by Riley Storm
She backed away and turned toward the door. Although she wanted to celebrate her success, it wasn’t over yet. Not until she was back outside.
Not until I’m in the truck, outside the gate and gone from here. Then I will celebrate.
The truck was not only her transportation away from Five Peaks, but also her main source of funding. She would sell it to someone who paid cash, no questions asked, and then use that to move on to yet another city. Maybe south, into Mexico.
Maybe Canada. She’d heard nice things about life up there.
Those were decisions for later though. First, she needed to get out.
She reached the door and pulled it open the crack necessary to slip through.
“You know, stealing isn’t very nice,” Vlad said from over her shoulder.
She whipped her head around, gaping as she looked up at him—he was much taller looking now that she was in a crouch.
“How did you do that?” she snapped. It was impossible. Nobody should be able to move that quietly!
Vlad shrugged, and gestured for her to come into his room. He was so trusting that she would do it, he turned away from the door without waiting for her response.
Ellyn took that opportunity and bolted through the door.
Or tried to. Vlad caught her before she’d gotten through it, a giant hand closing around her bicep like a vice, stopping her head.
“It wasn’t a request,” he rumbled, pulling her into his room and shutting the door.
“Let me go!” she snapped, trying to wriggle free.
“I trusted you Ellyn. I believed you when you said you’d stay.”
She could hear the pain in his voice at her betrayal, and she couldn’t think of an answer to adequately explain her actions. Every logical reason she’d built up in her mind seemed to crumble as she thought about it from his perspective.
“Why are you running?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.
“I’m not running,” she retorted defensively. “I’m doing what’s best for me.”
Vlad pushed her up against the wall, still holding on to her left arm. He stepped closer, suddenly imposing and angry, not the gentle giant she was used to.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, more of that. No more lying, no more avoiding the truth. You were running. Because you were scared.”
Ellyn snarled and wrenched her arm free of his grasp, though she couldn’t move from the wall. “I am not scared.”
“You are,” Vlad said, lowering his head, staring right at her.
There wasn’t much light in the room, but there was enough for her to see the look in his eyes. It was that look of confidence, that said ‘I know I’m right, and you do too’. It unnerved her.
“I can see it,” he continued. “Being with me has you acting different. It’s new, and you don’t know how to control it, so it’s scaring you. So you’re doing the one thing you’ve always known, which is to run. Not confront it, but avoid it. Because it’s the less painful route.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to look away.
Vlad took her chin and gently pulled her head back, so that he could look at her again.
“Yes you do,” he said, holding her gaze. “You’ve been hurt in the past—I don’t know how, I don’t know who, but you have.”
“Who hasn’t? I’m not special,” she said, knowing how feeble her excuses were sounding.
“You are though,” he said quietly. “To me. And you feel the same about me. You like me, Ellyn. I know, because I like you too.”
She didn’t say anything. He liked her? Why would he be saying something like that? What did it matter, they weren’t going to have a chance. Life didn’t work like that. He would see, eventually.
“Why don’t we just stop pretending that we don’t, stop denying ourselves, and start admitting it. Both of us,” Vlad said. “We don’t need to tiptoe around it any more. It’s natural.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Why would you like me? I’m just a criminal nobody. You’re a nice guy from a rich family with a good life.”
Vlad threw back his head and laughed. Ellyn’s face grew dark, and when he saw the look she was giving him, Vlad sobered quickly. “Sorry. It’s just, those are such blanket statements, it denies us any individuality at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, yes, you’re a thief. Yes, I have a wealthy upbringing. But I am not perfect, and you are far from being a nobody. Especially to me. I suspect you would prefer to live a life where you don’t have to steal, where you don’t have to be constantly looking over your shoulder. Am I wrong?”
“Maybe not,” she said, crossing her arms sullenly. “But what I want doesn’t matter Vlad. I have to do what I do, I have to look over my shoulder. Lex won’t stop until he finds me, until he tracks me down. I can’t do anything else.”
“Not anymore,” Vlad pronounced. “You’re safe with me. Here. You can relax, you don’t have to run. I won’t let your old boss do anything to you.”
Vlad’s voice caught as he spoke, and she briefly wondered just what he was thinking in his own head.
“What if I want to?” she challenged.
“Bullshit,” Vlad stated, the single word cutting at her defenses even more. “The fact you want it so badly is what’s making you run, because you don’t know anything else. Not because you want to.”
Ellyn was starting to tremble now as Vlad ripped aside her protective layer, exposing the raw, hurting, vulnerable person at its center. She’d spent so long building up her walls, hiding who she was, that Ellyn had begun to forget it herself. Life demanded she be tough, unyielding, and so that’s what she’d pretended to be.
“I’m scared too,” Vlad said, his voice dropping to a husky whisper as he admitted his own fears.
“What? I don’t get it, how are you scared?”
Vlad’s head twisted to the side and he gave her a wry smile. “Because, Ellyn. Caring for someone is scary when you don’t know if they feel the same.”
“Oh,” she squeaked.
“That’s why I’m saying it here, now. Out loud, in honest truth to you. I like you. I feel something toward you, and while it scares me, I’m not going to give up on you either.”
Vlad fell silent, and she knew that it was her turn. Her turn to respond, to speak her mind and tell Vlad her thoughts.
Her real thoughts.
Licking her lips, she wondered if the words would come out. Everything Vlad had said was spot on. He could read her like a book, as if her defenses were nothing but dust to him, a barrier he had no trouble sailing through.
And he was right, it did scare her.
If you’re so tough, then you should be able to face your fears. Prove that you’re strong, by being honest, and not a coward.
“Vlad,” she said, pausing, biting her lower lip. “Gah, this isn’t easy.”
“It never is,” he agreed. “It wasn’t for me either. But I believe that you are worth it.”
She watched his features, picturing them as she’d seen them in the light many a time. The smoothness of his head, freshly shaved now that he was home. The liveliness of his eyes as they darted around, until they fixed on something like a homing target. Like her.
The hard, chiseled jaw and perfectly straight nose that gave him that ancient aristocratic look to him. He was highly pleasing to the eye and, more than that, Ellyn enjoyed spending her time with him. A lot.
“I…” she paused.
Vlad simply waited. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t pressure her. All he did was wait.
With him, it was always about her. Ellyn had never felt so prioritized before in her life. She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt like she truly mattered as a person. Others, like Lex, had felt she mattered, but that was only because of how she could help them, of what her skills could do to help them.
Vlad cared about her. About Ellyn Pearson the person. The human being.
/> “I like you too,” she whispered, saying the words before she could think twice about them.
She waited pensively, heart thundering in her chest, stomach tying itself into ever tighter knots while she chewed on her lip some more, staring at Vlad, wondering what to do now. What happened next?
She’d never been in this position before.
Vlad seemed to know. His fingers relaxed their grip on her jaw and he slid them down her neck, producing an involuntary shiver.
“That feels nice,” she whispered into the darkened room.
“Good.”
He leaned in and kissed her.
Oh. So this is where it leads.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ellyn
The heat of his touch blasted away the last of her fear for the time being, replacing it with a growing arousal.
The first (and, so far, only) time he had kissed her, they had been in public, still unsure of one another. With others around and no privacy, she’d not had to worry about things progressing any further.
But now…now they were alone, in the dark, in his bedroom. Nobody was there to stop them. Assuming she even wanted someone to.
After all, he feels quite lovely.
That thought brought Ellyn back to awareness. Her hands were on his body. They were all over his body, touching, squeezing and digging her nails in to his bare back. Where had his shirt gone? Had he even been wearing one?
Ellyn’s mind was a fuzzy mess, and that was before Vlad went ahead and ran his hand up her side and cupped her breast. She was fully dressed for an escape, and the bra and light sweatshirt weren’t conducive to being touched. Not the way she wanted.
Hurried hands undid the zipper and the sweatshirt fell free, revealing the thin black tank top and matching bra underneath. It also bared her upper chest to him, and Vlad wasted no time, dipping his head and kissing along her shoulder and into her collarbone, drawing tiny moans and gasps from her as he went.
She marveled at his capacity for light touch. Someone his size should have been heavy handed, but not Vlad. Not with her. She shivered and danced at the near ghostlike touches of his lips, while his hands caressed her body with a firmer presence, an interesting contrast that was driving her wild.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she moaned, grabbing at the back of his head, pulling him in harder in direct opposition to her words.
“Why not?” Vlad questioned, barely pausing as he tugged the strings of her tank top down over her shoulders, forcing her to relinquish her grip on him.
“Um.” Ellyn didn’t have a good answer to that question. Really, why shouldn’t they do this? It was clear that both of them wanted to. At least, she was fairly certain that wasn’t a flashlight in his pants. And between her legs was a furnace of hotness just waiting for him to stop teasing and make his way there.
“You’re going to have to make a more compelling argument than that,” Vlad said, pulling her bra down as well, both it and her shirt folding down to expose her breasts to his mouth.
Ellyn shivered, overcome with lustful urges as his mouth clamped down on a nipple, sucking on it, running his tongue over it and then giving it the lightest of nibbles just to make her gasp at the varying sensations.
“I’m not sure I have one,” she said, not fighting as her bra came free, falling to the floor before Vlad lifted her shirt up and over her head.
“I don’t want to stop,” Vlad said, sliding a hand over her lower back, pushing under the seam of her pants and grabbing one of her cheeks hard.
She gasped and pressed herself into him, kissing his chest while her hands fumbled with his pants. They were actually shorts, she realized, as she undid the drawstring and, with one last thought of ‘is this really happening?’, pulled them down.
Oh my.
“Is there a problem?” Vlad asked as she paused.
“No, not at all.” Ellyn whispered. “Not at all.”
Her hand closed around him and she inhaled, already beyond eager to feel him inside her. She’d seen bigger. On a computer screen. But Vlad was, well, Ellyn was just willing to think of herself as in for an experience.
“I’ll go slow,” he promised.
“Only at first,” she said mischievously as she stroked him gently, squeezing firmly at the base, relaxing her grip as she moved to the tip, teasing him with the end of her finger.
Vlad growled and slammed both hands into the wall on either side of her head, eyes glazing over.
Ellyn felt trapped, in the best sort of way. His huge, overwhelming presence kept her pinned to the wall, yet he was firmly under her control as she pleasured him with nothing but her hand.
She twisted her hand over at the base, running fingers across his sac, watching his face contort as he groaned louder.
“Fuck that feels good,” he rumbled, eyes snapping open before he darted in to kiss her some more.
Ellyn leaned back into it, letting him part her lips, their tongues sliding against one another, warm and soft. It was intimate and sexual, a mix that she was keen to explore more of with Vlad. Much more.
Her pants came undone, but they were tight, and Vlad had to work to get them off, crouching down to slide them over her calves. Which put him at perfect height to—
Ellyn’s gasp turned into a moan. She spread her arms wide on the wall to brace herself as he casually tore the underwear off her and buried his face between her legs. She cried out as he found her clit and circled it, the pressure lessening with every rotation until she was practically whimpering for him to continue.
Vlad put his arms through her legs and up, grabbing her cheeks, and then lower back, forcing Ellyn to spread even wider.
“What are you—ahhh!” she yelped as she was suddenly hoisted into the air, straddling his face, kept in position by the strength of his arms.
Then his tongue returned. Vlad pushed her back against the wall as she writhed, pushed her already shaking hips against his face. She had never been treated like this, simply picked up and held in the air like she was nothing. It was hot.
“Oh fuck,” she hissed as he finally, finally stopped playing around and focused on her clit itself, blasting her body into submission with every rhythmic touch of his tongue, picking up speed at regular intervals. Ellyn could feel her orgasm approaching, and knew it wouldn’t take long. Not with the way Vlad was playing her body.
“Don’t you dare slow down,” she growled, feeling him begin to pull back. “Not now.” Reaching down she grabbed his bald skull with one hand and pulled it in to her while simultaneously thrusting her hips at him.
Vlad didn’t stop, and moments later she cried out, shaking so hard she had to release his head to steady herself back against the wall as she came, her hips bouncing against his face. Vlad held on and kept going until she began to come down from the high, his pace matching her wilting muscles as the post-orgasm high took over from the waves of endless pleasure that had filled her body, spreading out from between her legs to the rest of her body.
He stopped and carried her over to the edge of the bed, where he lay her down on her back. She sighed, then hissed in surprise as he slipped first one, then a second finger inside, pushing gently until she accepted them both.
Then the tongue returned. Ellyn threw back her head and went along for the ride, unable to stop him, not entirely sure she wanted to. After half a minute of his touch, she decided that continuing was the more interesting path.
A minute later she bucked and heaved on the bed, grabbing fistfuls of blankets, positive she was going to tear the comforter as she gripped it tight, her body again assaulted with an orgasm, blasted into senselessness by Vlad. He was going to turn her into a pile of mush, if she wasn’t already there.
“You good?” he asked, wiping his face with the back of his arm and positioning himself between her legs.
“I’m certainly not bad,” she tried to quip, but her eyes were focused entirely on his thick, hard cock. “Slowly.”
“At first,”
he agreed with a wink, using one hand wrapped around himself to guide his tip to her opening.
Ellyn loved watching guys grip their own equipment. There was something both fascinating and erotic about the sight of it, and that was no different now as Vlad rubbed himself in her wetness, preparing to slide in.
He took his time, teasing her once more, and by the time he finally did slip inside, she was on the verge of begging for it. Ellyn never begged. She held out this time. Barely.
“Oh fuck.” Her eyes went wide and she pushed up on her elbows, watching him enter her. He was even bigger than she’d expected, and her body needed time.
“Just relax,” Vlad urged, bending at the waist, kissing her stomach and her breasts, taking her focus momentarily away from what was going on between her legs.
She did as he said, and Vlad went a little deeper.
“OoOohhh.”
Then her body began to adjust to him, finally, and Ellyn nodded, indicating she was ready for more. It took a couple of minutes, but she was determined to have him all, and leave neither of them disappointed.
“Tight,” he hissed in her ear as he rested on his knees and elbows, his body pressing down on hers, pinning her to the bed, covering her with muscle and warmth.
“It feels so good,” she moaned, nibbling on the bottom of his earlobe.
He pulled back a few inches, and then pushed forward again. Both of them made pleased sounds, enjoying the feeling of it.
“Again,” she said.
Vlad obliged.
“Again.”
He wasn’t pulling back far, nor was he going hard, but the sheer thickness of his cock, and the level of her arousal, were ensuring that Ellyn was more than ready to climax a second time.
Third time. Whatever. Who cares.
It no longer mattered, and as the slow movement in and out built up the pressure between her legs, she lay back, grabbing her breasts, pinching the nipples. Vlad groaned deeper at the sight and she felt him swell just a little more.
That was all it took. Ellyn gasped suddenly as her body flipped a switch and she arched up against him, her body contorting and spasming as she cried out his name and grabbed onto his thick back, pulling him close.
