Can't Run (Danger and Desire Book 1) (3 page)

His tongue slowly began to move and Carrie’s breathing grew more and more rapid.

Carrie’s breathing turned into muffled moans as she put her forearm over her mouth. As Sara felt Gabriel moving up, she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Do you have a condom?” Gabriel asked, his voice rough with arousal.

“Here” Carrie responded. Sara felt the mattress shift as Carrie passed the condom, and Gabriel put it on.

Then Sara felt Gabriel’s thrust through the mattress, Carrie groaned in response. As Gabriel’s rhythm increased so did their moaning which they tried to muffle through their deep kisses. Sara was bumped by Carrie’s leg as she wrapped them around Gabriel’s waist. Gabriel pumped with an intensity that Sara could feel from beside them.

“I’m going to come, oh, fuck, I’m going to come,” Carrie croaked out in an attempt to whisper.

Carrie’s desperate cries only made Gabriel’s increase as he pushed deeper into her. Sara felt her own dampness as she tried to hide her consciousness, but she too felt her own urgency.

“Ahhh” Carrie cried out in climax, muffling the volume with a pillow, and in a few more hard thrusts he too climaxed before collapsing onto Carrie.

Amanda, in the next bed began to stir loudly, Sara’s heart stopped as she heard Carrie and Gabriel freeze. Within seconds Amanda’s light snores were once again the only sound in the room, and Gabriel whispered that he should leave.

Sara felt the two bodies move off the bed. She listened quietly as they scurried around the room locating articles of clothing. As the couple went to the door to say their goodnights, Sara laid bathing in her own shame and desire. She didn’t know if she should tell Carrie what she witnessed or keep it to herself. As Carrie walked back towards the bed and climbed in, Sara rolled over omitting a gentle fake snore and eventually drifted off to real sleep. 

Sara awoke to the bright beams of sunlight creeping in through the curtains. She stretched and slowly sat up. Amanda was in the shower, singing to herself off key. Carrie stretched and sat up, “Good morning,” she yawned.

“Good morning,” Sara responded feeling the inevitable blush spreading across her face. For a moment she had almost forgotten what had happened beside her the night before, she had almost forgotten how she guiltily, she just witnessed it. She enjoyed it, like a sick voyeur.

“Why the red face?” Carrie asked, poking Sara in the rib.

“I think just caffeine withdrawals.” Sara lied in response.

~

Breakfast was quiet, the girls sipped on coffee and orange juice. Sara was glued to her phone texting Eric.

“So I was thinking…”
Sara texted.

“
That could be dangerous…”
He texted back.

“Don’t even go there, you have no idea how dangerous my mind is ;)”
Sara quickly typed back.

“What were you thinking?”

“You kissed me…”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”

“You were drunk?”

“I wasn’t drunk, you were drunk. Remember?”

“So, you were trying to take advantage of me?”

“Nope.”

“Why, then.”

“Because you’re beautiful.”

Sara smiled at this exchange, her stomach was in flutters as she thought of how to respond. She knew she was acting like a silly girl, she had only ever met him just once, and yet she wanted him desperately. She had to play it cool, and somehow keep him interested in her so she could see him when she returned.

“I guess you had better remember that, Mr. Smooth talker.”
Sara put the phone down, and looked at Carrie who seemed anxious about something.
The guilt must be eating her alive
, Sara thought to herself, remember the night before.

“So, I did something bad…” Carrie said after swallowing a bight of toast.

Sara felt panic, she didn’t know how to appropriately respond to Carrie telling the tale of the ‘sex-capade’ that took place beside her. She was deciding to go with shock and maybe betrayal for doing it on the same bed as her.

“I sort of invited Gabriel to come with us to Manaus.” Carrie reluctantly said, looking at the other girls for some sort of reaction.

Sara was shocked…

“You. Invited. Him.” Sara repeated, for a moment relieved that she didn’t have to whip out her acting skills again.

Amanda just grinned, not really caring that a stranger was going to be traveling with them. Sara, on the other hand was once again mortified.

“Listen, I know this is sudden…” Carrie began, seeming to read Sara’s thoughts, “I don’t know, we connected. We like,
really
connected. I like him,
a lot
. I want to spend time with him.”

Amanda was still not saying anything, just sitting with a stupid grin on her face. Sara was flabbergasted, angry, completely taken aback for Carrie’s lack of regard for the rest of the party

“Sudden?” Sara cried out, “Fuck, Carrie, you don’t even know the guy!”

The tone of her voice was harsh, a little bit stronger than she had intended. Sara never realized how much she could sound like her father until that moment. It had also taken her friends by surprise who weren’t used to hearing this side of Sara.

Amanda wasn’t smiling anymore, and shifted uncomfortably glancing from Sara to Carrie.

“Well, I want to get to know him Sara. Calm the fuck down!” Carrie snapped back.

“Common guys,” Amanda finally spoke, “Let’s not fight.”

Carrie and Sara didn’t bother looking at Amanda, here words carried no weight with either of them as they they just sat glaring at each other.

“You go putting yourself in danger by going out with this guy alone! And now you’re putting us in danger too, Carrie, it’s so fucking selfish.” Sara snapped, still ignoring Amanda’s obvious discomfort with the situation, “Don’t you care that he could be dangerous? You don’t know anything real about this guy!”

“How often do I actually connect with someone? How often do I tell you I like someone? Never, that’s how often! And you, Sara, you shit all over it! At least I’m willing to take a chance to see if it’s real, but you’re always so fucking afraid, never taking a chance!” Carrie shouted across the table.

“You like him? You fucked him and now your hormones are making you stupid! You only want him because you can’t have him! There’s zero risk of a relationship considering he stays here and you go home at the end of this!” Sara shouted back.

“Once again, that’s more than anything sort of relationship you’ve in the past two years!” Amanda’s voice was almost a growl, it was menacing and hurtful.

Sara was shaking, she was so unbelievably frustrated. She could hardly contain herself. In all honesty, she was worried about Carrie. What Carrie said really packed a punch. Sara had only dated a handful of guys and had only slept with one of them, she regretted sharing this information with her friends. She knew that she was attractive, but sexually, just didn’t feel comfortable expressing herself the way Carrie did the night before.

Sara couldn’t respond. She had nothing else to add to the conversation, anything that came out of her mouth from that point on would only serve to hurt their friendship.

As the morning went on Carrie and Sara were fairly indifferent towards each other as the girls explored the city. They had argued before but never fought like this.

It wasn’t until the afternoon, when they were walking through Feira Hippie de Ipanema that they finally spoke. Amanda was off talking to a vendor, and Sara finally built up the courage.

“Listen, Care-bear, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you selfish.” Sara said quietly, pulling Carrie closer to her, “I am worried, but I respect your judgement and I just want you to be safe.”

God,
Sara thought,
I really do sound like my father.

“I’m sorry too, Sara,” Claire responded pulling Sara in for a hug, “So, he can come?”

Stepping back, Sara slowly nodded, then grinned “Sure, but the only rule is you two have to get your own room!”

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. -
William Blake

The two day bus trip from Rio to Manaus was almost painful, there was no way that they were going to choose to bus back to Rio. Sara was checking her phone every time she found she had cell service, these times were few and far between. Sara had chosen not to tell her parents about Gabriel tagging along for the rest of the trip, they would have been livid, worried, and probably sending the navy seals to come after her.

Sara was disappointed having not heard from Eric since their second day in Brazil, she figured he had already moved onto someone else. She felt like a silly little girl, almost as bad as Carrie, for liking the idea of someone before she had a chance to really know him.

Sara couldn’t help it, his kiss was branded her, it had burned into her and had left its mark. She couldn’t stop thinking about him, couldn’t stop dreaming about what it would be like to be with him, and she found her nagging thoughts to be shameful.

Carrie, it turned out, had it bad. The more time she spent with Gabriel the more infatuated she seemed to be. He too couldn’t take his eyes off her, and hung onto every word she’d say. Gabriel was sort of perfect for Carrie, well-traveled and adventurous, irresistibly exotic.

When they finally arrived at Manaus the group was exhausted. They decided to rest that night, they would go and grab dinner, then spend the rest of the night in their rooms sleeping, or for Carrie and Gabriel doing something else. The next day they would be leaving on a seven day river boat tour up the Rio Negro to truly experience the wilderness of the amazon rainforest, and the group wanted to be well rested.

The group had chosen a high end Amazonian restaurant to dine that night, Gabriel ordered several dishes that were laid out in the center of their table. There were several types of fish dishes, plantain prepared in various ways, beef dishes, and lots of wine. Sara had come to like Gabriel, he was funny and made her friend happy. Spending two days in such tight quarters meant everyone had to get to know each other rather quickly.

Live musicians began to play and Gabriel quickly swept Carrie onto the dance floor. Sara and Amanda watched laughing and clapping at the couple awkwardly dancing around the dance floor.

More couples got up to dance, some obviously knowing exactly what they were doing on the dance floor. As Sara looked around the room she froze in mid clap. Someone familiar was staring back at her, but she couldn’t put her finger on who he was or how she knew him. He stood up and walked towards her.

“Oh fuck,” Sara choked, visibly frightened.

“Sara, what’s wrong?” Amanda asked, putting her hand on Sara’s shoulder. 

Before Sara could respond, a man’s voice cut in, “Hi”, he said calmly. Amanda startled at the sight of Eric standing over them, looking down at Sara.

“What are you doing here?” Sara demanded, trying to keep the fear out of her voice, “Are you stalking me?”

Amanda moved closer to Sara, “Don’t worry, he can’t do anything here.”

Eric grinned, his white teeth flashing in the dim lighting, “Well, I guess you could say I am stalking you.”

Sara swallowed hard, she was the daughter of a wealthy family,
of course
he was stalking her Sara thought condemningly. He was going to kidnap her and take her money, and she didn’t even have the brains to see right through him.

Sara gripped onto her butter knife, her steak knife having been taken away. But at that point anything would have to work as a defensive weapon.

Looking at the dull butter knife in Sara’s shaking hand, Eric had to fight to keep a straight face.

“I work for your father, I’ve been hired to keep an eye on you. Keep you safe. I was hoping to stay out of sight, but, well, you caught me,” Eric said quickly, responding to the look of panic on Sara’s face.

The look changed, from terrified to angry, to hurt, then back to angry.

“You work for my father…” Sara repeated, “I thought you were getting your masters in geography?”

“I needed a cover” Eric said simply.

“So you lied to me, and manipulated me into give you my phone number. Couldn’t you just get it from my father?” Sara demanded.

“Well, I did get it from your father too. But, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do at the time.”

“The appropriate thing at the time?” Amanda interjected, also feeling angry at the betrayal.

“Fucking typical!” Sara growled under her breath, “So how long have you been following me?” The increased volume caused her voice to break.

“Since your father found out you bought a ticket to Brazil without telling him.” Eric responded smoothly before sitting down across from her.

Sara was shaking with fury. She looked around the room, not knowing what to do. She wanted to slap him but he was at the opposite end of the table and out of her reach. Gabriel and Carrie were walking back to the table, Carrie had obviously recognized Eric and had a look of worry and anger across her face. Gabriel also had a concerned frown, Carrie must have quickly informed him about Eric,
or whatever his name really was
Sara thought.

Eric turned to look at the approaching couple, and as he turned back to face Sara who was now standing. Sara shakily picked up her glass of red wine and threw it directly in his face before turning on her heal and storming out of the restaurant.

As soon as Sara got out of the restaurant, she broke into a sprint back to her hotel. She could hear her friends calling after her, but she didn’t want to look back. She was humiliated, and furious. Furious with her father, with Eric, and with herself for not seeing right through this guy’s act.

Sara made it to the hotel when she felt angry tears stinging her eyes, only making herself angrier.  She got to her room door and began to unlock it when a hand gripped her arm, she turned and faced Eric who was panting lightly from running after her.

“Let go of me,” she hissed through her teeth.

“Do not try that again.” Eric commanded firmly.

Still gripping her arm, he unlocked the door and pushed her into her bedroom. Once in the room she turned to glare at him, but found herself to be momentarily breathless. She had somehow forgotten just how beautiful this man was. His blue eyes cut right through her as he stared back into her eyes, sweat from the humidity and the exertion made his shirt stick to his perfectly chiseled body. He opened his mouth to speak as the door opened, and Carrie, Amanda, and Gabriel stormed through.

“What the fuck is going on!” Carrie demanded as she marched up to the tall muscular man who had tricked her best friend, “You work for her dad? Prove it!”

Eric held out his phone, dialed a number, and passed it to Sara.

“Dad?” Sara’s voice broke.

The call was quick, but had proved that this man really did work for Sara’s father. Apparently hiring someone to stalk her in Brazil was better than hiring someone to kidnap her and prevent her from going. She also found out that for the past few months her parents had been receiving death threats back in London, these threats progressed and started targeting Sara saying that they would take her and punish her for their sins.

Sara was angry that her family didn’t trust her enough to tell her the truth. That they told the security detail that he could lie to her, manipulate her, and trick her. Sara was betrayed by both her parents and by Eric.

It turned out that Eric was the man’s real name, he was a navy seal before going private and working for her father.

Great
, Sara thought,
a sellout
.

Eric moved into Amanda and Sara’s room, agreeing to sleep on the floor. Even though Sara had the bed to herself, it took hours before Sara could finally fall asleep. 

~

When Sara awoke she had momentarily forgot the man sleeping on the floor at the end of the bed. Her heart sunk when the previous evenings memories flooded back. She snuck into the bathroom, trying to not wake the two sleeper up.

She slipped off her t-shirt and panties, and turned on the shower.

The water was refreshing, as Sara felt the sweat from the humidity wash off her body. She knew that it would soon be back but for the moment didn’t care. Looking up at the shower she realized it was a detachable shower head. She thought for a moment about re-enacting some of the movie scenes she had seen featuring such showerheads, but decided against it.

She continued washing, enjoyed the warm but refreshing water running all over her body. She used her hands to scrub her breasts, feeling her perky nipples. She reached down and gently began to massage her swelling peak perched at the top of her flower pedal lips, her other hand softly caressed her breast. She stopped for a moment, and grinned, reaching again for the showerhead.

She changed the setting so that it was stronger and tested it on her stomach before lowering it. She gasped immediately as the powerful sensation caused her body to twitch. She closed her eyes and pictured the man who was sleeping on the floor outside the bedroom, she imagined him between her thighs, sliding into her deep and hard. Her body trembled as she came to a climax. She put the showerhead back, and smiled.

“I have to get one of these.” She said out loud, to no one in particular.

Turing off the shower, she reached for her towel and wrapped it around herself tightly. Still feeling bubbly from her recent climax, she pulled back the curtain shocked to see the figure of Eric with his hand covering his eyes.

“What the fuck, Eric? Get out!” Sara snapped.

“I’m not looking! Don’t worry, I just wanted to talk to you in private.” Eric said, suppressing a grin.

“This is highly inappropriate, Eric!” Sara said, tightening her jaw.

“I just thought, well, we got off on the wrong foot yesterday…”

Sara cut him off before he could finish his sentence, “And you thought that walking in on me in the shower would make me feel better?”

“Well, now that you put it that way…” Eric replied, still fighting a grin.

“What the hell are you grinning to yourself about?” Sara asked, obviously frustrated.

“Just wondering what it is you wanted to get?” Eric chuckled before ducking out the door.

~

Over breakfast, there was obvious tension. Eric was obviously the tagalong that no one wanted, Sara ignored him completely, as it was easier to act as if he were invisible. Carrie on the other hand was openly hostile towards him. Gabriel and Amanda were indifferent. Eric pretended not to notice the cold reception.

“So, does he have to come with us everywhere?” Amanda asked in a gentle tone, trying, though ineffectively, to create a less inimical environment.

“No,” Eric answered before Sara could, “I just have to go wherever she does.”

Everyone looked at Sara whose face was flushing.

“Are you really
that
rich?” Amanda asked, amazed that she never knew just how well off her friend was.

“Yes,” Carrie answered, irritated at Amanda’s lack of tact, “Sara is
that
rich, but doesn’t like to act like it.”

Sara bit her lip, “Well, technically, it’s just my parents who are…
that
… rich.”

Gabriel snorted, “Yeah right.”

Carrie shot her elbow into Gabriel’s rib and he flinched, “She also doesn’t like to talk about it, so let’s just change the topic.”

~

The chartered riverboat cruise was remarkably inexpensive, as soon as the group saw the boat they figured out why. It wasn’t as big as they had pictured, and it was quite a bit older than they thought it would be.

The captain claimed that the vessel was perfectly safe, although this had to be translated by Gabriel who once again proved how helpful it was that he came along on the journey. Eric, however, made it evident that he had his doubts about the river boat. His displeasure at viewing the craft brought Sara a small bit of smug glee. The group ignored his protests and boarded the small boat with Eric in tow.

The boat had three small guest cabins above deck, the cabin below deck was to be used by the captain and crewman aboard. Sara hadn’t thought about where Eric would sleep,
its not my problem
, she stubbornly thought to herself when the crewman showed the passengers to their cabins. It turned out it would be her problem; Eric had decided that he would be staying in Sara’s room.

“You can’t leave my eyesight,” Eric explained, “so not only is there not enough rooms, I’m supposed to stay with you.”

“I highly doubt that”, Sara shot at him when he told the group of his intended sleeping arrangements, “you take the other room, Amanda can sleep with me! Then I won’t be alone, safety in numbers and what not.”

Amanda snorted, “Nope. I haven’t had my own room in way too long, I can’t take much more of these communal sleeping arrangements.”

Eric grinned triumphantly as he followed Sara into their shared cabin. It was tiny. There was one double bed, a small closet, and a window. Eric’s grin faded as he realized what their living arrangements would be for the seven nights of the Amazonian boat trip. Tight is not by any means a strong enough of a word.