by Alex Roberts
Jamie finally wrenched the shirt off my arms, and I reached back, grasping his hair and drawing him to me. I kissed him deep and needy, and he slowed his pace, keeping his cock deep inside me. His hips stopped moving, and he held me. I got lost in the kiss – in his scent – in his hard chest against my back.
“Jamie,” I murmured with a heavy breath.
He claimed my lips again without answering. He kissed me gently until… Until… He pushed me away and grabbed my waist, thrusting hard, deep, and fast. The sudden change in mood and tempo sent all my nerves into high alert. My blood pumped, and my balls tightened, ready to climax any moment.
Jamie’s motions became broken, and the beat was off. He was ready to blow, too. Damn, I needed this to last. I wanted more and more. He jerked away from me and forced me toward an empty spot on the floor. I gasped at the coldness as my bare back came into contact with the floor.
Grabbing my thighs and sliding closer, Jamie brought my knees up around his muscled sides and thrust into my tight hole again. He let go, and my legs trembled as I seized down on his sides. He ran his palm against my cock, playing with my balls, making me moan in higher pitches than before. Face to face, I could see him clearly now, and what I saw was a man unhinged.
He sped his pace. The emergency lighting was pale, but I could see it there – passion and desire. His hard body was veiled in shadows, but I could see the darker lines of his tattoos flex with the effort of his muscles. Jamie leaned over top of me, and he came into better focus. The thorns and roses played over his skin. I reached up to him, finally able to explore his tight biceps and shoulders.
His tongue ran over his lips, and his fiery gaze bore into me. He slowed again, and his teeth clenched. Euphoria rose up my abdomen and into my chest. My balls tightened, and I held onto those big shoulders as my eyes slammed shut and I came. I tilted my head back and groaned and whimpered.
Jamie stopped balls deep. He stroked my cock, letting me down from my high. I opened my eyes and watched him watch me. He listened with hunger and parted lips as I vocalized the pleasure he gave me. He went tense, his cock pulsated in my ass, and with another high-pitched groan, I collapsed – spent.
He breathed heavy, the shadow of his chest rising and falling, and his arms moved and settled at my sides.
“Damn,” I sighed.
He wasn’t done. “You better hang on, sweet thing.”
He grabbed hold of my thighs, tighter this time, and began to thrust. Faster. Harder. Putting everything he had into getting off. My breath caught in my lungs. My face grew red hot. His deep groans burned at my desire. I grabbed onto his biceps and worked my hips to ride his thrusts. He reached out, taking hold of my hands and removing them from his body. He pinned my arms to the ground at my sides, threading his fingers through mine.
My mind fogged over in the presence of his dominance. I was helpless beneath his strength. Jamie pounded into me, and my body gloried under the punishment. I flexed under his tight grip, energy coursing through me, giving into the need to struggle against his mastery. But he held me fast in an iron grip. His chest heaved, and he bit off a cry. His thrusts came off-tempo, and he cried out again. He closed his eyes and bore his teeth in a snarl, his muscles relaxing.
His grip loosened, and Jamie leaned over me. My need to struggle against his strength faded as soon as his restraint on me was gone. I was sated and drained. The tile was no longer cold beneath me. My legs shook against his sides, but there was no way I could move.
Jamie braced himself over top of me, still hanging onto my wrists, but I didn’t care. I was spent. “Holy shit.”
He blew out a deep breath and twisted to the side, collapsing to his back on the cold tile. He shot back up, grabbing his jeans and pulling them over his ass. “Holy shit is right. How are you laying there? It’s freezing.”
I chuckled, still high on my euphoria, but the chill started to set in as soon as he took his heat from over top of me. I shook my shoulders and propped myself up, watching as he tucked himself back into his briefs and zipped up. The pale light from out in the store illuminated him in shadows from his face to his sexy-as-hell body. The muscle all across his torso flexed to keep his body warm. Hell. I could stay back here in the cold all night as long as he kept his shirt off so I could watch that dragon wriggle across his back.
Jamie draped his forearms over his pulled-up knees and smiled down on me – the self-content smile of a man who just got his rocks off. “It’s kind of cold in here, isn’t it?” he asked. “Should we go back up front, or what?”
The tile beneath me was quickly losing its heat. Of course, with the power out, the heater would be out too. Remembering that Sue mentioned a blanket, I pulled my pants up as well and began to seek out where it was stored.
“I think I’d like to stay back here. It’s my new favorite room.” I knew where Sue kept the flashlight, and I flicked it on to help my search. Jamie left and came back with both our coats. In the shelf at the opposite end of the storage room, I pulled out the old, fluffy blanket and returned. “Sweet. This thing is practically a sleeping bag.”
Jamie helped me stretch half of it over the floor and then skootched to the far side and pointed into the corner where it doubled over. “You get the good part. Come on.”
“I think I already got the good part.” His smile widened as I nestled into the corner and got ready to fold the remaining half over top of us. “We can switch if it gets cold over there.”
“Nah,” he said, making a pillows out of our coats. “I have more mass.”
“I noticed.”
“Wait,” he said before I laid the blanket down. He sat up and took the small flashlight from where I’d rested it on the boxes, shining it on my chest. “I wanna see your tattoo.”
In my embarrassment, my cheeks went hot. “Right. Guess I can’t be modest now.” I pulled my jeans down further from my waist; he positioned the light to shine on the Kanji tattoo etched into my pelvis.
“Oh, nice work.” He sat up, reaching out to run a finger across my abdomen. “I like that.”
His finger smoothed against my skin, causing gooseflesh to bump up on my arms and down my chest. I trembled under his touch, suddenly feeling quite nervous, and pulled my jeans back up to cover my hip. Leaning over top of me like that, I just had to touch him again.
I ran my fingers over his shoulder and down his pec to a bare spot. “You thinking of getting one now? Maybe right here?”
He laid back on the floor. “Maybe.” The light clicked off, leaving us in the dark.
“So, that means happiness, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I answered, laying down next to him and pulling over the blanket.
“Are you… happy?”
His question caught me off guard. I put a hand behind my head and laid there, thinking about my answer. “You mean right now?”
He turned to me, a tentative smile on his lips. “To start with.”
“I am.”
He turned his face back to the ceiling and crossed his arms behind his head. “And what about in general?”
“Well, everyone has their problems, right?” Of course, everyone’s issues were different, but still. “Like, I can’t say I love my job or anything. Hopefully, I can find something else while I’m in school.”
“What are you going for?”
“Not sure. Been thinking of taking some classes on business. Ya know, computer stuff. Accounting software. The kind of stuff employers like to see on your resume.”
“You wanna be an accountant?” he asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
I huffed out a little laughter. “No. God, no. I think that involves wearing a tie. I’m good at math, though, and the counselor at college keeps telling me I need to work with computers if I want a job.”
“That’s pretty shitty advice.”
I laughed out loud that time. “Yeah, it is. But, I don’t really know what I want to do, so it’s somewhere to start.”
I let the si
lence invade the narrow space between us. I could hear him breath and feel his rising chest lift the blanket. The question I’d so wanted to know came to me. “So, what about you?”
That perked him up. “What about me?”
“I mean,” I turned my head, and my forehead rested against his arm. The skin to skin contact made him turn his head back to me, and could see his gentle eyes in the pale light. “Six months ago, you made a late delivery. You were different that day.”
“Oh,” he sighed. “When I was married, I kinda lost my way. I just got caught in this cycle.” He rustled underneath the blanket. With another sigh, he added, “I stopped doing the things I was really interested in so I could work more and hang out with her. I didn’t even like hanging out with her. Then, there was Allyson, and I tried real hard to be there for her – cuz Tara wasn’t. Anyway, after I got divorced, I worked on cleaning myself up and getting back into stuff that… stuff that made me happy.”
“I see.”
“I started working out pretty hard again and got into the MMA gym, and I feel good.”
“So, you’re happy?”
He turned to look up at the ceiling again. “Almost.”
The silence came over us again. He took his hands from behind his head and pulled up the blanket further. The tension shrank my little corner, and I tilted into his side. I repositioned myself, giving us both a little space, not sure if my big man was the cuddle-after-sex sort.
He must have realized what I was doing, and he chuckled. “Sorry. I’m getting pretty tired.”
“Go ahead and sleep if you want. I’ll probably just lay here, maybe I’ll go grab the radio and listen to some music or something. I’m used to staying up my whole shift. Guess I’m not really that tired.”
“No way. It’s gunna get cold out there. Nice and toasty in here.”
Jamie curled onto his side and reached over my chest, draping an over top of me. A little bit of panic stirred inside of me. I was pressed into a corner of a blanket between a large man and a stack of boxes with his big arm claiming me. I felt the muscle harden as he flexed, and the violence with which he had taken me came flooding back. It was irresistible, and it was vicious, and I could feel myself falling back down that pit I didn’t want to be on the brink of.
I wriggled out from underneath that powerful arm. “No, really. I need to check on things on things at least. I can’t remember if I locked everything up.”
He rolled onto his back once again, his pectorals going taut and then relaxing. “You really think someone is going to come knocking on the door?”
“Just doing my job.”
A yawn followed. “Okay.”
I slid out from the blanket, and the coldness seeping into the backroom hit me immediately. The front was a bit warmer, and I meandered quietly into the store. It was still dark, still ghostly with the snow flying in the night, drifting against the wind and piling up. There could be so many other places I’d love to be right now.
I could be home in my own bed instead of laid out on a tile floor. I could be hugging a pillow instead of… who was he? I mean, really. I usually didn’t do this. Sure, I’d had a couple one night stands with a guy or girl at a club, but not like this. Even then, there had been drinks and dancing and knowing smiles and the car ride back to an apartment.
What we just did back there? That was fucking. Pure and unadulterated fucking. I thought I’d done it before. But, after that, I realized I’d never experienced anything like it. He’d been forceful – the kind of force which threatened to take me if I resisted – and yet, I’d wanted it. I’d wanted the power in that body of his, and I’d wanted to be taken.
But now, here, shirtless in a quiet room, he scared me. His strength hinted at a brutality I wanted no part of. His fingers in my hair, pulling my head back. His grip on my hips as he pounded into me – I had gloried in it, but now? Now I could see the violence it harbored.
Who was he?
Then again, part of me was looking forward to laying back down with Jamie and curling up. He’d at least proven he wasn’t the rolling over type — that he perhaps wanted to share our warmth for the night. That same part of me wanted to feel the tenderness that embrace promised. Was he capable of it? Who was he? Jamie, the tattooed MMA fighter who fucked like a mule, or Jamie, the bran muffin baking father who liked a little cuddle-after-sex action?
His voice came with the low bass of a deep voice from the back room. “Braaa-aaaan. Braaa-aaaan”
I went back into the storage room; he’d pulled up the blanket to his chin, trying to settle in. “You okay?” I asked him. That tone reminded me of a teenager trying to be spooky in the dark.
He threw the blanket off, and the small flashlight clicked on. “Everything look good up there?”
I chuckled. “Little Jamima afraid of the dark?”
I settled into the blankets again, deciding it was a little too lonely up front to stay out there and a little too cold back here to not get in the covers. I settled close, angling the radio above our heads.
“Sort of — Hey. No. I’m not afraid of the dark – just don’t like unfamiliar places. I’m not some little kid. I just…” He fell silent.
With the flashlight playing on the ceiling, he waved his fingers across it, making lines in the white light. Then, he added a pair of jumping bunny ears, followed by a dog.
“You’re not a little kid, huh?” I laughed and then joined his play, holding up my hand in front of the flashlight.
He fought back, pushing my hand out of the way of the light. “Don’t steal my light.”
“Technically, it’s my flashlight, so it’s my light.” I put a snout on whatever it was that had ears.
“Technically, it’s your bosses’ flashlight.”
Jamie sent fingers dancing over my naked ribs, and my knees jerked up. I was ticklish as crickets’ backside, and I howled in protest.
His grin showed up in the second-hand glow of the flashlight. “Score. That’ll come in handy.”
I slapped at his hands. “You got to be kidding me. You’re a child.”
He stopped the torture, though, and I huffed, taking advantage of the vacated light and trying my best to make a shadow puppet.
“Oo, what is that? A bear?”
“A… lion?” I laughed then grabbed the flashlight from him. “Let’s not burn out the batteries.” I clicked it off.
“You’re no fun.” He rolled over on his side and toward me. His fingers played ever so lightly over my ribs.
“No,” I warned.
He groaned in protest, but that big arm of his dropped over my chest again. I tried not to smile. No fun, he says. But who the hell would be silly on the floor in a freezing room with no power? I scooted further against him, and his grip fastened down on my and pulled me until there was no space between us. The smile spread on my lips.
Chapter Three
Damn, it’s freezing.
Jamie had shrugged out of his pants last night – it’d gotten rather hot under there, after all. Not because there was any more hanky panky, though I wouldn’t have minded. It was his body. He was a heat machine. A furnace. I don’t know if he was always that warm, but his skin against mine chased the chill out of the cold back room.
I’d woken to one of his big arms still around me, and it wasn’t something I was used to. It was hard to believe a guy who’d practically pinned me down while fucking last night was a content sleeper. He had that little smirk on his lips first thing in the morning when our mutual stirring woke one another.
He’d leaned over and brushed a soft kiss over my lips, then he’d rolled out of the covers in nothing but his boxer briefs and cursed loudly at the temperature difference. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him scatter to gather his discarded clothing.
He pulled his shirt down his chest. “It literally has to be freezing in here.”
“Literally?”
“Lit-er-al-ly.”
“You’re not being dramatic?” I as
ked
He glared down at me and then did something unforgiveable. He seized the blanket and pulled. Hard. I was not only uncovered but dumped onto the cold tile.
“Christ!” My socks. Why had I taken my socks off? My toes were suddenly little, nubby icicles.
“Ha!”
The temperature really had plummeted overnight. Not literally freezing, but still – cold. I cast about in the back room. It was still pretty dark, but morning light was streaming in from the front of the shop. “Power still out?”
Jamie flipped the light switch back and forth. “Looks like it.”
I checked my phone. A text from Sue awaited letting me know the plow trucks weren’t too worried about two guys stuck in a fully stocked convenience store. With both shoes and socks found, I made my way to the front to appraise the situation.
The snow had piled up against the glass storefront overnight. But, it was beautiful. Everything was covered in a way that made it all look fresh and clean. The trees were laden on every branch. The road and fields out front were plastered a uniform, undisturbed sheet of white. The old pumps and my old car were buried in this shiny, untouched goodness, and the early morning sun reflected off everything.
Jamie clanged around with the coffee pot then huffed. “Right. No microwave.”
“Goes hand in hand with no power.”
“None of this lip from you, Bran. Coffee is an essential element in my mornings.”
I checked the height of the snow out there. “What do you think? A couple feet?”
He came to stand next to me. He was close, but his hands were in his pockets. I wasn’t good on the morning after things with guys. Overnighters with a dude were pretty rare in my world. Girls – I knew what to do with them. You hug them and kiss them and they put their hands in your back pockets and, well, you do all that girly stuff. I was pretty sure Jamie wasn’t up for some slow swaying to music on the radio.
“Yeah,” he said. “Think that car of yours can handle these roads? You don’t exactly have two feet of clearance, there.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I have to try. It’s stopped snowing, and the wind isn’t anywhere near as bad.”
