Out of the Fire (Perilous Connections) (5 page)

“Hi, I’m
Nate.” He stares at my hand for a few seconds, apparently trying to make up his mind if I should be welcomed.

Finally he sticks
out dirt stained digits, “Aubrey.”

I smile
trying to look less imposing and not as ruthless.

“Don’t hurt my sister.”
There is a fierce look on the little sharp face, its gaze zeroed in on me.

I am
stunned. The words had been stammered but said with all the bravery that no nine year old should have had to muster.

Daffee sweeps
protectively between us, gathers Aubrey into her arms, buries her face in his hair and whispers something in their native dialect to him, something I do not catch, though native tongues have become a specialty with me over the years.

It is he who she did this for, not the
money.

Aubrey seems
appeased but he is still watching me like a hawk over Daffee’s shoulder. He will make a great man one day, if his mother does not warp him first. He turns and rushes outside, the kitchen door bangs on its hinges.

Elaine clear
s her throat behind me, I reluctantly turn around, that sickening grin is still on her face.

S
he turns to Daffee, “your dinner’s in the oven. I am going down to Mildred to watch the soaps.”

Daffee reach
es out a hand to detain her, “Can I come with you?”

Elaine whips
around, shoots Daffe a glare that can melt iron. “That’s stupid talk. Stay with your husband.” She gives me a hideously encouraging look and follows her son out the door.

Daffee catches
her breath on a sob as she watches the door close firmly behind her stepmother.

“I won’t hurt you
.” The words are out before I can stop them, I want to kick myself. What the hell did I mean? I don’t want to hurt her but what exactly do I want now that I basically have everything I set out to achieve, well almost everything. Lust, desire whatever you call it, surges within me and I am not a man to deny myself the few things I can be bothered to want.

I move toward her, she cries out and jumps
away.

Her eyes are wild.
“Don’t come near me,” she barks, body taut, fist clenched, ready to do battle.

I hold up my
hands, imbue my eyes with as much innocence as I can. “I truly mean you no harm.”

Without warning she launches herself at me and slams a tiny fist in my jaw, the shock is worse than the lukewarm sting, I’d been pun
ched once too often by men equally intent on snapping my neck, but unlike those times I am completely immobilized by amazement.

I glare murderously at her
hoping to gain some leverage. “What the hell do you think you’re doing,” I bite out.

The little wench tosses her head and looks completely unrepentant.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” she flings back, breasts which look like two perfect small melons, rising and falling on her rapidly moving chest, my groin surges in need, I have to take this slow, somehow convince her that I did not want what I fully intended to have.

“Are you going insane?” I ask
in an icy cold tone.

Some of her bravado crumbles, she
backs away, her little fists, dangerous objects those, are still taut.

“I’m
not a fool, Nate,” that was the first time she’d said my name and holy of holies, a heart I had long thought dead, skips a beat, getting married was doing wonders for what was left of my humanity.

“Really,” I quip
sarcastically, “please enlighten me.”

She sha
kes her head furiously and turns to go, I snatch her back, she rears like a wild animal, but does not scream, she strikes out and several well aimed blows connect with my head, she winces, as she strikes bone and I grin evilly in satisfaction, content to let her flail, seemingly unbeknownst to her my fingers had sunk into the outrageous curve of her tiny waist.

I
caress the clothed flesh beneath my grip, she feels so good, soft yet firm, I slide my hands up to her ribcage just under her breasts and a scream finally rents the air. I am hard and cannot let her go now. I know I should but cannot, I see the savage intent in her eyes as I lower my head, blindly seeking her mouth, she ducks and pivots but the kitchen wall is behind us and I press her up against it, swoop down and cut off her cry with my mouth.

I manage
through the hazard of her snapping teeth to get to her tongue and my blood begins to boil, I dip my tongue further, willing her to calm down, my hands instead of restraining the thrashing body pressed against mine, tries to soothe, with supreme reluctance I break the kiss, nuzzle the sweet, creamy cocoa scent of her neck.

“Let me kiss you,” I rasp
between broken breaths, desperate to have her agree, to have her want this as much as I do.

“No, no, no,” she rants
.

But yet her arms are
somehow pinned behind my neck, fingers tucked into the downy hair at my nape, the soft palms cool on my skin. The sensation is exquisite.

I lift
my head and meet her eyes to find the truth, the amber depths are deep and melting. Lust slams into my core. I capture her mouth again, none too nicely this time. She opens up beneath me, causing a roar to fill my throat. My hands sweep up over those breasts, my thumbs circle the hardened peaks, I test their weight, roll my fingers around the nipples through the dumb uniform, squeeze them gently, she yelps into my mouth, but does not let go, our tongues slide around each other and I feast on her softness, the sweetness that is growing the more I taste it.

I
gather her up, pull her to me and she starts to struggle, I don’t want to let go but her movements are becoming frantic. I break the kiss and stare hotly down at her, confused and desperately in need of her body. Her eyes are not on me but on the lower half of our body, I had lifted her clear off the ground, and our hips are crushed together, worse because I can see the clear sign of my arousal, I doubt that she could have missed feeling it since there was not an ounce of daylight between us.

She trembles in my arms.
“Put me down,” she says in a cracked, scared voice.

I open
my mouth to crush her ridiculousness when a thought strikes me, I shake some of the desire from my brain and gently lower her to the floor, no sooner had she landed than she takes off in the direction of what I presume to be the bedrooms, I hear a door open and slam, the distinct clink of a key being driven home. I slump against the wall, my breath still coming in ungainly spurts. It is probably best I stay out here for now. I open my eyes and see nothing but her soft, flushed face, my face hardens, tonight will be a different story.

Chapter Eight

Daphne

“This cannot be happening,” I groan.

My ear is pinned against the door as I listen for his footsteps. Would he dare? I don’t know but I would p
ut nothing past this man. He is a braggart and a womanizer. How many hotel employees had he seduced? The thought makes me shiver and I have to fight back a cry along with the urge to stalk outside and order him to get the hell out of my home.

But who am I kidding? Elaine.

I had not thought that she hated me as much as that, today has crushed that hope forever for me. I wrap my arms around my chest, trying to calm my beating heart. What was wrong with me? I have been kissed exactly two times before and now I’ve doubled that, and he wants more. I close my eyes to block out the feel of his body, so hard, so big, everything about him terrifies me, I stuff a fist into my mouth, its worse because somehow I want it too!

I want
a total stranger to touch me, to feel me, and only the devil knows what else. I try not to think of it but the images come swarming back, mocking me, making me burn with anger and desire. I remember once catching two of my friends at it, it had looked disgusting and messy but now I don’t know what to think or feel.

I gather myself up from the door and go over towards the bed. I colla
pse unto it, bury my face in a pillow, I cannot get the way his tongue tasted and moved out of my mouth, his fingers on my breasts. I scream into the tired softness, pound my fists into it.

I cry and hiccup for several minutes, wishing daddy was still here to protect me,
help me make the right choices.

I had become a maid because Elaine had hurt her back in her cleaning job at the airport; Daddy had died just three mont
hs before from stomach cancer. Roughly half of my measly salary went to the care and maintenance of Aubrey. I had promised dad to take care of him and this money if he still gives it to me would brighten Aubrey’s future tremendously, he would actually have a chance at going to college and finish it.

I chew my bottom lip as I contemplate my
predicament. He would not give it to me now, not after I spurned his sexual overtures. I sit up on my bed and look into the dull glass of my dressing table. A pale, trembling girl, eyes bright with tears and confusion, stares back at me. Beneath that lurks something else, something that has just come into being, my mouth forms a little o as I note the heightened blush on my cheeks.

I groan and fal
l back unto the bed. He has said one night, he’d be gone after tonight. Certainly I can withstand this devastation until then?

I stay in my room for the rest of the evening. I glance at the tiny plastic clock on the dresser, it is nine o’clock Elaine and Aubrey returned two hours ago. My eyes darken in anger. She cannot work but she can watch soaps for three hours! Strangely though I don’t hear him, a fool would think he’s gone but I can feel that he’s still out there, I chew my bottom lip as I ponder this new side of me. I have never been attuned to any person before. How can I feel this way about a man I’ve just met? Maybe I’m coming down with something. My stomach grumbles, I slap a hand over it, though the walls separating my room from Elaine’s and Aubrey is thin, being in the last bedroom and sharing a wall with the bathroom gives me extra insulation.

I hear Elaine telling Aubrey to go get washed up and go to bed. The water in the bathroom is running seconds later. She is talking to him and he is replying in monosyllables. I smile in the darkness of my room; glad that he is not buying into Elaine’s charm which always grows cold and deadly if she cannot get her own way. Finally I hear her mutter goodnight and then she says something in an undertone and I listen to two pairs of footsteps heading into the hallway right to my door, my heart plummets to the ground. I jump up off the bed and haul the door open.

“What do you think you’re doing,” I cry to Elaine, ignoring the domineering shadow standing behind her.

Elaine’s eyes even in the dim light coming through the hallway are shards of emptiness. “Nate is your husband, Daffee,” I cring
e at her use of the appellation he’s given me, “you’ve made your bed, now you must lie in it.”

I grip
the doorknob for support as she saunters away, leaving him behind. She closes her bedroom door with a definitive snap.

I hang my head, defeat washes
through me. “Please don’t.” It is all I can say.

He does not reply and I lift
my head to find out if he’s still there. He is.

He clears
his throat roughly, the grey silver eyes are sparkling down at me.

“I won’t touch you if
it’s not what you want,” he throws a glance over his shoulder, “but please don’t condemn me to sleep on that couch, its sinking like a ship.”

Despi
te myself a bubble of laughter comes out. The couch is pretty awful despite all my attempts to plump the cushions by adding extra fabric.

I still cannot make myself move away from
the door.

He shifts
his feet, drawing my eyes downward then swiftly back up as I feel him move closer.

“I wanted to kiss you this afternoon but only because I kn
ew you wanted it too,” he pauses, “I’m many things Daffee,” there is a distinct chill in his voice which makes me shiver though the night is warm as usual, “but I would never make love to an unwilling woman.”

It
was on the tip of my tongue to say that I didn’t care, go sleep on the damned couch, that would make him leave sooner rather than later but I can’t. He is right, he had kissed me but I had wanted him too and he’d shown an uncanny accuracy in deciphering my wants.

I ste
p back and he enters. We both stare at my little bed, not much bigger than a single cot really. It could never hold the two of us lying side by side, only spooned. I gulp at the thought.

I race
over to the closet, and pull out extra pillows and blankets, I toss them to him. “Sleep on the floor.”

The only available space is
right next to my bed, we’d basically be sleeping side by side, with me elevated by several feet.

He does not reply but begins
making up his place on the floor. I scoop up some fresh nightclothes and toiletries, I am still in my uniform and dash towards the bathroom.