Cuffing Her

by Emily Bishop

  “Throw the phone in the lake,” I said. “Simple.”

  “You’re kidding,” he said. The phone finally stopped ringing, and the screen blacked out. “Just throw it away.”

  “Yeah. Why not?” I asked. “It’s not like you enjoy getting calls. Why keep something that irritates you?”

  “I have responsibilities.”

  “And throwing it out changes that?” I gave him a quizzical look.

  “I—” The phone rang again, and Jarryd grunted. He lifted it, took aim, and loosed. The sleek black rectangle turned end over end once then plopped into the water. The ringing cut out immediately.

  My stomach gave a tiny jolt. “There,” I said and clapped my hands once. “Isn’t that better?”

  Jarryd’s laugh rumbled in his chest. “You’re amazing,” he said, and faced me, skin around his eyes wrinkling, the corner of his mouth lifted on one side. “I would never have even thought of doing that.”

  “Why not?” The Hierophant. Conforming to norms.

  “Just wouldn’t have. And, uh, yeah, I wouldn’t have done it if that was my only phone.”

  “You’re kidding.” I laughed. “That was, what, a burner phone?”

  “Basically,” he replied, and chuckled, too. “But it’s the gesture that counts, right?”

  I wriggled my nose.

  “Aurora, you’re a breath of fresh air. You’re free as a bird.” Jarryd’s thigh pressed against mine.

  “There are lots of different types of freedom. I guess, I was free in one way and stuck in another, if that makes sense.” I had to make him see. “This is everything to me. I want to have a good life, a happy life.” And hopefully, a child of my own someday. Even if that child didn’t have a father.

  “Why do you think I’ll change that?”

  “It’s a small town. A lot of the folks around here remember me, and not the good stuff. Some of them don’t want me in the RV park. They definitely won’t want me to stay here permanently.”

  “I see. Being with me will make that worse?”

  He had a point. “Maybe. If they think I’m a homewrecker. You and Felicity—”

  “Are over. Long gone over. We were over before we officially ended the relationship.”

  “They won’t see it that way. And the real estate agent is a local, too. If the current owner sees me as a flight risk or as untrustworthy, they probably won’t sell to me.” I took a breath. “I don’t want anything to ruin this.”

  “I’m not planning on ruining it,” he said.

  “Gypsy whore,” I replied.

  “Well, fuck you, too.”

  I snorted a laugh. “Not you—me! That’s what they called me when I was eighteen years old, before I left. Gypsy whore.”

  “That’s disgusting. Why do you want to stay here? Apart from the memories of your mother.”

  “They’re not all bad, only some of them.”

  “Like that ex?”

  I focused on the lake instead of answering that.

  “I’m not here to ruin your plans,” Jarryd said.

  “Then why are you here?”

  “It’s too soon for me to answer that. I want to spend more time with you, Aurora. If you want it to be on the down low, that’s fine. I’m used to doing things out of the public eye. It’s the life I’ve had to lead the last eight years.”

  “Since you were twenty.”

  “That’s right,” he replied. He brushed my hair behind my ear. “No one has to know if you don’t want them to.”

  Or maybe it was that he didn’t want them to know.

  His fingertips tickled my ear, traveled down the side of my neck, came to rest on the strap of my bra. “You want to be with me,” he said.

  I leaned into his touch and shut my eyes, blotted out the fear that I’d lose my chance at finally settling down. The musk of his skin invaded my nostrils, stunned my senses, and I rested my forehead against his, breath catching in my throat.

  “Be here with me,” he said. “Nowhere else but here.”

  I’d been hard on myself for too long. I deserved joy, didn’t I? Other women would’ve melted the minute he laid eyes on them. Why did I have to deprive myself of something I desired? I wanted a normal life, and sex was a part of that.

  I sucked my bottom lip, released it slowly. “I think… I think I need this. You,” I said, softly. Eyelids flickering open, I gauged his reaction.

  His eyes flashed, chain lightning in a clear blue sky. “Here,” he said and got up. He led me to the blanket at the lake’s side, sat me down. He was so sure of everything. What was that like?

  Jarryd lowered himself to his knees in front of me. The front of his suit pants stretched taut over his erection. We’d barely touched, and he wanted me this bad. My skin tingled. My heart skipped a beat.

  He stripped off his shirt and jacket, tossed them aside, and astounded me with his state of physical fitness. He must have had to work out every day to get like this. It was crazy.

  And I had the opportunity to enjoy a real connection, and I wouldn’t give it up. A normal life. Maybe with something extraordinary thrown in.

  I dragged my camisole top down then reached back and undid my bra, releasing my breasts. They bounced, and the skin around my nipples puckered at the influx of fresh air.

  “Someone might see,” Jarryd said and gripped the front of his pants.

  “There’s no one out here.” We hadn’t been followed, and none of the others in town would come out to the old, abandoned cabin.

  I scuffled forward on my knees, tugging my skirt down accidentally, and unzipped the front of his pants. I brought out his dick and held it, stroked the shaft once.

  Jarryd’s expression hazed. “Aurora.”

  Pre-cum dribbled from his head. I collected it with a finger and ran it down the side of his dick, tracing the veins and ridges, wetting them and then licking my lips. I looked up at him again then back at his dick, overwhelmed. “I want to taste you,” I said.

  He throbbed in my grip. “Do it.”

  I took him between my lips, circled his head with my tongue, massaging the ridge, tasting, seeking. God, it was good. I’d never enjoyed this type of thing before. I sucked on the head, popped free and met his gaze. “Good?”

  “Wet your hand and use it here,” he said, gesturing to the shaft.

  I spat into my palm then smoothed it over his skin.

  “Fu-uuck.”

  Sweet pleasure thudded in my core. I wanted him to feel good. To lose it for me. Because of me. Wetness gathered between my legs.

  I sucked him again, this time going slow then deep, sliding past the head and gagging—he was too thick to get much further down.

  Jarryd pulled my hair, mingling arousal with pain. “Fuck yes. A little faster.”

  I did as I was told, working his shaft, his head, feeling my way through it by the tensing of his muscles, his throbs and low growls.

  “Enough,” he said. “Stop.”

  I came up for air. “But you haven’t—”

  “Neither have you.” Jarryd grasped me by the waist, turned me around, forced me onto all fours then ripped my skirt up. He rubbed two fingers over the wet triangle of black cotton that hid me from view. “Jesus, Aurora, you’re dripping.”

  “Uh-huh.” I couldn’t talk. I arched my back and pushed my ass toward him.

  “So wet.” He hooked a finger underneath the fabric and tugged my panties to one side. A second of delay and then…

  Jarryd’s tongue entered me.

  “Oh, my—” I pushed my ass backward. “Oh, god.”

  He licked my lips, slapped my ass, and pulled the cheeks apart, giving him better access. He reached my clit and kissed it, noisily. The slurps drove me to the edge and beyond. I scrunched up the blanket. “Please!” I yelped. “Please, Jarryd. Please.”

  “Please what?” he asked and slapped my ass again. A light tap that sent shivers through my core. “Please what?”

  “Please, fuck me. I need you inside
me. I need you.” God, I’m begging, and I don’t even care. It’s too good. He’s too much. We hadn’t removed our clothes, just pulled them aside to get at each other.

  “You want me inside you.”

  “Yes,” I hissed. His dick touched my entrance and I bucked backward, trying to force him into me. Desperate. “Come on!” I slapped the ground. “Jarryd!”

  He entered me in one swift thrust, parting my lips, stretching my walls, filling me completely. I clenched tight, cried out, but it only heightened the pleasure.

  “Fuck, you’re wet.” Jarryd’s rhythm was frenetic, a show of the desperation that had already overcome me.

  I reached between my legs and played with my clit, circling it in time to the beat of our lovemaking. Streaks of white-hot bliss arced through me.

  Jarryd’s breath caught in his throat. “I’m close,” he said.

  My eyes snapped wide, I looked back at him over my shoulder, admired his body, muscles rippling with every thrust, rocking me back and forth, and sweat dripping down his abs.

  Ecstasy took me, balled me up then shuttled me into satisfaction. I tensed around him, disconnected thoughts rushed by—his hair shifted by the wind, blue eyes glazed over but still watching.

  “That’s right,” he said. “Come for me. Come for me, Aurora.”

  I threw back my head and moaned, crested the rise and crashed over the edge. Moon and waves. God. “Yes,” I whispered.

  Jarryd’s cock hardened—impossibly huge now, almost painful. He throbbed inside me, once, twice, three times, and squirted deep, filling me with his cum.

  Finally, he shuddered to a halt. Our breaths were the only sound, apart from a gentle rustle in the trees and…

  “Yes, I’m going to view it again, right now. It might need some work.” The woman’s voice drifted between the trees, across the lake.

  “Oh, Jesus,” Jarryd said. “Who’s that?”

  Chapter 9

  Jarryd

  “Yes, I’m going to let you know what needs to be revamped. This is only my second look at the place.” The voice drifted closer, followed by the crunch of footsteps. Who the hell? Why would someone come here now?

  Unless it was—

  “Oh, shit,” Aurora whispered. She shimmied forth on her hands and knees then popped up right. “Crap in a handbag.”

  “I thought you said no one came out here.”

  “Is this the time to worry about that?” she snapped. “Run! Run before she sees us.”

  I lurched to my feet, zipped up my pants, and chased after Aurora, around the other side of the lake. I tripped over a rock and stumbled forward, arms pinwheeling. “Chee-rist!”

  Aurora stood at the tree line, hopping from one foot to the other, her naked breasts wobbling.

  I stared.

  “Hurry!” She tugged her bra straps up and covered them, at last.

  I darted under the cover of the trees, as a woman in a pantsuit emerged from those on the other side of the lake.

  Aurora crept behind a tree and beckoned for me to do the same. I stepped up behind her and leaned my weight against hers. Silent laughter rocked me. The woman, whoever she was, had almost caught us. We’d barely had time to register satisfaction before she’d arrived. Yet, all I could summon was exhilaration.

  This was the most fun I’d had in… fuck it, in years. Silent laughter rocked me.

  “It’s not funny,” Aurora whispered, but her shoulders bounced up and down, too, and tiny giggles escaped her.

  “Shush.” I pressed a finger to her lips, inhaling that lavender scent.

  The woman, carrying a clipboard with a phone pressed to her ear, rounded the other side of the lake and stopped dead. “What? Jeremy, I’m going to have to call you back. It looks like—no, nevermind.” She hung up and stared at my shirt and jacket on the ground, and the ruined picnic. Our shoes were there, too, kicked off in the heat of the moment.

  “She must be the realtor,” Aurora breathed.

  The woman tut-tutted and scanned the trees.

  We both shrank back. “Let’s get out of here. I doubt she’s going to leave any time soon.”

  Aurora nodded then turned and walked between the trees, picking her way over twigs and stones. “Watch your feet,” she whispered.

  “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

  The going was damn slow and nowhere near as uplifting as it’d been on the way over to the cabin. We were far from the RV park, probably closer to the side of Moondance with the hotel and all the responsibilities I wanted to escape.

  Rod, who’d called me earlier and would lose his shit at me again. The movie. Pride’s Death was a fuck-up. Nowhere near as good as it could be, and Felicity’s gluey disposition had me on edge—every time I turned around, she was there, waiting to attach herself to my side.

  So much at stake, and all I wanted to do was spend time with Aurora, who didn’t seem all that happy to have me as a part of her life.

  A part of her life? You’ve known her a day!

  But it was true. She was addictive, and I wanted another hit. I wanted it every day, all day. Not the sex, just her presence in my life. She didn’t ground me or hold me back, she freed me. I could be Jarryd around her, not the businessman or the actor, just me.

  “Through here,” she said and took a dirt path to the left. Another one that had been smoothed out from what had to have been years of foot traffic. “This is the route I used to take to school every morning. There are a few of these paths through here.”

  “It’s serene,” I said. “Was it like that for you when you were a kid?”

  “Kind of,” she replied. “Sometimes I had after-school activities and it’d get dark quick. Walking through here at night was… an education of its own.”

  “You had the balls to do that?” I pictured a fourteen-year-old Aurora, terrified, clutching a book bag to her chest and staring into the darkened gaps between trunks and branches.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “I mean, I love it here, but it was still a forest at night, you know?”

  “Fuck, yeah, I know. I’d have shat myself.”

  She twisted, looked at me over her shoulder. “I highly doubt that. You don’t seem like the type who’s afraid of the dark.”

  “The dark? No,” he said. “It’s storms I don’t like. I’m not afraid of them, just don’t like ‘em. The creepy trees, though… Shit, I’ve seen Deliverance.”

  Aurora shuddered. “You and your movies.”

  We hurried through the forest, and the soles of my feet caught on every rock, twig, and stone in existence. I’d need a foot massage after this. Or a salt soak, something suitably emasculating, which’d make me want to punch up some drywall to make up for it.

  Silence but for the crackle of our passage, and a rustle every now and again. I caught up to Aurora and walked by her side.

  “Why don’t you like storms?” she asked.

  “It reminds me of my dad,” I replied. She’d been honest with me about her mother and her old home. I could trust her. She wouldn’t run to the media with this. You sure about that? Is it what Felicity would do?

  “Your dad?”

  “He used to do this thing. Every time a storm came, he’d lose his shit. He’d run around the house shutting everything off—TV, computers, lights, all the power basically, because he was convinced the lightning would strike the house and fry all our assets. I was a little boy and the dark, the noises, they freaked me out. Now, when I hear it, it reminds me of that time.”

  “He was worried about money?” Aurora asked.

  “More so than anything else. Certainly more so than he worried about me or my mother,” I replied, stiffly.

  Aurora didn’t push for more information, and I appreciated the hell out of that. Talking about my father made me uncomfortable.

  “Almost there,” she said, instead. “Brace your feet for some cold, hard tar. Or hot, hard tar.” She blushed at the “hard,” then cleared her throat.

  “An
ything’s better than this,” I said, as I stepped on yet another stone. Fuck it, were they propagating beneath me or something? This seemed spiteful.

  Finally, we exited the forest and moved out onto the road—the surroundings were free of buildings, at least as far as I could make out, and it was quiet, no cars hurtling back and forth. What did you expect? This isn’t a fucking freeway. Or a city.

  “Where are we?” I asked and raised my hand, squinting up and down the street. Wind whipped against my bare chest and iced the sweat on it.

  “Close to the Moondance Motel. It’s fifteen minutes’ walk that way.” She pointed to her right. “And I’ll head back into the forest and walk back to the RV park from there.”

  “What? Not a chance. You’re coming with me. I’ll call that cab friend of yours to pick you up at the motel.”

  “Where everyone can see me?” she replied. “And talk about the gypsy whore –”

  “Stop saying that.” I pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t even talk like that, Aurora. That’s not what you are, and no one can legally stop you from buying your old place based on public opinion. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of bad publicity.” I hated bad publicity, and I certainly didn’t want Aurora caught up in my world if it’d clip her wings.

  But walking all the way back to the RV park barefoot was out of the question.

  “You’re half naked,” she replied.

  “So?”

  “So, the implication is pretty damn obvious, if you ask me.”

  I sighed. “All right, you’ve got a point.” The last thing either of us needed was one of the locals contacting a reporter with the juicy story that we’d been together at the hotel, me topless and her looking the way she did now, hair a mess and flustered, pink-cheeked.

  She’s gorgeous.

  “I’ll walk.”

  “I’ll walk you back,” I said.

  “Same problem. Someone will see us.”

  Just then, a car rounded the corner up ahead and trundled down the road, between the trees. A glint on a windshield and the pop-growl of Luke’s ‘73 Porsche 911 swept toward us. The sound of that car’s engine—an air-cooled flat six—was unmistakable to me.

  “What is it?” Aurora asked.