7
7
ROAD TRIP
I t was the third day into my abduction. Three days: that’s how long it took for me to wash my husband’s blood off my hands. And to remove myself from his looming shadow to step into the light. I’d been craving it for so long. Had spent what seemed like an eternity walking on the dark side, and had enjoyed it more than I thought. But deep down, I was a Sunflower, not a Bleeding Heart. I was preternaturally determined to turn my face to the sun, to bask in its glow and warmth. Its radiating beams penetrated my heart, my being, my soul.
Pete was my sun.
I tilted my face up to him. He smiled down on me, his dark eyes sparking up. I laughed out loud. We were in La-La Land. Together. At da club gettin’ tipsy . I was just the right amount. The kind of buzzy that zips you along on a certain wavelength above the realm of mortals. Or maybe it was just being with him—I’d only had one drink.
We gazed into each other’s eyes, like we were alone, not in the middle of a packed dance floor. This was right. Where I fit in life. I wound my hands around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist. A miracle happened that brought forth this little life break, and I was going to grasp it with both arms and both legs until it dissolved into a wisp of memories.
Our chemistry sparkled in the air around us, all those pheromones needing an outlet. Combined with our love, it became a burgeoning force, stronger than our will to repel it. This thing we had was holier than my matrimony. More sacred than a piece of paper. That was worthless, fallible. What Pete and I had was true. Worth more than gold and infinite. Enough love to last a lifetime, no matter the span of time we had.
Tick-tock goes the clock.
Deejay, crank up the volume. Nothing, not even Father Time himself could breach this sacred bond. Surely, it was God ordained.
There was that moment—both light and heavy—when our eyes locked over a hip-hop song. He felt it. Of course, he did. He was born and bred to read the signals. Or maybe we had developed our own secret language, a twin-like ability to intuit what the other was thinking.
That heartbreaking smile of his caused the swirls in my stomach drop—to an even funner place. He followed up with his famous eye smoldering thing, and my nether regions constricted in the most pleasant way possible. I took a second to take him in. He was wearing some kind of plain black button-down that managed to look expensive on him. A silver medallion hung around his neck by a leather cord. I was dying to take a closer look at it to see what the words said. His tousled surfer hair was streaked with gold. A California tan set off his white teeth. That smile. That face. That body. That’s all this boy needed to get by in life. I sighed. I was a lucky girl.
While wild couples gyrated around us, we leaned into each other as though at a slow dance. He slid his hand under my curtain of hair to run a finger beneath the bandage. We stared into each other’s eyes, lingering over the moment. The light show was just for us—fireworks for our spectacular moment in time. He leaned over as I lifted up to meet him. Our eyes closed at the last possible moment. At long last our lips met in the flesh. We lingered, reveling in the sumptuous moment. No rushing our reunion kiss, despite being in the middle of a whooshing, wiggling, whirling crowd.
It was an I-love-you-too-kiss.
That deepened into something more. And then more. Gah . So impatient now that I started, I didn’t want to stop. Pete had to pry me off with an adorable smirk-smile. Same ole, same ole. We’d found ourselves back to our routine: the one where I couldn’t control myself around him, and he had to stave off my advances. My smile was less adorable, a cross between sheepish and a scowl. A rumble from his chest, followed by a smashed hug, followed by a warm hand grasp. He began leading me through the crowd.
I’d follow him anywhere.
The trail led to his Jeep, where I was flattened against the door with the force of his kiss before being clicked in. He left me with a look that fired me up and then started the engine. We sped through city streets before finding a coastal highway. At each stoplight we indulged in a lingering kiss. We zipped past a strip of dark beach, and meandered up a prominent hill until we hit a lamplit road. The road led to a gate. A secret code was pushed; the gate raised. We continued crunching up the brushy ridge, past a Private Property sign and a glass house snugged into the rugged terrain, before finally hitting the summit. We parked next to an empty modern marvel, overlooking the ocean. How did he know?
It was quiet when he cut the engine. A single light flickered on and off before we were flooded in darkness. Pete snapped off the hip-hop. He removed something from his console, waggling his eyebrows at me before slipping in the slim disk. “Back to CDs,” he explained. “We have profiles, which includes our habits and preferences, so our music downloads could be traceable.”
Ah. My first frown of the day. He erased it with his thumb, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. When the song shimmied through the speakers, I lifted a lip. A love power ballad, so outdated my parents could’ve made out to it, came on low. It fit the mood. I wondered if it was prearranged.
“I’ve been saving it for you,” he revealed, as if he could hear my thoughts. “And it came with the Jeep.”
I laughed, a little nervous and touched deep in my core.
He gave me a crooked grin. “What can I say? You bring it outta me.”
We grew so quiet you could hear the distant crash of waves outside our window, a sound as timeless as our moment. Pete huffed out a little laugh, then looked serious, then reached over and ran a finger from my neck down the length of my arm. Then unbuckled my seatbelt. “I’m comin’ over,” he announced, with a boyish grin that flipped my heart and swirled my stomach.
A big effort from the large guy to finesse his way onto my seat without squishing me. We laughed around our crowded awkwardness. A magic lever was pulled, and my seat bounced all the way back. We laughed some more while he hovered over me, eyes roving my face with a grin that matched mine.
His necklace was dangling over my face. I picked up the medallion and found a silver arrow with an inscription on the other side. “What’s it say?”
“Go your own way.” He grinned.
“Did you have this made?”
He barked a laugh. “That original, huh?”
I laughed too. “It is original. And super cool, just like you.”
“Nah. I’m more handy than crafty. I bought it at a shop in Venice and had it inscribed on the spot.”
I rearranged myself so that his hand was no longer pinning my hair, and his knee was no longer digging into my shin.
His smile suddenly faded. “I’m sorry. It’s just . . . I didn’t want our first time to be in some shitty hotel room.” Following this statement his brilliant face clouded over.
My heart squeezed that he would feel this way. I brushed a hand down his face, chasing the cloud away. “I can’t think of a better setting,” I replied.
A wash of emotion colored his face. He ran a hand from the crown of my head, over my shoulder, down my arm, and back up to cup my face. He stared so soulfully into my eyes my throat constricted with emotion. “Are you sure?” he whispered.
It’s funny how I could gaze so intently back at him. Nothing icy came to chase my eyes away. I did have butterflies, but it was excitement, not nerves. I nodded, parting my lips. I’d never been more sure about anything in my life. A slight smile lifted his lips before he closed his fathomless eyes. Our lips met again. I wove my hands through the textured softness of his hair. Our kiss was warm, urgent, and completely fearless. We kissed for a good long time. An eternity wouldn’t have been long enough. I was lost already. Only feeling now. Urgent, sensuous, passionate kissing. Murmurs of approval hummed from my throat.
I could’ve spent hours upon hours just kissing alone, until he moved his hot mouth to a sensitive spot beneath my ear. I clutched him to me, gasping with pleasure. While his mouth worked its magic, his hand slowly slid up my bare leg under my skirt, working its way over my hip bone and around to cup my butt. He hitched me higher into him, and we both groaned as our nether regions ground together.
In tandem, we worked on each other’s shirts. He was faster, unfastening a couple of pesky buttons while my trembly fingers gave up to untuck his shirt. I slid my hands beneath, needing to feel his skin, his heat, inhale his glorious scent. His mouth began blazing a trail from my neck to the hollow of my throat. He paused there to glance at me. “What’s this scar from?” he breathed on me. “I don’t remember it before.”
I felt a wave of emotion rise up through my chest and disperse into him. Though I couldn’t speak any words, the glisten in my eyes must’ve given me away because his forehead creased. He frowned before kissing the hurt away. Then I forgot all about it, because he untucked my shirt from my skirt and trailed fingers along my stomach, making me tremble.
We began passionately kissing again. I was dizzy with desire. He could’ve taken me right then, and I would’ve been ready. I was making pleasant little noises of approval as his mouth worked its way down the newly exposed skin of my open blouse. He moved the silky material aside to breathe on one breast. Then his hands strayed from their posts at my thigh and neck to finish with the business of buttons.
Flimsy top tossed aside, his hand cupped my breast, his thumb caressing a nipple. Oh God. This was what I wanted. It was already almost too much to bear, but plenty more was coming. I pressed against him, urging him on. My impatient meowling evoked an impish lip lift from him.
His broad frame was still an issue as he struggled out of his shirt. I raked it off for him, and he tossed it aside with mine in the driver’s seat. Like they were best friends. We paused to smile at each other. I pulled him down, so that we finally met flesh to heated flesh. For a long moment we kissed some more, our bodies grinding together in a way that drove me mad with want. He was just as bad, groaning in the back of his throat. I could feel his need for me, his breath quicken on my skin.
We stopped long enough to shuck his jeans and my skirt. My hands were pulling at the ripped cords in his back. I didn’t want an ounce of air between us.
“Wait, Kate. Just wait.” His voice was ragged.
Waity-Katie . No way. I was done with that. “No. Now.” I brushed his hair back with my hand so that I could plead with my eyes.
His eyes were drunk with desire, his face suffused with color. I felt flushed from head to toe. My arms wrapped around his neck, my lips seeking his. My hips arched up, just begging him to push himself into me already. He drew in a sharp breath.
“You’re not making this easy for me,” he growled.
“Please!” I urged him on, dying for more of that delicious grind.
He growled again and lifted himself up to nip at my nipple through the lacy material of my bra. A gasp escaped me and, inexplicably, chill bumps erupted everywhere. I arched up, grasping his head. He pushed me back down to unhook my bra. It was tossed aside, where it dangled from the steering wheel. After which, he put his mouth over a breast, breathing warm air until I was so heated the California night air became the tropics. He sucked gently on my nipple, and a pulse of pleasure shot all the way down there .
This was sweet torture. Way too much to bear. There was even more to come.
He propped up to stare at my face, leisurely brushing a hand from my breast to my belly, fingers splayed out to tease back and forth until I quivered and begged for mercy. A slight smile played on his lips as he dipped a finger below my lacy underwear and slowly peeled them down. I smiled and kicked them off.
He paused, a sloppy smile splitting his face. “You’re so beautiful.”
A smile lifted my lips that I felt in my soul. He didn’t need to tell me; he made me feel beautiful.
We crazy kissed again. Until he stopped to run a thumb over my lips, down my throat, and between my breasts while sucking on my neck. My breath hitched in my throat. I tried to pull him back on me, but he was insistent, making me wait longer. He began running his long, lazy finger over my naval and below the ridge of my hipbones to caress his finger down the center of my other lips. He just lingered there, outside the entrance.
“Please,” I whimpered and gripped his hand to guide him in.
He smiled down on me before slipping a finger inside and up to find the little pad of pleasure. I sucked in a sharp breath and arched my hips to meet him. Sounds were coming out that were half whimpers half begging. I was almost embarrassed by how hot and wet I was. His own face was a mask of desire, eyes hooded as he watched me squirm beneath him. He was on the verge of losing control, so I took advantage, yanking him on top of me. He paused only long enough to remove his boxer briefs.
Our eyes met. We kissed so passionately I was dizzy and almost on the brink of crying with want. Finally, f inally , the tip of him entered me slowly and carefully, his eyes searching my face. My own eyes were slit with lust, my hips arching up to meet him. I cried out, “Please!” He immediately pulled out. “No!” I protested. I wanted more. He obliged by slipping back in deeper, with a deep moan of satisfaction.
I did my own moan of satisfaction. Oh God. The feel of him in me was indescribable. But not enough. I was greedy for more. He was being careful. Too careful. I urged him on until the rhythm and tempo increased. And then I cried out, a little in pain, averting my face in case he stopped. I didn’t want him to, because right below the friction of pain, was pleasure. A pleasure so pleasurable, it was worth the small penance of pain attached.
Completely on the other side of it now, I rose up to meet him. His breathing was ragged. I was hardly breathing at all, transported to some other worldly place, right on the other side of paradise. I moaned in pleasure. He pushed in a little harder and farther. And, oh! The achingly blissful full feeling of him started building into something higher and higher.
Pete was no longer able to hold on to his control, pushing all the way in now as his thrusts came harder and faster. “Kate!” he cried out as he exploded into me with a groan. He shuttered to a stop before falling into my open arms. While our breathing slowed down, I scratched at his back until he shivered. I loved the heavy feel of his chest against the softness of mine. I could’ve lain like that forever.
He broke into my bubble of bliss by growling into my neck. “God. Kate, I’m sorry. I held off as long as I could. I was just about ready to explode before we even began. I’ve been waiting so long for you.” He pulled out of me and reached in the back for one of those handy Stanford sweatshirts. He wiped me off, then propped up on one elbow to brush a finger down my lips, between my breasts, and down to my belly button, where he circled around lazily.
He gave me a wry smile. “I feel like a teenage kid doing it with his girlfriend for the first time.” I smiled at this picture. “You felt so unbelievably great. I almost had no control.” His smile turned rueful. “Next time it will be better.”
A bubbling laugh broke out of me. “I don’t see how that’s possible.”
A crooked grin split his face. He thumbed a bead of moisture from my upper lip. “Oh, just wait . . . you’ll see.”
And I did. Later that same night (or morning I suppose), if you can believe it. Right in our “shitty motel room.” I almost couldn’t fathom the melting explosion coming out of me. How could so much nirvana happen at one time?
“Is it like that for everyone?” I wondered aloud when I floated back down to earth.
He laughed with delight and gave me a brief, bruising kiss. “No, honey. What we have isn’t natural . . . it’s supernatural.”
We finally fell asleep, exhausted, and tangled up together in our unstained sheets.