Love Me in the Dark

by Mia Asher

  “You don’t have to fight alone, Valentina. I can be there for you.”

  “I know you would. However, this is my fight. One I must endure to make my way back to you. And going to Paris now, moving in with you …” She gives her head a little shake while reaching for my hand before bringing it to her lips and kissing it. “I love you so much, Sébastien. But I need time to sort things out, to regroup and figure myself.”

  I hear what she’s saying. Hell, I even understand where she’s coming from, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. Placing my hands on the back of her head, I draw her toward me and kiss her with everything I’ve got. With all the desperation coursing through me, it’s a kiss that says, I’m letting you go not because I want to, but because I have to. And because I know you will come back to me. I will. I will come back to you. Wait for me. Wait for me. The kiss comes to an end, leaving us emotionally battered. “I feel like I just got you back and I’m already losing you.”

  “You’re not losing me.” She grabs my hair and makes me look at the truth in her eyes. “It’s only time. And we will be stronger for it.”

  “Are emails out too?” I joke, trying to lighten the mood but at the same time scared to death that this might be it.

  “No, they aren’t.” She tries to smile even though it seems as though she’s on the verge of tears again, the pain too raw.

  We hold onto each other, not wanting to let go, both of us realizing that all we have left are these hours together. But that’s life for you. It certainly never plays fair. I could move to New York City to be near her, but that wouldn’t be right. She’s asking me for space and time, and I will give her both even though it feels as though I’m chopping off my own arm. The memories made in the four walls of this hotel room will have to do. They will become the bread to feed our hungry souls in the days to come when an aching emptiness carves holes in our bodies.

  Her eyes land briefly on the outline of a skyscraper outside the window before locking with mine again. There’s a rush of color in her cheeks. A new bright light in her gaze. “I’ve got it! All right, movie time.”

  “Really, Valentina?”

  “I promise there’s a point.” She laughs and kisses me at the same time. “Have you ever watched An Affair To Remember?”

  “Now you’re talking.”

  “I knew I’d eventually find a movie we both love,” she says, chuckling. “You know how Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr’s characters agreed to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months if their feelings remained the same?”

  “Mhmm, but we all know how that turned out.”

  “Shh.” She kisses my lips. “If things haven’t changed for you,” she kisses my eyes, “meet me at the top of the Eiffel Tower in six months.” She kisses my cheeks. “Shall we make it 2:00 p.m.?” She kisses my mouth, and it tastes like goodbye and hello and someday we will meet again. It also tastes like hope and a new beginning.

  “Six months, huh?”

  She nods while spreading needy kisses along my jawline. “We’ll have this, our love.” She rolls her hips against me, her warm pussy spreading for my cock. “No one will take that away from us.”

  I nudge her with my growing erection, needing to fuck her and own her. “I’ll wait for you,” I growl in her ear before biting it.

  “Good.” Valentina smiles, and in her smile I see the whole future spread in front of us. “Now stop talking and fuck me.”

  “With all my fucking pleasure.”

  I remove Valentina from my lap, flipping her on her stomach as she squeals, and straddle her. As I rub my cock between her ass cheeks, I lean over, trailing kisses on her spine, watching little bumps rise. I reach her neck and trace the salty skin there with my tongue.

  “Have you ever been taken here?” I ask, teasing her little hole, feeling it contract under my thumb.

  She groans, fisting the sheets. “N-No …”

  I bring a hand to my mouth, lick two fingers, and go back to taunting Valentina in that sweet spot. I rub it in small circles until slowly guiding one digit past her resistance. I begin to move my finger in her ass, going deeper and deeper.

  “Do you want me to take you here?”

  “Oh, God,” she moans, and it makes my cock rock hard.

  I continue to torture her by adding another finger, plunging them inside her. Slow and fast. Shallow and deep. Her cunt contracts around me as I curl my fingertips against her wall and finger fuck her to hell and back.

  “Do you want me fucking your sweet ass?”

  “I …” She moves her head side to side, pushing her ass up, seeking relief. “Yes, just take me, please. I can’t wait any longer. Please, Sébastien …”

  She cries when I drag my fingers out of her. My hands leisurely travel the lines of her shoulder blades, spine, down to her hips. Our breathing becomes labored, hungry for more. I’m spreading her ass ready to penetrate her …

  I freeze.

  Fuck.

  “What’s the matter?” Valentina asks breathlessly, glancing over the shoulder, looking like a pagan queen. Her burning gaze meets mine. “Why did you stop?”

  “I have no lube,” I say, cursing my luck.

  She laughs shakily. “Do I need it?”

  I chuckle, patting Valentina’s gorgeous ass. “I’m afraid so.”

  “Can’t you use something else?”

  “I don’t—” Then I remember the little bottle of lotion sitting next to the shampoo in the bathroom. I look up at the sky and utter a quick thank you. “Be right back. Don’t move,” I say before leaning down and biting her ass.

  I come back to find Valentina propped on her forearms, long brown hair running down her ivory body. Fire on her cheeks. Stars in her eyes. Swollen lips branded by me. She smiles invitingly, taunting me, seducing me. Jesus Christ. The woman is going to be the death of me.

  “Found what you need?”

  Climbing the bed, I place the bottle next to me. “Yeah.”

  I slide down and kneel at the altar of Valentina’s body, ready to make my communion. Leaning down, I cover her body with sizzling kisses until I reach the inviting curve of her ass. I spread it and drag my tongue from the little pucker down to her soaked pussy.

  “So damn sweet,” I say, breathing her in, wanting to make the moment last.

  She grinds her hips as she looks over her shoulder, watching me kissing, probing, and lapping her tight hole. Her eyes roll back as she bites her lower lip. She curses, begging me to take her, to put her out of her misery.

  “Not yet.”

  I spread her ass cheeks wider and bury my face in them, fucking her with my tongue.

  “Please … no more … I need you now,” she begs, whimpering.

  “What do you need? Say it.”

  She groans. “Your cock. Inside me. Take me, please.”

  Sweat covers both of our bodies. The glass windows are fogged. The sheets are discarded on the floor. The smell of our fucking fills the room.

  This is life.

  This is beauty.

  I move on top of her. Reaching for the lotion, I open it, pour some on my palm, coating my cock with it, and throw the bottle away. Anticipation makes my brain hazy. I give my dick a few pumps and bring the head into her tight ass, pressing the head slowly between her open cheeks.

  “Fuck,” Valentina cries.

  “Do you want me to stop?” I ask, the words torn from my chest, watching her take me in little by little. The feel of her body accepting me and watching it take me is like dying a slow, beautiful death.

  “No, don’t stop.” Back arched, she presses against me. “I need more …”

  “Almost there,” I say hoarsely, trying to reel myself back. Take it slow when all I want to do is fuck her to oblivion.

  “Please …”

  It’s her words that makes me lose it. Grabbing her by the hips, I push all the way in. I close my eyes and throw my head back, feeling like I’m about to shoot my load inside her. There are no words to exp
lain the sensation of her tightly wrapped around me.

  “You okay?”

  She nods. “Yes, oh, God. But I want you deeper. I want more.”

  I chuckle as I grab her hips, push her forward, and start to pump into her. At first I take it slow, my thrusts shallow. I pull back just enough to leave the tip of my cock inside her and then push aggressively into her, hard. Over and over again.

  “Harder …” she pleads. “More.”

  “Fuck, Valentina,” I groan.

  The bed frame rattles as the force of my thrusts increases, pounding Valentina harder and faster each time, wanting to ruin her completely. I reach under and begin to rub her clit while fucking her cunt with my fingers. Her moans turn into screams.

  I grab her hair in my fist and pull her head back toward me. “I give you six months, you hear me?” I growl in her ear. “Six months.” I wrap my hand around her neck and kiss her savagely on the mouth as I take and demand. And my beautiful Valentina, my gorgeous woman, gives me everything I want. She willingly surrenders her body and soul to me.

  “That’s all I need,” she breathes brokenly. Rubbing her own clit, she starts to spasm around me as our rhythm becomes more desperate. More needy. More everything. So close to the edge, I let the beast inside me loose and fuck her as hard and as fast and as shamelessly as I possibly can until we both come undone. We fly so fucking high we reach nirvana. A ragged groan escapes my lips as my seed spills inside her, and she comes shouting my name.

  Ah.

  There it is.

  Total surrender.

  I own her like she owns me.

  And no amount of time or distance will come between us.

  The next morning …

  HALF ASLEEP, MY ARMS search for Sébastien but come back empty, finding nothing but a dent where he should be lying. I sit up and yawn, dismissing the last traces of sleep.

  “Sébastien?”

  I glance around the room searching for him, but it appears he isn’t here. The bathroom door is open and the lights are off. The small desk by the window is empty and so is the couch across from the bed.

  Weird.

  Wondering what time it is, I turn to look at the clock on the nightstand table when my eyes land on a sheet of paper with the hotel’s logo propped against the phone. My fingers as though they had a life of their own immediately reach for the note.

  Grinning, I throw myself back on the bed and stretch my arms. My body is sore and satiated, but I’m full of crazed energy. We will be fine. I know it. Last night (or earlier this morning) when he asked me to go back to Paris with him, I was so tempted to say yes. I still am. After all, nothing could make me happier than to finally be with him without any worries and boundaries, and to be able to love him. Just love him. But deep down I know, especially after what happened with William, that I need to take some time for myself before I jump back into another relationship. I need to figure out what I want to do with my life. Learn who Valentina is when she isn’t an extension of the man she happens to be with at the time. And even though I love Sébastien with all of my heart, I need to make sure I’m with him because I want to be and not because I need to be. Only then will I be able to give him my love, and both he and I will know that it is given freely and without conditions.

  I look at the note in my hands and smile knowing that we are doing the right thing.

  Our love will find a way.

  After placing the card on the table, I get up and head to the bathroom, ready to take a shower. I’m turning the water on when I hear a knock at the door. I frown. Maybe Sébastien left his key in the room. I turn the water off and grab his white shirt, putting it on before going to the door.

  “Coming!”

  “Did you forget your ke—” I open the door in a rush of excitement and happiness, but my smile disappears when my gaze connects with green eyes.

  “Hello, darling. Miss me?”

  And just like that, I know it is over …

  MY AUNT USED TO SAY that if you wanted to know how a person truly felt about you, just look in their eyes, and find your answer because eyes are the windows to the soul.

  William has the kind of charming eyes that invite you to fall in love with them. He laughs, and they shine. He kisses you and they burn. He makes love to you, and they shatter you. They can make you believe anything he wants you to. For they are as deceiving as they are beautiful.

  Just like him.

  However, he doesn’t hide behind lies anymore.

  As he stares at me, all I see is pure, naked hatred scorching the green forest of his eyes.

  “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he asks pleasantly.

  I lick my lips, suddenly dry. “How did you find me?”

  “I tracked your phone.”

  He takes a step forward.

  I take a step back, a shiver running down my spine.

  Don’t show fear.

  Don’t.

  Don’t.

  “I don’t know why you bothered coming all the way here. Like I said the other night, we’re done.”

  “Oh, really?” He smiles then, a soulless smile, and it chills me to the bone.

  “Yes,” I say, feeling ensnared by him. “Please go before I call security.”

  “And have them do what? You’re my wife.” Before I know what’s happening, he wraps his hand around my neck holding it in a vise-like grip. “You thought you could escape me, huh?”

  He shoves me inside the room, kicking the door closed behind us, and slams me against the wall. The air leaves my lungs, his grip growing more painful. “You thought you could dismiss me just like that, you fucking whore.”

  “Please, William …” I claw at his hands around my neck. “Let go. I can’t breathe.”

  “You made me a laughing stock in front of our friends and family.” He slams me harder, tightening his grip around me. “If you had only listened to me none of this would be happening. But no, you had to play the victim card. Poor little Valentina …”

  With each second that passes, William’s anger grows and grows. Scared to death of what he will do to me, I try to reason with him. “William,” I say, closing my eyes momentarily as the room spins, growing dizzy with the lack of oxygen. “You don’t have to do this. L-Let’s talk … please.”

  But William is lost in the jungle of his madness, his once handsome features marred by hatred. “You know this is all your fault. If you weren’t so frigid, I wouldn’t have to fuck other women.” His grip loosens a bit as he drops his gaze down to my body, his eyes roaming the outline of my breasts imprinted on the dress shirt. He snakes a hand under the shirt, his fingers finding me naked where I’m sore, and still full of Sébastien.

  “Whore,” he says quietly and sweetly, his voice vibrating with pure hatred. He brings that same hand to his face and smells me on his skin. “You’ve been fucking him behind my back all this time, haven’t you?”

  “No … not like that,” I try to say, but the words come out like a whisper.

  Slowly and deliberately he squeezes my neck. “There’s nothing sweeter than gazing into your eyes as I drain the life out of you.”

  “I can’t breathe …”

  Everything becomes hazy…

  No.

  William doesn’t get to win this.

  I repeatedly blink as my ears ring, feeling an adrenaline rush. My fight-or-flight response kicks in at full force, and I start to thrash, trying to free myself from him, but he’s too strong.

  I knee William in the groin, making him fall to the ground and howl in pain. But before I get a chance to escape, William grabs me by the ankle and I tumble onto the floor. He’s on top of me trying to rip my shirt off and pressing the bulge of his erection against my core when we hear bottles shattering. Our gazes move to the door, and we find Sébastien standing there, his chest rising and falling at rapid speed, thunder and hell on his face.

  And as I desperately drink him in, he reminds me of a fallen angel coming to punish those who have si
nned. Sébastien closes the space between us in two ground-eating strides and throws him across the room. “Get the fuck away from her,” he utters with seething dislike.

  William stands up immediately, straightening his clothes. “You’re welcome to her,” he says, stepping away from us. “The bitch is of no use to me anymore.”

  Sébastien goes straight for William’s middle. The two of them fall to the ground. He starts to brutally punch William in the face and his sides and every single inch he’s able to reach. William at first tries to deflect his blows, but Sébastien is much bigger and faster and angrier than him.

  “Sébastien, please, he’s not worth it. Stop!” I beg, gasping for air. But he’s so far gone in his desire to punish William that my words don’t get through to him. Think, Valentina. Think. You must stop this.

  Throwing caution to the wind and not caring that I could get hurt, I crawl toward Sébastien and touch him on the back. “Please, my love, he’s not worth it. Let him go. Come back to me.” The moment my hand comes into contact with him, he stiffens and turns to look at me, a crazed expression in his eyes.

  “Come back to me, Sébastien. Come back.”

  “Valentina.” Sébastien blinks, and it’s like he comes out of a trance. He moves away from William, who’s lying like a pile of dirt on the floor, stands up and takes my hand gently in his, pulling me into his arms. “Are you all right?” He touches me everywhere, searching for injuries. “Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m okay,” I say through the burning pain in my neck, wrapping my arms around him. “I’m okay.”

  We hear William groan then, drawing our attention back to him. He’s rolling on the floor holding his stomach, bruises forming all over his bloodied face.