Reach For Me

by Elizabeth Cole

  “But then you left me.”

  “That was a mistake.” Mal sighed. “Cara, I have to tell you something. About my parents. It’s not an excuse, but it might help explain why I bolted.”

  She took a long, deep breath, trying to calm down. “Your parents?” What could that have to do with anything?

  “My parents died when we were just little kids. They went away to fight something really bad—something that required a lot of the family to go and fix. Mama and Dad, they loved us, but they were powerful, and they’d never give up their calling just for us. They would save the world because if they didn’t, who would?”

  “They left you?” Cara whispered.

  “With Mama’s family. It happened pretty often. But this time they didn’t come back.” Mal’s voice grew gruff, and Cara took his hands in hers.

  “We were told they’d died. No details, not for little boys. Nothing but the fact that they were heroes and they saved a lot of people, more than would ever know it…but they died.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Mal squeezed her fingers tightly. “I started having nightmares after that. Awful things, but mostly fire. Blazing hot flames, and my mama screaming.”

  “Mal.”

  “There was no reason for it,” he rushed on. “We still don’t actually know how our parents died. Not exactly. But in my head, I imagined it as a fire. When you’re a kid, you do fire drills, and you’re always told not to touch hot things. What’s the scariest thing to a kid? Fire. And for years, that was my worst fear, and it’s still my phobia. Irrational, but there it is.”

  “And then you dream I was in a fire too.”

  “Not a dream. A vision. You got pulled away from me, into a fire, and I was too chickenshit to go after you and get you back. And then I saw your burned body on the ground, and everything you ever carved all burned up too. And I lost my shit, and I ran the second I could physically move, and I’m sorry.”

  Cara’s emotions were going completely haywire. She whispered, “Mal, why didn’t you just tell me that? Instead of running away and acting weird.”

  “Because it’s personal.”

  “You had the dream while we were in a bed after sex. Is sex not personal? You know what, don’t answer that.” Of course sex wasn’t personal for him. It was just a thing he did.

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” Mal said. “I just meant that I’m not used to talking…with…you.”

  “You mean you’re not used to talking with women you sleep with.”

  “Ok, that too. I’m really sorry, Cara. I acted like an ass afterward because it was the only way I could not think about what really happened, and I wasn’t ready to do that, especially not in front of you, because I’d have to explain all this, and…yeah.”

  She bit her lip. “I thought you regretted stuff.”

  Mal leaned back, regarding her. “You mean the sex? No regrets about that, Cara.” He lifted one hand to her face, running his fingers along her jawline, making her all shivery again, for a different reason.

  She bent her head, not able to look at him. “Ok. That’s good. I mean…I’m glad that’s not yet another thing to feel awkward about. It’s been a weird few days.”

  “Tell me about it.” Mal leaned forward once more, pulling her into a semi-embrace. Then he kissed her, very gently. No pressure, and no promises. Just a kiss, and Cara thought her heart was going to explode.

  She inhaled shakily. “Are you still freaked out about the idea of me catching fire?”

  “Little bit, yeah. I know it sounds stupid, but…yeah.”

  “Think the shower would be safe?” she whispered.

  Chapter 20

  Mal wasn’t sure he heard correctly. “Go on.”

  Cara still looked somewhat freaked out after he’d told her the whole vision of your death thing. But now there was a tiny smile at the corners of her mouth. “This suite comes with a very modern shower.”

  Now this was the sort of resilient personality he admired. “Go on.”

  Her smile widened. “I was thinking that we start the water running, and see how things go.”

  “I know exactly how they’ll go,” Mal said, his mouth on her neck. “I’m going to strip you bare and have fun with you till the hot water’s gone.”

  He worked open the buttons on her shirt, eager to get to the naked part as soon as humanly possible. He opened the shirt to reveal a lace bra different from the one before. This one was black and mostly sheer. He cupped her breasts and felt her nipples harden under his touch. He said, “I really like the idea of you wearing this sort of stuff under your work clothes.”

  “Don’t think about it on the site, or you won’t get any work—” Cara’s response was cut off by her gasp when Mal bent to tease her with his teeth through the lace.

  Her back arched toward him, and he ran his hands around her waist to her back, loving how smooth and soft she was. He liked the way her hair fell over her shoulders and back, brushing against his hands. He found the clasp of the bra and undid it, pulling the straps down, sliding the whole thing off while Cara was making little sounds of pleasure.

  “Lie back,” he said.

  She did, putting her arms over her chest to hold her breasts, blatantly teasing him with her seemingly innocent movements.

  Mal loosened her belt, unzipped her jeans, and started peeling them off. Cara closed her eyes, and turned her head to one side.

  Hiding.

  “Hey, why so shy?”

  “It’s nothing,” she said, barely audible. “Maybe hit the lights?”

  “And miss this?”

  “Mal. Don’t pre—”

  “You think I’m faking being turned on right now?” He was suddenly sort of insulted. He grabbed Cara’s hand and drew it right to his crotch. Her eyelids flew open when she felt how hard he was.

  “Ok, I believe you,” she whispered.

  The jeans came off. The panties followed. He kissed her stomach, and ran his hands along her hips and thighs. “I can’t wait to get you in the shower, sweetheart.”

  “I need a shower anyway. I still smell like sawdust.”

  “You always smell like sawdust, did you know that? Also coffee. And also I like those smells on you. Believe me?”

  Cara nodded. “Now your turn,” she ordered, pushing him away and sitting up once more.

  He stood up, perfectly happy to put on a show for her. One by one, each piece of clothing got ditched. Last were the boxers, and he realized that even though this wasn’t his first time with Cara, she’d never properly seen him naked before, not in the light.

  Now she took her time looking, unconsciously licking her lips in a way that made his erection almost painful.

  “Not bad,” she said at last. “If I were into superficial things like you being totally hot.”

  “I work hard to be this superficial,” he admitted.

  He realized she’d somehow pulled the bedspread over her torso, and he reached forward to grab the edges of the fabric to flick it off her. “Cara. Don’t hide. You need to get over this right now.”

  “Get over what? A lifetime of conditioning?”

  “Yeah. Would sex help with that?”

  She bit her lip. “I guess there’s one way to find out.”

  “Good. Shower time,” he told her.

  She nodded, her expression a little dazed. She got up off the bed and drifted toward the bathroom. He admired the rear view, but didn’t follow immediately. Instead, he reached for his jacket. He was always prepared for the possibility of sex, and one pocket was designated for condoms. He grabbed two, putting one on the nightstand and keeping the other in his grip. He hoped he’d need more by the end of the night.

  The bathroom was dim. Cara hadn’t hit the lights on, and he didn’t either, deciding that there was only so much reprogramming he could push in one night.

  She was already leaning into the big walk-in shower, her hand in a spray of water to test the heat. Mal put his hand on her backsid
e, to test the heat. Yes. She was hot.

  Cara turned around, the water steaming behind her. “Um, I just remembered I don’t have a—”

  He held up the packet. “All taken care of.”

  “You came prepared.” Her eyes narrowed.

  Mal laughed as he bent his head to kiss her. “You never know when a hot girl might invite you into a shower. Sorry, woman.”

  Cara’s response was lost in the kiss. She opened her mouth and let him taste her. Then her tongue started doing things to his mouth just when her fingers curled around his cock, and Mal nearly lost his mind.

  She let go and turned around again, stepping into the shower. “Get in here,” she ordered, pulling her hair up on top of her head to keep it out of the stream of water.

  Mal followed like he was on a leash. The water hit his skin, deliciously warm.

  The shower was tiled floor to ceiling on three walls, with the fourth side being a glass panel to keep most of the spray in. There were two showerheads. Mal turned the second one on too. Soon the bathroom was so steamy that it was difficult to see to the far wall.

  “Wasteful,” Cara chided.

  “Nothing that makes sex more fun is wasteful,” he returned. He reached out and released the pile of hair she’d just put up. Redness tumbled down around her, and he smiled.

  “I was deliberately avoiding that,” she said, not looking that upset.

  “You said you needed a shower anyway.” He angled her so she stood under the spray, thoroughly soaking her hair and skin. “I don’t want to be wasteful.”

  Mal grabbed the bottle of shampoo on the ledge and proceeded to lather Cara up, running his fingers over her scalp, and then making waves of foam all over her shoulders and breasts.

  Cara’s eyes were closed, probably because of the suds, or maybe because he’d started to play with her breasts, using the slipperiness of the steam to glide over some very sensitive areas.

  Her lips parted. “That feels good,” she murmured. “Just…touching like that.”

  “Like this?” Mal toyed with her nipples. Pinkish, round, perfect.

  She nodded slowly. “Yes. Do that while I, um, rinse.”

  She tipped her head back to get the shampoo out, and Mal loved the way her breasts caught the water as she lifted her arms up to her head. He continued to tease her and the second she was soap-free, he moved to take her wrists.

  He turned her around to face the tiled wall between the showerheads. “Hands on the wall, babe.”

  She obeyed and moaned when he stepped right behind, his cock hard as he pressed against her. “You feel clean enough?” he asked.

  “Don’t think I’m going to stay that way,” she replied.

  “I did say I was going to have fun with you till the hot water’s gone.”

  “You can’t.”

  “You doubting my stamina?”

  “Not exactly. Just saying this place prides itself on energy efficiency and there’s a tankless water heater, so the hot water will never run out.”

  “You’re an adorable home improvement nerd and if you think talking about energy efficiency is going to distract me from my plans, you are wrong, Cara Michaels.” He pushed her into the wall with his body, slipping his hands between her and the wall so he could still play with her luscious tits.

  “What are your plans?” she asked with a little moan.

  “Just stand there and look pretty and you’ll find out.”

  He bent down and kissed her neck, licking off the water droplets accumulating there. Then he moved his hands down to her waist and kissed her back and her shoulder blades, and wow, she had a scattering of freckles on her back, and he kissed each one of those. He worked his way down to her lower back, moving his hands to her hips to keep her in one place, because she started getting a little jumpy when his mouth got within a few inches of her bottom.

  “Turn around, babe.” He was on his knees now, and he leaned back just enough to let her rotate.

  Cara leaned back, staring down at him with wide eyes. Mal smiled up at her, his hands running along the inside of her thighs, up and up until she gasped, and he slipped a finger inside her body.

  He bent forward and kissed her upper leg, licking the water off even though more rivulets kept sliding down her skin. He listened to her breathing, the gasps she let out when he knew he did something particularly right.

  She felt wonderfully wet, a wetness different from the water on the outside of her body. The thought of sliding into her made him groan.

  Mal stood up abruptly, fumbling for the foil packet he’d placed carefully on the ledge.

  While he was ripping it open, Cara got her hands on his cock again and started stroking him. He groaned again, louder. “Cara, please.”

  “Please keep doing this, or please stop doing this?”

  “I don’t know.” It felt so good. Her touch sent his nerve ends into overload. “I want to get off like this, and with your mouth on me, and inside you, and I want all of them at once.”

  “Poor baby,” she said with a lash of sarcasm that was totally forgiven when she rolled the palm of her hand over the tip of his cock. “You’ll have to pick one.”

  In that moment, he knew what he wanted. Cara up against the tiled wall, her legs around him, screaming his name.

  “Hands off,” he ordered. “I know exactly what I’m doing with you.”

  He finally got the damn rubber out of the package and stepped away so he could roll it on without getting distracted.

  “You don’t need the condom,” she said suddenly. “I mean, not if you’re…all clean. I am, and I have an IUD. If you want to skip it…”

  He paused. “You just telling me that to make me happy? I don’t mind using one.”

  “You’d like it better without.”

  Ok, that was technically true. But… “But you would feel better if I used one. Right?”

  After a second, she nodded.

  “Then just say that,” he told her.

  “I just want to make it good for you.”

  “Cara. It will be good for me.”

  He proved it then by picking her up and pinning her against the wall again, her back pressed into the tiles.

  She gasped. “Mal! You can’t do that!”

  “I just did.” He encouraged her to wrap her legs around him, until he was practically surrounded by sweet, beautiful Cara. He kissed her, delighted her face was level with his. Cara’s hands were on his shoulders and she was kissing him back hungrily.

  He angled himself and slid into her slowly. Yes, she was hot, and slick, and winning the lottery might be good, but this was better.

  Mal’s head fell back as he felt the first wave of pleasure hit him. “Fuck yes, Cara!”

  “Quiet down! People are totally going to know we’re having sex.”

  He grinned. “I don’t care. People should assume that’s what’s happening when I’m around anyway.”

  “Well, unless you advertise it, no one will believe you’re having sex with me.”

  He thrust once, and yelled much louder, “Fuck yes, Cara!”

  She gasped, but before she could say anything, he thrust again. And again. Making her gasp for different, better reasons. And soon they were both way beyond words, just pawing at each other and moaning as the pleasure built up to a peak.

  “Mal,” Cara whimpered, her arms tight around his neck at this point. “Finish me.”

  “Promise to scream my name,” he told her, his kiss ending in a bite.

  “Yes,” she gasped out.

  He buried himself in her, drawing out every little bit of bliss. Cara rolled her head against the wall and gasped his name.

  “Louder,” he ordered.

  “Mal.”

  “Louder.”

  “Mal! Mal!” That was it. Cara was done, and he let himself go too, coming hard and loud and not caring if he could be heard across town.

  He withdrew a second later, easing Cara down so she could stand on her own cute feet.<
br />
  Peeling off the condom, he took a few heavy breaths, then stepped into the water for a final rinse.

  And the shower water was piping hot. Five stars.

  Cara was still leaning against the wall when he turned the water off. She indicated a fluffy bathrobe hanging from a hook and he fetched it for her.

  She put it on. “Well, they’re going to figure out who’s having sex with who now.”

  “Let them envy me,” Mal responded, wrapping a towel around his waist. He found a second towel and handed it to her for her hair.

  Cara took it and covered up the lovely red, now almost dark enough to be brown. She padded out to the bedroom. He followed, finding her taking a long sip from the glass.

  “Didn’t get enough water in the shower?”

  “I didn’t swallow,” she retorted.

  “I didn’t give you a chance,” he admitted. “But I could be persuaded for round two.”

  “How many rounds are you expecting?” she asked, arching her eyebrow.

  “How many do you want to give me?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Mal stretched out on the bed. “You can think about it while we dry off. Come here.”

  Cara finished the glass of water, then walked over to the bed. She sat on the side of it, then flipped her head down, toweling her hair dry. It was a habitual motion she’d probably done three thousand times before. It wasn’t sexy, and he might as well not be in the room. Oddly, watching her perform such a mundane task pulled something in his chest.

  To avoid thinking about that too much, he said, “I should probably point out that I was supposed to come here to convince you to meet up with us to discuss important demon-hunting stuff. Operation Hellhole, Lex calls it.”

  Cara pulled the towel off, revealing damp, wavy red hair. “The sex was part of the campaign?”

  “No. The sex was because I can’t keep my hands off you.”

  She rolled onto the bed, lying beside Mal, both on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.

  “Look, I don’t not believe you,” Cara said. “I just don’t know what it has to do with me, exactly. Even if I walk away from the job, someone else could complete the floor.”