There’s nothing but road ahead of us, nothing holding me back now. This is real, and I’ll be goddamned if I’ll let anything fuck it up this time.
******
Hailey
Kellan was devouring me, mentally and physically. His mouth, his hands, they were everywhere; caressing every inch he could reach, and we roamed each other’s bodies greedily. Shit, we hadn’t even taken one article of clothing off, but I was wet and ready for him, and his erection was pressing into my stomach. A fluttering ache began to build in my lower belly, and I was already throbbing with want for him.
But this wasn’t the only reason I’d come here. I placed my palm on his chest, murmuring against his full, talented lips, “Kellan…we need to…”
He cut me off, saying, “Shh, baby. I’m going to give you everything you need and more tonight.”
As he began to lick and rain kisses over my jaw and neck, making his way to nip at my earlobe, his hot breath tickling my skin, I spoke again, “Kellan, I need to tell you…”
“The only thing I need to hear you say tonight is ‘Fuck me harder’,” he breathed.
I gasped, trying desperately to tamp down my raw desire and be a responsible adult. “But…there’s something else,” I continued.
“It can wait,” he stated resolutely.
Switching tactics, I asked, “But what about work?”
“It can wait,” he repeated.
“But…”
He leaned back, cupping my face, his gaze shooting straight through to my core, as he implored me, “Hailey, I need this. I need…you. Please, don’t deny me this- not tonight.”
Although my mind was warring with itself, I relented, melting into his touch, letting go, and reveling in the feel of his want for me that was coursing through my body.
I nodded, and a small smile tipped the corner of his lips. He bent his head down so he was eye level with me, saying, “Yeah?”
It had a been a harrowing day, and the last thing either of us needed was another touchy, highly sensitive subject on our plates. The best thing to do would be to start fresh in the morning; hopefully a new dawn, a new day, and God willing, the shot at a real future together; providing it didn’t all come crashing down around us.
I brought my hands to cover his, smiling warmly at him as I replied simply, “Yeah.”
He didn’t hoist me to straddle his hips, he didn’t drag me in a full on sprint to his bedroom; he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into the warmth of his chest as I listened to his heartbeat in the silent moment we were sharing. I returned his embrace, our bodies flush with each other’s, and a single tear slid down my cheek as I felt the powerful emotions emitting through him, transferring straight into my into my own essence. This felt…real. And I’d be damned if I was going to let anything screw it up this time.
******
Hailey
I laughed riotously as Kellan threw me against the pillows, my hair falling in my face. He straddled me, his half-hard erection pressing into my stomach as he nuzzled against my neck. I wasn’t sure if he was softening from the erotic lovemaking we’d just finished, or hardening again in preparation for another round.
As he began to fondle my breasts, gently massaging my nipples, I took a wild guess that he was straining for round three. Well, two and a half if I didn’t count his exquisitely talented tongue bringing me to orgasm in less than sixty seconds. Oh, I’m counting it! Well, it was settled then- we’re heading into extra innings; he’s on second, eager to steal third, and I’m up at bat.
I was mentally face palming myself as I pushed against his shoulders, saying, “Not so fast, Romeo. I need a breather.”
Kellan looked at me like I’d just shot his dog, before quirking his lips and slowly shaking his head back and forth. “Not a chance, Princess. I told you- all, fucking, night,” he stated with conviction.
I slid my hands into his sweat slickened hair, bringing his forehead to touch mine as we peered into each other’s eyes. I nodded up and down, forcing him to mirror my actions, saying, “That was really nice and all, but it’s nearly ten o’clock, and I haven’t eaten since lunch.”
He pulled back, looming over me, and gave me a pointed stare. No doubt he was still pissed about my lunch companion choice. I simply shrugged.
He pushed himself up, still sitting astride me, as his eyes wandered over my naked upper body. After licking his lips, he brought his eyes to mine and cocked his head to the side, saying, “Nice, huh? That was nice? Do I at least get a medal for participation?”
I slapped him playfully on the arm, retorting, “You know what I mean…”
“No, I think you should spell it out for me,” he bantered.
“Fine,” I sighed dramatically. “You’re a Golden God, Master of Sexual Ceremonies. I’ve never seen anything so huge in my life…seriously- how do you manage to get around with that thing?” I rolled my eyes.
He squinted his eyes and put his hand up, saying, “Ok. No need to be rude.”
Shit, I hadn’t intended on insulting him. “Kellan, I was just joking…”
He grabbed my wrists, shackled them above my head and brought his face to mine, cutting in, “You want a nice cock? Or you want the cock that was made to fit perfectly inside your beautiful little pussy?”
Taken aback, my face flushed in embarrassment as I bit my lip nervously, answering, “Um…I’ll take door number two?” I shrugged.
Kellan shot me a stern look of warning before asking, “Did you like what I did to you?”
I peered at him bashfully, answering, “Yes? Maybe?” Another stern look. I squeezed my eyes shut and whined, “I don’t know, Kellan…I suck at this.”
He chuckled. I was so glad my precarious state was amusing him. No, really…I was jumping for joy. I internally rolled my eyes.
Roughly forty-five minutes ago, I’d had the single most bizarre conversation I’d ever had with another person- and Georgia is my best friend, so that’s really saying something. I’m still trying to process this concept, so here’s the gist of what went down:
Kellan and I were drinking each other in as if we’d happened upon an oasis in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Trailing his tongue along my neck, down to my collarbone, he paused for a beat, murmuring against my heated skin, “I want you to submit to me.”
I instantly stilled, and he brought his intent gaze to my own shocked one. Short of breath, I panted, “Wh…what?”
“Submit to me,” he stated, his eyes imploring me to understand something I clearly didn’t.
“What does that even mean?” I asked, confounded.
“It means I want to own you,” he stated resolutely.
Inching away from him a fraction, I stammered, “You…you mean like…be some sort of sex slave?”
A small chuckle escaped him before he grasped my hand tenderly, and tugged me toward the bed. He sat and pulled me onto his lap, leaning his cheek against my shoulder and peering up at me with a sincere smile. “Not exactly,” he said cryptically. My brows rose as he explained, “I want you to trust me.”
“I do,” I interjected, before he placed a finger against my lips, silencing me.
“I want you to trust me to take care of you- in every facet of your life; allow me to guide you, trust that I know what’s best for you.” He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something.
I cocked a brow. “You want to boss me around all day and have me cater to your every whim,” I deadpanned.
A hearty laugh rumbled from deep in his chest, the sound bringing me such immense satisfaction that I was ready to throw caution to the wind and tell him he could do as he damn well pleased with me, as long as it meant he would make me come in the next five minutes.
He quieted his laughter and smoothed his hand over my hair, down my back, and said softly, “I would never make you do anything you didn’t want to do.”
My head was swarming. The notion seemed to contradict itself. “I don’t understand,” I said, frown
ing. “You want to control everything about me, but you say I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. This doesn’t make any sense, Kellan.”
“I don’t want to control you,” he stated. “I want to dominate you.”
I threw my hands up in frustration. Talk about killing the mood…my libido was swaying from the gallows. “What’s the difference?” I asked, my voice rising.
“I want you to want to submit to me, willingly. Put your faith in me that I’ll never let anything happen to you. Give yourself over to me, and I promise you, Hailey, I’ll give you everything you could possibly dream of,” he said pleadingly.
“But…why?” I shifted nervously on his lap before continuing, “Why would I let you tell me what I can and can’t do? And why would you want to? Don’t you like me just the way I am?”
Kellan rubbed his forehead, saying, “That’s a lot of questions. Let’s see- first…you’d be doing it to please me.” I let out an exasperated sigh before he quieted me, “Hey, hey…let me finish, ok?” I nodded for him to proceed. “Second, I want you to do it so I can please you.”
I dropped my head to my hands and spoke in a muffled tone, “This makes no sense, Kellan. I get that doing what you want me to do would please you. But how can you expect to please me by…by…dominating me, or whatever?”
He gently kissed the top of my head, whispering into my hair, “Would it please you to know you would be safe, under my protection at all times?” I gave a small nod, not even having to ponder the question.
“Would it please you to never have to make hard decisions, to trust that I will take on your burdens, that I will spend every moment of my day making sure you are happy and healthy? You’d never want for anything, and no one would ever want you the way I will. Would that please you, Hailey?” His tone became a bit suggestive, and I nodded fractionally again.
“Would it please you to please me, Hailey?”
I snapped my head to him. “Of course!” I exclaimed, as if he was accusing me otherwise.
“It seems complex,” he admitted as I shot him a wry look. “It’s really not, Hailey. It’s the most basic, primal purpose two people can share.”
My face softened and I lowered my head. “I thought…love was…ya know, the thing two people are supposed to share,” I said with a bit of trepidation. Dropping the ‘L’ word didn’t work out so well for me the last time.
Tipping my chin to stare into his eyes, he said softly, “That is love, Hailey. Don’t you see? It’s not the same as simply loving someone; we would be giving and receiving each others love in a way you can’t imagine.”
I stared at him, blinking rapidly, my mouth hanging slightly agape. “You…you…love me?” I squeaked out.
A pained expression came over his face. “Was there ever a doubt in your mind that I did?”
******
Hailey
Anywho…to make a long story short, I caved. Or as Kellan would put it, I put my faith and trust in him that he would give me what I needed. He made good on his promise; he’d managed to bring me to the orgasm that I’d internally requested, with time to spare. But not before giving me a small dose of what he professed to be ‘pleasurable pain’. Though I was still thoroughly confused as to whether the short, stinging, intensely erotic slaps to my behind could actually be construed as ‘punishment’, since I’d enjoyed every second of it. I’m still a bit perplexed by the entire ideology. I mean, if it feels so good, why would I even bother avoiding this so-called ‘punishment’?
I’m beginning to think my smart mouth may prove to be quite an asset in the upcoming future…
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kellan
“What do you want?” I shouted.
“Turkey,” Hailey returned. I shuffled towards the kitchen. “With cheese!” she added.
I scratched my chest, yawned, and replied, “Anything else?”
She yelled something I couldn’t make out from the bedroom. Reaching into the refrigerator, I yelled, “I didn’t hear you!”
As I pushed items around inside of the fridge and opened the silverware drawer, she yelled back another statement I didn’t quite catch. Bagel, maybe? I couldn’t hear a fucking word she was saying.
“Speak up, or you’re getting a fucking peanut-butter-and-jelly!” I shouted over my shoulder.
She barked out, “TO-MA-TO!”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head back and forth. Since I’d been back she’d been all over the map; emotional, pissy, moody, and now she wants to pig-out in the middle of the night. Jesus, if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was…
I froze in panic, my head stuck in the refrigerator as I stared aimlessly at a day old box of Chinese take-out. I shook myself out of my thoughts and quickly made to stand, hitting the back of my head against the inside of the refrigerator, as I’d stood in haste.
“Ow. Fuck,” I shouted, rubbing my scalp.
“Is everything ok?” Hailey yelled.
I abandoned making her sandwich, reached across the breakfast bar to retrieve my phone and pulled up my calendar app as I answered, “Yeah…I just um…dropped…” my voice trailed off as I rummaged through the last few months on the calendar. It had been nearly three months since Jordan's death. A bevy of questions and emotions flooded my senses. This was some seriously intense shit to even think about.
“Kellan!” Hailey shouted, breaking me out of my thoughts. “I’m starving!” I’d have to add impatient and demanding to her growing list of flaws. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Hailey and I were no strangers to conflict with each other. But to say she’d been up and down since I’d gotten back into town would be an understatement. Then again, some pretty heavy shit had gone down since I’d come back home, so the friction wasn’t exactly unwarranted.
I was probably overthinking things in my head, but my gut feeling was telling me it was better to know, than to sit around and wait to find out.
I slid my phone into my back pocket, finished making our midnight snack, and headed down the hallway with the two plates in my hand.
My feet grew heavier with each step I took. The smug prick inside my brain called out, Dead man walkin’!
******
Kellan
“Mm, mm, this is so good,” Hailey moaned her appreciation through voracious bites of her sandwich. She looked at me perplexed before asking, “Aren’t you going to eat yours?”
I chuckled nervously, replying, “Why? Do you want it?”
She shoved another bite into her mouth as part of her tomato slid to her plate. She mumbled over her chewing, saying, “I probably could eat it.” She eyed my sandwich as if she was thinking of snatching it from me. Jesus, I was beginning to sweat, and I’d suddenly lost my appetite.
I set my plate on the dresser and sighed, saying, “Listen, Princess, we gotta talk.”
She lowered her sandwich to her plate and stared at it as she nodded her head up and down. Looking to me with trepidation, she said, “Yeah, I mean that’s one of the reasons I came here today. But then…” she ushered between us, continuing, “Well, this all happened, and then I figured it would be best to talk tomorrow.”
I stood up and began to pace the room as I said, “So it’s true? You already knew about this, and it didn’t occur to you to tell me?” My voice was rising and my mind was working overtime to keep up.
“Well…I mean, I just found out today. That’s why I came here, to talk to you about it.” She paused for a moment, then furrowed her brows, rattling off, “Wait…how did you know about it? Did Georgia call you? Was that her on the phone earlier?”
“No, it was Eve,” I stated flatly.
“Eve knows? Damnit! I told Georgia not to tell anyone until I had a chance to talk to you myself. I don’t want Michael getting crucified over this whole situation. He did the right thing and he shouldn’t be chastised for it. I’d really rather he wasn’t involved from here on out.”
Michael. Of course, it would be Michael. No wonder they looked so
comfortable together at lunch today. I’m sure once Jordan was out of the picture, he couldn’t wait to pounce on Hailey.
My temper was rising at the thought of him getting a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free Card’. I belted out, “Seriously? He clearly took advantage of the state you were in. How can you stand up for this guy and justify his actions?”
Her eyes grew angry and she countered, “First of all, Michael didn’t take advantage of anything, he was trying to help! In fact, I’m the one that approached him. He’s done nothing wrong, and as far as I’m concerned, he can sleep with a clear conscience, although I’m sure he’d take responsibility if asked, but we’re friends, and I don’t particularly want his name associated with this. I value our friendship, and I’d hate to see it destroyed over something like this.”
Fire and Ice: Rekindled (The Fire and Ice Series Book 2) Page 15
