His Town

by Ellie Danes

  “I’m sorry that our evening ended up so awkwardly,” I said, truthfully. I was sorry. Was I sorry that I kissed Ian? No. Was I sorry that I had feelings for him? No. But was I sorry that he had rudely interrupted Craig and I? A million times yes.

  The only thing I wasn’t sorry about in it was that I probably would have led him on even further without really meaning to. So in that sense, I was glad that Ian had showed up to ruin that opportunity.

  In that sense, I knew things probably ended up the right way. I knew that Craig wasn’t what I wanted. He was handsome, he was successful, he was wonderful in almost every single way. There wasn’t really a reason, necessarily, that I didn’t want him.

  He had never fueled a fire in me — not like Ian had.

  And although, admittedly, I had entertained the idea, I wasn’t sure getting involved with him was ever anything that I would be able to do. And it didn’t just have to do with Claire, which was always a major reason I hadn’t gone there before, but also because he just ultimately wasn’t for me, and in all honesty, he deserved better than that.

  “You deserve to be someone’s everything, Craig,” I offered sincerely.

  He shrugged, and smiled. “I knew tonight wasn’t a date, Kate,” he said. “By the looks of what was going on just now, I can bet that you won’t be going on any in the near future — unless it’s with Mr. Cross.” He was still smiling, although I could tell in his voice he was mildly hurt.

  “No. I guess not.” As soon as I said it, it honestly scared me. Ian really was that important. Ian really did mean that much to me that I was willing to try another relationship with him.

  “I do want you to do what I recommended, though,” he said, his smile fading, and his eyes turning more seriously. “I do want you to try and eliminate some of your stress. I know you’re moving, and I know you’re worried about Claire, and I also know you had some issues with this guy — what issues, I’m not sure, but issues, nonetheless — and I want you to try to get to a happy place. If this guy makes you happy, then I’m definitely for you being happy. I just want you to focus on yourself.”

  I smirked, “You make it sound like we’re never seeing each other again.”

  He laughed, “I doubt that’s the case. I mean, you know where I work… I’m sure we’ll see each other around.” He was joking. I knew that he was. But part of what he said was definitely true. It really was always just a matter of time. Hopefully, the next time we saw each other would just be out of a small little emotional shit-fest similar to any other normal teenage girl.

  “You joke, but I know you’re right,” I breathed out heavily, rolling my eyes. “But I don’t want that to be the only reason we see each other.”

  I wasn’t sure if I was trying to make him feel better, or if I genuinely wanted to spend time with him, but when I saw his lips curve into the most genuine, childlike grin I’d ever seen, I knew that I’d meant it. I knew that I really had wanted to spend time with him.

  “Just no dates?” he joked, trying to make light of a clearly sad situation for him.

  I chuckled. “Just friendship.”

  “Want to share a cab, friend?” he asked, offering me his bent arm as he gestured towards the street.

  I smiled, but knew that I just wanted to run immediately and jump on top of Ian, and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to talk to Craig the whole way to my place without giving it away. I was flustered, and I knew that a cab would also take longer than if I’d just walked, and ultimately, I wanted to get there as fast as humanly possible.

  “I’m going to walk. I’m just down the block.”

  “Well, until next time,” he said, sort of quietly, but with a slight smile just before extending his hand out for me to shake in a similar fashion as to the way he had offered his hand to Ian earlier.

  I took it, and shook it firmly, sad that the evening had resulted in nothing more than a handshake. Until Craig leaned in and kissed me softly on the cheek.

  Chapter 14

  Ian

  A knock at the door sounded and immediately I felt light-headed. My heart was beating irregularly, my breath quickened, palms grew sweaty. I was nervous as hell. I looked at myself again in the mirror, ran my fingers through my hair one last time and took a deep breath.

  “You can do this,” I whispered to myself, reassuringly. “You can do this…”

  I repeated it with every hurried step to the door; well, every pounding step, actually. I was basically running, speaking quickly with myself. Quickly, and a little louder, a little firmer with each heavy footed pounding.

  And then with a final deep breath, I flung the door open, with one hand on the knob and the other on the doorframe.

  Standing there, her hair a frizzy mess, her face flushed and panting breaths flowing from her partially open mouth. She was out of breath. She was beautiful.

  “I ran here from Starbucks,” she said, pulling her coat off with an urgency I hadn’t seen before as she barreled through the front door. I stood there, wide eyed as she went under my arm, still planted on the doorframe.

  My mouth fell open almost in shock as she walked halfway into my penthouse without me even saying a word. So, just to play along, I pulled my arm away from the doorframe and grabbed hold of her forearm with one swift motion, and pulled her toward me.

  “I just want to say, again, that I’m really sorry…” I was whispering as my face hovered just inches away from hers. And then I kicked the door shut, slamming it, but not even caring. All that mattered was that she was there, inside, and in my reach.

  “I’m so sorry; so, so, so sorry,” I said as I leaned further and further into her. “I just hope you can forgive me.”

  I felt her hot breath on mine, but only for a second, because almost as soon as the words came out, I felt her lips crash back into mine once again.

  She had stood on her toes and lifted her head to meet my lips. And my God. She kissed me sweeter, and more tenderly, than I could have ever imagined. Her hands rubbed along my lower back, and reached around to my hips, exploring me, feeling me, as if she needed me. And I could do nothing but kiss her back roughly, with vigor and determination — with absolute passion.

  With every move of the lip, every stroke of the tongue, I felt another chill roll down my spine, and by the tensing of her back, and the shiver I felt roll over my bottom lip, I knew she was feeling the same way.

  I pulled her closer until her chest was flush against me. It was a heated frenzy, full of the thick emotion hanging in the air. Her hands moved under my shirt, as if she was feeling me. And I knew that I had to feel her, too…

  More of her.

  I traced my fingertips along her stomach. The smooth contours of her skin almost made me shudder. I moved my lips down her neck, kissing, nibbling all along her jaw and to her. I picked her up and slid my hands underneath her butt to keep her steady as she wrapped her legs around my waist. With a growl, I = carried her towards the wall until her back was firmly planted against it. The wall we’d passionately had sex against that wonderful night a couple of weeks before.

  I continued to press heated kisses along her neck as she ran her fingers through strands of my hair. And I couldn’t help but mutter incoherencies against her neck, causing a moan to slip from her mouth, just before I moved back to find her lips again.

  She whispered against my mouth, as if to return the favor, and I growled before devouring her tongue and pulling her away from the wall. My muscles tensed, and chest tightened as I got used to the wonderful weight of that gorgeous woman.

  I carried her all the way across the penthouse, down the hall, to my master suite. I reveled at the way she felt in my arms. I kissed her all the way to the room. Honestly, it was a miracle I hadn’t run into anything. I was glad I was actually coming across as smooth because I had no fucking clue where I was actually stepping.

  I was sure I could pull it off.

  Hit a wall: do it hard to make her think I just couldn’t take not pressing
against her for one more second. Trip over something: then I guess we’re going to finish whatever this was on the floor — again, because I couldn't take not feeling all of her for one more second.

  But luckily, I didn’t need to make up excuses. Before long, my knees hit the foot of my bed and without missing a beat, I laid her down atop my pillow-top king-sized bed, and crawled over her glistening body, without ever breaking the kiss that’d enveloped me so completely.

  Meanwhile, also without missing a beat, her hands found the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head. A chill rolled over my entire body, from head to toe, electrifying me as she ran her silky warm fingers along my chest. It was tickling me, the more she touched — in a way so good I couldn’t describe — and as they trailed across my already sensitive flesh I knew how badly I really did want her.

  She reached around to my back, and clawed, causing me to let out a whimper-like sound. I never whimpered. Not ever. I almost questioned it — what was going on with me — before I remembered it was Kate I was dealing with.

  I accomplished a lot of firsts with her. She was unlike anyone else I’d ever known; of course there would be firsts with her.

  Hovering over her, I felt the need to steady myself. Especially as I lifted her shirt up over her breasts, kissing my way up her stomach and to her cleavage before finally ripping the top completely away from over her head.

  She wrapped her leg around my waist and forcefully pushed against me, almost as if she was trying to flip me; trying to take control. I smirked, loving every second of her feistiness, and I wasn’t about to protest.

  Instead of holding steady, like I could have easily done, I flipped over to my back, letting her have what she wanted and immediately found myself groaning out loud when she made her way to straddle my waist.

  The moment was fiery. Ferocious. Untamed.

  I reached my hands up to unhook her bra, and without any sort of objection from her, she shrugged it off her shoulders. I knew as I cupped her breast and rolled her nipples between my fingers that it was game on. She moaned as I touched her, which only encouraged me to grab her even rougher than I already was grabbing her. Which only caused her to moan even louder. She made noises into my mouth as we kissed, and gasped, sending vibrations over my lips, as soon as her hand traveled to the bulge in my pants.

  “Buckle! Buckle,” I groaned, wanting her touch on my skin.

  She smiled against my lips and grabbed hold of my buckle. I could hear the jingling of metal as she fingered at the clasp, and I knew that she was struggling. I laughed in a low, husky, chuckle before I helped her finally get the buckle undone and my pants and boxer-briefs off.

  I felt myself prod against her still clothed-thigh almost as soon as I’d kicked my pants down to my ankles, my arousal finally free. A low throaty moan escaped my lips, as I let the moment sort of just soak in.

  A gorgeous redhead was on top of me. A fiery, feisty, sexy redhead.

  “Can I take your pants off now?” I asked, my voice low and gruff.

  “You read my mind,” she gasped.

  I grabbed both of her hands and flipped her back over, ready to have my position on top again.

  With one hand, I pinned her wrists above her head and with the other, I undid the button on her jeans and pulled the zipper down. I needed her out of those pants. I needed to see all of her.

  I leaned over her stomach and placed small, gentle kisses all over it — and whirled my tongue gently around her belly button all the way down and up, until I ran my lips between her breasts.

  I kissed lower down across her hipbone, making sure to nip gently as I did before pulling her dark jeans lower and lower.

  Every inch I exposed, I ended up entrapping with my mouth, relishing in the difference of taste.

  She moaned at every motion, every warm feeling of my lips against her. I knew she was sensitive. I could see it. But I wanted to keep going. I wanted to keep testing her.

  I smiled against the soft flesh of her stomach. I loved the feeling of her skin against my lips. The only sad thing was that the further I went down, the more I realized that I would have to let go of her wrists.

  But if it came down to pinning wrists or taking jeans off — I was going with taking the jeans off. Any day.

  I kissed the inside of her knee, and trailed my lips down her inner thigh, closer and closer to what was hidden behind the beige lacey underwear she had on. I moved the fabric slightly, over to the side so that I could place a few more kisses on her luscious skin. Goosebumps were rising up with every touch and small mews escaped her lips. I was enjoying every second of what was happening.

  The way she felt in my mouth.

  The way she sounded as I put my mouth on her.

  I smirked, and pulled at her panties, pulling them down; making sure that I slid my hands purposely over the flesh of her skin as I pulled them off.

  This time was so much different from the last.

  It was so much slower, so much more deliberate. Less rushed.

  I wanted to savor her.

  “I need you. Right. Now.” she said, clearly not wanting to waste much time, and honestly, as soon as she said those words, the only thing I wanted was to do just as she asked. I wanted her now, too.

  I moved my mouth away and crawled up so that I could look at her more fully. Her eyes sparkled with a lustful desperation, mixed with something I had never even seen before. And not only had I fucked her, but I had fucked so many other women before her. Never before, though, had I seen eyes glisten like these.

  It was something deeper than just list. Something …more.

  I moved my lips forward, and allowed her to guide me when she wrapped a hand around my throbbing member — all the way until I felt warmness completely envelop my loins. She moaned. And so did I, but the sound of her deep sultry moan only prompted me to move deeper and deeper.

  I placed my hands on both sides of her head, pressing my likely sweat-dripped forehead against hers, as I let out my own deep ferocious moans. She felt incredible, and it was even more incredibly when she wrapped her legs around mine and moved her hips to meet my every thrust. It pulled me deeper, and deeper, quicker and quicker into her.

  So much so that I felt myself growing closer and closer to the point of no return, but I knew I had to fight it. I knew I had to make the moment last just a little longer.

  I groaned out, feeling my eyes roll to the back of my head. Every thrust feeling more and more amazing. I was panting in absolute exhaustion, but I didn’t miss the air at all. I was too busy basking in the feeling of her beneath me. My head rested in the crook of her neck as our strangled breaths intertwined throughout the entire room.

  I wanted to remember that moment forever. The two of us, our sweaty bodies, completely unified, glowing in the wonderment of the moment — of how incredible it felt, both physically and emotionally.

  I rolled over onto my side and faced her, just before brushing a few red strands of hair behind her ear. I smiled, noticing that my hand was resting on her flushed cheeks. “We should definitely have sex more often…” I sighed.

  “Well, we could have been having two whole weeks of this, but you were an asshole,” she replied. I would have been offended if she hadn’t been smirking playfully.

  I grinned as she leaned over to me and kissed my cheek just before throwing an arm over my waist. I really hoped she knew how much I cared — and it wasn’t because of the sex. I mean, I doubt she truly knew. How could she? I was never good at showing my emotions. Especially emotions I barely understood.

  But if nothing else, I could only hope she would know that I wasn’t going to leave again. I hoped she knew how scary it’d been for me, losing the possibility of gaining anything real with her.

  No matter how shitty things could go for me with the Murphy’s, it was far worse not having her by my side.

  Being close to her every day when I walked into our building, yet knowing I couldn’t have her — or even go talk to her — had
left my heart feeling full of nothing but holes. I felt like I’d done a good job of hiding it, though. Somehow I had found the John in me and stuffed it down, appearing unaffected by everything Kate-related. But inside, I knew I was affected disaster. Inside I had been crumbling.

  Seeing her today in the lobby was hard, too. The way her jeans had hung over hips, snugly fitting over her gorgeous curves. I wanted to hold her, to feel her. I wanted to apologize for being such a piece of shit. I wanted it all to be over. I wanted her to forgive me; and to act like it never happened. At that moment, I never imagined she actually would forgive me. But she had. And watching her sleep next to me, that was beyond any dream I deserved.

  Her eyes fluttered open and looked at me looking at her and immediately she pouted and glanced away, almost self-consciously. “Why are you staring, weirdo?” she whined, as she buried her face in the pillow.

  I laughed and pulled her against me, ever so slightly. She giggled and leaned in letting me capture her face with both of my hands. Looking at her, solidly focusing on just her made my heart thump quickly and loudly all over again.

  “I’m staring because you are the most beautiful sight I’ve ever laid eyes on.” She grinned. “I am so glad I accepted your apology,” she laughed, almost completely out of the blue.

  “Yeah? Well, damn, if I knew this was all it’d take, I would have just given you a good shag a couple of weeks ago.”

  She smacked me on the arm for the comment, but I knew she wasn’t offended. She was smiling. Glowing even. And she leaned in and kissed me tenderly on the cheek, leaving remnants of heat behind.

  I returned her smile and wrapped an arm around her neck.

  “Are those new earrings?” I asked, noticing them for the first time. They were small studs, shaped like knots.

  “They are,” she smiled. “How do you know?”

  “I’ve just never seen you wear them…” I felt myself blush. I never noticed things like that, and to say that I was a little embarrassed by it would have been an understatement.

  Once again, another first for me…provided by none other than Kate Murphy.