by Kelli Walker
Tristan didn’t strike me as the kind of man that would do to me what Dom’s father had. So, I took a chance. In spite of my brain screaming at me to run, I melted into his strong embrace. I felt his chest twitch as I pressed my bosom against him. I felt our tongues collide as his beer-stained tongue painted my mouth with his taste.
He absorbed my fear in that very moment and found a way to turn it into a desire I suddenly needed to fulfill.
A lust I needed to indulge.
With him.
Tristan
Isabelle melted into me and woke up within me a man I thought had died. A man that craved a woman’s touch. A woman’s kiss. A woman’s sighs. Her body fell into my embrace and I held her there, feeling her knees buckle from underneath her. Her tongue shot electricity through my veins and her arms around my neck made me feel powerful again. Dominant. The caged beast inside rattled the iron bars that had rusted with time, pounding against the ceiling. Aching to break free.
But would she let me indulge the animal? Or would I frighten her?
I scooped her into my arms and carried her down the hallway. Television were blasting from the boys’ rooms as snores penetrated the hallway. Her lips swelled against mine as she reached her arm out, her finger pointing the way as her lips devoured what it wanted. Her hands threaded through my hair. Her body curled into my chest. I felt her soft textures fill the divots exposed as she tugged at my shirt, my legs striding us into her room.
It was dark. Empty. I kicked the door closed behind me before we toppled to her bed. Our hands stripped the other down until we were clad in nothing but our skin. Until nothing separated us except the air hovering around our bodies. My lips traveled down her neck as I took in her sighs. Her gasps. Her moans of pleasure. Her supple breasts called to me, begged me to wrap my lips around them. Her engorged nipples hit my tongue and shot fuel through my veins. Her legs parted to accommodate my body as my cock throbbed against her thighs.
Isabelle was soft. Sweet. Gentle in her ministrations but didn’t hesitate to push me where she wanted me to be. I grunted into her breasts. Growled into her skin. Lapped at her tits until painful peaks gave way to wanton moans. My hands gripped her hips as I massaged the outline of her body. My hands dipped into places I hadn’t touched on a woman in years. I felt powerful. In control. Alive, for the first time since I lost my wife.
And for once, I didn’t feel guilty kissing someone who wasn’t her.
I kissed down her stomach and felt her jump against my skin. Only the outline of her form could be seen in her dark room as the sky hung blank and dark. No moon in sight and nothing but the twinkling stars filtered through her open window. I spread her legs apart, feeling her body beginning to tremble as her hands fisted my hair.
“Tristan. Hold on.”
I paused, my body on high alert. Those three words had my mind re-thinking every action up until that point. Had I forced her into something? Had I read too much into it? I hovered over her, waiting to hear her command for me before her scent pulled me in.
“Are you all right, Isabelle?” I asked.
My eyes flickered up to where I figured hers would be and I listened to her breathing. How rapid it still was and how her hands wouldn’t release my hair. I nuzzled into her wrist, pressing my nose against her pulse point so I could clock exactly how fast her heart was racing. I kissed her skin. I felt every single part of her tense. I released her thighs and allowed her legs to close around me as my nose nuzzled against her pulse point again. Slower. Steadier. Leveling out as I closed her body off to me.
What had happened to this beautiful woman to make her so afraid of intimacy?
The only idea that crossed my mind made me furious. A trauma no woman should ever experience, and I was in the throes of passion with a woman who fought a battle I’d never understand. I lowered myself to her and slid my hands up to her waist. I ignored the painful throbbing in my cock as I settled against her bed sheets. Her hands released my hair and I laid my head onto her stomach, listening as her breathing evened out.
No more panic.
No more fear.
Just her and I, naked and alone. Her and I, feeding off one another. Her and I, experiencing something neither had for the first time in years with one another.
A passion that left us both encased in fear.
“What do you need from me?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, whispering.
I could hear the tears in her eyes and it broke my heart. I raced up her body, feeling the way her legs parted for me even though she was shaking. I lowered myself against her body. I felt the heat pouring from her pussy. I slid my hands up her arms and threaded our fingers together as my lips fell to her face. I kissed away her tear trails. I followed them down her neck. I nuzzled against the pulse point on her neck and did another cold-clock of her pulse.
Just to make sure.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“I do. I really do. It’s just--”
“What?” I asked. “You can be honest with me. No judgment. No nothing. Just understanding. That’s it.”
“I don’t want you all the way down there,” she said with a whisper. “I don’t trust not being able to see you.”
I dipped my lips to her neck and kissed her skin. She came alive again underneath my body, rolling her hips into me. Her pussy folds wrapped around my cock, drenching me in its juices. I nuzzled her ear. Kissed her all the way to her temple. Her fingers curled into the tops of my hands as I laid there, feeling her encompassing my dick. I pressed my lips to hers, over and over again in the softest manner I could.
I needed her to be sure.
“Tristan.”
“Yes?” I asked.
“I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?”
I opened my eyes and found a beautiful pair of green eyes staring back at me.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sure.”
I pulled my hips back and felt the tip of my cock fall to her entrance. Then slowly-- meticulously-- I let myself in. Her jaw fell open and her walls fluttered around the intrusion. Her legs curled up and her toes graced the small of my back. She arched herself into me, her hips tipping towards me to swallow me whole. Her pussy felt so good. So tight for my aching cock. And as I stilled my hips against hers, I had to close my eyes and remind myself that I needed to be gentle.
The beast had to be kept at bay for another time.
Our lips met as I rocked my body against hers. Slow, deft movements that caused beautiful sounds to fall from her lips. I swallowed every sound. Tasted every emotion on the tip of her tongue. I released her hands and she slid them down my arms, wrapping them tightly around my neck. She clung to me and kept her eyes on me. Those beautiful emerald orbs that held all the compassion and love in the world. My forearms pressed into her mattress and I rolled into her, feeling her pliable thighs tighten around my body.
“Tristan,” she said, “you feel so good.”
I watched tears well in her eyes as my lips came back down to hers.
I picked up the pace. Rolled my hips until her pussy gave way to me. Her walls pulsed around me, tugging and pressing against my throbbing veins. My face fell to the crook of her neck. I grunted into her skin and nibbled along her collarbone. Her body began to roll with me, meeting me thrust for thrust as her breasts bounced against my skin. How wonderful she felt, milking my cock. How incredible it felt to hear a woman moan my name in ecstasy. Power surged through my veins and goosebumps puckered all along my back.
“Tristan. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
I leaned up just far enough to bend her leg over my shoulder. Then I laid back down and watched her jaw unhinge. Her hands dug into my forearms, her nails leaving crescent moons behind to take the place of the dark night sky hanging thick over her home. I snapped my hips against hers, grinding my tightly-wound curls into her aching clit. What I wouldn’t give to taste it. But that had to be e
arned.
And with a woman like Isabelle, I would gladly work for the pleasure.
“Isabelle. Shit. You’re-- fuck.”
“Oh my gosh. It’s happening. It’s coming. It’s coming. Don’t stop. Tristan, right there. Right there. Don’t-- s--.”
Her body trembled against me as her heel dug into my shoulder. My lips crashed against hers, swallowing her groans as they filled my throat. My cock sank into her body, my own hips stuttering against her. Every cell in my body was aflame for her. Every part of me wanted to take her over and over until she begged me to stop. Her tight walls help me within its vice grip, refusing to release me as my dick dumped into her. Her arousal dripped down my balls as her leg slid from my shoulder, and my body fell against her soft features.
I barely held myself up, unable to contain the groans falling muffled from our teeth-clattering kiss.
Her body collapsed and I went with her. I sheathed myself within her, following her every move until she pushed against me to roll away. But when I fell off to the side, I felt her roll with me. I felt her leg slide between mine. I leaned against the headboard of her bed and felt her hair splay across my chest. Running my fingers through it, I took in the way her body still quaked after she opened herself up to me the way she did.
I bent over and kissed the top of her head as she sighed into my skin.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Better than I have been in a long time,” Isabelle said.
“Good. That’s good.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For stopping you like that.”
“Never be sorry for something like that. Ever. Okay?”
I felt her nod against me as my fingers continued to untangle the knotted mess I’d left behind.
“Could I ask you something, Tristan?”
“You can ask me anything after something like that.”
Her giggle filled the room and it shot a warmth down my spine that made my smile.
“Why did you move to Georgetown if you don’t have any family here?” she asked. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good place to live. But I can’t imagine why anyone who used to live in a place like D.C. would willingly move to a place like this without family rooted here.”
“I needed a place that was the opposite of D.C.,” I said.
“Did you have a rough mission?”
“No,” I said. “But it is a long story.”
“I’ll listen if you speak.”
I felt her tilt her head up to see me, so I looked down into her eyes. And what I found was very different from what I saw in the rest of the community. She didn’t pry into me with curious eyes or a nosy nature. She wasn’t preparing herself to offer up some sort of condolence story. She wasn’t attempting to act like she knew what was coming.
All I saw was a woman looking to get to know someone better.
And I liked that.
“I was married once,” I said.
Isabelle sat up from my body and turned to face me completely.
“What happened?” she asked.
“She got sick. Cancer. Renal cell carcinoma, to be exact. Both of her kidneys were infected, and by the time we caught it the tumors had metastasized throughout other major organs. One, in particular, was wrapping itself around her lungs.”
“Oh my gosh,” she said with a whisper.
“She wanted to attempt treatment anyway despite the odds. Lisa--”
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath before I felt a warmth descend to my shoulder. A body molded to itself beside me and I instinctively slid my arm around it. I felt my hand dip into the small of her waist as she curled up against me, her head cocked so her eyes could study the my profile.
Like I had studied her during our beautiful bonding session.
“Lisa was always strong like that. She was always the better of the two of us. So I supported her decision to fight. And it gave us two more years together, but it wasn’t all roses and rainbows. I watched her waste away into almost nothing, trying to fight for her life.”
“I’m so sorry, Tristan.”
“When she died, she took a piece of me with her. And I drank to drown out her memory. I drank with a friend of mine in bars at two in the morning when the memories that dwelled in our home crushed me. I drank alcohol in my coffee to wipe away the loneliness I felt every morning when I got up without her at my side. I even walked into my job one day so drunk I kept calling out her name and asking why she hadn’t come home the night before.”
I felt Isabelle press a kiss to my shoulder as my mouth ran away from me.
“I couldn't do my job with the CIA any longer. Our house reminded me of her. My bed smelled of her. Everywhere I looked, there was a favorite shop of hers or a restaurant we frequented or the place we had our first kiss. D.C. was soaked in her, and it was killing me. So when my boss requested I take some time off to right my head and grieve, I made the decision to retire early. I cashed in my pension, my 401(k), and combined it all into the one savings account Lisa’s treatment didn’t wipe out from underneath us. Then, I left. I packed what I felt I could bring without her ghost following me, and I drove until it didn’t hurt anymore.”
“Tristan, I’m so sorry,” she said, whispering into my skin.
Then I felt her arms wrap around me. She pulled me close. She cradled me in her arms. Her fingers pressed into the side of my body and I allowed her to hold me. I allowed myself the same comfort I’d tried to give her. I felt tears brewing behind my eyes and I closed them, burying my face into her soft tendrils. I breathed in her scent. So unlike Lisa, and yet something my body came alive with.
“I can’t imagine going through something like that,” Isabelle said. “Experiencing that kind of loss.”
“But you do know what it feels like to lose something.”
I felt her tense in my arms, so I pressed another kiss to the top of her head.
“You don’t have to talk about it. All I’m saying is that loss is loss, no matter what the loss is.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she said.
“I felt something ring true about home when I first came into Georgetown. When I sat in that restaurant and met you for the first time. There was a sense of peace. A slow pace D.C. has never been good at providing. I liked it, so I stayed.”
“Well, I’m glad you stayed.”
“I am, too.”
“But you can’t stay the night here,” she said. “It’ll confuse the boys if they wake up and see us coming out of the room together.”
“Nice segue,” I said, grinning.
“I figured you might enjoy it,” she said through her giggle.
Such a glorious sound to take in with nothing but darkness surrounding us.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t plan on it. Though it would be nice to wake up next to someone again, I’m not sure if I’m there yet,” I said. “If that makes sense.”
“It does. I get it. In a different sort of light, but I do get it.”
I wrapped my arms around her one last time and squeezed before I slipped from the bed. I rummaged around until I found my clothes, listening as Isabelle nestled underneath the covers. I traced my hand along the side of the bed, following its outline until my hand slid up her blanketed body. She giggled as I dipped down, and I captured her lips one last time.
Her hand slid to the back of my neck, holding me there until she was done taking her fill of me.
“See you soon?” she asked.
The anxious hope in her voice made me grin against her cheek.
“See you soon,” I said.
Then I kissed her skin before I headed out of her room.
I made sure to lock the handle of her front door before I stepped out onto the porch. I felt my body grow lighter. My step walked a little stronger. My muscles felt energized for the first time in months. A grin slid across my cheeks as I walked across her lawn, making my way for my home so I could crawl in bed
and dream of her soft body against mine.
Until a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.
A truck sat next to the curb two houses down on my side of the road. The person in the driver’s seat was moving around, causing the vehicle to rock on its tires. I furrowed my brow and watched the driver pop his head up, but I couldn’t get a good look at who it was. I started walking towards the dark-colored truck, thinking maybe someone needed help.
Until its blinding lights flashed in my eyes.
The high beam lights pierced through my vision, filling it with an unnecessary pain that ricocheted through the back of my neck. I held my hand up to shield my vision as I hopped to the curb, afraid that someone was about to run me down in the middle of the damn road. I heard the truck sputter before it cranked up and I blinked to reorient myself. I reached for a gun that didn’t exist on my hip as my gut began to scream at me again.
But it wasn’t until I heard the massive thing roaring out of the neighborhood that my eyes began to focus. It wasn’t until the truck was almost out of sight that I could see anything around me. I watched an old man walk out onto his porch in nothing but a pair of shorts and a robe with a damn hat on his head and a bottle of beer in his grasp.
“You know who that was?” I asked.
He turned to look at me before he shook his head. The smallest of gestures that sent my mind into overdrive. I looked back over to Isabelle’s house before I sighed, then strode to my porch and tore into my house.
Something wasn’t sitting right. And it frustrated me that I didn't have anything else other than a fucking feeling.
Isabelle
“You what!?”
“Sh-sh-sh-sh. Keep it down,” I said.
“Isabelle. There’s no one here but us,” Bella said. “You slept with your neighbor? Oh honey, I’m jealous. That man was the hottest piece of ass to sit in that restaurant in a long time. Are you going to do it again?”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure that require his input,” I said as I sipped on my lemonade.
