by Abbi Glines
His mouth almost formed a scowl. “If it’s real, does that matter?”
I thought it did. Love wasn’t instant. True love came from knowing someone. “Love takes time, yes. You need to earn respect, find out the things the other enjoys, laugh together. If love is forever, how can it happen without time?”
The tips of Stone’s fingers brushed my cheek as he ran one fingertip along my jawline. I shivered and fought the urge to lean into him. Standing here with him didn’t seem real. It was more like a dream. A fantasy. The kind of fantasies I was having more often while trying to shove them away from me.
“You were wearing that damn uniform Portia gave you. Your hair was pulled up in a ponytail. The elastic band holding it up was black and slightly frayed. I wondered if it was the only one you had and if it was near breaking. There was a slight stain on the collar but it was pin size. You wore no makeup except for lip gloss—it was pale pink. But that was all you needed,” he paused and looked down at my bare feet. “You had a slight limp. Nothing too noticeable, but it was there. I wondered if it was permanent. It didn’t take away from your beauty. Nothing could,” he lifted his gaze back to mine.
“You worked for a monster like Portia. I’d thought you’d wanted the job because you knew about Jasper Van Allan. Just for a moment, I watched you closely, quietly, and finally saw your eyes. There was stress, pain, anxiety, but most of all, fear marring their beauty. That moment. When our eyes met and I saw you. Not the outward appearance, but your soul that you shared so clearly in your eyes if someone took the time to look, I knew I would love you. There was sadness inside you I wanted to heal and fear I wanted to erase. Pain I wanted to ease.” He stopped and held my chin. Not harshly but with pressure to tilt my head back further as his dark eyes melded with mine. “I began to investigate, to search, to protect you. Understand that, Beulah. I did it all to protect . . . you.”
Stone
THINGS HAPPEN IN THE BLINK of an eye. Death, life, and sickness are all things that changed our lives. From the time we are born, we learn to expect the inevitable end. We fear it, anticipate it, and learn to live with the outcome. However, until I walked into the Van Allan kitchen and my eyes locked on Beulah for the first time, I’d never realized there was one more thing that could happen in a split second. Was it love? I can’t say that it was. Calling it attraction was too weak of a description. I was drawn to her. As if an invisible thread was pulling at me.
Then I’d seen the look in Jasper’s eyes. He’d been instantly attracted. He fought his attraction because his hate for Portia made him want to hate anything connected to her, and she’d also hired Beulah. As much as he wished that he couldn’t stand her, that he could be cruel to her, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She couldn’t stop looking at him either. I read people well. I often knew what they felt before they did. It was easy when you didn’t need to speak. Staying silent and observing left one to study things others missed.
I held myself back. Waited. Hoped that she saw just how different Jasper was from her. Not his money or wealth, that wasn’t the issue. She was strong where he was weak. She had been raised by a woman who had given her courage, self-worth, and an appreciation for the things often overlooked. Jasper hadn’t. He was still similar to a boy. He leaned on me for more than I should have allowed. Yet he’d been my family for most of my life. It had always been Geraldine and Jasper. The only two who I knew were there for me.
I wanted to believe my words. I wanted my diligence in finding the truth about Beulah and Heidi to have been for Jasper. Telling myself I was doing it for him eased the guilt when I searched harder, pushed past barriers in my way, and broke a few laws. The truth was, deep down I knew the entire time I was doing it because of her. Part to protect her from unseen pain and danger. Part to make sure she wasn’t being taken advantage of. And lastly to prove my gut was right. The Van Allan’s had a secret. One that would make her and Jasper an impossibility. That was my darkness. I’d wanted her so damn bad, Jasper hadn’t been my concern.
He didn’t deserve Beulah. She didn’t know him. She thought he was someone he wasn’t and he led her to believe that. My jealousy began to build disgust from his lies.
The guilt I should feel for having Beulah here with me never came. Even when Jasper accused me of the truth—wanting her. I didn’t feel guilty because I wanted her to heal and for her heart to realize it wasn’t love she felt for Jasper. I had waited for her. Given her the time she needed.
When her eyes began to look at me differently, I knew I couldn’t ignore that pull inside me. The hunger to touch her, inhale her, to be free to hold her.
Jasper leaving was it the last step. He was leaving. Running. If I had a doubt about his feelings for her this made it clear it wasn’t enough. A man that walked away from Beulah didn’t deserve her.
My time of quietly living in torture was over.
Lowering my head until my mouth covered hers for the first time was as close to a spiritual moment as I’d ever experience. The air around us stilled. Her breathing stopped. My heartbeat pounded steadily in my ears. The heat from her lips seared me and I knew it was me trembling from the connection.
Beulah’s left hand reached up and covered mine as I caressed her neck. My right hand slid around her waist applying pressure until we were pressed together from head to toe. Every inch of her body touched mine. She leaned in with complete trust. My kiss hadn’t scared or surprised her. She’d responded with the same urgency I had rushing through me.
I wanted to look into her eyes and tell her everything. To explain it all to her. But not now. She didn’t require it. Like me, she seemed to have been waiting. Anticipating this moment.
Pressing my thumb against the pulse in her neck, I felt the rapid beat that matched my own. My right hand slid down to cover her perfectly round bottom. I squeezed gently and a moan escaped her as she shifted closer, spreading her legs slightly. The subtle invitation made my already hard dick throb. This moment was one I had imagined, planned, fantasized over. I wanted to take my time memorizing every kiss, sound, and expression in her eyes.
What I wanted and reality were beginning to become two different things. The build up from the moment I saw her. The moment she spoke. The moment that damn smile squeezed my chest, it had all brought me to this.
She lifted a knee and slid it up my leg until it was at my hip. Another invitation. Grabbing her thigh, I growled in frustration. My hunger for her was growing out of control quickly. With more force than I intended I squeezed her thigh and jerked her legs open wider and pressed my erection as close to her center as I could. She wasn’t tall enough to give us the heated connection we were both craving. With both hands, I grabbed her waist and pulled her higher.
Without instruction, she wrapped her legs around me. My cock was pressing against her where she pulsed with excitement from the connection. The warmth between her legs cradled me and made my knees slightly weak. It felt as if an animal had broken free inside me causing any softness and gentleness I possessed to fade.
“AH!” Beulah cried out as her head fell backward and she lifted her hips then lowered them to rub my hardness against her aching clit. She grabbed my shoulders with both hands, her eyes closed tightly and she began grinding against me.
“Uh, oh, oh,” she panted. Her body moved with eagerness for more.
I wasn’t a religious man, but watching her I began to understand devotion. Her voracious response was stirring my lust. I’d dreamed I’d worship her. Now I wanted to own her. Lose myself inside her. Reach a level I knew I’d never been. One that would change me as much as the woman in my arms had.
Unable to stand still any longer as she pleasured us both with her moans and pure abandon, I moved toward the bed. Quickly. Every ounce of blood in my body felt as if it were moving to my growing erection. It was more sensitive than it had ever been. I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t take my time. Not anymore. My desire was controlling my actions.
I pressed her into the bed,
pulling back to shove her legs apart. Her eyes were hooded and her chest rose and fell as if she were out of breath. “I was going to take my time.” My voice sounded like a growl. The crazed animalistic need had taken over. “But you rubbed that sweet pussy on me.” I lowered my voice and bent down to press a kiss to the exposed skin beneath her ear. “Your reaction made me snap,” I added.
Pulling back, I looked into her eyes to see if I’d frightened her. But all I saw was excitement. A craving that matched my own. My hands were still on her inner thighs. Holding them open as wide as they would go. I reached up and hooked my fingers in the waist of the pajama shorts she was wearing. “When I take these off and see just how wet you are, smell how fucking sweet your desire is, I’m afraid I will lose any small portion of control I still have left.”
I was warning her. Even now when my body was literally shaking with my desperation for her. I was giving her a chance to stop me.
“Good,” the soft challenge came out in a breathless pant.
If there was any thread of sanity left in me, it vanished with that single response.
Beulah
IN ONE BRIEF MOMENT, IT crossed my mind that this was another me. This wanton woman inside me had come unleashed at Stone’s touch. I didn’t know her and she frightened me. But she knew what she wanted. The eagerness to hold nothing back and take it all. Everything I knew Stone would give me I became desperate for. I didn’t understand my reaction. I knew the hedonism Stone could provide was what I desired above all else.
The darkness swirling in his eyes should have made me nervous but all I could do was beg for more. There was no limit as long as Stone was touching me. His hand slid up my thigh and with one finger he began to open me with a roughness that excited me. I wanted it to hurt a little. I wanted him to lay his claim on me, leaving me aching.
“It’s tight,” he said as his gaze was on the area opened to him. “My dick is going to split you open.”
“Yes,” the sound of that made me squirm with restless anticipation. This was like a tease that kept me at the verge of an orgasm and dangled me there. I wanted to be tossed over the edge, but then jerked back and tossed again and again.
His pupils completely dominated the color of his eyes. Stone’s mouth opened slightly as he lifted his body from mine and removed his clothing with quick determination. I was lost the moment I got the full view of his body. Beautiful and more perfect than I’d realized. Every inch of him was cut as if he were a god. I was anxious to touch him.
When his body covered mine, the power emanating from him had be lifting myself to get there sooner. I was impatient. He used one hand to hold me back and I almost pleaded with him to let me touch him as he stripped my tank top off my body. I’d forgotten I was still wearing it. My focus had been on him.
When I was bared to him completely, I paused. I was unsure for the first time since he kissed me. His body was perfectly chiseled. It was intimidating.
His eyes roamed over me and all I could see now were the girls. The topless ones, naked ones, and beautiful bodies he’d been with at the Van Allan pool parties.
I closed my eyes wishing I hadn’t remembered them, the parties, or the girls. When Jasper had seen me like this I hadn’t felt so self-conscious. But now, with Stone, I worried I wouldn’t meet his expectations.
“Open your eyes, Beulah.” It wasn’t a gentle request. His words were an order and I obeyed. My willing obedience was unlike me, but Stone made me react in a way no one ever had. There was some unseen power there that ignited when we were near each other. Even when I thought I hated him, I found myself looking for him. As if my soul was attached to his even though neither of us seemed to want that.
“Open your legs wider,” he said his voice hoarse. If I didn’t know better, I could’ve sworn he was trembling. Was his control slipping? Did he feel this unknown energy between us too?
His nostrils flared as I felt his hardness brush against my sensitive core. “I wanted to make love to you. Kiss you, get so damn much of you on my skin that I could smell it for days. But now.” He growled as his eyes glowed. “I need to fuck you. Hard. Take it all. Here you scream my name.”
It was me who trembled now. I shook and wanted to beg him for exactly that. What he was explaining was unknown to me. A dark, exciting temptation I wanted with him. There was no fear. I trusted him.
Lifting my hips, I felt him press closer to the entrance causing more sizzling pressure. It was beginning to be too much. I felt as if I might explode any moment. The knowledge that he was going to fill me was sending bolts of electricity throughout my entire body.
“Mine,” he said loudly in a harsh tone.
My breath left me as my body rocketed and I was full. Beautifully invaded. Stretched and crying out in pleasure while I clung to him. He was too big. Yet the sharp pain was everything and more. I cried his name and begged him for more.
“Fucking mine,” he repeated and began moving. In and out. Each rock of his hips brought me closer to the beauty that I knew only he could give me. Nothing before this mattered. Nothing after this would ever measure up. This was a pinnacle that I never knew existed.
“Stone,” I breathed. “I need,” I couldn’t string the words together. He was inside me bringing me to the edge that I wanted to leap off and fall into it blindly. Not caring about anything but this. Us.
“You need this?” he asked as he began pumping into me harder. His mouth lowered and devoured one of my nipples. Biting. Creating new currents that made me shake.
His mouth moved up my chest and licked at my collarbone. He took bites of my skin as he worked his way up my neck. When his warm breath caressed my ear, I clung to him tighter. I was about to erupt. Each brush of his mouth against my skin and every jerk of his hips had my knees lifting higher. My ankles crossed over his back trying to get him deeper.
Stone bit my earlobe and whispered, “I want to come inside you. Fill you until it’s running down your sweet thighs. All I can think about is how fucking amazing it would be to be inside you while I explode.”
All of that. I wanted it. “Yes. Please,” I sounded desperate. Like a woman in a desert that sees water. It was all I needed. My nails clawed at his back.
“Fuck,” he said as he got rougher. My hips slamming into the bed. “You make me insane,” he growled. “Fucking crazed.”
“Oh God! Please!” I threw my head back. It was there. I was falling. The world was gone from underneath me. Nothing around me existed. It was a divine experience. “STONE!” I heard my voice cry out for him. I could hear him talking, but the other world I was floating in muffled it all.
“FUUUUCK!” his roar brought me back enough to witness him pull out of me to watch his release shoot all over my stomach. The sight of it excited me. Made me forget I’d just been given the most life altering experience of my life and I already wanted more.
His eyes lifted from the view of my stomach to meet my dazed eyes. He was panting. Trying to catch his breath. Sweat clung to his skin. His eyes had more color than black now. “Holy hell,” he whispered.
I touched the hot seed on my stomach. Curious about how it felt and liking the image of it on my fingers.
“Jesus Christ, Beulah,” he said with a small laugh. “I’m going to toss you over and fuck you again, this time so I can worship that ass of yours if you don’t stop. I’ll never get enough of you. Of this.”
A slow smile spread across my face as I lifted my fingers and tasted his release. I felt wanton and I loved it.
His eyes flared again and I knew our night wasn’t over.
Stone
ACKNOWLEDGING MY RELATIONSHIP WITH JASPER wasn’t more important than Beulah hadn’t been a quick thing. I’d battled it. Fought it. But in the end, there was only so much room in my heart and Beulah was quickly filling it. The more I got to know her, the further I was consumed.
Last night had been it. Changed it all. Every step, every choice, all of it from now on would be centered around Beulah. S
he had slowly become my life. I didn’t regret it. How could I when I had never felt such complete joy in my entire life? Any darkness, pain, anger that had been a constant in my life didn’t matter. She drowned it all out just by being near me.
I would fight. I would face whatever necessary to keep her.
Taking a drink of my coffee I continued to lean against the doorframe watching her sleep. We’d had another intense round last night where I was positive I left a hand print on her left butt cheek. I woke her up after a few hours’ sleep and made love to her. We took it slow that time. I tasted her while she squirmed and pulled my hair.
The memory made me hard. I had to keep my distance as she slept now.
She needed her rest. Even in her sleep there she smiled softly. I’d put that there. My chest felt like it would explode. The idea of beating my hands against it like a cave man was tempting. She was asleep and completed exhausted because I’d given her more pleasure than she could take. I wasn’t an easy man to love. I was easier to hate. I knew that.
But if I could keep her by giving her that kind of pleasure, I saw that as a win-win for both of us. Being inside her was more than just a fuck. It was more than an erotic experience. It was mind blowing. Soul claiming.
She stretched causing her small feet to peek out from the covers. Her arms lifted over her head and she yawned. I enjoyed witnessing such pure beauty. If I hadn’t spent most of the night naked and inside her I’d say it was the picture of innocence. Even though I’d had her clinging to me, clawing me, and begging me to fuck her, she still held that beautiful innocent glow.
Blonde hair spread out over the pillow as she turned her head toward me. Two slow blinks and then a small shy smile. Exactly as I’d imagined it. I’d watched her, studied her, and been fascinated by her from day one. I knew her expressions. I knew what made her smile and how to cause anger to flash in her stunning eyes. When she tried to hide an emotion, I knew it. There was little I didn’t know.
