by Marian Tee
Beside him, Alyx stilled.
“Well, there’s one at the back…”
“Perfect.” It was Nathan’s turn to drag Alyx with him, who seemed to have recovered from her shock now and had started struggling.
“No!”
Beth was divided. “I---I---”
Curving an arm around Alyx’s waist, Nathan took his wallet out using his other hand and placed it on the cashier counter. “Everything you need to know – and have – is in here, Beth.” Nathan found the door to said private room, turned the knob, and as soon as it opened, he carried inside his kicking and shrieking baggage, who had now managed to leave a rather ugly scratch on his left cheek.
The door slammed shut, and Beth said weakly, “Good luck.” But she wasn’t quite sure which of the two needed it more.
Inside the room, which turned out to be a homely little office, Alyx immediately launched herself at Nathan. It could have been a romantic gesture, but it was not, with Alyx obviously hell bent on delivering more injuries.
He caught her handily with a dark laugh, saying, “Now you can scream what you really want.”
“Asshole!” Even as she tried to slap him, he didn’t let go of her and instead hefted her up. He spun around, so fast it had Alyx gasping and her legs locking automatically around his waist in fear of tumbling out of his arms.
It was exactly as he planned, and by the time she realized it was so, it was too late for her.
He had Alyx against the wall, his hard, aroused body landing against hers.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Alyx gasped.
He lowered his head, whispering against her lips, “Giving us what we both need.”
She tried shoving him away. “No.”
“And that’s for you to have as many reasons as you want…” He thrust closer to her, and to be fair to her, she was giving it all she had as she shoved him away.
But both of them knew she could afford to. He was too strong for her, and in the end---
“…to scream my name.” His mouth crashed down on hers, his tongue stroking past her parted lips.
His mouth moved down her neck, and she gasped, “Nathan!”
He sucked on her neck, and again his name tumbled past her lips. He pushed her farther up, her back sliding against the wall just as his mouth captured one fabric-covered nipple. He began to suck, and the action seemed to set a fire inside her---
“Nathan!”
She was screaming it as she tried shoving him away, tried clawing at his face, but he didn’t let it stop him, and instead only sucked harder, drawing her nipple fully into his mouth---
“Nathan!”
When he went back up to kiss her, her fingers drove through his hair, her grip tightening. She tried yanking his head away, but he only laughed, and again he managed to kiss her. She clawed at his back, and he laughed against her lips just before thrusting his hand between their bodies.
His fingers pushed her dress up, the fabric bunching around the waist, and then his fingers slipped inside her panties.
“Naaaaaaaathan----”
“Yes,” Nathan hissed as he stroked her.
“Oh God, Nathan----” Her wetness coated his fingers, and his fingers moved faster.
“Louder, sweetheart.” He thrust one finger inside her.
“Nathan.” A shudder accompanied the moan, and her limbs tightened around him, her nails scraping harder against his body.
Her legs tightened around him, and so did her arms, her nails scraping harder against his back---
His finger pushed deeper.
Her nails began to draw blood.
“Naaaaathan---”
Her hips began to move, meeting the deepening, quickening thrusts of his fingers. He stared at her the entire time, the look of clouded desire on her face serving as an aphrodisiac in itself.
And then she suddenly stilled.
“N-Nathan?”
A broken, vulnerable whisper---
A lost look in her eyes---
He lowered his head. “It’s okay.” His voice was low and soothing. “All you have to do…” His teeth clamped on her earlobe. “---is just keep fighting me.”
A second later, she did.
She screamed. She kicked. She even tried biting his tongue when he kissed her. But he didn’t stop fucking her with his fingers, didn’t let it stop him from shoving his tongue down her throat---
And then she was screaming, coming for him---
It was exactly what they both wanted, an illusion that she had no choice but to enjoy his touch.
Her orgasm lasted long, and he held her the entire time, only gently letting Alyx down when he felt the shudders recede from her soft body. As her feet touched the floor, Nathan expected Alyx to pull away immediately.
But instead she looked up at him.
Ah.
The lost look hadn’t completely disappeared in her dark eyes.
Nathan gently cupped her face, and he said softly, “Don’t disappoint me, sweetheart.”
Her eyes widened.
“Don’t think this is something you should blame yourself for. You’re too smart to do that.”
Slowly, Alyx nodded.
Nathan ran his knuckles down her cheek. “So that’s not it.”
“No.” A faint smile touched her lips. “Not quite that.”
“Then…”
“It only came to me…” She swallowed. “That I barely know you at all. Or at least not more than what Wikipedia’s unearthed, which isn’t that much. I know you’re younger---”
“Two years is nothing,” he dismissed.
“And that you’re a billionaire because of a godfather’s trust fund---”
“But of course that’s not information enough for you.”
Her smile widened. “No. Not quite still. I doubt you’d want to fuck me if it was all I gave a damn about.”
“Then you’d be wrong.” He kissed her hard. “I’d still want to fuck you. I’m not that fussy about sex. But…whether I’d care to know your name---”
She laughed. “God, you’re such a dick.”
“That’s a different matter.” He kissed her again, but this time his lips moved gently against hers. “And you’re different.”
As he lifted his head, she blurted out, “But I still don’t know you.” She reached for him. “I’m letting you do this…” Her fist pounded his chest with each word. “But I still don’t know who you are and---” Her voice turned shrill. “Why am I letting you do this?”
Because your soul knows I have what you need.
But he couldn’t say that.
The truth was hers to reveal, not his.
“Why, Nathan? Why? Why am I turning myself into a slut---”
“Don’t say that,” he gritted out.
Nathan yanked her close.
“Another guy could force you to kiss him like this---” He stole her mouth, sucking hard on her lip, and she immediately tried shoving him away.
His head jerked up, snarling, “And you would hate it.” Nathan’s eyes blazed down at Alyx’s. “Do you understand now?” His hands gripped her shoulders hard. “You can only do this with me.”
Alyx
I’m a slut. It didn’t matter if Freddie said otherwise, didn’t matter if Nathan Callis himself – the one I’m doing slutty things with – hated it when I used the term for myself. I was one, but the difference is that I hadn’t a problem with it anymore.
For some weeks now, Nathan and I had been seeing each other almost every day. Most times, he’d drop by at whichever place I was reviewing – a café, theater, boutique. The place didn’t really matter. As long as it or somewhere nearby had a locked door, Nathan would have his way with me. In each and every instance I would try to fight him, of course – and I’d do so as hard as I could, but there was never a time I could win. There wasn’t ever a time I’d want to win to be honest.
Sometimes Nathan would make me come by going down on me, other times he’d make
me come with his fingers. On one occasion, he had called – no, demanded actually – for me to visit him at a fashion shoot. When I arrived, I asked him baldly what he was doing since he was supposed to have retired already. Instead of answering, he had simply yanked me into a wardrobe room, locked the door, and pushed me down on my knees.
Then he had said in a guttural voice, No talking. Just suck me.
And I did.
Even though it had been my first time to give a guy a blowjob, I wasn’t so naïve I didn’t know how it worked. I’d watched my share of porn, and the sight of Nathan’s long and hard cock had aroused more than terrified me. I had the most impossible time fitting all thirteen inches of him – it had me choking several times, but Nathan had been relentless. His fingers gripping my head tightly, he had issued instructions in a tight, hoarse voice, not giving me a chance to do anything but follow his command.
Sucking on his cock had been both a sensual pleasure and beautiful torture, and my reward had been the sounds of raw enjoyment he had made in the back of his throat. It got me so turned on that the moment I came home, I locked myself in the shower and rubbed my pussy in a frenzy until I came.
“You’re thinking of him, aren’t you?”
Freddie’s amused voice snapped me back to reality, and I scowled at the knowing look my cousin gave me. “Don’t be ludicrous.” It was a sunny morning in California, and we were relaxing on a pair of luxurious lounge chairs that faced the rather majestic-looking pool of the Grachyovs’ sprawling mansion.
In a rather surprising twist of events, Freddie had found herself pregnant with Sergei Grachyov’s child after a one-night stand. And as always, the Russian magnate had managed to get his way, persuading my cousin to move back to California and live with him.
Catching sight of the sly look in Freddie’s eyes, I let out an exaggerated sigh. “What?”
“It’s so obvious. You miss him. So why don’t you just admit it---”
“Because it’s not true.” I rolled my eyes. “I get it that you’re living the dream and it’s making you all goofy, wanting everyone to be in love---”
Freddie started to laugh. “You’re being too defensive. You do realize that, don’t you?”
“I’m not being defensive.” I didn’t miss Nathan Callis, and it was the truth. “We’re just a couple for show.” And mimicking her tone, I asked, “You do remember that, don’t you?”
It was Freddie’s turn to roll her eyes. “You can go all bitchy on me, but I’m your cousin and I know you. You miss him.”
I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I can’t miss what I don’t even know, Freddie! It’s not like anything’s changed between Nathan and me. I still don’t know a thing about him and---”
“You don’t need to know everything about a person to realize that he matters.” Freddie’s tone was stubborn.
I snorted. “That’s just your pregnancy talking.” The Freddie I knew was the pragmatic sort – like me. “For a person to matter, you need to know enough, and I hate to disappoint you, but I just don’t know enough about Nathan. I mean, I know how long his cock is---”
Freddie choked out a laugh. “Alyx!”
I gave her a wide-eyed a look, asking, “Do you think that’s enough?”
“Okay, fine. I can take a hint. I’ll drop the subject as long as---” Freddie paused then said slowly, “Can you just please tell me you’re okay?”
A scowl marred my forehead. “Not you too, Freddie. Everyone’s been asking me that---”
“Everyone asks it because they think you’re crazy to have left your old job. Everyone doesn’t know you did it because you no longer felt you had the right to be a journalist, working on exposing the truth while you’re harboring a secret.” Freddie took a deep breath. “But I’m different, Alyx. I know. So – are you okay?”
“A loaded question if I ever heard one,” I quipped.
“Stop changing the subject,” Freddie censured. “Are you okay or not?”
“I plead the Fifth.”
“Alyx!”
I stared at her stonily.
“Well, at least tell me this. Has Nathan at least helped you forget him?”
Sergei’s arrival saved me from replying, the Russian magnate bearing down on us with a smile, a hard look in his blue eyes belying it. He greeted me pleasantly enough but afterwards didn’t even give Freddie a chance to say a word. He simply scooped my cousin up in his arms and carried her back to the house, saying in a mild but strongly accented voice that women in her condition weren’t supposed to spend too much time under the sun.
Oops.
“Sorry, Sergei,” I called out to him with a grimace. “I forgot about that, too.”
“It’s not your fault, Alyx,” the billionaire answered right away.
“Which means it’s my fault?” Freddie’s tone was belligerent.
“Not at all, Erie,” Sergei answered easily, “so stop glaring at me. It’s no one’s fault – for now. But if you do it again after this---” He whispered something into my cousin’s ear that had my cousin flushing.
I cleared my throat loudly. “On that note, I’m just going to make myself scarce and…”
Neither of them seemed to hear me, with Sergei too busy kissing Freddie.
Riiiiight.
I didn’t bother finishing my sentence and just took the path leading to the driveway instead of following the couple back into the mansion. With Freddie having lent me her car during my stay, I decided to drive to town so I could check out the newly opened specialty craft store I had heard about.
During the ride, my mind drifted back to Freddie’s question---
And I thought, almost in surprise, Yes.
The Greek billionaire did help me forget him.
Whenever I was in Nathan’s arms, I thought of nothing but pleasure. Actually, I didn’t think at all. My feelings simply took control while my brain ceased to function---
And that was more than enough.
Or at least I thought so until…now.
After parking Freddie’s car, I was on my way to the local craft store when I noticed a familiar figure inside. I jerked to a stop, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Impossible, my mind cried out to me. This had to be a dream – a nightmare.
I even went as far as rubbing my eyes, hating myself for being so childish but unable to help it.
Please let me just be imagining this---
But when I opened my eyes again, reality was even worse.
I saw Daria.
My best friend.
My beautiful, kind best friend---
And coming up to her from behind was him.
Tall, dark, and handsome.
Strong and powerful.
A man every girl would want---
A man no one else could have, and especially not me because Daria would always own his heart.
I walked away, as fast as I could, and when it wasn’t enough, I ran.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Forgetting wasn’t enough.
I thought it was, but now I knew it wasn’t.
Forgetting him didn’t mean I had stopped loving him. It didn’t mean that I would stop hurting---
Oh God, it hurt. It hurt to love him, hurt to know that he loved someone else, hurt so damn bad knowing that he would never love me.
When my trembling legs could no longer carry me, I half-stumbled onto one of the empty tables outside a French patisserie. My heart was beating so hard against my chest it was almost as if I had just escaped from death’s noose, and I struggled to catch my breath.
Why did it still hurt?
Why?
Why?
Before I knew what I was doing, I already had my phone out, my thumb practically punching the Call button.
Nathan Callis answered a moment later. “Sweetheart.” His Greek-accented tone was beautiful and hateful, the sound reminiscent of both heaven and hell. “I admit to being pleasantly surprised---”
; I didn’t let him finish, crying out shakily, “Come here.” My voice was too high-pitched, trembling too hard. It just didn’t sound like me, and I hated it.
“Alyx?” Nathan’s voice was grim. “What the hell happened---”
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” This time the words came out a shriek, and I hated myself even more. I was screaming at him in public when he hadn’t done a thing to deserve it.
But even so---
An excruciatingly vivid image took hold of my mind, forcing me to remember and relive the agony.
Tall, beautiful, voluptuous gray-eyed Daria, laughing merrily at what he said as he came up to her from behind, his strong arms going around her waist---
Pain tried to swallow me whole, and I forced back down another sob as I choked out, “Come here.” I wanted to say more, but I just couldn’t.
How silly I was, thinking that making out, playing dirty games, and countless orgasms were enough---
How goddamn silly---
“Alyx, what the hell’s wrong?”
A violent shudder seized my body, and I managed to say, “I don’t care what you’re doing, just come here.”
Come here.
Come here and make me forget.
Come here and save me.
Nathan
The flight to San Francisco took over three hours, and every minute of it was spent in grim silence, with Nathan Callis’ mind having taken on a masochistic bent. It forced him to replay Alyx’s frantic call, forced him to relive the tension that had gripped him the moment he realized she was about to break apart.
“I don’t care what you’re doing, just come here.” Words so damn unlike Alyx to say, her need like tendrils that threatened to strangle his heart. Instinct had kicked in a second after, and he took charge – the way they both knew she was asking him to.
Tell me where you are.
Go to the nearest hotel.
Request a room.
Enjoy a glass of wine then wait for me.
He had issued the instructions in a hard voice, knowing that it was the only way to get her to move and keep it together. “Say you’ll do it, sweetheart.” The words formed another command.
