You Don’t Know Me: A Stand Alone Romance

by Faleena Hopkins

  She comes up for air, her voice low and sexy, as Sophia burrows under the covers. “Sorry, Rue.”

  “Alec never came back. He hates me now.” Sophia mumbles something from down below. “What’d she say?”

  “She said, Who’s Alec? He doesn’t hate you. He likes you too much, seems like. Do you want to go... get another room?”

  With effort I pick up my head. “What? Why me?”

  Jenna’s eyelashes are heavy, her mouth open with pleasure. She barely manages to say, “What am I going to do, put it on my card? Oh God… Come on!”

  I groan and climb off the bed. “You’re right. You’re right.” Ignoring my discarded heels, I take my blistered bare feet out into the hallway, trudging for the elevator.

  It was just Sean and I on the dance floor after Jack left with some brunette he’d just met. Sean couldn’t be trusted with any questions of where Alec went, so I just danced and drank, and didn’t even notice he’d switched my vodka cranberry to just cranberry until the third one in when I told him they were so good, I couldn’t even taste the alcohol! He confessed. “I know you’re being protective, Sean, but cut it out!”

  That’s when it was time to call it a night.

  Now, waiting for the elevator, I glance down and discover a rip in the seam of my sexy little black dress, one of the many things I bought in New York. “Oh no!” I pull it up and look closer, wondering if it can be fixed, just as the elevator doors open. My head swings up and standing in front of me is Alec with a woman who could be Penelope Cruz’s younger sister draped on his arm.

  As he and I recognize each other, his eyes flicker, but that’s about it. I’m stunned. Jaw slackened. Heart pounding. I drop the hem. Straighten up. The woman smiles an I-just-got-fucked smile, and Alec’s cold eyes look as though they don’t know me. A bleeding chunk of my heart falls off. Sean’s warning I wouldn’t listen to is now wearing a white mini-dress and heels to rival any stripper’s. What. The. Fuck.

  I hate Ibiza.

  The doors start to close. Alec reaches out and stops them. I can’t speak. I just stare at his fingers. Those fingers. Then back to his face. To hers. Back to his. After what seems like an eternity, he asks, “Where’re your brothers?” She lays her head on his shoulder, waiting for my answer.

  My voice is so quiet, I can barely hear myself. “They went to their rooms. I was just going to get a separate room for me, because…um...” I trail off, staring at the sex-beast whose tits are way bigger than mine.

  Alec is all business. “What’s wrong with your room?”

  I whisper over the lump in my throat, “Jenna’s gone girl crazy, that’s what.”

  Alec’s left corner of his mouth tugs up, but his eyes are mean. “You’re not joining them? Seemed like you were headed for a threesome.”

  Stunned, suddenly aware that I caused him to run to this woman, I cry out with my hands flying up, “No! I just kissed her to beat Jack at his game! I was into you! What does it matter now? You’re here with Señorita Sex!”

  In a thick accent, the woman sighs, “Señorita Sex? Really?” To him, she says, “They’re not here. Can I go now?”

  Confused, I watch him nod, and she lets go of him, her eyes dead as she eyeballs me and walks out into the hallway. He pulls me in just before the doors close. With a gasp, I’m yanked onto him. “What is going on?!!” He shuts me up with a kiss. His lips press hard into mine, and even though I’m still confused, I respond, throwing my arms over his shoulders with relief.

  As the doors whoosh open, one floor up, without explanation I’m pulled down the hallway to the last room. Alec glances several times behind us to make sure we’re not followed, and I look back, too, horrified that this is how we have to live.

  I could say no.

  I could go downstairs to the lobby and get my own room and clear my head. But I know that’s a feeble plan I will never be able to execute.

  This is where I want to be.

  On the run or no, I want to be with Alec. Seeing him with that woman drove the point home even more. I won’t share him, and I won’t give him up.

  His key opens a Cloud Nine Corner Suite that’s so much better than my room I have to gasp when I see it. The two corner walls are floor-to-ceiling windows. There’s an outdoor patio wrapping around overlooking the water, and gorgeous lounge chairs waiting to be slept in. It’s gorgeous in here, the layout modern yet very relaxing. There’s even a living room area. The bed’s enormous.

  Glancing around, I want to punch Jack for his private joke. He must have snickered his smarmy little ass off when he booked me and Jenna in that dinky little room. Probably knew I would think it was amazing, that I’d never know what I was missing because with where I’m from, I’d be impressed. This whole time he’s known he booked me in the hotel’s worst.

  “Fucking Jack. I’ll get him,” I mutter, under my breath.

  “What?” Alec asks, locking the door.

  “Nothing. It’s nothing.” I turn to ask what’s going on, who was that girl, where has he been? But he grabs me and kisses me again, pushing me up against the wall and any questions I have out of my head. For now.

  His lips brush mine, purposefully teasing me as he groans and slides his hand down the side of my body. “I told you not to kiss anyone else.”

  My breath catches as his hand slides under my dress and holds me in the palm of his hand. “If this is my punishment, watch me do it again!”

  There’s a possessive fire in his eyes as he reaches for my arms and brings them swiftly up over my head, burying his face into my neck and kissing the soft pad of my earlobe. The warmth of his breath is delicious and my body bends to him as he says, “I mean it. No one else.”

  He stares into my eyes, waiting for an answer. I want to know about the girl he was with. But I’m enjoying the power his jealousy is giving me. So instead of submitting, I argue, “It doesn’t count. It was a girl. And she was so pretty, I had to.”

  He growls and shoves me tighter against the wall. But there’s a light in his eyes now that’s playful. I’m sure he must see the same in mine because I’m having way too much fun with this. “Oh yeah? She was pretty, huh?”

  I stare at his bottom lip, wanting to suck on it. He smiles like he knows what I’m thinking. “She was.” I gasp as he pushes my legs open with his knees, showing me who’s stronger. He reaches down and expertly slips a finger deep inside my slickened opening. I moan as he pushes in deeper and moves it sensually around, driving me crazy.

  “It counts. So let me be clear. No men. No women. No transsexuals. Anything with a pulse is off limits.” He smirks at my expression, at the moan he just elicited from me. Leaning down, he slowly runs his tongue across my collarbone, groaning against my skin as his erection heats up through his pants. “When I saw her touching you, I wanted to…”

  “You wanted to what? Punch a girl?” I tease him on a smile. “So, what about that she-beast in the elevator?”

  “A friend. I had to get your brothers off my scent. I think Sean was having me followed. The guy only left when I ran into Maya and acted like I was interested in her and taking her upstairs. I convinced her to come with me to your room, and shrewd negotiator that she is, she agreed in exchange for backstage tickets.”

  “Smart woman,” I murmur. My heart leaps high in the air, but I’m hiding it, acting casual. “You were coming to my room to get me?”

  He nods, looking at my mouth for the longest time. He’s staring at my lips for so long that I forget to breathe. Without warning, he leans in and crushes me with the best kiss I’ve ever had, his hands exploring me, firmly pressing down my sides, his thumbs applying pressure to my hips, then traveling down to scratch my thighs on his way back up to slip back into my cave again. Knowing he was coming to my floor to get me has me so excited I’m pulsing a steady heartbeat between my thighs, a growing need for his touch overwhelming me. Those fingers I love so much stroke me just once and stop. I moan. He strokes me again, starting low and inching up tort
uously slow. “Oh, Alec.”

  He flips me around, and I slap my hands flat against the door as he pushes my legs open and grabs my hips firmly, pushing my ass in the air so he can bury his face in me from behind. I cry out as his tongue explores. He groans, “You taste like sweat and pussy. So good.”

  “You sure? I haven’t bathed for awhile and…”

  “Shh… I love it.” He burrows his face in me and reaches out his tongue to lick the little bean of my clit until I’m moaning and writhing, lost in it. “That’s it, baby,” he growls against the sensitive skin, the heat of his breath feeling incredible. I cry out as his tongue lunges inside me as deep as it will go. He wiggles it around until I’m screaming out in orgasm, moving my hips to rub myself on him. He doesn’t stop until I beg him to, my knees weakening to collapse. Then he catches me and picks me up.

  Curled up in his capable arms, spent and happy, I close my eyes and thank the gods for the timing of that elevator. Had I gotten up out of bed quicker, I might have missed him and now been in a room all by myself, wondering where he was or who he was with.

  It would have been a long night.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Rue

  He carries me whimpering in his arms to the bed, and launches me onto it. Bouncing, I laugh, but when I look over at where he’s taking off his shirt, my smile fades, replaced with hunger. His chest is so sinewy and muscular, hard knots of skin chiseled into the shape of a man.

  A tribal tattoo covers his right shoulder, and I stare at the sharp, bold, black lines of it, wondering when he got it. It’s not in any pictures I’ve seen taken of him onstage.

  Unbuttoning his pants slowly, he gives a swift jerk of his chin, staring at my chest. “Show them to me.”

  My belly warms and tenses up, and I rise up on my knees to slide off the top of my dress, our eyes locked on each other. He looks down as my breasts fall freely, and his lips part with desire. I’ve never felt so turned on by my breasts before, but the way he’s looking at them has them tingling, the nipples tightening into dusky crests.

  “Touch them,” he groans, pulling out his cock to stroke it.

  I stare at it, excited by his shamelessness, feeling the space between my thighs ache. I cup my breasts in my hands and massage them for him, watching him pull up and down on his shaft. “Come here,” he says with a low rasp. “But pull off your dress first.”

  Quickly, I obey, tugging it over my hips and tossing it aside. With my eyes on the crimson tip poking out and disappearing from between his fingers and thumb, I crawl over on all fours on the bed, my breasts falling naturally, the nipples hard and eager.

  “Wrap your lips around and taste me.”

  “Oh,” I sigh, feeling myself gushing at the words, so wet. I hesitate, unsure of myself. He’s been with so many women. I’m not good at this aspect of sex. I’ve only done it with Leon, and he was so unsexy as to be ridiculous. It was never any fun. Not like this. “I’ve never done that, Alec,” I lie. “But I want to. Can you teach me?”

  The left corner of his mouth tugs up. “Grab the base, like this.” I rise up, kneeling in front of him and staring at his beautiful manhood. Glancing up at him, I wrap my hand over his. He guides me, like when you stand on someone’s shoes to learn how to dance. My hand on his goes up and down with how he likes it, as his low voice instructs, “Firm and slow. All the way up. All the way down. The tip is sensitive, so less pressure there. Then tight around the base. Give that a good tug on your way up. Yeah, just like that. You’ve got it. That feels so good.” He closes his eyes, and I look up at his chest, tracing the lines of it with my gaze. The thin trail of curly hair leading from his belly button down is fascinating to me. I touch it with my fingertips, and he moans, eyes still closed. The way his neck stretches under the pleasure I’m giving him is such a power rush. He’s under my control right now. In this moment as I tug on the thickness of his shaft, he is under my spell. It’s such a turn-on that without further need of instruction I lean in and take him into my mouth, following his moans and my instincts. He guides me to go slowly and I suck on him, enjoying the feel of him filling up my mouth. I tongue the tip and he gives the most guttural growl I’ve ever heard. I’m bent over. My ass is in the air and I’m aching so badly for him to touch me. But that feeling is coming from the power of this. From making him tense and shake as he tries to hold back an orgasm. “Stop! Stop, Rue. Hold on. Oh God,” he gasps, pulling away from my mouth. With my open mouth I reach for it again. He chuckles and smiles down at me as he holds my head away. “Quick learner.”

  “More!”

  His eyebrows rise and he laughs, reaching to push me back on the bed. “Later. I want to fuck you now.”

  “Oh my God,” I moan as he crawls on top of me on all fours. I’m staring at him in pure awe. The way his chest moves. The way his shoulders edge out with muscle and bone. The way he’s looking at me like there’s no one else in the world but me for him. This thought sends a shiver through my body. Suddenly, I’m very, very aware that I don’t want this to end.

  “Hey.” He dips and takes my outstretched tongue in his mouth, gently sucking. He releases it and looks into my eyes. From the look on his face, he’s very pleased with my first lesson. A smirk that’s tugging at the corner of his mouth again makes me smile, too. I reach up and touch it, feel a light roughness from the nearby stubble against the edge of my finger.

  “I love how your smile is crooked.”

  “Crooked?” he laughs. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  I press my body into him and kiss him. “I love it.”

  The intent in his eyes shifts, and he says, quietly, “As long as you like it… His fingers slide down my stomach, over my belly button, and down over the cropped public hair where he rubs my mound in slow circles. “I noticed at the door. I like this. No panties.”

  “I ditched them in a bathroom at the club when I was feeling confined.” He laughs, slipping two of his fingers inside me so quickly that I gasp. I was so in need of being touched that I’m moaning within seconds, and he’s very much enjoying taking back the power, and watching me. My breath quickens as his talented fingers massage, then penetrate, then come out to circle my bean, flicking one of its sides as the burn pools out from his touch.

  “Please keep doing that.”

  “I wasn’t going to stop.” He thrusts his middle finger inside me and I cry out. Leaning down, he holds me hostage, sucking on my neck.

  There’s this moment before an orgasm, where it’s approaching and I’m afraid it won’t arrive, so I strain for it, reaching and making it slip away in the process. He won’t let me do that. He’s got me pinned so I have to just take it. I have no choice but to receive the pleasure and feel the build.

  Hoarsely, he whispers into my ear, cupping me and vibrating his hand, “This is mine. I don’t want anyone else knowing how you sound when you cum.” A burning heat makes the whole world disappear, and I cry out in ecstasy. “That’s it. Let it all go.”

  I grab onto him, my nails gouged into the muscles of his back as I push my breasts into his skin, feeling the orgasm ripping me apart. I start to scream. He pulls up on me, pressing his hand firmly into my skin. My thighs clamp his arm and the release continues as I rub against him.

  Every inhibition I’ve ever known vanishes.

  Every fear.

  It’s all gone.

  I have never known this feeling before. I’ve only heard about orgasms like this.

  There will never be a day where I don’t long for his touch. I know that now.

  I am his.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Alec

  She opens her eyes and peeks around the room, surprised at the sunlight slipping in where the curtains meet. She covers her mouth and turns her head away from me, hiding her breath. I couldn’t care less about her morning breath. I haven’t found one thing about her that turns me off. That’s only happened to me with one other person, a woman I had a short affair with when I was twenty-on
e. She was thirty-two and I’d met her while I was playing a show in Germany. She was married. I had to let her go.

  I never thought I’d find that again–someone who, everything about her, feels good to me. Smells good. Sounds good.

  I know I won’t be the only one who thinks so. As soon as the world gets ahold of Rue, they’re not going to let her go.

  I don’t have much time.

  “Did I fall asleep?” she asks, shocked.

  “You did. You passed out right after…”

  “NO! I couldn’t have!” She plows her face into the pillow.

  “You had a long day.”

  Mortified, she peeks at me. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “I need to brush my teeth.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  She smiles, and rises out of bed anyway, peeks over her shoulder at me, her hair falling in front of her face. “I really do… and we didn’t have sex yet?”

  I lay back with my hands under my head. “Oh we had sex. I had my way with you when you were passed out.” Gullible, she stares at me, wondering if I’m lying. I pull the pillow out from under my head and throw it at her. “Come on! You hungry?”

  Walking to the bathroom completely naked, she mutters, shaking out her hair, “I’m hung over is what I am. And by the way, if you have a toothbrush, I’m about to use it. I hope that doesn’t gross you out.”

  I rise up to watch her. She’s got a dancer’s body, sinewy and graceful. I love the way her back moves as she pulls up her hair and twists it into a bun, tucking the end inside it.

  Even with her slender form, she’s got hips.

  Childbearing hips.

  My cock stiffens, getting ready for what I’m going to do to her. “Go to town. But like I said, not necessary.”