L.A. Fire

by Sarah Bailey

  “Keep your hands off my girl,” he said, his voice sounding eerily calm.

  I glared back at Julian, and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not your girl,” I said icily.

  Mr. Beer Breath pulled out of Julian’s grasp, and said “You hear that, fucker?” while smirking at Julian. Then he leered at me and said, “Now come on, baby, where were we?”

  Julian grabbed him by the throat and squeezed tight. Mr. Beer Breath’s eyes started to bulge, and he looked scared. “Stay the fuck away from her, you hear me?” Julian said. “If you come anywhere close to her, I’ll punch your face in. Are we clear?” Julian loosed his grip so the guy could speak.

  “Yeah, alright” he said, trying to regain his composure. “You’re a fucking nut job,” he muttered under his breath, and then took off.

  Julian took a step toward me, his eyes blazing with anger and hurt. I stepped back, still holding my arms across my chest. “He’s right, you know,” I said, staring him down. “You are a nut job. That was totally insane. What were you thinking?”

  Julian’s gaze became fierce. “I was protecting what was mine.”

  I let out a sharp laugh. “I’m not yours, Julian. I think I made that very clear this morning. Now fuck off and leave me alone. I’m through with this.” I turned on my heel, but he grabbed me, and pulled me close. His warm, masculine smell, the feel of his strong arms around me, made me want to melt into him. But then I had a flash of Megan sitting in the car with him this afternoon, the two of them engrossed in an intimate conversation, and I tried to struggle out of his grasp.

  “Sarah,” he said, almost desperately. I turned to look at him, surprised by the pleading tone in his voice. His eyes were pained, earnest. “Please just hear me out.”

  I hesitated for a moment, but then my guard went up again, and I became resolute. “Actions speak louder than words, Julian. And I saw you in the car this afternoon. And I saw the look on your face when Megan walked in on us this morning. You’re not over her. You still have feelings for her.”

  Julian shook his head slightly, and held me tight. “You misunderstood what you saw, Sarah. That look you saw was regret. I regretted the way things ended with her. But that doesn’t mean I’m still pining for her.”

  I looked at him doubtfully. “Paul told me you were on the rebound. He told me you were still hung up on Megan.”

  Julian let out a long sigh, and his eyes flickered with annoyance. “If I’m hung up about anything, it’s the way things ended with her. The way I ended it with her. Paul obviously didn’t present you with a clear picture.”

  “No, I guess not. So why don’t you enlighten me?”

  Julian’s face relaxed slightly, and he took my hand. “Come on. Let’s go the VIP section. We can talk about everything there.”

  A waitress led us to long grey velvet couch in a private corner. I reluctantly settled in on the couch, crossing my legs, and angling my body away from Julian. He noticed my body language, and looked pained again.

  “So tell me about Megan,” I said. “It’s only fair, seeing how you know everything about Rob.”

  Julian eyed me carefully. “Megan and I were together for three months, and at first I was totally smitten with her. She was beautiful, vivacious, smart. But she was so highly defended. She was always acting, always playing a part. Even around me. I kept seeing glimmers of something, a vulnerability, a warmth, a playfulness. But as soon as I got a glimpse of something real, she would shut down.”

  His forehead scrunched up, and he rubbed it in frustration, the same gesture I saw this afternoon in the car. “I tried everything to get her to trust me, to let me close. I even gave her a key to my place, hoping she would understand that my intentions were serious. But it didn’t work.”

  Julian’s shoulders suddenly slumped in defeat. “I ended it, because I didn’t know who she was, and I realized I would never know. For whatever reason, she needed to stay hidden, and it’s impossible to get close to someone who forever needs to hide.”

  I considered what he said for a moment. The look on his face this morning had been pained, but I also saw a kind of longing. Her eyes had been hard, hostile, and she basically told me he was a player. “Did you cheat on her?” I asked, my tone sounding more accusatory than I intended.

  “No,” Julian said, without a hint of hesitation.

  “Then why is she so angry with you?”

  Julian pushed back a stray lock of his wavy hair, and pressed his lips together. “I think she’s angry because I ended it. She would have been perfectly happy to go on as we were. Like I said, she has so many walls up. I think she was pleased with the sex, and with playing the part of the beautiful, mysterious actress. And maybe most men would have been satisfied with that. But I wasn’t. And I think she resented that.”

  I nodded my head slowly. “So you left this smart, beautiful woman just because she was afraid of intimacy.” I paused, giving Julian a hard look. “And now you’re chasing another woman who you know has intimacy issues of her own. Isn’t this going to play out the exact same way? You getting frustrated, because you can’t take down all my walls?”

  Julian’s eyes went soft. “Sarah, with you, it’s different. I can see what your issues are. I can work with them. I can read you. I can figure out what you want, what you need. Yes, you have walls up, but I’ve also seen them come down. Like they did last night.”

  I felt myself get tense. “They’ve gone way up again, Julian. And I don’t know if I’ll be as willing to let them down again. This morning hurt me. Deeply. And when I get hurt, I explode, and then I make sure my defenses are so strong it would take an army to break through them.”

  Julian leaned forward, his eyes going dark. “You need to trust me again, Sarah. Like I said last night. I’ll catch you. I won’t let you fall. And I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that to you.”

  His words made my stomach flutter, but then I hesitated. “What was Megan doing with you in the car this afternoon?”

  “She called me at the office. She was livid about walking in on us this morning, and she wanted to talk. I told her I’d meet her in the parking lot, and we could discuss it over coffee. When you found us there, we were just leaving. She said she still didn’t understand what went wrong. She said she wanted another chance, but I told her I’d already moved on.”

  I felt my lip start to tremble again. “So this isn’t a rebound for you?”

  “No,” he said, looking deep into my eyes.

  He reached out for my hand, and I was about to take it, but then I hesitated again. “Why does everyone think you’re a player? Even Megan. She told me straight out that I was just your flavor of the week.”

  Julian pulled back his hand, but he draped his arm across the back of the couch, and shifted closer to me. “Sarah, I’m not going to lie. I’ve had my share of women. My share of casual flings. Sometimes it is just about the sex. That’s the only thing that clicks. But I’ve also had intimate relationships. I’m capable of loving someone deeply. And when I fall, I fall hard.” His eyes became smoldering, and he reached again for my hand. This time I let him take it.

  I looked at him anxiously, searching his face. “You’re not playing me?”

  Julian’s eyes seared into me. “I’m not playing you,” he said. “I think I’m crazy about you.”

  I shook my head, feeling myself get desperate. “Julian, don’t lie to me. ‘Cause I can’t take it. I can’t take falling for you, and then getting burned. If you just want a fuck buddy–”

  “Sarah,” he said sharply. “You are a hot fuck. You’re the hottest fuck I’ve ever hand. You drive me absolutely crazy in bed.”

  I tensed up, and opened my mouth to speak, but he put a finger to my lips. “Let me finish,” he said. “But it’s not just the sex. I can’t stop thinking of you. Your smell, the way you taste. The way you divide up your food on your plate, the way you smile when something surprises you. I want to make this work, Sarah. I’m serious, about you. Deadly serio
us. Do you understand?”

  I whimpered, and he growled in response and then lunged at me. He crushed his lips against mine, and I moaned. Taking a fistful of my hair, he pulled my head back, not roughly, but just forcefully enough to trigger a surge of desire. He stared down at me, his eyes dark and lethal. Then his lips were tickling my ear. “I want to take you home and fuck you senseless,” he whispered, and my whole body started quivering for him. He felt the tremor beneath him, and smiled at me, his looking saying he was clearly pleased with how quickly my body responded to him. He gave me a deep kiss, savoring my mouth with his lips and tongue, then pulled back and reached out his hand. “Come, Sarah.”

  He didn’t have to ask twice.

  ***

  The moment we walked through his front door, he picked me up and carried me straight up the stairs to his bedroom. He lay me down on the bed, then went to flick on the light. The room instantly lit up, and I suddenly felt self-conscious. “It’s too bright,” I protested.

  “No, it’s perfect,” he said, slinking back over to me. The look in his eyes was predatory; it screamed ‘I’m going to eat you alive.’

  “Stand up, Sarah,” he ordered. I did as I was told. He went behind my back, and slowly unzipped my dress, inch by inch. His lips found to my neck, tickling it, savoring it, and my arousal heightened to a fever pitch. The dress fell, pooled at my feet. I was left standing there in only my bra and thong. Still behind me, Julian pulled down the straps of my bra, and gingerly kissed the red welts they’d left behind. “You’re skin is so soft,” he murmured into my shoulder. Then his fingers moved to my breasts, pulling at the nipples through the lace fabric, making me squirm with pleasure. Julian held me still, reached under my bra, and continued to roll and pull my nipples, sending tremors of delight through my body, making me whimper. He was pushed up against me, and I could feel his erection pressing into my behind.

  “Stand still,” he said, and took a step back. I heard breathe in sharply. “I love looking at you from behind. Your ass is so fucking delicious.” He came back over, grabbed me by the waist, and walked me over to the bed. “Bend over, Sarah.”

  I hesitated, and he landed a firm slap on my right butt cheek. His hand stung at first, but then it sent a delicious thrill coursing through me. “Bend over the bed,” he said. This time I didn’t hesitate. I put my hands on the edge of the mattress, and he parted my legs. He kneeled behind me, and then sunk his teeth into the same cheek he’d slapped. My sex started to ache, swell, burn with sexual heat, and I found myself grinding my ass against his face, spurring him on, silently begging for more.

  “You’re cock, Julian,” I said hoarsely. “I need your cock inside me.”

  I felt him smile against my butt cheek, then spring to his feet. “Hold still,” he said, and I heard him unzip his pants. His bedside drawer squeaked open and shut, and then I heard a packet rip. I peered at Julian over my shoulder, giving him a shy, sultry smile. His eyes flickered with deadly heat as he slid the condom onto his cock. He gently traced my cheekbone with his finger, and, without taking his searing eyes off of me, ripped off my thong, and pressed his crown against my clenching sex.

  I groaned. “You’re going to have to stop doing that,” I said. “Those were expensive.”

  “I have the means to replace them,” he said. “And they were in my way.”

  He circled the entrance of my sex with his cock. “You’re so wet,” he said, rubbing his tip against my clit. My breathing became ragged, and I was ready to beg for it.

  “Fuck me,” I screamed out. “Fuck me now.”

  And then he pushed into me, as deep as he could go. When he hit my wall, I gasped, and it echoed through the room. My voice sounded animalistic, ecstatic, needy, and it took me by surprise. Julian grabbed onto my hips, and started taking long, leisurely strokes, easing in and out of me, luxuriating in me, possessing me entirely. “You feel so fucking good,” he grunted, quickening his pace. Every plunge was exquisite torture, spurring me on, making me pant, bringing me closer and closer to a release.

  Julian fisted my hair, and pulled me up to his face. I gasped at the rough movement. He nuzzled my ear, biting it, licking it, while his free hand still held my hip, and his cock kept plunging into me at steady rhythm. “Your cunt is so tight. So perfect.” His words penetrated my ear, fluttered through me, sending a pulsing warmth through my body. I felt the pleasure begin to swell, and I gasped. He let go of my hair, and grabbed onto my hips with both hands, circling his cock, then angling my hips so he could plunge deeper.

  I wanted his as deep as he could go. I wanted him to take over my body, sever any distance between us, fuse with me completely. Julian quickened his pace again, plunging into me with deep, hard strokes. Every time he hit my g-spot, a heated shiver ran through me, and I could feel my sex spasm around his shaft. The pleasure became sharper, rippling through me, until one final hard thrust pushed me right over the edge. Tremors of ecstasy racked my body, and I cried out again and again.

  “Sarah,” he growled, then started thrusting harder, faster, harder still. I felt his cock spasm inside me, and then the intensity of his thrusts, the overwhelmingly pleasurable friction, set me off again. His whole body shuddered violently against me, his fingers dug into my flesh, and he was grunting and crying out, still pounding deep into me, seeking out every last drop of pleasure my pussy could give him. When the last tremor had subsided, he fisted my hair again, and pulled me up to meet his lips. I could feel his muscular chest, slick with sweat, heating up my back. He tilted my head at an angle, exposing my neck. The position was so vulnerable. I was totally at him mercy, and it gave me a strange thrill. He put his lips on my neck, gentling kissing it. He found my still pounding pulse, and rested his lips against it. The gesture was so intimate, it sent another sultry shiver through my body. I could feel him smiling against my skin. “You trust me again,” he said, huskily. I nodded, and he gave my neck one final kiss.

  He carefully pulled out of me, disposed of the condom, and lifted me into his arms. He tore back the silk sheets, tucking me in under them. Then he crawled into bed, and drew me up against his chest. His body was still heated, and I felt warm, cozy, and utterly safe tucked in his arms.

  “Sweet dreams, baby,” he said, kissing my hair. I moaned goodnight back, and then within minutes, I drifted into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 10

  The next morning I awoke to Julian nuzzling my neck. I turned to face him, my eyes still half-closed. “Good morning, sleepy head,” he said, then nipped my lower lip. I pressed my lips against his mouth, giving him a long tender kiss. He slid his hand under my ass, then hoisted me on top of him. His tongue slipped into my mouth, probing seductively in a way that sent a flush of heat up from between my legs.

  I moaned softly, and he chuckled. “You’re insatiable,” he said, his eyes glimmering with heat.

  I gave him a mock accusing look. “You’re the one spurring me on.”

  He smiled at me wickedly, and then his hands traveled down to my nipples, tugging them gently, expertly, sending a flutter of stinging pleasure coursing through my body. Then his deft fingers pushed between the folds of my sex and found my clit. He rubbed it gently, stroking it up and down, and I started circling my hips, pressing his finger harder against me. I could feel his cock getting hard, and he reached for the bedside drawer and pulled out another condom. “I want you on top,” he said, ripping open the packet and sliding the condom onto his dick. “I want to watch you use my cock to make yourself come,” he said. “I want to see your face. Watch the intensity build. Watch you lose yourself.”

  I suddenly felt self-conscious. The sunlight was streaming in through the window, making the whole bedroom glow. I’d be utterly exposed. Completely on display. There would be nowhere to hide. I was already getting used to Julian running his eyes over my naked body, taking all of me in bit by bit, but the idea of his watching me from below as I got myself off was somehow too much to bear. “I can’t do it,” I said.

>   “Yes, you can,” he said. “I need to see you, Sarah. I want to own the vision of you getting off, using my cock.” He started massaging my clit again, and his eyes went dark. “Can you give that to me?”

  He angled his cock so the crown was pressed against my sex. His eyes glazed as I gently pushed myself against the tip. I hesitated for a moment, but then the need for him to fill me became too great. The hunger in his eyes spurred me on, and I grabbed his cock with my hand, and then my sex parted, taking every hard, thick inch of him into me. I quivered at the feel of him spreading me, and once I’d taken him to the hilt, I just luxuriated in that feeling, all the while staring down into his now burning eyes.

  I laced my fingers through his, and started pushing myself up and down his shaft, slowly, enjoying the delicious friction, feeling the tension build. As I increased the pace, I felt an ache, a hunger, build, and my self-control started to fade. Soon I was breathing hard, panting, brazenly pumping my hips, pulling him in deep, and moaning and thrashing each time he hit my g-spot. I was reveling in the feel of him, the pleasure so exquisite I had to close my eyes. Julian sunk his hands into my ass, and slowed down my pace. My eyes flicked open, and locked with his. His expression was so intense, so smoldering, I felt the urge to look away, but I didn’t. “Keep your eyes on me,” he said, his voice low, strained, deep. And I did.