by Amy Brent
As it got later she found herself wondering who Roman would marry one day. She felt something then, something stir within her. She had no right to even care really, but part of her was concerned about him. She made her way to the room to dress for the event. Tonight she wore a simple cream colored dress, with lace and inlays. She loved how the color complimented her skin and she styled her hair in a way to give her an air of mystery. As she let the room to meet him she saw him once more in a tux, and perfect.
He paused as she made her way over to him and he gave her an elbow to escort her out of the rooms and into the night air. The ride this time was far more relaxed, both adjusting to the personality of the other. He handed her another black box this time long and slender.
“What is this?” She frowned as she opened it to a brilliant necklace with a string of diamonds that cascaded down her neckline.
“For you.” He gave her a smile.
“Ah, I see, must appear to be the good fiancé.” She gave him a wink. “I’ll take good care of them Roman no worries.”
They went into the gala, both enjoying the dancing, something she had always loved all of her life. He escorted her around the room, introducing her to everyone and everything was perfect. As they made their way home, she felt the effects of the bubbly champagne on her stomach, and she giggled. No, she was not herself tonight. She saw him watching her, silently, something he actually did quite often. As they made their way up to his rooms she felt his hand touch hers in the elevator, slipping in to interwine with hers. She felt the tension mount as they exited the elevator and made their way down the hall. Even then she was unprepared for what was to come when he opened the door.
Something between them shifted then, developing into something fuller, more aching. She felt the tempo of her heartbeat quicken as he ran his hand up to cup her face, his thumb tracing her full lower lip. She barely inhaled before she felt the hard fullness of his mouth on hers. He kissed her deeply, drinking of her. She felt his hand in her hair, winding and twisting until he held her mouth to his with a fist full of hair. She no longer cared about the what … she wanted him to kiss her, all she wanted was him.
“I’m going to make love to you Megan. Here. Now.” He whispered against her mouth. She nodded and he let her go. Only long enough to lead her to his bedroom, and carefully start to undress her, never letting his mouth leave hers for a moment.
He moved slowly, his hands moving around to cup both of her full breasts in his hands. She felt them harden to attention as he moved the hardened nubs between his forefinger and thumb. She gasped loudly as he pulled on them both gently. He kissed her mouth once more, his tongue delving into the sweetness of her mouth. He stopped then, trailing warm kisses back down her body, until he focused his hot mouth on first one crested peak and then the other. Instinctively she put her hands in his hair urging him on as he left a trail of fire with his mouth.
Her body was on fire. Her hands pulling his head up and back to her waiting mouth. He did as she asked and gave her a passionate kiss, drinking from her mouth. She wanted this, wanted him. She knew she was playing with fire, but she couldn’t stop it.
She followed his lead, lifting her hips slightly as he slid his fingers under the tiny strap of her panties, pulling them off her in one swoop. She loved the feel of his hands as they ran over her, and she never once felt self-conscious about her body. Suddenly he was standing above her looking down. She felt more vulnerable than ever before.
“Megan you are beautiful.”
She blushed, slightly frowning.
“I mean it. Look at me.” She looked deep into his eyes before reaching up for him and his mouth found hers again.
He moved above her then, she felt the pressure of him there, between her thighs and she welcomed it. He shed his clothing quickly and she moved to accommodate him eagerly. The joining of their bodies rushed through her like a tidal wave.
He felt the heat of her envelop him and he stopped, waiting and feeling her. She was full of him, he moved delicately until he was fully encased within her. Pushing her knew back closer to her head, pushing in further still. There was and urgency between them, a need to cling to one another. He moved slowly, savoring every second of it, and she was lost in it, just as he.
“Megan.” He managed to grit out her name as he moved within her.
He moved faster and faster then, finding a rhythm that suited them both. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him on, pulling him into her, helping him along the way, towards a goal for them both.
She looked at him now as he moved and he never broke stride once as he laid his chest against hers and kissed her deeply. She moaned loudly, driving him more and he his pace became quicker, more demanding. Both unwilling to let go of what they felt they had moved frantically exploring and enjoying the other. She was lost in a swirling of color and heat. She felt the familiar stirrings deep down and her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. She moved her hands up to his face holding him close to hers as he pushed her higher and higher. She felt her climax begin deep down, her moans escaping her mouth. She was staring into his eyes, both of them finding release. She moaned his name as it ripped through her and she felt it shoot through even her fingers and toes. She sighed his name after they both lay there.
They lay that way for a long time, both feeling and thinking. He trailed his fingers over the curve of her hip as she lay there. Neither of them wanting to move. She drifted off to sleep at some point, a combination of champagne and his touch
* * *
Nicolai
He felt so many things at once, he wasn’t sure where to begin from. First, he had sworn off her, but she had been so beautiful, so happy. He had wanted her with a passion he had never felt. What’s worse is he wanted her to be fulfilled, and content. He cared about her, more than he wanted to admit to himself. Secondly, she had called him by his brother’s name, thankfully after it was over or it may have ruined the lovemaking entirely. She wasn’t just some person he hired, no she was more than that and he should have told her the truth.
She deserved it, deserved more than this. He looked down at her, still curled up next to him. She had changed him, made him better in a matter of days. He had never lost control of anything and yet here he was with a woman curled up in his bed, something he never did. What’s worse is that he wanted her there, liked her there. She ran a finger down over her face as he watched her sleep. What was he going to do when the time was over, how could he let her go now?
Sleep came eventually for him, and he never felt better the next morning. As she slept, he made coffee, waiting for her to come join him. He wasn’t sure what would happen, but he would tell her truth today, before anything happened to change her mind about him. He glanced at his watch and decided to run over to the other office to get some paperwork, so that he could show her everything. He smiled as he left.
* * *
Megan
* * *
She felt him slide into bed with her, slipping an arm under her body and pulling her closer to him. She smiled to herself as she reflected sleepily, but the night before. She should have gone to her own room, but instead she had stayed here with him. She felt the heat of him against her, and she curled up into him. As she did, she felt his hands slide up her hips and rest there.
“You are a curvy one aren’t you?” He whispered against her ear.
Her eyes fluttered open and she frowned. Something wasn’t right, not at all. She felt his grip tighten as he held her there when she tried to move. Panic set in as she couldn’t move, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Eventually he laughed and let her go, watching her scramble to stand beside the bed, taking a sheet with her.
“Roman?” He wasn’t himself, not even a little. There was something different about him, his eyes a little more sinister, with his gaze leering at her.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am Roman. What game are you playing with my brother lady, and what the hell are you getting out of it?”
She climbed the stairs to her apartment and sighed as she fell onto her bed finally. Nothing could take away from what they had, but she would have to work hard to forget all about him if she ever wanted to move on. She fell back into her routine, calling work and getting herself back on schedule at the diner. The routine fell into place and after three days she finally was able to go to bed without crying at night.
She glanced around the diner, taking in the two customers left to care for before her shift ended at 11pm. The door chimed letting in another one and she made her way over to take his order. She never even looked at him until he didn’t respond. He looked up at her, and she felt ice, pour over her. She spun around to leave, but he followed her.
“Megan. Please. Just let me explain.” He grabbed her hand in his stopping her.
“You don’t have to explain Nicolai, Roman filled me in on what you were up to.”
“I’m sure he did, but I also know he didn’t tell you everything. Just give me five minutes.”
She looked at him, obviously hurting and she relented. They sat in a booth and he told her everything. She waited, watching him as he spoke, missing his touch more and more with every word.
“I’m sorry Megan, for everything that led up to making love to you. That I’m not sorry for.”
He gave her a once over, and then glanced around the room. “You don’t belong here anymore, Megan, I never gave you the money and the necklace was for you. Not for the part you were playing, but from me to you. Why didn’t you care enough to let me explain?”
She felt anger rise up, though she tried not to let it show. “I left because I woke up to feeling your brother groping me. He pretended to be you. Then he told me everything. What was I supposed to do?”
“Son of a…” He grabbed her hand pulling her behind him.
“Where are we going?” She felt herself being pulled outside and into his car.
“First, we are going to get back to my rooms, where I will then proceed to kill my asinine brother for touching you. Then we are going to have some people go pack your stuff away from that shabby place you live that terrified even me. He pulled the ring she had once worn and slipped it back on her finger.
“Wait, I am not playing the game anymore. It’s over Nicolai, Roman won’t stand for it. I did my best, but just take me home.” She glanced out the window, wiping furiously at the tears that seemed to slip from her eyes despite her efforts to hold them at bay.
He moved to sit next to her, holding her hand in his as he pushed the ring back up. “I don’t want to play a game Megan. I want you to marry me. I want to love you and I want to be with you.” He whispered it and stared into her eyes as he spoke the words.
“Really?” She let the tears fall freely now.
“I swore to never get married, but you have changed me Megan, and after I came back and you were gone I almost lost my mind I was so scared. I even had to contact the agency that hired you to get your personal address.”
She giggled then, and smiled as he kissed her deeply.
“I love you Megan.”
“I love you too Roman… err, well”
He pulled her close. “Not funny young lady, not funny at all.” But he said it with a smile.
* * *
*****THE END*****
* * *
SEALED BY DESIRE
* * *
CHAPTER 1
* * *
Blake
When I stormed out of the office, I was still livid at my commanding officers. I knew that I had left in a rush of anger and emotions, but they probably expected that.
They wanted me to get some therapy. Therapy? Me? I was a Navy Seal and was taught to handle situations on my own. I didn’t ask for help. Working was everything to me, and it was bad enough that I was home in Maryland now due to an atrocious mess that happened back in Afghanistan. Sure, it was great to take my bike around on rides here and there, but I had been home for two weeks now. I was starting to get restless.
I found the shiny Harley in the parking lot and started the engine with a roar before I veered out into the street.
The accident still played through my mind. Accident wasn’t even the proper word. We were out in a small village over there in Afghanistan looking for a missing soldier and practicing the same safe techniques that we always did. It was supposed to be quick and thorough and quite honestly, something we did a lot.
I loved being a Seal. I knew back in Senior year in high school that I wanted to join the military and get out there. I wanted to derive my country as the other men in my family had done and do it well, just as they had. I chose the Navy with the hopes that I would be selected to train as a Seal, and I was just after I finished boot camp.
That was ten years ago, and I had never looked back, even though I was thrown off a little. Just a little and not needing therapy like they suggested back there. Fucking therapy. That was for really crazy people, and I had never made a move like that in my life. I lived very methodically, and all of my training was always in my mind, and I lived my life by all of those rules since joining the Navy. Hell, even before that I had a plan for my life watching my grandfather work his way through twenty years as well as my father in the Navy.
I remembered my mother accepting that is what her husband chose, and she did a great job raising me. I also knew that she was lonely a lot despite having my brother and me around, as well as visiting with other military wives on the various bases that we lived on over the years. I had made a pact that I wouldn’t do that to a woman, that I would just focus on my job and the chaos that I would be surrounded by. There wasn’t room for a wife and a family in my life plan. I spent the night with a girl every so often to get my growing needs met and feel the warmth of a body, but they never stuck after the evening was over. They barely stayed the night most of the time.
I saw one of the most popular bars that the guys frequented and pulled into the lot to park by the door. I needed some bourbon to clear my head so I could argue with my bosses tomorrow and not be angry and uncommunicative as I had been today. It might be a good night to find a woman and work out some of my frustrations on her. That would do the trick.
I remembered the incident as I started to walk through the thick door. We were in the middle of our search around the village when suddenly I saw movement up ahead, and shots were fired. I dropped to the ground while preparing my gun to shoot back and watched as several others joined me behind the small hill and did the same.
It was a mess of gunfire and voices as we responded to the attack and ended up killing off the group of men that had opened fire first. Once it was all said and done, we stood up and took a good look around. First, we made sure that all threats seemed to be down, and then I trudged around to see who didn’t get up with us to do the same.
I found seven men down and checked pulses as I moved along. It killed me as I had to do this but my training told me to keep calm and pay attention to my surroundings.
The newest guy on our team was first, just a young twenty-year-old. His head was blown open, and I choked down my anger as I looked at him and contained it within my body.
The others helped me, and I heard someone call my name as I left one of the older men dead on the ground of a gunshot to the chest. “Brandon?”
“Yeah?” I asked as I glanced over to see my Lieutenant Commander James looking at me with an intense gaze and I frowned.
“Come over here.” His voice was sad as he spoke and I took a substantial step forward. I knew that I
hadn’t heard Roger’s voice in this madness, and I prayed silently for my best friend to be alive. If anything, I wanted my best friend since grade school to be one of the ones that didn’t make it.
I found myself at the bar as I blinked and was forced back into the present. I slid into the nearest barstool and rested my hands on the smooth wood as I took a deep breath, “What can I get for you?” Matt asked me with a grin as I stared back at him. He was well-known by all of us, but I couldn’t make myself smile back.
“The best bourbon you have,” I said as he raised an eyebrow and nodded. “I’m on a break, man. I’m not working today.”
“Coming right up.” He turned and got a thick glass and reached up to get the nearly full bottle on the shelf as I became lost in my thoughts again.
We had all come back from the mission immediately, though I didn’t remember most of the last two weeks since I saw Roger’s broken body on the ground. I was home recovering from the mild bumps and bruises that I had received and the loss of Roger as well as the other men on my team. We spent so much time together that they were all like family to me. My commanding officers were looking into the details of the attack and giving us all a breather, but that also meant that I had a series of funerals to attend.
They were all awful, but Roger’s would be forever in my mind. I could still see his parents weeping in the front row with his two younger brothers and older sister staring stoically at the pristine white coffin with the flag covering it. A picture of him looked at all of us mourning his loss as I felt tears slide down my cheeks. My parents sat beside me as Mom wept and Dad comforted her with his arm around her tightly while I sat still and silent.
His wife sat across the row from his family with her three kids as she clutched a tissue in her hands. Her parents were sitting with all of them for support, the kind I should be giving her instead of hiding in this row like a stranger I glanced at her for a moment as she bent her head forward to cry harder. I didn’t need to see her swollen stomach to be reminded that their newest daughter would never meet her father now. His wife would be raising her alone along with her other children, apart from any help from her family, as well as Roger’s. It just would never be her Dad.