Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3) (8 page)

“If you want me to leave, I will, but I’d really like to stay.”

When she didn’t protest, he pressed his lips against hers. As soon as she started to respond, he let go of her cheeks and wrapped his arm around her waist. With his free hand, he hoisted up her dress a little. Since she still wasn’t protesting, he reached underneath it and grabbed her behind. The groan coming from her mouth made it perfectly clear how much she needed some.

“Get up, and I’ll carry you to your bedroom,” he said, and she jumped up with a very graceful leap and latched her legs around him. He reached for her cane, held it up, and smiled. “I’m bringing this. Just so you don’t think I’m trying to make sure you can’t leave your bedroom.”

“Okay.”

“Where to?”

“To the left, and then the right at the end of the hallway.”

His hand was still on her behind, and when he moved it further down, between her legs, and he was really pleased when he realized that she
did
have thigh-highs. Anna closed her eyes and smiled. When he walked around the corner in the hallway there were two doors. He kept a close eye on her face, slipped the panties aside, and drew his fingers along her slit.

“What door?”

“Oh my god!” She leaned closer and captured his mouth in a deep kiss.

“Baby, what door?” he asked again against her lips.

She answered by pointing, and he walked through it and put her down on the bed. He took off his sweatshirt at the same time as Anna pulled the dress over her head. She was stunning in nothing but black panties and thigh-highs so dark he couldn’t see through them. He reached for her panties, and she arched up so he could remove them.

Leaning on one hand next to her waist, he held her chin with his other.

“I don’t want to hurt you, so make sure you let me know if anything I do doesn’t feel good.”

“Okay,” she almost moaned.

Letting go of her chin, he reached for the first thigh-high.

“Leave them. Please, just for now.”

He didn’t answer but moved his hand from them and then leaned further down, taking one of her nipples in his mouth. His hand found the patch of hair covering her mound, and he let his hand travel further down. She was wet, so wet, and he groaned. He traced the outline of her breast with his tongue and continued down. He
needed
to taste her. This was another reason he liked the innocent girls. Going down on a sweetbutt was definitely not something he wanted to do often. He got them off, it wasn’t that it was all about him, but knowing that pretty much every guy he knew had been there didn’t really make him tempted to go down on them.

“What are you doing?” she asked, and when he looked up she’d raised her head and was looking at him.

“Going down on you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Would it be okay if I did? Because I’m dying to,” he mumbled while kissing a circle around her bellybutton.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He got down on his knees on the floor next to the bed, and she spread her legs wider. With a grip of her hips, he pulled her closer, and carefully rubbed his beard against the inside of her thigh. Most of her legs were covered by the thigh-highs, but he could see scarring on the inside of her upper thigh, and some of it even continued further and over her hip. He gave it a kiss before turning his head, and he moved his thumbs along her folds before he finally dipped his head and gave her a long lick. She tasted amazing, so sweet, and he buried his face in her. So fucking good.

“Oh, shit!” she cried. “My god, Mitch!”

She kept moaning and mumbling as he sucked on her clit and teased her opening with his fingers before he plunged them inside her. He kept licking, sucking, and nibbling until he felt her coming around his fingers with another,

“Oh my God, Mitch!”

He got up to look at her and pulled his t-shirt off. Her eyes were closed, and she looked extremely relaxed.

When he lifted her higher up on the bed, she opened her eyes.

“Please be careful. I haven’t done this in a while.”

“You told me,” he smiled and gave her a kiss. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m not. If it’s half as good as that head, it’ll be marvelous.”

He’d never met a girl who talked the way she did. She kind of talked like she moved, graceful and with an ease but still careful, and he hadn’t heard her curse unless she lied about what she said in Russian and cursed then.

He kissed her while unbuttoning his jeans and managed to get them out of the way without letting her go for a second. He was especially pleased he managed to get a condom out of his wallet without halting the kiss. He rolled it on and then looked at her.

“Ready?”

She nodded and kept looking at him with big, eager eyes. When he reached down and positioned himself, she smiled. Then he pushed inside, and she rolled her head back with a moan and held still before throwing her arms around him and hugging him tight.

“Damn, you feel good, Anna.” He buried his nose into her hair. “This is so good.”

“Yes!” she moaned and wrapped her legs around him. “So good!”

He found it hard to understand how something so slim was so strong, because she was holding on to him with a surprising strength. He kept moving his hips, and she met his every thrust. Her hand grabbed his hair and pulled his face to hers, kissing him.

“Harder!”

“Jesus, baby!” He felt it; she was already coming—and hard! He kept looking at her and then slowed down, resting on his elbows next to her head. “You okay?”

“Yes,” she mumbled and nodded. “Don’t stop.”

He pulled out and smiled when she almost growled at him. “Turn around.” When she’d done it and gotten up on all fours, he held on her hips. “You gonna be okay on your knees?”

“I’ll let you know if I’m not okay. Get to it.”

“Aye, aye,” he chuckled and slammed inside her.

He’d never really noticed her ass before but now he took a good look at it and at him moving in and out of her. She got up on her knees and arched her back... at an impossible fucking angle and turned her head. Her arm went around his neck.

“Fuck, babe. That is so hot!”

He moved his knees in between hers and pushed them to get her to spread them wider before finding her clit with his fingertips. She was so wet, and with her legs spread wide, him rubbing her, she was soaking the inside of her thighs all the way down to her thigh-highs.

He folded her over, but instead of breaking the fall with her hands, she lay down with her chest on the mattress and arms stretched in front of her. The angle made them both groan, and he felt her pussy clenching around him again. He fell over her as well, leaning on his hands next to her arms.

“Shit, honey, I’m not gonna last much longer.”

“No. Not yet. I want more.”

He took a few deep breaths and tried to think of boring things, like cooking, folding laundry, and Mrs. Parks—his math teacher in high school who had an impressive mustache for a woman.

“My leg,” she panted, and he let her stretch her legs until she was on her stomach, and then started again, lying flat on top of her and kissing her shoulders. “Don’t stop.”

“I’m trying,” he said through clenched teeth.

Then it was Mr. Wright, his teacher in shop. He’d had a really funky smell and—god damn it her pussy was like a vise around him.

“My god, Mitch!”

“Babe,” he held on to her hands resting over her head, with his cheek against hers. “You do realize I’ll do this whenever the hell you want?”

“What?”

He kept pumping, and she held his hands so hard he could feel her nails almost breaking through his skin.

He stroked her ear with his nose and gave her earlobe a lick. “You’ll get more, but I’m gonna have to cum, or we take a break.”

“No break. Shit! Mitch, oh my God, I’m coming again.”

He hugged her tight, slammed into her and her smell, the sound of his flesh hitting hers, her panting, and the blood rushing into his head, that was it.

“Fuck, fuck, this is good, Anna!” he roared, and then he came.

They both lay still until he gave her cheek a kiss and rolled off her. That had been... really hot. Her leg seemed to be pretty okay, so he was definitely gonna have a go at some of those positions he’d considered earlier. She also seemed to want more, and he had no problem with that. He looked at her as he tied a knot in the condom. She still had her eyes closed and a slight smile on her lips. He leaned over her and gave her butt-cheek a kiss.

“Don’t move, sexy. I’ll be right back.”

-o0o-

“God damn, girl,” Mitch laughed as he rolled down next to Anna. “You really needed some.”

It was the third time, and he was done. There was no way in hell he had a fourth in him. Although he’d actually thought that after the second, really long, go they’d had, and then he’d said he needed a shower. She’d followed him inside not long after, and that had been enough to get him started. He’d carried her out to the bed and they’d gone at it again.

“I did. Thank you.”

“Happy to help.” He threw the condom in the trash he’d moved next to the bed after the first time. He looked at her alarm clock, it was 3 a.m. “When’s your aunt coming home?”

“Tomorrow night. She’s at her boyfriends, and they’ll go directly to work from there.”

She’d removed the thigh-highs before coming into the shower, and the leg wasn’t half as bad as she’d made it sound. She seemed bothered when he touched it, though, so he’d avoided it. If she still wanted to see him, he’d work on getting her used to it. No point in pushing her further yet, since he figured just showing it to him was a huge step for her. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“You can stay the night... if that’s okay. I mean... I don’t know if that’s weird for you, but you’re welcome to stay the night.”

“Not weird at all. Not sure I’m in any shape to ride at the moment.”

He was pretty sure he wasn’t; he was exhausted, and he had no problem with staying the night with her. She seemed to know what this was all about, and just the fact that she’d mentioned it might be weird was enough for him. Also, with her comments about it feeling like she was buying a prostitute, it was probably better to stay to make sure it didn’t feel wrong to her the morning after. If it did, she might be reluctant to see him again.

Anna sat up and took a nightgown from the floor before reaching for her cane. Was she going to some other bed? If that were the case he’d go home. He didn’t want to push her out of her own fucking bed.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m just gonna braid my hair and brush my teeth. I’ll be right back.”

He realized he hadn’t seen her with her hair loose and now it cascaded over her back all the way down to her waist. He also noticed it wasn’t a plain brown like he’d thought, but instead a reddish brown, and it was completely straight. He watched her go, heard the faucet, and a few minutes later she came back inside. She was carrying a cover and a pillow.

“According to rumors I hog the cover.”

“Thanks,” he caught them both when she threw them at him. “Would’ve left and taken the cane with me if I woke up to you hogging the covers.”

“You can’t joke about a crippled person’s aid,” she laughed and lay down next to him but with her back towards him. “Do I need to set the alarm?”

“No.” He pulled her braid a little. “Night, baby.”

“Night.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Relaxes My Brain

-o0o-

I woke up with a pleasant throb between my legs. It had been... amazing, and he seemed to have liked it as well. When he’d gone for a shower, I’d looked down on my thigh-highs and had decided it was worth showing him my leg if it meant he’d give me a third time.

The vibrator I had gotten from the sex shop had sort of kick-started my libido, and in a very drunken state I’d asked Lisa how serious she was about hooking me up with Mitch. She’d obviously given him my number the next time she saw him, and I’d never in my life felt as uncomfortable as I did when he walked into my apartment. It was just weird all around, and I’d had no idea how to handle a situation like that one. A guy coming over when it’s more than slightly implied that you wanted him there simply because you were insanely horny. To me that seemed pretty close to calling a gigolo. Mitch hadn’t seemed to mind, though. He’d definitely not been judgmental, and he’d handled it all really well, mainly by making it really easy for me to relax and just enjoy myself.

I turned around, and he was sleeping on his back next to me, showing off his hairy chest, the slight circle of hair on his stomach with the thick line of hair—a line I’d heard called the Treasure Trail—disappearing under the cover and down to his crotch.

He looked good. I’d seen more than my fair share of really fit guys, but I liked this kind: a little less muscular, but still with a six-pack and defined hip muscles. He wasn’t as extremely fit as the dancers I usually slept with, but then I’d never liked the extreme bodies most male dancers had.

Mitch had quite a lot of tattoos, though, and I hadn’t really decided how I felt about those yet. Not that I had something against them, but he had
a lot
of them, more than I’d ever seen on any one person. I’d noticed the big ‘Marauder’ ink on his back in the shower as well. They all looked really well done, so I had a hunch quite a few of them were Vi’s work.

I looked at the alarm clock, and it was 10 a.m., which explained why my leg was in such a bad shape. By this time I’d usually done my training, and along with the work out the night before, it was worse than in a long time. I needed to do my exercises, have shower, and eat my breakfast. When I tried to sneak out of the bed, he woke up.

“What time is it?”

“Ten.” I pulled a t-shirt over my head and reached for a pair of jeans. “Would you like some breakfast?” I really hoped he’d say no because my leg was close to cramping so badly that not even the cane would be enough to keep me mobile.

“Can’t,” he thankfully answered and rolled out of bed. I couldn’t help staring a bit again. He really looked good. “Gotta get to work.”

“Okay.”

He pulled his jeans over his bare ass, and I looked around to find his underwear. I took his t-shirt from the floor and handed it to him, while still looking for the underwear, hoping to find it and have him out the door as soon as possible, no matter how good he looked.

“I have my sweatshirt, what are you looking for?”

“Your underwear. I don’t want Irina to find them and come waving them in triumph.”

He laughed. “I don’t wear any, so you’re safe, babe.”

“Good. Not sure how I would explain that.”

“You’re twenty-five. Don’t think she’d mind you having sex.”

“God no! She’d love it. I just don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ahh,” he put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. “I really have to go.”

“I would’ve set the alarm if you’d asked me.”

“I know, but it’s okay. No one cares about me being late. I just don’t wanna push it.” He looked around. “Shoes.”

I followed him to the door where he turned around and smiled at me. I tried to smile back, but the cramp in my leg made me hold on to my cane as if my life was depending on it. We stood in silence for a while until I eventually managed to open my mouth.

“Thank you. For... being nice about it and not making me feel like a john.”

“It was my pleasure. And you can give me a call whenever you want me to come by.” He kept smiling and had a really great smile, and normally I’d appreciate it, but now I just wanted him out. “No need to feel like a john about it.”

“Yeah...” I said with a tense chuckle. “Don’t think I’ll do that, but thanks.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not sure I’d be able to make a booty call.” In fact, I was damn sure I wouldn’t be able to do that—again. Even if I didn’t make the call the day before, it was still sort of on me.

He stood still and then his smile grew. “Since I’m not much of a gentleman, I
do
make those calls. Would you mind if I called you?”

I weighed the pros and cons. I wasn’t dating anyone, I doubted I would anytime soon, and he’d seen the leg. He didn’t seem to mind, and it had been
great
sex. He might not call again, but if he felt like it, I wouldn’t mind. Also, saying I was fine with it probably got him out of the apartment a lot faster than if I said no.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

I watched him come closer again, and he took my cane, put his arm around my waist, and then gave me a kiss.

“What would happen if I just took this cane and left?”

“You would have to find another booty call.”

“Not what I meant,” he laughed. “I just wanna make sure you’re not stranded if you lost it.”

“I wouldn’t be stranded. Just a lot slower.”

“Good to know,” he said and handed it back. “I
will
call you.”

“Okay. Now, go! I wanna have breakfast.”

“Girl really likes her breakfast,” he mumbled, as he turned around and opened the door.

“Girl had a grapefruit for breakfast for eleven years, she’s catching up.”

“Grapefruit?” He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. “You’re gonna have to tell me about that.”

“I will. Go!”

He laughed, but finally left. When the door closed behind him, I stared at it for a while and tried to take deep breaths. I didn’t even try to make sense of what had happened or what I’d agreed to. Instead, I pressed my foot against the door at an angle to stretch the back of my leg to get rid of the worst cramps. When I, a while later, was sitting on the floor and massaged my leg, I decided that it had been nice. Even if he didn’t call again, I wouldn’t regret it. He was right; I needed that.

-o0o-

Three days later, I woke up sweating from a very erotic dream. Apparently a night of sex wasn’t even close to getting my libido back into hibernation. Rather the opposite, and now it was trying to make me catch up for almost two years without sex.

After work I met up with Lisa. I’d managed to avoid her, but she demanded to see me in her usual Drama Queen way. She was sitting in the bar and had ordered me a glass of white.

“So you’re avoiding me, and Mitch is giving me sneaky smiles when I ask him if he called you,” she started the second I sat down. “I’m guessing he called you and then proceeded to fuck your brains out.”

“Hi, Lisa! Did you have a good day? My day kind of sucked,” I said and took a few big gulps of wine.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll get to that.” She leaned forward. “He called you.”

“Yes. He did, and I felt like a female john calling a gigolo, I might add.”

“That’s really sad.” She held up her hand, rubbing her thumb and index finger together. “This is the world’s smallest violin playing just for you. But please, Anna, tell me you got laid. I worry about you.”

“Yes,” I mumbled. “That’s all I’m telling you, though.”

“That’s okay. I’m just glad you let go of some of those inhibitions.”

“Those inhibitions can be a good thing and save you some trouble.”

“When those inhibitions stop you from getting laid for over two years, they’re a threat to the human race.”

“True.” I had to admit she had a point, and then I started to laugh. “Either way, that’s all you’ll get.”

“All I wanted,” Lisa smiled. “So how was this a shit day?”

“Just in general. People calling, being asses, and the computer system didn’t cooperate at all.” I leaned back in the chair. “How’s your love life, by the way?”

“This doctor, who’s in charge of the trials, is all over me, but I don’t know.” She waved to the waitress. “I’ve tried the doctor thing. It doesn’t work. I’m too dominant, I just run them over, and that’s saying a lot when it comes to doctors.”

“Sure does.” She was dominant. I knew that, doing group assignments with her had always been hell when we were in school. It had always been fruitful, and had given me good grades, but was also a little like being paired up with a blonde Hitler or Stalin. “How’s Violet?”

“Fine!” A big smile spread on her face. “Thirty-five weeks into it, she’s fed up, her back hurts, she cries all the time, but she’s fine.”

“Cries?”

“Hormones. She’s sobbing about everything. It drives Mac insane, and Dad freaks out when it happens. When it all goes on at the same time, it’s like watching some weird art drama installation.”

I decided to wait to visit Violet until the baby was born. A freaked-out Bear was not high up on my list of things I wanted to experience.

“Is she still working?”

“A little, mainly finishing up customers with big work, and she does it in short sessions. Sami and Trixie are totally freaking out. They think she’s gonna have the baby on the floor at the studio.”

“She could,” I said. “Talk about being a born tattoo artist. How did she get into that by the way? She told me she was just sixteen when she started.”

“Mac. They talked, she said she didn’t know what to do with her art, and he just suggested it. A few years later she inked him, they fell in love—all very sweet and romantic in a slightly nauseating way.”

“Bet your mom just loved that.” Lisa’s mom, Ella, was... special, I guess would be the diplomatic way to put it. She was nice as long as you went along, and if you didn’t, she was a bitch.

“Hated it. Especially the part about Mac. She was not the happy camper at the wedding. Didn’t matter, since everyone else was. Mel bawled her eyes out. Think even Dad shed a tear or two.”

I found that very hard to believe. I liked Bear, but at the same time he still scared me a little. Not as much as the guy called Bull, because he terrified me. The fact that Lisa’d said I should stay far away from him hadn’t helped at all, and I was usually pretty good at dealing with imposing men. There was just a huge difference between a man being imposing in general, and standing in front of a man who you were pretty sure had killed a few people.

“Guess it all worked out for the best,” I smiled. “How’s the research going?”

Getting her to talk about her work was usually a fail-safe way to get her to completely forget about me, and it worked like a charm this time, too.

-o0o-

Irina was in the living room in front of the TV when I came home, which was an unusual thing. None of us were much for TV, and we mostly used it to watch movies on DVD. I’d never really had time for it, so I’d never developed the TV addiction that some people seemed to have. It had changed slightly after the accident, with the long days walking around at home with not much to do, but it was still usually movies, and some series. But that, too, was only on DVD because I couldn’t stand TV commercials.

When Irina noticed me, she turned down the volume.

“Zvezda,” she said with a smile. “Have some tea and watch this horrible movie with me.”

I sat down on the couch next to her, put the cane on the small shelf underneath the coffee table, and leaned back.

“Why are you watching a horrible movie?” I asked.

“Relaxes my brain.” She poured me a cup of gunpowder tea and handed it to me. “How would you feel about working at the ballet?” she asked.

“Not yet, Tetya,” I said and shook my head. How would I feel about it? It would break my heart to see it and not being able to do it. “I’m not ready.”

“When you’re ready, let me know. I might be able to pull some strings for you.”

I had no idea what they wanted me to do, or what they even thought I could do, but just the thought of walking in there made my throat hurt. Irina must’ve noticed, and she took my hand but thankfully didn’t say anything. We sat there a while, and then, after a few mumbled words, I took my cup and went to my room.

As soon as the door closed behind me, the first tears came. Sometimes it truly hit me—I would never dance again. I had made a split-second mistake, that was it, and I was paying for it for the rest of my life. The thing I loved more than anything was something I couldn’t do anymore.

I sat down in my armchair, sobbing but trying to keep it low, since I didn’t want Irina to come in. When my phone rang, I considered not answering, but thought it might be good, something to take my mind off things, so I picked it up while wiping the tears out of my eyes.

“Anna.”

“Hey, babe,”
It was Mitch, and I smiled. Maybe that was what I needed to feel better right now.
“What are you doing?”

“Drinking tea.”