“Here?” he asked, his voice coming out barely a whisper.
“Don’t worry, nobody can see us back here.”
“But someone might come.”
“Hopefully that someone is you.” I slid his jeans and boxers down, freeing his eager, ready cock.
“Oh Maya. What am I going to do with you?”
“You don’t have to do anything right now. Just enjoy this.”
“I wouldn’t—and couldn’t—stop this.”
I kissed the tip of his cock and he growled low again. When I licked the shaft, he ran his fingers through my hair.
“Close your eyes,” I said. Then I stood up and pulled the blue scarf out of my bag. I stood on my tiptoes to wrap it over his eyes and tie it in the back.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s my turn to play with you.”
“You’re going to blindfold me here? In a graveyard?”
“Shhh.” I kneeled back down and took him into my mouth. His excitement grew as I took my time alternating between licking and sucking him as he pumped his hips forward.
“Oh my God. This is incredible. I’m going to come if you keep doing that.”
I sucked harder to show I wasn’t stopping. He reached back with both arms and grabbed the tree as he arched himself forward one last time, pumping his hot liquid into me and whispering my name.
Tristan
After that mind-blowing orgasm in the cemetery, we returned to my loft. Maya had already taken my mind off the shadows when she took control of my body there. And she continued commanding all my thoughts and sensations as she began a striptease to a Danzig song, She Rides. I didn’t think I’d be able to make it through the song. She pulled off the leather catsuit ever so slowly, leaving on the reddish wig.
Shadows? Graveyard? What graveyard?
The sex was amazing. It was always amazing.
The way we explored each other would be permanently imprinted on my memory. The blue scarf would never be just some scarf again. And leather catsuits? Purr.
Maya stayed over most nights. I grew accustomed to her being there so quickly. When she was gone, it was as if something was missing.
How did she become such an important part of my life? I was alone for so long and thought I always would be. Holding her in my bed all night filled me with a comfort I never knew existed.
Yet at the same time, I knew it couldn’t last forever. I was too dark, too damaged. Unfit as a companion. And Maya deserved more. Better.
Pushing reality aside, I focused on now and the time we had. As she sat on the sofa flipping through a magazine, I searched through my music collection.
“Hey Maya, this is your song,” I teased as I played one by The Cult.
She looked and turned her head to the side as she listened. “Fire Woman?Oh, you’re funny.” She threw a pillow at me and went to my laptop.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting you back. I’m looking for your song.”
“Ha, good luck. I’m one of a kind!”
“That you are.” Her eyes raked my body. “Come over here,” she said, sauntering to the bed.
Just like that she switched from teasing me to seducing me. And I responded to the slightest hint of her desire like a Pavlovian dog. No doubt, I was hooked.
Unfortunately, I had to tend to the club and she had to work at the firehouse. Once our duties were done, we met in the lab. We spent the next several days focused on our new hobby—each other.
That and the other reason we had come together. Was there a deeper reason for our connection? And would we ever figure it out?
Chapter Eight
Tristan
After a very energetic lovemaking session, we lay there panting on the pullout sofa in my lab. She was lying on her stomach and I ran a finger up her spine, tracing the intricate swirls in her tattoo. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she replied. “The tattoo?”
“No. But now that you mention it, yes.”
“Just a design I like.”
“And the flames?”
“You know my secret.”
I nodded.
“So what’s your question?”
“You know how I see you in light. But deep down I see a darkness in you. As if you’re sad.”
She bristled.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“No. I just don’t know where you’re going with it.”
“I wonder about it. Often.” I propped myself up on one elbow. “Why are you sad deep down? My mind runs wild thinking someone hurt you and it makes me want to destroy them.”
“Settle down, tiger,” she said, rolling on her side to face me.
I caught the sight of her breasts and grew aroused again.
“No need to seek and destroy anyone,” she said. “I’m no different from anyone else. The usual disappointments in life.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, you know. People come, people go. You think they’ll be in your life, but they disappear.”
“Your birth parents?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But what do I know about that? I was a baby. It’s hard to contemplate a loss of something that was never really there.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Perhaps. I’ve had my heart broken, same as any girl who’s ever been a teenager.”
“Anyone else?”
She opened her mouth and then closed it.
“Maya?”
“A good friend of mine just vanished from my life not too long ago. I wish she’d just tell me why.”
“What happened?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know. We were inseparable—we worked together, hung out together—like sisters, I imagine. I don’t know since I don’t have any. And then, she disappeared with the previous owner after the fire and has been all cryptic since.”
Apparently I unearthed some feelings she’d buried for a while. She continued her tirade.
“I mean, why can’t she just tell me what’s going on? Why did she just take off with this guy Mee-shel, or however you say his name, to Europe? Who leaves a decent job, a job she was good at and worked hard to get, for some guy? She had a nice apartment and everything. Sends some moving company to pack her stuff up and put it in storage—it’s crazy. Ugh, it makes me sick. When a strong, confident woman leaves everything to go off for a man, I just hope there’s a reasonable explanation behind it.”
After a significant pause when I thought it was safe to speak, I said, “Maybe there is.”
She raised one eyebrow. “Really? What could possibly be so important that you’d run off and leave everything behind?”
She had me there. “I don’t know. But from my experience, you should never judge how a person acts or what they’ve decided unless you’ve been in their shoes.”
She snorted. “Sounds very Zen-like to me.”
“Think about it. Most people think I’m extremely—peculiar. The way I isolate myself. If they knew the reason why, well, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to judge.”
She looked sheepish for a moment.
“And you, with your connection to fire. If people knew, they probably wouldn’t understand and would just dismiss you as some kind of freak.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t be so quick to judge. You asked why I was hurt and that’s the most recent thing.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have pried.”
“I’m glad you did. I’d buried it for so long I was starting to grind my teeth at night.” Then she gave me a wickedly sinful smile and said, “Bet you thought I was going to say it was some guy.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. “Maybe. I didn’t know what you’d say.”
“Yeah, I know. Jealous much?” she teased and threw a pillow at me and tried to scoot away.
“Oh, you’re gonna get it. Get over here you.” I grabbed her ankle and pulled her back toward me and over my lap as she squealed. “Feeling naughty, are we? Per
haps a little spanking is in order.”
“Oh yes, I need to be punished,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “I’ve been a very wicked girl.”
That night I spanked her before we made love and I spanked her good. She loved it, shouting out in protest each time, but then readying herself for more. Seeing my red handprints on her fine pale skin shot excitement straight to my cock. I bent her over the end of the sofa again, grabbing her ass as I fucked her from behind.
I could never get tired of this. I could fuck her every day.
But then after she fell asleep in my arms later that night, the doubts started to settle in.
No matter how much I wanted her with me, I had to think of her happiness. She deserved better than me.
I was the wrong man for her.
Maya
I ordered a drink while waiting for Tristan. He’d agreed to meet me upstairs at Vamps for a breather tonight. We’d been hiding out downstairs or in his loft while we experimented in all sorts of fun ways, but now I wanted to get out and dance.
“What have you got there?” a woman asked me, nodding toward my drink.
She was quite attractive, with dark, wavy hair and goth-style makeup. I couldn’t help but give her a quick once-over, the way you do when you see a hot woman—even if you’re a straight woman. She was wearing a skintight black outfit that showed every curve.
“It’s a Tempting Fate,” I said. “It’s really good. You should try one.”
“I’ll have to get that next,” she said. “I’m Maddie. Great club, isn’t it?”
“Maya,” I replied. I wanted to proudly add how my guy was the owner of the club and how he was the reason this club made such a hot comeback. But I stifled my enthusiasm, wary of being overzealous. “Yes, one of my favorites. It’s not just the music and the people, but it’s all the little details that make it its own.”
“So Maya, are you here with anyone? Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t be drinking alone.”
Was she hitting on me? Or just being polite?
“My boyfriend is meeting me here. He promised me we’d dance tonight. It’s been too long.”
She laughed. “Men who dance. A rare breed.”
I looked around. There were a good number on the dance floor tonight. But then I thought about the other men in my life. Would any of the firefighters I worked with be caught dead on a dance floor, let alone a dance floor like this one? Leather, vinyl, costumes and scantily clad bodies abounded.
Just then, a dark-haired man sporting a Van Dyke snaked an arm around Maddie from behind and kissed her on the cheek.
“Maya, this is my husband Roderick.”
“Maya,” he said, giving me a nod.
“Nice to meet you.”
Maddie said, “Roderick and I host couples parties at our house. Maybe you and your boyfriend would like to join us sometime.”
Couples parties? Did she mean no kids allowed? Or was she talking about the more kinky variety with an open-door sex policy?
“Um, what kind of parties do you mean exactly?”
“Oh, no pressure or anything. We just look for some open-minded couples like ourselves who are looking for fun, friendship and, you know—maybe a little more.”
The hungry look they both gave me told me all I needed to know about what the little more might mean. And to tell you the truth, I did not know how I felt about it. Part of me was ready to hightail it out of there. But another part noticed the flush of excitement that shot through my body and settled right between my legs knowing that these people were thinking of me sexually.
“Umm, I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never been to anything like that before.”
She wrote down her name and number on a scrap of paper. “If you’re ever intrigued and want to find out more, just give me a call. Like I said, no pressure.”
As they walked away from the bar onto the dance floor, I watched them. He was kind of hot in a Latin lover way. He shook it with style. And she was definitely a head-turner. I tried to picture myself kissing her. Would I like kissing a woman? Would I like to do other things with a woman like her?
Hmm, stuff to ponder while I nursed my drink. What about Tristan? Would he be into this? We did some freaky-ass shit together already. I didn’t know how I felt about inviting other people into our sexual play. But, hey, it could be fun…an experimental, open-minded, sensual kind of fun.
Tristan interrupted my fantasy. “Hey, babe. How are you?” He kissed me on the lips.
“Fine,” I said, remembering where I was. “Now that I have you here and I’m not left to my own devices.”
“Yes, we wouldn’t want that, would we? You could get into all kinds of trouble.”
“Quite true.”
I looked at Maddie and Roderick dancing. They were all over each other in a very uninhibited way.
Yeah, maybe. I might be into that.
Just as I was about to mention the interesting little invitation we’d received, Tristan said, “Come on. I promised you I’d dance. And I’m a man of my word.”
“Thank you, Tristan. I know you hate being around people for too long.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll just keep my eyes on you. Being around other people is easier with you to focus on.”
Tristan and I danced to some industrial tracks. He seemed distracted, maybe sad. I could understand. I knew what he was dealing with at the moment to come up here and dance with me.
Oh so different from the first time we danced when we couldn’t keep our eyes or hands off each other. The passion was still just as intense, just as powerful, but something was off tonight. What was it?
The DJ slowed it down with The Smith’s How Soon is Now? One you were sure to hear every week or two.
I caught Maddie and Roderick’s eyes a few times. The way they looked at each other, the way they ran their hands down each other’s bodies—they were definitely hot for each other.
And the way they looked at me and Tristan made me think they were hot for us too.
A couples party? I’d have to keep it mind. Maybe surprise Tristan with the idea later.
Just as I was about to point them out to Tristan, I looked at him. What was up with him? He wasn’t looking at me or at anything in particular in the room, but staring as if he was in deep thought.
“What’s wrong, Tristan? You seem distant. Is it too much being up here?”
He looked at me with his dark, soulful eyes, which now appeared so full of sadness.
“Just close your eyes and hold me,” I said. I pressed myself closer to him and he pulled me tight.
“Oh Maya,” he said. “What am I going to do?”
“Don’t do anything right now. Just hold me close. Whatever it is, it’ll be all right.”
Tristan
I had thought Maya was right, we had to get out of the lab and take a break. But going up to dance with her last night didn’t help. As much as I craved touching her, needed her near me, I knew the end was inevitable.
It would be painful. No, devastating. But our time was coming to an end.
I spun the globe in my lab. I could sense it over the last few days. My moods had darkened and I grew ever more frustrated each time one of our experiments failed yet again.
I thought she might lead to the cure, but it hadn’t yet happened. And I started to take my frustration out on her. I snapped at Maya a couple of times while we brewed a potion. She looked at me surprised at first and then came back at me. We started to fight over little things.
She didn’t deserve this. My moods, my darkness.
Maybe she wasn’t the light to my darkness after all. And I would end up putting out her light. She would be surrounded by shadows just like everyone else.
God, I would hate myself to destroy something so good.
I went to my compute to put on some music to distract me. But instead, I played a song that just confirmed my self-doubts—a song I often played in such moments— Creep by Radiohead.
; As I listened to the song, the old haunt came back. I wasn’t a good companion for anyone, least of all someone as good as Maya.
She was so fuckin’ special. I didn’t deserve her.
Maybe we weren’t meant to be together after all.
I played the song twice more, both to confirm my doubts about whether I was good enough for her and to confirm how she was so much better than I deserved.
Then I played Nine Inch Nails’s Hurt. Was there a more despondent song out there?
I would hurt Maya. Eventually. No matter how much I wanted to make her happy and protect her, I would be the one who hurt her in the end. She couldn’t live a normal life with someone as fucked up as me. She deserved someone who didn’t have such issues.
If I cared for her at all, I had to protect her—from me.
I had to tell her. Tonight.
Maya
After a shitty day at work, I looked forward to seeing my hot guy with the magic hands and sensuous lips. When I arrived in his lab, he didn’t rise to embrace me the way he usually did. He was bent over his workbench, head in his hands.
What was going on with him lately? We didn’t even have sex last night. Tristan just spooned me and we fell into a somewhat fitful sleep.
“Tristan? You okay?”
“It’s not working. We’ve tried and tried. I’ve done all kinds of research. And—nothing.”
I put my skull-and-crossbones bike messenger bag down on the floor and went over to rub his shoulders. “It’s okay. Maybe we’ll find something, maybe we won’t.”
He turned to look at me and his eyes were red. “No, it’s not okay. I’ve been living with this misery for years. And when I met you I had this tiny hope against hope that I could be normal. But that was a mistake. I don’t know why, but I’m cursed. And nothing and nobody can change that.”
“Whoa, Tristan,” I said. “You’re flipping out. Have you slept at all? Your eyes are bloodshot as hell.”
He shook his head. “How can I sleep? We got so close. And then—nothing.”
“Don’t give up yet. I don’t mind experimenting with new things.” I made a play of slowly crawling across the floor to him, kneeling in front of him to make my double meaning clear.
Fiery Nights Page 10
