Strike (4 page)

He went directly from her neck to her breast. She gasped when he finally touched her where she had wanted him to all along. The way he focused his attention on her breast was amazing. She hadn’t thought that her chest was big enough to draw that much ministration, but he had both hands and his mouth involved. While one hand kneaded, the other hand touched her with the gentlest caress she had ever felt. Then, without warning, he drew her nipple into his mouth.

The whole experience was leaving her breathless. She would have been content to let him spent the entire night playing with her breasts if it hadn’t been for the fire that was spreading through her body. The walls of her vagina were contracting, emphasizing that it was empty and didn’t want to be. She was going to go crazy if she didn’t get a cock inside her soon to appease the muscle spasms.

He finally left her breast, but he was working his way down her stomach. She reacted instantly. There was no way she was going to endure more teasing.

“No,” she stated.

He shifted his head to look up at her and from his expression it was obvious he had no idea what it was he was doing wrong.

“You are not going down there,” she explained. “You are going to come up here and fuck me right now.”

“But…”

“But nothing,” she said. “Either you fuck me right now, or I’ll go through this entire building until I find someone who will.”

He rose to look at her and she realized what she had just said. She closed her eyes and tried to figure out a way to take it all back. She never spoke like that and especially not in bed. She had no idea what had come over her.

“There will be no need for that, just let me get a condom,” he said.

She wanted to melt into the bed, but knew it wasn’t going to happen. She even had the idea to just get up and leave, but if she did that she would have no one to satisfy the urgent sexual need that pulsed through her.
You’re just going to have to stay here and finish this role of sexual deviant you’ve placed yourself in
.

The condoms were in the nightstand, so he had to walk around the end of the bed to get them. She took the opportunity to slide up, lying across his bedspread naked with her head on his pillows. She thought that she just might be able to pull off being sexually assertive. All she had to do was open her eyes.

She finally looked at him when she felt the mattress sag with his weight. He already had the condom on and was crawling across to her. She wouldn’t have blamed him if he hadn’t been interested after her comments, but not only was he still there, his erection was still huge.

He lifted her leg and swung it over her head. His eyes still looked like dark storm clouds and the corners of his mouth were pulled up in a smirk. It seemed as if he had all the confidence she needed. All it took was a small flex of his hip to drag the head of his penis over her pussy. The rigid shaft easily forced its way between her labia and teased her entrance. All the angst over what she said was gone as the urgent desire that had caused it flooded over her again.

“I was going to bring you to climax with my mouth,” he said. “But you didn’t want me to. I want you to think about that as I slowly fuck you.”

That was when she realized he was having fun. He was obviously aroused—his rock-hard erection was twitching as if it was trying to get into her. Yet he wasn’t in the throes of passion like she was.

She knew he was waiting for her to react, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. She locked her gaze with his and was determined not to make a noise or change her expression until he did. It was as if his smirk was a permanent fixture on his face and it was more than enough to inspire a little self-control in her.

He started inside her. It was tighter than she’d expected. She exhaled through pursed lips, but didn’t break eye contact. He stopped when just his head was in, raising one eyebrow. She knew he was waiting for a response, waiting for her to say “stop”, but he still had the smirk. She plastered the same cryptic smile on her lips and waited for him to continue.

Even though her expression was set, she was thankful he was giving her time to adjust to his size. Her vaginal walls needed to stretch to make room for him. He leaned down, forcing another inch inside. It was so splendid. She was no longer empty—in fact she was fuller than she’d imagined possible.

He sank even deeper. She was forcing her body to accept him, even if she would have made anyone else stop. He pushed all the way to her cervix and the sensation bordered on pain.

She thought she was going to have to tell him to stop, but he slowly pulled back out of her. At first, all she felt was relief as her muscles went back to their normal state. But it didn’t take long for the empty sensation to return. It seemed as if he was hovering over her. She wanted to look down to where he was penetrating her, but didn’t dare break eye contact. Finally he sank back down, filling her up once again.

The pace he set was brutally slow. It drew out the feeling of her muscles stretching to accept him, then the empty sensation as he receded. She wanted to bring her hips up to meet him, to do something to make him speed up. The tension in her body was building, but not quickly enough. She wanted it fast and hard, but the constant reminder that he was waiting for her to admit it made her endure the slow buildup that was driving her crazy. She had never been the type to demand anything in bed and now her only thought was to scream at him to fuck her harder. But not giving in was more important. His stone-gray eyes staring down at her were a constant reminder that it was a battle of wills.

Time passed, but she had no idea how long. All she knew that she was filled up with the greatest cock she had ever seen. But instead of screaming with the joy of it, she was locked in a staring contest with what seemed to be the most stubborn male on the planet.

At first her body just became more sensitive. She could feel his ball sac occasionally rubbing against her ass. Then she started getting warmer. The heat started in her groin and slowly spread until it burnt up every inch of her skin. Even though the pressure was building enough to make her erupt, she didn’t respond. She was still giving him the bland stare and he was still driving into her with the same slow pace. She was sure he was going to get tired, or at least need to change position, but he was rock steady above her.

The only sign he gave that he was exerting himself was the thin sheen of sweat that covered his torso. The pheromones it was mixed with reached her nose. It was a primal concoction that went directly to her brain stem. There was no way to suppress the subconscious reaction to it. All self-control was gone as her body rebelled against her. Her eyes lost the ability to focus, on him or on anything else in the room. She closed her eyes just as the shudder went down her spine. She was breathing through clenched teeth, letting the orgasm roll over her. She was no longer just lying there, letting him do all the work. Her pelvis was rising up to meet him, making their bodies smack as they pounded into each other.

She realized when she finally let go—she was getting fucked in ways she hadn’t imagined possible. Every drive of his cock into her was another starburst of sensory overload and each one was coming faster than the one before it. Time drew out as he pounded into her over and over again.

His mouth came down on her neck. Her skin wasn’t ready for the touch and it drove her into another orgasm. She wrapped her arms around him, held him tight up against her. What had been back-to-back orgasms turned into a continuous one that she didn’t think she was going to be able to survive. Her muscles contorted her body into a position that gave him even deeper access. She was calling out, but even she couldn’t make sense of the sounds she was making.

She prayed that he was going to climax soon. She was getting concerned that the orgasm would never stop. She had never heard of a woman having a never-ending orgasm, but that didn’t reassure her that it wasn’t going to happen to her.

Finally his body flexed above her. He gave a visceral grunt she barely heard. His back arched, driving him even deeper inside her and grinding his pelvis into her sensitive clit. It was like the finale of the best fireworks show she had ever seen, only inside her body instead of up in the sky. By the time the explosions stopped, she was limp in the bed and he was sprawled next to her.

* * * * *

One limb at a time, Tori tested them for responsiveness. To her surprise, they were all working, even if they were slow to react. She wanted to lie there and enjoy the feeling of being completely sated. Unfortunately, she was thirsty. It wasn’t the kind of thirst that was annoying and could be ignored. Her throat felt like burning sandpaper. She was going to have to get up and find something to quench it.

Collin was lying next to her and was already asleep. Nothing about the sexual experience had been typical, so she could let it slide that he’d fallen right to sleep in true male fashion. He made soft sounds, not quite snores, each time he exhaled.

She tentatively put her weight on her legs and didn’t end up falling. At least she didn’t have to fumble around in the dark—they had left every light on. His clothes were sprawled across the floor at her feet, so she reached down and grabbed his T-shirt. She knew that people across the street liked to stare into his windows and she didn’t want to give them any more of a show than they already had seen.

With that in mind, she was looking through the glass as she stepped into the living room. She had expected to see a one-inch gap in the curtains across the street with an eyeball between them. Instead the gap was a couple feet and as soon as Anne saw her emerge from the bedroom, she was dancing around in a circle. Suddenly she wasn’t thirsty anymore. She gathered up her clothes and got out as quickly as she could.

Chapter Two

When the door clicked shut behind Tori, she leaned into it. Out of habit, she reached back and locked it. She was tired and just wanted to go to bed. The blinking light of the answering machine indicated that she was going to have to listen to a message and possibly call someone back before she would be able to get some rest.

“It’s Anne. I was just wondering if you’ve made it across the street yet. It’s been two months. So, hurry up, get over there and call me back with the details.”

There would be no phone call, because there were no details. She was not going back over there. How many times did she have to explain that she was not chasing after a guy she had nothing more than a physical attraction to? It didn’t matter how good the sex had been—if it was meant to be, fate would bring them back together.

She hoped that the memories of him on top of her would fade, but each time she thought about it they came back with clarity. She could see him rising above her with his slow, steady pace she’d thought would go on forever. She needed to stop thinking about it, or she was going to have to get out her little glass toy. Tonight she needed to rest, not find ways to keep herself awake, because she had to get up early.

So there was nothing keeping her from bed after all. Anne could wait another day to find out there was nothing to hear. Her feet carried her into the bedroom. She didn’t have to think about it as she grabbed an old pair of yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt. She did brush her teeth, but that was the only part of her evening routine that she didn’t skip.

Tori slipped between the sheets and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She was curled up on her side, facing the window. The curtains were closed, just as they had been since Anne had moved out, blocking her view of Collin. He should be just starting his workout. She wondered if he would be on the treadmill or the elliptical. Then she flopped onto her other side, knowing that she needed to stop thinking about him or she was never going to get to sleep.

Just as she started to drift off, a loud noise startled her awake. She sat there for a second, wondered what it was. Had she really heard something, or had she been in a dream? Then the sound of people yelling carried back to her. She drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, knowing that this was real life and not just a nightmare that was already gone. She lived in a good building in one of the better neighborhoods. This sort of thing was not supposed to happen.

Then something slammed into her door. She was out of the covers and had scrambled to the far side of the bed before she even realized she had moved. She held the corner of the blanket up in front of her as if it were a shield. She knew they had hit her living room door, but her bedroom door stood wide open, doing nothing to block anyone who came into her house.

She jumped off the bed and ran to the bedroom door, intent on closing it. The yelling in the hallway was louder and just as she got there they slammed into her front door again. She could see it bulging with their weight and thought it was going to give. She knew there was no sense in closing her bedroom door—if they wanted to get through it, they would.

Frozen in place, she stood there not knowing what to do. She wanted to get out of there, but they were blocking her only way out. It wasn’t as if she could say, “Um, excuse me, boys, do you mind stopping fighting until I slip past you?” She needed to tune out the profanities coming from the hallway and think. She couldn’t be trapped. There had to be another way out. What if it was a fire? That was when it dawned on her that there was a fire exit out of the living room window. If it got to the point where she really didn’t feel safe in the apartment, she could get out that way.

It took about five seconds before she threw open the curtains and opened the window. They had struck her door again and it was cracked. She was outside and down the rickety metal steps without a conscious decision. She felt like a rabbit running away from a fox and didn’t stop until her feet were on the sidewalk.

There wasn’t anyone else around as she watched the retractable steps pull back up out of her reach. That was when she realized she had rushed out of her apartment without grabbing anything. She didn’t have a phone to call for help or money to get a cab. She didn’t even have shoes on her feet. She looked down at what she was wearing and for the first time she was grateful that she was too cheap to buy pajamas.

She was shivering and she didn’t know if it was because of the cold or the fact that she was scared. She looked around one last time just to make sure there wasn’t anyone around. Then she looked up into Collin’s windows. At least there was somewhere she could go to get off the street.

She knocked on his door and waited, with her hands fidgeting at her side. She could hear his treadmill. Why wasn’t he turning it off and coming to the door? She knocked again, this time not even lowering her hand. She took in a breath and exhaled, telling herself to be patient. He would come to the door. Except she could still hear the exercise equipment going. She knocked again. By the time she stopped banging her knuckles on his door, the room on the other side was quiet. She was leaning forward, straining to hear him coming toward the door, when it suddenly opened.

“Oh, hey,” he said with a tentative smile. “Didn’t expect to see you back.”

She didn’t say anything to him, just pushed past him and into the apartment. A shudder went through her and she realized it was relief. She wasn’t alone anymore and she was safe. Her heart might not be safe, but at least her body was.

“I need your phone,” she finally said. “I need to call the police.”

She saw the recognition on his face that it wasn’t a social visit. He pointed to the phone on the counter top, then walked out of the room. She crawled up onto one of the barstools and dialed 9-1-1. She was on hold when he came back into the room using a towel to wipe the sweat from his body.

She closed her eyes and propped her head up with an elbow on the counter. When the operator came on the line, she rehashed what she had just been through, hoping they would help her to figure out what to do. She didn’t open her eyes until the phone conversation was over. A police officer was on his way and she was told to stay where she was until the cops told her it was okay to go back to her apartment.

When she looked up, it was right into his eyes and she couldn’t mistake the concern. He had obviously heard what she had told the dispatcher, so he knew exactly what was going on. She batted her eyelashes to hold back the tears.

The sound of sirens had her turning around to look out the window. He took the empty seat next to her and didn’t say anything while she watched what was going on across the street. At first there was nothing but dark windows, but then the beam of a flash light cut through the black. Then the overhead light in her apartment was turned on. She could see the cop was alone. Everything seemed to be just as she’d left it, so apparently the fighting hadn’t made it through her door. She couldn’t see the door to see what kind of condition it was in.

She glanced over at Collin, who was like a statue next to her. He seemed deep in thought, as if he was putting everything together. Does he think she’d intentionally gone out to pick him up that night? He’d never even known that she lived just across the street. Was this going to make a difference to their relationship? Did he think it was just a great one-night stand, or was he going to want something more? She started to panic as her brain jumped from question to question. She needed to stop thinking about that and focus on one problem at a time. First things first, there was a cop in her apartment and she wasn’t going to know if it was safe until they called her back.

She turned her attention back to the window just as the phone in her hand rang. She jumped, not having realized that she was still holding it. She hit the talk button without thinking that it wasn’t her phone to answer. It was the police officer standing in her apartment. She hadn’t known it was possible, but the 9-1-1 operator had connected him to the number she had called from. It all felt like a dream.

“Well…?” Collin asked.

His voice startled her and she looked from the phone to him. She had no idea how long it had been since she had hung up. She realized that he hadn’t been able to get anything from her side of the conversation with the cop because all she had said was “yes” and “no”.

“They made an arrest,” she said. “My apartment is fine. There is some damage to my door that the landlord is going to have to fix. He said that my deadbolt wasn’t locked and that as soon as the landlord braces up the door, they’ll be able to lock it.”

The tears she had been holding back flooded out. Her whole body shook with the sobs. He stood up, closed the space between them and pulled her tight into his arms.

“He made it sound like it was a good thing that I didn’t have my deadbolt engaged,” she said. “I’m running out the window when I don’t even have the locks set.”

“It was a good thing,” Collin reassured her. “I wouldn’t recommend it for most nights, but it wouldn’t have held any better than the other lock did. Only you wouldn’t have any way to secure your door now. Do you want me to go back with you?”

The thought of going back to her apartment filled her with fear. Of course she was going to go back. Just as soon as the cops told her it was safe to. Only she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to be back in that place and she didn’t want to be alone.

“No. Um, I mean I just can’t do it right now,” she said. “Can I stay here just a little longer?”

“That’s fine,” he said. “You don’t have to go anywhere. I just want to jump in the shower, get rid of this nasty sweat, and then we can figure out what we’re going to do.”

She nodded that that would be okay, but didn’t take her eyes off him as he left the room. She liked that he’d said “we”—it made her feel not so alone. As if she didn’t have to deal with everything by herself. Because if he weren’t around that was exactly how she would feel—utterly alone.

When Anne had moved out, she hadn’t thought it would be that big a deal. She’d actually been looking forward to some time by herself. She had always preferred solitude, though now she understood that up until the last couple of months she had never really been alone. She’d gone directly from living with her family to sharing an apartment with Anne. There had always been someone there when she needed them. Now she was running across the street to a stranger.

Tori got up and started pacing. Her thoughts kept returning to the sound of the shower, as if she had to have a constant reminder that she wasn’t the only one there. She was trying not to cry again. She had already done that once, to her embarrassment, and it wouldn’t help to resort to it again. What she needed was something to drive out the cold feeling that cut to her very core. She stopped and looked at the doorway Collin had just exited through. She needed something like a hot shower…or warm, inviting arms.

Hearing the door close was the first indication that he wasn’t alone anymore. Could the timing get any worse—right when he was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair? If it had been only a couple of seconds later, he would be done. Instead he was scrambling to get the soap to stop running down into his face so he could stick his head out and find out what was wrong.

He never got the chance. The curtain opened and she stepped in…completely naked. He used two hands to push the flow of water away from his face and down the back of his neck. Finally he could see her just as she pressed tight up against him, sandwiching his erection between them.

He took a deep breath and looked down into her eyes. The face looking up at him was scared and his stomach tied in a knot. She needed him. She was frightened and needed the reassurance of someone close. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

She tilted her head back and rose up on her toes to bring her lips to his. He focused on keeping the kiss gentle—just another way to let her know that everything would be okay. Then her tongue was running over his lips. When they parted, she dove right into his mouth. There was nothing gentle about the way she was kissing him.

She slid her leg up between his. Her skin was so soft rubbing the inside of his thigh—a place that rarely got touched. He told himself that they were just kissing and rubbing their legs together. It didn’t mean they were going to have sex.

Then her fingers wrapped around his cock. Her steely grip pushed the denial out of his mind. She wanted to have sex and if she kept touching him like that, he would too. Unfortunately, he doubted that it was anything more than frayed nerves. Obviously she’d had second thoughts about the last time they had sex, or she would have come to see him sooner. He didn’t want to give her something else to regret.

He picked her up until she was standing on the built-in seat he used to hold his shampoo. Her hands were out of reach of his genitals, so he could think. He had to slow her down until she could see that she really didn’t want to do this. Now her hands were on his shoulders and her focus was on his face—much safer.

They resumed kissing. It was odd to lean his face up into a kiss and that was enough of distraction to keep him from ravishing her. He focused on the subtle changes the new angle brought and tried once again to convey reassurance through his lips.

As if she were intentionally pushing him to give in, she used her legs to caress him. Only this time it was his side that was being touched. Her legs were in the exact same spot as when they’d had sex. He couldn’t stop the flood of images of being on top of her. His plan to keep from getting turned on had backfired.