by Ali Parker
***
"All right, so tell me who this woman is again?" I clasped Dana's hand between mine and held it in my lap as she and I rode in the back of a New York cab with Jackie.
"She's my best friend from high school. Well, really from elementary. We've known each other all our lives." Dana snuggled against my shoulder and let out a soft sigh.
Jackie leaned forward and looked back at us. "Did Olivia grow up in Texas or were you raised somewhere else?"
How close were Dana and Jackie? Not very close from what I could tell. I'd always assumed that girls knew every intimate detail about their friends. Maybe not. Or maybe Dana was a private type?
"We all grew up in Houston, but my family moved up to Dallas when I started at UT five years ago."
"Five years?" I smiled as Dana turned to give me a look. "You just like college, or what?"
"I have a double major." She released my hand and moved more into her own seat. "Business and nursing, though to be honest, I'm not sure that's where my heart is leading me."
"No?" Jackie pulled out a piece of gum and popped it in her mouth before offering us one. "What are you thinking? Med school?"
"Maybe." Dana shrugged, and the conversation died as the cabbie pulled over in front of a large elegant-looking cafe.
"We're here. Twenty-five Elm Street. Cafe Udo." He turned and extended his hand. "Forty-three dollars."
"Rape." Jackie shook her head and opened the door as I pulled out my card.
"I got this." Dana tried to push my hand away, but I wouldn't let her.
"No. You're my girl and this is our weekend away. Don't deny me the opportunity to act like a good southern man and pay for everything." I gave the card to the cab driver and turned to smile at the beautiful woman who was sure to steal every part of me before the weekend was over.
I signed the receipt as Dana got out and spoke with Jackie for a few minutes. I didn't have a clue where we were headed or what was next on the agenda, but I hoped like hell it was food. I was finally getting my appetite back.
"All right, well, I'm going to walk down the block to St. Mark's Hospital. Parks said just to meet him there." Jackie pulled Dana into a hug before giving me a smile and a wave and walking off with her backpack strapped to her back.
"Something I did?" I wrapped my arm around Dana and offered her a cheeky smile as I tugged my bag over my shoulder.
"Not at all. She's trying to win the heart of a playboy doctor. I wish I could talk her out of it." Dana nodded toward the cafe. "You want to grab a sandwich before we walk down to Olivia's apartment?"
"Love to." It felt so damn good to have her pressed to my side. I'd have to memorize the feeling for when things got rough back in Dallas. "I'm finally starting to feel like I'm alive again."
"That's great news." She wrapped her arm around the back of my waist as we moved into the line inside the cafe. "You've been through a lot."
"Yes, but thanks to you and Damon, I'm making it through." I leaned down and kissed her, unable to help myself.
"What was that for?" She smiled up at me.
"Just because. Get ready for a lot of those. I've been saving them up since the first night you came over to my place." I wagged my eyebrows as she blushed again. It was almost too cute how innocent she was.
"I remember that night... really well."
"Good. I plan on revisiting it this weekend." I licked at my lips and growled softly.
She popped my chest and laughed before releasing me. "Behave or we'll never make it through this line."
"Speaking of..." I pulled at the strap of my bag as it hung over my shoulder. "What are our plans? Are we having dinner with your friend or hanging out with a group tonight or what?"
"I know that we're having dinner with Olivia and her boyfriend, Luke." Dana's lip turned up in disgust as she mentioned Luke. "But I don't think that's until later tonight."
"You don't like her boyfriend?" I moved up to the counter and pulled out my wallet.
"Not in the slightest. I've never met him, but he's turned my friend into a cold-hearted bitch."
"And she wasn't one before." I let my eyes run across the menu and tried to focus. It was so hard to do anything with Dana standing so close to me. My hungers were competing with one another deep inside of me, and my stomach was sure to lose out sooner than later.
"Not at all." She ordered a sandwich and moved to the side as I ordered and paid.
"Does that mean we get a little bit of time together this afternoon before our dinner?" I walked toward the pickup counter where she stood and pulled her into a hug.
She pressed her hands to my chest and smiled. "It does. I'm thinking a nap sounds good."
"Is nap code word for a long hard fuck?"
"Kendal!" She laughed loudly and pressed her forehead against my chest. "You're really corrupt under all those rules and that nice professional pair of glasses you wear, aren't you?"
"I'm a regular superman stuck in a Clark Kent world." I touched the soft skin under her chin and forced her to look up. "I just wanna be fully me while I'm here."
"Good. I want that too." She slid her arms up my chest and clasped her hands behind my head. "Our nap can include anything you want it to include."
"Good answer." I leaned down and kissed her a few times before walking over to pick up our lunches. She had the power to melt me, to unwind all of the tightness inside of me and offer me a different future than the one I'd seen myself in for so long.
We walked down Elm Street together, my hand tightly around hers, my thoughts dragging me farther and farther into a deep hole of depravity. I released her and pulled out her sandwich.
"Let's eat while we walk. Something tells me that the minute I get you fully alone... all bets are off."
"Wow. That's hot." She unwrapped her sandwich and snuck a glance at me as I unwrapped mine and took a huge bite.
The city was busy as ever, which wasn’t too surprising. It was Friday afternoon in the heart of New York.
"What don't you like about this Luke guy? Prepare me, please." I licked at my fingers before pulling out the other half of my sandwich and going to town on it too.
She glanced up from the map on her phone. "He's just not the right guy for Olivia." She shrugged.
"And why is that?" I was going to have to prod her for the truth.
"Because he's all about his business and making money. He doesn't love her, and honestly, she doesn't love him. They're just using each other for sex and status. It's... I don't know... gross."
"I see." I finished up my sandwich as we walked up to a beautiful cream-colored high rise.
"It's not Olivia at all. She's always been more about love than lust, but this guy has her acting like a completely different person." Dana glanced up. "We're here. Twelfth floor. We just need to check in at the front."
Lust over love? The age old discussion about which comes before the other. Couldn't they both show up at the same time? That felt far more like the story in my own life, or maybe I was reading more into it than necessary.
"You coming?" She glanced back and offered me a beautiful smile.
"Not yet, but hopefully soon."
"Oh Lord." She shook her head and walked into the building, delighting me in so many ways.
And I'd almost pushed her away. All because of my fucked up rules.
Funny how protection has the ability to quickly become a prison instead.
Chapter 11
Dana
The building Olivia lived in was far more grandiose than anything I would have imagined my childhood best friend wanting. We were simply country people, or used to be. Olivia having her reputation ruined our senior year by the boy she thought she would spend the rest of her life with had changed her - dramatically. Not so much that I didn't still enjoy being around her, but enough that the trajectory of her life took a completely different path altogether.
After checking in at the front desk like one might a hotel, we walked to the elevator and press
ed the button for the twelfth floor.
"Wow. This is beautiful." Kendal stood at the back of the glass-wall elevator and glanced down. "Would you ever want to live in a big city like this?"
"No. Dallas is as big as it gets, and honestly, I'd love to move back to one of the suburbs of Houston eventually. I'm from the country."
"No... I couldn't tell." He moved up and wrapped me in a warm hug. I loved how often he reached for me now that we were free to be together. I enjoyed affection immensely. It would seem he did too.
"It's the accent, isn't it?" I pressed against him and reached up to smooth his eyebrow down. It would have been so easy to tell him that I was falling in love with him, but the timing was off. It was too soon by the world's standards and we had a long road ahead of us. Neither of us deserved the burden of love if our relationship wasn't truly meant to be.
"I love the accent. It's sexy as hell." He brushed his nose by mine and smiled. "Thank you for being there for me at Mandy's funeral, Dana. I'm not sure if I really got across how much that meant to me. I didn't deserve to have you stand beside me after my blow up at the college."
"It's not about deserving anything." I ran my fingers through his thick hair as my pulse spiked. The dark scent of his cologne had been playing with me all day, but being in a smaller space, it was stronger, thicker. So damn good. "It's about following my heart."
"I like the sound of that." He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine softly before leaning into a deeper kiss. I welcomed his tongue deep into my mouth and sucked at his offering as he groaned against me. I wasn't sure what the rest of the weekend might hold for us, but I knew the next few hours would be a crash course in pleasure.
The door opened and I pulled away from him as a bellman cleared his throat and gave us an odd look.
"Sorry," I mumbled and moved out into the hallway. The code on the door was on my phone from an earlier text from Olivia, and it took me a few seconds longer than it should have because of Kendal's nearness.
"You said you have an older sister and a brother?" Kendal leaned against the wall and watched me with a preditorial look that did nothing for my racing heart but speed the fucker up.
"Yeah," I responded breathily before finally getting the door open. "My sister doesn't come around very often, but my brother stays with my mother. It's nice, seeing that my father isn't with us anymore."
"I'm sorry to hear that." He reached for my backpack. "Which room is ours?"
I scanned through the text. "First door on the left."
"I'll put our stuff up." He turned and walked down the hall, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Were we really going to have sex in the middle of the afternoon? I glanced around at the lofty elitist apartment and groaned. There were so many windows and so much light. There was no way to hide some of the parts of myself that I intended on working on before Kendal saw me fully naked.
Every insecurity Cameron had burned into my flesh reared its ugly head inside of me. By the time Kendal walked back toward me, I was wide-eyed and panting a little.
"Hey. What's wrong?" He gripped my shoulders and glanced down at me with concern on his handsome face.
"I just feel self-conscious."
"What? Why? You're the most beautiful woman in this whole fucking city." He reached down and plucked my phone from my hand. "And you’re mine, right?"
"I wanna be," I mumbled as he gripped my hand and half pulled me down the hall.
"Stop fighting me. I'm spending the afternoon exploring your body whether you like it or not." He glanced over his shoulder and I simply nodded. There was no telling him no, not that I ever wanted to. I was simply scared that he would find something that turned him off or left him cold.
"I'm just worried about Olivia walking in on us." I walked into the bedroom and let out a yelp as he pressed the door closed and trapped me against it.
"No, you're not." He ran his nose up the side of my face, breathing in deeply and leaving me covered in goose bumps. "Let go and let me in, Dana. I need you so fucking bad."
"Me too." Tears burned my eyes as self-hate raced through me. We wanted a weekend away - no - we needed it, and here I was, letting the worst parts of my personality threaten it before it even started.
"Good girl." He smiled and moved down my body, nipping at my dress until he was on his knees in front of me. "You're so damn perfect. Do you know how many times I imagined feeling you shaking beneath me as I bring you to come over and over and over again?"
"Shit," I grumbled and let my head press against the door behind me. "Just don't stop, okay?"
"I don't intend to." He slid his strong fingers up my thighs, dragging my skirt with him and mumbling various things about my beauty and how soft I was. It was all I could do to stand there without turning into a trembling mess. No one had ever paid me much attention in the way of worship, but the beautiful man on his knees in front of me was making up for everyone else I'd ever given my heart away to.
He pressed his mouth to the front of my panties and glanced up as I moaned loudly. "Someone's already wet."
"Clean it up." I slid my fingers into his hair and closed my eyes at the sound of his dark chuckle. He was so proper outside of the bedroom, convincing everyone around him that he had rules that he intended to keep, but that wasn't the real him. This was.
He tugged my panties to the side and ran his tongue over my sensitive skin before pulling at my clit playfully with his lips.
A groan ripped from me as my legs began to tremble.
"On the bed, sweet girl." He moved back before standing up and pulling his t-shirt over his shoulders. "You're tired. Let me take good care of you."
I nodded and walked to the bed as I pulled my dress over my head. The white cotton panties and bra I had on were all I had left in my drawer that morning, but at least they matched.
"On your back." He worked his jeans over his taut hips and moved toward me with nothing but his black briefs clinging to his perfect body. Lean muscle covered every inch of him, and a small spray of black hair covered his chest and ran down into his underwear.
I reached for him, running my fingers over his shoulders and down his chest as he pressed himself to the top of me.
"You just tell me if you want anything from me. It's yours, okay?" He pressed his elbows to the bed beside my head and gazed down at me lovingly. There would be no denial, which left me fully open to ask for anything I wanted from him.
To murmur “love” would seem silly in the midst of our passion, but it was the top desire on my list.
"Make love to me." I pulled him down for a long kiss as his hands moved down my sides, caressing me, his nails scraping me softly.
"I can do that." He smiled and moved back down my body as he licked at his lips. "Open your legs for me, Dana. Come for me, baby."
My stomach contracted tightly as I dropped my knees open and groaned.
He wasted no time tugging my panties off of me and leaning in to pick back up where he left off. Pleasure blossomed in my stomach as he ran his fingers down my sex, petting me between long licks and strong pulls against my flesh.
"So delicious," he mumbled against me.
I gripped the sheets as every wicked hot fantasy played behind my eyes. The image of him pressing me to the bed, to the wall, to a counter somewhere and losing himself inside of me was more than enough. I'd never wanted to be anyone's whore, but the man hovering above me seemed to have the power to change that. There wasn't anything I wouldn't be willing to try if he was involved in it.
"So good," I whimpered just before my orgasm burst through the center of my stomach and forced me to arch my back and ride the high as long as I could manage it. I thrashed about, unable to help myself. Never had something felt so fucking good.
Kendal gripped my thighs tightly and forced me into submission beneath him as he drank deeply from me. The moment seemed to go on forever, wearing me down, leaving me emotionally raw and willing to make a few promises I wasn't sure I coul
d keep.
I wanted him more than I could remember wanting anyone or anything before. It had to be the lust, right? Had to be.
"God, I love how you let yourself go and enjoy the pleasure of coming." He stood up and walked back toward our bags. "Feels good to forget about anything else and just dive in head first, doesn't it."
"With you? Hell yes." I sat up and worked my bra off my shoulders before lying back down and trying to suck in a little. Funny how the minute he wasn't in front of me, my mind went back to all the things wrong with me physically.
He walked to the edge of the bed and extended his hand. "I want you to put it on me."
I reached for the condom and opened it before giving him a cheeky grin. "Has it been so long that you don't remember how to do it?"
He smirked, stealing my breath with how incredibly sexy he was. He had no clue, or maybe he did, and I was the ignorant one.
"It's been two years, so go easy on me." He ran his fingers through my hair and gripped tightly as I rolled the rubber down his swollen shaft and stroked him a few times. He was far bigger than anyone I'd been with before, so going easy on him was a must. I had no clue if I was capable of handling him.
"I don't know how to go easy." I leaned back and pulled him down to rest on top of me again.
His expression softened as he brushed my hair back. "I'm falling in love with you. I keep telling myself it's just your beauty, or your incredibly giving heart, but it's more than that."
I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled at him a little as he pressed just inside my body, stretching me in ways that were beyond delicious. I wanted to echo his thoughts, but I couldn't find the right words, so I stopped searching.
He ran his lips over my chest as he moved down to suck one of my nipples into the warmth of his mouth. A deep moan left me as he shifted back up and pressed himself deeper inside of me.