Overture (Rain Dance, Book 1) (Rain Dance Series) (65 page)

     
The drive was
comfortably silent. From the apartment, I had picked up my laptop and some
clothes for tomorrow, plus a different nightgown to sleep in for the night. For
whatever reason, I was feeling the color blue and needed something to represent
that.

     
Douglas let me
know that the door would be unlocked when he dropped me off, and asked me to
make sure to lock it once I was safely inside. For an instant, the paranoia
returned. But I quickly realized that I was just being silly. It was a normal
precaution to lock the door - everyone did it.

     
Darkness was
already settling in by the time I entered the bedroom. The house was eerily
quiet. As much as I loved the place, I couldn't help but notice now just how
cold it felt without Ethan. Since I was so used to being alone, it didn't
really bother me. But I did wonder if it ever bothered him…He said he didn't
bring girls here. Had he meant that he didn't bring them into the house
at
all
? Or was he only talking about his bedroom?

     
A slight sting
made me realize that I was now chewing on my lip. I quickly shook my head,
trying to keep my thoughts from heading into
that
direction. It was easy
enough to talk about his past relations before we had done the deed, but
now…just the thought alone of him having had previous lovers made me feel ill.

     
But what
must
he
feel knowing what he does about your past?

     
I ended up
choosing to take a shower now rather than later, hoping that the water's touch
would make me feel better.

     
The nightgown
I'd brought with me was a little different from the ones I normally wore. The
straps were thin, as was the silk material. Colored in midnight blue, it fell
to my ankles. It wouldn't do very well for twirling, but the color and fabric
would make it feel like a cool caress from the nighttime sea every time I moved
- or so I'd like to imagine.

     
While I waited
for Ethan to come back home, I opened up my laptop and checked my mail. Jillian
had sent me all the pictures she'd taken. Immediately, I downloaded them onto
my computer and began sorting through them. Most appeared to be from our
karaoke night. Somehow, she had managed to snap a picture of everyone. Some
were group shots, others were during solos. I hadn't even realized she'd been
taking photos the entire time. She must've been very sneaky about it. Or I was
too focused on myself.

     
Of course I had
to stop and ogle over the candid shots of Ethan. I had the urge to stroke my
finger across the screen whenever his face appeared.
But I would never go so
far as to subject my laptop to that kind of touching. Nope.

     
I was surprised
to find that Jilly had taken some pictures of my solo, and even more surprised
to find that in most of the pictures I looked pretty damn cute, especially with
my big mass of hair flying all over the place.

     
Cute.
Not beautiful.

     
I couldn't help
but compare all the pictures of Ethan and I to the scene I had witnessed this
morning of him and Karina. Next to him, I looked more like a little sister than
a lover.

 
    
With a heavy sigh, I decided it was time to
dig through his fridge. When I saw the batch of strawberries, I was reminded of
my first night here. I grabbed a handful and ate them slowly, savoring their
juicy flavor.

     
An hour later,
I was looking through some older photos when all the lights suddenly went off.
I checked my laptop's screen to see if the battery was still being charged, the
adapter having been plugged into an outlet. It wasn't, which most likely meant
one thing - a power outage. It'd been pouring loudly for quite some time now,
and thunder had just broken out within the last few minutes. The storm was
probably the cause.

     
I stood up to
go find the flashlight, reaching for my phone in the hopes that I could use it
as an extra source of light. But when I tried to turn it on, I found that it
was dead.
Whoops.
I wouldn't be able to charge it, so I guess I'd have
to do without it. Thanks to the little hide-and-seek game from the week before,
I wasn't afraid to go searching through the house in the dark. It was
definitely a little spooky without Ethan, but nothing to warrant any kind of
actual fear.

     
After about
twenty minutes of hunting, I was unable to find the flashlight in any of the
cupboards, drawers, closets, or any other random places I had stuck my hand in.
I did come across some candles, but they were useless without any matches or a
gas stove. After taking one step into the garage, I swiftly turned around and
headed back inside the main house. I wasn't familiar with that area at all -
plus, it was windowless and therefore a whole other level of dark. Chances were
that I wouldn't be able to go in without hurting myself.

     
I could have
used my laptop as a source of light, but I didn't want to waste the battery
just in case I needed it for an emergency. With nothing else to do, I decided
to just chill and wait it out. I walked into the living room, opened up a
window and stared out, wincing as large, heavy drops of water continuously
slapped me across the face. It was freezing cold. A giggle slipped through my
lips. At this moment, I wanted nothing more than to go out and dance in the
rain. But as there was no music, it would feel incomplete and probably end up
making me slightly depressed. And uncomfortably wet. So instead I just remained
in the same spot, humming like a fool and letting the water tickle my skin.

     
I'm not sure
how long I stood there, refusing to move. Long enough for my legs to eventually
become tired, but not to the point where I was willing to take a seat. I must
have zoned out at some point. I never heard Ethan come in. It wasn't until he
spoke that I realized he was standing a few feet away from me.

     
"You'll
catch a cold like that, Kitten." His voice was tired. Weary. But
underneath was something else. Something that I couldn't quite put a name to.

     
I turned my
head to try and study him, but it was too dark to make anything out aside from
his tall form. "I don't catch colds. You sound exhausted. Is there
anything I can do for you?"
A bath? Clothes? Some food, maybe?

     
Slowly, he
began walking towards me. "…You can tell me that you're mine."

     
"Only
yours," I answered, my head tilting slightly.

     
When he was
close enough to touch, I reached up to cup his face with my hand. His skin was
ice-cold and large droplets of rain still clung to his hair. He took my wrist
and leaned into my hand, closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath. My
protective instincts suddenly kicked in. The only thing that mattered was
making him better.

     
"I'm
here," I reminded him. "Whatever you need."

     
Returning the
gesture, he lifted his free hand to my own face. "You. I only need
you," he murmured.

     
His kiss
started out soft. Almost innocent, even. But within seconds it had somehow
evolved into something much more heavier, eventually settling into desperation.

     
We didn't make
it to the bedroom.

     
We barely made
it to the sofa.

     
His hands
gripped my waist, my hips, and my thighs with such vigor that I was sure I
would bruise. Not once did his lips ever stray too far from my skin. Whether it
was my mouth, my wrist, my chest, or my neck - it seemed to be out of necessity
that he continued kissing me.

     
His thrusts
were deep, so much that I struggled in pain at first. But it was both
exquisitely pleasurable and emphatically fulfilling when I was able to take all
of him to the hilt. Every touch, every kiss, and every pump screamed the same
exact thing. He was claiming me. Asserting his hold over me. I wasn't sure what
had brought it on, but I did everything I could to show him just how much of me
he owned.

     
Primitively, I
met every single one of his thrusts. Instead of gripping onto whatever was
beneath me, I held onto his body, digging my nails into his skin when the
sensations became unbearably intense. When I was coherent enough, I kissed him
back with fervor, letting him know that it was okay. I would take whatever it
was he had to give me. And whatever he wanted to take from me - from my body, I
would give freely.

     
But after I
came for the third time, I knew my body wouldn't be able to keep up for much
longer, and I began to wonder when he would stop. As hard as he was going, it
was as though he was holding himself back, trying to prolong things.

     
Finally, after
bringing me to orgasm for the fourth time, I felt him empty inside of me. As I
took in the feeling of his member pulsing from within, there was a moment of
disjointedness where I wasn't sure where I ended and he began. But all too
soon, he pulled out and the moment was long gone, leaving me wincing and
longing to be filled again.

     
Carefully, he
positioned us so I was lying on top of him. We didn't move. We didn't speak.
I'm not sure how much time passed. It could have been a number of minutes or it
could have been just a few seconds when my body eventually gave out, allowing
me to fall into a deep slumber.

     
I woke up in
his bed, alone, with a sudden need to pee. Lifting my head up, I glanced at the
clock and was happy to find that the power was back on. It read 5:12 AM.
Because it had been cut off the night before, I wasn't sure if it was the
correct time or not. But since it was still dark out, I assumed that it was.
Letting out a big yawn, I headed into the bathroom, limping slightly. I wasn't
in any pain, but I felt very sore. As I moved, I felt the soft silk of my gown
brushing against my skin. Ethan must have put it back on me before tucking me
in.

     
As I washed my
hands, I was momentarily distracted by the girl who was staring back at me in
the mirror. I can't say why, it was the same reflection as always. For the most
part. Shaking my head, I quickly left to go find Ethan.

     
He was sitting
at the dining room table in front of my laptop.
That's right - I'd left it
open to fall asleep yesterday.
At once I was nervous, my eyes becoming
alert for any sign of what he was doing. It wasn't as though I had anything to
hide, but there were definitely some things on there that I would rather he
didn't see.

     
Thoughts,
mostly. When I was living alone and I would have nightmares, writing became my
main method of coping. Sometimes listening to music wasn't enough of a
distraction and art didn't allow for the kind of descriptions and immediate
release I needed. However, there were a few times that I did draw or paint
during those nights. While those pages of art were safely locked away in
physical form, there were also scanned copies saved onto my computer. They were
much worse than the 'borderline morbid' ones Ethan had commented on back when
we'd first met, and I would be more than a little embarrassed if he ever saw
what had been going on in my head back then. I kept everything from those
nights in a password-protected folder, but I'm sure he could find a way around
it if he really wanted to.

     
You're being
paranoid again, aren't you?
True, it was doubtful that he would ever go
that far. Besides, he would probably ask about it before attempting to break
in. The most questionable thing he would find were all the songs I had. With
over forty days worth of music, he would know immediately that there was no way
I'd purchased them all.

     
I started to
close in. Whatever he was looking at, it had him so focused that he didn't even
notice me. That or he just didn't care. He looked so busy that I was almost
scared to disturb him. But I realized I was being foolish - it was
my
laptop, after all.