by Megan Hart
Suddenly desperate to escape, she fled to the bathroom. Without allowing herself to think, she turned on the hot water. Within seconds, the bathroom filled with steam as it had earlier. All she could think about was getting under the scalding spray to wash away the consequences of what she'd done.
The bathroom door banged open behind her. She faced the sink, and in the steam-clouded mirror she saw Gavin's form fill the doorway. Before she could turn, he was behind her, one hand wrapped in the length of her hair.
She couldn't move. His hand gripped her shoulder, and she felt the press of his thighs, belly and erection on her back. Despite herself, despite everything, Lina felt the answering twinge of arousal between her thighs.
She could fight him, kick and bite, make him force her...but she knew that, though his size and strength would allow him to overpower her, his personality would not. Gavin was forceful, but not a rapist. He held men in the worst sort of contempt who used their strength to hurt women. If she fought him, he'd let her go.
"Tell me to stop."
She wanted to. God, how she wanted to have the strength of will to tell him to go away, but she couldn't, and he knew it. She wanted him so badly her knees began to shake. She gripped the countertop to stay upright. Her head swam from the heat. The steam caressed her.
"Spread your legs."
She did, as the memory of his hands on her earlier beside the road made her breath come fast. Without pretense, Gavin slipped his hand from her shoulder and down between her legs. His finger stroked her, dipped inside and then came out again to swirl on her upright clit.
"You told me if I came here to fuck you to do it," Gavin told her in a voice rough with passion. "And I intend to do that, Lina. Whatever else we have to talk about, whatever else you need to say to me, can wait."
The thought of telling him the truth made Lina feel almost as light-headed as the heat did. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a soft, low moan as Gavin slid his cock inside her.
His first thrust lifted her onto her tiptoes. Lina bent forward, rocking with him. Gavin's fingers danced on her clit, then withdrew, but she no longer needed them. Her clit pounded as he stretched her.
Lina bent forward further still, until her breasts crushed against the slick counter. It felt much cooler than the air against her cheek. She felt his hands on her hips, holding her steady as he slid in and out of her.
Another orgasm built inside her, ripples of pleasure that ebbed and flowed. She waited for the lightning bolt of climax, but her body didn't respond that way. Instead, her pussy clenched and released, her clit throbbed, the soft skin of her inner thighs trembled. She was coming, over and over, without end. One constant stream of sensation that left her gasping and begging for release.
"Say my name," she demanded.
"No," he gasped. "I won't."
"You will." Hearing it would send her over the edge. She needed it. "Say my name when you come."
She waited and felt the pounding of his cock grow inside her. He was close. Very close. His grip grew painful, but the pain only enhanced the urgency.
"Lina," she heard him say at last, and he thrust one last time.
At the same moment, her vagina contracted. Her orgasm flowed through her like water over stones, rippling and tumbling throughout her entire body.
She cried out, a wordless noise of pleasure. The world swam. She went limp against the counter.
After a moment, he pulled out of her. She made a soft noise of protest. She heard him dispose of the condom in the trashcan. She couldn't move. A light-headed languor filled her. She thought if she stood up too straight, she might very well faint.
Gavin fiddled for a moment with the shower faucets. Then he reached around and took first one hand, then the other. He turned her to face him. Lina put her face against his chest and took in the scent of him.
He didn't speak to her, and she was glad not to have to answer. Gavin helped her step into the shower and pushed her gently until she sat on the built-in seat while he got in, too. The narrow stall wasn't really big enough for two of them, but at least the water wasn't scalding any more. He'd adjusted the temperature to a nice, calming warmth.
She tilted her head and let the water flow over her face and across her breasts, down over her belly and between her legs. She'd fled the bedroom to avoid telling him how she felt, but Lina had no more strength for flight. She could only sit and let the water wash over her.
Gavin took the net sponge from its hook and squirted a generous amount of body wash into it. In seconds the sponge was filled with thick, fragrant suds. He knelt in front of her. The water had slicked his dark hair over his forehead and over his cheeks.
"You look like a gladiator," she told him, amused by the drunken sound of her voice.
He smiled and lifted her foot into his hands. She startled at the sensation, and he put one finger to his lips in a gesture of silence.
"What--" she began, but Gavin's words stopped her.
"Right to remain," he reminded her.
He lifted the sponge to her foot and soaped it gently, holding it still when the tickling made her squirm. He lathered the sole and between each toe, then slid the sponge up over her ankle and shin.
His fingers closed around Lina's calf. The sponge moved in slow, exquisite circles. He moved higher, over her knee and to her thigh. The slightly rough sponge gave just enough sensation, softened by the thickness of the suds. She spread her legs a little wider.
Gavin swiped his tongue across his lips as the water sluiced over him. Lina was suddenly, intensely grateful for the industrial size hot water tank her landlord had installed several months before.
Gavin left the temptation between her legs and went to the foot he hadn't yet soaped. He followed the same ritual, thoroughly, and worked his way from her toes to her inner thigh.
This time, too, he ignored her center and reached for one of her hands. He soaped each finger, her palm, her wrists, all the way up her arm and to her shoulder. Then the other hand and arm. Gavin took handfuls of water and sloshed them over Lina's skin to clean away the suds.
Next he took a dollop of shampoo and thoroughly washed her hair, even rinsing it without getting any suds in her eyes. He spread lather across her chest, dipped down to her belly, then up again to caress with soapy fingers her peaked nipples.
Lina sighed, but didn't speak. The warmth, the water, Gavin's gentle fingers, all had put her into a sort of trance. She didn't think she could have moved away had she wanted to.
She startled again when the sponge nudged at her pussy. The rough net was almost, but not quite, too harsh against her love-sensitized flesh. She bit her lower lip at the pleasure/pain his touch granted.
He put the sponge down and soaped her softly with his fingertips. He circled her clit, which jumped beneath his touch. Lina gasped. Her head lolled against the shower wall.
Gavin leaned back to let the finally cooling stream of water pelt her exposed clit and vagina. Then, with the soap completely gone, he leaned in and pressed his lips to her. His tongue sought the slick inner folds he hadn't irritated with soap. Gavin parted her. Water ran from his face, over her lips and across her flesh, cleaning away every remnant of their lovemaking and leaving her fresh and clean.
The water was now cold, refreshing...exhilarating against the heat of her flesh. Gavin reached up and turned off the faucet. He stood and grabbed a thick towel from the shelf next to the shower, then took one of Lina's hands and pulled her upright. She wobbled a little, overloaded with sexual arousal and heat. He caught her with one hand and helped her step onto the saturated bathmat. Then he wrapped the towel around her and tucked the ends securely.
Lina moved toward the bathroom door, but Gavin stopped her. Silently, he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. Lina put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, welcoming his strength when she had none.
Gavin laid her on the bed as gently as if she were made of crystal.
He left her side just long enough to grab her comb from the dresser, and then came back and stretched out beside her. He began to pull the comb through a hank of her hair, from the bottom up, to prevent from pulling when the comb hit a tangle.
She'd never known he could be like this. Lina's heart squeezed in her chest. What else was Gavin capable of?
When he'd finished, he kissed her. It was but a brief brush of his lips on hers, a gentle pressure that promised passion, but not force. Then he stretched out, naked, beside her and put his arms behind his head.
Lina rolled to look at him. She couldn't stop her hand from tracing the line of his jaw and shoulder, then resting on his chest. He watched her, his expression neutral but his eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't quite identify.
"I'm sorry," he said.
It was the last thing in the world she'd have expected him to say, and her surprise must have shown on her face.
"I'm a bastard," he said.
She shook her head. "No. Well, sometimes. Yes. But not now."
He sighed and reached for her hand. "Is that why you left me?"
Lina gave a small chuckle. "Because you can be a bastard? No. I left you because you wouldn't let me close to you. Because you wouldn't let me love you. And I couldn't be with you knowing that no matter what I did, or how I felt about you, you were going to keep shutting me out."
There. I said it. Lina drew in a breath of relief. She'd told him the truth.
"Then why did you do what you did tonight?"
Good question, and one she wasn't quite sure she could answer. "I couldn't stop thinking about you. Unfinished business. I don't know, Gavin. I guess I just had to find out if there could possibly be anything between us."
His fingers entwined further with hers. "And what do you think?"
She looked into his eyes. "I want more than a one-night stand. I want more than an occasional fuck. I want more."
He sat up and let go of her hand to run his fingers through his hair. "Shit."
Offended, she moved to turn from him, but again he stopped her.
"Wait," Gavin said. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
"How did you mean it then?" She knew she sounded combative, but didn't care.
"Lina, in the past year, I've dated about a dozen women."
Her brows raised and she gave him an incredulous look. "I don't want to hear this."
"Just listen, okay?" He blew out a sigh and leaned back against the headboard. "I never dated any one of them more than twice. I never took any of them to bed. And I never stopped wishing each one of them was you."
She stared at him, silent, not sure what to say. Her hair, drying tangle free, flopped on her face and she pushed it away. He watched her carefully.
"I drove past your house so many times I thought for sure you'd file a complaint." He smiled. "I wanted you to make a complaint. I wanted to know that you noticed."
His admission ought to have been creepy, but it wasn't. Lina had to bite her lip to hide a smile. "We've been stupid."
"A whole year stupid."
She sighed. "So where does that leave us now?"
"Damned if I know."
She leaned back against the pillows beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I don't know either."
Had she ever lain next to him in such companionable silence? Lina didn't think so. Their affair had been tempestuous, electric and sexually satisfying...but not particularly companionable. She rested her cheek against his smooth flesh and felt the pulse of his heart beneath her lips. He smelled good.
"Would it help if I kissed you?"
His question made her raise her head to look at him. "Now?"
"Now. Tomorrow. All the time." He paused. "I mean, not just on Christmas or your birthday."
She nodded slightly and wet her lips. "Yes. I think that would help."
"And if I held your hand at the movies? And brought you flowers? And took care of you when you're sick?
"And what about--" Now he kissed her firmly and fully, so she could scarcely catch her breath. "--if I told you I loved you?"
"Oh, yes," Lina replied after a minute when she could finally speak. "I think that would help a whole lot."
It wasn't everything, but as she bent to kiss him again, Lina thought it might just be enough.
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About the author:
I was born and then I lived a while and I did some stuff. Then I did some things and whatnot. Now, I mostly write books.
Connect with Me Online:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Megan_Hart
website: http://www.meganhart.com
blog: http://www.readinbed.net
photo credit: Scott Church
