Flirting with Revenge

by Kristel Ralston

  When Michael’s fingers lifted her blouse, she felt a tingle she had never experienced with any other boy. She held down the fabric just below her bra with shaking fingers; he showed no sign he felt alluded by her gesture of modesty. Rachel saw him grimace when he saw the wound.

  “I have to clean it well. Shhhh, it’ll be okay,” he said as he took care of her wound, and felt her wince as he applied hydrogen peroxide to the area. “It stings a bit, I know, but we need to disinfect it first. You should be thankful that I don’t need to take you to a hospital to get stitches. What were you thinking?

  “I wasn’t thinking,” she retorted. She grimaced when he applied Bactricin. He immediately taped a gauze to the wound. She modestly lowered her torn, dirty blouse. She murmured a thank you. He nodded his answer.

  They stared at each other.

  He cleared his throat.

  “The bathroom is around that corner,” he pointed the way, “you can take your time to change.” She picked up the shirt he’d given her. “Go on.”

  “Thank you.”

  In the bathroom mirror, Rachel contained a groan. She looked like one of those crazy homeless women. No wonder Michael initially thought she was a thief. She carefully scrubbed her hands and her face. She fixed her hair as well as she could into a twisted knot. ‘At least you look less pathetic,’ she thought.

  When she returned to the living room, he was waiting for her on the sofa. He seemed too large for that seat. She gave him a shy smile and sat next to him. As far as she could.

  “Better?”

  “Yes, thank you,” she murmured, staring at the buttons on the shirt he’d given her to wear. It was very long on her, down to her knees. With the shirt on, it looked like she was naked under it. “I feel a bit better...”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  Michael lost himself in those blue eyes, and it seemed that she felt the same connection. He started to slowly inch closer to her as if he were afraid that Rachel could bolt like a skittish rabbit. She did not move away. Cautiously, Michael ran his hand through her hair, caressed it, and noticed that Rachel’s breath quickened. Not with pain.

  “You’re very beautiful. Has anyone told you that before?”

  “I don’t think you should tell me things like that,” she whispered, breathing in his manly scent. Men often complimented her, but she brushed them off with disdain. This time, Michael’s proximity made her skin tingle. “I... I don’t know you from Adam. And I think I’d better leave.”

  “I would have thought that by now you’d have realized that I won’t hurt you. I did the exact opposite. I healed you, right?” She nodded her answer, biting her lower lip. Michael, seeing that she stayed silent, smiled. “Let’s see,” he counted on his fingers, “you broke into my home, I told you my name and I tended to your wounds. At this point, you should know that I’m no psychopath or a serial killer. I think that counts,” he joked.

  She could not help smiling. He did the same and took Rachel’s breath away.

  “I don’t know how old you are,” she managed to murmur. ‘What was wrong with her? Shouldn’t she be getting up to go home? Her friends surely thought she’d snuck off and found her way back. And if something happened to her, they’d have no way of finding out.’

  “Much older than you,” he laughed, but not before he took his hand off her soft hair to touch her blushing cheeks. “Twenty-nine, Rachel.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh,” he said, still smiling.

  “Well... maybe you’re not too old,” she whispered, ready to dive into the promising green jungle of his eyes, which seemed to hypnotize her. “I’m nineteen...”

  Michael laughed again. Rachel was the most delightful creature he’d come across in a very long time. He would not be cynical. It was impossible for her to know he existed or to have plotted to meet him for some devious end.

  The relationships he’d had throughout his life had taught him that some women were only after his fortune. He only gave what he was willing to give. And that, at least when it came to women, was sex and a few dates for a short period, so they would not get their hopes up.

  “And what, exactly, do you think I’m not too old for?” he asked, leaning towards Rachel, unable to stop himself. He kissed her soft neck. It was a kiss that barely brushed her skin, but enough to make her tremble.

  “Michael...” she murmured when she felt the man’s mouth behind her ear. “I don’t know you, I never... I have never...” She felt him smile against her skin. “I...”

  “Yes?” he asked, taking her face in his left hand. Their mouths aligned perfectly. “Would you let me kiss you, just once?”

  “She moistened her lips with her tongue, in an unconsciously sensual move. He contained a groan.

  “Are you seducing me now?” Rachel dared to ask, remembering what he’d said when he was cleaning her wound only moments before.

  He smiled and winked at her. Rachel held her breath.

  “I want to kiss you in a way I’d never felt before with any woman,” Michael whispered, running his thumb along her full, pink lower lip. “Do you, perhaps, feel the same desire to put our mouths together as I do, Rachel?”

  CHAPTER 2

  Without really thinking about what she was doing, her shy tongue caressed Michael’s thumb. By way of a silent answer, Rachel nibbled the tip of his thumb. She saw his green eyes transform into wild, surging waves, rough and ready to wipe out anything that got in their way.

  Instinct told Rachel that this was her first brush with the most primitive desire she could experience. Far from being scared, her body pulsed with an unknown desire, so strong that nothing else mattered to her. Only Michael and the promise she read in his intense gaze. She yearned to discover what exactly that was.

  “A kiss...” she answered, looking at him. “Yes... I want the same thing.”

  Michael did not hesitate; he closed the distance between them and placed his lips on Rachel’s until she instinctively opened them for him. His heart raced when he tasted that warm, innocent mouth. He gently held the nape of her neck, deepening the kiss. He explored her mouth, leaving nothing unclaimed. He felt her hesitate, but he guided her expertly, and Rachel let herself go impetuously.

  He seduced her mouth to the point that he heard Rachel moan with pleasure. Emboldened by her response, and careful not to hurt her wounded side, Michael slipped his right hand under her shirt until he found her bra. He felt her tense up, but at no time did she move to push him away or stop his caresses. It was all the permission he needed to continue.

  He’d never touched skin that soft. In the light, it was the color of toasted sand. He glided his fingers to the front clasp of her bra, and as he did, he made sure he could brush her nipples, already erect, with the back of his hand.

  “Michael...” she whispered when she felt him set her breasts free.

  “I want to kiss you all over," he confessed, pulling away from her lips for a second.

  Rachel’s pupils were dilated, her lips swollen by his kisses, and her cheeks flushed. Michael moved his hand under Rachel’s shirt and caught one of her nipples between his fingers. Gazing intently at her, he squeezed it. Watching her squirm and bite her lower lip was one of the most erotic things he’d ever seen. It was as if a flower were opening up to the sun. Michael cupped her full breast. It fits in his palm perfectly. He did the same with her other breast, while she breathed heavily.

  “I like the way you make me feel,” she said, hypnotized by his green eyes and sensual caresses.

  “That’s good, sweetheart. Would you let me taste you, beautiful Rachel?”

  “It’s just that, this seems unreal...” she murmured, completely trapped in the web of this man she’d just met. She should go back. What was wrong with her? It was as if Michael was able to disrupt her whole world. Some people would say this was a fatal attraction at first sight, but she preferred to call it madness. “I’ve never experienced this emotion that seems to burn me... with anyone... and... I
like it.”

  Curiously, her words brought out a ridiculous feeling of possessiveness in Michael. She was a stranger. ‘Lust sometimes messes with your common sense,’ a voice in his head reminded him.

  “You can stop me whenever you want,” he told her, sincerely, her breasts still in his hands. Her skin was so soft that he would die to taste it on his lips. He kissed Rachel’s warm, surprised mouth. “The weight of your breasts is amazing. You’re so sensitive,” he stated, before pulling her shirt off over her head. She helped him do it.

  He was transfixed, staring at her. Gorgeous was not the word to describe her. This girl was made for pleasure.

  “I...” she tried to cover up again, but he did not let her. Before she could complain, he leaned towards her and trapped a nipple between his lips. He sucked on it, looking her in the eyes, and she, in turn, held her breath. “Oh...”

  She never thought she could find herself in a situation like this. It was so erotic to watch Michael kiss and lick her breasts; his tanned skin and hers, the color of toasted sand, blended beautifully, she though. She leaned back onto the palms of her hands, giving him easier access. She let him kiss her as much as he wanted because the feeling was wonderful. She did not want him to stop.

  “I want to touch you... I also want to make you feel what you make me feel...” she said as his eager hands stroked her skin and his mouth bestowed caresses on her pink nipples.

  “And what do I make you feel?” he asked, before pulling off his shirt and tossing it aside.

  Michael was beautiful, thought Rachel with admiration. She was a bit naïve when it came to the opposite sex, but she was not blind. Her skin tingled and she felt moisture on her most intimate crevice, that part of her that she usually ignored when she was turned on, which was not very often. But at that moment, what she wanted most of all was for that man to touch her; she yearned to explore the overwhelming sensation of an orgasm. Not the kind usually achieved with her hand. No. She wanted those hands, at once strong and gentle, to pleasure her. She felt feverish. Breathless. Aroused.

  “As if I were drunk...” she answered, timidly caressing his naked torso. “Do you feel the same?”

  He laughed.

  “We’ve sipped the same wine.”

  “Yes...” she answered, touching his cheek, while he leaned down to kiss her again.

  Michael let her know he wanted her when his hard member bumped against Rachel’s thigh. In general, he was a very restrained man. He did not usually have affairs without thinking it through, but this girl had clouded his judgment.

  “Michael?” she murmured, panting, as he caressed her breasts with one hand, while the other stroked her sex over the fabric of her shorts. “Tell me a bit more about yourself...”

  “I’m a lawyer,” he whispered against her mouth, nibbling her lips tenderly. “Sometimes I love my profession; other times I hate it,” he acknowledged, moving his hand over her womanly nether region, pressing and twisting his fingers deftly. “I work for a very important firm.”

  “Oh, so you moved to Ogunquit recently, then? Because I’d never seen you before,” she said, trying not to lose her head completely. Talking helped her to feel less overwhelmed by all the physical sensations.

  “This is my holiday home,” he said, without providing further explanations.

  “So, you won’t stay here long?”

  Michael stopped touching her. She caressed his hair. She liked the feeling of those locks, thick and soft at the same time.

  “I assume you ask because you’re afraid you’ll run into me tomorrow at the supermarket, and feel ashamed about what we’re doing here,” he said, mockingly.

  “And what are we doing, exactly,” she gasped, her voice shaky, giving him a shy smile while her restless fingers stroked his abdomen, and then ran over his strong biceps.

  “I’m kissing you, and discovering your beautiful body. You?”

  “Letting you do it, because the truth is, I like the sensations you awaken in me... But...”

  “Ah, here come the buts,” he smiled. He leaned in to kiss the groove between her pink-nippled breasts.

  “I never thought...· she took a deep breath. “I hate lawyers,” she confessed, remembering her sister.

  That statement made him reconsider. Truthfully, he was in the middle of a complicated case, which was why he’d gone to his beach house, to think. His divorce from Ingrid signed just two weeks ago, started to scar him indescribably. It was not fair for him to seduce Rachel. A total stranger, but at the same time the only woman in a long time that had aroused in him an instinct of tenderness and passion in equal amounts. His life was too complicated.

  Michael frowned and pulled away, not without difficulty, letting her escape from his arms. She smiled, nervous, and disconcerted by his sudden coolness. Without looking at him, she picked up her bra and adjusted it around her breasts. Then she pulled on the shirt. It smelled of Michael. Clean, manly, sensual. Had he not liked her body? Was that why he stopped touching her suddenly? she asked herself.

  “Many people hate lawyers,” he remarked, not noticing the feeling of rejection that had begun to come over Rachel. “But sometimes we don’t have a choice. We do our jobs. We try, or at least I do, to be as fair as possible. Sometimes I manage it, others... well, I’m beaten in court. That’s just life. You cannot always win...” he explained, his voice trailing off.

  “Why?” looking down.

  He looked at her, eyes narrowed, disconcerted.

  “Why can’t you always win in court?” he asked.

  Rachel laughed timidly and lowered her eyes.

  “Forget it,” she mumbled. She wrapped her arms around herself. She felt cold, all of a sudden.

  Then Michael understood. He laughed loudly.

  “Why did I stop touching you?” She nodded, biting her lower lip. “Well, Rachel, even though I’m dying to strip you completely naked and make you feel your body pulse as I touch you and bring you to orgasm,” he stroked her face with adoration, “you’re too young. And I think that being a virgin, you deserve something more than a one-night stand with a stranger who can only offer you a moment when you probably want much more from your first sexual experience,” he blurted out, completely sincere, looking into her eyes.

  She did not have to ask him how the hell he knew that she was a virgin, because she’d just confessed it by admitting her lack of experience during their passionate interlude.

  “I guess so,” answered Rachel, looking at him, restless. “Or is it because you did not like touching me, and...?” she inquired hesitantly. Michael had some sort of magnetic aura that invited her to bury herself in that radiating attraction that seemed to undulate between them. It was as if her body had been possessed by a strange force, completely estranged from sanity, pushing her to only feel, without thinking. After all, what was wrong with feeling? she asked herself with a wry smile.

  “Liking you doesn’t begin to cover it,” he took her small hand and guided it to his erection. “Do you feel that?” She nodded. “It feels that hard because you’re at a level far beyond just liking, and that’s something that rarely happens with other women. Do you believe me?”

  “I... yes...” she muttered, blushing. Her hand dropped to her side. She would have liked to explore that bulge; it felt warm and hard through the fabric of his slacks. He was giving her the chance to get out of there. ‘At least one of us is thinking.’ Rachel told herself to placate her unsatisfied sensual curiosity.

  “All right.” Not without a struggle, Michael got to his feet. He ran his hands through his hair. Rachel watched him with those big blue eyes full of innocence and curiosity. The desire she awoke in him was too strong. He could not let himself get carried away like that. “I’m not rejecting you. I believe I’m doing the right thing, even if it kills me that I have to stop touching you as much as I want.”

  She swallowed and giggled nervously.

  “One of us had to be rational, I guess.” She stood up. “I hope that
you won’t ask me to give back the shirt,” she said, trying to lighten the mood; the air felt dense and charged with unconsummated sensuality.

  Michael nodded.

  “I should call a taxi to take you home,” he said in a harsher tone than he would have liked.

  Rachel adjusted her clothes as best she could.

  “Thank you,” she mumbled.

  Not able to avoid it, he walked to the sofa and lifted her chin with a finger.

  “I don’t think that seducing you is in either of our best interests. You’d regret it tomorrow. You are beautiful, and I know that any man with red blood in his veins will notice it the moment they lay eyes on you, even from afar.”

  “And you, Michael? Would you also regret it?” she asked bravely.

  He smiled with a mixture of sorrow and cynicism.

  “Probably not. I’m more experienced than you.”

  She gently pushed his hand away.

  “I may be nineteen years old, but I know what I’m doing,” she said brazenly. Her intimate parts were throbbing, she knew she was moist, and her breasts were sensitive and aching after those caresses from Michael’s mouth and fingers.

  He cocked his head to one side.

  “Do you know, young, delicious Rachel?” he asked, moved by the determination in her blue gaze. She was all innocence and defiance. He did not want to ruin her. For once in his life, at least, he was choosing not to be selfish.

  “I’m not a child,” she retorted, annoyed by his condescending tone. Did she not have the right to have fun, for the first time in her life, with no regard for her usual personal limits?

  Michael looked at her from head to toes.

  “No, you’re not young. You’re perfect,” he murmured, moving away. He resolutely picked up the phone and called the local taxi company. He gave the operator his address, and then hung up and turned to face Rachel. “Your taxi will be here in ten minutes. Wait a moment while I look for my wallet. I assume you did not bring any money, right?”