Tragedy and Desire: An Adult Romance

by Locker, Nicole R.

  I watched the hunger burning in his eyes as I propped myself up on my elbows to get a better look at him. The muscles in his abs rippled down his stomach into a V-shape that pointed to what I already knew was an impressive package. He was mouthwatering. I wanted to touch all of him, to feel his taut muscles contracting beneath my fingers, beneath my lips.

  When he moved toward me again, his hands went straight to my shirt, slowly lifting it as I sat up and allowed him to remove the delicate fabric from my body, exposing my bare breasts. His mouth went straight to one of them, sucking it in and rolling his tongue across the hardened and sensitive peak. He alternated to the other breast, being sure to give them both ample attention.

  When his mouth began a slow, languid journey down the flat of my stomach as I lay back onto the bed, his fingers hitched the waist band of my pants, moving them down and away, revealing more of my flesh that he pressed his lips to.

  Once my pajama pants and panties were crumpled in a pile on the floor with his shirt, he crawled toward me from the end of the bed and settled at my apex with my legs over his shoulders.

  It felt awkward with his face being right there, but as soon as he stroked a finger down the folds of my heat, I nearly forgot any awkwardness ever existed. When his mouth covered my clit, his tongue began to circle the ultra-sensitive flesh, and I nearly forgot my own name. My hips began to move of their own accord as he plunged a finger inside me, in and out. I whimpered in ecstasy, and as he pulled the one finger out replacing it with two, he began a powerful suction on my clit.

  The sensations had me so stimulated that I could only bear a few seconds before a climax ripped through me so violently, I clutched handfuls of the duvet beneath me and yelled out his name, “Yes, Jax, yes!”

  Before my heart had time to slow, he moved to settled over me, pressing soft, sweet kisses on the corners of my mouth.

  “Tell me you want me,” he said in a barely controlled voice, looking down from where he hovered above me.

  I stared up at him, panting, unable to say aloud the words he was requesting.

  “Tell me you want this,” he said as he ground his rock-hard erection into the cleft at my center that still ached with sensitivity from the pleasure he had just inflicted. Even through the jeans he still wore, the movement had my arousal building once again.

  “I want it,” was my ragged response as my chest heaved up and down with my labored breath beneath him.

  His mouth covered mine and his tongue plunged past my lips, touching its tip to mine, and his kiss devoured me. The weight of his body on top of me was so arousing, and I relished the feeling of his bare chest against mine.

  I reached down to inch my fingers between us at the waist to undo his jeans, and he lifted just long enough to make quick work of getting his pants and boxer-briefs off. He removed a condom from a travel bag he had conveniently laying just beside the bed, tore the foil packaging, and rolled it down onto his thick, hardened length.

  He came back down to settle between my legs, and I wrapped myself around him, pulling him in close. He lined up his shaft at my entrance and guided it in, rubbing the head down my slick folds before letting it finally penetrate me.

  I moaned as I felt him work his way inside, little by little, easing in, pulling out, and easing in a little further, until he was fully engulfed by my wanton heat. He began the delicious movement of his hips as our hands entwined above my head.

  “Oh, yes. Jax, don’t stop,” I moaned, wondering if sex had ever felt that good.

  My hips met his, thrust for thrust, as he pounded his hips into me. He moved his hands to cup my face, and my hands went to his back, clawing my nails into his taut muscles in an attempt to draw him in even closer, if that was even possible.

  His hips ground into me, adding the finest of pressure onto my clit. He filled me completely, and I felt sweet, delicious friction in places only he had found inside me ever before. Each thrust hit a spot I never knew existed, building up a sensation that had my entire body on the verge of shattering, and I could feel the throbbing muscles that gripped him tightly.

  His hands went to my breasts that were pressed firmly against him. He squeezed both nipples tightly as he rode me, and I knew I couldn’t hold it back much longer.

  “Come for me, Perla,” he growled into my mouth before biting and sucking my lower lip. The sound was my undoing. An earth-shattering orgasm broke through me, pounding me from the inside out, blazing through me, out of me, taking hold of me like nothing I had ever felt before.

  “Jax! Jax, yes. Ohhh, fuck, yes, Jax,” I moaned out incoherently.

  Jax began to quicken, moaning my name in hot, sweet bursts of air against my lips. Knowing his climax was overtaking him prolonged my own climax, sending waves of pleasure through me from the point where our bodies were connected, radiating through me again like the crest and fall of a tide.

  He lay there on top of me, pinning me to the bed for several minutes as both of our breathing slowly returned to normal. When he finally lifted off me, pulling out of me, I winced at the empty feeling it left.

  He did away with the used condom before joining me back in the bed we would share for the night.

  “I guess this means you’ll have to stay and cuddle,” I teased him. “Since you have nowhere else to go.”

  He chuckled. “What makes you think I wouldn’t want to anyway?” he asked as he pulled back the covers, inviting me under them.

  “I don’t know. You just don’t seem like the type,” I admitted.

  He planted a soft kiss to my nose. “I’m not,” he agreed. “Or at least, not usually.”

  I settled in to get comfortable, and before I knew it, he was moving in close behind me to spoon me. One arm snaked under me so that my neck rested on his bicep, and the other draped over me at my stomach, pulling me in close to him before resting that hand on one of my breasts. I couldn’t help but smile.

  I didn’t want to tell him how much I liked being here with him like that. I didn’t even want to admit it to myself. But I was a sexual being, and the more I got to know Jax sexually, the more I liked him. I worried that liking him was the worst possible thing I could do.

  THIRTEEN

  Bursting the Bubble

  JAX

  After a full day of skiing, we had all decided a dinner at the hotel lodge was in order. It seemed we had all worked up a voracious appetite, but were all too exhausted to get too dressed up to go anywhere too far, so the lobby restaurant was ideal.

  When we got back to our room to shower and change, I closed the door behind me and grabbed Perla, pulling her in for a deep, languid kiss. I could feel her melting into me as I cupped her face and ran my fingers through her soft, chocolate hair.

  This wasn’t something I was used to, spending so much time with someone I was seeing. I initially had had my doubts, but the more time we spent together, the more I could see myself getting used to being with Perla, even at home in our day-to-day lives. I found myself more and more drawn to her strength, independence, and her laidback personality. She had such endearing qualities that I wasn’t used to seeing in people, like the protective way she watched over her sister, and even how completely unimpressed she was with my money.

  I unzipped her parka and pushed it down off of her shoulders, giving myself better access to what was hidden beneath all her layers of clothing. When I heard her soft mewling, my cock sprang to life. She was so responsive to my touch, and I fucking loved it. I could hear her breath hitch as I moved my hands beneath her sweater, feeling the soft skin of her stomach.

  “Join me for a shower?” I asked.

  She smiled and nodded. “Okay. Let me just grab my shower bag. You want to get the water started?”

  “Sure,” I agreed. I planted a kiss on her lips and patted her round little ass in a playful gesture, making her squeal and laugh. After tossing the contents of my pockets onto the nightstand, I headed into the bathroom.

  I got the water going and stripped out of m
y clothes. I went ahead and climbed in, lathering up as I waited for her to join me. A few minutes went by before I called out to her.

  “Perla, is everything okay?”

  I waited, but there was no answer.

  “Perla? Are you coming to join me, beautiful?”

  Still, no answer.

  I shut the water off and wrapped a towel around my waist as I walked out of the bathroom to see what was keeping her. I was met with an empty room.

  I grabbed my cell phone off the bed, noticing the flashing light indicating a missed call or message. Thinking maybe it was from her, I hit the button to light the phone up, but as soon as I did I realized why Perla was not in the room. A photo of Miranda stared back at me that she had sent of herself, naked, asking me to see her after work later that night.

  Fuck! If Perla saw that, it would not look good, and I knew if it had come in while Perla was in the room, the pop-up would have lit the screen.

  I thought back to the night I had been leaving the office with Miranda when Perla had seen us. I remembered the look on her face even then, before anything had really started between us. I couldn’t begin to think what was going through her mind now, after the last twenty four hours and her finally letting down her guard for me. She had no way to know that I hadn’t seen Miranda since that night, all because I couldn’t get Perla out of my head.

  I had to find her. I had to explain. But first, I had to find my clothes.

  I grabbed the first pair of pants and sweater I could find, and as soon as I was decent, I rushed out the door. I tried to call her, but her phone went straight to voicemail. I figured she didn’t have a phone plan that gave her international phone service. I hadn’t seen her use her cell since we’d been here, and she probably didn’t even have her phone on her now, so none of it mattered.

  I knocked on Ezra and Jada’s door to see if maybe she had gone to them. When Jada appeared, smiling, I knew Perla must not have come here, or her sister probably would not look quite so happy with me at the moment.

  “You haven’t seen Perla, have you?” I asked, trying not to cringe at the thought of Jada asking why I was looking for her.

  “No, I figured she would be with you. Is everything okay?” Jada asked.

  “I hope so. I think we may have had a misunderstanding, and now I don’t know where she’s gone,” I explained, trying to not go into too much detail.

  A knowing look spread across Jada’s face as she nodded in understanding. “Oh, I see. Jax, sometimes Perla can be a little stubborn, if you haven’t noticed yet. If you give her a little time to think, she will come around.”

  I nodded and thanked her before taking off back down the hallway. She would eventually have to come back. All of her clothes and belongings were still there in our room, and it wasn’t like she would hop a plane back to the states. Would she?

  No, that was ridiculous. I would just have to wait it out and explain to her when she came back.

  * * *

  After two hours of waiting and pacing around the room, night had fallen and still no sign of Perla. I couldn’t just sit around and wait any longer. I was going out of my mind, and my imagination was running wild worrying about how she might react or never speak to me again. Even yelling at me would have been a better alternative than this.

  The only productive thing I could do at that point was to go looking for her, I decided.

  After walking around for about forty-five minutes, I found her in the bar of the ski lodge. Right away, it was evident that she was intoxicated. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she swayed as she giggled at whatever the guy was saying sitting in the booth beside her. I was pretty sure the only thing funny about this guy was his face.

  I hung back and watched as the guy leaned in entirely too close to her for my liking. Even worse, she seemed to be enjoying the attention, which gave me the urge to run in swinging and rip the guy’s head off. I did my best to resist the violent tendencies.

  The guy signaled a waitress to bring Perla another round of whatever it was she was drinking. When he placed the drink in front of her, she held her hand up and shook her head, trying to turn it down. That’s when he moved in closer to her, moving his lips to her neck.

  This set the ice in my veins to boiling. I couldn’t sit back and keep watching any longer. In the time it took me to cross the room, I watched Perla try to move away from him, only for him to snake an arm around her waist, pulling her in closer to him so that she couldn’t pull away.

  She put her hands up as a barrier between them, but he still wasn’t having it. By the time I reached them, I was nearly shaking with an all-consuming rage. My jaw clenched in an effort to contain the fury, and I could feel the hair raised on the back of my neck as the possessiveness overtook me. I took in a deep, cleansing breath and blew it out in an effort to calm myself as I approached.

  Before either of them noticed me, I put a firm hand on the guy’s shoulder, squeezing to the point of pain, causing him to wince and let go of her as he whipped his head around to face me.

  “Perhaps you didn’t notice, the lady said no. Take a walk, pal,” I said in no uncertain terms.

  I saw Perla’s face in my periphery as she noticed me and her eyes went wide. Still, she said nothing.

  The guy looked over to Perla, then back to me. He apparently wasn’t a complete idiot and decided to leave. Smart choice, I thought, as the adrenaline racing through my veins began to subside.

  As soon as we were alone, Perla looked down at her lap, shaking her head in disbelief. She wouldn’t look me in the eye. I sat down beside her in the seat the guy had just vacated, and moved the alcoholic drink to the edge of the table.

  I signaled to the waitress who approached right away. I handed her the drink and asked for a coffee instead, along with some pretzels. As soon as she returned with both, I set them in front of Perla and shifted in my seat to face her.

  “Will you let me explain?” I murmured.

  She took a pretzel and nibbled a tiny bite from it, still unwilling to look at me. “There’s nothing to tell. I get it,” she answered. “You had a life before I came along, and who am I to stand in your way?”

  “It’s not like that, Angel,” I said, reaching up to caress a soft hand down the side of her cheek.

  “It sure seems like it to me,” she said, finally looking up into my eyes.

  I shook my head, denying the accuracy of her assumption. “The text you saw was from a woman I used to see before we met,” I told her.

  “And after,” she interjected.

  I nodded in concession. “Okay, but I haven’t seen her since the first time we were together. That is the truth,” I said, imploring her to believe me.

  “That’s not what it looked like to me,” she argued.

  “Perla, from the moment we met, you’ve invaded my thoughts in a way no one else ever has,” I admitted, nearly exasperated that she couldn’t see that.

  She tried to look away, so I took her hands in mine, reclaiming her attention before continuing. “I’ve heard your wishes, and I’ve had a lot of time in the last few weeks to think about them. I would not be sitting here right now, on the opposite side of the world, with you, if I didn’t want to give this an honest shot.”

  She took in a deep breath and sighed. I thought I could almost see the acquiescence in her eyes, and it sparked the hope I needed to reel her back in.

  “Can we just get out of here?” she asked in resignation.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” I teased, and took her hand to lead the way out.

  PERLA

  What was I doing? There was no denying I was already in over my head with Jax. I had been on some kind of lust-high all day. Who wouldn’t have been after the night I’d had with a guy so hot he could put to shame the entire IMG Models’ payroll?

  When I had seen his phone light up on the nightstand, just as I was about to follow him into the shower, it had all come crashing down around me. How was I supposed to walk in there and bar
e myself to him, not just my body but my heart, after seeing the overtly provocative picture that had flashed right before my eyes?

  It was easy to recognize her as the same busty blonde I had seen him leave with from the office those few weeks ago. If she was still messaging him now, she was obviously still a part of his life. I had no right to try to stop it. I wasn’t naïve enough to think I had any kind of claim on him.

  The fact still remained; I wouldn’t share. I wasn’t the type of person who could date casually with people who were still dating other people. Jada could do that. Jax obviously could. I just didn’t have it in me.

  I wanted to be loved and cherished. I wanted the fairy tale, the happily-ever-after, for once in my life. Was I ever deluded enough to think that was possible with Jax? Not in the slightest. No, what I was delusional about was thinking I could let him in like I had, thinking it was just temporary, without being completely crushed by the fallout when it was over.

  Seeing the woman’s naked body seducing him from his phone was the pin that had burst my proverbial bubble. I laughed at myself for ever thinking I meant anything real to him.

  When I had left the room, I had no plan of where I was going. I was in a completely different country and had no idea where anything was, didn’t know anyone. Where was I really going to go? I figured the best place to settle in for some self-destruction was a bar, which is exactly where I landed. I was on a mission to prove to no one other than myself that Jax could mean nothing to me.

  Drink after drink, I encouraged the guy at the bar who had been staring at me. He was a handsome-enough guy. When he came over to the booth I was sitting at, I was flattered. He had a nice-enough smile. I could do this.

  Then he wanted to leave and invited me back to his place. When I declined, he started buying me more drinks, and I started having second thoughts.