by Carly White
“You’re the window.”
She laughed. “I don’t think I have ever been called that before.”
“So why are you now suddenly free?”
“I got dumped earlier this evening by my boyfriend. I was too busy and he couldn’t help himself. You know same sad story.”
Claus leaned in and took her hand in his. “He is crazy and I will have to thank him one day.”
“For what?”
“For letting you go.”
Claus moved to kiss her hand and as she pulled away, he pulled her up. “Do you want to dance?”
She nodded and got up with him without a word. There was nothing that she could say in that moment and when she felt his hard body against her, there was more reason just to focus on breathing that was becoming more complicated as he moved her around the crowded dance floor. It was as if everyone around them had disappeared and it was only Claus that she seen. Only when he leaned down to kiss her did she realize the error of her ways.
Anai pushed away before their lips could touch. She finally had to open her eyes to the world around them. “We can’t Claus. My cousin really likes you.”
He looked over at the small blonde. She was dancing on Jeff and from the look on both of their faces he was long since forgotten about. “She doesn’t seem to be too worried about me right now.”
Anai looked where he was and she saw the same thing, but still didn’t think that falling into his arms was the right thing to do. Still, there was a moment where she wished that it was. Anai was sick of being upset and she knew that Claus was the type of man that could make her forget everything. He wouldn’t want anything in return. There would be no strings attached with him.
But the moment had past and he seemed to be considering her cousin again. She pulled away, aggravated with herself for always wanted a guy that wasn’t for her or even available. Making her way back to the table, her emotions were everywhere and when he followed her back, she made an excuse and headed towards the bathroom. Anai knew that she shouldn’t have gone out, still too raw from the events with Jeremy. She had never been one to forget one in the arms of another and it seemed even more impossible now.
Getting out of the bathroom, she was stopped by his voice. “Are you okay?”
She turned to see Claus waiting for her. “Yes I am fine.”
“You don’t look fine Anai. You look sad.” His fingertip went beneath her eye and wiped away the moisture she had missed.
“It’s just been a really long day and I don’t know why I even went out, this isn’t me.”
“Well what would you like to do Anai?”
“I would like to forget about the man that dumped me earlier today and I was hoping that a few drinks would do it.”
“A few isn’t enough. We could go back to my place and see how many it would take.”
She smiled back up at him. He was trying and though he seemed to be a man that solved his problems that way, she wasn’t. “I don’t think that would work, but thank you for trying. You aren’t like most jocks I have met.”
“What do you have against us?”
Anai sighed and touched his face slightly before moving her hand away. “Nothing. You guys are just too hot for your own good.”
“Is that so?”
Anai nodded. “Yes.”
“You think I am hot?”
She rolled her eyes and started to walk off. It was obvious to anyone of that fact that had eyes. He wasn’t being modest, but a false modesty, his eyes telling her that he knew exactly what he did to her. Claus grabbed her and pulled her back to him, her hands bracing on his hard chest as his kiss took her breath away. There was no one there to see them, no guilt, just the pleasure of his lips on hers and then his tongue delving into her mouth.
Claus pushed her against the wall, pinning her with his body as his hands roamed up the side of her tight red dress. Grabbing a handful of her hair, he pulled her to him as his mouth ravished hers. Only when he felt her body melting and heard the whimper did he stop. Moving back, he watched her blue eyes open slowly as if in a daze.
“Is that helping you forget?”
She shook her head that it was and leaned in for more of his mouth. He growled against her and his hand got more aggressive, hiking her skirt up as she opened herself up to him. “Wait Claus, not here.”
“Then where?” He would have taken her anywhere, but she was not the same as Denise. Claus highly doubted that she would get on her knees right there as many would, or against the bathroom stall wall, but he wanted her and wished she wasn’t so delicate all of a sudden. Her place was too far.
“I don’t know, but not here.”
He groaned inwardly and pulled away, letting her fix her dress while his eyes scanned the room for the people that he came with. He didn’t see Jeff or Denise anywhere and figured they were still on the dance floor. There were too many people in one place, the throng of people left the individual not outstanding at all. The people were just a mass of faces and bodies writhing together.
“Let’s go back to my place. We can call a cab and it’s not very far from here.”
She nodded, no longer wanting to do the right thing, but the wrong thing that she knew would feel so right. Claus steered her towards the exit and had her in a cab before she could think twice about anything. In the back of the yellow taxi, his hands roamed on her body, fingers going underneath her dress to run up her long legs. Anai shivered under his touch, only stopping when the car stopped and the driver made a loud noise in his throat.
Giggling she got off his lap that she had somehow been pulled onto and opened the door while he paid. Anai’s body had long since forgotten her pain from the rejection earlier in the day and all she could think about was Claus’ hands on her. He may have been different than she was used to, but it was what she needed. She needed to be handled with no compunction like she was already his. When he touched her, it was like he had already claimed her for his own.
Meeting her at the door, he came in behind her and kissed her neck before putting key in the locked door. As soon as he opened it though, he knew that they would not be alone. Jeff and Denise had made it back before they did and since he had been with Denise in such a way, he knew instantly who it was. When he looked over at Anai, something had changed in her eyes.
“I’m sorry Claus, but I got to go.”
He looked at her as if she had lost her mind, his hand closing around her wrist, but she pulled away and started towards the taxi they had just gotten out of. Anai looked back once and Claus was still standing in the doorway, not sure what had just happened. His body yelled at the retreating car and he looked back up at the building where all of the sounds of pleasure were coming from. It did nothing to help how he was feeling, the need gnawing at him from the inside out.
Claus cursed under his breath and slammed the door behind him. The noises stopped for a time, but picked back up. He went to his bedroom and turned the speakers up. What had gone wrong? Claus wished that he had taken her to Anai’s house. She wouldn’t have had a roommate to ruin everything. But he had made the wrong choice and Claus wasn’t sure why she had taken off, but he had a few ideas.
Chapter 6
Anai left Claus wondering what was going on and she didn’t answer his calls to let him know. He called her Wednesday and then Thursday to try and get her to talk to him, but it was only on late Thursday afternoon that she finally answered. “You have called a lot Claus. Is there something you need?”
He paused at the coolness in her voice. She was upset about something, which was made more than obvious when he heard the chill in her tone. “Well I have been trying to talk to you. After what happened the other night, don’t you think we should talk about it?”
“No, I had a bit too much to drink and that was about it. Bad decisions were made. I got my head back before it went too far. You have been with my cousin Claus. That is a bit too much for me and even though you pawned her off on one of your friends, I know y
ou two were together for a while.”
He was quiet for a moment and groaning inwardly with her words. She made it so clear how she said it, but it didn’t take away the way he felt. “If I had known about you, I never would have talked to Denise. But without her, we never would have met.”
“We are too different Claus, surely you can see that. Two different times in our life and add that with Denise and it’s too much. I will help you finish your work, but it can’t be anything else beyond that. It’s just not meant to be.”
Claus was frowning into the phone, not liking to be told what was for him or not meant to be. He was the master of his own fate and he certainly didn’t need to hear how many ways it was wrong. He knew every one of them and still he didn’t care.
“I was hoping that you would want to come to my game tonight. I know it’s not really your thing, but since you just had a break-up, I figured you would want to stay busy. It always helped me.”
“As what?”
“Just friends if that is what you want. I am just trying to help out, I was there a couple of months ago and if you keep busy, it will stop you from missing them so much.” Claus hoped that his new angle would help her agree. He would have said and done anything to see her again. He had called to see why she left, but now he was just grasping for straws of understanding.
Anai relented with his explanation. She was feeling lonely and didn’t want to stay at home studying for another test. Anai needed to get out and have some fun. “I will think about it Claus. Thanks for trying to help me.”
“Well if you come, I will give your name to the ticket stand and you can sit down in the front. That is, if you want to.”
“I will see if I can.” It was all she was going to give and he took it for what it was.
“Okay Anai. If that is how you want it.”
“I’m sorry if I was rude with you Claus. It’s just my luck that the guy I like, has already been with my cousin.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
It was the only thing keeping her from begging him to come over and take her. Her body was still on edge from their last encounter and seemed to know that he would be a good choice for pleasure. “Sorry, it’s just me and Denise are close.”
“It’s fine. I understand it has to be weird, it’s weird for me, but I never felt this way before and I want to see you again.”
It was a moment of vulnerability and she saw it as that. “I felt something too Claus. There is something about you that is hard to deny. I will try to make it, but no promises.”
No promises sounded like a promise and he knew that it was as good as it was going to get. “I hope to see you. The game starts at seven. Do you want me to get you more than one ticket for the game?”
“No, one is enough and I don’t know who I would take with me anyways. Not many people in my circle watch hockey.”
“Yeah I know, it’s not football.”
***
Anai spent the next hour agonizing over if she was going to go or not. She wanted to talk to Denise and somehow get her permission to do what she wanted with her ex or whatever he was to her. It was not something she had the heart to do though. When Denise called her as she got ready, she took it as a sign, though she wasn’t sure which way the sign was going to go.
“Hey cuz, what happened to you the other night?”
“Me? You were the one that went back to Jeff’s place.”
Denise paused and then giggled a little. “Yeah well you and Claus seemed to hit it off and I don’t know why, but Jeff was just looking too good to pass up.”
“So are you with Jeff now?”
“I don’t know. Why have only one?”
Anai sighed quietly to herself and closed her eyes. She was to imagine that the other one was Claus, but she didn’t mention it, not wanting her to know her true feelings. “Oh, I see you are staying busy then.”
“How did you know that me and Jeff were together?”
She paused, not sure what to say. IF she told her the truth, then Denise would know what she had almost done. “I just figured that is what happened when you took off together. I mean, it doesn’t take a rocket science to see that you were digging him on the dance floor.”
“Yes, he is not usually my type, but he was better than I would have thought. No one is as good as Claus, but he was almost as good. Jeff is nicer though, so it kind of works out.”
Anai wanted to ask more about Claus and what it was that he was so good at. Her body knew that he was the one to give her pleasure, but hearing it from Denise just made it more of a fact. There was something about that man, a raw intensity that was impossible to deny and she didn’t want to. All she had to do was get up the courage to tell her cousin that she wanted him. Since she had moved on, surely it wouldn’t be an issue. There was the girl code though and in that way he was off limits.
She finally just decided to say nothing. Anai could still go see him as a friend. That is what he had suggested. “Sounds like Jeff is the way to go.”
“I know, but Claus… You just don’t understand. He has a way with his hands.”
Anai wanted to hear more and nothing at the same time. She could imagine that he was all kinds of wild in bed. All she had to do was look at his eyes when they darkened to a black. He was just as needy as she was.
“I don’t know Denise. I can’t keep up with one guy, let alone any more than that. Most guys are not going to want to share, but you have to pick one of them.”
“But I don’t want to.”
She had to laugh a little by the way Denise’s voice sounded. It was like she was five and couldn’t agree on a sucker or gum. “I hope that all works out for you cuz. Too complicated for me. What are you doing tonight?”
“I don’t know. Jeff wants me to come see him at the game, but it could get weird.”
“I can go. You know, as a buffer for you, so it won’t be so weird.” Anai just wanted to see Claus and running into Denise in another way would be awkward.
“Yeah that sounds good, though I can’t believe you are going to take a day off from studying to go to a game. That’s not like you at all.”
“I have to do something. I run into Jeremy at least twice a day for class and I just can’t concentrate. I figured a night out might help that.”
“I won’t take off on you this time though Anai, I promise.”
Anai told her to swing by on her way, not saying anything about her last comment. Anai in a way wanted her to take off so that she could be with Claus alone. Whether it was right or wrong, being friends with him was better than not being around him at all. Deep down, Anai hoped that her cousin would pick Jeff and then Claus would be open to have for herself. It was wrong, she knew that, but there was something about the way he was that drew her in and she couldn’t help herself.
Chapter 7
Claus kept looking up into the stands, scanning the crowd for someone in particular. “Who are you looking for Claus?”
He stopped and glanced at Jeff beside him. “I just hoped that someone I invited would come. It looks like she had something better to do.”
“You aren’t talking about Denise are you?”
Claus gave him a look of puzzlement. “Denise? Why the hell would I want her to come here?”
There was a moment of tightness of Jeff’s face, before he relaxed, seeming to make up his mind about something. “I wanted to talk to you about her.”
“What about?”
“Are you two together?”
Claus shook his head that they weren’t. “We fooled around a couple of times, but nothing serious. She isn’t saying that we are, is she?”
“No, she played it off like it was nothing as well when I asked her about it. I don’t want to do something against you, but I like her a lot and if you are done with her, I am going to see if she will give me a chance.”
“You’re serious?”
Claus was dumbstruck for a moment. Of course he was serious and since Jeff didn�
��t usually like anyone, he was kind of glad that it happened. Denise did have a way about her and if Claus wasn’t looking for more, than he would have been happy with her in his bed. But Claus wanted more and it was more than Denise could give him. With Denise out of the way, it would leave him open to pursue his own interest.
“Yes I am Claus. I care about her a lot and I invited her here tonight.”
“So you were going to be with her, no matter what I said huh?”
“It’s not like that.”
Claus couldn’t be angry, but he was a bit surprised that he had no problem to go over his head with it. What if he had been in love with her?
“I mean Claus you pushed her on me so you could flirt with that other chick. I saw you two in the corner by the bathroom, so let’s not pretend like you care.”
“I don’t, you’re right. She is not for me, so you know that I wish you guys the best.”
“It’s that cousin that you are into isn’t it?”
He shook his head. It was hard to hide his feelings, some that he wasn’t used to feeling. It had been a long time since he wanted a woman so much and even longer since he had even thought to put himself out there.
“There they are.”
Claus looked back and saw the two blondes together and they seemed to be as deep in conversation as they were. He wondered what they were talking about. He didn’t have time to worry about it, because the game was getting ready to start and because there were people there to see him, he wanted to make sure that he did his best. He had to with Anai watching from the stands. Her being there gave him hope that it would somehow work out.
***
“So I see you looking at Claus Anai. You know that it isn’t worth your time.”
“I thought you said he was the best.”
Denise blushed for a moment and then nodded. “He is, but he is not there. Claus got his heart broken and I don’t think he is capable of loving anyone.”
