by Dee Carney
He wanted to see her again with a desperation that bordered on silly. Surely he could stand to spend nine hours apart from a woman he barely knew?
But that wasn’t quite accurate. While two weeks ago he didn’t know very much about Sabrina, the past days of loving and talking told him more than he thought possible. An orphan, she showed enthusiastic fascination when he told her about his family. He didn’t think of the stories of the trio of brothers as particularly entertaining, but Sabrina proved herself an apt pupil.
He probed into her past and she told him a lot. Not everything, he could tell that much, but a lot. Some things so haltingly, he wondered if she’d ever told anyone else before. With time, maybe, she’d tell him more.
His concern for her grew when he knocked again with no answer. Still doing a delicate balancing act, he turned and slipped his key into the door to his place.
Darkness stared out at him and he had to set the food on the table before flicking on a light. He scanned his surroundings, not at all comforted by the fact nothing indicated Sabrina was inside. The realization put a pit in his stomach, a gnawing reminder that she’d been attacked a little over a week ago, the matter never having been resolved. At least not in his mind. What if this mysterious he came back and did worse damage than before? What if Sabrina lay in a pool of blood somewhere, unable to call out for help, just like the night he’d found her?
Blood roared through his mind, a rush of adrenaline riding its wave as he tore through the apartment, opening the bathroom door, opening the spare bedroom door, opening the master bathroom door…to find Sabrina stretched out on the bed, tucked beneath the sheets. He’d almost flipped on the lights, but having flooded everywhere else during his frantic search, the fluorescent spill from the hallway illuminated her and the smile she wore in her sleep. Must be nice to be fast asleep and so comfortable like that while he slugged his way home through crowded subways and noisy streets. But if coming home to this vision is what would reward him every time he did it, well, it was worth it.
Quietly, as not to disturb her, he shucked off his clothes, all the while watching her for signs of movement. Hunger that made his stomach rumble only a few minutes ago turned into a different kind of hunger now.
Under the sheets, her naked shoulders beckoned to him. The smooth skin, the delicate structure of her bones. Beneath, the view offered him a tantalizing glimpse of 65
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her back. Of her dark hair sweeping down, caressing the curve of her spine and pointing the way down to the hidden, rounded swell of her ass. If she’d been spread completely nude, all of her on display, Jason didn’t think her pose would have been as enticing, as sensual as now.
Forced to use his imagination and a near-perfect memory, he mentally visualized her fleshy globes, her long legs leading to manicured toes. He thought of how often he stifled the urge to bite her ass, to lick her dark hole, to plunge his cock inside the rosette opening. No doubt. He was an ass man through and through. And his temptress often invited him to give in to his desires and he’d yet to do it.
Until now.
He found the lube hidden away for these rare, treasured times and placed it on the nightstand, just in case this evening she proved to be as receptive to allowing the kinky treasure. Sliding beneath the sheets took a little more finesse, but he pulled them back, his gaze focused on her bottom, and exhaled slowly as he lowered himself beside Sabrina. She stirred, a soft sigh that interrupted her deep slumber, reminding him all too much of the little sounds she made when aroused. He would have loved to see the expression on her face, to see if her mouth rounded into the little o-shape she made while they fucked. Maybe next time.
Jason traced his hand over the curve of her waist, over her hip, caressed her ass. He dipped his head, followed the decadent trail with his teeth.
Sabrina screamed, rolling away from him. “No! No!” Startled by her reaction—and a split second later realizing his approach probably wasn’t the best—Jason threw his hands in the air. “Whoa, baby. It’s me. Just me.” Her eyes were wild, scanning over him. Through him. “Not from behind…never from behind.”
“I’m sorry.” The terror that gripped her was almost palpable. “Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
She whimpered, clutching the sheet to her chest. “Never from behind,” she repeated softly.
Approaching her on his knees, he kept his voice gentle. “Never again. I’m sorry.” By the time he pulled her into his arms, she was trembling. Again, the image of a fragile, injured bird came to mind as he held her. He kissed her cheek, soothing away the fear still wrapped tight around her. He kissed her jawline, her lips. He touched down on her neck, the little dip at the base.
She smelled like Ivory and his fabric softener. Like the sweet taste of strawberries.
He slanted his mouth over hers, breathing in her scent, his tongue curling with hers and tasting the remnants of her slumber.
“I didn’t mean to scream.” Her eyes were still wide. Still held terror within them.
But her hands, her lovely hands traveled over his chest, over his abdomen. They grazed his erection, slowly rising to prominence again between them.
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“Shh…I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have surprised you like that.” God help him, he shouldn’t have been turned-on, but she grasped his cock, sliding her hands up and down until his hips bucked, the blood rushing from his brain to answer the call below.
Her mouth slanted in a half-smile. “So, did you have something in particular in mind?”
“No,” he replied innocently, his hands reaching to cup the heavy swell of her breasts. “Not me.”
On her knees still, Sabrina’s kneel widened. “Oh. That’s good to know.”
“Are you okay? Really?” As turned-on as rubbing the swollen points of her nipples made him, he had a hard time believing the one-eighty she pulled from only minutes ago.
Sabrina kissed him. When she pulled back, she looked into his eyes, her face serious. “I’m fine. Really. I should have known better than to think… I was just startled, that’s all.” As if to prove her point, she trailed a finger around the base of his cock, stroked down his thigh before using her hand to embrace his testicles. With her unique, delicate touch, she rolled his balls, coaxing a groan from him.
Jason threaded his fingers into her hair, pulling her closer for another kiss. Her mouth moved over his, drawing it out as if the idea were hers and not his. He pushed into the cavern of her hot mouth, his tongue colliding and stroking hers. He would have spent forever kissing her, but he remembered what drew his attention before they’d started their embrace.
He guided her to lying, his mouth grazing over her breasts, her stomach all the while. She moaned when he inhaled the scent of her sex. When he nudged her thighs farther apart with his face. When he lowered his mouth and tasted her cream.
The hint of Ivory he smelled on her greeted his taste buds first, but then the unique musky flavor of his woman exploded onto his tongue seconds later. She rolled her hips, her hands pushing into his hair. Her cries spurring the way he worked his mouth, tasting, feasting, needing her.
“Oh my God,” she sighed softly, making him grin.
Head buried between her thighs, he reached blindly for the tube of lubricant. His fingers gripped the tube, flipped open its lid and squeezed some into his hand. The same hand he guided to her puckered entrance.
Sabrina’s soft moans took on a new pitch when he worked his finger into her, soothing her body, stretching her open and preparing her for him. Her muscles and her heat wrapped around his finger—then two fingers—holding him tight, and his cock swelled in response. When he pushed inside her, it would be so sweet to feel the same grip on his sensitive tissue.
He lifted his head, his mouth covered by her moisture and crawled forward, his control strained to breaking. There was something so decadent about the way she 67
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d him, the way her pink tongue sneaked out to capture tastes of herself.
Unerringly, he let his cock sink into her pussy, let the velvet hold stroke him and absorb the pearl-colored drip of his arousal. Pulling out again almost broke him.
A few days ago when she told him she was on the Pill, he could have wept with joy.
Being able to be with her now without a barrier between them felt so right. They’d already discussed their health and prior experiences. Moving to this level of intimacy meant the world to him and he didn’t have to question why.
She lifted her hips, raising them for him, accepting his need. His entire body bucked as he pushed forward, entering her tight, rear channel. He wanted this so badly. He forced himself to grit his teeth and go slowly, to not ram forward and impale her with himself. He commanded himself to think. Not to become overwhelmed by her heat, not to fixate on the way she wrapped around him like wet silk, not to pay attention to her moan vibrating through her chest and rippling into his.
“My God,” he groaned. It sounded strangled, even to his own ears.
Sabrina wrapped her legs around his back, her hands gripped her shoulders. She rocked with him, finding the rhythm of his thrusts.
It was all he could do to press his face against her neck, to let his hips thrust and withdraw. To breathe in the scent of her skin, the musk of their bodies. His lungs drew in air as if each breath might be his last, but he kept his pace. Listened to her soft cries.
Too soon, all too quickly, the base of his spine throbbed. He ignored its tug and dragged his hand between their bodies. While two unsoiled fingers curled into her pussy, he rubbed his thumb over Sabrina’s clit, drawing her closer to where he was.
Where he would be.
“Yes, Jay…God, yes…”
She began to shudder, her pussy milking his fingers and the muscles of her ass tightening around him until he didn’t know where she ended and he began. The tug became an insistent pull, a drawing up of his balls that didn’t let go, didn’t release until the first jet of his spend spilled into her. Jason roared as he came, his head thrown back, his eyes clenched shut.
All the focus he held on to like a lifeline, all of the control, shattered like glass as he ground into her, forcing himself deeper. His body’s demands impossible to refuse.
While he panted against her neck, the world slowly came back into focus. At some point, he’d fallen onto her and Sabrina took the full weight of his body without complaint. She was peppering kisses along his shoulder, murmuring honeyed words against his flesh.
His body refused his commands. He was supposed to be raising himself on his arms, supporting his weight so as not to crush her, but damn if he could find the strength. His chest expanded as he dragged in a great lungful of air, his breath expelled mere seconds later. Feeling started to seep back into his arms and legs, but no part of his anatomy would obey the call to move. All he could do was lie there, hold her and think to himself that this was the kind of thing he could get used to.
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* * * * *
Sabrina was in heaven. She chewed on the chocolate-covered cookies, moaning in ecstasy, waiting to die in sinful pleasure right there and then. “How did you know these are my favorite?”
Jason sat cross-legged on his bed, chopsticks still working furiously in the carton of noodles. He swallowed some down and grinned at her. “The night at the mart. It’s what you were standing next to. I took a chance.”
Heat blossomed across her face to think he would remember such a detail. What else did he have tucked away in his memory of that treacherous night? “Thank you for remembering. They are my absolute favorite and only available a few months out of the year.”
“Ah, so that explains ignoring the dinner I cooked just for you and heading straight for dessert.”
She opened her mouth to accept a few of the noodles he held out for her. “Well, Mr.
Raines, I must say that I’m impressed with your ‘cooking skills’. I daresay it almost exceeds your skills in bed.” She made a show of thinking on it. “Maybe even goes beyond.”
“Oh yeah?”
Her startled shriek reverberated into the air when he set aside the food and tackled her. Despite her every attempt to wriggle away from him, he held her captive, tickling her sides until she screamed. “Stop!” she screamed again, but he continued to tickle, his goofy grin making her laugh almost as hard as his roaming fingers. “If you…don’t stop it, any loss…of bladder control will be…entirely…your fault!” That did it.
Jason rolled onto his side, pulling her onto him, until they lay in a tangled heap. She giggled still, leftovers from her amusement, before lapsing into a companionable silence.
Even in this position, she couldn’t help smelling his brand of shower gel, the unique scent that emanated from his clothes and bed. “I love the way you smell after a shower,” she murmured.
He dropped a kiss on her shoulder. “Don’t try to suck up to me now.” Her eyes closed, she listened to his breathing, the sounds of his apartment surrounding them. She listened to his heartbeat too, the slow, lazy thump, thump, thump of contentment. His hands traveled up and down her arms, massaging away tension from the day’s events and sending little sparks of shivers shooting out.
“Tell me about your day.”
She thought of her attempts at contacting Thad. At the unexpected visit from Him.
“Nothing to tell,” she lied. Jason exhaled forcefully and the smile eased from her face.
“What?”
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There was disappointment written all over his face and the intensity of it almost made her cringe. One thing about Jason she noticed was his inability to hide his emotions. When surprised, his eyes went round and as big as dinner plates. When happy, the smile he turned on made her heart flutter. And now, when sad, his pensive expression made her feel guilty.
“I can tell you want to tell me something.”
Sabrina looked away.
He reached for her hand, twining his fingers with hers. “But you’re holding it back for whatever reason. I don’t know why you think you can’t tell me.” She stiffened, disturbed he saw through her already. “Why would you say that?”
“Because since we’ve been eating and even when we’re lying here, you won’t look at me. Not directly. Just these side-glances that are supposed to put me at ease.”
“Jason—”
“It’s not working. Anyway, when you’re ready to talk, I’m here.” Oh hell. What did she do with that?
Yes, she’d love to tell Jason about Him. About His arrival instead of Thad’s. Poised on the tip of her tongue was the confession about calling down a voice from the dead on purpose in an attempt to pay him back for his generosity and kindness. But would he understand the relationship she had with Him?
She asked too much of her boyfriend to allow her to fuck a spirit who offered no love, no affection in return. What would Jason do when he found out that she had a choice? That she could send Him away, as she’d done today, and He’d leave without a pause.
The first time she’d sent Him away, the surprise stunned her into immobility. For hours, she sat thinking, daring to believe she was free. Two days later, locked in an institution from an attack of the voices so severe she had been a danger to herself, He proved the futility of sending Him away for too long.
What would Jason say when she couldn’t stand the voices anymore and she had to call Him back and give in to His sexual demands?
Yeah. It all hovered on her lips, ready to fill him in, but she couldn’t do that to him.
Wouldn’t.
“You’ve worn me out. I’m just tired.”
“If you say so.”
He moved a few inches away then and that hurt. The distance might as well have been a few miles. The smell of the food made her stomach rumble, the chocolate taste of the cookies still lingering on her tongue. Any urge to eat any more of it had vanish
ed, though. Jason pushed his chopsticks through the strands of noodles, the motions restless and repetitive. Looked as if he was done eating too.
“We haven’t talked about Thad in a while,” she said, her voice small. Anything to bring him back from whatever place her silence had exiled him to.
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The clicking of chopsticks was the only reply she received for a while. Too long a while.
“What do you want to know?”
She released a breath she hadn’t realized she held. “Nothing in particular, it’s just…well, you’re right. I didn’t want to tell you about my day because I didn’t know how you’d take it.”
Jason looked at her finally. “Take what?”
“I haven’t stopped trying. And today…I tried again.” There. She saw right there a spark of life fire in him. Sabrina’s heart thundered.
“What did you do? Did it work?” He shifted, leaning forward, the food in his hand forgotten.
“No, but—” But. The word hovered on her tongue, tasting sour and bringing up bile into the back of her throat.
“Tell me! What did you do? Did you get anything at all?”
“I don’t think you understand. It didn’t work.”
“Doesn’t matter. I still go through the automatic writing, trying to pull something meaningful out of it. It’s crazy that our names would be spelled out and it not mean something. No matter what you say, I still think Teddy got through somehow. I think he was trying to talk to us, and maybe didn’t get to say as much as he wanted.”
“I hadn’t realized you were still analyzing the message.”
“It’s all I have to cling to. My last bit of hope, you see?”
“Jason, I warned you about getting your hopes up. This ‘gift’ I have just doesn’t work that way. I haven’t actually tried to contact the other side in maybe, twenty years.
