First Down

by Paula Mabbel

  He was pumping wildly now, and she was sure they'd be discovered any second. A deep, low growl rumbled from behind her, and she felt his fingers grabbing at her all the tighter. “Fuck,” he exclaimed through clenched teeth. “Fucking..good..pussy,” he said each word punctuated by another thrust.

  Vanessa’s own orgasm was in full effect, and her body shook uncontrollably. She'd have collapsed if Aiden weren't holding her up with his massive frame. She clenched down tight around him as she let out a muffled howl. And her clenching was the last thing he needed for his own orgasm.

  Vanessa let out a deep sigh and then a cry as Aiden’s teeth sunk into her shoulder to muffle his own sounds. She whimpered, and he released her flesh from between his teeth. It would leave a mark; she was sure of it.

  His breathing evened out, and he loosened his grip on her. He took a few steps backward and Vanessa followed suit.

  “After you,” Aiden whispered, opening the door.

  Vanessa turned to look at him. Her face burned as the realization of what just happened finally started to settle in.

  He looked up at her and smiled. Then he turned to finish adjusting his clothes. She removed the necklace, put it down on the side table and slipped out of the door when his back as turned. She knew she should try to find Henry, but she couldn’t go back out to the party. Instead, she found a way out through the back of the building.

  When she got out onto the street, she hailed a cab and rattled off her address. Once the cab had moved a safe distance from Aiden’s high-rise, she pulled out her cell phone and called Henry.

  “Hello?”

  “Get out of there now.”

  “Where the hell are you?”

  “I had to leave. He made me.”

  Oh…he made me alright.

  “What? Did you get it at least?”

  “No. I didn’t get anything. Henry, listen. You have to leave right now. The jig is up.”

  She hung up on him as the cabbie pulled up in front of her building. She swiped her card and then took one last look around to make sure she hadn’t been followed. Then she sped upstairs to her apartment and locked the door behind her. Vanessa exhaled and then took a few more deep breaths. She walked the length of her spacious SoHo apartment, though now it feel tiny compared to Aiden’s sprawling penthouse, and looked herself in her bathroom.

  She turned on the shower and let the steam from the hot water fill the air. After a minute, she undressed and stepped in. She could still feel Aiden’s hand all over her, under her dress. She could still smell his cologne and feel his teeth sinking into her shoulder.

  She grinned. She should be horrified. But the truth was she felt good. Damn good.

  She hadn’t come that hard in her entire life.

  A fair tradeoff for not snagging the necklace, she thought.

  Then she frowned. She realized for she was in some deep trouble. She would have to go back to her employer empty handed. There was no way she could salvage this. No do-overs. There was no way she would be able to get within a mile of Aiden’s place after tonight. And if he were smart, he’d relocated the necklace by now.

  If he were smart.

  She wasn’t going to get another job like this for a long time, if ever. Vanessa turned off the water, threw on her robe and then sank down into her bed.

  She lay there for the longest time, sleepless. She had half a mind to look Aiden up and call him, but she knew she shouldn’t. For all she knew, he was talking to the cops at this very moment. No. The best thing for her to do was to lay low for the next few days.

  *****

  “Do you want to go to the cops?” Hans asked Aiden during their debriefing meeting.

  “No,” he said. “No cops.”

  Hans raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Well, she didn’t actually steal anything.”

  Hans sighed. “So how would you like to proceed, sir?”

  “Do some investigating,” Aiden replied. “Find her. Find out where she lives. Find out all you can about her. But most of all, keep it quiet.”

  Hans nodded and disappeared. A few days later, he came back with a thick envelope. He handed it to Aiden who anxiously looked through it.

  “Her name is Vanessa,” said Hans. “Vanessa Hart.”

  So much for Camille.

  “What’s she into?”

  “High-end jewel thief. Super high end. Works for an international syndicate. Apparently she’s excellent at what she does.” He paused. “Well, until the other night of course."

  The other night. Aiden’s mind had flash briefly to having her pinned against the wall in his library. He fought back a smile.

  Hans continued. “She snuck into your party with the express intent of robbing you. She got her invitation under an assumed identity so I can only as,e that the man she was with was in on it as well.”

  She was with a man? A brother maybe?

  Aiden hadn’t noticed anyone with her. But then again he hadn’t really looked at anyone else once he saw her.

  “Do you want me to handle her?” asked Hans, seeming a tad too eager.

  Aiden stared down at her picture. Vanessa Hart huh? “I’ll handle her myself,” he said.

  Hans gave a quick nod and handed him a sheet of paper with an address and phone number scrawled on it. Aiden took it and dismissed him without another word.

  *****

  After hearing nothing for a couple of days, Vanessa risked a small trip outside to go to the store. She had ducked her employers calls for a little while, but she had to face the music eventually. She was to report in person to his office that Monday. She hoisted the paper bag, filled to the brim with sweet snacks because she was emotionally eating, up into her arm as she reached for the key to her apartment door.

  Once inside she set the bag on the table and was getting ready to head to the kitchen to put the items away when she caught a familiar scent. She whipped around.

  There, sitting quietly on her leather couch, was Aiden English. Vanessa dropped the bag of powdered donuts she had been holding. For a long time neither said anything. Vanessa wasn’t even sure if she was really looking at him or if it was just her guilty mind playing tricks on her.

  He smiled his disarming smile. “Hello Vanessa,” he said.

  She stammered in response. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

  “I could have asked you the same thing.” He chuckled.

  If this was supposed to be another one of his jokes, it wasn’t funny. Vanessa’s cheeks colored and she looked down at the floor.

  “Oh, you don’t like that huh? Me just barging into your home uninvited?”

  Vanessa didn’t answer.

  “Makes you feel violated doesn’t it?”

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” she whispered, still not looking at him.

  Aiden leaned back on the sofa and smiled.

  “You’ve made your point,” she continued. “You here to have me arrested I assume.’

  “No,” he said, a broad grin spreading across his face. “I’m here to ask you to have dinner with me.”

  *****

  Vanessa adjusted her dress one more time in the mirror. It was a little tighter than she was used to, but it was the nicest one she had. She reached for her lipstick and applied another coat. And then another small spritz of perfume for good measure. The butterflies in her stomach were on overdrive.

  Why am I so nervous?

  She shouldn’t even be doing this in the first place, she thought. She recalled the stern talk she had with herself the other day. He was right. She hadn’t expected to see him again. And she hadn’t expected her panties to moisten instantly when she did.

  She had already agreed. So it would be rude to back out now, she told herself.

  She grabbed her hand lotion from her purse. She noticed that her palms were starting to sweat.

  Why? Why should I be afraid of him?

  The door buzzed at 8 o‘clock on the dot. Vanessa took a deep breath
and then went down the stairs. A sleek, black Mercedes with tinted windows was parked out front. Beside it, a man was standing with his hands folded. She could only assume this was Aiden’s driver. She walked up to him, and he smiled and gave a slight nod of his head she I approached.

  “Good evening madam,” he said with a deep, mature voice.

  “Hello.”

  He walked over to the passenger side door and opened it for her. Then he held her hand as she stepped inside.

  When did this become my life?

  They had driven for around thirty minutes before the car came to a stop. “This is your destination, madam,” said the driver. “Enjoy your dinner.”

  He got out to help her out of the car and motioned to the front door of the building. She walked in and went up one flight of stairs. There was a large door on the landing, and she assumed it was the one she needed to go through.

  She hesitated. She still wasn’t sure she heard him correctly when he said ‘dinner.' She was still half expecting the cops to show up at her door instead of the car he’d promised to send. Vanessa took a breath and went through the door. She gasped, and immediately she started to think she was in the wrong place because it was empty.

  It was a restaurant alright, but no one was there.

  It was then that she saw Aiden, standing in the far corner of the room, and staring out of a large, floor to ceiling window. She watched him for a second, studied him. She smiled to herself and then walked over to him. The view of the city from the window was breathtaking.

  He turned to her when she reached his side and let out a low whistle. “You look beautiful,” he said with a smile. He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I trust the ride was good.”

  “Yes, it was,” she replied, still a little overwhelmed by this whole scene. “Um, where is everybody?”

  He turned to her and flashed that smile again, and her knees threatened to buckle. “It’s just us tonight,” he said.

  “Just us? What does that mean?”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “It means I bought the place out. My good friend here was good enough to accommodate my request. It means no interlopers. No interruptions. Just you. And me. Some good wine and a good meal.”

  He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her toward the middle of the room. “We can sit at any table you want,” he said.

  Vanessa chose the table closest to the window, and they sat. She took in the ambiance. Low light, candles, fresh flowers. There was some music in the background, something instrumental.

  “You like?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she smiled. “This is a very nice place.”

  He handed her a menu. “Would you like to choose the wine?”

  She waved her hands. “No, no. Please, go ahead. I defer to you on such things.”

  He smiled. She thought he liked the idea of her deferring to him.

  He ordered a bottle, and the waiter nodded and shuffled off. He came back a minute later with the wine. He poured a little into Aiden’s glass. He picked it up, swirled it, sniffed it, and then nodded his head. Aiden then filled her glass, keeping his eyes on her the entire time.

  She shifted in her chair.

  “OK. So it is me,” he said.

  “Pardon?”

  “You tense up around me,” he continued. “I thought it might be other people, or large groups or maybe just where we were. But now we’re alone, and you’re still tense. So it must be me.”

  Vanessa didn’t know how to answer this.

  “Is it because of…”

  “No,” she said quickly. “It’s not that. And I’m not tense. I just don’t think we have anything in common.”

  He seemed amused by this because the corners of his mouth turned up into that sexy smile of his. “Try me.”

  She took a sip of her wine. And then another.

  “Well,” she started. “You’re probably from Harvard and all.”

  He laughed at this and took a sip of his wine.

  “Probably some frat boy too.”

  He nodded. “Yes as a matter of fact, I did go to Harvard business school. And yes, I did pledge Beta Theta Pi in undergrad. So what? A man’s still got to eat right?”

  She blushed. “Right.”

  At that moment, the food arrived. “I ordered for us in advance,” he said.

  The meal looked wonderful. A large braised short rib over a generous helping of creamy polenta with greens on the side. “Italian,” she said. “My favorite.”

  “See?” he said with a smile. “We do have something in common.”

  After dinner, he asked if she was planning on skipping dessert tonight. She agreed to split one with him, and he ordered something chocolaty.

  “I love chocolate.”

  “Another thing we have in common,” he said. He smiled wickedly and then she caught his true meaning and blushed.

  “Careful," he said. You might start to think that a scrappy Brooklyn girl and an Ivy League frat boy may actually be compatible.”

  He was making fun of her, but she didn’t mind. After dessert and a second bottle of wine, Vanessa was feeling friendly. A little too friendly. She didn’t want to end up back at his apartment again. Well she did, but she didn’t.

  He must have sensed her anxiety because he said, “I’m not holding you hostage here. You can go home whenever you wish. Just say the word and I’ll have my driver bring the car around.”

  She nodded. “Yes. Dinner was lovely. But it’s getting late, and I’m ready to go.”

  He nodded. “Will you at least let me ride with you?”

  It was his car so she didn’t think she could actually say no, but she agreed. When they got into the car, he doesn’t say anything. It’s his look, the way his eyes seem to see right through her. That’s what scares her so much. They pulled up in front of Vanessa’s building a short while later. She got out of the car, and he got out as well. He walked toward the front door.

  “I had a nice time.”

  “I’m glad.”

  She turned to him. He was looking her dead in the eye. The heat in his gaze was threatening to melt her down to nothing right there on the sidewalk. Like a magnet, she leaned in toward him but then she caught herself and took a step back before he could get his arm around her. “Goodnight,” she whispered. Then she turned to walk away.

  “One drink,” he said. “A nightcap. C’mon. The night is young.”

  She didn’t need much more convincing than that. She turned back to him and smiled.”OK.”

  Back at his apartment, one drink had turned into three. Vanessa checked her watch.

  “I really should be going,” she said. Aiden had been the perfect gentleman up until this point. But Vanessa suspected that wouldn’t last too much longer. Especially if they continued drinking the way they were. She got up to go, and he got up too. It was his hand on her arm that stopped her. The way he gripped her wrist.

  Firm.

  Commanding.

  She turned to face him.

  “No,” he said. “Stay.”

  Her eyes were locked on his, and she could not look away. The warmth from his hand traveled slowly up her arm like a flame would creep up the fuse on a stick of dynamite. She was about to blow. Aiden took a step closer, reached out with his other hand, and rested his thumb on her lower lip.

  Then he leaned in.

  I should step back, she thought.

  But she was frozen in place, her feet glued to the floor. Too late to run. His lips fell onto hers. And she kissed back. His breath was warm on her cheek, and it lit the little hairs on her body on fire. His kiss was insistent, but his lips were soft. He grabbed her other arm and pulled her even closer to him. He pulled back slightly and softly flicked his tongue against her lips, teasing a small moan from her mouth. Then he stopped and looked at her, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

  “I've been wanting to do that for quite some time,” he said.

  Suddenly, though
she didn’t know how, Vanessa found her feet. She tried to walk away but the next thing she knew, Aiden’s arms were tightly around her, her feet were off the floor, and she was being carried into his bedroom.

  Her head was racing, and she couldn’t believe how quickly she’d lost control of this situation. What was happening? She needed to slow this down.

  Wait.

  She hardly got the word out because then his lips crashed into hers again. Her feet touched the floor again, but he didn’t let go. He pulled back and looked her in the eye, his intentions crystal clear.