Until you came (Series Stonebridge, #3)

by Diana Scott

  “By the way, what is the Temple?” Maurizio asks curious, distracting me from my thoughts.

  “A select club and something particular, but don't worry, I'm not going to rape you.” Oh, God! Did I say that?

  Maurizio's eyes open in surprise and I smile triumphantly. For the first time since I met him, I'm the one who' ahead making a joke. Well, I'm changing and this is the new Anne Foster or maybe I'm mad as hell. I think about Reed I get depressed, I look at Maurizio smiling, I remember Reed, I cry, I talk to Maurizio and I'm glad... Yes, I'm out of my mind. Tomorrow I call Dr. Klein for a double session.

  “Don't you get tired of being so pretty?”

  “And you know you don't have to compliment me every time I'm in front of you?”

  I try to remain indifferent while I fix his pearl grey tie but it's a little difficult, Maurizio is snatching.

  “You're the most attractive woman in the whole room and I won't get tire of saying it.”

  His mouth is getting closer to mine and I accept his sweet caress of lips against lips. I am not sure if I should continue to accept a love that I accept simply with tenderness but it is impossible for me to refuse.

  Sweetness and attraction blend, and although the fire does not run through my body I do not see why not trying. Life is composed of endless opportunities, who says that this is one of those hidden truths of destiny and that I should’nt try?

  Self-esteem refuses outright, she knows that my heart still beats for another man but I turn my back angrily not to see her.

  “Maurizio you know that I...”

  “Shh, don't think.”

  His hands cling to my shoulders and I expect more than just a touch of lips. I have seen it in his eyes. Fire and desire sparkle seductively and I will not stop him. His delicate fingers caress my neck to stick me to his mouth. He is a man who is no longer willing to wait. He needs my warmth and I forget, we are both the answer the other needs. I will close my eyes and dream of a better future.

  The heat pierces his suit wrapping me in a pleasant sensation of love and protection that fascinates me. I keep my promise and close my eyes, letting me go. My bitterness moves away and sad memories leave me. I want to feel, just to feel. His tongue caresses my lips and enters my mouth so delicately that I cling to his shoulders wrapped in the sweetest of sensations. His touch runs through my skin and I feel the sweet touch of his soft fingers on my neck. He brings me closer to his hard body while my mouth accepts each of his touches. The sensation is so pleasant that I press my body against yours without caring about being in a room full of people. I want to enjoy. I need to feel like a woman again. I sigh in his mouth delighted with the experience when the sound of a very annoying raspberry tries to interrupt us. I cling tightly to my man refusing to let the sensation end. The annoying sick man continues to cough as if he were losing his life through his lungs.

  Maurizio gently takes me away and I raise my eyes with the smile of a girl capable of flying. I find myself in the fifth sky when dark, ice-hard sapphires split me in two and tear off my wings, lowering me to the ground with a thud.

  Our glances face each other and I feel all the weight of his recriminations on me. He is furious, his fists move to his nervous sides for hitting. But who does he think he is to look at me like that!

  It's not me who left, he threw me out, it's not me who left him for someone else, it was him! Damn it, it was him and not me! Yet there he is, standing in front of me, claiming what he shouldn’t. Wait a minute, is he standing? Is he really standing? And why is the idiot of Suraj smiling?

  “You're standing!”

  Lovers

  “Are you standing?” I try to separate myself from Maurizio so that I can see him better, but he won't let me. He clings to my waist, facing Reed with his gaze. They both look like cockerels ready to claim the property of the henhouse. Men!

  Reed doesn't answer me, he just looks at Maurizio and I start to feel uncomfortable. His glances sink in and the hatred is reflected in my ex's body. He's furious, he doesn't like to see me with someone else, I guess it's because of that possessive man's nonsense because there's no other explanation. Why should it bother him that the woman he kicked out of his life is with someone else? Specially when his current, hateful new girlfriend approaches at a brisk pace. Are you really angry, Reed? Well, fuck you! Self-esteem raises the middle finger high.

  “Maurizio, I wasn't informed that you were in the country.” Suraj is the one who breaks the ice by asking an interesing question. Look how his cough has suddenly come off. Another wretch.

  “I'm on vacation.”

  Maurizio holds me tightly by the waist as I wonder why is he lying. He's not on vacation but looking for evidence of corruption.

  “Blackman,” Maurizio greets him with seriousness.

  “Rossi.”

  “Do you know each other?” My question comes up without thinking.

  “You'll see, Blackman has collaborated several times with our department.”

  Reed smiles without a spark of grace while I can't take my eyes off his legs. He's standing, standing!

  “That's right... dar-ling,” Reed shamelessly lengthens the last word and I hate him for mocking me.

  I let go of my companion's grip and look at him annoyed, showing him perfectly that I guess his intentions and I'm not afraid of him. If Reed seeks war, he will not find it with me. I will not be his boxing bag.

  “I'm going to look for my sister, she must be coming," I say as I turn to walk to the door.

  “Is Jane here?” Suraj asks nervously.

  “No, but she will be," I answer as I see a stunning blonde approaching and clinging to his arm.

  “Suraj paled all of a sudden and I feel gagging.” Poor Jane, she doesn’t need this. I'm about to tell him a few insults that are coming out of my throat when the glowing Collette stands next to her beloved and caresses him brazenly. I'd better get out of here before my guts turn even more. None of them is worth my displeasure.

  “I'd better go.” I fix my gaze on Reed with a fake smile, I'm dying inside but he won't see me fall. “I'm glad you can walk," I say and turn to leave without looking back.

  “I'll go with you,” Maurizio doesn't ask but I accept his company because I can't do anything else. Reed's presence has disturbed me to the point that I just want to go home and disappear from the planet.

  “Can you please go to the bar and get me a drink of something?” I cover my face with a sad fake smile. “I need to go to the toilet.”

  “Anne...”

  “I'll be fine, just give me a few minutes.”

  Maurizio nods as we separate in different directions.

  I walk without direction. I left my bag at the other end, I don't have the money to go home and I'm not going to walk in front of them again. Oh, I know. I go through the corridor and enter the password. Perfect, towards Solange's house looking for my old room and a place of refuge.

  I look out the window trying to calm my racing heart. Walk! He's cured and hasn't even bothered to inform me... He is only able to walk happily with his new love while I try to forget him with a kiss that for a minute and thirty seconds did its job... Stupid and a thousand times stupid!

  “This is not the service room, already lying to your sweetheart? You should consider the future of your relationship.”

  “What are you doing here?” I'm barely able to ask.

  I keep looking at the lights of the night through the window of my old room in the Temple. That room where I once found refuge and love and where I now seek a desperate way to get myself back together. I don't turn around, I don't want to see him.

  “Searching for you.”

  “You've already found me. Save me time, throw me your three lines of rigor and go where you came from.”

  “I haven't thought of any.”

  “Then go away. I don't want to see you.”

  “But I want to see you.”

  “And why do you think I could care about anything that you wan
t?”

  I turn with all the rage circulating through my veins and when I see him standing behind me, I'm even more outraged.

  “I worried about you. I came back ready for everything, I wanted to help you and be by your side but you beat me like a disgusting dog. You kicked me, you got rid of me and replaced me at the first change and now you're here for what? For Reed? Why don't you let me put together the pieces you broke yourself? Do you hate me so much?”

  “I don't hate you...” He drags his hair with his hands and baffles me with his attitude.

  “Bullshit!” You behaved like a real pig, you never cared about my feelings. You are a selfish hypocrite who’s only able to think about yourself.”

  His body is tense and I see how the anger begins to dominate him. I'm sure he doesn't like to hear so many truths but I don't give a damn about what Reed Blackman wants or not to hear. I'm feeling bold, it's my chance and I'm not going to stop.

  “I suffered for you, I lost my own horizon. I was willing to be by your side despite of all your damn stupid secrets, I accepted that you had a daughter and I even endured to see you cry for the death of another woman,” I swallow while I take air even though I'm feeling bold. “I did everything to be by your side, to be your support but you didn't care about that. You despised me again and again. Your indifference killed me from the inside, and like a fool, I justified each of your outbursts. I wanted to be what you were looking for. I tried everything because I loved you but you didn't care.”

  “You left! Dammit! You abandoned me. I asked you to stay, but you ran away without looking back.”

  The blow of his fist against the table made me tremble but it doesn't scare me. Reed may be dark and distant but he will never be like John. He wouldn't hit me with his fists although his words can be like daggers.

  “You were going to marry someone else!”

  “You abandoned me!”

  “You had a daughter! You promised me it would be a fake marriage, you swore you'd never have anything with her, you said you didn't love her....”

  The first rebellious tear falls down my cheek and I try not to crack.

  “When I arrived I tried not to complain to you, I wanted to give you an opportunity, I thought it was not the moment but now I don't care anymore, I don't care about you.”

  “I never loved her...”

  His hand trembles close to my face and I close my eyes of pure sadness. I'm broken inside.

  “That doesn't matter anymore. I'm glad you're healed and have someone to comfort you. Goodbye Reed...” But what are you doing?!

  I'm about to leave when I see him unbuttoning his pants.

  “I'm leaving," I said while I don't believe what I see.

  “You're not leaving.” My body starts to warm up and the tachycardia controls me.

  “I don't know what you're thinking, but I assure you that you're seriously mistaken,” I answer nervously and fearing the temptation.

  Reed dropped his pants on the floor and the image in front of me leaves me speechless. I cover my mouth so as not to scream.

  “What's that?”

  “Raymond, you know him. He didn't stop until I could hold myself with these devices.

  “But your legs...”

  I approach without thinking and squatting I carefully touch a metal structure that surrounds each of his legs on both sides. It looks like a frame attached with strong grips at the top, knee and ankles. It is solid and very hard. It clings to its skin tightly, leaving huge red marks on it.

  “The muscles barely respond to me but with this contraption I can stand for some time. Without the walking brace I would fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes, even with it, I get exhausted in no time.”

  I sit while I look at the huge red marks that the contraption leaves on his skin.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “There are things that hurt much more.”

  I close my eyes and try to recover from the comment. I'm sure he's saying that because of Maurizio's kiss, but I can't let the situation of his legs to weaken me.

  “I better go, they must be looking for me.”

  “No, wait a minute.

  “Reed,” I stand up and we stand in front of each other. “This doesn't make sense.”

  “We don’t make any sense?”

  “There's no longer a you and me. We never were.

  “Have you fallen in love with him? “

  “You made it clear to me that I am nothing in your life, you have Collette and I...”

  “Damn it, do you love him?”

  “Not yet, but I can do it...”

  His arms hold me tightly and without giving me time to react, I feel like he's clinging to me to give me the most impatient and possessive kiss I've ever received.

  Reed's lips seized my mouth while his tongue erases all trace of any man other than him. The torso as hard and burning as fire sticks to my body while with my trousers down I am able to feel the combination of the hardness of his virility against the coldness of the irons that cover his leg.

  “No, no, I can't...”

  “You want as much as I do.”

  “We can't, I can't...”

  My words are lost in the silence of the room when his teeth run through my neck. My thoughts become obscure and I can only feel his warmth through my skin. I caress his chest desperately unbuttoning the first buttons of his shirt. I raise my arms trying to take it off above his head but I get frustrated when I notice that I don't come out. I feel him smiling on my skin and moving away only a few centimeters, just to finish the task for me. I feel sorry for myself but this is no time to think. My body desperately needs him and I can't stop.

  Burning with the need to have him, I caress the beauty of his torso and support the palm on his heart to notice how it beats unbridled for me... for me....

  My mouth searches for him and his lips listen to my prayers positioning themselves and making their way in the most primary and possessive way I have ever felt it. I feel him tremble and his ardor increases my desire to have him inside me. I want him beyond any logical reason, my body adores him and my heart beats to his rhythm.

  “My girl... mine...”

  The rough hands turn me desperate to leave me with my back to him while I lean on the cold wall. My position barely allows me to see him behind me but the electricity that runs through my skin makes me feel him with every fiber of my being.

  I feel his hands moving through my dress trying to open it but the nerves jam the zipper and the desperate groans come out of his mouth. I smile without being able to contain myself, I adore to feel his desperation and desirous for my body. I want to be the owner of his needs, his pleasures and more... much more.

  “I'm sorry...” he says in a whisper before zipping the dress through the air.

  I get petrified and for a moment I try to regain consciousness but he won't let me. His hands run along my shoulders pressing hard on a dress that falls wrinkling at my feet. I feel him all over my body, his hands hold me firmly at the waist while with his knee opens my legs and caresses the center of my body.

  I rest my palms on the wall trying not to lose consciousness under a cloud of sensations. I feel his mouth bite my shoulders and go up to my ear when I notice the cold metal covering his legs sticking to my thighs. It seems strange but the intense heat of his skin along with the cold metal make me tremble and not cold. I hear him breathing agitated as his hands are inserted through the corset to caress my breasts.

  “I want to touch you...” I beg in a low voice trying to turn around.

  “No, you are mine. You know, you are totally mine. I am the master of your desires, the lord of your pleasures, the owner of your sensuality, the confessor of your perversions... It's me, Anne... just me, say my name.”

  His order is almost a plea in my ears and I tremble at his words. His hands get rid of my thong by dropping it on the ground, swirling on my dress. I'm with my back to him, I can't see him. Wearing only a corset and garter stockings and
although with my back I should feel fearful and helpless but I don’t. The heat of desire runs through my body, it is a desperation that I never thought I would feel. The weight of his body presses me against the wall with force and the only thing I am capable of is desperately feeling the need to keep him inside me.

  “Please...” I beg when his fingers caress my humid femininity.

  I move my hips trying to rub against his hand seeking liberation but he won't let me and I grumble angrily.

  “Say my name. It's me, my love. I am the master of your dreams day and night. I am the man you want to be with you. Say it, my love, and I will give you what you need. Ask me...”

  His voice becomes deep with desire and I feel dizzy when I notice the wet end of his penis touching my buttocks.

  “Come on, baby... Tell me you want it, ask me to fill you up and I will. You know I can give it to you, you only have to ask...”

  A part of me, the small portion that I still keep of coherence, refuses a surrender that symbolizes the greatest of my ruins.

  “Don't... don't do this to me,” I beg in just a whisper.

  “Say it. Say my name and accept what I am... baby I want you so much...”

  He speaks in a deep and slow voice while he introduces himself inside a few centimetres to abandon me at the moment leaving me with the cold of his retreat.

  “Please, I can't...”

  “Do you want me? He says as he caresses my clitoris with his finger.”

  “Yes, for God's sake, Reed! It's you, I want you and only you. I shout with my mouth glued to the wall and the total weight of his body on my back.”

  “You are mine, my love,” his words are lost in my mind when I feel him fit tightly around my hips and enter with animal force.

  Reed's urgency is noticeable in every embiste, he wants to mark me with every entry and my heart beats desperate for urgency. I need him like the air I breathe. I lean against the wall so I don't fall and I feel like one of his hands rests under my face preventing me from scraping against the rough paint as he hits me again and again panting behind me.