Fake

by D. Breeze

No overpowering smell of flowers or fruits, she just smelt fresh and clean.

  I was too busy freaking smelling her, I didn’t notice her stiffen against me.

  “A-a-are you...sniffing me?”

  I nodded.

  “Ok...” she stopped. “Why are you sniffing me?”

  “You smell good.” I answered like it was obvious, because well, it was!

  She paused, to let that information sink in, I assumed. I wondered if she’d taste good too, mentally making a bet with myself over whether I’d be right. Ignoring that pesky voice in my head that was screaming at me not to, I lifted my head and looked her in the eye.

  Yep, bad move.

  Her cheeks were flushed and she was looking at me like she wanted to devour me. As much as I wanted her to look at me like that, I wasn’t entirely sure that she was actually seeing me.

  I thought it was about the gifts, the attention I was showing her...not about the fact that I was just, Ruben.

  I was wrong.

  She blew my fucking mind.

  Breathing deep, she spoke. “I’ve been in love with you since the day you walked to meet me outside of school with Lucas when I was seven years old.”

  Whoa.

  What do you actually do with that?

  “I-I-I...”

  Stutter. That’s what you do apparently.

  “You don’t have to say anything,” she was quick to attempt to reassure me, but I saw the pain written on her face like she was screaming it at me. “It’s fine, I just...you looked like you were going to kiss me and I wanted you to know because...well...I can’t be that girl, Ruben. Not for you, and not for anyone else. I’ve never done this before and if you kiss me, then I’m going to want more and we’re not doing that until it’s as real for you as it is for me.”

  Her face was set with determination and I was sure that if I looked in the mirror, the guy staring back at me would be scared shitless.

  I’d never had that amount of power in the palm of my hand before. I loved her, I always had. Was there a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone? I did a mental shrug. I’m a guy. My cock seemed to be in love with her that was for sure. The tiny part of brain that was still functioning decided that probably wasn’t good enough.

  But still…

  “One kiss…?” I whispered and watched her pull in a breath. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded slowly.

  I pulled her flush against me so she could really feel what she was doing to my body and I loved the way her eyes widened. She still hadn’t released her lip from between her teeth and that was clearly going to get in the way of my plans.

  I placed on finger on her chin and pulled her lip free, then I edged my face forward, slowly, giving her chance to change her mind. We both paused, knowing for some reason, that the kiss was going to change everything. Nothing was going to stop me though. Something told me that it needed to be done.

  Call it fate, destiny, whatever you want to say.

  I let her take the lead, not wanting to scare her away with the power of the lust pulsing through my veins. I had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate me practically mauling her, which is exactly what I felt like doing.

  Her lips ghosted across mine and she stilled, then did it again. Testing us, preparing us. Her tongue timidly stroked along mine and I fought the urge to take over and let her explore my mouth with hers.

  The kiss was like nothing I’d ever felt before because I could almost feel my blood heating and my heart-rate doubled. Her mouth became more pliant under mine and her hips began to rock against me, so I pulled back and stared at her.

  “We need to stop,” I growled, then cleared my throat against the gruffness of my voice. “We said one kiss.”

  Her glassy eyes and pink cheeks almost made me take the words back but the niggling doubts in my mind told me I needed to go slowly.

  I didn’t want to scare her off, even though I was fairly certain that she was the one sprinting forward whilst I followed behind at a snail’s pace.

  Damn it!

  I was so out of my league with this shit and my mind couldn’t handle all the confusion.

  “I don’t want to stop…” She moaned, then wiggled her hips and my hands shot out to stop her. My dick pulsed and I cursed.

  Temptation is a bitch sometimes.

  “We have to.” I pleaded, sounding like an over excited teenage boy.

  She sighed and rested her forehead against mine. Our eyes held a connection and I couldn’t have looked away even if I wanted to. Her emotions were pouring off her and the way she let me stare into her eyes told me she actually wanted me to see the secrets she held there.

  “Ok, you’re right,” she agreed, not sounding at all like she actually meant it. She had a slightly evil glint in her eye when she finished her sentence. “We’ll stop…for now.”

  Oh shit!

  Chapter Ten

  Lydia

  You remember when I said my young heart was conflicted because I hated Lucas teasing me, but it did get me attention from Ruben - so I also kind of liked it?

  Yeah?

  Well at the time, I remember convincing myself that things like that would get easier when I was an adult.

  Definitely not the case.

  I blamed it on lust, with a sprinkling of ‘I love you’ and a dash of please-don’t-ever-leave-me-again thrown in.

  Ruben had given me one of, if not the best day of my entire life. By far.

  Yet there was a tiny part of me that was literally screaming at me to run in the opposite direction. Don’t ask me why, because I couldn’t tell you. See, I was technically an adult, and I was still conflicted.

  Everything about him seemed perfect. Almost too perfect, if I’m honest.

  And everyone knows that there is no such thing as true perfection. So what was he then? A figure of my imagination? A Fraud? A Fake?

  I didn’t know.

  I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know.

  But after I’d opened my fourth present, a spa day for two at some luxury resort down south, he’d basically shoved me behind the curtain that separated the lounge from the ‘bedroom’ and demanded that I get ready.

  It took me all of twenty minutes and we were out the door, down the stairs and into his car.

  “You’re quiet.” He noted, as we drove along the motorway.

  I didn’t answer immediately because I truly had no clue what to say. It was either ‘sorry Ruben, I’m trying to figure out if you’re a fake’ or ‘my heart is racing because the urge to run away from you is almost giving me a heart attack’.

  Pretty certain neither of those would have gone down well. So I settled for a safer option.

  I shrugged. “Just thinking,” I paused, wondering if it was too soon to say what I was about to say. “What’s going to happen with us, Ruben? I feel like we’re more than friends already, but not. If that makes any sense.”

  He was silent for so long that it made me feel sick with worry.

  Cautiously, he replied. “I don’t know yet, Lydia. Part of me feels like this could be the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Like I’ve single handedly won the premier league and hit the lottery jackpot all on one day. Then there’s this other part of me, the part that feels like I’m somehow taking advantage of you because you’re vulnerable right now. Then, there’s the thought that I know full well your brother is going to try and kick my arse when he gets out of prison. What’s he going to think when he gets out and realises I’m fucking his baby sister.”

  He flinched at his own words. “I mean…”

  “I know what you mean,” I jumped in, before he could dig himself a deeper hole. “But here’s the thing, Ruben. I’m not a little girl any more. Neither of us knows what is or isn’t going to happen with us, but I’ve never let the fear of the unknown dictate what I do. Regardless of whatever excuse you can come up with in your mind, the question remains. Are you willing to take a chance with us? I hate to give
you some sort of ultimatum here, but you already know how I feel about you. If you tell me we can only be friends, I’m just not sure I can do that.”

  “There’s still so much we need to talk about though. And there’s still everything about the last six years…”

  “Give it up already!” I joked. “That’s the point of starting something. We have plenty of time to go over all that stuff...just later.”

  “...Later?” He repeated, weirdly sounding like he loved that.

  I nodded. “Yeah, later.”

  *~*~*

  Ruben

  Later. What a great word.

  If she didn’t mind waiting until later to talk about all the past shit, then I certainly didn’t mind. Fact of the matter was, it gave me more time to figure out how to tell her who I really was.

  My thoughts ranged from ‘I know you’ve had a shit life, but mine is actually pretty damn incredible now,’ to ‘sooo, I have an amazing job, amazing brothers, more money than I know what to do with and I’m letting you live in a shitty studio apartment because I’m scared you’ll freak out at me and I’ll lose you.’

  Yeah, later was definitely the better idea.

  Minutes later, I pulled into the winding driveway of the spa and almost said out loud ‘hey! This looks just like a slightly bigger version of my house!’

  I swallowed the words before they escaped though. Thank God.

  “Oh my God!” Lydia screeched beside me. “This place looks incredible!”

  “Ready to go get pampered?” I asked, then grinned as she threw open the car door and almost ran towards the entrance.

  I jogged to catch up with her and took her hand in mine. The move was so natural, I realised she was right. There was no room to be scared of the unknown. If she wanted an ‘us’, then I’d give it to her.

  ...Even if she only really had half of me.

  Damn.

  *~*~*

  Lydia

  I moaned. Loud.

  I knew my cheeks my must have been on fire because I could feel my whole body blush at the sound.

  The whole body massage seemed like a great idea when the receptionist suggested it as part of the ‘spa-day experience’ but I suddenly wasn’t so sure.

  It had started off clinical and precise as he smoothed the oil across my shoulders and down my arms. He rubbed his thumbs in circles over my skin and I instantly felt myself relax. Then he paused, he told me he’d be right back and that’s when things got weird.

  He’d started at my feet, pushing the palm of his hand into the arch and then sliding both hands further up my legs.

  I’d never had a man’s hands on me, not like that. How was I supposed to react? Was it ok to moan? Was it normal that his touch was doing weird things to my body?

  I bit my lip as his thumbs creeped recklessly close to the edge of the towel that covered my backside, while he massaged my ‘legs’. His fingers were almost millimetres from touching me in that place and I tensed.

  “Um…”

  His hands paused momentarily. When he started again, it was no less inappropriate. I felt guilty, Ruben had paid for me to enjoy my day, but I couldn’t enjoy it when I was caught between turned on and pissed off. I would never give some strange guy permission to touch me like that. Not to say it didn’t feel good, because it damn well did, but urgh! Not a stranger.

  His hands continued their sensual assault on my upper thighs, moulding my skin under their touch.

  I sucked in a breath and froze as the tips of his fingers brushed my backside. He didn’t stop, he flexed his hands on the cheeks of my arse, then growled.

  He freaking growled!

  “Um…” I started, but didn’t say anything further when I heard a deep chuckle. The sound shot through me and I flipped over, sat up and screeched.

  “Ruben!”

  His eyes were fixated on my chest. My very uncovered chest. My very uncovered, very naked, very oiled chest.

  Oh shit!

  Without saying a word, he lifted one knee over the table and leant forward, straddling me, caging me between his arms. With his face almost touching mine, he growled, “you let any man touch you like that?”

  I gasped. “N-no.”

  “You sure about that? Seemed to be enjoying yourself a fair bit for a while. You moaned, Lydia.”

  Suddenly, I found myself getting pissed the hell off with the accusation in his voice. I tried to straighten my shoulders but the move made my nipples brush his topless chest and we both sucked in a breath. Regardless of the look of pure hunger in his eyes, I still snapped at him.

  “Err, yeah! I moaned. It felt good.”

  “I could have been anyone! That greasy guy who started your massage didn’t even blink when I gave him the hand signal to clear-out so I could take over!” He pointed out.

  So fair enough, they should probably hire better staff but it was his stupid fault for trying to trick me anyway. I told him so.

  “Well I didn’t bloody think you’d lie there for fifteen minutes without asking why some random guy was basically groping you! Jesus Lydia, I’m pretty sure I could have stuck my fingers in your pussy and you’d have said ‘Um...’”

  I frowned at him. “That’s not true!”

  “Uh huh,” he mumbled, not convinced. “I don’t believe you.”

  His eyes ran down my body and back up until they stopped on my breasts. Shifting his body so he covered me completely, he raised up on one arm, ran a single finger along my neck and trailed it down my cleavage.

  I watched. Mesmerised.

  “You’re…” he began, then paused and shook his head. “You’re so...so fucking beautiful.”

  Not the most romantic, but still...wow.

  Breathing heavily, I attempted to reply. “T-thanks.”

  Smooth Lydia. Really smooth.

  He groaned and buried his face against my shoulder, causing me to shiver. He spoke against my skin.

  “I couldn’t handle it.”

  “Couldn’t handle what?” I asked.

  “Some random woman was there, rubbing her hands all over me and playing shit whale music or something, talking about relaxing and deep breathing. But all I could think about was that you’d be in here, naked, with some guy getting to rub his hands all over your oiled skin. I hated it. Made me angry. I didn’t want her hands on me, I wanted your hands on me...and I wanted mine on you.”

  “Good,” I whispered back. The thought of his hands all over me again made my skin tingle. I wanted that, badly.

  “Touch me, Ruben.”

  “Where?”

  I moved forward further, until our noses were touching and I could feel his breath on my lips.

  “Everywhere.” I whispered, hoping he’d catch exactly what I meant.

  I knew he had when his eyes turned dark and his breathing stuttered. I caught him off guard when I slammed my lips on his and plunged my tongue into his mouth. Lying back, I pulled him down with me and lightly scratched my nails along the smooth skin on his back.

  My inner vixen cheered at the shiver that wracked his body and the silent cheerleaders broke out in applause as he slid his hand down past my hip and squeezed my ass in his grip. I could feel how much he wanted me.

  His kiss ignited the blood in my veins,

  Forgetting the fact that I was completely naked, I swivelled my hips and tried to shift him off me. I wanted to be on top of him, looking down at him in all his topless beauty.

  As he inched to the side, the massage table groaned and we both froze. The groan turned into a creak and I tried to scramble up whilst the whole thing buckled under our weight, but there was nowhere for me to go.

  Ruben’s breath whooshed out of his lungs as I landed with a thud on top of him. I looked around at the splintered remnants of the table and broke out in uncontrollable giggles.

  “Oh my God!” I giggled again.

  Ruben looked as shocked as I felt. “We broke the table.”

  “No shit!” Looking down at him, I said, “I c
an’t believe we did that.”

  The door burst open and the receptionist stared at us. Her face pinched. “What on earth are you doing?”

  She didn’t need to ask, it was pretty obvious.

  “Um…” I said, causing Ruben to chuckle. Considering his still-hard dick was resting against that place, my breath caught in my throat and a small moan escaped.

  “Well!” Miss receptionist harrumphed.

  Ruben cleared his throat and still sprawled across the floor, he spoke to her.

  “Sorry. We’ll erm...just get dressed and go.”

  “I’ve a good mind to call the police! I could have you charged with criminal damage.”

  Placing the towel over me, he lifted us both to standing and positioned himself in front of me, shielding my body from her eyes.

  I peeked around his torso and rolled my eyes at the receptionist. Her stick-up-her-ass attitude had vanished and the blush that crept up her cheeks was a dead giveaway. The catty part of me wanted to scratch her eyes out for looking at Ruben like he was her next meal.

  Ok, honestly, all of me wanted to scratch her eyes out.

  “No need to do that, just charge the damages to my card and we can forget all about this little misunderstanding, huh?” He suggested.

  “O-of course. Misunderstanding, yes. Well, I’ll see to it that this mess is all cleaned up,” She ran her greedy, cougar eyes up his abs and bit her lip. “It’s quite alright, these things happen. You’re more than welcome back here any time. I hope you had a wonderful day.”

  After her pathetic attempt at sucking up to Ruben, she turned on her heel and scurried off.

  “Bitch.” I muttered.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ruben

  Three weeks later, the whole ‘Lydia’s fake birthday day’ was still stuck at the forefront of my mind. When I’d planned to give Lydia a day she’d never forget, it wasn’t exactly for that reason.

  I’d take it though.

  The entire drive home, she’d had a huge smile on her face and kept randomly chuckling underneath her breath so I knew she was reliving it. It made her smile, so it made me smile.