by Alexis Davie
“Really? You need a bathing suit to go swimming?” Bree demanded, her expression becoming exasperated. “You really are no fun at all.”
Suddenly, Will’s words flittered through Megan’s mind.
You need to enjoy your college years. You should be going to parties and meeting boys and…
Megan gulped back her nervousness. Will thinks I’m boring, and now this stranger thinks I’m boring, too. And she doesn’t even know me!
“I don’t need a bathing suit,” she said bravely. Bree had already disappeared into the changeroom, stripping off her clothes as she moved, and Megan strutted after her. Her new friend had a lovely figure, and Megan tried to ignore her mounting anxiety as she joined her.
“That’s the spirit!” Bree encouraged, eyeing Megan’s nearly perfect figure. “C’mon! Last one in the pool is buying drinks for the rest of the night!”
She ran off, throwing open the sauna-style door to rush toward the pool, Megan hot on her heels. They screamed, jumping into the water at the same time, and Bree playfully splashed Megan the minute she resurfaced.
The water was seeping into all of Megan’s crevices—she admitted to herself that she had never felt more liberated. She dove her blonde head beneath the surface, swimming her way toward the deep end of the pool before popping out at the wall.
“So how long you been working?” Bree asked, paddling toward her in almost childish strokes.
The question confused Megan as she tread the water, relishing the sensations as she moved.
“I mean, I guess I’ve always worked,” she said. “I started when I was sixteen, and I’ve just kept on going. I’ve been at this company for almost three years now.”
This time, it was Bree who looked confused. “What do you mean, company?” she asked.
Before the conversation could grow any more perplexing, though, the doors from the men’s locker room opened, and both girls turned at the same time.
“Oh, shit,” Bree muttered, watching two men from security come striding toward them, red-faced and furious. Megan didn’t dare move. She had known this was a bad idea, why had she let herself get carried away?
“How many times have I told you not to come back here?” the older man spat at Bree. “Get out of there right now! We called the police this time.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Billy, did you have to?” Bree snapped. “I can just give you a freebie like last time.”
Billy’s face turned crimson, and he glanced nervously at his co-worker, who pretended not to hear the veiled accusation. “Come on!” he yelled again. “Get out, both of you!”
“But…” Megan gasped. “We’re naked.”
The men snorted in unison.
“That didn’t seem to bother you when you were splashing around for the cameras, did it?” said the younger security guard. “Anyway, you sell it. Giving it away for free won’t kill you.”
“What?” Megan gaped. “I don’t sell it!”
But when Bree simply glared at the men, she suddenly understood his words, and she understood the weird question Bree had asked her before.
Her new friend was a prostitute.
Oh, my God…
“Find her a towel, Joe,” Billy snapped.
Megan had already pulled her tall frame onto the edge of the pool, and she stood shamelessly before them, her body dripping. At least it seemed like Billy would take some pity on her.
Reluctantly, Joe went to oblige, and Megan tried to gather her wits.
“There is no need to involve the police,” she said pleadingly. “We’ll go and we won’t come back, right, Bree?”
“Yeah, Billy, come on,” Bree said, batting her dark eyelashes, but the guard shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Too late,” he said firmly. “You were warned not to do this again, Bree. You left us no choice.”
Megan stared at them, her heart hammering as she thought about how much trouble she was in—not because of the minor misdemeanor charge she was facing, but because she was in a city she did not know, with no one she could call to come help her.
No one but Will Travis.
* * *
Will didn’t say a word to her as he led the way from the police station.
Megan could only hang her head in shame, pulling down her black dress, which suddenly seemed too short.
Bree’s a prostitute and she thought I was one, too, she thought, humiliation filling her face. I went skinny dipping in a five-star hotel and got arrested. I am currently being bailed out by my boss. I have never been more mortified in my life.
Once they stepped into the humid July air, Megan realized how terrible she must look after her unsolicited dip in the pool.
Your external appearance is the least of your worries, she told herself miserably. Megan wondered if she had ruined her future at Travis and Associates. All my hard work down the drain for a stupid dare. I have never felt so dumb in my life.
A town car was waiting for them, and Megan slipped inside under the driver’s curious stare. She was sure her face was almost completely red, and she was grateful for the darkness.
Will slipped inside and waited until the driver had closed the door, leaving them in silence.
“I paid your bail,” he said flatly. “You have to appear in a couple months. Don’t miss the date.”
Megan forced herself to look at him, and then she shook her head. “I won’t,” she swore. “I won’t.”
Will studied her face for a moment. “What were you thinking?” he asked.
Megan could sense no anger in his voice. He actually sounded… rather curious.
“I was just trying to get in touch with my wild side,” she muttered with a shrug of her shoulders, loathing how ridiculous the words sounded as they left her lips.
To her surprise, Will began to chuckle. “Did you know that woman has a rap sheet from here to Colorado?”
“No!” Megan exclaimed. “I don’t know her at all! I only met her tonight, and I… I just thought she was being nice.”
Will turned his body towards her. “Did you have a good time before you got caught?”
The question took Megan off guard, and she found herself staring into his eyes.
“Actually,” she answered, “yes, I did. I had never gone skinny dipping before and, it was a pleasant experience. Until we got arrested, at least.”
Her boss’s dark eyes seemed to be glowing coals in the dim light of the passing streetlamps, but Megan could see something in their depth that she had never seen there before: desire.
“That’s very sexy,” Will told her, and shivers of pleasure instantly flooded through her body. He slipped across the seat and then he was at her side in one fluid movement, pushing her blonde waves away from her neck to press his lips to her skin. “Sexy like you, Meg.”
His voice was gruff, and Megan shivered as goosebumps prickled her arms.
“I have always wanted to know what you taste like,” he whispered, his mouth resting on the shell of her ear. “I knew it would be sweet.”
Megan didn’t even have the opportunity to be stunned by his confession as he pushed her back onto the leather seat, pouncing on her like a stealthy beast.
She closed her eyes as Will easily slipped her dress off her head, leaving her flesh bare for him to explore with minor obstruction. He was both rough and tender, his lips following his hands as they worked down her body.
Megan was reminded of the water flowing through her body as Will’s mouth became more heated. Her skin felt like it was on fire, and she slowly reached out to entwine her fingers through his hair, fearing that touching him would abolish the fantasy she was living.
Without warning, Will flipped her onto her stomach, crawling up her back, the tickle of his tie against her naked skin adding to her pleasure.
Megan gasped, gripping the soft seats beneath her as his breath heated her bare flesh, his fingers stripping away her garments with ease.
She moaned softly, a gu
sh of warmth spreading through her and slipping between her throbbing lips as Will parted her cheeks, nuzzling into her center from behind. Using his thumb to manipulate her clit, he skillfully teased her with his tongue in long, wet strokes, coating every part of her middle.
The combination of his finger and hot mouth on her instantly created a heat that coursed through Megan’s entire body, and in seconds, she felt herself mounting toward a climax. Her hands curled deeply into the seat cushions, her nails piercing the shiny leather, but she couldn’t stop herself as she released over his wanting mouth.
Megan cried out, feeling him as he sat up to undo his pants. His thumb continued to work at her sensitive area, slipping between her two openings like he had been made to do so.
A moment later, her cheeks were spread wider, and suddenly she felt the tip of his incredible erection pressing against her buttocks, gently prodding at her too-tight opening.
“Oh, my God,” Megan breathed, realizing where he intended to take her. The head of his member rubbed the lips of her core, and when he finally slid inside her, Megan screamed, her body fighting the feeling while she tried to welcome it.
Will grunted, falling forward to fully maneuver himself inside her, where he seemed to reach every inch of her insides.
His fingers felt like claws as they gripped her waist, plunging wildly inside her as she tried to catch her breath. Strange noises emitted from his windpipe, and Megan jerked her blonde head back to catch his partial reflection in the glass of the partition.
She gasped at the sight before her, unable to reconcile what she was seeing.
Will seemed to have transformed into a beast, his long face a grey-black mask of scales and ridges. Primal grunts emerged in puffs of smoke from his mouth, but as Megan tried to turn her head to look back at him, a huge bird-like hand grasped her neck and pulled her upward.
Her naked back against his chest, she could feel the roughness of his skin. She swore she could see an almost translucent wing through her peripheral vision, but the angle was too odd for her to be certain. The only thing she knew for sure was that the shaft driving into her was real, and it was causing her to orgasm again.
Will’s claws folded around her neck once more, and Megan let out a strangled noise as she came, although her cries of pleasure were overshadowed by the feral screech released by Will as he exploded inside her.
The juices he expelled almost burned her, they felt so hot, and Megan was a quivering pile by the time he had finished. She felt him withdraw from her, and she crawled out from under him, spinning around to stare at him, her body shaking.
But despite what they had just done, Will was still her boss, a small smile toying on his lips as he slowly pulled up his pants.
“You are every bit as sweet as I expected you to be,” he told her, and Megan felt her heart flutter again.
I can’t believe he’s been attracted to me all this time, she thought to herself. But… what is he? I did not imagine what I saw, right?
It was not a question she put into words, waiting to see if he would explain himself.
He didn’t.
After a few moments, Megan looked outside the window of the town car. She realized they were still driving.
“Where are we?” she asked. “I didn’t think the police station was that far away from the hotel.”
“It’s not,” Will answered.
“Then why aren’t we back there yet? What are we doing?”
“Circling the block,” he replied smoothly.
“Why?” Megan questioned, perplexed.
Will laughed. “I imagine that for decorum’s sake. I don’t think the driver wanted to drop us half-dressed and in the throes of fornication.” Then he turned back to her. “Unless you want him to, Meg?”
She got chills when he called her “Meg.” He had never done it before that night, and she hoped he would continue to do it.
Will tapped on the partition.
“We’re ready to go back now,” he called to the driver.
Soon, the driver had steered the town car in the front of the hotel. When the door opened, Megan nervously eyed Will.
Now what? she wondered. Do we just pretend like this never happened? That I don’t know about his secret?
They walked quietly into the hotel, and Megan struggled for the words to say. Before she could speak, however, he beat her to it.
“Would you like to come to my suite?” he asked, turning to stare at her with stormy, black eyes.
She gulped and nodded, not trusting her voice.
“Sure,” she squeaked. “I would love a drink.”
Will shook his head. “I don’t mean for a drink. I mean for the night.”
Megan felt happiness like she had never known before swell her chest, and she nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes!” she gasped. “I would love to!”
Will smiled, appearing relieved, and she saw that he had been just as nervous that she would reject him as she was he would reject her.
Just goes to show that you can never tell what a person’s feeling through only their appearance, she thought, biting on her lower lip as they got off on his floor, the anticipation building inside her again.
“What are you thinking about?” Will asked her after they had been silent for a while, and Megan glanced at him.
“Oh,” she replied nonchalantly. “I was just wondering if you’d ever heard of the Mile-High club.”
He scoffed, and Megan looked at him in surprise.
“What?” she demanded, suddenly embarrassed.
“Everyone’s a member Mile-High Club,” he teased. He paused for a long moment, studying her face. “Now, the Dragon Tail Club,” he said, making a pause. “Well, that’s something we should try.”
Megan almost fainted with excitement as her imagination went wild.
Her foul mood was all but forgotten.
* * *
The End
8
The Black Wolf
The sunset was unlike anything MJ had ever seen, spilling glorious shades of reds, oranges, and pinks over the horizon, setting the Italian province of Lucca on fire in the early evening. Although it was her third night in the country, it was her first visit to Lucca, and she was treasuring every second of it.
MJ smirked slightly, thinking of what her family would say if they could see her taking in the Italian sun alone, almost a college graduate.
This is a far cry from a shack in Louisville, she thought, closing her eyes as her rosebud lips met the glass of wine in her hand. And I guess Daddy was wrong about me; I have amounted to something after all.
She inhaled, smiling happily to herself.
I will have to take a picture of this for the girls, she thought, and her brow furrowed for a moment as she wondered how everyone else’s summer was going.
It would be the first year that MJ had left the States, but she knew it was going to be her last opportunity before the real world consumed her. She had saved up for this trip for two years, always wanting to visit the glorious countryside that had been her great-grandmother’s home.
When she was a child, her mother had told her stories of her ancestors living off the sun-kissed land. It had always seemed like a dream to MJ: some fairy tale-like story adults told children to keep them optimistic, but MJ had learned over the past three years that dreams could happen, even with a disquieting past haunting from the shadows.
And while MJ was enjoying her trip, she could not help but wonder how her sisters at Kappa Mu Pi were faring.
She tried to dismiss any concern tickling her brain.
They are all grown women, just like you. They have gotten by without you before, and they are surely doing just fine right now.
Moreover, they would want MJ to be enjoying herself and not thinking of them. After all, she always took care of them.
This vacation is about me, MJ thought to herself. Then she paused for a moment, worry still gnawing at her. I’ll email them all later, she dec
ided, just to make sure.
She couldn’t help remembering one of the last nights before she had come to Italy, when she and the rest of the girls from Kappa Mu Pi had been in her room and listened to Sylvie tell them about their so-called “duty.” Part of her still couldn’t believe what had happened, what she had seen, what Sylvie had said…
“Hi, do you speak English?”
Her eyelids half parted, and she gazed up at the speaker, her breath catching for a fleeting second—she felt like she was peering at a Norse god on Italian soil.
The man before her was tall enough to blot out the spectacularly setting sun at his back, a mop of damp blonde curls encircling a beach-bum face. He was not much younger than MJ, perhaps nineteen or twenty, and he exuded virility as he glanced down at her. Without a shirt, MJ could see his lean but defined muscles rippling with each move he made, and when he grinned, his emerald eyes seemed emblazoned into her, his white teeth nearly blinding her.
MJ slowly sat up in the Adirondack chair, nodding her light brown mane of hair enthusiastically.
“I do,” she replied, his infectious smile causing her to smile back at him. “In fact, it’s the only language I do speak.”
That was a humiliating thing to say, she thought, but it was too late to take it back. Thankfully, the man didn’t seem to notice.
“I wasn’t sure because of your beautiful features,” he told her, and MJ felt a flush of appreciation despite the somewhat cheesy line.
She could tell the man was only trying to flatter her, but it still made her shiver.
“You’re American, then?” he asked, sitting on the neighboring chair. MJ nodded her head.
“And you’re… British?” she guessed, trying to place his accent. She didn’t have much experience in that department.
Maybe he can change that for me, she thought coyly, eyeing him through her dark lashes with her bright blue eyes.
He scowled slightly, and MJ immediately felt the moment of flirtation disappear.
“I’m Australian,” he replied curtly.
