Floored

by Melanie Harlow

  I glared up at him, breathing hard. Then I grabbed his head and pulled his lips to mine, thrusting my tongue into his mouth. My heart thumped with alternating beats of anger and arousal. How dare he show up like this? How dare he tell me he couldn’t stop thinking about me? How dare he chase me and throw me down like I was his plaything?

  Confession: I loved it. Loved the antagonism between us, the hunt, the capture, the game. Loved that the spark between us hadn’t died. In a twisted way, I even loved the contention in my own head, my conscience arguing with my id.

  This is wrong.

  Please. Can you not?

  You need to stop.

  No fucking way. This is happening.

  Tell him to leave.

  I can’t talk right now.

  Tell him you don’t want this. You’re not like this.

  But I do. I am.

  He’s using you.

  Fuck off. We’re using each other.

  This isn’t one of your fantasies, Erin. It’s real.

  That’s why it’s so good.

  But someone will get hurt. It’s inevitable.

  I let go of his head and opened my mouth, words of defiance on my tongue. He placed a hand on my breast, squeezing it hard, claiming it, daring me to refuse him. It felt so good, I hesitated. Closed my eyes. Arched my back.

  He put his finger over my lips, and I understood without being told, without even looking at him, what he was saying. Don’t speak. Just let me.

  Oh God, I wanted to let him. I wanted to let myself. There were so many reasons to put a stop to this, and only one reason to keep going.

  But it was a really, really good reason.

  I opened my eyes, staying perfectly still except for my chest, which rose and fell with each arduous breath. Then I opened my knees.

  Charlie took his finger off my lips and placed his hand between my legs, rubbing me through the denim. My panties grew damp. He lowered his head between my thighs and put his mouth on me over my jeans, giving me just enough heat and pressure to make me want to yank his hair out and scream. I tilted my hips, spread my knees wider, anything to increase the contact. Finally, he lifted his head and reached for the button.

  I was wearing my skinniest jeans, and usually it takes me a minute to peel them off, but Charlie tore them from my legs in seconds, taking my panties with them. Spreading my thighs apart with his hands, he teased me by licking up one side of my pussy, then the other, avoiding the one spot I was desperate for him to touch. My legs trembled with the ache, my hands itched with the urge to grab his head and pull it tight to my body. I gripped the edge of the stair beneath my hips. Biting my lip to keep from cursing, I watched him turn his face into one pale upper thigh. Kiss, kiss, bite.

  I cried out at the pain but he simply switched to the other thigh—this time I was ready. Kiss, kiss—I held my breath, bracing myself for the sting of his teeth closing over soft flesh—kiss.

  Exhaling in relief, I nearly shed tears when he finally licked up through my center, circling the tip of his tongue around my clit before closing his lips over it. He nibbled and sucked, swirled and flicked.

  Then he slid two fingers into my hot, wet center, pressing upward toward a place that made my insides tighten instinctively around his hand and my thigh muscles twitch.

  Jesus, he was so good, too good to last. The tightness spiraled inward at my core, gathering strength, a vortex pulling tighter and tighter. I grabbed one banister post and flattened my palm on the opposite wall as the pressure grew unbearable, a high-pitched cry escaping me when it burst into pleasure. When the tremors ceased, Charlie withdrew his fingers from my body and brought them to my mouth, smearing the silky wetness over my lips.

  “Charlie,” I panted.

  “You want something from me?” he asked darkly. “You have to ask for it.”

  Anger pierced my desire—he’d come here wanting this, and I’d said no. Now he wanted me to ask for it? But part of me loved it, loved the control he took, loved the way he tested my limits and made me want to test his.

  His fingers brushed my lips again, and I captured them between my teeth. Snarling, he hooked them over my lower jaw. “Ask for it.”

  I relaxed my mouth, and he took back his hand, coming up one step further so he stretched over me, his body grazing mine, driving me crazy with the need to feel its weight. He placed his lips at my ear. “Ask for it, sweet thing.”

  I reached low between us, running my hand over the bulge in his jeans. He unbuttoned and unzipped them, and I slid my hand inside, wrapping my fingers around his cock. It was thick and hot and hard and fuck, I wanted it pounding into me. I wanted it enough to ask for it. “Fuck me,” I breathed, lifting my hips toward his. “Now.”

  “I said ask.” He grabbed my wrist and stared me down. “And say please, like a good girl should.”

  For a second I was torn between Will you please fuck off and Will you please fuck me, but I’d never wanted anyone more in my entire life. “Charlie. Will you please fuck me?”

  He whipped his t-shirt over his head before pulling a condom from his back pocket. While he put it on, I ran my hands over his hot, tight stomach. Jesus Christ, you could serve a meal on his abs they were so hard.

  And speaking of hard.

  Charlie looped an arm around my back and pulled me down onto his cock. I was drenched and ready for it, but with that first deep thrust I realized I was still tender from last night. Knowing the pleasure would eclipse the pain, I clung to his neck, wrapping my legs around him to keep my lower back from slamming into the edge of the step. Relentlessly, he drove into me, and I buried my face in his shoulder, focusing on the lingering hum his tongue had left between my legs, letting it fray the edges of the pain. Soon I was moaning softly, digging my nails into his back, our bodies tangled and twisted as we struggled to stay on the stairs and not slide down. Finally, Charlie’s feet hit the ground, and he angled deeper, grabbing my ass with one hand. I gasped and bit down on his collarbone.

  “Fuck yes.” Charlie’s voice had that deep, intense tone I adored, although less controlled now. “You were all I fucking thought about today. I had to get inside you again. I had to be right there,” he said, staying deep and holding me tight to his groin, his cock buried to the hilt. He circled his hips, grinding into me. “Right there. Right there…oh fuck.”

  Apparently Charlie’s right there was the same as my right there because right as his body went stiff, I came hard, my insides clenching rhythmically around his throbbing cock.

  Confession: I was getting a little attached to Charlie Dwyer. Or at least to sex with Charlie Dwyer.

  But I was having a hard time separating the two.

  While he used my downstairs bathroom, I used the upstairs one, wondering exactly how to handle this situation. We hadn’t spoken yet.

  In my room, I pulled on a new pair of panties before hanging up my blouse and putting my jeans back in a drawer. I felt like being more comfortable, and if Charlie and I were going to eat leftovers, I definitely required looser pants. Pajamas were too intimate, so I settled for leggings and a big slouchy cream-colored sweater. Pulling it over my head, I considered my options.

  A. Say nothing and plate up the turkey. Maybe we’d both be glad to just gloss right over the fact that we hadn’t lasted one day on the no-sex plan.

  B. Get angry before he did. Blame him for starting this by showing up here and attacking me with his ridiculous hotness on a cold, lonely night.

  C. Laugh it off. Guess it wasn’t out of our systems, huh? Now how about some real pie?

  Yes, that was it. C, definitely.

  By the time I got back downstairs, he was waiting in my kitchen.

  With his coat on.

  “You’re leaving?” I asked, thrown off guard.

  “Don’t you want me to?”

  “No. I mean—I brought leftovers home for you. Did you eat Thanksgiving dinner today?”

  “Not really. By the time I got off work and went to see my grandd
ad, he’d already eaten. We just played cards and hung out. I started to drive home to get something to eat but I drove here instead. I don’t even really know why.”

  Oh hell. What was I supposed to say to that? Somehow this felt different than last night, when he’d retreated right away into his smart-mouth persona, teasing me and cracking jokes. I decided to keep it light and breezy. “Well, you must have been psychic because I was just picking up my phone to call you and invite you over for leftover turkey dinner. Of course, I was thinking of tomorrow night, but tonight works too.” While I was talking, I went to the cupboard and pulled out two big dinner plates.

  “Didn’t you eat already?”

  I shrugged, braving a shy smile at him. “I worked up some more appetite.”

  He nodded slowly. “Me. Too.”

  “Then take your coat off. I’ll fix us plates. Anything you don’t like?”

  “Is there cilantro in the stuffing?” he asked, eyeballing the potted herbs on my windowsill, which were so thirsty they’d turned half yellow.

  “No.”

  He slipped his coat off and hung it over the back of a chair. “Then I’m good.”

  “You don’t like cilantro?” I took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.

  He made a sour face. “No, it tastes like a sneeze.”

  “It does not. You’re crazy.” I elbowed him out of the way and watered the herbs. “Here, little fellas. I’m sorry if I accidentally tried to kill you like I’ve killed all your cousins. Please don’t die.”

  “You murder plants? Now who’s crazy?” He gave me a swat on the butt, and I laughed, feeling good again. Things were OK. We were OK.

  Ten minutes later, we sat in front of my couch, plates on the coffee table, eating Thanksgiving leftovers, drinking wine, and watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. I’d never seen it, but Charlie was a huge fan.

  After one episode, I was dying to watch another, even though we’d finished our food. Charlie said he could stay for one more, so we poured a little more wine and moved up to the couch. I was careful to stay on my side, curling up in the corner and covering myself with a blanket when I got chilly rather than moving closer to him.

  We ended up watching three entire episodes before Charlie yawned. “Man, I’m exhausted. I better go.”

  “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Early.”

  “Yeah, I have to be over at the studio by nine.”

  “Oh, that’s right. The dumpster’s coming. How late will you be there?”

  “Not sure. However long it takes to get all that crap cleaned up and the new subfloor down. But that’s just plywood, I think. Shouldn’t take long.”

  “OK. You’ll call if you need help?”

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine.” I picked up the remote and turned everything off, startled at the quiet darkness once the electronics were silenced and the television screen was black.

  We sat there a moment, neither of us speaking nor moving. Finally I felt Charlie’s hand on the top of my bare foot, which peeked out from beneath the blanket.

  “You’re freezing,” he said, rubbing his hand back and forth.

  “Not really. I just get cold easily.”

  “You should turn up the heat.”

  “Nah. Then you’d have been too hot.” I stuck my foot out and nudged his thigh. “Wasn’t that considerate of me?”

  He laughed, circling my ankle with his hand. “Yes. What nice manners you have. Unlike me, showing up here uninvited.”

  I clucked my tongue. “That’s right. You scared me to death, too. I nearly dialed nine-one-one!”

  “Oh yeah?” Suddenly he pulled my ankle so I was lying on my back, tossed the blanket aside, and stretched out above me. “And what would you have reported?”

  I giggled, a little drunk, a little delirious at his weight on me, at his face above mine in the dark. It struck me that I’d never been beneath him this way. “Help, help, there’s a man here with a large erection!” I yelled. “Who knows what he wants to do to me?”

  Charlie laughed, setting his hips on mine. “I know.”

  Widening my knees, I twined my legs around his, tucking my feet between his calves. “I thought you had to go.” My hands crept beneath his sweater and undershirt, sliding around his lower back.

  “I do.” But he lowered his mouth to mine, kissing me softly. Kissing each lip and each cheek, and each eyelid. “I should.”

  “Don’t.” I slid my hands lower, beneath the waistband of his jeans, and kissed the underside of his jaw. I put my face in the crook of his neck and inhaled his scent, my entire body shivering.

  “You still cold?” He picked his head up and looked down at me.

  “Yes, in fact, I think I have hypothermia and I need mouth to mouth.” I trailed kisses along his jaw, which was starting to feel scratchy under my lips.

  “You don’t give mouth to mouth for hypothermia.”

  “Then I need a hot injection of some kind,” I said, laughing as I dug my fingers into his ass.

  “Oh, Jesus.” He kissed my nose. “You’re a bad girl, Red. I gotta go before I end up throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you up to bed.”

  “Mmm, do it.”

  He hesitated, and I knew he was thinking about it.

  “Come on, it’s all freezing and snowy out there, the roads will be bad.” I picked my head up and tugged his earlobe with my teeth. “You know you want to stay with me.”

  Groaning, Charlie got to his feet. “No. Now that’s enough, you. Quit trying to trap me here. I’m not the sleepover type.”

  A second later, I sat up, bringing my feet together on the floor. “God, Charlie. I was just kidding.”

  “I know.” Gone was the warmhearted, teasing Charlie of a minute ago. This one was cool and detached. “But I have to go, so no more.” He disappeared into the kitchen, and again I marveled at his ability to make it seem like somehow it was my fault we kept fooling around, and I was the only one who needed to be reminded to behave. I followed him to the kitchen, squinting at the light.

  “You know, I didn’t ask you to come here tonight.” I leaned against the doorway, crossing my arms. “You’re the one who showed up saying you couldn’t stop thinking about me.”

  Charlie was buttoning up his coat. “I never said I didn’t.”

  “You just accused me of trying to trap you. Like I have some master plan to trick you into being my boyfriend.”

  “That’s not what I meant at all, Erin.” He pulled his gloves from his pocket. “Look, I wanted to be here tonight. And I had a great time. I’m just making sure you remember what this is.”

  Steam had to be coming from my ears by now. “You’re unbelievable. Get out.”

  “What’d I say?”

  “Get out!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Erin, come on.”

  “Charlie Dwyer, if you’re not out of my house in ten seconds, I’m setting off the alarm.” I closed my eyes. “Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Fourthreetwoone.”

  The back door slammed.

  I opened my eyes.

  He was still standing there.

  “You are so annoying,” I seethed through my teeth.

  “I’m sorry, OK? I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes and exhaled. “The truth is, Erin, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here.”

  “You’re insulting me. That’s what you’re doing.”

  “I’m sorry for that. I don’t mean to. I actually really like you, for whatever reason.”

  I put my hands over my ears. “Oh my God, you just made it worse!”

  He put a hand up. “Can I just say this, please? I know I’m fucking this up, I know we have very little in common, and I know you don’t want me here, but I like you and I did think about you all day. I really wanted to see you tonight.”

  “Fine. Great. I was happy to see you. I even played your little game, asking you to fuck me after I’d tried to say no.”

  “You didn’t enjoy it
?”

  “You know I did. But why’d you have to ruin it with all the bullshit about trapping you, like I’m just pretending to be cool with what we’re doing when really I’m…” I steepled my fingers and lowered my voice to a sinister whisper. “Picking out china patterns on the sly.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Yes, it is. It’s the same thing you did last night, warning me about the mistakes in your past and how emotionally incapable you are, so I better not get attached.” I held my palms up. “In all honesty here, Charlie, the danger here isn’t my falling in love with you. It’s going back to how I used to feel about you.”

  “Which was?”

  “I couldn’t stand you.”

  That got a wry smile.

  “And right now I’m barely tolerating you, so just quit with all the nonsense. If you want to be friends, let’s be friends, but I think we were right last night—no more sex. It muddies things.”

  “We did say that, didn’t we?” Charlie slapped his gloves against his hand. “Why did we say that again?”

  “Because of this.” I gestured back and forth between us. “This is not fun.”

  “So let’s do something fun.”

  I crossed my arms in front of my thighs. “No!”

  “I don’t mean that. And I don’t mean right now. I mean another day. Let’s do something fun together. Like friends do. Let’s go…skating!” he finished, like it was the best idea in the world.

  “Skating?” My upper lip curled. “Skating is not fun. For me, anyway.”

  “It will be with me. We’ll go downtown to Campus Martius.”

  “I’ll watch you.”

  “No, you have to skate with me. I’ll buy you a hot chocolate afterward. Or one of those desserts in a cup you call coffee.”

  I groaned. “Do I have to?”

  “Yes. And then next time, you can pick the something fun.”

  “Something to torture you with, you mean.”