by C. J. Pinard
I pulled off, licked the stickiness from the tip, then went back down, my lips gripping with as much suction as I could manage. Moving my right hand to the base, I used it to follow my mouth to the tip and back down again.
“Fuck, woman. You need to stop.”
And I did. I halted immediately and looked up, blinking at him in question.
“Shit. Don’t look at me like that with my cock still in your beautiful mouth.”
I pulled off of him, satisfied at the look of lust which hooded his eyes. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He yanked a condom from it, and then tossed his wallet and pants onto the floor after wiggling the rest of the way out of them.
He used one hand to lay me back, my head on the pillow. I watched with my breath held as he swooped down onto me, his hardness pressing into my thigh. His lips found my neck and he kissed up to my jaw, across my cheek, then they found my mouth. I gripped his hair as our tongues got to know each other again. I gasped into his mouth as his fingers reached down and touched me. He slid them up and down, finally shoving two into me and moving them slowly in and out.
He continued to kiss me, but I could barely breathe.
His fingers didn’t stop. In fact, they moved faster until I was breathing so hard I thought I might pass out. Pulling his fingers out, he pressed down hard on my sensitive center. I pulled out of the kiss to scream as the first wave of pleasure hit me. Stars exploded behind my closed lids, my hips bucking as his fingers worked fast, pushing on me, pushing in me, then out again, my walls clamping around them.
“Damn, girl,” he breathed into my ear, but I barely heard it.
I opened my eyes slightly to see him rolling the condom on. Then suddenly the weight of his body was between my thighs. I felt myself being stretched like never before as his hips met mine and he slid all the way home.
“Oh, fuck,” he breathed again in my ear.
He began to move. I began to move. I met him thrust for thrust, our hips meeting then pulling apart, then back together again. Duke used one hand to push my left knee to the side as far as it would go as he plunged into me. I began to pant harder when I felt myself building again.
His body was doing things to mine I had never experienced. This definitely wasn’t my first time, but it was the first time I’d felt something so simultaneously intimate and animalistic.
Duke’s mouth found mine again, and in a gesture that surprised me, he reached down and threaded his fingers through mine, bringing them both up next to my head as he continued to move in and out of me, moaning and breathing with each and every push, increasing in speed. Soon, I was clenching around him again, the explosion hitting me sooner and harder than I anticipated. I yelled again, gripping his hair. “Duke! Oh, God, please…”
“Yeah, baby,” he whispered in my ear, “release it all on me, sweetheart.”
I was still riding my wave when his whole body went hard and still. His cock pulsed almost violently while I still clenched him, freeing all his tension and anger into me. He growled and groaned between breaths, finally relaxing his head into the crook of my neck.
We lay like that for a few minutes, my fingertips running up and down his back, his hand still holding mine next to my head.
Finally, he rolled off of me and got up and left the room without a word.
Chapter 19
Duke
Walking as quickly as I could to the bathroom, I flung open the door and closed it behind me. I discarded the condom into the toilet and flushed it, knowing I probably shouldn’t do that, but not giving a crap about that at the moment.
I braced both arms on either side of the porcelain sink and stared at my reflection. My dark hair was sticking up in the front near my forehead, and some in the back where her hands had been pulling, raking, clenching. My cheeks were beet-red, and my eyes bloodshot. I was still trying to catch my breath.
“What in the hell are you doing, man?” I growled to my reflection.
If I looked closely, I could see him grinning back in conquest. I smacked the palm of my hand on the sink and raked a hand over my chin, shaking my head at myself.
As I was slowly coming down from my lusty high, my mind began to clear a little. Having sex with Rayanne was wrong on so many levels. I could lose my job. I could compromise her safety if I was distracted. I could break her heart.
Or she could break mine.
Nah, not gonna happen. There wasn’t much left behind the wall of muscle on my chest to break.
I used the toilet then took a deep breath before opening the door and walking back into her room. Cautiously peeking my head in, I saw her lying curled up on her side, the covers pulled up over her chest. I stared at the blonde hair splayed over the pillow and stood silently watching her for a few minutes. She didn’t move or stir, and I gazed at the steady breathing of her chest and back. I was now faced with a decision: Crawl in with her, or go back to my room – where I belonged? Her warm body looked so inviting, but this whole thing was just wrong. The situation – what we’d just done – should not have happened. But who was I fooling? It’s not as if it just happened, is it? We’d been flirting since the day we met. Well maybe not the first day, but she’d been putting out vibes, and shit, I probably was too. How anyone could not want her would be beyond me. I’m still shocked she wasn’t married, or at least had a boyfriend. Well, I guess she could have one, but she never mentioned anyone.
Knowing what the right decision was, I carefully crept in, gathered my clothes, and left her room, flipping off the light and closing the door with a quiet click.
Once back in my room, I threw on a pair of boxers and a T-shirt and crawled into the cold bed and stared out the window. I should be sleepy after that, but my mind wouldn’t shut off, and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be getting much rest tonight.
I woke to the smell of coffee and regret. Or was it guilt? Was there a difference? I wasn’t sure, and was tired of analyzing it. It was time to man the fuck up and go out to the kitchen and face the music. I slipped on my track pants and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I always had to brush my teeth right when I got up.
As I wandered into the kitchen, she sat at the dining table, sitting sideways in the wooden chair and sipping coffee. She seemed to be staring at nothing. She briefly looked up at me when I walked in, our eyes locking for the briefest of seconds until she looked away again. I was trying to think of how to interact with her. What I wanted to do and what I probably should do were two different things. I tried to think of how I’d handle this situation if she were one of my randoms, like Tish, but quickly got rid of that idea. She’s not some random piece of ass and never would be. I had slept with her because I wanted to, because I needed to, because I couldn’t help it, even though my brain knew better. It had just come naturally, I realized, but now I didn’t quite know what to do with that.
Still, it had been something more than just lust but I was too tired to continue to try to analyze it. I splashed some coffee into a mug and sat at the table.
“Good morning,” I said, making cautious contact.
She lifted eyes to me and I could swear I saw something in them. Sadness? Fear? Anxiety? Before I could ask her what was going through her head, she said, “Duke, I think someone was looking in the window this morning.”
I followed her gaze to the front window in the living room, where last night we had been slowly seducing each other with a dance before moving to her room. I had stupidly forgotten to close the blinds on them last night. I swore.
“What?” I finally said. “Are you sure?”
She nodded, seemingly frozen. “Yes. A man, I think. I’m scared.”
“When?” I asked.
“Just a minute or two ago. I was about to go get you but I heard you get up and didn’t want to start screaming.”
“Well you should have!” I said, getting angry – which was probably more like fear. I set my coffee down and it splashed onto the tabletop but I didn’t care.
I got up and darted to my room to get my gun and shoved my feet into my sneakers. Flinging open the front door, my gun was out straight in front of me. I looked around, keeping my back up against the wall of the rickety porch and swung the weapon from left to right, wherever my eyes darted. My elbows were locked, my heart pounding. I slowly made my way around the house, checking every corner. I didn’t see anyone, so I ran around the back and checked the entrance to the copse of trees that led to the forest that sprawled out behind the cabin.
Nothing. Silence. The only sound I could hear was my own heartbeat in my ears. I went back around to the front to see if there were any footprints under the window, and then cursed when I saw a small bush there. No way to see any prints. There weren’t any leading to the porch or out to the dirt road. I walked out there, past the car, and did not see any tire tracks except ours.
Frustrated, but not letting my guard down, I went back into the house, locked the doors, then checked all the windows before closing the blinds on them all. Had I become careless? Had someone found us, or was Rayanne just seeing things? I saw her still frozen to her chair in the kitchen and quickly darted into my room to get the cell phone.
It was almost dead. I hadn’t charged it in days because I never used it and didn’t even think about it.
I shot off a quick text to Jack-N-Jill: Check the vic’s phone for any recent threats. Get back to me asap.
I went in search of the charger when the phone chimed back quickly.
10-4.
Fuck… I think the charger is in the car.
Rayanne was staring at me with wide, fearful eyes and I went over to her and crouched down to her level. I looked her in the eye and said, “There’s nobody out there. I looked everywhere. You’re sure you saw someone?” I said it as nicely as I could. For me, anyway.
She nodded and took her bottom lip between her teeth. “Yes, I swear. I’m scared, Duke.”
I pulled her to stand and wrapped my arms around her, the gun still in my right hand. This was the first comforting gesture I’d done. There had been many times where I thought maybe I should offer her some sort of physical comfort, but kept telling myself that would be crossing a line. But after what we did last night, I was pretty sure those lines were seriously blurred now. And besides that – fuck the lines.
She sobbed softly into my chest and I said into her hair, “I need to find the charger to this thing so I can call headquarters. You stay put.”
Pulling back, she nodded again and wiped her eyes. “Please be careful.”
Without another word, I turned around and limped to the door, snatching the car keys from a small table. I walked outside, down the porch steps, and disarmed the car, keeping my gun up at the ready the whole time. I darted my eyes everywhere, keeping quiet to try to hear anything, but there was just nothing.
Opening the trunk, I rummaged through the small backpack of emergency supplies the bureau had given me and found the small black charger. I slammed the trunk down and turned around, thrusting the gun back into the air. It was still as quiet as a church out here.
I sprinted back inside and closed the door, locking it behind me. I found an outlet in the kitchen and plugged the phone in and set it on the counter. I sat at the table again with her and said, “Look, I don’t know what you saw, but there’s nothing –”
Her face twisted with anger. “I saw something, Duke. I’m not lying! Why would I?”
“To avoid having to talk about last night.” I tried to smile at my own dumb joke.
Her eyes widened briefly, then the scowl returned. She smacked the palm of her hand on the table. “No, that is not why!”
I reached over and put my hand on hers. “Shh. It was a joke, Rayanne. Take a deep breath.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I can’t believe you’re joking at a time like this.”
“Well obviously you’re a bit more freaked out than I am. I do believe you saw something, however, it’s gone now. I’ve texted the office to check your phone for any recent threats.”
She nodded. “Okay.” Then she got up and put her coffee cup in the sink. “I’m going to shower.”
“I will be posted up right here, where I have a view of all the windows.”
She looked at the gun I had set on the table then back up to me, piercing me with those warm eyes. “Thank you, Duke.”
Chapter 20
Rayanne
I stood under the hot water and cried. The water didn’t wash away my tears, it only added to them and didn’t make me feel any better. I was scared, confused, and had so many emotions running through me that I could barely breathe.
I did the bare minimum in washing and shaving and got out and wrapped a towel around my hair and one around my body. I cracked the door to let the steam out, then used the flat of my hand to wipe away the mirror fog. My eyes were puffy and red and I shook my head. I was being guarded by the government, my life was in real and serious danger. I felt like I did when I had started getting those death threats a few weeks ago. Scared, vulnerable, confused, and angry, even. I wasn’t angry now, just more frustrated. I didn’t feel like Duke believed me when I told him I had seen someone at the window, but he wasn’t a complete ass about it, like I expected him to be.
But I had seen someone. Since the morning was so young, the majority of the light was at the back of the house, the east side. The front window was still a bit dark, but I did see someone in a black hoodie. I didn’t know if it was an adult or a teen, male or female, but there had been someone there. Not an animal, and not a shadow. I was drinking my coffee and going over the events from last night, wondering how I was going to tell Duke that my feelings had been hurt that he’d chosen not to stay the night in my bed. I know I’d fallen asleep while he was in the bathroom, but that didn’t mean I didn’t need him beside me.
The sound of Duke coming out of his room and going into the bathroom this morning had bolted me from my thoughts and when I looked up, that’s when I’d seen the figure in the window. I was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t even scream. I hadn’t been able to see the person’s face, but it was definitely pale under that hoodie, and he or she had gone as soon as I looked up. I stared at the empty window long enough until I realized I needed to get Duke. That’s when he’d come into the kitchen, but I was still frozen in shock. I was seriously kicking myself for not having reacted faster. He could have found whoever it was if I’d had just jumped up then and there.
I brushed my teeth and hair and went into my room to get dressed. I went over to the little knob on the blinds at the window and twisted it to be sure they were as closed as they could be. The window was completely covered, but there was a smaller horizontal window above that one that was bare. It never bothered me before because unless someone was over 7 feet tall or had a ladder, there was no way they could see in. I also enjoyed watching the stars and moon at night through that small window when I couldn’t sleep.
I turned my back on both and went out into the kitchen wearing nothing but a long fitted black tank top that came down to my thighs and some crazy patterned leggings under it. It looked stupid but I really couldn’t care less about anything at this moment.
Duke stood at the counter and was looking down at the small phone, which was still attached to the charger. He looked up when I came in, his eyes roaming the length of my body, then back to my face. He looked worried, which made my stomach turn over and knot up.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, they checked your phone. These are the texts you’ve received from an unknown number over the past 24 hours.”
He turned the phone to face me and showed me three texts from Jack-N-Jill:
Here’s the first text: I know where you are, bitch.
I saw what you did, you filthy whore.
I’m gonna kill that bearded pig you’re with while you watch, then I’m gonna fuck you and kill you.
Tears brimmed in my eyes and then streamed down my cheeks. I had never had anybody talk like that
to me. This stuff only happened in the movies. I couldn’t believe this was my life.
Then suddenly something hit me, and I looked at Duke. “Is he talking about last night? Oh, my God. Are you gonna get in trouble?”
He chuckled but there was no humor in it. “That’s the least of our troubles. The agent did ask me what the threat meant and I told him I had no idea. Maybe you can tell them later you were masturbating or something.”
I gasped and slapped his arm. “No!”
“The bottom line is, we have to get the hell out of here.”
“What? Like now?” I asked, shocked.
“Yes, like now. If you hadn’t claimed to have seen someone at the window, I probably would have passed these threats off as empty and just an attempt to scare you.” He held the phone up. “But, being that he knows what I look like, and the comment about you being a whore tells me they’ve made our location.”
My heart sped up. “So why haven’t they tried to kill us then? Just broken in here and killed us in our sleep?”
“Obviously he knows I’d shoot anyone who tried to enter, and the alarm would have alerted us. My mistake is letting you sleep alone. Now pack, we’re leaving in five minutes.”
