He took the two steps that separated us and leaned over me, his hot breath on my ear, his spiced cologne intoxicating me.
I needed to remember how to breathe. His body inches from mine, hovered in the charged space between us. I shifted in the chair. He shifted an inch so that his face was a hairsbreadth from mine. His long delicate fingers found their way to my knee, light feather touch, just enough to know they were there.
I swallowed, my mouth a desert, I knew could be quenched by his. He traced his hands slowly up my thigh as he made a guttural purr. His eyes never leaving mine.
He clenched his jaw his face tightening and pulled away.
“We sell sex, Jane.”
“Sex? That’s not what Scott said…” Suddenly the heat seeped away from my body and all I wanted to do was run.
“Not sex-sex.” He grunted and moved away from me. “The idea of sex. And you Jane,” he grunted to himself, “You have a look about you Jane. A look I have been looking for. A look I need around here.”
When I continued to sit in silence nibbling the inside of my lip, Leon continued.
“Our clientele are what you might call horn dogs. They are young, spoilt and privileged. They think they can own everything and everybody. The women who work here are unattainable. They cannot be touched or bought or owned. It drives them crazy. They come here to compete. To see who will break first. To see what money can and can’t buy.”
I nodded absorbing what he was saying.
“If you work here, you are to dress provocatively. Tease them. The more they want you the more tips you will earn. Is it derogatory? Yes, but it makes us both money. If you walk out of here with any of my paying customers do not come back. If I hear you have taken money for services other than the service of alcohol, your job here will be terminated. If you allow any of these men to touch you or treat you other than you deserve, you will not be welcome here. Do you understand?”
I nodded wondering if leaning into me was how I deserved to be treated. He retreated back to his desk and was leaning against it once more.
“You will work five days a week and most weekends. You will be paid weekly and you can keep all the tips that you earn. Your shifts are seven hours long and include all your meals.”
He stared at me, his eyes burning holes through my clothes, undressing me as I sat across from him. Is this what all his paying patrons would do?
“Do you have any questions?”
“What did you mean about Scott?”
He chuckled at my question. “I just told you that you will be getting paid for horny men to leer at you all day long. You will serve them and they will objectify you as the thing of their dirty dreams and you want me to talk about my brother?”
“Yes.” I twisted in my chair again and wondered if I would ever be able to wear my underwear again. The amount of moisture down there would have disintegrated the fabric by now.
He ran a hand through his hair and smoothed out locks that were placed exactly where they needed to be.
“Well, look at you,” he cleared his throat. “He told me about you five years ago, said you looked good. But good doesn’t really cover it does it, Jane? See, I thought I was going to meet a mousy little girl. Someone that’s not used to any kind of attention. Someone my brother might find… more attainable.” He waved his hand as if trying to conjure a picture in mid-air. “Someone who shares his hobbies, you know?”
“Scott is a good guy.” I crossed my arms.
“He is.”
“He is my friend.” I raised my voice at his nonchalant attitude.
“That’s why I was doing him this favour. I wasn't really intending on hiring anyone today.” Heat flushed to my face.
“He’s a good guy.”
“You said that already.” His lip curled, and he stood up making his way to a drink tray tucked near a bookshelf kissing the window. The ice clinked in the tumbler as he threw a few cubes into it and topped it with amber liquid.
“I have other prospects.”
“Do you?” he turned around and took a quick sip from his drink. “Tell me?” he made his way back to his desk and leaned against it. The clear shape of his erection pushed against his tailored suit pants.
“I am…” I cleared my throat ungluing my eyes from the bulge. “A barista… at the coffee shop down the street.”
“That position is no longer available.”
“How do you know?”
“Louis, down at the coffee shop? He works for me. I will tell him that if he hires you, he will lose his job.”
“Why?” I launched myself out of the chair, my jaw clenching.
“Because I want you.” It was a gruff guttural sound. “To work for me.” He covered up. “You can earn a lot more here than you will anywhere else in the neighbourhood.”
“What if I don’t want to be objectified?”
“Jane.” There he was with my name again. “You know as well as I do that wherever you go, men look at you with a special kind of attention. Why not get paid for it?” his knuckles were white as he clutched onto the lip of the desk.
“Can I start tomorrow? I need to buy some food. I moved to a new place yesterday.”
“You start tonight. Food will be provided.”
“What about breakfast tomorrow morning?”
“Don’t make me answer that the way that I want to.”
The interview was over.
This was something else.
I took a step in his direction, I was so close his cologne enveloped me.
He didn’t move, didn't flinch.
His eyes remained on mine. His jaw locked.
“I’m still going to need breakfast tomorrow.” I stepped closer on wobbly feet, my body grazed his. I could feel his erection flinch in his pants.
At that, his demeanour changed, and he sidestepped around me then turned towards the big window overlooking the street.
“You are off limits.”
“Says who?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
Scott.
“Also, I don’t sleep with my staff.”
My heart which had been doing somersaults in my throat stopped mid flip and dropped like lead back to my chest where it shrivelled and cowered away.
“So what was all that before?”
“Me being stupid. I am sorry It will never happen again. Consider me one of your customers. I am off limits. If you touch me again, you will be fired.” His tone had turned dry and cold. “Be here at seven and ask for Sammy. She'll show you the ropes. Do not be late.”
He turned back to the window with a tone of finality and the most bizarre interview I had ever had, came to an abrupt end.
But at least I had a job.
2005
Gabriel grabbed me by the waist and landed one of his devastating kisses on me. His towering height always made me feel safe, and his broad shoulders caged around me as he held me in a protective and warm embrace.
We had spent most of the day unpacking, the boxes littering the floor thinned out into smaller piles of books and stuff.
Stuff.
I had so much stuff.
That hungry wet girl from two years ago adulted and turned shit around.
“You're distracting me, I need to finish unpacking.” I tried to move away from him but Gabriel grabbed my neck and started massaging that aching spot that sits permanently between my neck and shoulder blades. I sighed.
“You’ve been working too hard Jane. Let me make you some coffee, maybe dinner?”
“Coffee and take away. What should we have?”
“Korean?”
“You read my mind.”
“I always do.” I felt the softness of his lips on my neck as he released his grip on me.
“We are going to love it here.”
“Yes. We. Are.”
I picked up the phone and ordered Korean wondering what Grish would be having for dinner and hoping the new tenant would be a better one than I was. O
r with more than a backpack and a soggy box of belongings to their name.
Everything here was so modern. So meticulous.
I shivered.
This was a lot like Leon’s office. I could feel Gabriel frowning behind me at the mention of his name.
“He’s gone. You don’t have to worry about him anymore. It's just you and me Gabe babe.”
“I hate when you call me that.”
“No, you don’t.”
He mock pouted and sat on the couch grabbing a book from the top of a pile and flipping through it. He wasn’t reading, just scanning the pages indiscriminately.
I loved watching him like that. Just being. Breathing. Existing.
Shirtless. (I don’t remember him taking his shirt off, but he’s unforgettable with a bare torso and wicked grin.) He leaned back, his tanned complexion stark against the cream couch. His chiselled abs on display like corrugated iron, defined in clear beautiful furrows, trailed by thick black hair from his belly and disappearing somewhere under his belt. He wore my favourite pair of jeans. The ones that stuck to his ass and fell off his hips around the narrow shape of his waist.
He was pretending not to notice me. Ignoring me like I wasn’t stalking the room, prowling towards him like a hungry predator.
“I thought you were hungry,” he said when I straddled him, his eyes smouldering.
“I am.” I grabbed the book from his hand and threw it on the coffee table, then pressed my lips to his. Always inviting. Always soft. Always perfect.
He kissed me just how I needed him to, wild and hungry. Desire spilt from him, saturating the room. I could feel him grow harder beneath me. The undulated movement of my hips spurring him on.
“You’ve had a big day.” His breath stalled in his throat. “Let me help you relax.”
In a swift movement, I was on my back, sinking into the cool leather. The lights blazing above my head silhouetting his flawless face. He trailed kisses down my neck and along my collarbone. He slipped the straps of my singlet and bra off and kissed my shoulders, then made his way to the other side. Slow and steady. Easing me into his game.
He slid my singlet down taking my bra with it trapping my hands in the straps.
“Exquisite,” he breathed then grabbed a nipple between his teeth biting ever so softly.
I groaned for him, arching my back, wanting him to take more of me. Faster. Harder.
He ignored my silent pleas and took his time. kissing, licking and biting my nipple while pinching and pulling on the other.
“Please.”
“Shhhhh. Don’t rush me.”
He swapped over, my nipples ripe and ready, hard and wet. The cool air playing havoc with his warm breath.
“So pretty. So eager.”
His mouth found mine, and he quenched my need momentarily. Gabriel’s hands followed the groove of my belly, along the shape of my hips and inserted fingers into the elastic of my pants. He dragged, releasing me slowly from the fabric.
“Magnificent.” Gabriel licked his lips as his eyes studied my exposed body. Parting my thighs, he forced my knees apart. He laid kisses on my inner thigh, his whiskers scratched my skin, leaving an echo of his presence.
When his tongue found me, I was so needy. I could feel his smile as I moaned. My pulse hammered through my veins as his tongue swirled and teased, devastatingly slowly, agonisingly blissful, unbearably bearable. Soft and slow, hard and fast.
“Please,” I begged him for a second time.
Gabriel pulled away a smile tugged at his glistening lips. “Whatever you want Jane.”
“I want you inside me.”
His face rose from between my legs and I could hear his zipper opening. The jeans fell away to reveal his hard cock straining against his boxers. He pulled them off and let me have a long lingering look at his beautiful cock, the pulsing, the veins, the eager twitching.
His weight landed on me as his head found my opening, and with a low guttural groan he was inside me. Measured and considered. Each thrust getting me closer, leaching the orgasm from my body, wreaking havoc on all my systems. He ground against me, his hips increasing speed, desperate, possessive, needy.
Gabriel’s hands found my breasts and his mouth mine as he pounded against me pushing me over the edge. I exploded in pleasure, every synapse alight, my body shivering with delight sinking in his pheromones.
I lay beneath him panting. The air scented by sex and sweat. I sucked in breath regaining some semblance of ‘normality.’ It was just how I had imagined it. Just what I needed it to be.
I lay with my head buried in his chest listening to the rhythm of his heart as it settled. The beat slowing to a calm thump. I loved those moments. The quiet after the storm, the feel of him above me, the knowing he was there. My fingers curled around his little trail of hair, pulling releasing, teasing.
It might have ended differently had the doorman not rang.
“Hello? Miss Miller?”
“Yes?” Still breathless.
“There’s a delivery man downstairs can I send him up?”
“Sure thing, thank you…?”
“Rob.” I could hear him smile over the phone.
“Thank you, Rob.” I smiled back and hung up.
I was now living in one of those buildings that provided fair warning before anyone could come up and interrupt. There would be no more surprise visits. The prospect was both satisfying and depressing.
“Our dinner is here.”
“I think I filled up on dessert.” Gabriel smirked at me from the couch. His body moulded in the leather, his nakedness on full display.
I swallowed hard. “Oh, shut up.”
Gabriel snickered like a teenager. “Best pull yourself together Jane.” He winked at me and I caught my reflection in one of the large dark windows that now surrounded my apartment. My wild hair stood in a tangled mess and my clothes were sitting at all the wrong angles. I grabbed a hair tie and looped my hair into a bun. Then adjusted my pants and shirt.
The knock on the door was harsh and rapid.
“Yes. Yes, I am coming.” I grabbed my wallet and exchanged a few pleasantries with the delivery boy. He was young and tall, and in a hurry. But he gave me a knowing look, one that said he knew exactly what I just did. It was in the twitch of his lips and the flare of his nose. In the step he took to be closer to me, and his pupils growing bigger in his young horny eyes. I paid him and closed the door.
Gabriel was staring at me.
“What?”
“He was perving.”
“So?” I shrugged and took the food to the kitchen and placed it on the island.
Gabriel pushed himself off the couch. The flush of physical activity turned to that of anger.
“So?” he closed the distance between us his body crashing against mine pinning me to the cold marble surface.
“Gabriel.”
“You’re mine Jane.” His nose flared as he landed a possessive kiss on my lips his mouth devouring me.
“I’ll always be yours Gabe.” I breathed softly to him and he released me.
“I don’t like sharing you.”
“I know.” I traced my fingers along his face. “And tonight, you don’t have to.” I gave him an appeasing smile hoping to put the matter at rest. I pulled out a plate and reached to grab my food when I felt him behind me. His fingers sank into my pants seeking me out. Reminding me who I belonged to.
“Gabriel,” I whispered as he leaned over me. His strong body pinning me to the cold marble as he stroked and swirled his fingers expertly.
“You’re mine, Jane.” His skilled fingers moved faster, circling, stroking, gliding.
My hips moved against him, grinding against his fingers in a feverish pace, needing release. “I’m yours,” I whispered as I moaned into the kitchen counter. “Don’t stop, I’m so close.”
He pulled his fingers away and pulled my pants down I could feel his hardness against me.
“Say it again Jane. Say it again a
nd I’ll let you cum.”
“I’m yours, Gabriel.”
With that, he was inside me. Buried deep. My name fell off his lips in a muted groan. His fingers returned and his hips began to move faster as he pumped against me. Bringing me to the edge.
“Gabriel, I’m…” My legs twitched beneath him as I exploded. My hands grasping at the ridged stone, aching for his body. He continued to pump, his pace quickening his breath halted as I felt the tremble of his release inside me. He pulled me to him sinking deeper, savouring my warmth.
When we settled, he kissed my shoulder gently then purred in my ear, “Mine.”
Still overwhelmed with sensation, I nodded. Gabriel released me, lifting his body and turning away.
I heard the door to the bathroom slam shut as I peeled myself from the counter and pulled up my pants which were still at my knees.
He had been jealous before. But today was new. Today was angry and needy, possessive and bitter.
I would have to do something about Gabriel.
2003
I didn’t bother changing the outfit I wore for my interview. It was already showing all leg and most of my boobs so there was no point. I also noticed how affected Leon was by it. The thought of him sent a small shiver down to my core. I shook it off as I entered the bar.
It was different from what I had imagined it to be. I thought it would be one of those dark places with plush red walls and dimmed lights. Instead, it was another version of Leon’s office. I wondered if this is what the inside of Leon would look like if you had to pry him open.
Everything was pristine and sophisticated. A long marble counter stretched across the well-lit bar. Too well-lit if you asked me. When you go drinking the lights should be dim. It helps you make more mistakes you can regret later, and the alcohol seems to daze your senses faster.
There was room for a live band at the far end, and tables with stools were scattered across the floor space that wasn’t reserved for dancing. It was clear that no expense was spared. I bet that if I sold one of those stools, I would be able to pay my rent for three months.
I was intrigued and fascinated and a little disappointed.
Guarding Gabriel Page 3
