by Alexis Leia
“I know you’re not here to stay long, because you have to go back to L.A., but still... thank you for this”, Sam said, sounding way too mature for his age and stood up to leave.
“No problem, buddy”, Chris stood up himself, about to offer Sam a walk back to town, when a fiery redhead appeared in their path.
“Sam!” Selene exclaimed in delight when she saw Sam, but her expression changed when she spotted Chris next to the kid.
She looked fucking breathtaking, her hair glimmering in the late afternoon sunlight, her delicious little body wrapped in a bright yellow sundress and a light sweater. Her soft, lush lips were painted in pink. She lifted her pointy chin defiantly when she locked her eyes with Chris’s and she wrinkled her little upturned nose in the expression of mock disgust.
“They told me you ran away, again”, she spoke to Sam, who watched them eyeing each other.
“I didn’t know taking a walk was considered running away.”
“Alright, smartass. We have a dinner to attend at Wilson’s. Wanna come?” she asked the boy and knelt down to be at his eye-level to tame the boy’s wild hair.
Sam narrowed his eyes and looked up at Chris, who was too busy staring at the object of his obsession. She was so freaking gorgeous, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. And she pretended he didn’t exist.
“Can he come?” the kid asked and pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Chris. Selene frowned and finally addressed Chris.
“How exactly do you two know each other?”
“We’re friends”, both Sam and Chris replied at the same time and chuckled when they heard themselves. Selene’s mouth gaped open as she noticed Sam’s smile, something she hadn’t seen a lot of.
“Okay... Sam, you’ll explain it later. And as much as you’d love your new friend to come to the dinner, I’m afraid Martia wouldn’t approve. Remember Fourth of July dinner, when we brought so many guests of surprise, she forgot about the corn on the fire and it turned into popcorn?” Selene chuckled through her words, making Chris smile.
“That woman just can’t handle her surprises”, Sam said with a sigh and walked away, yelling a loud ‘bye’ to Chris over his shoulder.
“That kid is just too smart for his own good”, Selene muttered more to herself, watching Sam walk slowly, waiting for her.
“He’s a good kid”, Chris said, standing close to Selene, who suddenly realized how close it actually was, because she jumped back, making sure her expression was neutral.
“I somehow doubt Sam will tell me how you two met.”
“He yelled at me on Saturday”, Chris said and watched Selene’s mouth drop open and eyebrow shoot up in surprise.
“What?” she asked as disbelieving smile lit up her face.
“Yup. He said I should stay away from you, because you don’t like me and think I’m an asshole”, he said and grinned widely.
“Sam said that?” she asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion. He wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling she kept on glancing at his lips, which made his blood run faster and his jeans become a little tight in the crotch. Well, tighter, since his overly reactive dick sprang into action the moment she appeared.
“I’m paraphrasing, but actually pretty close. Then he asked me if you hit me, and I explained that you’d never do that and I’d never do that to you either. And I told him if he wanted to hang out, I’d be here today. He came and that’s that”, Chris explained shortly, respecting the men’s code about secrecy. Never give up bro’s secrets unless the bro in question gives you the permission.
“You came here for him?” she asked in surprise, her beautiful eyes widening a little.
“Yeah, but for myself too”, he added, hoping she’d understand the meaning of this place, hoping she’d remember. She obviously did, since she nodded and looked at the bench they met next to so many years ago.
“And he told me he wanted to invite you to this Parents’ Day thing in his school, so I encouraged him and... uh... invited myself too”, Chris said and scratched the back of his head, expecting Selene’s backlash.
“Okay”, she said, shocking him.
“Just ‘okay’? No: ‘get the hell out of my town’ speech or something?” he asked, hoping he was finally getting to her, but was seriously mistaken because her expression was colder than Mouintainview’s December nights.
“No, I don’t care what you do or don’t do”, she said and shrugged. Bitterness overtook Chris’s mind as she walked away from him for the hundredth time, and he remembered the possible reasons behind her constant retreats.
“Are you constantly running away from me because of the cop? Afraid to evoke jealousy in him?” he asked behind her and gently stopped her by taking a hold of her arm.
He paid attention to keep her gaze on his, so she couldn’t see his erection, but there was nothing more he wanted at the moment than to fulfill his biggest fantasy ever since he saw her on TV: to bury himself inside her delicious body and devour her lips while giving her pleasure so great, she wouldn’t be able to speak coherently. She pushed him away, not tolerating his jealous antics.
“There’s nothing for him to be jealous about. He knows where we stand”, she said cryptically, and indeed, jealousy colored his vision in red.
“Do you love him?” Chris asked her, gritting his teeth hard.
“I do”, she said, took a deep breath, and pushed him away. She continued before Chris had the chance to turn around and rip the bench apart, rip anything apart. Jealousy, especially unfounded, was a green-eyed monster who had the tendency to blur the rational part of one’s mind and turn them into a dick. Not that he wasn’t a dick to begin with, but the tantrums he had, Chris knew, were seriously slowing down the progress of his seriously impaired relationship with Selene.
“He’s my best friend. Of course I love him”, she said in a calmer voice.
“Friend? Wait, what?”
He knew Sam was still around, and he watched his tone and his actions, because he didn’t want to break the newly formed fragile friendship. He knew the kid would perceive any kind of raised voices or grabby hands as a threat to his obviously favorite person, Selene. Aside from that, he controlled himself because he didn’t want to scare Selene and make her think he was a psychopath with serious anger management issues. Sure, he was sometimes impulsive, but he’d be damned before he hurt Selene, or anyone else for that matter.
“Yes, Chris, just friends”, Selene said, calming him in a way only she knew.
He still hated the thought of that cop being so close to her, but he could tolerate the thought of them being friends. As if he had any say in that.
“Shit, I need to apologize again. Look, friend or not, I have no right to tell you who to date or hang out with. This is just me, being a possessive idiot again, and for that I’m sorry”, he said and caressed her cheek.
She gasped at the contact and for a brief second leaned her face in his hand.
“What I’m not sorry for is the fact that I want you all to myself while I’m here. There’s a decade of time and space between us, and I want that gap gone. I missed you”, he admitted, but that didn’t cause the reaction he wanted. Selene’s eyes snapped open and she stepped away again.
“What you need to realize, Ledford, is the fact that we’re not kids anymore. And you having me to yourself all the motherfucking time is a thing of the past. You occupied my time and my life, which I only partially blame you for, because I gave you all of it willingly. But, hear me again. We. Are. Not. Kids. Anymore”, she emphasized her last words one by one before continuing. “As for missing me; you know what people do when they miss someone? They fucking call or visit or text, wanting to know how the person is doing. So, instead of saying you missed me, rather miss me with that bullshit.”
She stormed off angrily, her red hair vibrantly dancing all over her back as she strode toward Sam, who patiently waited for her a few yards away. Chris admitted to himself that he might be sick in the head, because her outburst turned him on
. Well, first it shocked him, and then aroused him. Even when she was just a girl, Selene had a big mouth on her. Now, as an adult woman, she knew exactly where and how to hit. Her words did sting, and they did hurt. But they also posed a challenge – she didn’t believe him, now he was 150 percent sure of it, so his mission was to convince her he was telling the truth. There was nothing in the world Chris Ledford loved as much as he loved a good challenge.
“Hey, Red?” he called after her, making her stop in her tracks but not turning around.
“Wear something nice on Friday”, he said and waited for her next outburst. She didn’t disappoint; he was still laughing half an hour later at the image of her walking away, her arm raised high above her head and her middle finger turned toward him, so that the kid didn’t see, and the only recipient of her anger was Chris. The fiery angel, his Selene, made him laugh and hurt at the same time.
CHAPTER SIX
The week flew by pretty fast and it was already Friday evening. Selene’s week was filled with obligations, meetings and administrative duties that couldn’t be done by anyone but her. Although she’d been Wilson’s assistant for years and witnessed how busy he was, nothing could prepare her for the amount of work she actually had to do.
Being a mayor wasn’t just a nine-to-five job, it was more like 24/7 job, considering how she received phone calls as late as ten p.m., and how she had to deal with paperwork when she’d rather be sleeping. Wilson said she should hire a secretary of her own and expand the administrative staff, but she also knew she couldn’t hire just anybody, so that was going to take a while for sure. But overall, she was satisfied; her project got accepted, she managed to rearrange the public budget so the senior home could get a new ramp for wheelchairs, and she made the time to visit the kids in the foster home every day after work.
Every time she walked through the halls and rooms of that three-floor house, memories threatened to suffocate her. And each time she remembered Chris, no matter how hard she tried to push him out of her thoughts. No matter how much being there hurt her, she still went day after day because of ten kids who lived there and anxiously waited for her visit.
She was going to do everything in her power to make their lives as comfortable as they could be, because those children deserved it. She knew very well how the life of an orphan could be, and that’s why she invested her time and efforts in transforming that place into a real home.
Currently, she was trying to relax in her bubble bath with scented candles lit up all over the bathroom. She was tired, but her body was full of adrenaline, because in less than two hours she would have to go on a “date” with Chris. Not a date, she scolded herself, but an obligatory dinner she owed him after he coughed out twenty thousand dollars like it was nothing. Well, that amount was nothing for him, surely, since he was probably richer than God himself.
Although, she didn’t feel comfortable knowing he spent so much on her. She snorted at her own thoughts; there she was, worrying about his bank account when she should be avoiding him and the thoughts about him in a wide perimeter. She didn’t think he was a bad person. In fact, she knew he wasn’t. He was simply complicated, as paradoxical as it sounded. He was a very difficult person to deal with, his mood constantly varying from the cold and hard man she once knew, to a sweet and thoughtful person like when he was with Sam – after an hour of convincing, Sam admitted how they met and what they talked about.
The question that bothered her the most was – why did he behave like that when it’d been thirteen years since they last saw each other? Why did he feel the need to have the main part in her life when so many things had changed since they were kids? When she was around him and when they talked, it felt like everything was the way it had been before he left. He was her protector and she was back to being that girl who leaned too much on him, suffering in the later stages because he’d only seen her as a relative, or a buddy even.
But she wasn’t that girl anymore, she reminded herself, this time actually letting the dark memories overflow her mind. She had come too far and had learned numerous times that the only person who could possibly protect her was herself. She would listen to Emmet’s advice – she would go with the flow, act neutral and withstand this period of Chris’s stay in Mountainview.
Everything would be so much easier if she didn’t feel that damn attraction every time she set her eyes upon him. He was like her personal purgatory; she wanted to touch him and she wanted his touch, but was too afraid of the consequences. That’s why, she decided, she would find herself a man that was going to relieve her of that sexual tension that consumed her ever since Chris showed up a week ago.
She might as well start on her own, Selene decided when her thoughts caused goosebumps on her skin, hardening her nipples and causing her pussy to tingle. She grasped both of her breasts and lightly pinched her hard peaks, making her hips jerk upward involuntarily. She sunk her teeth in her bottom lip to stop herself from moaning, because Annie was somewhere in the house and she didn’t exactly want to announce herself coming, pun intended. She rolled her nipple between her fingers, and with the other hand she slowly trailed down to her aching and wet core.
She closed her eyes, imagining the hands of a man touching her. Of a man with black hair, strong muscles and haunting dark blue eyes. Of a man who shouldn’t invade her thoughts, let alone turn her on, but he did. God, he so did. Spreading her folds, she touched her clit and hissed at the pleasure. She didn’t need slow and sensual, she needed fast and explosive. And that’s exactly what she did – she rubbed her clit hard, her hips bucking in pleasure. She squeezed her breasts, enhancing the pleasure, and soon enough, she was experiencing an incredible orgasm. She was biting her lower lip to stop herself from moaning, but her eyes were rolling in pleasure. The sensations lasted for a while, and then they calmed down. Just as the aftershocks subdued, there was a loud knock on the door.
“Stop whatever you’re doing in there, I’m coming in!” Annie yelled in front of the door and burst inside, making Selene jump and splash water all over the bathroom.
“What the hell, Annie?” Selene yelled and put a hand to her chest where her heart beat unnaturally fast.
There was no doubt Annie knew what she was doing, since Selene’s cheeks were still flushed from arousal, and she couldn’t meet Annie’s eyes in embarrassment.
“Oh, please. Like I haven’t seen you naked before”, Annie said and put the toilet lid down to sit.
“Unless you were doing something else”, she said and grinned, her beautiful smile lighting up her face.
“And what do you think?” Selene sarcastically asked, leaning back in the tub.
There goes or a much-needed second orgasm, she thought. She was just going to have to go to dinner with a permanent, imaginary, female hard-on. Oh God, in the middle of the dinner, she was going to remember she actually masturbated while thinking of him.
“Thanks for giving me the idea for your birthday present.”
“And that would be?” Selene asked and closed her eyes, trying to relax.
“Waterproof vibrator, duh”, Annie answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, making Selene snort in laughter.
“Between you and me, the town will run out of batteries”, Selene joked, playing with big bubbles of foam.
“But I somehow have a feeling you didn’t come in here to talk about sex toys.”
“You’re right”, Annie sighed. “Do you know anything about Chris’s best friend, Jackson?”
Selene shook her head. “No, I haven’t even met him. Why?”
“I wanna sleep with him”, Annie said, shocking the hell out of Selene, who opened her eyes and stared at her best friend.
“Whoa, where did that come from?”
‘‘He was my highest bidder at the auction, and I immediately liked him. I mean, have you seen him? He’s like a black-haired Adonis”, Annie said.
Selene searched through her memories for Jackson, and remembered the black haired
, handsome, tall man with mischievous eyes and playful smile. She remembered now that he was always by Chris’s side, a quiet and powerful backup. She could definitely see the appeal, but was still worried about her best friend.
“I remember him vaguely. I mean, are you sure about that, Annie? He and Chris are only staying here for a couple of weeks, and a week has already passed”, Selene said, her duty being to warn Annie and open her eyes in case she was daydreaming.
“Dude, I’m not looking for marriage. I’m looking for some meat”, Annie said, snapped her fingers and started dancing on the spot, making her boobs jiggle.
“Okay then. Is he interested?” Selene asked through her chuckles.
“Well, he pretty much told me the minute he auctioned me that he wants me in his bed. I guess my answer shocked him”, Annie said and looked thoughtful.
“What did you say?”
“I laughed and whispered in his ear that I imagined taking his clothes off the minute I saw him walk in. And then I left, but he was still standing there with his mouth open. I guess it took him a while to react, because I was already in my bed when the texts started. I didn’t even give him my number!”
“You told him that? Jesus, between you, Jackson and Chris, I really seem like an angel”, Selene said in a false holier-than-thou attitude, making Annie snort and roll her eyes.
“Oh, yeah. You’re a real sunshine. You know you can be bad when you want to. I believe you were bad minutes ago”, Annie said and winked before continuing.
“Now we’re currently in the phase of texting and sexting. But I really do want him, so I’d appreciate it if you asked Chris about him. I don’t really want to jump between the sheets with a guy I know nothing about”, Annie pleaded.
“Fine. At least we’ll have something to talk about”, Selene mumbled, her anxiety growing.
“When is Chris picking you up?”
