered. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Maybe we could go there. I think it would be very… exciting to see all the things you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, we could never get in,” she said. “It’s outside of the city, down Albemarle Road, pretty much the only thing down there. But I don’t have the security clearance to get in.”

  He dropped his hand. “Well, that’s too bad.” He glanced over at me quickly, questions in his eyes.

  “Yeah,” I said through clenched teeth. “We got it.”

  The girl looked startled that he wasn’t touching her anymore. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

  He smiled at her. “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about that, love.”

  I glowered at the both of them. “You can stop talking to her now. Or if you want to take her home with you, since she’s so intriguing, be my guest.” I yanked off my own earpiece and mike. I wasn’t watching this anymore.

  I could see Axel furrow his eyebrows. He touched his ear, and then he turned to look at me.

  But I wasn’t sticking around. I got off my barstool.

  He got up too. I saw him lean over to talk to the girl, their heads close.

  Fuck this. I got out my purse and threw down a few dollars to pay for my drink. Straightening my shoulders, I stalked across the room towards the door.

  Once there, I threw it open and stepped out into the night air. It was brisk and chilly, so I started to walk. If I moved quickly, I’d warm up. My footsteps echoed over the sidewalk, and my breath came out in short gasps.

  “Sloane?” I heard Axel’s voice behind me.

  I sped up, going even faster. But I was wearing high heels, and there was a limit at how quickly I could walk.

  He caught up to me pretty quickly. He grabbed me by the arm and turned me to face him. “Is something wrong?”

  I let out a bitter laugh. “No, Axel, everything’s great.”

  “Because I’m pretty sure that I just did exactly what you wanted me to do there. Didn’t I?”

  “You were perfect.” I turned and started walking again.

  He ran to catch up to me. “Then, you want to explain to me why you’re pissed?”

  “I’m not. I’m totally okay.”

  He grabbed me again. Forced me to stop walking. “Hold on a second.”

  My pulse was racing. “Let go of me.”

  “Did I do it wrong? You’re the one who said I should flirt with interns, but I gotta tell you, I’m not actually very good at flirting. I generally ignore girls and just sleep with whichever one is more persistent at trying to get my attention.”

  “Oh, right,” I said. “You expect me to believe that?”

  “It’s the truth. I told you, I don’t lie.”

  “That’s just what you told that girl in there.”

  He let out an exasperated noise. “Well, I had to lie to her.”

  I shook him off. “Everything about you is a lie. Everything you said to me was a lie. I saw how you were with her. You were the same way you were with me. All that crap about me being different—”

  “You are different,” he said. “That’s how I did it. I pretended I was talking to you. You’re the only person I’ve ever really tried to flirt with.”

  “Fuck you,” I said. “Fuck you, I don’t believe you.” I started walking again.

  This time, he didn’t come after me. “Sloane?”

  I flipped him off and kept walking.

  “Sloane, don’t go.” There was something in his voice. Something desperate.

  I didn’t think I’d ever heard him sound desperate before. But I didn’t stop. I needed to get away from him. I’d needed to get away from him from the moment he’d appeared in my life.

  My heels clicked against the sidewalk, echoing through the darkness.

  I should never have tried to get his help. After all, it hadn’t amounted to anything, had it? I hadn’t gotten anything from Armstrong.

  Well, I guessed that Axel had just helped me get the location of the secret lab, but that didn’t mean anything. He was still a liar and a jerk. He’d played me, and I’d fallen right into his hands.

  I doubled my pace, walking even faster.

  Suddenly, I heard a car engine behind me. I expected that it would move past me on the street, but it wasn’t doing that. It was right at my ear, just behind me. I couldn’t figure out why the car wasn’t going normal speed, so I turned around.

  It was Axel’s town car. It pulled up parallel to me, and the window to the backseat rolled down. He looked out at me. “Hey. I know you’re mad, but will you at least let me give you a ride back to my apartment?”

  “Leave me alone,” I said.

  His face twisted in confusion. “Why?”

  “Because… because you lied to me.”

  “I swear to God that I didn’t.”

  I kept moving. “You said that I was different than everyone else. You said that I was intriguing and that you couldn’t stop thinking about me. But you made all that up. You’re talking sweet so that I’ll sleep with you.”

  The car kept pace with me.

  Axel’s nostrils flared. “That doesn’t even make any fucking sense.”

  “Why not?”

  “I would never waste so much time trying to sleep with someone who doesn’t want to sleep with me, for one thing,” he spat out. “I’m Axel Whitman. I can get laid on the strength of an introduction.”

  I rolled my eyes, trying to go faster. “You are so arrogant.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “But I’m not saying it to be arrogant. I’m saying it because it’s true. That’s the way it’s been since I was fifteen years old. Girls have shown up and wanted to sleep with me. More girls than I could ever sleep with in an entire lifetime. So, trust me, I don’t ‘talk sweet’ to people to try to get them into bed.”

  I stopped walking. “So, how does that make it better? You’re still an oversexed party boy who doesn’t give a shit about anyone’s feelings.”

  “Clearly I care about your feelings, or I would have already left.” And he was shout
ing now.

  I covered my face with my hands.

  “If you stay mad at me, Sloane, especially when I don’t even deserve it, I’m going to…”

  I looked up at him. He seemed to be too furious to even know how to finish the sentence. He flung open the door to the car and got out.

  I backed up.

  He came for me.

  I backed up again, and I nearly tripped over my heels. I stumbled.

  He caught me, helping me right myself.

  And then… out of nowhere, I was crying. I didn’t mean to be crying, but it was happening anyway. I dashed the tears away angrily. “You’re awful, Axel. You’re just awful.”

  He cupped my cheek with one hand. “I don’t want you to say that about me anymore.”

  I bit down on my lip.

  His voice softened. “Why are you crying?”

  “I…” I really wasn’t sure.

  He wiped at one of my tears with his thumb. “I don’t want you to cry,” he murmured.

  I sniffled.

  He rested his forehead against mine. “I want to kiss you. If I kiss you, is that going to make you mad?”

  I grabbed onto his face. “Axel, the way you’re making me feel is…”

  “Don’t say awful,” he breathed.

  And then I pressed my lips against his.

  * * *

  We kissed all the way back to his apartment, sitting in the back seat of his town car. The kisses were soft and sweet, but they tugged at something inside me, making me feel like I was opening up, like I was letting something in, like something was changing.

  We kissed in the elevator on the way up to the penthouse. He pressed his body against mine, trapping me between the wall and his heat. And all the time, his mouth was insistent on my own, tempting and urging me. He melted into me, and I opened for him, and it was…

  Beautiful.

  It felt beautiful. There was a part of me, something in the back of my head that kept trying to speak up. That part of me wanted to warn me about doing this with Axel, but I didn’t listen to it.

  It felt right. It didn’t feel dangerous.

  If I’d given myself half a second to think about that, I know that I wouldn’t have thought it made any sense. I might have stopped kissing him. But I didn’t let myself think. I only let myself feel.

  When the elevator door opened, we stepped into Axel’s apartment. We were holding hands, and we were both looking at each other. He had this silly grin on his face, and I knew I had one too.

  He touched my face. “Look, do you want to—”

  I cut him off, putting my fingers against his lips. I wasn’t letting any words intrude. Words clouded the sensations, and I didn’t want anything destroying the way this felt.

  I tugged on his hand and led him back the hallway to his bedroom.

  When he saw where I was heading, he whispered to me, “Are you sure?”

  I kissed him.

  It was dark in the room, but Axel didn’t turn on the light. He pulled me close, his hands roaming over my back until he found the zipper to my dress. He eased it open, an inch at a time, and I could feel the cool air on my back.

  I pulled off his scarf and threw it on the floor. I began unbuttoning the buttons on his shirt.

  Axel peeled the dress over my shoulders, and because I hadn’t been wearing a bra underneath it, he exposed my breasts.

  I let out a little noise as the fabric slid over them. I felt vulnerable, and my breath caught in my throat, something tensing inside me. I didn’t usually do things like this. I didn’t let anyone see me, not really. And even though the lights were out, somehow it seemed like I was more exposed than I’d ever been.

  Axel’s lips met mine again. His tongue brushed against mine, and sweetness flooded me.

  My dress fell away, sliding over my hips to pool at my feet. I was even more bare now, but the tension was loosening. It was okay. Somehow, it was right. All of this was…

  His hands found my breasts, cupping them, rolling my nipples with his thumbs. I felt them tighten. Pleasure shot through me, and I moaned it into his mouth.

  He groaned back. His hands slid to my hips, he pulled me tight against him.

  My nude skin brushed his clothing. Oh, right. I’d been unbuttoning his shirt. I fumbled to find the buttons again. I opened his shirt, pushing it over his shoulders, baring his chest.

  Our naked skin made contact. It was so nice. I sighed.

  His touch skimmed my back. His lips went to my jaw.

  I thrust my fingers into his hair.

  It seemed as if there was nothing in the room except the two of us. His quickened breath, which tickled the sensitive skin of my neck, was an exclamation point. Everything else in the room seemed muted, but our bodies were sharp and prominent.

  And we were so close. He was holding me so tightly to himself. I felt immersed in him, and I loved it.

  He lifted his head and kissed the tip of my nose. “Wow,” he whispered.

  I giggled a little bit. “Wow?”

  But he pulled me with him, through the darkness, and then we were sitting on his bed, and he was undoing his pants, I was kicking off my shoes. We scrambled up there together, eager to get at each other again, to entangle our limbs, to press our skin close.

  I ran my hands over his chest. And then lower. And I realized he wasn’t wearing anything. I started to wriggle out of my panties.

  He helped me, his mouth going to my nipples as he tugged my underwear free.

  I whimpered, surrendering to the thrill of his mouth. Little explosions of delight traveled through my whole body. I was throbbing everywhere. I wanted this. I wanted him.

  I reached down to touch his cock. It was hard and thick in my palm. I stroked him.

  He groaned.

  He thrust his fingers between my legs, rubbing me there, making all the sensations more intense, making everything bliss. He kissed my nipples. He kissed my lips. He swallowed. His voice was unsteady. “This feels…”

  I kissed him again.

  He gasped, pulling away from me. “Sloane,” he breathed.

  I traced the outline of his perfect lips. “Axel,” I whispered, trying the name out.

  He gasped again, as if he liked the way I said his name. “Condom,” he muttered. “We need one now.” He crawled away from me for a second, and then he was back. In the darkness, I could barely make out his features, but I could see that he looked concerned. “I mean, unless you aren’t ready.”

  Feeling wicked, I grabbed his hand and guided it back between my legs, letting him feel my slippery heat. “What do you think?”

  He groaned again. He kissed me as he fumbled with the condom, and then he positioned himself over me.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist.

  He peered down at me. He brushed my hair out of my face, then trailed his hand lower, running it over one of my breasts. “You’re beautiful.”

  I felt his words like a warmth that started in my core and radiated outward. I felt beautiful. I felt very, very noticed.

  Snaking a hand down, I grasped him and guided him to my opening.

  We gazed into each other’s eyes, and it felt like the air was crackling. I had the sensation again that we were larger—more in focus—than anything else around us. It was as if our bodies were the only things that mattered.

  He pushed inside me, tentatively at first.

  But he felt wonderful. He was so thick. He filled me up so well. And I let out a noise—something unbridled, something I couldn’t hold back.

  And then he pushed the rest of the way in, all the way in, so deep—so, so deep. I writhed.

  He let out a strangled noise, something almost guttural. I liked it. I’d never seen him really let go. He clutched my hips and started to move.

  I fell apart. Pieces of me fluttered out into space. And then he was piercing me deep again, all the way inside me, just in the right place, and I was back together again.

  He collapsed against me, his mout
h seeking mine.

  And then it was the two of us moving together, both gasping, both moaning, and the pleasure making me burst apart and rebuild myself with every one of his strokes. I didn’t think I’d ever felt something so intense before. It was as if his body was designed to please mine. It was as if he was made for me.

  I realized I had my eyes closed, and I opened them, only to find him staring at me as if he was trying to memorize me.

  I touched his face.

  He could hardly catch his breath. “You… This…”

  I kissed him.

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  I tightened my legs around him, and this time—this time as he found my deep, deep sweet place and I fell to pieces… all of those pieces burst into even smaller pieces. It was an explosion on top of another explosion. I grasped him, crying out as my orgasm began to rain on me, tight and hot and amazing.

  Axel buried his head in my shoulder, his body going rigid.

  I writhed. I yelled. I dug my fingers into his skin.

  He made another guttural noise, something low and grating and carnal.

  And then we both stopped moving. At the same moment.

  We both lay there for a second, catching our breaths.

  He raised his head to look at me, his expression ragged. “Did you?”

  I giggled. “I think we did it at the same time.”

  He ran trembling fingers over my skin. “You’re… I never… What the hell was…”

  I stopped his words, one finger on his lips. “I know,” I whispered. “Me too.”

  * * *

  We fell asleep after that, but he woke me up with kisses while it was still dark, and we did it again. It was just as intense the second time, maybe even more so. I felt like I was learning his body, like he was learning mine. Each caress, each stroke was even more perfect than the last. And I couldn’t believe it, because with each plateau of pleasure I reached, I was sure that I’d never feel anything better than that. But then—together—we’d find something even more amazing. We fell asleep the second time, wrapped up in each other, and I’d never felt closer to another human being in my entire life.

  When I woke up again, it was light outside, and Axel’s lips were on mine again. I ran my hands over his bare skin, and he groaned, tightening his grip on me. And it wasn’t long before he was inside me again. And once he was there, I couldn’t help but bask in it. I was pretty sure that having sex with Axel was the best thing in the world.