by M. O. Kenyan
“What?”
Katherine was on a verge of a giggle at the genuine surprise on AJ’s face. She could tell he had never been put on the bench before. And the little power she got from it, got into Katherine’s head. “It’s been a fun weekend, but who are we kidding?”
“Me, apparently,” he whispered, his eyes staring at the ground.
“We aren’t relationship kind of people. Especially between the two of us, it would never work.” Katherine gasped when she could hear her heart screaming out for her to stop, but her head, her misguided thoughts urged her on. “Besides what will the red-head nurse or your little brunette think if you don’t call her?”
Katherine could feel her lower lips tremble. She turned away from him, when the tears she was holding at bay slid down her cheeks. She cleared her throat of all the tension and said. “Sex is a great way to release the tension. And when you are up to it, we can have as much sex as you want, wherever, whenever you want.”
“So you want the sex?” His voice was low, unreadable.
“I guess that’s what we both want.”
“Sure.”
“But exclusively.”
“I can’t promise you that.”
Katherine paused for a second, trying to digest what he was saying. He was still going to keep the other women. She turned around, ready to push back, but AJ wasn’t there. She took out her frustration on her door. Banging and locking it, telling herself that keeping AJ out would punish him. But when her frail body slid boneless to the floor, she realized the only person hurting was her.
* * * *
“…exclusively.”
“I can’t promise you that.”
Those words played in Katherine’s mind over and over again as she watched AJ play with the curls on the little redhead’s head. She had finally learned her name—Rose, and she hated it. Her back stiffened whenever AJ’s gaze flitted toward her. She quickly turned away and pretended to be writing in a chart. But who was she kidding? It was obvious she was stalking AJ. She was practically his tail. Katherine knew AJ would have figured out it wasn’t coincidence which had her in his sights every way he turned. Slowly she lifted her head and found AJ still staring at her. A thick black brow rose questioningly.
She needed to find someone’s heart to open up. Keeping busy was the key to retaining her sanity.
“Dr. Henry.”
Katherine let out an annoyed growl at the sound of Lyle’s voice. Now, her day couldn’t get any worse. She turned toward him slowly, her lips in a thin, white, fake smile. “Yes, Dr. Lyle.”
“How was your weekend?” She felt her skin crawl as his eyes roamed around her body. She was in her scrubs and a white doctor’s coat. But he managed to make her feel as if she didn’t have a stitch on her.
“It was perfect. Our weekend was perfect.” A deep baritone voice spoke from beside her.
Katherine commanded her spine to stay straight, her knees not to buckle and her body not to wrap itself around AJ’s. The sound of his voice in her ear had the ability to bring her body to life, and put naughty thoughts in her mind. This new feeling was a total contrast to what Lyle was making her feel. She felt AJ’s arm curl around her waist and gently, but firmly pull her back into his chest. A smirk curled on Katherine’s lip—AJ was making her his territory.
“I wasn’t asking you.” Katherine managed to catch the flicker of anger and hatred as Lyle spat out his words.
Katherine could feel AJ shake in anger. Something else was going on between these two. And when AJ’s fingers started biting into her side, she knew she had to defuse the situation. “It was perfect. AJ and I had a perfect weekend. Please excuse us.”
Katherine thought she would have to anchor her foot into the tiles, just to be able to get a firm grip on AJ and pull him away. The murderous look in AJ’s once sunset-cool brown eyes, made Katherine shiver in fear. She had never thought anyone could manage to look at another human being with such hate.
“What’s going on with you?” She hissed.
“I want you to stay away from him—”
“But—”
“If you want us to be exclusive, you will stay away from Lyle. Did you hear me?” AJ roared then stomped off.
Katherine would have been happy to oblige AJ. But Lyle was her attending. She was in his service until the end of her internship. And in order to get a good fellowship she needed a stellar recommendation from Lyle. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
Her day had been full of awkward moments. AJ was mad at her for entertaining Lyle’s attentions. But that was just her way of making sure her feelings for AJ didn’t cross the line. He hadn’t spoken to her for the rest of the day. He just glared at her each time Lyle came too close. They were at home now and the small space made avoiding each other impossible, so Katherine decided to make the first move.
Katherine hovered outside AJ’s bedroom door. The corner of her lip, where her teeth were biting down nervously, had already become sore and she could taste the coppery tang of blood. She lifted her knuckles ready to rap them on the door, but a shiver of nerves and anticipation radiated through her. Katherine shivered, shaking off the tension, but as soon as her knuckles made contact with the door, she wanted to turn around and run.
The door swung open and her first eye contact was with his rock hard abs. Her fingers reached out, but she pulled them back and forced them between her teeth. She bit down, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in order to clear her mind. When she looked up at AJ she expected to find his usual sly grin, mocking her sexual weakness for him. But there was none of that. He stared at her, a glint of loathing in his eye.
He was pissed off she was here. But you wouldn’t be able to tell, since he reached for her and pulled her into the room.
“I…aah…m-huh. Are you going out?” She asked, swallowing a huge knot which had formed in her throat.
“In a while, why?”
“Dear God!” Katherine muttered under her breath as AJ bent over and reached for a towel that seemed to have found its way to the floor. She hadn’t noticed he was wearing jeans. But the denim made a point of reminding her of everything underneath it. The material tightened around his thighs, the curve of his sweet ass grew profound. Now if she could only sneak a peek from the front.
Katherine’s visual was interrupted by AJ clearing his throat and staring at her with a black eyebrow raised in suspicion.
“Did you want something?”
“Yes I was wondering if we could—”
“Take your clothes off. I’ve got an hour.” AJ said, then disappeared into his bathroom.
“What? No…that’s not…” That’s not what? Her body asked her mind. That’s not what you wanted to hear. Come on, who are you fooling? Katherine shifted on her feet as the warmth pooled between her thighs. Maybe they could have some passionate sex, before she could talk to him about his unreasonable request of her not talking to Lyle.
AJ walked back into the room, but stopped just outside the bathroom door. Another quizzical look crossed his face. “Did you want me to do it?”
“Do what?” Katherine let out a tensed breath. “Yeah right, strip. You got any music?” she chuckled nervously.
AJ picked up a remote. She didn’t see where he was aiming it, but immediately music filled the room. But it was rap, not romantic.
“Maybe you could—” She didn’t finish her statement; AJ switched the music to one of Neyo’s smooth tunes.
AJ tossed something on the bed. Katherine sneaked a look and found that it was a box of condoms. A whole box! Her body exclaimed. The hormonal part of her rejoiced but she knew the kind of stamina AJ had. By the time he was half way through, her body would be begging for rest. That was why each and every time they had sex, Katherine slept through the night, unless AJ woke her up for another round.
“Take your clothes off!” AJ barked and slowly Katherine’s trembling fingers started to work on the buttons on her shirt.
The bark in his v
oice didn’t invoke fear, it seduced her lust. What kind of a freak was she that she got wet from AJ yelling at her. In three quick strides, AJ had grabbed her and turned her face and stomach against the wall. “You are a bit slow today, baby. You need my help.”
Katherine’s palms were now flat against the wall. The coolness of the concrete a welcomed relief because her body was burning red hot under AJ’s attentions. He reached around her waist and tugged at the front of her jeans. Katherine heard a clunk and assumed it was the button of her denim meeting the ground. AJ’s fingers lifted the band of her panties and sneaked to her warmth. Katherine hissed, her back arching and pressing into his chest. Her hand cradled his in place as her waist rocked.
“Hands back on the wall!”
Katherine did as she was ordered. Her knees begun to buckle announcing her approaching climax. She pressed her ass against his body for support. She was just about to orgasm when AJ’s phone rang again. The sound of the tearing packet filled the room. Katherine didn’t know when AJ had taken their clothes off. She was just about to turn around and hold him when he hiked her leg up and entered her with such force she felt like her body was about to split into two.
Sex, sweat and the scent of AJ’s aftershave filled the air. Katherine held on to those smells, they were going to forever invoke this memory. The moment when she felt like a woman and not delicate china. She screamed out her release and heard AJ grunt his own. He lifted her in his arms and laid her on the bed.
Cuddling, that’s what she expected. Instead AJ’s phone rang again, “I’ll be right there,” he said before closing the bathroom door behind him. Cold and alone, that was what Katherine would be every single night if she didn’t change the rules of the game she had set in motion.
Chapter Eight
“I don’t know what I’m doing Reno.” AJ’s shoulders slumped uncharacteristically as he cried over his Irish Brew.
“You are roommates with benefits. That’s what she wanted.” Reno slapped his wide hand on AJ’s back, making AJ cough.
“Would you take that offer from Lisette?”
“Hell no, I’m in—” Reno paused. AJ watched as his brother stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “I don’t believe it. Adrian Jackson Ross Junior—you, my brother, are in love.”
“Don’t say that out loud.” AJ looked around, checking if someone in the little bar had heard what Reno had said. He didn’t need anyone to know, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know himself. “I’m fond of her. It might be because I was her first. There is a whole lot of emotional baggage with that sort of responsibility.”
“For the girl. The guy only feels that sort of ‘responsibility’ and ‘emotional baggage’…” AJ sneered each time Reno used his fingers to draw quotes in the air. “…if he’s in—”
“Don’t say it, Reno Kanaloa Kent.” AJ brought his fist down on the table with a loud thud which made his drink fly off the table. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I could give you a clue.”
AJ turned toward the seductress. The rumor of a dress she wore barely covered her breast and stopped just under the curve of her ass. She was pretty enough and her red hair was a plus. It wasn’t blonde like Katherine. AJ was done with blondes.
AJ immediately felt the charm coming on. So many years of being a Lothario had made this sort of response to the opposite sex automatic. AJ moved his legs from under the table and with a gentle tug, he settled the woman between his thighs.
“What clue is that?” The sexy, hypnotic drawl in his voice was back, no longer anything like the man whining a few seconds ago.
“Meet me in the ladies’ in ten seconds.” She blew him a kiss, walked away and disappeared into the back.
AJ reached for his wallet. He needed protection, but he came up empty. He groaned and looked up at Reno for assistance. “I need this. I need to make Katherine as unimportant as every other woman I have slept with.”
“I don’t have any protection.”
“Reno, if you get my little sister pregnant—” he snarled his warning.
“Relax, she’s on birth control. Besides if she finds me with a box of condoms, she’ll think I’m cheating.” He scoffed. “Look at it this way AJ—it wasn’t meant to be. Now let’s get out of here before that horny harpy comes back.”
* * * *
Katherine decided to go back to her own bed when AJ hadn’t come back after an hour. She concluded he was probably with someone else. It infuriated her how he could go looking for another woman seconds after he had made love to her. She looked at the clock. It was three am, and she had to wake up in three hours. Katherine stared at the ceiling, tracing the tiny dots she saw there, counting the number of panels used to cover the ceiling.
She sat up with a start when she heard the front door open. Fear gripped her. What if someone had broken in, and AJ wasn’t there to keep her safe. Katherine stayed frozen on the bed as she listened to the heavy footstep coming toward her room. If the thief was heading her way, it meant he wasn’t interested in anything else in the apartment.
It was her thief, the one who had stolen her innocence, and robbed her of her heart and her love. She sank back into bed and thought about pretending to be asleep. The door opened and didn’t close for a few seconds. AJ was watching her, and even under the cover of her duvet, his gaze touched each and every part of her.
“I’m awake.” She confessed.
Katherine didn’t lift her head to watch what he was doing. Instead she listened. She listened to his heavy breathing, to the sound of shoes being thrown off, to the sound of his jacket and T-shirt dropping to the floor, the slide of his zipper and the rustle of his jeans as they slid down his thick thighs.
Then she felt him. The bed dipped as he climbed and hovered over her. The intense passion flowed from his body and into hers.
Then she smelled him—he was drunk.
AJ lay on top of her on the covers. His hands sprawled at his sides, as his head rested on her chest. Katherine could feel his weight begin to crush her, but she didn’t dare move him.
“My Kat, my beautiful kitty kat,” he mumbled.
“Hush, it’s okay I’m here.”
“You can’t love me, can you?”
“What?” Katherine tapped him over and over again, trying to get him to repeat what he said. Trying to ascertain her ears weren’t lying to her and her mind and heart weren’t playing tricks on her. Finally she found her upper body strength and pushed AJ off. Straddling him, she tried to wake him, but it was of no use.
Katherine lay on his chest and said. “I can love you. I do love you.”
* * * *
Standing at the kitchen counter, AJ swallowed the bile that was burning at the back of his throat and tried to ignore the pain in his temple. But his head pounded with a vengeance from the previous night’s excesses. He didn’t remember a large chunk of what he’d done last night. The last thing he recalled was the vixen who invited him for a quickie in the women’s bathroom. AJ had almost done it. He almost screwed a complete stranger a few hours after he had made love to Katherine, just to get her out of his system.
His hands began to tremble at the sound of Katherine’s door opening then clicking shut. A splash of hot coffee burnt his hand, and AJ thought it would be safer for his body, and his ego, if he put the mug down. He stared at the corner she was just about to come around, terrified. As he didn’t know what he’d done last night, he didn’t know what sort of mood he should expect from her.
The second her face appeared and their eyes locked, it all halted. The moment froze, time stopped—and the only thing with life was his heart as it thunderously beat as if it were going to burst out of his chest.
“Morning.” Katherine mumbled, a crimson blush filled her cheeks as she looked away.
AJ didn’t expect her to blush. Her smile gave him enough courage to pick his coffee back up. “Morning, how did you sleep?”
AJ knew how she slept. He woke up with her tiny body on top
of his. He wasn’t sure whether he had put her there, or she had crawled there on her own. But in the few seconds before his previous night’s activities came back to haunt him, AJ wrapped his arms around her, taking in her morning scent, and how her barely-there weight brought comfort to his heart.
“Great.” Katherine gazed at him and AJ could tell she was studying him. Probably waiting for him to remember or bring up what might have happened before they slept. “Did you have a good time last night, when you went out?”
“It was cool. I like spending time with Reno.”
“Reno?”
“My little sister’s boyfriend.” AJ thought it was time to change the topic before she asked about anything else. “We should probably get going.”
“I wanted to speak to you about Lyle—”
“Kitty!” The look of surprise on Katherine’s face made AJ regret calling her that aloud. Something must have happened the previous night that had to do with that pet name. He tried his best to push aside the emotions stirring inside him, as her ivory skin burned pink. He wanted to reach out and stroke her flushed cheeks, press a kiss at the base of her neck and gather her in his arms. But he used the kitchen island between them as an obstacle he wasn’t meant to cross. Katherine had made it clear—the bedroom was the only place their relationship was meant to thrive.
“About Lyle—”
“We already talked about that. You are to stay away from him.” AJ stared down at his now cold coffee and dumped it in the sink.
“We didn’t talk about it. You ordered me to stay away.”
AJ walked around her. He wasn’t going to compromise on this.
“AJ, listen to me, please!”
“What!” He turned around and bumped into her. His arms shot out and caught her just as she lost her balance. The storm brewing in her eyes, turning her calm baby blues to lightning silver tickled his groin. How he wished he could have this fire, anger or frustration in bed with him. That would be a lovemaking for the books.
