Whispers in the Dark (3 page)

He gave me a genuine smile and pulled me closer so I was curled up with my head lying on his shoulder, my feet tucked under me.

We sat there for a few minutes, enjoying each other. It was torture as well, and took all of my inner strength not to tilt my head up and kiss him.

“Oh, shit!” I sat up, my eyes wide.

“What?” he asked, looking around for something that might have caused my outburst.

“My apartment is unlocked,” I said as I stood. “I was headed right back.”

“You really think someone is going to climb seven flights of stairs in case your apartment is open?”

“No, but who knows about the creep in 7A.”

“There’s a creep in 7A?” he asked. I nodded. “What’s so creepy about him?”

My lip curled up. “He’s always leering at me and hitting on me with the worst pick-up lines. He’ll come over in just his shorts and lean against my door as he asks for something he doesn’t even need.”

“Something he doesn’t even need?” Tristan snickered at that.

“Yeah, the guy once came over for the cliché cup of sugar, and when I asked what he was making, he said pasta.”

He burst out laughing at that one. “Pasta?”

I nodded. “And when I broke up with my last boyfriend, he graciously offered up his body to comfort me.”

He stared at me, his smile gone. “Please tell me he meant as in a hug.”

I shook my head. “Nope, he even grabbed at his crotch and licked his lips when he said it.”

Tristan’s head tipped back. “No!” His eyes were squeezed shut. “Okay, if you have to go back to lock up, I’m coming along to guard your virtue.”

I smirked. “Oh, that’s been long gone.”

“Virtue!” he said, stressing the word as he grabbed hold of the light that would guide us down the dark. “You are a virtuous maiden, and there is a dastardly dragon after you.”

I smiled and squealed at him. “Aww! Are you my white knight?”

We headed toward the door, hand-in-hand.

“Yes. That’s right.” His spine straightened. “White knight with my shining…lantern.”

I clapped him on the arm and looked up at him with the biggest doe eyes I could muster. “Beating back the blackness. My hero!”

He chuckled as he twisted the handle, opening the door leading out into the hall. I reached out and clutched onto his arm with my free hand as we took ginger steps down the hall. Even with the light in his fingers, the floor was still dark. My slippers shuffled against the carpeted hall, eyes trying to focus on anything new appearing as we inched down.

“With the way you’re clinging to me, I’d think we were in a horror movie,” he whispered.

“It sure feels like we are. When is the axe wielding murderer going to come out and chop us to bits?”

He chuckled, but I barely heard it—more the rumble in his chest. “I’m here to protect you, aren’t I?”

“Why are you whispering?” I asked. “It’s making the horror movie feeling worse.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know. With it being so dark and quiet, it just felt like I should. Does it matter?”

“No, just feels silly.”

“And
you
have a problem with silly?”

I stuck my tongue out at him, but doubted he saw it. “I happen to love silliness.”

“That’s good, but we need to be quiet anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re moving down the cave. We don’t want to alert the dragon to our presence.”

Our slow pace continued until the golden 7C began to glow, and I breathed a sigh of relief, my grip on Tristan lessening. He ushered me inside in front of him and shut the door behind us, locking it.

“Why’d you do that?” I asked, motioning to the lock.

Tristan didn’t say anything, but turned the light off and the room went completely black.

“Tristan? What’s going on?” My panic began to spike. What the hell was he doing?

“Shh.” He wrapped his arm around my waist.

“Why, do y—?”

He cut me off when his lips met mine. I let out a squeak in shock, but it melted into a moan as the kiss deepened.

His hand cupped my cheek and his lips trailed down to my ear.

“Tris—“

“Shh.”

My fingers fisted into his shirt, my mind trying to figure out what was going on. Then I heard it.

Knock, knock!

“Mia, you home?”

The creep from 7A!

I stood frozen, praying he didn’t really see or hear us.

The door handle jiggled, and there was another knock along with my name being called. Under the small slit of the door his flashlight peaked through. After a few minutes of frozen silence, the light moved away, and the sound of his footsteps lessened.

Once we heard a door click closed in the distance, Tristan turned the light back on. There was a sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his face when it came into view.

“The dragon almost caught us. Good thing there was this side cave we could hide in.”

I giggled and brought his lips down to mine for a quick kiss. “Damn, I really want to maul you now.”

He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “We best hurry. We don’t know when the beast will return.”

I nodded. “Right.”

My eyes scanned around, looking for the vague outline of my purse somewhere on the floor. Or did I move it to the counter? We walked a few feet, and I spotted it next to the wall by my tiny entry table.

My keys weren’t there.

“Shit!” I hissed as I rifled through. Did I set them on the table? Maybe the counter when I unloaded the groceries? Who knew? The almost non-existent light made it even harder.

Tristan moved the light around as we searched them out, finally spotting them on top of my mail pile on the counter. I sighed in relief and picked them up.

We moved to leave, but before we made it out the door, I turned to him. “I saw that, by the way.” I narrowed my gaze on him.

“Saw what? It was pitch-black in here, I didn’t see anything.” He smirked at me and licked his lips.

“Uh-huh. Question is, was it because you were trying to shut me up, or was it the overwhelming urge to kiss me?” I asked as we moved through the door.

“Both.”

I pursed my lips. “Okay, I’ll take it.”

As quiet as I could, I locked the door and we began our trek back to his place.

“We made it!” I beamed at him when we were safely locked in, away from dragons and the unseen.

He gave me a high five, and I placed my keys next to the door so I wouldn’t lose them.

“Your hands are cold,” he said, taking mine in his and blowing on them to warm them up.

“I’m a little chilly, but it’s okay.”

He rubbed our hands together. “I can make us some hot chocolate.”

“And how are you going to do that, survival man?” I asked, wondering how he was going to surprise me this time. The microwave was out, after all.

“Same way I made dinner,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.

My mouth popped open—he was full of knowledge. “I always nuke it. Didn’t know there was another way.”

He shook his head at me and sighed. “I hope you can run.”

He filled the pot with water and turned the stove back on.

“Run?” My brow scrunched at him, and I jumped up to sit on the counter.

“Yeah, to get away from the dragon. I can’t do everything and keep us both alive.”

“As long as I’m not in heels, we’ll be good. I ran track in high school.”

He stepped up in front of me and placed his hands on my thighs. I wanted to open them up and let him in, but he kept them closed, fingers digging into my flesh.

“No wonder you have such beautiful legs.”

I placed my hands on his chest and moved down, feeling the muscles ripple under my touch.

“And construction keeps
you
nice and fit.”

He let out a little moan and leaned in closer, touching the tip of his nose to mine.

So close. He’d already kissed me once, it would be nothing to do it again, but when I leaned forward, he backed up.

He cleared his throat and moved to the cabinet, where he produced two mugs. In the light, I watched in silence as he pulled out the instant cocoa packets and prepared them while we waited for the water to boil again.

“Hope you like marshmallows.”

“Love them.”

He poured the water into the awaiting mix and stirred it up before handing me a cup.

I jumped off the counter and took it from him. “Thanks.”

I moved to the window with my cup in hand, warming my chilled fingers as I looked out over the city. There was nothing, and an eerie feeling ran through me. “Wow, I’ve never seen it so dark out. Normally the street lights are twinkling away, but all I see are random flashlight movements and some candles.”

Tristan walked over and stood next to me. “It is kind of spooky. What if this is the beginning of the zombie apocalypse?”

I bumped my shoulder against him. “Then I guess I’d say I’m happy to be with the guy with a portable stove and camping gear.”

“If we can get out of the city in one piece.”

“We can do it. Find a safe place and repopulate the earth.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “There you go talking about sex again.”

“It’s our duty as some of the last remaining people of the earth. That and you’re hot and got me out of the city where I would have probably become a zombie and tried to eat your brains. I’ll need to show my gratitude.”

“Are you always like this?”

“Braless? No. Zombie expert? No,” I said, then thought about it as I set my cup down. “Well, Lena calls me a drama queen, but she doesn’t mean it in the high maintenance kind of way. I can be a bit overly-dramatic in my reactions.”

“I can see that. I like it—you come off as funny and cute.”

“Glad you like it then. Most lean more toward annoying then endearing.”

“Clearly they’re seeing you with your bra on and when you’re not in zombie survival mode.” He chuckled. My skin broke out in goose bumps, a shiver running through me. Tristan noticed it and wrapped his arm around me, drawing me against his chest. I couldn’t help but sigh and rest my head right over his heart. “Their loss, my gain.”

I snuggled in closer. “There you go, thinking you got me already.”

“I hope I do. All I know is you had me at ‘no, I’m fine.’”

I stared up into his eyes. “Then why haven’t you kissed since your ninja attack earlier?”

“Because you’re a little drama queen, and I’ve been waiting for you to throw a fit and demand it.”

I rolled my eyes, then shook my head. “I’m not like that, but if it’s what you want, I’ll do it.”

He pursed his lips. “Nah, pretty girl like you should never have to ask.”

He didn’t make me wait anymore as he leaned down and placed a light, tentative kiss to my lips.

When his lips touched mine, it wasn’t dark anymore—everything was bathed in a brilliant, bright white. For a moment I thought the electricity had come back on, but then I realized it was the spark between us.

“Wow,” he said in a whisper.

I looked up at him, the overwhelming feelings he created whirling around my body—setting off each nerve in turn. When they were done, I rocketed up, latching my arms around his neck and pulling him back down to me.

When our lips touched, our bodies pressed together, the light came back, warming my body. His hands moved around my hips to my lower back, pulling me flush with him. A small moan moved from his mouth to mine as our tongues stroked at each other.

We were both panting when he released my lips. “I told you I was going to be good and not sleep with you. You’re fucking up my resolve here.”

“You never said that.”

His hand crawled up my shirt, making the skin beneath his touch tingle and burn. I strained toward him and nipped at his jaw.

“Oh, right. I was talking to myself,” he said, his eyes closing as his head tilted to the side while I licked down his neck.

My teeth nipped at his skin. “Doesn’t count.”

“Good.” His fingers drifted higher up my shirt until they swiped over my nipple, causing it to tighten. A jolt zinged right to my clit, and I let out a small whimper.

“Boy, am I glad I didn’t wear that bra now,” I whimpered against his skin.

He chuckled – his eyes growing heavy. “I’m liking it as well.”

It was getting too hot in the room, and he was wearing too many clothes. “Skin. I want skin.”

My fingers grabbed onto the hem of his shirt and dragged it up his torso, exposing the lickable muscles he’d been teasing me with all night. I moaned in approval as I scanned over his chest.

Perfect.

It wasn’t one of those torsos sculpted from all day at a gym. It was one from manual labor, which was so much hotter.

While I was distracted, Tristan pulled my tank top off and cupped my breasts, squeezing my nipples between his fingers. My gaze shot up to his as I drew in a sharp breath. My clit was twitching with each pull and pinch.

I let out a whimper, then grabbed hold of the waist of his pants. One hand pulled the front down while the other slid inside. I grazed the hot head of his cock with the tips of my fingers, making him hiss. When I slipped my hand around him, my fingers were unable to touch—he was too thick. I licked my lips as I gave him a few short pumps.

He liked that so much he grabbed my waist and lifted me up. I let out a squeak and wrapped my legs around him. I pulled on his hair, bringing his lips to mine. My entire grip on him tightened to where his cock was pressing against my clit as we made out, standing in the middle of his living room.

His hands slid down to my ass and squeezed, causing my teeth to clamp down on his bottom lip. His eyes were heavy, straining to stay open as my hips rotated against him.

“I think we should move away from the door in case the dragon comes this way.”

He chuckled. “Good idea. I think my bed is the perfect hiding place.”

With that, he began walking to the back of the apartment and smashed his lips to mine. We ran into the doorjamb and bounced to the other side, thanks to the darkness, but it didn’t matter. When his legs hit the edge of the bed, he leaned over and we fell in a heap to the mattress.

My legs released him and we scooted up until he was fully on the bed. He wasted no time sliding my pants off as we went, until I was left only in my panties.