by Mia Wolf
She turns to me and eyes me up and down, or, more accurately, she eyes my attire. “Do you wear any other color?” she asks rhetorically.
I simply shrug my shoulders. “It was part of the uniform at—”
I stop myself mid-sentence because what am I going to tell her? I’m a runaway warrior from a training facility, and that’s where the clothes are from? It’s a good thing that Jessica seems to be too concentrated on coming up with a solution for my dire clothing situation that she doesn’t notice my mistake.
“Wait here, I’ll bring you something to wear,” she says as she walks out of the room and into the hall. “What do you think about peach?” she yells before exiting the house.
I come out of the room when she’s already left and shrug my shoulders, which accurately describes what I think about the color peach.
Jessica comes back with sweat on her brow, a dress in one hand and a box in the other. I thank her profusely for doing all of this for me; I truly am grateful.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I say while I give her a very stiff hug.
She holds me warmly and says, “You would’ve figured something out.”
She peels the cover off the dress and reveals a beautiful peach-colored Shoma that looks like it’s brand new. The shine of the fabric is completely intact. I’ve never worn a Shoma, though I saw female bear shifters wear them regularly back in my village.
“This is too good for me,” I say and shake my head at the prospect of wearing something so nice.
“Of course, it’s not,” Jessica says. “Besides, it doesn’t fit me anymore, after childbirth and everything. So it’s sadly sitting in a dusty corner in my wardrobe.”
“But Shomas are for—” I pause to look for the word, and I really have to scrounge my brain for it until I finally find it. “Shomas are for elegant women. I’m not elegant, I’m—” I pause again, “tough.”
“You’ll see. Just give it a try,” Jessica says and places the dress in my hand then walks out of the door to give me some privacy.
I struggle to wrap the piece of cloth around me, but after several tries and a lot of brute force, I finally make it work.
“I’m done,” I call out, and Jessica opens the door to walk back into the room.
When she sees me, she covers her mouth in astonishment and lets out a yelp. Chuckling at her reaction, I look behind me in the mirror to see what Jessica finds so fascinating. I have to admit that I don’t look half bad. Plus, the outfit is comfortable enough for me to wear it for a couple of hours.
“I like it,” I tell her.
“You look gorgeous.”
She helps with a few other things, some jewelry and shoes. and then I’m all set to go.
“I told Joshua to let Sebastian borrow his car,” Jessica says before she leaves. “Have fun, honey, you look absolutely fantastic.”
“I’m ready,” I text Sebastian.
Ten minutes later, he rings my doorbell. When I open the door, he takes a good look at me, which makes me blush profusely because I can almost feel the touch of his gaze on my body. Besides, his clean-shaven face looks way too attractive right now, and I’m very distracted by his shirt being unbuttoned at the top.
I enjoy the drive on the highway, watching the sky turn from purple to pitch black. It’s already sundown by the time we reach the restaurant. We go inside, where the waiter points us to a cozy seat in the corner. The place is brightly lit by big yellow lamps like the ones on the mirrors backstage of a fashion show, and there’s a gorgeous glass bottle chandelier right above our heads. The place looks like the inside of a glass castle, and the music is just right.
We sit across from each other, and I feel awkward. Sebastian has a certain glint in his eyes, staring at me intently as if he can’t look away and his lip curls every time he finds something appealing. I am writhing under the scrutiny of his gaze.
“Will you stop looking at me like that?” I whisper to him over the light music.
“Like what?” he asks and looks genuinely puzzled. Then I get distracted by the glass sheen in his brown eyes; they seem to contain the pain he keeps inside him.
I can’t stop myself from asking, “Why do you look so sad?” He looks like he contains the universe’s history of sadness; it’s as if he’s the embodiment of everything the world likes to hide. For the first time since we’ve met, I realize that there’s a long-lasting quality to him like he’s been around for a long time.
Then there’s the purity, the absolute defiance, and the possibility of the brightest future in his smile. And all of this profound emotion is translated to a simple feeling in my twenty-six-year-old female brain: he’s so cute. He ruffles his hair when he notices me looking at him the way he had been looking at me a few moments ago, and I can now understand his struggle; I cannot look away either.
“We should order food,” he interjects, and I begrudgingly comply.
We get pasta for the main course with garlic breadsticks on the side and two glasses of red wine. The woman who takes our order flirts with Sebastian, and I glare at her to make it abundantly clear that he’s not alone here.
“It’s okay, Maya. She’s just doing her job,” Sebastian says.
“No, she’s not. She was flirting,” I say, then calm myself because I can’t let her ruin our date. It doesn’t matter what she was doing; we’re here and now, and we can either have a damn good time or waste it fighting over someone who doesn’t matter. The choice is mine.
As I pull myself outside of my head and look at Sebastian, I find him staring at me again, eyes ablaze. I follow his gaze down to my cleavage and blush instantly, looking away from him while I cover my chest with my hands like a shy girl.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t—” Sebastian tries to explain, but we both know what he was looking at. The memory of the night we made love comes back to me and brings a lot of discomfort between my legs. I’m way too charged, and it’s difficult for me to calm down while Sebastian is sitting right across from me. He seems to be in the same situation as I am. He clears his throat, sits up straight, and takes a sip of his wine.
“So tell me how you got into Krav Maga,” he asks, referring to the kind of military self-defense that I use.
“Well, I started when I was about seven, it was a part of my training,” I say. “I learned it alongside my brother. Kai and I used to compete against each other and our masters until he surpassed everyone else in the village. Then he started giving me additional lessons, and I got pretty good at it. It’s my second favorite after Aikido.”
Sebastian looks impressed and lightly nods his head in appreciation.
“Now you tell me something,” I say. “How did you start painting? And why don’t you do it more often?”
“Good question. I think I started painting when I was three. At least that’s what my parents told me. But I only started painting more seriously when I joined—” he pauses to think, “I mean when I turned twenty. But painting is just an outlet for me to let go of anything I don’t want to hold within myself. It’s nothing else, and I don’t want to taint it by adding money to the equation.”
I’m about to tell him that he should paint a lot more, because I can’t forget the light that he had in his eyes when he showed me the paintings. I don’t think I’ve seen him happier. But before I can tell him that, he speaks again.
“There’s something I want to tell you,” Sebastian says, and something in his voice makes me swallow the forkful of penne pasta more quickly than I want to. “It’s to do with what you said earlier,” he pauses. “About us being together. I—I think I want to. Maya, I know I want to.”
Chapter 25 - Maya
We drive back home, and when we reach it, we get stuck looking at each other. I stare at the bridge of his nose, the length of his eyelashes, and his full lips and before I even know it, my mouth is sucking on them. The feeling is familiar and divine at the same time. I part my lips and let Sebastian probe and explore, his tongue intertwin
ing with mine. I don’t understand the need or hunger; all I know is that I want him too much. His hand travels up to my stomach, then further up to my breasts, and I moan in his mouth as he massages them. Suddenly, Sebastian pulls away, and I whimper in protest before he picks me up and carries me to his bedroom.
His mouth is on me, hungrily kissing me as if it’s our last day on earth. There are sensations all through my body, electric signals firing every time Sebastian touches me somewhere, his lips tasting just as good as I remember, though he’s a lot rougher with me than the last time. He was probably gentle with me at that time because it was my first time. Right now, he’s demanding; he wants something from me, and he’s ready to take it.
My whole body and mind focus on one single point: All I want is for Sebastian and me to be naked under the bedsheet. My hand travels up Sebastian’s back; it’s still all muscles, just as hard as I remember them to be. I’m surprised at how well-built he is because unlike me, he never seems to work out. When does he get the time to maintain this hot body? I try to touch every inch of his back that I possibly can then make my way up to his neck and into his hair. I let my fingers run through that soft, disheveled hair that is an instant turn-on for me, curling them around it.
Sebastian stops and stares down my tunic and at my cleavage.
“You like it that much?” I say in the same tone that he had when we were last this close to each other.
“You have no idea,” he whispers then kisses the top part of my breasts that’s sticking out of the tunic. That’s a problem with having big boobs; it’s hard to cover them up entirely.
I take Sebastian by the hand and walk to his bed, slipping into the sheets because it’s slightly chilly. He follows me in, straddling and kissing me while I undo the buttons of my tunic and throw the dress shirt off. I do the same to Sebastian’s t-shirt to reveal that glorious chest and brush my fingers lightly across his abs. He grabs onto my boobs and presses them hard; I have to hold onto him because the sensations are too much for me to take.
While my hands are wrapped around Sebastian’s neck, he slips one of his hands into my panties and finds the sensitive spot there. He lightly brushes it once, making me arch my back, which encourages him to do it again and again until he’s furiously rubbing it.
“Sebastian,” I moan, but it’s like he doesn’t even hear me. He continues the tantalizing action until I capsize like a boat in the stormy sea. My orgasm covers his fingers with wetness, and he slips them inside me, rubbing them in and out.
This is not how I want to do this; I don’t want it to be just about me, I want to please him, too. I pull away from Sebastian’s grip and take his face into my hands, making him stare into my eyes. There’s something so lost in his gaze that it snaps my heart in two. I reach for his lips that are still red from our intense make-out session and kiss him gently and softly, reminding him that I’m here with him, that we are in this together, that whatever demons might be haunting him, he doesn’t have to fight them alone. He curls around me, seemingly admitting defeat, and I hold him tight for a while. Then I unbutton his jeans, helping him slip out of them, and go for his black jockey briefs. I gulp hard at the sight of his erection, but I know I could take him last time, so this time, I should be fine as well. There’s a hunger in Sebastian’s eyes now, and he takes off my panties, which are sopping wet by now.
This time, I’m not surprised when he takes an aluminum foil packet from his jeans on the floor and puts the condom on; we had been close to doing this so many times over the past days.
Sebastian puts his fingers inside me again and massages my walls, making them even wetter, making space for his thick member. We kiss with the rhythm of his fingers moving in and out of me.
He positions himself at my entrance then grabs onto both of my hands, holding them in place above my head. He slowly eases into me, and my eyes roll back in my head as the hardness of his cock fills me up, inch by inch, taking over all the empty space.
I moan loudly as he rushes the last few inches in, and the tip of his penis hits the end inside of me. His weight is on me, and my breasts are getting squashed between us as he pulls out and moves in again, breathing heavily as if he’s trying to control himself.
I brush my fingers through his hair again, holding his head close to me, and grab onto his hair hard when he pushes in deep again. A moan escapes my mouth, and I breathe into his ear, feeling him harden inside of me at that gesture, which only increases the pressure in my core.
He holds himself still inside of me for a while as we make out; soft, careful kisses as he nibbles at my lower lip, and I circle my tongue around his, tasting that sweet flavor of his mouth. It’s starting to become a favorite of mine.
Sebastian’s thrusts become harder and deeper again with every move, and I find my walls opening up to accommodate more of him. He goes in fast and hard until he reaches his climax, moaning when he does which helps me get mine.
I’m filled to the brim with satisfaction as Sebastian stays inside of me for some time and grins at me. I caress his hair and rub his back until he decides to roll off of me and lies beside me on his stomach, facing me and closing his eyes. I stroke my finger along his jaw, then hold his head close to my chest and let him rest.
Sebastian opens his eyes a crack and smiles at me when he notices me staring.
“What are you thinking?” he asks, his voice so groggy that it turns me on again.
“I’m thinking I’d still like to be together.”
He grins at me, then pulls me in for a deep kiss. Just like that, it’s decided.
Chapter 26 - Sebastian
With a sense of foolish optimism, I embark on the drive to Code Blue. Now that Maya and I have decided to be together, I’ll do anything but work for Daniel and his deplorable organization. The only way I can look her in the eye and tell her that I truly care about her is when I sever all ties with the people who are trying to hurt her.
I’m not stupid enough to think that Daniel will just let me walk off after he has “invested” in me for so long. I’m one of Code Blue’s best operatives, and Daniel doesn’t like to part with things that he owns. I’m still going to give it a shot, I’ll figure out a way. There will definitely be a price; it’s just a matter of whether I’m willing to pay it.
I arrive at the headquarters. I’ve been here too often lately; I generally try to avoid coming here as much as possible while I’m on missions. The farther I go from this place, the more alive I feel.
Ash lets me in and sends me straight to Daniel, who greets me in his usual manner.
“Sebastian Kurtz.” He spits out my name, and not for the first time, I’m truly amazed at his capability to turn harmless words into poison. It’s giving me a really bad feeling about this.
“What brings you here again so soon?” he speaks like a televangelist. “An update on the warrior girl?”
He says the words “warrior girl” with a sneer as if he knows, but I remind myself that he can’t. Let’s hope for my sake that it means nothing.
“No. There’s something else I would like to discuss,” I say. “I want to be off this mission. There’s too little information to go on, and I’ve already wasted weeks on this.”
I notice that I make it sound like I’m trying to be Code Blue employee of the year, just trying to meet my quota.
Daniel takes a while to respond, looking at me intently. “That’s a shame, but then you weren’t doing a spectacular job of it anyway. Fine, you’re off the case.” He flicks his wrist in dismissal and looks as if he’s returning to something that’s exhausting him. He looks tired all of a sudden.
I think about that one time when I failed a mission and came back to give the report to Daniel personally. He came very close to nearly beating me to death on that occasion. He’d be pleased to know that I still get nightmares about that day. Then I wonder if the same is going to happen today when I ask him my next question. I try my best to not lose my breath, to hold my ground, and to not run
away with the tail between my legs.
“I also have something else to say,” I begin and clear my throat. It feels as though my whole body has frozen up on the inside. “I want to leave Code Blue. What is it going to take?”
Daniel had been staring at his feet but looks up instantly when he hears what I’m saying. There’s confusion on his face, which shifts to disappointment, and he looks too tired to be able to handle this right now. Must be my lucky day. He doesn’t say anything and flicks his wrist again to dismiss me.
“No,” I tell him. “How do I leave Code Blue? I need an answer.”
“You’ll get your answer,” he spits out. “But get out of my sight before there’s nothing left of you to leave Code Blue with.”
Begrudgingly, I pay heed to the threat and exit Daniel’s office. Ash is standing guard outside as always, and as our eyes meet briefly, I can see that there’s distaste in them as if he already knows what I talked to Daniel about. I really need to be careful of Ash; he doesn’t seem to be hating his job as much as I do.
By the time I’m outside again, it’s sundown. The thought of Maya waiting for me at home excites me. Then I look at my watch and realize that she’ll be asleep by the time I arrive. And I didn’t even tell her where I went. I hope she isn’t worried.
I sneak into the house because the lights are off, and I reckon that Maya is asleep, so I try to make the least noise possible. But when I switch the living room light on, I find Maya wide awake, sitting on the sofa with her knees clutched to her chest.
“What are you doing up so late?” I ask. “Were you waiting for me?”
Maya stares at me with a dead look to her gaze that freezes me in place. She looks seriously pissed.
Chapter 27 - Maya
“Were you waiting for me?” Sebastian asks. Yes, I want to tell him. Yes, I was waiting for you, worried sick that you’re lying somewhere dead in the middle of the night. I want to tell him that I imagined receiving that news from the police and then losing my mind because god forbid, if I lose another person, I swear I’m not making it out alive. I don’t tell Sebastian any of that because he didn’t sign up for this. I don’t answer his question, but I’m unable to hide the pain in my eyes. He approaches me cautiously as if he’s afraid to step on a land mine.
