by Eve Langlais
“I could be hideous under this thing.”
“You have gorgeous eyes.”
“Flatterer,” I grumbled. Then, before I could change my mind, I peeled the mask off my face. Licked my lips.
“Nice to see you have an actual mouth.” He stared at my lips.
Would it be wrong to say, all the better to eat you with? I almost missed the bottle he tossed my way. I barely caught it. Unscrewing the lid, I guzzled the water. Stale. Warm. I didn’t care. What came out of the pipes these days lacked the clarity of the days when city workers ran the filters and pumps.
Only when I was done did I realize he’d moved into the kitchen proper, opening cupboards, laying out a feast, not just of packaged expired food.
“Are those vegetables?” I honed in on the sight and ran my finger over the long thick cucumber.
His voice emerged gruff as he said, “Yes. There’s a place outside the city that trades once a month or so. Even in winter.”
“You’ve left the city?” Color me even more surprised. “What’s it like?”
“Not as many mutants compared to here. The big wide-open spaces mean less spots for them to hide in the daytime.”
Less, not none, meaning it still had its dangers.
“Isn’t it a long walk?” I asked. The gas for cars stopped working a long time ago.
“Why would I walk when I can cycle?”
The moment he said it I could have slapped myself. It never even occurred to me. I was one of those people who didn’t care for bicycles back in the day, an opinion only got worse given the number of times I almost got run over on the sidewalk.
I freely admit to mocking those with their bullet helmets and intense expressions. Don’t even get me started on men in those spandex shorts.
“Is it a long trip by bike?”
“To get past suburbia? A few hours, especially since you can’t go direct.”
He didn’t want people following him.
I could respect that. “Are things better for us outside the city?”
He hesitated before replying. “Not so much better as different.”
“Different how?” I pulled out my knife and sliced the cucumber.
“In the city, you can scavenge for supplies. Clothing. Food. Weapons. You just need to find a place that hasn’t been stripped.” Given how fast people had croaked, there was a lot of good stuff left lying around.
But even I knew— “It’s not an endless supply.”
He shook his head. “It isn’t.”
Was it wrong to drool when he brought out some vinegar and dill to shake on it?
The first tangy bite almost made me cry.
We were both quiet as I ate most of the plate. He had a few slices and mostly watched me.
“If it’s less dangerous and you can get fresh food outside the city, why live here?” I asked.
“Shit’s not free. So I scavenge for stuff and hunt monsters.”
I shuddered. “You’re braver than me. I avoid them.”
“You survived this long. I’d say you’re just as courageous.”
That made me snort, and then I couldn’t stop. If he only knew how scared I was most of the time.
“How did you find me?” I asked when I finally calmed down.
“By accident. I was scouting out a spot for tonight’s raid when I saw you coming out of the window.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t crush you.”
“Ha, you’d have to be a lot heavier, Lia.”
He’d shortened my name, and I didn’t mind it.
I eyed him. The food. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
His grin held a hint of mischief as he said, “Earlier you called us Adam and Eve. We both know where they ended up.” And then, in case I was dense, he spelled it out. “Naked in bed.”
Chapter 10
He said it. Out loud. The thing I’d thought since meeting Xavion but not vocalized. He just tossed it out there, the fact he wanted us to have sex.
I blushed and stammered. “I barely know you.”
“Hence why we’re talking.”
Good point. Also, since when did I care about how long I knew a guy? Wouldn’t be the first time I’d met a stranger and screwed them. This was the apocalypse. No such thing as a one-night stand, only missed opportunities.
“How do I know you’re not a cannibal?”
His nose wrinkled. “Not big on land meat. But I do like fish. Since you’re not a mermaid, I think you’re safe.”
“Do you run a gang? Are you going to tie me up and sell me? Is your last girlfriend locked up somewhere?”
Once I started asking, I couldn’t stop. He laughed as he replied, “I’m a loner who doesn’t believe in bondage.”
“What about the girlfriend?” I asked, my tone light and teasing.
“I don’t have one. Yet.”
Oh yes, he stared at me as he said the last bit.
It was sexy, which might be why my clumsy ass just about tackled him.
The guy knew how to brace. Xavion handled me hitting him, and while my hands curled around his neck—in an almost death grip born of desperate need—his arms came around me and held me just as tight.
Thank fuck because I might have cried if he’d rejected me.
I didn’t realize how much I missed—needed—human contact until that very moment. Holding another person, being held, could mean so much.
We kissed, which sounded so trite.
It was more than that. It was two people coming together in a clash of lips and teeth, our panting breaths comingling, our hands clutching, bodies grinding.
He groaned into my mouth.
Sexy as hell.
He moaned again when I tongued the seam of his lips, urging him to part them.
It surprised me that he let me take the lead. Thus far he’d been brash. Very macho alpha male.
But in this…he seemed more than content to let me explore at my pace. I devoured him. Tested and tasted his tongue and mouth. Inhaled his hums of pleasure and purred my own.
It made my knees literally weak, and I sagged in his arms. His hands slid to my ass and held me upright. As I began to lose myself to the pleasure, his turn came to dominate.
He kept our mouths locked as he lifted me and carried me to the bedroom. It had a thick pile of blankets that smelled of the outdoors still, where he’d obviously washed them. On to that plush bed he laid me and stood staring.
I gazed right back, my lids heavy and shuttering half of my eyes.
His mouth opened, and I expected something dirty.
Hot.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Sensitivity? If I’d had something in my hand I’d have whacked him with it for ruining the moment.
“After that Frenching, do you really have to ask?” Yeah, I snapped, frustration coiling in my panties.
His lips quirked. “Would you rather I just took?”
I arched a brow. “I’d prefer if you used that mouth for something other than yapping.”
My hand slid to my pants, my thumb hooking the waistband and tugging in case I’d not hinted hard enough.
He grabbed my ankle, and I gasped. His fingers curled around the hem of my pant, both legs, and he smiled. I lifted my ass to shimmy them down, and he yanked them free.
It should be noted my underwear was clean, but functional. G-strings sucked if you got sweaty with nerves.
He didn’t seem to mind my waist-high briefs. He palmed me, and I bit my lip as I arched into the touch.
“Guess fair is fair.” He stripped out his coat first, tossing it onto a chair across from the bed. Then his shirt.
Oh sweet heaven on Earth. My poor panties would never dry.
He had the leanest, meanest body I’d ever had the pleasure of seeing. No fat on him. Abs I wanted to touch. A vee I wanted to explore.
A smoldering expression on his face as he suddenly covered my body with his own. My thighs spread, welcoming his hard body. Even through the material of h
is jeans, I could feel his hardness. No doubting he wanted me.
I loosely locked my legs around him, drawing him close, lifting my hips to grind against him.
He obliged, rubbing me in a way that drew a gasp and had me grabbing for the comforter in my fisted hands.
He hummed his pleasure and then nipped at my tongue when my hands slid over his flesh and ended with my nails digging into the muscles of his back.
“Fuck me,” he muttered against my mouth, and I knew he was close to losing control.
That made two of us.
I grabbed at my own jacket, got caught trying to remove it, and needed his help.
It should have been awkward. It turned out hot and sexy, as he touched me all over as he helped strip me. With my shirt gone, he braced himself on one arm so his other hand could skim over my belly. His fingers traced the skin leading to my breast. He squeezed and cupped, kneaded it as his callused fingers found my nipple. He tweaked it. Rolled it. Dipped his head to catch an erect nipple with his lips.
Oh hell yeah. I arched, thrusting it against his mouth. Making my pleasure known. He sucked my areola, even gently bit.
He switched sides and did it again. I bit my lip lest I cry out.
He did it again.
I groaned. “Xavion.” I didn’t even realize my fingers dug into his scalp and tugged at his hair. My need had me mindless.
I wanted to come. For the pleasure to never stop.
I needed him.
I shoved at him until he raised himself high enough I could reach for his pants. He had to adjust his position to assist, but at least he didn’t argue.
They unbuttoned easily enough, and then I was shoving at them, stopping only when his dick, going commando, popped into view.
Damn.
He got worried because I stared at it.
“You okay?” he asked.
Better than okay. It was like Christmas morning.
The dick of all dicks.
“If you ask me one more time, I will finish myself off while you watch.”
Which might actually be more torturous for me.
At least he didn’t need any more encouragement.
His hands gripped my thighs. Parted them. He fingered the edge of my panties, touching the edge of my lip. He decided to torture me by placing a kiss on my leg above my knee. Then higher.
He blew on me. Hot enough, and hard enough, I felt it and cried out. “Damn you, stop teasing me.”
Over me he appeared, his arms braced on either side. The head of his dick nudged, and he stared at me. I stared right back, until he starting pushing into me. Then my head tilted, and I sighed at the stretch.
The pulse.
The connection inside me.
His lips found mine as he sank even deeper, nudging me in that special spot that hitched my breath. I clung to him. Clawed him when he gave a bump and hit me good in my special spot. My hips tilted, inviting him deeper.
He took it slow. Grinding at me in a way that held me on orgasm’s edge. My body tensed. Wanted. And he teased.
“Give it to me,” I demanded.
“Fuck,” he uttered into my mouth as he pumped me, faster and faster, the friction, the stretch, the bump…
When my orgasm hit, my mouth opened wide, and it would have been an epic scream if I’d had the breath to eject it.
My whole body exploded with pleasure. I went rigid, my mind blank. It must have been uncomfortable when I clamped down super hard on his dick.
He liked it.
Hot spurts and the deep pulsing of his cock showed him coming, and then like a man, he collapsed on top of me.
I didn’t mind. I hugged him and reveled in how he struggled to catch his breath, his face buried in the crook of my neck and shoulder.
“Shit. I must be squishing you,” he finally said. Keeping our bodies joined, he managed to roll so I lay on top of him.
I was okay with that. Especially when I pushed up and his semihard dick still inside me gave me a pleasurable jolt.
He groaned.
I grinned. “Don’t tell me you’re done for the night.” Bold, but I was feeling pretty good after epic sex. “You know, my dildo never lets me down.”
But it lacked that one thing that made the orgasm better. Companionship.
“Who said I was done?” He thrust up into me. Already harder than before.
“Well, I never did find out how old you are. Could be a man your age needs time to recover.”
“Are you daring me to fuck you?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t help but grin as I ground myself against him.
He got bigger.
And that climax of before? Good, but already I craved another.
I rode him, slowly rotating my hips, tits out so that he could play with them.
Cowgirl was a nice position for control. I knew where I wanted the tip of his dick grinding. And for added fun, his tweaks of my nipples gave me extra jolts.
He stared at me as I rode, my hips rocking and rolling against him. I could tell his excitement level by how tense his jaw went and how his expression smoldered.
I bit my lip as I continued to ride, clenching him tight. Staring at him as I came.
Feeling a connection that shook me to the core.
My turn to collapse in a boneless heap on him.
He held me, hand stroking my back.
Saying nothing.
Which was good, because he probably would have ruined it.
And I so wanted to bask in what it felt like to be happy.
He, on the other hand, cursed. “Fuck me! I forgot to reset the traps.” Because he’d ben distracted.
By me.
As I watched his naked ass bolt for the door, I smiled. I could get used to this.
Chapter 11
For the first time in forever, I slept cuddled in someone’s arms. Woke to Xavion lightly kissing my shoulder.
I shoved him. “Ew. Way too sticky. I need to wash first.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough. How does a shower sound?”
Say what? Most water coming out of pipes these days was dirty. It required filtering to even drink. Clean water meant putting out buckets and hauling them. Despite the effort, I fetched enough water to washcloth myself a few times a week.
But Xavion didn’t have a bucket. He had a shower.
“There’s no hot water,” he said, “but lucky for us, this building actually had a rooftop cistern. It’s still collecting and dispensing.”
As if I cared. I welcomed the cold water and the soap. I’d not had a proper cleanse since the last rainstorm when I’d stood on a rooftop shivering, hoping I didn’t get killed because I wanted shampooed hair.
Today, I didn’t shower alone, and even better, I enjoyed a morning sausage. First the dick kind, then an actual hunk of meat.
“Where did you find this?” I asked as he handed me some salted jerky. The store-bought kind had long expired and gone rancid.
“Made it,” he admitted with pride.
“From an animal?” It occurred to me I’d only seen one type of living creature.
Seeing my face, he laughed. “Yes, an animal!”
“Is it rat?” I’d always been taught they and cockroaches would be the only things that would survive the apocalypse.
“It’s rabbit. The ones immune to the plague have been multiplying like crazy. Lack of predators in the wild has been helping.”
I loved bunnies. In the olden days, I would never eat one. Protein, though. I bit into the jerky and felt happy. “I thought you were a fish man.”
“Mostly. But I’m also practical. This salts easier and doesn’t take up much room.”
It was salty and delicious, as was his cum because I later did something I didn’t do for many guys.
But he was special. He made me feel special. Happy.
After the sex, he showed me the building and the security he’d built in. When we’d come up the stairs, I’d assumed he had almost none, other than the brace on
the stairwell door. After all, the apartment was left open. What I didn’t see was the threads he’d placed over some entrances. Subtle and yet clever.
He’d barricaded ventilation shafts. Created a noisy curtain over the elevator opening. As for the stairway, in case they made it past the main floor to ours, he showed me the bucket he kept over it.
“What’s in it?” I asked.
“Oil.”
“How did we not knock it over last night?”
“The bucket is for when I’m in residence. When I leave, I put the thread over the door. If someone opens it, the thread I crazy glue over the seam snaps.” He pointed to the remains. They seemed like a cobweb.
“I never noticed yesterday.” Then again, I’d been out of breath and eager to stop climbing by that point.
“And I doubt the mutants will either, or any survivors that come poking.”
“I just kept my door locked,” I admitted. Only once did I get a visitor who insisted with an axe on coming in. A so-called human. I did the world a favor and made sure he wouldn’t repopulate.
“How often do you go out scouting?” he asked.
“I try to stock up for a month or more at a time. For winter, I usually make sure the building I’ve found has a few apartments still loaded with stuff.”
“How often do you leave the city?”
I hesitated before admitting, “I don’t.”
He didn’t blink before saying, “You’ve made yourself a prisoner.”
Feeling discomfited, I blurted out, “I don’t take unnecessary risk. How often do you leave your safe place?”
“Every day.”
My turn to gape. “Isn’t that tempting danger?”
“More like courting it. I wasn’t kidding when I said I hunted the mutants. So long as they exist, we will never be safe.”
“You can’t really think you can kill them all?”
“No, but I can try.”
“Wouldn’t it just be easier to move away? You said the country is pretty good.”
“Yes, but the raw supplies are still mostly in the city. Ordinary people shouldn’t have to risks their lives to access them.”
“So you risk yours?” I noticed how he didn’t think of himself as ordinary. Then again, anyone who actively sought out mutants probably was a whole different level.
