Protecting Emma

by ML Michaels

  "If it makes you feel any better," Paula said. "My parents never went to college. I got here on a scholarship, and if my marks fall and I lose it, they’ll have a heart attack."

  Kris chuckled. "We're both screwed, huh?"

  Paula nodded. "Seems that way."

  "What are you up to now?" Kris asked. "You going out tonight?"

  Paula laughed. "You know I'm not."

  "Good," he said. "There's something I want to show you."

  The drive out of the city was long. Paula watched the lights fade away behind her with a sense of peace, like she was shedding a skin that had been itching at her for far too long. Kris said that where they were going was a surprise. That was fine with her. As long as it was away.

  She saw on his face that he needed it too. The escape, that is. She was happy that she got to be a part of it with him.

  She was also delighted that he'd broken up with Steph. Where could he be taking her? Would it be romantic? She shushed the fantasies in her head once more, assuring them that Kris only liked her as a friend and confidant. She just wanted to enjoy the ride.

  An hour outside of town, Kris stopped and pulled over. They had been driving uphill for some time. There was still road ahead of them, so she wasn't sure why he'd chosen a thicket of overgrown bushes to pull in to.

  "Where are we?" Paula asked.

  "You'll see," he assured, getting out the car.

  "This looks like the prime place to kill a girl," Paula joked, even though she felt completely safe with him. She stepped out too, staring into the dark wild beyond.

  Kris walked around the car and took her hand in his, which surprised her. It was all she could do not to jolt from the sudden touch. She let him lead her through the bushes, guiding her over roots and branches, until they reached a clearing.

  Below them, the city twinkled and glowed with life. She could see cars traveling in every which direction, traffic lights turning from green, to yellow, to red. She could see their university further off in the distance, some buildings lit up, others completely dark.

  "Wow," Paula said. "This is crazy. I didn't even know this existed."

  "There's an observation deck further along the road," Kris said. "But I prefer this spot. Quieter. Grassier."

  Paula was glad that she'd grabbed her coat before she left. It was chilly outside. Still, it was dry and windless, and the stars shone above. It was a perfect night.

  "Is this somewhere you go often?" Paula asked.

  He sat down on a spot of grass, and she followed, crossing her legs and hugging them to her chest.

  "When I need to think, yeah." He looked pensive and sweet. Though he still carried the tension of the day, Paula could tell she was getting the Kris that she was so fond of.

  "Do you have anywhere you go when you need to think?" Kris asked.

  Paula shook her head. "Nowhere special. I feel like everywhere I go there's some sort of distraction. And not all of us have cars." She smiled as she teased him, and he smiled back.

  "It's weird, you know," he said. "We're so different, but I feel like we have so many of the same problems."

  Paula nodded. "I know what you mean. I still can't believe that you're not a complete idiot."

  Kris laughed and pushed her knee gently, but Paula was not sitting stably enough for that kind of playful gesture. She immediately began to topple sideways.

  Just as she put her hands out to brace her fall, so she didn't hit her face on the ground, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her back to center. Kris had caught her, which was only polite considering that'd he'd been the one to knock her over in the first place.

  “Thanks," Paula said meekly, noting how he hadn't let her go.

  They were so close that she could smell his cologne again, and the heady scent filled her with warmth. Or maybe it was the heat from his body, which wrapped around her and made her feel safe and protected. His face looked down at hers, so close that it appeared he was about to whisper a secret in her ear.

  Maybe he was.

  Kris leaned forward tentatively and captured her mouth with his. Paula froze, unsure of what to do. His lips were so warm, and the desire that she'd felt for him for so long now, but had suppressed, began to burst forth and consume her. His mouth was soft and his hold was strong, a delightful contrast that made Paula feel weak with lust.

  And lust was not something she felt often.

  Kris kissed her harder when she began to respond, exploring her mouth with his tongue and drawing sighs of contention from her throat. He pressed her down to the earth and slid on top of her, the weight of his body packed tightly against hers—keeping her warm despite the chill from the ground below.

  Kris' lips moved to her jaw, then to her neck, all the while trailing light kisses and nips. She moaned. Nobody had ever kissed her neck before. It was tingly and tickly and wonderful, his face rough against her smooth throat.

  But, as things continued to heat up, Paula had a moment of panic. She pressed her hands to his chest and pushed him away. "I'm a virgin," she blurted out without thinking. Holy cow…why did she say that?

  His lips moved against her neck, but his body stilled. "Really? How?"

  "What do you mean how?"

  Kris pulled back to her face, eyes pooling into hers. "You're so beautiful. You're so sexy. Have you been beating the guys off with sticks?"

  "I haven't been beating anyone off," she said flatly. "That's the point."

  Kris laughed, burying his head in her shoulder. "You're something else, Meg."

  Paula smiled at the nickname. At first she had thought that maybe he was using it to mock her, but now she recognized it for what it really was. He was fond of her. It was a term of endearment.

  "We don't have to do anything," Kris said. "We can just hang out here."

  A ripple of protest from her core caused Paula to speak up. "No, no," she said. "I want to. I just wanted you to know. I don't know if that makes anything...different."

  Kris kissed her nose. "I'll be gentle," he murmured tenderly, moving his lips to her cheek, then to her lips. "Just let me know if you want me to stop."

  When he kissed her again, Paula didn't know if she'd be able to remember her name, never mind the word stop. Where he was sweet and passionate before, now his kiss was fiery and full of lust. Full of longing. It brought out the primal side of Paula that she'd had to suppress. The side that scared her. Now she saw it for what it was, recognized that she and the animal side of her could exist on the same plane.

  No more nice, plain Paula. Paula was all fire.

  Their clothes came off, despite the cold weather, because they both wanted to touch each other everywhere. At the same time as Paula's hands raked across Kris' muscular back, he reached up to massage her breasts, another sensation Paula hadn't felt before. She arched her back as he took a nipple into his mouth, the chill of the air and the heat of his tongue sending a shot of pleasure right up her spine. There could be no pleasure greater than this, she thought.

  But they had only just begun.

  She was nervous, that much was true. Though she trusted Kris, and though she was alive with sensation, she still wondered if it would hurt. She wondered if she'd change her mind.

  She wondered if he would break her heart.

  She decided to put all that to the back of her mind. The Paula she needed to be in that moment wasn't analytical, she wasn't conscientious. She was hot. She was sexy.

  Sexy Paula reached down and stroked Kris, feeling how heavy and hard he was in her hand. She enjoyed how strange he felt, how sexy and alien it all was to her. Kris moaned as she explored him, gasping with pleasure as her fingers reached further down to massage his balls.

  He showed the same care to her, guiding his fingers gently between her slick folds and circling her clit, causing her to buck up in surprise. He smiled against her mouth, flicking her again, teasing her. She gasped when he slid a finger a tiny way inside of her before pulling out and going back to her clit.
The next time he went a little further, then further. Soon she was thrusting up against his hand, trying to get as much of him inside of her as she could.

  She was ready.

  Kris moved his hand down to guide himself to her opening. He placed his hand on top of hers and pressed them together, allowing her full control.

  Though the question had not been asked, Paula still hissed, “Yes!”

  Kris eased inside, filling her with his cock slowly but steadily. Paula wiggled at the strange sensation, unused to anything that large being inside of her. She felt discomfort but not pain as he sheathed himself, and was surprised when he was fully in and she hadn’t felt anything break.

  “That didn’t hurt,” she remarked.

  He grinned down at her. “It doesn’t if you do it right.” He moved his lips to her ear, his breath tickling at her throat. “And Megs, I will always do you right.” With that he began to move, pulling out and then sinking back in with a moan. “God you’re so tight.”

  Though Paula had never engaged in any sort of dirty talk before, and hadn’t thought that she would enjoy it, the fact that he was so turned on by her body was thrilling.

  She felt powerful, like her body controlled his. That sent shockwaves of pleasure down to her core, and she could feel a tension building. She tried matching pace with Kris to relieve it, but that only made the tension grow.

  She realized, then, that she was going to orgasm.

  That thought sent her reeling. Kris Graham, hockey star and probably the hottest guy at her school, was about to make her come.

  She exploded in flashes of light. Her eyes screwed shut as the sensations washed over her. No, stormed over her. Everything in her body was alive and on fire. She felt a great pulse inside of her, and came rocketing back down to earth.

  Kris growled in her ear. "That was so hot."

  The warmth that had been a searing heat in her core spread all through her at his comment. She felt pure, unadulterated bliss.

  Kris thrust into her at a dizzying pace, his breath heavy and labored. She assumed that he was close as well, and leaned up to plant kisses along his square jaw and neck. Kris let out a loud groan and collapsed on top of her, shuddering with his climax. She kept kissing his neck, just so happy to be there with him, to have him on top of her, inside of her.

  Kris laughed and turned his head to plant a peck on her cheek, then moved to her mouth and pulled her in for another passionate kiss. "Sure beats studying, huh?" he said breathily.

  Paula laughed. “It beat everything.”

  The drive back to school was as quiet as the drive from it had been, but this time the atmosphere in the car had changed considerably. It was still happy and calm, but there was the mingling of lust and satisfaction in the air. Paula was barely able to contain the smile that threatened to swallow her face.

  They held hands for the drive, Paula marveling at how big his were, and how they completely covered her own. She had never felt particularly dainty before, being of average height and weight, but she felt different around him. She didn't feel average anymore.

  He pulled up in front of her residence and leaned over to kiss her. "I'll see you at school, Sleepless," he said. "Talk to you later."

  Paula savored the feeling of his lips on hers, then hopped out of a car.

  As soon as she got in her room, Steph was sitting on her bed with a sour expression on her face. It took less than two seconds for Paula’s smile to be wiped right off her face.

  "Did you have fun," she said, clearly drunk. "Did you like my sloppy seconds?"

  Paula's heart sank. Steph must have seen them from the window. She hadn't realized that Steph would be there in the first place.

  "Steph," she said, trying to placate the girl. "Let's talk about this another time."

  Even as she said it, she was shaking. She was wracked with anxiety as the other girl's eyes bore into hers.

  "You're disgusting, Paula," she said. "You absolutely disgust me."

  "I didn't—"

  "Kris must have been really desperate to sleep with you. I can't believe he would sink so low. I wonder if somebody bet him to do it."

  Paula's eyes swam with tears as the other girl continued to berate her, calling her scum and trash and every name in the book. Paula wanted to yell at her that she was wrong, and to tell her how she and Kris shared a connection that he and Steph never had, but even she knew how juvenile and pathetic that sounded.

  Instead, she stormed out of her room and headed to the common room, which had cleared of people for the night. There was only one stoner sitting in the corner on one of the beanbags, playing Mario Kart on the old GameCube they had in there.

  Paula curled up on the couch, knees to her chest, and tried not to hyperventilate. Steph was wrong, right? She had just been jealous? Surely Kris did feel something for her, or he never would have kissed her. He never would have made love to her.

  But, then again, she only knew half of Kris—if she even knew him at all.

  Monday morning came too fast for comfort. After spending Saturday night on the common room couch, and waking up to the cleaning crew vacuuming it for the day, she had spent most of Sunday trying to get the kink out of her back and avoiding her roommate. The best place to do so, of course, was the library. But the library closed at eight on Sunday, which put her back in her room just around the same time as Steph.

  Steph had given up on attacking Paula, apparently. She gave her the silent treatment instead. Paula stayed on her own side of the room with her headphones in, trying to study, but she didn't get anywhere.

  Then Monday morning rudely popped up, and she was forced to face Kris. She wasn't sure that she could. She wanted to ask him about what Steph had said, but she didn't want to see in his eyes that he was lying when he told her that Steph was wrong. She couldn't bear the thought of that.

  So she did something she'd never done before. Paula skipped class.

  Even Steph managed to get out of bed that day. She went off to her classes in the morning without even sparing a glance at her miserable roommate. Paula hated that Steph got to see the effect she had on her, but then she decided she was done caring what that girl thought. The only thing that mattered to her now was what Kris thought. Except she didn't have the guts to go find out what that was.

  Paula napped all morning, a luxury she had never allowed herself before. She woke up around noon, though, from someone knocking on the door. She figured it would be someone looking for Steph, as anybody who knew her—and the list was short—knew better than to look for her in her dorm during the daylight hours.

  Paula called out, "She's not here!"

  The knocking continued. Frustrated, she got up and flung the door open.

  She had not been expecting to see Kris.

  "You weren't in class," he said. "I was worried."

  Paula sighed, gesturing for him to come inside. "I had kind of a rough weekend," she said. "Steph saw us kissing in your car. Said some things..."

  Now that she was around Kris, she felt that he surely wouldn't let her down like Steph had said. She could feel his concern wash over her, and he moved forward and pulled her into his arms.

  "Don't listen to her," he said. "She's just jealous. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

  Paula rested her head on his shoulder, feeling his very being surround her. Of course, she had been being stupid. Of course. Everything was fine.

  "Let's get out of here before she comes home," Kris said. "We'll go somewhere and hang out."

  Paula nodded. Getting away sounded like a good idea. She quickly shimmied on some tights and a skirt, grabbed her coat and shoes, and they were out the door. It was a few minutes walk over to Kris' car, and he didn't hold her hand as they went, but she figured that was normal. Maybe he wasn't much of a hand holder.

  In the car, Kris' hand immediately sought hers.

  "Where are we going?" Paula asked.

  He turned his head and smiled at her. "Anywhere but here.”
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  Kris drove out to a restaurant off campus, one that Paula had never been to before. The food was good and the conversation was even better, and Paula found herself forgetting about Steph. She had to have been wrong. Kris wouldn't have come to get her from her from her room if he didn't care about her. As Kris said, she was just jealous.

  After their early dinner, they caught an early movie. They joked that they were like senior citizens, out on the town on a Monday afternoon. All of their classmates would be napping now, in preparation for the nineties themed Monday night at the campus bar—and they would be safely tucked in bed before then, no doubt.

  When they got back to the car, it was just starting to get dark. Kris had parked at the far end of the parking lot by the trees. He said it was because he didn't want his car to get scratched by any passing motorists. Paula had laughed at him, since she thought his car looked kind of crappy already, and Kris had pretended to be offended.

  Now, walking back to the car, Paula thought back to that moment and smiled. The two of them got along so well. She didn't know how or why, but they really seemed like they were meant for each other. She really felt for him, more than she had planned to allow herself to feel. The relief of having him beside her, showing her that everything was alright, mingled in with the pure joy she felt knowing that the person she desired most desired her back.

  Paula pulled Kris to her and planted her lips on his. She tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him close, nipping at his bottom lip before releasing him. Already, his eyes were dark with lust. She had a feeling he'd be rock hard as well.

  "Let's go back to your dorm," she said. "And kick out your roommate."

  Something passed over Kris' face, then he said, "I can't wait until then."

  Kris slammed his mouth back down onto Paula's and pulled her by the hips to him, making his intentions plain as day. Paula looked at the car, unsure of whether it would be a suitable place for sex. Sure, she'd seen movies where people had sex in cars, but it didn't actually seem that comfortable. And what if someone saw?