The Apartment (Apartment #1) (4 page)

When his fingertips touched the bare skin at the small of her back and began to make little circles, Lily had to stop herself from crying out in surprised pleasure. His touch was like fire: it left small trails of steam as it moved over her skin. Lily fully expected to find welts in the shape of tiny spiral patterns on her back when she looked at it later.

He slowly ran his nose up the column of her neck, inhaling her scent deeply before stopping with his lips pressed against her ear. “Please.” It was barely a whisper.

Lily was very confused about what happened next.

She had turned to face him, intending only to politely refuse and say goodbye. Yet somehow her arms had acted on their own accord, pulling his mouth roughly to hers.

She didn’t recognize the loud moan in the room as her own.

His lips were strong, but soft to the touch, full of a hunger that surpassed anything she’d ever experienced. He tasted faintly of peppermint and coffee, as well as a deeper hint of spice that was all him. When he finally opened his mouth to drink her in, Lily saw stars.

Everything unfolded rather quickly after that.

There was a frenzy of kissing, their tongues sliding together easily. His hands were everywhere at once, cupping her and squeezing her, sliding over mounds and dipping into valleys until her body was shaking and screaming for more.

Then the beautiful stranger shifted against her. She felt his hand slide inside her pants as he kissed her, groaning loudly into her mouth when he discovered that she was already swollen and wet. She was surprised herself, as her body rarely responded so quickly, but this man’s frantic kisses and tangible need were driving her insane. When his fingers started to move in tiny, concentrated little circles against her, she knew that she would soon be done for. Her eager moans and quick responses must have excited him further because he suddenly grunted roughly and removed his hand, disorienting her for a moment until she realized what he was doing.

Without moving his lips from hers, he hooked his fingers into the waist of her workout pants, pulling both those and her panties down as far as they would go until gravity took over and they dropped to the floor. Lily barely had time to step one foot out of them before she was being lifted onto the kitchen counter.

He fumbled briefly with his button fly, quickly freeing himself and wrapping her legs higher around his waist while guiding himself to her hot center. Lily, completely lost in the sensations that were overpowering her, hadn’t opened her eyes once since he had first kissed her, but when she felt him nudging at her entrance her eyes shot open.

Oh God
, she thought to herself.
This is really happening!

And then he slid himself home in one swift thrust.

They both gasped out loud and froze, locking eyes once again. His eyes held the question that his mouth was reluctant to ask. After she had a moment to adjust to his size and the shock of his invasion, Lily nodded quickly and shifted her hips, signaling for him to continue. A slow, wicked smile spread across his delicious lips, and he moved her legs so that they were hanging over his forearms, bracing his hands against the edge of the counter for added leverage. The new position bent her legs back toward her at a different angle, which caused her to feel him even deeper inside her.

Looking into her eyes, he slowly pulled his hips back, almost leaving her, before thrusting forward again so forcefully that her entire body rocked back. Lily’s head hit the cabinet as she threw it back and cried out, never having felt anything that deep before. Panting loudly, she grabbed him by his hair again and shoved her hips forward, begging him for more. She had never acted like this before and wasn’t sure what had come over her.

He latched onto her mouth again, kissing her so hard that she felt lightheaded. His sweet, hot tongue swirled and twisted against hers as he penetrated her, sliding easily into her welcoming heat. He worked her body like a man possessed: thrusting, grinding, and pounding. He broke their kiss with a loud groan and buried his face against her neck, sucking and biting at her in between breathy snarls and grunts.

Lily was on sensory overload. She could feel the stubble from his chin as it scratched her neck, the slickness of his tongue as it flicked at her skin, the flex of his muscles as he shifted his hips between her legs, the broad tip of his cock as it slid back and forth inside her—and over it all, there was his scent. It was potent and masculine and headier than any cologne she had ever smelled in her life.

Before long, his hips began bucking erratically. He continued pumping into her, sliding a hand between their bodies and expertly rubbing more tight circles around Lily’s throbbing clitoris.

“Please,” he moaned deeply. “So close… please… come for me.” He ended his plea with another deep thrust inside her, causing a surprised Lily to explode around him.

“Holy fuck!” Lily screamed out her pleasure as her body convulsed around his aching shaft.

“Yes!” he gritted through his teeth. “That’s it, my lovely… I can feel you gripping me.” He kissed her again roughly before pulling back to watch her face as she found her release. Her eyes squeezed shut and she bit her lip, moaning and keening as he ground himself inside her even harder, riding out the waves of her intense orgasm until he followed closely behind with his own.

Rather than separating from her quickly, the breathless man picked Lily up and pulled her into his lap right there on the tile floor. He leaned against the wall and clutched her tightly, like a cherished teddy bear.

“Thank you,” he whispered against the shell of her ear.

It was the last thing she heard before falling fast asleep.

* * *

When Lily opened her eyes the room had gone completely black.

She leaned forward, blinking to get her bearings, startled to find that she was cradled by a pair of muscled arms, holding her tightly. When she glanced down and saw that she was also draped across a pair of strong legs, the entire afternoon’s events came flooding back to her, almost as quickly as the blood flooded to her cheeks.

With no watch and her phone downstairs in her gym bag, Lily had no idea what time it was. Panicked, she disentangled herself from the sleeping man and felt around for her pants. When she couldn’t find her panties, a quick flashback of the sight of them dangling from her ankle and bouncing to the rhythm of his thrusts reminded her that she had never fully stepped out of them before things had gotten… heated.

Dressing quickly, Lily was overcome with an inexplicable need to flee the scene of the crime. She was growing more embarrassed by the second of the memories that were replaying in her mind, and if she didn’t get out of there as soon as possible she knew that she would have a hell of a lot of questions to face when she got home—questions that she wouldn’t have the answers to.

Tiptoeing to the front door, Lily had made it halfway across the living room when she heard his voice right behind her. “Thank you,” he said again quietly.

“Uh, sure.” She didn’t turn around to look at him, choosing instead to stare at the door. In the back of her mind she wished for the power to turn invisible, hoping it might save her from dying of embarrassment in front of this complete stranger who had somehow managed to learn more about her body in a few minutes than anyone else had bothered to in almost thirty years—including herself.

She took a few more steps away from him, pausing only to find the doorknob. When she finally had it open and was about to step into the hallway, his haunting voice rang out one more time behind her.

“I’m taking the apartment.” His hand smoothed over the back of her hair. The touch made her shiver. “Come back and see me—anytime.”

Like hell!
As soon as Lily finally stepped into the hallway, she began running. She ran down the stairs and out the building, cutting back through the alley to get to her car as fast as possible. As soon as she was inside, she turned the key in the ignition, backing up recklessly before screeching off into traffic. She didn’t hear the many cars honking at her in anger as she pulled away, only the voice inside her head that had gotten stuck in a loop.

What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?

According to the clock on her radio, it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, which surprised the hell out of Lily since it felt like midnight. Remembering her phone, she reached over and grabbed it out of her bag, glancing at the display as she weaved through traffic.

14 Missed Calls.
Shit!

Just then another call came in, displaying an all-too-familiar number on the screen. Lily hit the send button and started talking before the voice on the other end of the phone even had a chance. “I know, I know. I’m sorry I’m so late. I got held up at the gym. I’ll be home in just a little bit. I’ve got to grab something to eat.” She hung up and tossed the phone on top of her bag, pulling into a parking spot in front of the first takeout place she saw.

She buried her head in her hands and tried to stop the flood of images that were replaying in her mind. It didn’t work. The more she remembered, the more flushed she felt—with embarrassment, but also something more. She had never experienced anything like that in her entire life, and she was disgusted with herself for feeling anything but shame.

I didn’t even get his name!

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Lily opened the front door to her father’s house, her hands full with two large white boxes. “I’m home,” she called out.

“In here!” a voice answered, surrounded by the sounds of who-knew-what sports game in the background. Dropping her gym bag from her shoulder onto the small kitchen table as she walked by, she followed the voice into the living room.

“Sorry I’m so late getting home. I figured it would take too long to cook, so I brought us some pizzas.”

Two men sat on the couch watching ESPN. Only one of them bothered to drag his attention away from the screen long enough to look at her.

“What gives, Lil?” he said, standing up to help her with the boxes. “I thought you wanted to eat around seven. I’ve been waiting here with George for hours.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed at him. “Like you wouldn’t have been here anyway, Scott.”

“Well, true.” He smiled brightly, taking the pizzas from her and walking back into the kitchen to set them on the counter.

Scott Walker lived on the far side of town near the fairgrounds in a ramshackle little house with his father, Sam, who had once been very close friends with Lily’s father when they were younger. Scott tended to spend most nights either hanging out with Lily or his friends from the small garage where he worked. Many nights he would do both, hanging around long enough for Lily to feed him, then taking off to go drinking with his buddies.

“So what took you so long tonight, anyway? And why did you take so long to answer your phone?” He grabbed some paper plates from the cupboard, very familiar with the layout of the kitchen.

“Well…” Lily stalled, trying to think of what to say. “After I was done with my workout, I noticed a sign in the window at the dance studio.”

“Ugh… you didn’t sign us up for some dipshit swing dance class, did you?” Scott groaned from behind her at the counter, proceeding to dish out two slices of pizza each onto three plates.

“No, nothing like that. I saw a sign for an apartment that just became available for rent.”

“Where, above that shitty old dance hall?”

“It’s not shitty!” she said defensively. “I like it. It’s sweet to watch all those couples learning something new together.”

“Whatever. I think they look like idiots.”

“Anyway,” Lily sighed, trying to stay on topic. “I went up and had a quick look at it. I forgot my phone in the car or else I would have called to let you know I’d be late.”

“What the hell do you want with an apartment? Especially over
that
dump?” He looked at her expectantly.

“Well, I didn’t take it, anyway. It was pretty crappy. I just wanted to see what it was like.”

“Hey, where the hell is your jacket?” he asked suddenly. “It’s fucking cold outside.”

“My jacket?” Lily looked down at her bare arms. She’d thrown her jacket on the ground as soon as she’d walked through the door of the apartment. How could she not have noticed she wasn’t wearing it when she left?

Shit!

“Uh, I must have forgotten it when I was up there. I… lost track of time and when I realized how late it was I didn’t even think to look for it.” Quietly to herself, she added, “I suppose I’ll just have to go back and get it tomorrow.” Her thoughts flashed quickly to the dark room and it’s even darker inhabitant.

“I guess I just don’t understand why you would even want to look at that place, Lil. Morbid curiosity?”

“Well… I’ve been keeping an eye out for a while now. I thought it might be nice for us to find someplace new and get settled.” Lily sighed again, finally meeting his gaze. “You know… before the wedding.”

At the very same time, on the outskirts of town, a black Audi A6 with a rental sticker on the trunk pulled into the circle drive of an extremely expensive-looking house. The man behind the wheel turned off the engine and, rather than exit the car immediately as he would normally do, sat there in the dark quiet of the interior with nothing but his own thoughts for company.

He was startled when he realized that for the first time in days—perhaps years, if he was being honest with himself—he had stopped his sullen, self-absorbed moping. Instead, he was focused intently on the strange events from earlier that evening, wondering repeatedly if they had actually happened. Unable to stop himself, he sniffed his fingers for confirmation and groaned, wincing at the instant, painful erection her lingering scent caused.

He knew that he needed to go inside eventually and face
them
, the collection of strangers that called themselves his family, but he decided that a few more minutes of happy reflection were more than a bit deserved after the hellish week he’d had. He closed his eyes, thrilled at the notion of being able to see something—
anything
—other than the unpleasant memories that had been haunting him lately.