Veiled Innocence

by Ella Frank

  With that, he opened the driver’s side door to my car.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Past…

  As I pulled open the car door, I caught the way Addison’s chest heaved with every breath she took, and my cock stiffened. I was sick and tired of worrying about every fucking move I made, and right now I ordered myself to stop.

  She was seated in her car with the belt still fastened. Her hand clasped the steering wheel and the other was down her jeans. As she turned her head on the headrest and her eyes found mine, she looked exactly like I pictured she would—a fucking bad girl.

  “You like this, don’t you? Me watching you?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “You do too.”

  “I definitely have no complaints.”

  It was clear she knew exactly how to touch herself as a throaty moan emerged. I couldn’t help what I did next any more than I could help the need to breathe.

  I unbuttoned and unzipped my pants then shoved my hand inside and wrapped it around my hard cock.

  “Show me,” she said in a voice laced with arousal.

  “A little demanding, aren’t we?”

  “You want to show me as much as I want to see.”

  I stroked her chin, needing to touch her in some way. Addison seemed to have a gravitational force surrounding her, and she continued to pull me in with her curvy fucking body and brazenly dirty mouth.

  In the back of my mind, I’d known this would happen when I opened her car door, but for her to want it too? That I hadn’t expected.

  Knowing how shaky my resolve was, I firmly told her, “No touching.”

  Her eyes locked with mine and the question screaming from them was, why? Instead of answering, because I didn’t have a reason that made sense, I swooped down inside the car, placed my own hand on the wheel and took her mouth with mine. I speared my tongue between her lips, and when she moaned into my mouth, I felt her entire body arch forward.

  I tore my lips from hers and reiterated, “No touching.”

  She continued writhing in her seat. “Okay, no touching. Show me.”

  I brushed my thumb along her wet bottom lip and pushed my pants apart to release my stiff cock. Her eyes focused on my erection and I dipped my index finger into her mouth. As she began to suck me, her hips lifted, and she fucked herself harder.

  Her knuckles were white as she held the wheel, and when I pushed a second finger between her lips she took to it as if she knew exactly what I wanted. Finally, when I had to touch myself or fucking die, I pulled my fingers free from her mouth and smeared the pearly drop of pre-come down my impatient cock.

  I braced myself against the side of her car as I began to stroke my erection only inches away from her. While she watched me, her fingers slid in and out of her body, and it didn’t take me long. I could feel my climax clawing at me as my balls tightened, and my muscles tensed.

  However, it wasn’t until she whispered, “I want to taste,” that I moved like lightning, leaning into the car to unbuckle her.

  She was breathtaking. She was beautiful. I was in so fucking deep with her that no one could save me now.

  * * *

  I was so close to coming I was shaking, until he moved and took a step back.

  “Come on, Addison. Get out of the car.”

  I couldn’t believe he’d stopped, but he had and now he wanted me to. His voice was hoarse as I reluctantly zipped my jeans.

  What was going on? Had I done something wrong?

  Climbing out, I noticed him righting his own clothes and felt my entire body react. He walked to me, cupped my face and took my mouth.

  The kiss was full of heat and sex, and as his tongue rubbed over mine, I moaned at the contact. One of his hands wrapped around my waist as his other tightened in my hair, and I reciprocated by brushing my palm over what had to be a painfully hard erection.

  “Damn you,” he admonished. “This, what we’re doing? It won’t end well, it can’t.”

  I touched his face, running my fingertips over his cheekbones. “It doesn’t have to end at all. I’d never hurt you.”

  With his forehead resting against my own, he shook his head, our noses gently brushing against the other. “You are not the person who worries me.”

  “Then who?”

  “Everyone else!” he stressed as he released me and turned away. “Fuck, Addison! You’re not stupid or naive. This is wrong!”

  “No. This is the only thing that’s right,” I tried to explain as I stepped behind him, feeling my desperation to get through to him riding me. Touching his back, I confided softly, “You’re the first person who sees me.”

  He let out a scoff and spun around.

  “No one will care. Don’t you get it? No one will even stop to ask as they haul my ass away. This is illegal. Do you understand that?”

  “Of course I understand that! I’m not a fucking idiot.” Pointing a finger at him, I asked, “Why are you here, then?”

  He pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration, and as the words “Sometimes I have no idea” left his mouth, my anger blindsided me.

  I felt the sudden urge to get away from him, so I ran.

  I had no idea where I was going, but as I sprinted past the gate his truck was parked in front of, all I knew was that I needed to get away.

  I ran out into the field and made my way through the waist-length wildflowers. Miles of them spread out and surrounded me as I continued through the meadow. I could feel my muscles kicking in as if I was on the track, and my breathing found a rhythm.

  I was in the middle of nowhere, all alone. Not something new—not by a long shot.

  My feet pounded across the soft grass as I became aware of the sounds around me. The birds chirping in the trees, the wind whistling through the branches, and then...the distant footfalls of someone chasing me down.

  Grayson.

  Feeling my competitive nature kick in, I pushed harder, my legs picking up the pace as I weaved and zigzagged my way through the open space. The adrenaline that coursed through me was heightened by the irritation I felt from his response.

  I dashed to the left and heard the crunch of a branch as he closed in on me. I kept running until a firm hand snagged my arm and pulled me around. It happened so fast I lost my footing, and we tumbled down onto the grass beneath us.

  Landing with a thud, I grunted at the weight of him on top of me, and I thrashed around under him until he took my arms and pinned them by my head.

  “Addison, calm down.”

  “Fuck you and your I don’t knows!” I shouted back and bucked my hips up under him. Freeing one of my hands, I brought it up to slap him and caught his cheek. With a grimace, he recaptured my wrist and pinned it again, and this time when he put his weight over me, I felt all of him.

  “Stop fucking hitting me, or I swear you will not like the consequences.”

  His eyes blazed at me as his hair fell down and concealed our faces from the world.

  “Let me go.”

  Tightening his grip on my wrist, he hissed, “Not if you’re going to slap me.”

  “I won’t.”

  With a skeptical look on his face, he asked quietly, “Promise?”

  Promising nothing, I told him again, “Let. Me. Go.”

  He released my arms cautiously, and I pushed my hands into his hair. Pulling him down, I pressed my eager mouth to his, and when his tongue slid passed my lips, I whimpered and bowed up against him.

  As I spread my legs, I marveled at the way his body fit naturally with mine. One of his hands slid down my thigh to my knee and hitched it up over his waist, causing me to gasp and rub myself against him.

  “Grayson…” I panted as he lifted his mouth.

  “Yes,” was the only word that escaped him as he smoothed my hair away from my face.

  “Don’t stop this time.”

  He pulled back to kneel beside me, and the struggle on his face was evident—but so was the desire. He undid his pants and I unzipped my j
eans, kicking my way out of them. I peeled my thong down and watched as he slid his wallet from his pocket.

  “Thought you’d need one of those?”

  He brought the silver packet to his mouth and gave me a look that was almost feral before ripping it open and rolling the condom on. I trembled with need as he crawled between my naked thighs and lined up the head of his cock with my aching pussy.

  “Oh, fuck yes,” he cursed as he pushed inside me. “I was hoping, Addison. God, I was hoping. I can’t stop thinking about you. About this, even if it’s wrong.”

  I wrapped my legs around his waist and ran my hand through his hair, holding it away from his angular face. “How can this be wrong?”

  He closed his eyes as if it would help before nuzzling in against my neck. His teeth found my skin, and as he bit my shoulder gently, he pushed his hips to mine, thrusting his cock deeper inside me as I cried out.

  He had no answers, and as he began to move over me, neither did I.

  * * *

  She was picture-perfect.

  As she lay there in the grass with her hair spread out all around her, Addison seemed untouchable—but I was touching her, and I knew I’d eventually pay the price.

  When I was chasing her, I’d had one thing in mind—catch her and make her mine. Now here she was underneath me—mine for this moment in time.

  I rose up over her, placing my forearms by her head and touched the strands of hair tangled in the flowers and grass.

  She resembled a goddess, but as her body tightened around my cock and her mouth parted on a sob, I knew how human she was.

  Curling my fingers into the grass and soil beneath us, I continued to move inside her. My cock slid deep as I rolled my hips and then slowly pulled away, drawing out the pleasure before she begged and pleaded for me to do it again.

  Her fingers were digging into my ass, her nails no doubt leaving marks in my cheeks as she pulled me closer between her firm thighs.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned. Her lips were on my jaw, kissing and licking their way to my ear, where she sucked my lobe and told me, “Harder. I want it harder.”

  I cupped her ass, and when her hips pushed up, I squeezed and held her in place.

  The second I braced my other hand over her head and began the steady rock of my hips, she was moving. Over and over she rubbed herself against me, brushing against my pelvis with every hard thrust of her hips, and that was it. Anything polite left in me was gone.

  Addison was mine, and I was going to fucking have her.

  * * *

  Grayson let go of my ass and planted both hands by my head. That was all the warning I got. After that, he took me—and he fucked me hard.

  His hair fell down around us as he bit my bottom lip. His hips began to pump his cock deeper inside me, and the sound that came from him when he pulled out sounded as if he was in pain.

  He was beautiful. Like a caged animal finally set free.

  The sweat that started to drip down his face and fall from his nose landed on my tongue. When the salty flavor hit my taste buds, I couldn’t help the soft hum it elicited. He growled in response and shoved his tongue into my mouth, and as his hips hammered me into the ground, I knew that I’d never forget this moment.

  The afternoon sun was shining, the soft, crushed grass was beneath us, and we were surrounded by pink and white wildflowers. It was primal, it was earthy, and as he threw his head back and shouted, he came inside of me.

  Grayson had always seen me, but this was the first time that I’d ever really seen him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Present…

  Right and wrong.

  Two words, each made up of five letters, with two very different meanings and very different outcomes.

  “What do you think is going to happen if you talk to me?”

  “Nothing good.”

  I turn to see Doc looking at the black-and-white photo taped to my wall.

  Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss.

  It’s the only thing I allow myself to imagine as I lie here night after night. I pretend that I have escaped my marble prison and that he will come and find me. But as I look to the door of my confinement and see my name below Doc’s, I know that can never be.

  Doc nods in agreement before he speaks again.

  “What did you think would happen if you confided and trusted in him?”

  I reach for the watch around my wrist and trace it with my finger. “Exactly what did happen.”

  “And what was that?”

  Raising my eyes, I give a tight smile and repeat, “Nothing good.”

  “Okay,” Doc chuckles. “I’ll give you that.”

  “How kind of you.”

  “Well, no one could call you being in this place good, could they? Come on, Addison. Work with me. Let me help you, or at least tell me…why did you do what you did?”

  Ahh, Doc is smart—trying to make me admit to what’s on paper without saying what that is. The problem is, I’m onto him. I know his game.

  We always have a choice. The real decision is—do we pick right, or do we pick wrong? Or do we float around in the grey area, somewhere in between?

  “Addison?”

  “Yes?”

  “This empty room is lonely. So is an empty heart.”

  I take in the small space that’s been allotted to me, my marble palace, and when my eyes come back to the photo on the wall, I find I have nothing at all to say.

  He’s right. I am lonely, and I have no one to blame but myself.

  * * *

  Past…

  “Hey, talk to me.”

  Scooting in against Grayson’s side, I laid my ear over his heart. Thump, thump, thump.

  “Addison?”

  I rested my chin on his chest and looked up at him. “Okay, let’s talk.”

  He pulled a pink flower loose from my hair, twirling it slowly before bringing it down to brush against my nose. Grinning, I sat up and kneeled beside him, tugging on my shirt. He rolled toward me and propped his elbow up, placing his head in his hand.

  “I’m waiting.”

  “Not so patiently, it should be noted,” I pointed out.

  He pretended to zip his mouth shut, and I couldn’t help my laugh as I plucked some grass from his hair. “I love how you see me.”

  The expression on his face was intensely sexual, but also tinged with a hint of self-admonishment. “Do you? Sometimes I don’t even know what I see when I look at you.”

  “You see more.”

  “More?”

  I sighed as he stretched his arm out and stroked warm fingers along my cheek. In that moment, I could have sworn every sound around me disappeared, as if we were in a world of our own.

  “You see under all of this,” I said, gesturing up and down my body before laughing when I realized I was kneeling in just a shirt. “Well, you know what I mean.”

  Grayson ran his fingers along the line of my neck, and I closed my eyes as he traced a path down my arm before taking my hand.

  “How could anyone look at you and not see everything I do?”

  Bringing our fingers to his bare chest, he moved them until we were tapping out the beats of his heart. One, two three. One, two three.

  So steady. So safe.

  I shuffled closer to his side so that my knees were touching his skin, and that was when he stilled our hands and sat up so his lips were by my ear.

  “It’s time to stop counting, Addison. Just let it go and relax with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

  I swallowed and felt a tear roll down my cheek as he dipped his head and pressed his lips to the side of my neck. His fingers tightened around my own and held them still as I let the silence be just that—silent.

  “I’m scared by how much I need you already,” I admitted.

  His mouth brushed over the shell of my ear, and he confessed, “So am I.”

  Wanting to get even closer, I crawled up onto his lap and straddled him, wrapping my free arm around his neck.
He circled my waist, pulling me in tight.

  “What happened the day of Daniel’s accident?”

  I pressed my forehead against his and felt the warmth and security that only came when he was near.

  “Time stood still,” I whispered.

  “Tell me.”

  We were so close that our noses were touching. “You already know. Miss Shrieve told you.”

  “I went to her because I want to understand. Help me to see. Show me all of you, Addison. The parts that no one else sees—show me.”

  I shut my eyes, needing the anonymity it afforded so I could retell the memory that broke me.

  “I was late. My dad had been talking to me about joining the track team. He’d said it was something we would have in common, like a father and daughter kind of thing.”

  “So you chose hurdles with Helene?” Grayson questioned as he stroked a hand up my back.

  “Helene? Oh, Miss Shrieve? Yes.” I gave a self-deprecating laugh. “He’s never once been to a track meet.”

  I took a deep breath and tentatively touched his chest. When he nodded, I placed both of my palms against him and continued.

  “I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t care about that in the scheme of things…but I do. I signed up for him, and now he can’t even find the time to come and see me.”

  “Why do you still do it then?”

  I could feel my anxiety rising as his question echoed in my head. No one ever understood why I continued. They all thought it was for the glory. No one knew it was to try and stop the all-consuming guilt.

  “Because if I quit, it means it was all for nothing. Doesn’t it?”

  Grayson gave a small shrug, and I could tell he was trying to understand, but could he? Could anyone?

  “So instead you became the best on the team?”

  “No, that was luck.”

  “Luck and talent. You forget, I’ve seen you fly down that track and over those hurdles like you were born to do it. That’s not luck.”

  “It doesn’t matter what it is. None of it does. I put all of my spare time into training and making sure I’m the best because if I’m anything less…”