by Brook Wilder
“What do–What are you talking about, Honey?”
“I’m not talking! I’m shouting!”
“I can see that,” Elle shot back at him, “What I can’t understand is why.”
“Why? You want to know why, Elle?” Honey forced out on a harsh laugh, “Because of you. I’m shouting because of you. Because you have no sense of self preservation. You put yourself in danger, you keep putting yourself in danger and you don’t have a fucking clue!”
“I don’t!”
“You do! Yes, you do! What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t been there tonight, huh?” Honey said, the thought alone causing his throat to close on the bile that threatened to rise. He took a step closer, glaring down at her, “What do you think would have happened?”
“I don’t–It doesn’t matter, Honey. The point is you were there, you saved me–”
“I shouldn’t have to save you! You’re a smart person, Elle, I know you are. Way smarter than me. Way smarter than any one of those assholes,” he gestured with a waved hand back towards the clubhouse, “but you show up at a place like this, looking like that–”
“What’s wrong with how I look, Honey?” Elle cut in, her voice angry, “Hot Wheels gave me the dress to wear. Granted it wasn’t my first choice, but–”
“Hot Wheels. I owe her one. She should have fucking known better.”
“No, Honey! No!” Elle shouted and the shock of it made Honey look back at her, oddly cooling some of his own temper, “Not Hot Wheels. Not Joel or Carla or anyone else. It was my choice to wear the stupid dress, it was my choice to help my friend, it was my choice to do what I could, to keep the promises I made. And you know what? I did it! So stop acting like I’m some fragile porcelain figurine, because I’m not!” Elle took a deep breath, and Honey couldn’t take his eyes off her as her eyes gleamed and a flush flamed across her cheeks.
“Besides, it’s just a dress. A stupid dress. What does it even matter?” Elle shook her head, still breathing hard as she tried to reign in her anger and Honey was surprised to find his gone. Disappeared in the wake of her words. He was much less surprised by the desire that took its place. The need that was his constant companion whenever she was near. But he kept it in check as he watched her.
“God, you don’t even realize, do you?” Honey said, his voice tinged with awe as the realization washed over him. She really had no idea just how gorgeous she was, how beautiful, how drop dead sexy. Honestly, it should be a sin for her to walk around like that. With a small smile, he held out a hand as he moved to stand in front of the full length mirror that stood against one wall.
“Come here.”
***
Elle looked at his outstretched hand like it was a snake, just waiting to strike. And then she really would be helpless. Then she would lose all the control that she had fought so hard for.
Would that be such a bad thing? that sly voice whispered inside her, warm and sweet like the desire that was melting through her to pool between her thighs. Would it be so bad to lose control for one night? Just once?
“Come here,” he said again, his words soft and rough as they wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him. She wasn’t even aware her feet were moving until she was suddenly standing in front of him.
Honey placed one hand at each of her shoulders and she looked at him in confusion as he slowly turned her around until her back was against his front.
“What are you–”
“Hush,” he whispered, letting his hands slide down the sides of her arms and lower until they rested across her hips, “Just look.”
“Look at what?” Elle asked uncomfortably as she shifted, restless and aching, needing…something. One of his hands made the journey back up, passing her shoulder until it reached her chin. Honey tilted her face until she saw it. Her own reflection, staring back at her, with Honey standing right behind her, his arms twined around her.
She gasped though as she drank it in. It was her, but it wasn’t her at all. Her hair was loose and long, waving in gleaming tendrils that looked tousled, as if someone had just run their fingers through it. The makeup Hot Wheels had applied was simple, but dramatic. Her pale skin looked creamy and flawless but with a hot blush across her cheeks that she thought might have more to do with the man standing behind her than anything cosmetic.
There was no other makeup except around her eyes, but it was enough. A smoky eyeshadow in dark charcoal grey made them look lidded and sultry and the eyeliner, drawn back in a cat eye, made her look somehow…mysterious. Feminine, but strong.
And the dress! It was unlike anything she would have picked out for herself but it flattered her body, enhancing curves and emphasizing dips that she didn’t even know were there before. Honey had been right. She really did look like sin. It sent a jolt of power through her, thick and heady, and when she met Honey’s gaze again in the mirror there was a different look in her dark, chocolate brown eyes.
“Fuck, Elle,” he breathed out hoarsely and then his lips were dragging across the side of her neck, up across her jaw, and she watched. She saw it all in the mirror. And what she saw was the woman she could be.
No, this is you. This is a part of you, another side of you. Embrace it. It was that voice again, the one that she’d started to think of as the little devil on her shoulder. But there was truth to the words. This was still her, this stranger in the mirror. Or it could be, if she let it. And God did she want to.
Especially when Honey turned her face towards him, capturing her lips with his own. She wanted to surrender, she wanted to give in. More than anything else, she wanted him. And she put that into the kiss as she moved her mouth, opening it to allow his tongue entrance as it teased inside, tangling with her own.
In a millisecond, the kiss went from burning hot to nuclear explosion and, after a breathless moment, Honey pulled back, stripping off his shirt in a fervor as she helped him slide the dress from her shoulders to land in a pile of silky material at her feet.
“Fuck, Elle,” Honey gasped as he drank in the sight of her. She was naked underneath the dress. She couldn’t wear anything underneath otherwise the lines would show but she followed his gaze down to where it clung between her thighs, “You–You’re. You shaved,” Honey finally forced out the hoarse words and Elle nearly laughed. Or she would have if her own need for him wasn’t driving her on, making her wild for him.
She didn’t answer him, she just tugged at his pants. Finally, his hands were there too, helping to strip the rest of his clothes. He just stopped to grab a condom from his wallet before spinning her back around to face the mirror.
She heard the sound of the foil packet ripping open before he rolled it on his thick erection and he was back, his hands running across her body, touching everywhere, spreading fire everywhere.
“Are you sure?” Honey asked, the question in a roughly whispered breath against her ear.
“Honey, please I–”
“Tell me you’re sure, Elle. Please baby, tell me you want this as much as I do,” he groaned the words and she could hear the raw need in his voice as it dropped ever deeper, “Tell me you need me.”
Elle meet his dark gaze in the mirror and the force of it nearly brought her to her knees, his reflection revealing everything that he wanted her to see. He wasn’t holding anything back, and she found, she couldn’t either. Not then, not with him.
Slowly, she nodded, “Yes, Honey. Yes. I’m sure. I want you.”
“You need me. Say the words, Elle. You. Need. Me,” he ground them out, holding her body on the agonizing brink.
“Yes. I need you! Honey, I need you. Please–” Elle gasped at the exquisite pleasure as he thrust deep inside her, his hands at her waist holding her still as he moved hard and fast and sure, his rhythm carrying pleasure through her entire body. Pleasure that she had no choice but to cling to or else she was afraid she would fly apart and never be able to put the pieces back together again.
But soon her thoughts were gone, stalled as Honey
thrust harder and harder, faster and faster as the sounds of their bodies meeting filled the room, an accompaniment to the orchestra of their cries. Honey’s growls of ecstasy and his name falling from her lips over and over again. A staccato rhythm that she wasn’t even aware of, even if he was.
Finally, it was too much, the pleasure too much, Honey’s body driving hers masterfully up and up until her crescendo hit, hard and fast, stealing her breath away as every muscle in her body clenched powerfully on his.
Honey’s cry told her that he’d followed her over the edge but her eyes were still squeezed tight as he thrust inside her again, and then once more, drawing out every trembling note of sweet pleasure that he could.
Elle felt the soft kiss on the back of her neck and then a moment later, he was pulling away and it was only her hands pressed against the mirror that kept her on her feet.
“Where are you going?” Elle whispered hoarsely, still trying to catch her breath, “I guess I should…I should go too?”
“Oh no, sweetheart,” Honey growled, grabbing her hand before she could take a single step. Not that she was sure she could anyways with the way her legs were still trembling, “We’re not done yet. Not anywhere near done yet.”
Chapter 12
Honey pulled her close, amazed at the emotions flowing through him. Like pure, unfiltered sunlight washing away all the dark, shitty parts of his life. The way she melted against him, no resistance, no holding back. It was like he was seeing her for the first time, really, truly seeing her. And he liked what he saw. A lot. Elle Watson, the woman who had been haunting his dreams and waking hours for months, bared and open and wanting him just as much as he wanted her. Just as much as he needed her.
His mouth landed on hers once more, kissing her because he couldn’t stand to go another second without it. Without her touch. Without her sweet, addictive taste lingering on his tongue. He was shocked when he felt his body start to grow hard again already, just at her innocent kiss, and groaned deep and low into her mouth.
With more strength that he thought it would take, he pulled back just enough to stare down into her wild, warm dark eyes. He watched the bright crimson flush spread across her cheeks and the tiny freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose like stars. He’d never noticed them before.
Before the thought could form he was moving, his lips tangling with hers again as he pressed her hard against his body, reveling in the feel of her ample curves.
“Maybe we should, uh, go back. To my apartment,” Honey managed to murmur in between kisses, “It’s the coach house in the back. Just outside the club. It might be better than the office. More private. More–”
But he was kissing her again, and he didn’t hear Elle’s answer even if she had given one. One thing was sure though, he couldn’t keep his hands off her long enough to walk the short distance to the back of the clubhouse. And he sure as fuck wouldn’t be able to handle any one of those assholes seeing Elle like this. This moment was his, something sweet and precious and honest that he wanted to keep for his own. Just like this woman.
With a feral growl, he pulled her towards the big desk that dominated the center of the room, all the while their lips still fused together as he teased his tongue in and out of her mouth, feeling each of her moans of pleasure wash through him, soothing him. Healing him.
Honey slid his hands down her hips, slowing as he skimmed over her delectable backside before gripping each of her thighs and lifting her weightlessly against him. It amazed him just how small and delicate she was.He leaned her against the edge of the desk and laid her down.. Whenever she went toe to toe with him he felt like he was dealing with an Amazonian warrior, all bite and fury, but now, like this, he could see just how fragile she really was. How precious.
It made his chest tighten painfully with an unfamiliar emotion and he just looked down at her in awe. It might have been mere seconds, it might have been hours, as he stood there, one finger tracing a path from the hollow of her throat, between the valley of her breasts, across the dip of her waist and then the small swell of her stomach and finally, finally reaching that sweet haven nestled between her thighs.
Honey slowed his touch even more, loving the way she moved restlessly beneath him, spread out like a feast and making his mouth water for a taste. Always one more. Like no matter how many he got, he would always crave another, and another.
That realization made panic scratch somewhere in the back corners of his mind, but the crushing need in his body drowned it out. He had Elle laid out beneath him. He wasn’t about to spend one moment on anything but devoting every ounce of his attention on her.
The thought had barely passed through his lust-fragmented mind when he saw it. For a mere second his gaze was drawn to the mess of papers covering the top of the desk that he was busy shoving out of the way when something caught his eye. It was a hand written note in a scrawl that looked familiar. Very familiar. He knew that jagged writing. It was Viper’s.
“Fuck,” Honey spit out the curse, the single word low and rough and terse, trying desperately to reign in his out of control body. His muscles trembled with the effort to pull away from Elle’s nude body and he knew, in that moment, that it was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. But already his mind was racing, trying to solve the puzzle of the piece of paper.
It seemed so innocuous, but as he read the messy words written on the note, dread settled heavy and hard in his gut, warring with the desire and need that made him reach out for Elle again. But this time, it was just to lay a soft, sweet kiss against her reddened lips.
“Ho–Honey? What is it?” her breath whispered warm against his throat as he dropped his head next to hers with a sigh. “Honey?” Elle was staring at him now. He could feel her gaze boring into him, questions shining in her dark eyes, even if he couldn’t see them. His muscles were trembling in protest as he pushed back, stepping once away from her. His gaze dragged across her body, tracing every curve, the path to heaven. And he suddenly knew that once would never be enough.
“I, uh, I think something is–”
“Wrong?” Elle said, interrupting. Honey immediately shook his head, opened his mouth to correct her but she was already talking again, pushing herself up from the top of the desk, crossing her arms in front of herself to block her form his view. He hated it. He hated that he could feel her pulling away from him. That warm look in her eyes cooling as she drew back into herself.
Elle scrambled for her dress as he scrambled for the words to say. With a silent curse, he glanced down at the note still crumpled in his hand as his mind, body, and heart all warred against each other within.
“Please, Elle, don’t…” Honey trialed off as she hastily shimmied into the silky dress, once more making his mouth go dry at the sight of her, a bittersweet pang in his chest when she wouldn’t look at him. She used her golden blonde hair like a curtain, separating them, keeping her expression hidden from him. “Damn it Elle, just…just look at me,” Honey pleaded, throwing out the words in a desperate bid but she didn’t bite.She continued to look at the floor, at the ceiling, at anything but him. It tore his heart out, not being able to see her dark eyes, not being able to read the emotion in them. What was she feeling? What was the little minx thinking? Knowing Elle, it could be anything.
“It’s wrong. And that’s, you know what Honey, that’s okay. You don’t have to say anything else,” Elle muttered and Honey had to clench his teeth to hold his lust fueled temper in check.
“No. Not wrong, baby. You were the one who said that, not me.”
“You didn’t have to, Honey,” she hissed out, turning away from him and he reached out quickly before she could slide past him, drawing her back tight to his front just so there could be no mistake.
“Elle, you can feel for yourself just how right I think this is,” he growled against her ear and had to squeeze his eyes closed as he felt her shudder against him. “This isn’t about…us. This is something else. This is…” he shook h
is head, his fist tightening around the note, “I don’t know yet, to be honest, but, please,” Honey leaned close again, drawing his mouth in a sweeping kiss across as much of her delicate, swan-like neck as he could reach, “Please, believe me when I say this could never be wrong. Nothing between us could ever be wrong, Elle.”
“Honey, I–” Her words cut off as she turned in his arms and for one brief, shining moment her eyes were warm and open and inviting on his. But the next instant she pulled back again, drawing away from him. “I have to go. I’m sorry Honey, I just…I have to leave.”
Honey sighed, knowing that there would be no arguing with her. Not with that stubborn tilt to her chin that she got when she had her mind set on something. It would take a herd of elephants to get Elle Watson to move from her path once she’d decided on it. And God forbid if she’d made a promise. He’d be more worried about the elephants, then.
She started to leave, but he stopped her one last time, dropping his jacket around her bared shoulders.
