Forget Me Knot

by Melissa Glisan

  Red hung his head in remembered shame and rubbed his neck, “Hell, between the beer and Belle, I didn’t even notice Celena was gone until I had to leave to get her home in time to keep her mom happy.”

  He would never forget that day, the warm sun shining on the graveled lot as the giggling throng of young women crowded around pulling Celena away with smiles and promises of just a little ‘girl time fun.’ An hour later when the girls started drifting back one or two at a time, Red was feeling no pain or worry, believing she had returned with the others. He’d even ignored Belle’s voice in his ear, pushing her aside like the annoying hum of a mosquito until the alarm on his watch chimed.

  “They played some kind of initiation game, blindfolded her and took her down some of the trails, spun her around then told her to count and wait. Hell, it was beyond dumb, but Celena had bought the whole line of garbage.” He stared through his brother, remembering how mad he’d been at her, how he yelled. It wasn’t right, someone so beautiful and smart doing something so stupid just to fit in. It also wasn’t right the way he treated her, Red shook his head and finished the story.

  “When she took off the blindfold she wasn’t anywhere near a path, they’d been leading her through the woods towards the end. I didn’t find out until Belle came and tried to corner me at my truck.

  “I never in all my life wanted to hit a woman the way I wanted to hit Belle. With so many people in the park, I couldn’t shift shape. It took me almost four hours to find where they left Celena. She tied the blindfold to a tree as a mark point. It was another three hours before I found her.

  “The sun was setting, it was getting dark and we were on our way out when a mountain lion dropped on me. The rest is history.” His lips twisted in dismay. “I changed shape as the cat clawed me up. I killed it, right in front of her. She never screamed, nothing, just sat there all big eyed and petted me; holding me together until the sun came up and I could change back. Took us the rest of the day to hobble out, still didn’t clear the forest until the first of June I guess. She never asked a question, just accepted everything and kept me from bleeding to death.

  “From her letters, she managed to put it all together herself.” He couldn’t help the note of pride that seeped into his voice; it was astounding that she managed to find the truth. “Celena got degrees in both genetic engineering and ancient history just to try to help me not be a ‘werewolf.’” The laugh should have been carefree but it wasn’t, it hurt coming out and it hurt to listen to it. “About two years ago, she called me in the middle of the night to tell me she finally got all the pieces right, that I wasn’t a werewolf and she would let me be. But she made me repeat all these phone numbers and promise to call if I ever needed her.”

  Marc stared at him with a funny expression, drawing out the silence before asking, “So, you called her?”

  “No, never, she always called.” Reflexively, his fingers sought the small soft bag in his pants pocket. “Some nights it was like she knew I needed to hear her voice. Others, she’d call and just tell me what I needed to know and hang up. It was weird.”

  “How the hell did she get your number? We had the numbers changed how many times on account of Sandy, and your phones have always been private.”

  Red turned and studied his brother from under furrowed brows. “Until last week, I always thought you did it, knowing how I felt.”

  Chapter Six

  Knot Relaxing

  Celena stood in the middle of the room fidgeting. The ceiling was a stark glowing white, but the walls were best described as “gunmetal grey” a shade as comforting as the image it evoked. Everything in the room for that matter was coated in shades of grey.

  “I feel like I fell into a black and white movie,” she mumbled, looking at the bare furniture. Wooden dresser, stained almost ebony, the only nod that it once held life was the soft green-grey swirls in the harder fibers. Even the carpet was a dull ashen color best suited to industrial waste. Looking at the bed, she had a notion to pull back the uninspiring coverlet and see if the sheets were equally drab. How could someone so vibrant choose to surround themselves with such a lifeless hue? Standing in his room was almost claustrophobic--it felt like being captured in fog.

  The room wasn’t very large and didn’t offer many places to sit. So she stood. Celena’s eyes tracked back to the bed not a few times. The first instance she’d blushed thinking about the warm reception she’d received. On the second sweep of the room she’d wondered at the sheet color. Now, exhausted, she stared hard and hoped that it felt as soft and inviting as it looked, propriety be damned. She hadn’t slept more than four hours in a given night since Madden asked her to come home.

  Opening the door, she peeked down the hall. No screams, always a good thing, but also no Madden, and she sighed in disappointment. Turning around, the bed mocked her with its silky looking cover and fat fluffy pillow.

  “Oh, stuff it.” She toed off her loafers, lining them neatly by the door before running her fingertips over the surface of the bedspread. It did feel as soft as it looked. Her body ached, feeling all the miles she’d driven and the bed was just begging her to lie down for a moment. Instead, she sat on the edge and watched her neat stocking-clan feet swing just above the floor. One of the joys of being a nerd, she grinned, was that no one made fun of your odd wardrobe. She liked the schoolgirl look from shiny leather shoes and white knee-high stockings to the pleated plaid skirts and permanent press blouses.

  “Could it be, that the reason you cultivate this look is because you’ve never allowed yourself to emotionally mature since leaving high school?” Celena parroted the words of her government assigned psychologist. When the heavyset doctor had huffed and puffed her way around a ridiculously large desk to deliver her brilliant observation, Celena had the very juvenile desire to kick the beastly woman’s shins. She wasn’t stuck in high school, just stuck on a guy she met there. Big difference. So what if she didn’t date? You’d think the government would prefer that, no risk of pillow talk. But no, they considered it abnormal, so she dated and hated every minute of it--probably as much as her dates, she smirked.

  The pillow wiggled into the corner of her eye, Celena swore it fluffed higher, waggling a flirty edge, teasing her to test its soft surface. “Okay, now I know it’s time for me to get some serious sleep time,” she rubbed her eyes, “I think the furniture is vying for my attention.”

  “Can’t blame it.” The warm hungry voice startled her, and she gave a half jump looking at the man leaning against the closed door.

  Oh good Lord, Celena felt her face burn, how long had he been standing there?

  She cleared her throat. “Interesting talent you have there, being so quiet. Over-hear anything good?” Her heart was pounding so hard she felt faint. He just leaned there, intensity crawling over his frame without even moving.

  “Enough to make me jealous of my pillow.” The frown between his eyes relaxed and he smiled, slow and hot. Eyes that had been as cold as an iceberg ignited and burned blue as he walked to stand over her at the side of the bed.

  Oh wow was all her mind could manage. His bed was low, leaving her face to stare at an expanse of cotton-covered chest. If she leaned back, Celena fancied she could watch a movie on the expanse of white between the waistband of his jeans to just below his collarbone. But the real battle was to keep from staring at the bulge in his pants. Cold water thoughts, she needed cold water thoughts, her mind jabbered as she enjoyed the view of his flat stomach and impressive chest.

  “Madden, I don’t understand.” Her mind was still working, somewhere, somehow. “If you really want me the way your, ah, body seems to be trying to…” her voice trailed off has his hands smoothed her hair back, cupping her shoulder then the back of her head. A shiver raced down her spine and pushed her to sit a little straighter, moving her face closer to his body. A sudden urge to push her face against him, to draw his scent deep inside her lungs, burned along her neck.

  Celena closed her eyes, ba
lance and equilibrium, she repeated, not animal urges. Feeling her world settle, she tried again, “If you wanted me, why keep me away?”

  “Wanted? Celena, I never stopped wanting.” He tugged her hair and forced her to look up into his eyes. There was a bit of sadness but a lot of warmth, Celena smiled and lightly gripped his wrists.

  “That’s not a complete answer, Madden.” Something changed, the slow burning sensuality of his caresses shifted as he leaned down and over, pushing her sideways back against the pillow. The move was a sneaky one, leaving him seated between her sprawled legs. Strangely enough, arranging her hair seemed of paramount importance so she forced herself to wait patiently as he smoothed the straight silvery strands this way and that.

  She swallowed nervously; being open and exposed like this was a bit more intimate than she had ever been with any man. Granted, it was Madden, but still, Celena felt like she was drowning as the air warmed between them, pregnant with intent and possibility. The rasp of his jeans against her thigh made her jump, heart racing.

  “I woke up in the hospital, the ring I gave you on the table next to my head and a state trooper waiting to read me my rights for assaulting you and your mom.”

  Celena felt the room tilt underneath her back and was suddenly glad she was lying down.

  “Madden, I had no idea. I thought I must have lost the ring on the walk in, I couldn’t find it in my clothes. My mother…” her lips fell into a pain-filled frown, “I really don’t want to talk about her at all. Not right now at least.” The edgy feel returned to his frame as he settled his hips higher between her thighs. The weight and heat of him along her lower body nearly made her heart stop. But for a few pieces of cloth, she marveled, he could be inside me. Way too many midnight dreams of liquid want rose in her blood as the thought skittered behind her eyes.

  “Since you don’t want to talk about what’s kept us apart for the last decade, I guess I could find something else we never finished.” Hooded blue eyes pinned her in place as his mouth dropped to hover above her own. “Remember what we were doing when that big ol’ cat fell out of the sky?” The hot grin that crawled across his face sent heat blazing through her body.

  “Oh yeah.” She remembered. That one kiss was enough to make her hungry for nothing else for the next ten damned years. He’d asked for her promise to wait for him slid the ring on her finger and her heart felt ready to burst as his mouth found hers. His hands had cupped her ribcage, the weight of his thumbs beneath her small breasts, there could be no way he could have missed how fast her heart was racing when he pulled her close, and gently teased her lips with his. A handful of men had kissed her since, but none ever made her heart race or her blood burn the way Madden had. Telltale moisture dampened her panties, God he made her wet without even trying.

  Celena caught her breath as his head dipped, lips sampling her cheek, moving across to her earlobe. When he tugged the soft flesh between his teeth, the air whooshed out of her lungs and she shifted restlessly beneath him as butterflies erupted in her stomach.

  He had such soft, sensual lips and they trailed along her neck to the top of her shoulder where the crisp white blouse barred his seeking tongue. A tremor racked her body as he gently licked the soft skin at the bottom of her throat moving to the other collar bone. Lightly, he drug his teeth across the surface of her skin, and the sharp teasing caress made her arch into him, craving more.

  “Easy Lena, I haven’t even kissed you yet.” The tone was joking but the feel of his breath tickling her neck rolled over her senses like a warm wave. This side of her neck felt every caress so much deeper that she shivered and shook as he slowly tasted his way to the spot just below her ear, the feel of his tongue swirling there made her moan. It was the most incredible feeling, the way a touch on her neck sent shockwaves through her nerves. Her breasts felt heavy, swollen, and a curious ache developed. It was a hard knot of pain, low inside her core.

  “Tell me what you feel, Lena,” Madden begged as his tongue slid along the shell of her ear.

  She felt him breathe in deep, inhaling her scent and something twisted inside her lower belly.

  “Tell me,” he urged again repeating the caress.

  Without thinking she responded, “My breasts feel full and when you do that I get this ache down deep inside me.”

  “Want me to stop?”

  Celena felt the smile against her neck.

  “Never,” she admitted, pushing closer, trying to rub against his body like a cat.

  Madden chuckled, pushing back, pinning her against the mattress as he kissed the line of her jaw. Centered between her thighs, he paused and stared hungrily at her lips.

  “Kiss me,” she begged.

  Smiling, he gently kissed the crease above her chin. Her lips parted and followed his as he feathered kisses around her mouth. Distracted she didn’t notice his other hand slowly slipping the buttons free on her blouse until the cooler air washed across her chest and belly a second before his fingers followed suit. Her mind tripped back to the feel of his fingers cupping her ribs, his thumb just beneath her breast, and her nipples tightened in response. As if acting out the memory, he cupped her ribs making her arch, Celena restlessly rubbed her breasts against his chest. His hands slid under the irritating elastic of her bra.

  “Front closure,” she mumbled, still trying to capture his lips.

  When he stopped to laugh again, she caught his lower lip with her teeth and licked the soft imprisoned flesh. Impatiently, he bumped noses and angled his mouth across hers, drawing her into the kiss as his tongue teased its way into her mouth, exploring, and tasting. Air brushed across her bared breasts and Celena felt the already turgid peaks of her nipples tighten painfully. He suckled lightly on the tip of her tongue, and her mind tumbled, wanting to feel his mouth on her breast.

  “What do you want Celena?” he asked as she writhed impatiently underneath him. Frustrated, she dove into another soul searing kiss, wishing she could simply beam what would feel even better from her brain to his.

  “Touch me,” she gasped against his mouth.

  “Touch you where?” His mouth nuzzled the sensitive skin of her neck as his free hand lay still on her stomach.

  “My breasts, please,” she begged, her eyes closing on the waves of arousal his clever tongue awakened laving a spot that made her quake.

  “Mmm….” He frankly appreciated the exposed round white globes from their blushing tops to the shadowed milky underside. He cupped the weight of one breast and lightly rolled the soft skin in his hand eyeing up the proudly erect nipples. “These look sweet enough to eat.” He watched Celena blink, her eyes hazed with lust as he drifted lower to cup both breasts together. Never looking away, he licked, sucked, and flicked the sensitive nipples. She did taste sweet, not like sugared candies but honest and fresh, a smoky tang, sex-dipped in baby powder was the first thing that came to mind. He loved the feel of her pelvis rocking erratically against his belly.

  “What do you feel?” he asked, voice rough as his own blood heated, ignited. Too many nights he’d thrust blindly into some anonymous body but the face in his mind was always Celena’s. No imagined tryst lived up to the real thing. A blush dusted her cheeks as the grey of her eyes deepened to a turbulent hue that reminded him of paintings of the Atlantic Ocean in winter. As a teenager those eyes nearly dwarfed her face, today the high cheekbones and pointed chin gave her an elfin look that still made her eyes seem overlarge but luminous.

  Madden nearly cursed watching the pupils of her eyes contract as he lightly suckled the engorged pink nipples. He knew she was turned on but wanted to hear it from those pouty lips. Shifting, his jeans pinched and rubbed at his erect cock, reminding him that what he really wanted was to open his jeans and bury himself deep inside her hot, wet slit.

  “C’mon Lena, how does this feel,” he growled, rolling the firm nipple between his teeth, tugging. Celena gasped and tried to lift her hips again, every tug on her nipples caused a tight rippling want.

>   “Feels so good, “ she whimpered, hands grasping his shoulders her fingers leaving soft half moons in the material of his shirt. “Need to feel more.” She tugged at his shirt. Not needing another hint, Madden rolled to his side and pulled the shirt over his head, dumping it on the floor. He returned to the spot between her legs, this time sliding his hand from knee to hip as he returned to worshipping her breasts with his mouth. He felt her heave and pitch, and looked up, she watched him, biting her lower lip, hands bunched in her skirt.

  “Touch me, Lena. Tell me what you feel.” He tugged her hands loose putting them back on his shoulders, reveling in the feel of them on his skin, kneading and rubbing.

  He felt like warm satin, smooth flowing and hot under her fingers. The throbbing in her sex pulsed with every rough lick of his tongue. “I ache, Madden.” She pouted.

  It was an effort to stay still, the wolf in him wanted to howl and drop on her like a rutting beast as she ran those perfectly manicured fingers through his hair, petting and soothing him. He traced the line of her stomach with his tongue, dipping in to tease her bellybutton, the muscles under his cheek fluttered and twisted. Oh yeah, he knew where she ached.

  “Want to see if I can make it better, Lena?” He loved the new trend in skirts, riding low on the hip so he could lick the taut flesh between her hipbones while keeping all that delicious plaid laid out in front of him. Like eating at the dinner table, he grinned into her moue of pleasure-cum-pain as his tongue slid in and out of the small depression in her navel. Sliding his hands over her toned rump, he eased the soft cotton panties off, pulling her legs together, bunching the damp material at her knees. Using the wadded cloth as a rough shackle, he pushed her knees to her chest and delighted in the soft golden-down of her mound, the sparse silvery-gold hairs framing the blushing damp nether lips. He licked his lips wondering if the glistening wet tasted as good as the rest of her.