The Apartment (An Apartment Novel Book 1)

by Amanda Black

  She suddenly adopted a serious look, before replying in a completely deadpan tone, “I just never took you for an Audi guy.” And then she burst into laughter.

  “You are such an asshole,” he chuckled, glancing at her again as he drove. “An adorable asshole, of course, but an asshole all the same. Besides, it’s a rental.”

  They drove for a while in silence as the sky darkened around them. Ethan noticed that she had managed to scoot so far down in her seat that she could barely peek out of the window any longer. When nothing but a thick cover of trees came into view, she shot back up.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  He turned off the main highway onto an almost nonexistent dirt road before turning to look at her. “Far enough from town so that nobody can hear you scream.” He arched his eyebrow in the most dastardly fashion he could manage and smirked at her.

  “So this is when I find out that you’re really a psychotic killer who travels the country seducing young women before making a belt out of their nipples?”

  “Beautiful, I admit that I’m very fond of your nipples, but—wait, what?”

  “Sorry,” she blushed. “It was serial killer week on the Biography Channel.” Lily watched for another moment as he turned off the road onto the grass and drove between the trees until they reached a clearing. “Seriously, where the hell are we?”

  “Well,” Ethan explained as he pulled to a stop. “This is a place where I used to come when I was younger. I would hang out here all day and sketch. Sometimes I would even bring some paints with me when I felt more colorful.”

  “What was so special about this place? It looks sort of drab to me.”

  “True. But you should see it in the summer. This clearing has some of the prettiest wildflowers I’ve ever seen.”

  “Wow, I never would have guessed this was hidden back here. Wait—you grew up here? You’re actually from Aledo?”

  “Why is that so shocking?” The amazed look on her face was almost comical.

  “I don’t know… look at you! You just don’t seem to fit in here.”

  “I have no idea if I should be flattered or insulted right now,” he laughed. “Although now that I think about it, I never really did feel like I belonged here.” Just then a large crack of thunder could be heard in the distance, making them both jump.

  “Oh no! I hope it doesn’t rain!” She peered up at the sky, searching for storm clouds.

  “Why? A little rain never hurt anybody.”

  “But didn’t you want to show me this clearing? Won’t a sudden downpour put a bit of a damper on whatever you have planned?”

  “Believe me, rain won’t factor into my plans at all.” He gave her another evil smirk and leaned toward her, kissing her softly on the lips.

  “Okay, now I’m definitely intrigued. What exactly are your plans?”

  Ethan smiled widely and kissed her again, this time more slowly. When he pulled away he whispered, “Let’s just say that they don’t involve leaving the car at all.”

  “Oh, is that so?” she teased. “Well, since I don’t exactly see a drive-in around here anywhere, that really only leaves one other thing, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m amazed that you could be so closed-minded,” he laughed, turning around and reaching into the back seat, grabbing a box from his over-stuffed bag. “You didn’t even mention the picnic.”

  “What picnic? You said we weren’t leaving the car.”

  “It’ll be a car picnic. It’s not much, just some sandwiches, but I thought that I should at least feed you something if I was going to drag you out into the middle of nowhere to have my wicked way with you.”

  He handed her one of the sandwiches, expecting her to laugh at how poorly made they were, but was concerned to see an odd look on her face. Ethan watched as she stared at the sandwich, turning it over in her hands like she’d never seen one before. When she looked back up at him, he could have sworn that her eyes were moist.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked. “Do you not like turkey? I have a ham and cheese one here, too, if you’d rather have that one.” She still didn’t say anything for a minute and it was beginning to worry him.

  “You made this for me?” she finally whispered.

  “Yeah, I know. Sorry. I probably should have bought something pre-made, huh?”

  “No, no. This is perfect.” A shy smile played on her lips as she blinked a few times. “It’s just that I can’t really remember the last time anybody made me something. Thank you.”

  Ethan couldn’t understand why the hell anyone would be so touched by such a crappy sandwich, but he decided not to press the issue. They ate in silence for a moment, trying to ignore the awkwardness that was growing between them.

  He finished his food as quickly as possible and dipped back into the bag, pulling out a lighter and a tiny jar candle that was scented like roses. Feeling her eyes watching him, he lit the candle and set it on the dash before grabbing one last thing from the bag.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said quietly, embarrassed to feel his cheeks heating up as he handed her the small heart-shaped box of chocolates. Ethan couldn’t help feeling like a stupid nervous teenager, experiencing things that he had somehow skipped over his entire life.

  “Oh my God! That’s so sweet!” She took the box from his hands and hugged it to her chest. When he saw that she was getting misty-eyed again he couldn’t hold his tongue any longer.

  “Please don’t fucking tell me that nobody ever got you candy, either.” Although he’d never actually given candy to anyone else in his life before that moment, it seemed like a goddamn crime to think of her never getting any.

  “Oh, I’ve gotten candy before, it’s just been so long! I think I was in high school, maybe. I don’t really remember for certain.”

  “It is a bit of a high school thing to do, isn’t it?” he said with a frown. “I just wanted to… I don’t know…” He groaned and raked his hands through his hair, feeling like a first-class idiot. Ethan stared out the window after that, watching a bright streak of lightning in hopes of avoiding her gaze until his embarrassment had abated.

  “Stop that,” she whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder until he turned to face her. “It was an unbelievably sweet gesture that shows me you were thinking of me. It does feel like something from high school, but I think that’s why I’m so touched. It’s almost like we’re sweethearts hoping our parents don’t catch us.” She smiled brightly and winked at him, and for some odd reason his heart lurched.

  She opened the box eagerly, tossing the paper liner into the backseat without looking. When the small selection of chocolates was revealed, she leaned over and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent with a quiet moan. Ethan watched as she selected one of the dark chocolate creams and lifted it to her lips, biting down slowly.

  As she chewed, her lids closed and she threw her head back. “God!” she gasped. “That’s just sinful!” He watched as her tongue flicked out to catch any remnants of the flavor on her lips and could feel himself beginning to harden already.

  “Like it?” he asked quietly, surprised to find his voice a little hoarse.

  “Oh yes,” She moaned again, causing him to shift in his seat. “Here,” she said, smiling again before holding out the other half of the piece she’d just bitten. “You have to taste this.”

  Ethan was starting to wonder if he was becoming a total pervert or if she knew exactly what she was doing to him. From the mischievous look in her eye, he was beginning to suspect the latter of the two. Well, two could play at that game.

  He leaned toward her and opened his mouth slowly, allowing her to place the sweet on the tip of his tongue. Before she could pull her fingers away completely, he caught the tip of one between his lips, wrapping his tongue around it and sucking lightly, refusing to let it go until he saw her lids begin to droop.

  He chewed slowly, enjoying the velvety smoothness as it enveloped his taste buds. She was right; it was rich, decadent, po
tent—and sinful. But it paled in comparison to her.

  Ethan reached forward and took the box from her hands, selecting another piece and raising it to her lips. She repeated his actions, sucking on his fingertip until his eyes were crossing, then hungrily eating the entire treat. “God,” she groaned, “that’s so fucking good.”

  He set the box down on the dash next to the small candle and leaned in until their mouths were almost touching. “You taste better,” he whispered against her lips before flicking his tongue across the petal-soft skin.

  She gasped and opened her mouth, kissing him hungrily. He could taste the tiniest hint of sugary fruit and chocolate as their tongues fought with each other. He gave in finally and let her lead, thrilling to the sensation of her hands yanking and pulling on his hair to bring him closer and angle his head better.

  After only a few moments they were both panting loudly, straining for more contact. Ethan pulled away to catch his breath, resting his forehead against hers.

  “I’ve never made out in a car before,” he admitted. “I had no idea what I was missing.”

  “Holy shit, are you kidding me?” She looked absolutely dumbfounded.

  “No, why?”

  She regarded him for about five seconds before nodding sharply. “Come on.” She turned around and opened her door, stepping out into the dark clearing.

  “Where?”

  “The back seat, silly! We’re definitely going to need more room.” He watched as she opened the back door and jumped in. When he didn’t move for a minute, immobilized by pure excitement, she looked up at him in disbelief. “Well? What are you waiting for, big boy? You’ve got me right where you want me, and you’re sitting up there with your mouth hanging open.”

  “Well, when you put it that way…”

  Ethan joined her in the back, tossing his duffel bag in the front to give them more room. He had barely even closed the door before she was jumping on him, pulling him down on top of her and kissing him wildly. As soon as he made contact with her his body went up in flames. He couldn’t touch her everywhere fast enough.

  “Fuck,” he groaned between kisses. “You are so beautiful… you smell so damn good.” Ethan was so aroused it was painful, grinding himself against her as they groped and fondled each other through their clothes. He slid his hands down her body and began tugging on her sweats, hating the need to make even the slightest distance between them as the pants slipped over the swell of her hips. Once they were low enough she kicked them off, leaving herself clad in only a tiny scrap of red lace. “What the fuck is that?” he growled, staring at the barely-there fabric.

  “My Valentine’s Day present for you,” she giggled.

  “Is that a thong?”

  “Mmhmm,” she smiled, wiggling suggestively underneath him.

  “You mean to tell me that this was hiding under those ratty sweats the whole time?” How he was speaking around the saliva that was pooling in his mouth, he’d never know.

  “Yep,” she gloated. “It matches the bra.”

  Ethan looked her in the eye for exactly one second as he processed what she’d said, before grunting and yanking roughly on the hem of her shirt. She laughed, a sexy, velvety sound that went straight to his erection. When she had finally struggled out of the offending item of clothing she was left in the most seductive demi-cup lace bra that he could ever remember seeing.

  “Sweet Jesus,” he groaned before burying his face in her cleavage and covering it with open-mouthed kisses. Her giggles quickly turned into moans as he started thrusting against her again, feeling the warmth between her legs much more acutely with her pants out of the way.

  Somewhere in the background, Ethan heard the patter of raindrops beginning to fall and slap against the windows, but when he glanced up they were completely fogged over. There was nothing to be seen but the soft glow of the candle—and the mouth-watering siren beneath him.

  “Come back to me,” she gasped, tugging him back down by his hair until his lips were covering hers again. She had somehow gotten him out of his shirt without stopping their kisses, and her hands were making excellent work of his button fly when a loud, obnoxious ringing tore through the car.

  “What is that?” Ethan panted.

  “What is what?” she asked, almost in a daze.

  “That ringing. Don’t you hear it?”

  Lily looked around, reality sinking in slowly. When the shrill noise finally registered in her mind she bolted straight up. “Oh shit!” She dug through her jacket frantically until she located her phone. Shooting her stranger a worried glance, she crawled out from under him and sat up. “God, I’m so sorry. I have to take this.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me! Now?”

  “Please! I’m sorry,” she mouthed before lifting the phone to her ear and answering, trying her best not to sound out of breath. “Hello? Oh, I just got out of the gym.”

  As she listened to the loud, masculine voice on the other end of the phone, Ethan felt sick to his stomach. He could only make sense of her side of the conversation, but it was enough to make a red haze take over his vision.

  “I’m sorry you keep missing me. I think there’s something wrong with the charger for my phone, it keeps dying … yeah, maybe … okay … that’s great … I’m glad it’s going so great for you.”

  The more she said, the angrier Ethan got. There was no logic behind his rage, simply emotion. He was losing himself to it completely. He couldn’t believe that her stupid Neanderthal would dare to interrupt his perfect night, and that she would let him.

  “Oh, I’ll probably just watch some chick flicks all night … No, don’t be silly, I’ll be fine … I know … yeah, I know … Okay … yeah, miss you too … thanks, you too.” Lily hung up the phone quickly and placed it back in her jacket pocket, refusing to look at him as she took a few deep breaths and wiped her eyes.

  Ethan tried to hold his tongue; he tried really hard to bite it back. He could tell she was obviously very upset about what had just happened and felt horrible. But he wasn’t sure exactly who she felt horrible for, and that pissed him off even more.

  And then it just slipped out.

  “Care to tell me why the fuck you just had to answer that right now?” Even he could hear the venom dripping in his voice.

  “Please don’t,” she whispered, still not looking at him.

  “Please don’t?” he spat. “Don’t what, exactly? Don’t give a shit that I told you he didn’t fucking exist when we were together? That I never wanted anything involving him to interrupt our time together?”

  “What was I supposed to do?” Lily cried. “I tried to get that out of the way earlier, but he didn’t answer.”

  “I don’t give a fuck!” Ethan screamed. “He gets you every time you leave me. Every single time, you go back to him. It takes everything I’ve got in me to keep from thinking about what you do with him.”

  “Oh, like you give a shit! You said yourself that this was just for fun. You said you didn’t care if I was a nun or married with five kids. You said that, not me. Why the fuck are you acting so possessive all of a sudden when you want nothing to do with me when I’m not riding your dick?”

  Ethan couldn’t believe that was what she actually thought. Part of him wanted to tell her that she couldn’t be more wrong, but his stupid emotions got in the way. He was livid. He was seething. He was so angry that he couldn’t see straight—and he knew that he had absolutely no right to be.

  But it didn’t stop him.

  “If you remember, I also said that nothing from the outside was supposed to interfere here. I don’t know about you, but I think this was a pretty big interference.”

  “Well shit fucking happens sometimes, doesn’t it?” Lily snapped, getting visibly angrier by the second. “You had a call the other day and I didn’t care. How can you even talk to me like that?”

  “And you know damn well that I was talking to my mother about a family emergency, not someone else who I go home to ever
y night and fuck!”

  “Could be, how would I know? You certainly know more about me than I do about you. I don’t know where you go at night, and I just have to accept that.”

  “And that’s somehow worse than knowing for certain that you belong to someone else?” He wasn’t expecting the sharp slap across his face.

  “Fuck you!” Grabbing the door handle and shoving it open, Lily screamed, “I don’t belong to anyone!” before running out into the rainstorm.

  Ethan didn’t know exactly what happened after that. He just knew that the combination of her saying those words and running away from him awoke some long dormant idiotic caveman. That was his only defense. It was as if his most base predator instincts decided to show up and pay a visit.

  He ran after her.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” he screamed at her, watching as she ran farther into the clearing. “It’s storming and you’re in your underwear!”

  “It beats being in that car with you!” she yelled back. When she saw that he was following her she ran faster, but he overtook her easily in the center of the clearing.

  “Now you listen to me, Goddammit!” Ethan yelled, grabbing her slippery shoulders and turning her around to face him. It was obvious she had been crying, but her tears were camouflaged by the steady stream of rain down her face. His own hair was falling in his eyes, and he shoved it back so that he could look at her. “I don’t give a shit what you think. You do belong to someone!”

  “No I don’t! And if you hate talking about him so much, then why don’t you just stop fucking talking about him?!” Lily shoved him and tried to run away again, but he held her tightly. When she realized that she wasn’t going to get away, she began struggling in his arms, slapping at his soaking wet chest.

  “I’m not talking about him, are you fucking crazy?” He shook her then, wishing he could somehow rattle some sense into her. “I’m talking about me!”

  “Oh that’s rich,” she laughed, her cheeks glowing with anger in the disappearing light. “I’m your plaything until you get bored and move on. Please forgive me for not being more enthusiastic.”