All Mine: The Complete Series Box Set

by Lauren Wood

  Joel had called a couple of times, but I had been ignoring his calls. I didn’t know what to say to him. He had been drunk as well, so it wasn’t like he had done anything wrong. It was what I had done that bothered me so much. Here I was supposed to be going out to meet new friends and instead I just got drunk around a bunch of strangers. It wasn’t a good idea in any stretch of the imagination and being in the city at a biker bar just made it worse. I was starting to think that maybe I wasn’t ready to be here. If I was going to make choices like that, maybe I should move back home and pack it in now. The big city might just be a little too much for me.

  It was about how I felt about Carlos. I knew that he wanted me. It was clear and I was under no false pretense of what it was that he wanted. The problem was that I wanted him as well and I knew what would happen if I was with that kind of man. I had been warned for years about men like him. They were the type that you stay away from if you want to keep your heart intact. I wanted to keep mine whole, so even though I had promised a dinner, I wasn’t going to call and invite him over anytime soon. It was for my own good.

  That was hard to do though when the man kept popping by. It was the third time this week that he had. Twice it was rather late so it was easier to ignore the sound, but once it was right after he woke up that he had come by. I had heard him hollering through the door, telling me that he knew I was there. It was awkward to say the least. He knew that I was avoiding him.

  The strange thing was that I wanted to answer the door, knowing what it would be, but I just couldn’t. When I heard him starting to get up that morning, I knew that he was on his way down. I could hear everything from upstairs and I could hear him moving down the stairs.

  I hadn’t been able to write since I had woken up from a disturbing dream earlier. It was about him, they all were nowadays and the more I tried to push him from my mind, the harder it was to. He was taking over my mind and it wasn’t a good thing.

  The knock was hard and I knew it was because I hadn’t answer so many times before. It made me jump and instead of just staring at the wood as if it was going to come at me, I moved towards the door.

  “Just a second.”

  “About time you answered the door Eve. I was starting to think that you were going to ignore me forever.”

  “Sorry about that. I haven’t been feeling very good lately. I don’t know what is wrong with me.”

  “If I didn’t know any better Eve, I would say that you were trying to avoid me.”

  I shook my head like what he said was wrong, but I think we both knew that it wasn’t. I was trying hard to stay away from him because I was afraid of him. I was afraid of what I would feel and then how badly he would hurt me when he was done with me. That was what I thought about and that was a pretty good reason to avoid him as far as I was concerned. Who really wanted to walk into the face of a storm?

  “It’s not that. I just, I don’t know, haven’t been feeling all that well. I think it is just the change of season and all.”

  He nodded his head slowly with a grin on his face. God, he was handsome and he knew it. That was the biggest problem. Carlos knew that he was gorgeous and by the way the woman upstairs screamed, I was pretty sure that he knew how to make a woman feel good too.

  Shaking my head, I asked him what I could do for him. I needed to get the naughty thoughts out of my mind. It was literally all I had been thinking about lately.

  “I was going to see if you wanted to go out and get a bite to eat for lunch. I know that you offered to make me dinner, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

  I blushed and had the decency to feel bad. I had said that I would make him dinner as he had saved me, as well as made me breakfast. Before I could agree or disagree, Carlos moved into the apartment and I was left to move back so that he could come in.

  “Come on, you have to be hungry.”

  I was and it was at that moment that my stomach wanted to growl, like it knew that we were talking about food.

  “I could eat. Um, well let me get dressed and I will be right out.”

  Carlos looked at my clothes and told me that I looked fine. I didn’t see what he saw. I looked a mess, a state that I seemed to be in all of the time when I saw him.

  “Yeah, not really. Just give me a minute and I will be right back out.”

  He agreed, but his eyes didn’t leave mine. My shorts were too short for his attention and the camisole that I was wearing didn’t feel like it was covering me very well. I felt vulnerable and the longer that he looked at me in that way, the worse it got.

  “Yeah, okay, I will be right back.” The smile on my face was not something that I could change. Why did I get so happy and giddy when I was around him? It really just didn’t make any sense to me.

  I moved to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. There was a moment that I was urged to lock it, but then I stopped. Did I really want him to come in? Moving away with the door unlocked, I decided then that I did. I really wanted Carlos, even though he was going to be bad for my heart. It wasn’t my heart I was thinking of at the time, but something else that I was almost positive that he would be good for.

  Chapter 9

  Carlos

  “Eve, are you about done in there?”

  I had been waiting for almost an hour it felt like. She was supposed to be getting dressed, that was it, but now I was starting to wonder if she had done a runner out of the window. Maybe she was trying to wait me out to see if I would leave. I wasn’t going to leave, so she might as well come out. I was a man that got what he wanted.

  When there was no answer, I moved to the bedroom door slowly. I said her name again, waiting to hear something from her, but there was no answer. “Eve?”

  I tried the knob and felt that it was unlocked. If she had wanted to keep me out of there, I was sure she would have done a better job of keeping me out. I knew that there was something on her mind, but when I finally got my eyes to adjust to the darkened room, I was way off on what I thought it was going to be. Here I had thought that she was upset or something, but that was not the case at all. If anything, she was the complete opposite.

  “Eve, what are you doing?”

  She didn’t answer me, but I was already moving towards the bed. There was no answer needed. Eve was wearing only some panties from what I could see and nothing on top at all. She was smiling at me in the most innocent way, but there was nothing innocent about her at all. Eve was looking devilish and the part of me that she wanted responded immediately.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “Waiting for you Carlos. I know this is what you want.”

  My mouth was dry all of a sudden and it took me a moment to swallow. It shouldn’t have hurt to swallow, but it did. I did want her, every perfect inch of her, but I had thought of it so many times in another way. Never before, not even in my dreams had she gave herself to me in such a way.

  Eve frowned when I stopped at the end of the bed. “Do you not want me now?”

  Her voice was so small sounding and her eyes were big and round. How could she ever think such a thing? Can’t she see that she is the very epitome of perfection?

  “Yes, I want you. How could I not?”

  “Then come here Carlos. I don’t want to play these games anymore. You want me and I want you. Why can’t that just be enough for right now?”

  I was shaking my head in agreement while I started to fumble out of my clothes. I almost fell trying to get my pants off and I was going to ignore the giggle that was coming from her.

  “I thought you were a little more suave than that Carlos.”

  She was ribbing me and I was sure that I was getting the fiery Eve. The look in her eyes told me that she was just joking, but I still took it as a little bit of a challenge. I wanted her to laugh with me and have a good time, but right then all I wanted was to be with her.

  Crawling onto the bed, I left my boxers on as a reminder for me more than for her. I wanted her too bad and I w
as sure that if I came in as naked as she was, there was going to be no stopping me. I wanted to take my time with her, something that I thought might be impossible. I was just going to have to slow myself down, one way or another.

  She wasn’t going for it though. For a woman that had kept her distance, Eve didn’t want to anymore. As I moved over her, her hips rose to meet mine and I heard the low groan in the back of her throat. I was hard and I could feel the heat coming from her. She was ready, had been for some time and I was kicking myself for not giving her what it was that she needed sooner. I just hadn’t known. I felt like I should have known, even though it was out of the blue.

  “Carlos, I want you in me.”

  Her words made me close my eyes. Didn’t she know what she was doing to me? I wanted to make it perfect, but it was hard to when she was egging me on in such a way. Bending down to kiss her, our tongues met and it was the first taste of her that I had ever had. While Eve had tried to kiss me when she was drunk, I hadn’t even went there with her. I wanted it to be like it was now, though then I wasn’t sure if it was actually going to happen.

  “God, I have wanted you since you came banging on my door Eve. I never thought I would have you.”

  She giggled at my confession and told me that she had wanted me since then as well. “Ever since I saw you like that.” Eve stopped talking, her eyes closed as my mouth moved to her neck. Her face was turning red, but there was no time to be shy. She had already showed me her true colors and there was nothing else that would stop me now. I had to have her.

  Holding her hips down with my own, I tried desperately to slow her down. I was too ready and she was too much in need.

  “Eve, I want to taste you so bad.”

  It was clear that she didn’t know what I was talking about. Her eyes flew open when my hand went to her panties. I was beyond the point of being stopped and when she put her hand out to keep her panties on, I moved it away. She was mine now and there was going to be no stopping me.

  “Wait…”

  I stopped with my head moving in the direction of being in between her slim thighs. My hands were poised on the smooth skin that felt like satin under my fingertips. She felt perfect. “Do you really want me to stop?”

  There was no hesitation in Eve’s face. She nodded that she didn’t want me to stop and so help me I couldn’t help the kiss that I bent down to give her. It was the perfect silent response and everything about her made me want her more.

  “Then no more talking and telling me to wait. I am trying my best to hold myself together. You do not know how badly I want to slam inside of you right now.”

  Her hips rose up to meet mine and it took me some time to realize that she was telling me to do just that. Every part of me was screaming to just that and it wasn’t going to take much encouragement.

  “Please Carlos. I want to see why all of those women up there are screaming all of the time.”

  I stopped and kind of looked at her. I was in the process of taking off my boxers. “You know that is exactly what you told me that night you were drunk?”

  Eve giggled and pushed the blonde strands from her eyes and her hands pulled on the bottom of the boxers to help me along. “I have thought that more than once. I still don’t remember what I told you when I was drunk. But it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is you hurrying up.”

  “You are impatient.”

  Eve grabbed me in her hands and squeezed hard enough to get my attention. “I didn’t call you because I knew this would happen. Every time I am around you, I go a little crazy.”

  I told her that I liked her kind of crazy. If she wanted to be this way, I was always going to be okay with it. There was something about the raw need in her eyes that pulled me from my thoughts. I didn’t want to talk anymore. I just wanted inside of her. Right now.

  Moving back over her, I leaned down to give her a kiss and felt her hips rise. She was bare and I could feel how ready she was for me. It was unrealistic how wet she was and before I could prepare myself, I was plunging deep into her tight heat. I growled out her name as I entered her and I knew then that I was lost.

  Chapter 10

  Eve

  As soon as he entered me, I knew that he was going to be too much. Everything about him had been so far that way and lying with him was no different. My body didn’t feel able, but somehow it all worked. When I felt him twitch deep inside, I couldn’t help but gasp and whimper. My insides squeezed him, desperately trying to get him to start moving.

  “Please Carlos.”

  He liked when I begged and surged back and forward once again. It was more than I could take and the edge of reason that I had been on for days was miles behind me. I had never felt so good in all of my life. Not that I remembered.

  I shook as my body convulsed and my hands went to his chest from around his neck. I needed a moment before my body collapsed. I was sure that it was going to do just that. Each stroke inside of me was harder and faster than the last. Carlos was a blur above me and the hands that had gone to push him away gave up on that route of action and instead entwined fingers through the dark hair on his chest and pulled him closer. I had given up on trying to stop the storm, I was just going to have to hold on for dear life and hope that I made it through.

  ***

  Drifting off to sleep, my mind was completely blank. I wasn’t thinking about deadlines or the loud neighbor upstairs. Right then I was thinking about absolutely nothing and I slept better in the middle of the day, then I could ever remember. I went to sleep with the sound of Carlos’ racing heart underneath me.

  I woke up to a loud knocking at the door. It jolted me awake, but the man that was lying underneath me was still out of it like he heard nothing. I supposed that it was a trick of his trade or he surely wouldn’t get any sleep as much as he slept in the daytime. I wished for that same skill at the moment, but got up instead. Someone had to answer the door, because the knocking started up again as I got dressed. Whoever it was on the other side did not plan on leaving any time soon.

  “Alright, I am coming.” I was starting to think that whoever it was might be the devil. It was five o’ clock in the afternoon, but whoever it was had made sure to take me from his arms and I was not okay with that.

  “Eve, open up. I have been calling you for hours.”

  I stopped with my hand on the lock. What was my mother doing here? Of all of the places that she could be, why was she here? Her house was a couple of hours away and I hadn’t heard anything about her coming to the city. It was usually a big thing for her, something that she would have told me about a week in advance.

  “Be right there mom.”

  I looked back to the bedroom and crept back over to shut the door, sure that they would hear me moving around. I don’t know why I felt so awkward all of a sudden, but I did know what my parents would think if they saw Carlos in my bedroom in the middle of the day. He was tattooed and everything about him contested him being anything but a criminal. I wasn’t even sure if he was one, though I did know that I didn’t care one way or another. But what I thought and what they thought was two very different things.

  I ran my hand through my blonde hair a couple of times to smooth it out. I didn’t want them to think that I was sleeping, but I knew that I looked a little rumpled. That was what happened when you spend a few hours with a man like Carlos. Once hadn’t been enough and he had taken me several times, waiting till I woke up as I dozed off from the intense pleasure. He was almost too much to handle.

  Opening the door, I pushed the thoughts of Carlos from my head. I felt guilty and I just hoped that I didn’t look as bad as I felt.

  “Hey mom. Sorry about that. I didn’t know that you were coming.”

  My mother was nosy and it didn’t take her any time to push her way into the apartment. Her radar was up and I could tell that I was going to have to be careful. She always had a knack for knowing when I was lying and I didn’t want to see if it was still as valid now as it h
ad been when I still lived with her.

  “I see that you are still in bed. Are you sick?”

  Her suspicion went from general worry to my health and I just went with it, trying to focus her intensity somewhere else. “Are you eating okay?”

  I told her that I was, but she still moved to the refrigerator and then the cupboards, determining that I didn’t have enough food in the house and that we should go shopping for fresh vegetables. Looking towards the bedroom, I thought that getting her out of there was the best idea ever.

  “Yeah, let me just grab my coat out of the bedroom.” I was planning to wake Carlos up and tell him that he had to go. While it was fun with him, my family was very religious and I wouldn’t hear the end of it if they saw him or even if they found out he was there. It didn’t matter that I was almost twenty three. I didn’t think it was ever going to matter how old I was.

  “It is eighty degrees outside Eve, you will be fine.”

  At every turn I felt thwarted and with nothing else to get me into the room to wake him up, I worried that he wouldn’t wake up and leave if he did. I really needed him to go away and there was nothing that I could do to guarantee it. If he was seen there, it was going to be bad.

  ***

  “You aren’t listening.”

  “Yes I am. I am just thinking about an article that I have to turn in tomorrow.”

  “You aren’t getting your work done?”

  It was an accusation more than it was a question or a statement. A person would have thought that she was my boss the way she was worried about my career and what I did every day. I tried to tell her that I was doing fine, but like everything else, my mother didn’t quite believe me. She was always so sure that I had some nefarious plot that I was exacting. It was never true, well mostly not true, but it didn’t seem to stop her from thinking that very thing.