by Jade White
“It’s been a while,” she said, standing in front of him.
She could feel the heat radiating off of him. That was something they all had in common, they all produced enormous amounts of heat. It was a feeling she would never forget as she stood in front of him, looking into those uncaring, indifferent eyes that watched her. She could feel him and all of his strength manifesting in that raw heat and strange power. She could feel herself melting in that heat. She could feel her whole body coming down in front of him.
He loomed over her, looking at her and before she could say anything to him, she could feel his hand on the side of her neck, his fingers tracing through her hair, feeling her scalp, like fire kissing her skin. She looked at him, begging for him to do something about whatever it was that he was feeling. She smiled at him as his other hand cupped her cheek and his thumb brushed against her glossy lips.
“The things I’d love to do to you,” he said with a softness in his voice, a softness that begged for more.
“So do them,” she whispered to him. “I’m here for you.”
“You don’t even know me,” he said, shaking his head. “It wouldn’t feel right.”
“It doesn’t have to feel right,” she assured him. “It just has to feel good.”
It was a philosophy she had been using for the majority of her life and as he leaned in, she could smell his cologne, the biting scent of it and the powerful feeling of masculinity that hung in her nose, lingering like a ghost around her as his lips came dangerously close to kissing hers. She stared at him, longing for him to do something about his feelings. She wasn’t here for something that was meaningless or feeble. She wanted something raw and powerful with him. She wanted everything he could offer her. She smiled at him as he leaned in and kissed her.
His lips were hungry, ravenous things. There was something about his kiss that reminded her of a wolf, diving onto her as she was waiting for him, completely unready for it. As she took the kiss, she could feel his lips pressing against hers, smashing against her with feral hunger. It was the kind of lustful kiss that was arrogant and narrow minded. It reminded her of a clumsy demand from someone desperate, someone begging for something that they had finally gotten. As she kissed him, she could feel his lips pressing firmly against hers, working her lips as she kissed him back, meeting his fire with the soft embrace that she had always given the men in her life. She wasn’t a fast kisser or a hungry kisser. She understood from a long time ago that kissing was an art.
She wanted to be the best, not because it was something that bothered her about other people, but because she knew she had a knack for it. There was something about kissing him that made her wish that he’d spend that kind of time practicing for her. She kissed him and closed her eyes. There was nothing romantic about this kiss and there was nothing sweeping about it. In fact, the only thing about this kiss that she liked was the fact that it was starving. He was showing his hand. He was begging for more. He was begging for everything she had. She liked that kind of hunger. She liked that kind of extremely ravenous nature to him.
“Do you want more?” she asked him, feeling that he was still standing farther away from her than he should.
She looked at him with a soft smile on his lips. They were red. They were extremely sensitive. This was the kind of kiss she wasn’t expecting. When was the time he had last kissed a girl? She wanted to ask him all of this, but she figured there was something more informative about the way he touched her, the way he stood there, still distant from her. She leaned into him, watching as he smiled at her running his arm down over her shoulders and then wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. She liked the strength he was exhibiting in that arm wrapping around her.
“I want more,” he exhaled.
“Good,” she said with a grin on her lips.
She could feel her body pressed against the strong, fiery form of Mike and she couldn’t help but feel like he was holding back. He wanted more. He wanted everything he could get from her and she was very willing. She felt like her entire body was boiling with lust and desire. If there was one person she wanted to enjoy right now, it was Mike. She was willing to throw it all in for Mike. She was willing to do anything he wanted.
“Are you going to tell Will?” she asked him feeling his cock swelling and pressing against her, pressing against her shorts and begging for her to touch him.
He wanted her to stroke it, feel it, or do something to him. She thought about it. She closed her eyes and felt the lightness in her chest. She wanted to do it. She wanted to feel everything he had to offer. There was something that made her want Mike so badly right now. The only thing she could think of was his body, his body naked and offering itself up to her. She wondered how often she could have him. Could she sneak over to his room? Could she have him whenever she felt lonely or cold? As she looked at him, she knew that there was more that he wanted, more that he was unwilling to make the move on. It was a shame.
"No."
“Why not?” she said with a shrug. “You claimed me first, after all.”
This was the real test. If he was willing to claim her, then that’s something that will make her trust him. If he didn't claim her, then she was going to have a huge problem with him. As she looked at him, she could see the gears turning in his head, twisting and churning as he pondered over her opportunity. She looked at him, because she wanted him so badly to be a good man. She wanted him to be worthy of everything she had dreamed and hoped for with him.
“Nah,” he said, shaking his head at her and disappointed. “We made a deal. You have to choose.”
“It’s up to me?” Oksana said to him.
“Yeah,” Mike said, taking a step back. “I’d love to rip your clothes off and take you for everything you’re willing to give me, but I can’t. I can’t do it until I know you’re actually into me.”
“Sex doesn’t prove everything,” Oksana said, brushing her hand against his cock, feeling how strong and powerful it was.
He knew how to use it. He knew that there was something strong inside of him. She looked at him and watched his eyes flutter, begging her for more without ever uttering a word. She was more than willing to test him out. She knew it was going to be inevitable. They were going to sleep with each other and she’d just been traveling for thirty hours and was more than willing to get out of her clothes.
“It’s just one part of a relationship’s compatibility.”
“Maybe,” Mike said with a cocky grin, “but I’ve got to give Will a fighting chance.”
“You’re that certain about all of this?” she asked, leaning in and kissing him on the cheek. “Well, then I look forward to our future together.”
“Me, too,” he said with a grin.
* * *
It felt good to take her clothes off, even if she wasn’t wearing much after all. She sat on the toilet, looking at her face in the mirror as she listened to the shower running. Her clothes were piled in the corner and she was glad to have the opportunity to just sit and relax. It was so strange for her to be alone right now, to finally stop moving after so many days of preparation and so many hours of travel. It was odd. There was so much she wanted to do today, but she felt like she was going to explode with excitement. She needed a break—a chance to rest.
As she stood up, she stared at herself in the mirror, taking in the body that had earned her a job modeling and had made her one of the most attractive models in Ukraine who hadn’t made it into the big leagues yet. She reached up and cupped her breasts, squeezing them softly as she looked at herself. She knew she was attractive and she knew that she looked like a woman that anyone would want to have sex with. It didn’t matter if they were men or women, so many people had thrown themselves at her. Everything about her body was perfect, from the size of her nipples, to the firmness of her ass. As she looked at herself, she heard the door open softly.
She turned, looking at Mike who was standing in the doorway, staring at her for
a moment as she stood there. While he stood in the doorway, she felt more powerful than she had ever felt. It was something special to stand in front of a man naked and see the look in his eyes, the awe and the wonder that she enjoyed so much. As she looked at him, there was something about him that made her want him all the more.
“God, you’re sexy,” he said after a moment, holding the towel for her.
“I didn’t expect you to come in,” Oksana said, but not really feeling disappointed about it.
She liked that he was bold, that he didn’t hold back. As she stood in front of him, she reached out to take the towel, hugging it to her chest, thinking about what it would be like to feel his warm, strong fingers on her soft, pale skin. As she hugged the towel, she looked at him and saw that he’d frozen up, staring right at her.
“Thank you, Mike,” she said softly.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
She smiled as he slowly closed the door behind him. It was obvious to her now that he was as soft on the inside as Will was on the outside. They were both good men and she was going to enjoy being a part of their lives. The only thing that worried her was the fact that Mike was extremely quiet and extremely nervous as well. She wouldn’t want to spend the time beating around the bush. That was a way to get things complicated and messy. She wanted to be a part of their lives, a mate to them. She wanted to have both of them. All she needed was more confidence on their part.
When she got into the shower, she kept the water warm, letting it soak into her skin, her muscles, and her bones. She wanted to feel it inside of her, deep inside of her. She craved the warmth. There was something that made her crave the heat after Rowan. Being around Mike hadn’t helped. She wanted it now more than ever. All she could think of was the heat and how much she had wanted it to be a part of her. The heat was everything at this point. As she kept her eyes closed, letting the water flow down her body, through her silky, golden hair, she couldn’t help but wonder which one was going to make a move first.
When she was done, she turned off the shower and wrapped herself in the soft towel that she was certain Will had bought fresh and new for her. He was that kind of a man and she was getting used to how he operated. She liked how kind and how caring he had been to her. She liked how there was nothing about him that wasn’t ready and eager. It was like he built his entire life around the idea of her coming to visit her for the entire time that they had been talking online. She liked that. It made her feel special. It made her feel like she was worth something to him. As she wrapped herself in the housecoat Mike had left for her, she realized he must have dropped it off when she was in the shower. She wondered if he had peeked in on her. The thought of it teased her. She could picture him naked in front of her, eager for her, and the thought of it made her want him even more. There was something about him that made her so excited.
When she was done in the bathroom, she wrapped her towel around her hair and walked out into the hallway, wondering where Mike had run off to. She wanted to see if he was going to try any more of his moves on her. She wanted to know if there was any chance she would get with him tonight. She smiled at how eager she was, realizing it was probably someone else who should feel this way. There was something about all of this that suddenly felt backwards.
Walking back into her room, she sat down at the vanity where she’d put her make up. There was something about the make up that made her feel like there was so little of her old life here. This was one of the few things that reminded her of the old days. As she looked at herself in the mirror, applying her make up, she thought about everything she had right now. She had some clothes, some make up, and she had no real possibilities of a life. She needed to contribute to everything she had going on right now. She looked at her face and smiled at herself.
Truthfully, she was scared. That might have something to do with the eagerness to have sex with one of them, but she knew she definitely wanted something more for her life. She knew she would be having sex, sharing life, and doing all the things she wanted to do with them, but it was hard for her to really understand what was happening beyond her. She wasn’t in control of anything and she needed to figure out how she was going to play a role in everything that was about to happen.
“Stop playing games,” she told herself.
She needed to let things happen. She couldn’t force them to want her and she couldn’t force them to be mates. She tried to picture and remember how it had been with Rowan, how the magnetic power had controlled both of them so wickedly. She tried to remember how everything had felt and how everything had just flowed naturally. She didn’t need to impress him. She didn’t need to draw him in. All she needed to do was get him to see her. He had fallen for her without any thought or planning or guile. She needed to have faith this would work out for them as well. One of them was going to fall for her. It was just a matter of time before they figured it out and knew who was going to be her mate. She closed her eyes and promised herself she wouldn’t be cast aside.
Pulling on her shorts and a white tank top, Oksana didn’t bother with a bra or underwear. She figured she wouldn’t be up for much longer. The jet lag was getting fierce and she was almost ready to call it a night, but the sun was still up and she wanted to explore a little bit of San Francisco before she fell asleep. She couldn’t spend her first day in America alone in a house, pining over a relationship that was just beginning. She would go insane if that was her plan.
So, she went down stairs, found that Mike was in the living room, watching some comedy show with cartoons that she didn’t really understand. All of the humor was above her head and all she could do was smile and pretend to chuckle when he chuckled at the screen. It was awkward and when the commercials finally came on, she hoped he might be willing to accompany her on the walk that she was about to go on.
“Hey,” she said, touching him on the shoulder. He turned his head and looked at her with those dark, smoldering eyes. “I’m going to go on a walk. Would you like to come?”
He looked at her for a moment and shrugged. “I don’t really like spending time out in the open for long,” he said with a tone that suggested that there was probably a reason behind that.
She didn’t want to press it any further and simply smiled and nodded at him. Standing up from the couch, she gave him one last look and felt sick that he was more interested in looking at the TV screen than he was in looking at her. She felt sick in her stomach and she opened the door, heading out into the afternoon warmth of the San Francisco world.
She didn’t remember much of the walk. All she knew was that she was probably in trouble if Mike was more interested in a comedy cartoon than he was in spending time with her. She tried to assure herself that he was probably just trying to play hard to get with her or he was telling himself not to smother her and scare her off. As she tried to justify his actions, she felt bitter and resentful toward him, wishing it had been Will who was home with her. He probably would have taken her all around the city and shown her everything that there was to see in the world. All she could hope was that there would be something different when she woke up tomorrow. Maybe Will would do all the things she wanted to do in the city. There was nothing exciting this far and that scared her.
When she made it back home, Mike was texting and still watching TV, but at least it wasn’t cartoons this time. He looked up from his phone and asked her how her walk was. She wasn’t sure how to answer that, because she hadn’t spent much time actually looking around when she was walking. She’d spent the entire time in her head, which was never a good place to spend your time when you’re out on a walk. She looked at him with a smile and headed up stairs. She could feel his gaze on her, but it was too late for that. There was no playing anymore, no flirting, and no gazing. She was going to go to bed early and she planned on waking up tomorrow to Will, who might actually show her a good time, one way or another.
Chapter Three
When Oksana woke up, she realized that she had
thrown off most of her blankets and sheets, overheating at some point during the night. She looked at the dark, nocturnal world all around her. She blinked and checked the clock, seeing that it was just after midnight. She did the math and found that she’d been asleep for seven hours and felt more alive and awake than she’d felt in a long time. It was like she’d been asleep for ages and she was more refreshed than ever.
Sitting up in bed, she could feel the cool of the evening and was happy to feel it was still warmer than anything she’d felt in summer in Ukraine. Here, everything was truly golden. She threw off her one remaining sheet and stood up, feeling her toes and the soles of her feet squishing into the soft carpet as she walked over to the window and stared out. They were situated on a hill that rolled toward the city, but she could see the bay and it was an incredible field of twinkling lights as the city continued to power on. She was standing there, before a city and all she could think about was the fact that she hadn’t seen any part of it. As she watched the lights, she wished she’d taken a cab or something to go see the city. Instead, she was going to have to wait for all of it.
There was a noise downstairs and Oksana turned, looking at the closed door and wondered what had made the noise. She was in her underwear and a tank top, in no position to deal with a burglar, but she wasn’t as helpless and defenseless as so many people would think. In fact, she knew enough to protect herself and then some. As she took a step toward the door, she could hear something else downstairs, movement and commotion. All she could think was that the worst thing that could happen would be someone breaking into the house and robbing them on her first day there. She opened the door and looked toward the stairs where she could see light climbing and resting on each of the steps and painting the wall in soft, orange light as she stared at the stairs. She could hear footsteps downstairs and she knew someone was down there.
