Chapter 9 #2
I started to back away from him but he didn't stop, stalking towards me with slow, lazy movements. I was the doe and he, the grey wolf.
"You felt it too, didn't you?"
"I…" The hard knots of a tree dug into my back and I was suddenly frozen.
He closed the distance between us and I swallowed hard, trying to regain control of my scrambling thoughts. He cupped my face, keeping me firmly in place as he leaned in further.
His lips hovered over mine, hot breaths coming hard.
Barely contained passion rippled through his body, radiating from him in waves.
He shuddered with it and leaned in. He was about to kiss me and I knew for certain that if we started, there was no going back.
I was on the edge of a precipice and jumping would either end in heartbreak or ecstasy.
With this man there would be no middle ground.
"We can't," I whispered, my voice hoarse and lost. My body had never been so alive nor my mind so afraid.
"Stop me." Then his lips found mine, and he devoured me whole.
I succumbed with a whimper, my body limp and languid as he pressed himself into me, pinning me against the hard knots of the oak.
Heat radiated from his powerful body and poured into me until I grew flushed. I slipped off the precipice and fell through him, my senses completely swarmed.
I gripped his biceps, my hands feeling small against them. A whisper of fear at my vulnerability flowed through my subconscious but was drowned out by the fierce passion he had unearthed inside me.
I gasped when his hands found my breasts and I felt again that need to make him stop but I couldn't, I just couldn't. He didn't take his time or lead up to touching me there.
He cupped them like they were already promised to him and I whimpered in confused desperation.
He pulled away from my mouth and looked down at his own hands as they massaged my swollen flesh.
I watched him, enraptured by the expression on his perfect face. How could a face be that perfect?
His thumbs brushed over my nipples and they hardened through the material.
"You want me." His voice was low and determined as his thumbs continued their torture of my nipples, the proof that my body wanted him. "Say it," he commanded.
"Alfie…" Alfie? When did I start calling him Alfie? I couldn't think when all my body wanted was release.
His hands tightened on my breasts but he silenced my cry with his hot mouth on mine. I flung my arms around his neck and pulled him to me as the night darkened around us, transforming the clearing to an otherworldly dimension where all that existed was my need for his touch and his passion.
"Say it," he growled again, and this time I managed to shake my head. I couldn't admit it, not out loud. Those steel greys flashed as if I'd just issued a challenge.
He pressed his thigh up between my legs, raising me up onto the balls of my feet and forcing my sensitive core down on him. I gasped at the sensation and he smiled knowingly.
I couldn't move or get away.
I lifted myself up higher on my toes to relieve the intense pressure on that bundle of nerves but he simply pushed his leg further into me.
There was nowhere for me to go, nothing for me to do but grind down on him.
A small moan escaped me at the pleasure but it wasn't enough and I whined in frustration.
A small smile played around his devilish lips as he watched me try in vain to satisfy myself.
As my desperation grew to the most feverish pitch, his steel grey eyes found mine and grounded me, centred me. I gazed back, enthralled.
"Say it, O'Connell. Say you want me."
What is happening to me?
I felt a strange sensation of becoming…I was becoming something, someone new. He was transforming me. He could see me and I, as I regarded his cool beauty, saw him too. I knew he was playing with me once again, but right then, I didn't care.
"I want you," I whispered.
He was so quick I barely had time to breathe.
He released my breasts, gripped my waist, and hitched me up his body until I clung to him, trapped between him and the earthy bark of the old oak.
His mouth devoured me with a possession I never thought possible.
I moulded to him—my body, my soul. He took all that I was and fit it to his exact specifications. It frightened me. It enthralled me.
Elliot's firm voice echoed to me through my tormented rationale. "Miss Carter, please. He gave instructions not to be disturbed."
No, no, no, no. This cannot be happening!
"Oh Elliot, get out of the way will you?
It'll only take a moment, I'm sure he won't mind.
" Angie's heels clattered on the steps and my passion plummeted in an instant.
I broke off the kiss and released a furious Alfie.
I shoved at him and he backed off just enough for me to scramble down his body until my feet were on the ground again.
Alfie didn't seem to give a damn that any second we were going to be discovered, and he pushed me back against the tree to continue our kiss.
"Alfie, stop!" I shoved at him again, panicked, but he wouldn't budge. His fist pounded the bark above my head in frustration. He peered down at me in the darkness, Angie's footsteps getting closer, his erection straining so hard to get to me it felt like it might rip through his trousers.
"Don't go anywhere," he told me. I could see the tick in his jaw and I got the feeling that heads were about to roll. I really didn't want to be around when that happened.
I ducked out from under him but he grabbed my arm before I could get a step away.
"Don't run from me, O'Connell." The hardness in his voice unnerved me. I wrenched my arm away just as Angie and Elliot appeared. He straightened and I watched as he erased all emotion from his face, his Mr Tell mask slipping back into place.
"What is it?" he asked, his tone cold, completely unreadable. I looked between Angie and Elliot, unsure which of them was in more trouble. I hoped it wouldn't be Elliot.
I straightened my shirt, so embarrassed I could cry. My equilibrium was shot to hell and my body felt weak and wound up at the same time. I’d known this would go wrong.
What the hell was I thinking?
"I'm sorry, not interrupting you, am I?" Angie's sleek voice and sickly-sweet smile gave no impression that she'd done anything wrong.
"I was just leaving," I muttered and with each shred of dignity I had left, I made my escape.
"You'll stay." Mr Tell’s tone sent a quiver through me but I kept moving. I saw Angie wrap her spindly fingers around his arm and I had to fight the urge to turn around and scratch her eyes out. I walked away from both of them.
This was stupid. I shouldn't be here.
It was almost full dark now and I made my way carefully up to the house.
"Lola." The sound of my name on his lips sent a jolt through me, and I turned to find Mr Tell quickly gaining on me. I began to run. I couldn't deal with him again. I was afraid of what I would do if I stayed. I climbed the steps and ran into the house, hoping I wouldn't get lost in the rooms.
He shouted my name, his voice echoing as he followed me through the deserted house. I wanted to stop, I wanted to be in his arms again but my fear had won out now that the spell was broken. I kept moving until I made it out the front door.
The gravel crunched under my feet and I could hear him only a few yards behind me. I almost cried when I saw my reliable old van. I wrenched the keys out of my pocket and flung myself in just as he got to me. I slammed the locks on as he screeched to a halt outside my window.
"Open the door, O'Connell." His voice was unnervingly calm.
I shook my head and didn't miss how his brows twitched in surprise. I started my van and the engine spluttered to life.
"Lola," he warned a final time, but his voice was lost under the spurt of the engine and the squeal of the tires as I pulled away.