Addicted (Addicted Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

Ignoring her lame excuses, I proceeded to check the
kitchen first before heading down the hall to the bathroom, then each of the
bedrooms. Hers was the last one I checked, moving quicker than I knew she could
keep up with.

“Why are you checking through this whole place? What
are you expecting to find?” she cried out as I disappeared into her closet.

I heard her blow out a frustrated breath and when I
finally looked over at her, she was standing tall with her hands on her tiny
waist. Her long, chestnut hair was flowing loosely, making her appear even more
enticing then she normally was.

She really was quite the beauty, her stubbornness
doing nothing to detract from that. In fact, it was making me want her even more.
I loved the fact she was a feisty woman, although she was probably less apt to
listen to me.

The next few seconds passed as the sexual tension
grew between us. Gone was her irritation with me. Instead, she was blatantly
checking me out, roaming her eyes up and down my body without shame. It was
then I realized I was still standing in the middle of her private space. There
were only a few feet separating us and her bed. Before my mind could wander to
the many ways I wanted to take her, I moved a few steps in her direction,
holding her gaze with every stride.

A sudden look overcame her,
but I couldn’t quite make out what it was.
Panic? Confusion?
“Are you all right?” I asked, leaning in
closer to check. Hooking a finger under her chin, I lifted her head so she
could meet my eyes.

“I’m fine. A little dizziness. No big deal.” She
looked as if she was going to pass out, her face suddenly very flustered, her
breathing faster than was certainly normal. “Are you done with your inspection
of my apartment now?”

Taking a step back to give her some room, I
answered her question. Although, I was sure she didn’t like what came out of my
mouth. “I guess so. Everything looks okay, but I’m sending someone by on Monday
to install an alarm system.”

“What?” she exclaimed, her voice raising an octave.
“I don’t want you to do that. We’re totally fine here; we’re safe.”

“I won’t take no for an answer, Sara. That’s final.”
I knew I was coming across harsh, but I also knew she wasn’t going to listen to
me if I tried to reason with her. “I don’t want to hear one more word about
it.”

 
“Yeah? Well,
I have
four
words for you, Alek. Get.
The. Hell. Out!” she yelled, emphasizing each word.

Who would have thought behind her sweet persona lay
a spitfire of a woman? Not me. To look at Sara, a person didn’t always get what
they’d bargained for. Not in a bad way, though.

Something told me the more I unraveled, the more
intrigued I’d become.

She tried to appear strong, and no doubt she was,
but she was also vulnerable.

I saw it.

There’s a story
hidden behind her eyes.

A dark story.

She tried to hide it with smiles and sass, but it
was lurking, struggling to break free given the right, or wrong, circumstance.

I started toward her as if I was intent on changing
her mind. “Why do you have to be so difficult? Why can’t you do as I ask,
without giving me such a hard time?” Standing directly in front of her, my
chest lightly grazing her breasts, my whole demeanor changed. She was messing
with me, her heavenly scent captivating me and making me a bit dizzy. All I
could think about was the way her lips tasted and how much I wanted to bury
myself inside her. “You feel it, don’t you? This electricity between us?” I
didn’t give her a chance to respond before I grabbed her face and pulled it
upward toward mine.

“Yes, I feel it. So
what?” She was trying to seem unaffected but was doing a shit job. I could see
it written all over her beautiful face.

Without further delay, simply because she was
driving me insane, I covered her mouth with my own. Her soft, warm lips were
too inviting and when she gasped, opening her mouth to me, I almost lost it. There
was an urgency to our kiss, like we both wanted to devour the other.

Her tongue
stroked mine, teasing me as if she couldn’t get enough. Her warmth enveloped me,
drawing me in closer, tempting my sanity with every lick and taste. Ours was a
lovely dance, rapidly becoming something more if I didn’t stop it soon. But I
didn’t want it to end, not yet.

“You taste so good, just like I remembered,” I
whispered. She groaned, entangling her fingers in my hair, pulling me closer.

I placed my hands underneath her backside, raising
her up my body. “Wrap your legs around my waist.” I bit her lower lip before
plunging my tongue back inside her mouth. For once, she actually did as she was
told, wrapping her thighs tightly around me, pushing her core against me.

“Alek,” she panted. “Oh…my…God.”

I knew I shouldn’t have lost control with her but I
couldn’t help myself. She drew me in and I was powerless to stop it.

Pushing her against the nearest wall, I pressed my
body closer to hers, if it was even possible at that point.

Breaking our kiss for the briefest of moments, I
encouraged her to put a stop to it. “If you don’t tell me to stop, Sara, I fear
I’m going to lose all control, throw you down and fuck you so hard, we’ll be
tangled up in each other for days.” I was finding it hard to breathe as my lips
cascaded over her throat, feeling her pulse against my lips.

When her response was silence, I broke. Pulling her
sweater over her head, I quickly tossed it to the ground, making quick work of
removing her bra. Once the clasp was undone, I all but ripped the material from
her body, throwing it to the floor, as well. “I can’t stand having anything in
the way,” I groaned as my mouth descended to take her breast, my fingers
working on the other, pinching her nipple, working them both until they were
pebbled from her excitement. We continued to torture each other, teasing and
tasting as if we would never be sated.

As my tongue flicked over her sensitive skin, she
cried out, “Don’t stop, Alek. Please…I want this.” She rotated her hips against
me, causing such a friction I almost came in my pants.
Fuck that would be embarrassing.

I didn’t know if it was her words or the fact my
reason came rushing back to me, but I instantly broke our fevered connection
and placed her on the ground. The look of hurt and confusion on her face almost
had me attacking her again. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I knew she desired me.
I knew she wanted me to fuck her, but she was still a virgin and I wouldn’t
take advantage of her, no matter how hot and heavy we’d just been.

When she reached for me, I backed away, trying my
best to hold strong. “No, we can’t. I’m sorry, Sara.”

“Why?” One simple question, yet I couldn’t answer
her.

I bent down and retrieved her clothes, handing them
to her but avoiding her eyes. I knew the look which was going to be there if I
dared to take notice. I couldn’t bear to see it so I acted like a coward,
avoiding it altogether.

Hearing her inhale a ragged breath killed me. I
knew all sorts of crazy thoughts were running through her head and I should
have put them to rest, but even I didn’t know the right words to help soothe
her wounded ego.

Once she was dressed, I grabbed her hand, as I
liked to do, and pulled her from the room, walking briskly toward her front
door.

 
“I have to
go now, but I’ll call you tomorrow. Make sure you lock the door behind me when
I leave.” Leaning in, I placed a quick kiss on her swollen lips.

Before she could even respond, I was gone, the door
closing slowly behind me.

Sara

It’s so dark
and cold. Where am I? And why can’t I move my arms or legs? I try to open my
eyes, but I don’t have the strength. What is happening to me?

Suddenly, I
hear a noise above me.
A
n old
door screeches open as someone starts to descend down a creaky stairwell. Oh,
God! What is happening? I try to open my mouth to scream, but no sound will
escape.

Then I feel a
cold, clammy hand start to caress my face.

Then nothing.

Silence.

Just when I
think I imagined someone else is even here with me, I hear him whisper in my
ear, “Sara, we are going to be so happy together. You’ll see.”

~~~~

I was instantly pushed into consciousness, bolting
upright and checking my surroundings.
 
I’d
been lucky enough not to have that dream in almost five years. Strange it would
start up again all of a sudden.

A shower was what I needed, especially since my
nightshirt was sticking to me, reminding me no matter how much time passed, I
could never fully escape what happened.

I was making my way toward the bathroom when I
heard the television on in the living room. I wasn’t fully aware of what time
it was, but I knew it was quite late. Usually when Alexa came home, she went
straight to bed, so I thought it was a bit odd for her to still be up.

As I walked down the hallway a little bit more, she
caught my movement out of the corner of her eye and physically flinched in
surprise.

“Jesus, Sara, you scared the shit out of me!” she
yelled, looking as if she’d seen a ghost.

“Sorry.”

“Are you okay?” The more she gazed at my disheveled
self, the more concerned she appeared.

“Yeah, just had a nightmare.”

“Not
the
nightmare?” Alexa knew all about what happened to me, never judging me or
pitying me, just always being my friend, and my best friend at that. Because of
everything, she was very protective over me when it came to guys hitting on me,
or even just hanging around. Funny thing was, though, Alek didn’t bring out
that side in her—not that I was aware of, anyway.

“Yeah, but I’m not
really up to talking about it. The only thing I want to do is take a shower and
go back to bed.” I smiled, but it never reached my eyes.

As the hot water rushed over my body, I remembered
a time when I was forced to talk about the event. I saw a therapist for about a
year after it happened, but all it did was make me relive all the details over
and over again. I understood the point of talking to someone when bad things
happened, but after a certain point, I was just tired. Tired of dredging up the
past, and tired of remembering. So I stopped seeing her long before I moved to
Seattle.
       

Exhausted past the point of thinking anymore, I
dried off and made my way toward my bed, curling under the covers and drifting
off into a restless sleep.

~~~~

I swear I wasn’t asleep more than a few hours when
my phone jarred me awake. I heard Mumford and Sons playing as a ringtone.
What the hell?
I didn’t put it on there.
Reaching over, I snatched my phone from the charger only to reveal the caller.

Alek.

How the hell did
he get my number?
I never gave it to him. I would
have, had he asked, but he never did.

“Hello?” I barely answered, my voice a garbled
whisper.
What the hell time is it?
I
glanced at my alarm clock and noticed it was only eight o’clock.

“Hi, sunshine. Did I wake you?” The rasp in his
voice instantly roused me, doing delicious things to my nether regions. My
brain was instantly flooded with images from the night before, making me clench
my thighs together to stop the ache before it became too much.

“Um…yeah. You
do
realize it’s only eight in the morning, on a Sunday, don’t you? Most people are
still sleeping.”

“Sorry. I wanted to make sure I caught you before
you made any plans. I was hoping to take you to breakfast. What do you say?”

How about
calling me back at noon?

Instead of refusing, I responded with, “What time are
you thinking?”

For some reason, I knew he was smiling on the other
end of the phone.

“How about I pick you up in an hour? Does that
work?”

I tried my best to stifle my yawn, but it escaped
anyway. “Fine, see you in an hour. Do you remember the way here?”

“Of course, see you soon.”

Before he hung up, I had one more question for him.
“Alek, how did you get my phone number, let alone program yours into my phone
with your own ringtone?”

“I have ways of finding out information when I want
it.” He chuckled. “And I programmed my number into your cell last night on the
way home.”

I didn’t press him further because I knew Alexa
gave him my number. I should’ve been mad at her, but I wasn’t.

“I’ll be there in an hour. Be ready.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you out front.”

“No, I’ll come upstairs. Please don’t wait outside,
Sara. It’s too early in the morning, and you don’t know who is out there. Promise
me you’ll wait for me inside.” There was silence on my end for a short time. “Sara!
Promise me.”

Oh, for the
love
…

“Okay, I’ll wait for you inside. Satisfied?”

“Yes, very. Thank you. See you soon,” he said
before disconnecting the call.

I swung out of bed and headed toward the bathroom,
ready to take yet another shower.