HOOKED: An Erotic Romance (6 page)

‘I like you, Michaela,’ he said. ‘But I think we should take things slowly. Let’s talk some more. But first, I need a shower. I stink.’

He walked off into another room, leaving me standing, looking over the city, watching the last of the sun’s embers disappearing behind the horizon.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dutch Courage

I heard a shower switch on behind the door at the end of the hall, and felt the irritation building up inside me.

You know what? I deserved better than this. I walked over to the wall, looked at the swords hanging there, and ran my finger over the flat part of the blade.

I felt the spark of a new warrior spirit, awakening inside me.

I wondered what this sword had been called. Which fighter it had once belonged to.

The coldness of the metal sent a thrill into my fingertips. I lifted my fingers to my cheek, and let the coldness crackle there for a moment too.

Then the thought formed in my mind.

I was going to have this man.

I liked him. He liked me. I was a strong woman. I’d had enough of these games.

It was time to hook him in.

I grabbed my wine glass from the table, and gulped down the contents of the glass. It felt good. It gave me even more strength. I caught sight of myself in a mirror on the wall. Ruffled up my hair a little. Licked my lips.

Then I stepped towards the sound of running water.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

More Than A Taste

He hadn’t locked the door, thank goodness, so I pushed down the handle and stepped inside. He was still dressed, holding up a bottle of shower cream, about to put it into the shower. When he heard me coming in, he paused, but didn’t turn around.

‘Michaela?’ he said.

‘Yes,’ I replied. And left it at that. I waited, just in case he told me to get out. Obviously I wasn’t going to force this guy into anything he didn’t want to do… but if he was just standing there, it didn’t seem like he was altogether
averse
to me being in here.

I saw his hands reach above his head, and then, slowly, he took off his t-shirt. As it peeled back from his skin, which still glistened with sweat from the day’s exertions, it began to reveal the most intricate black ink markings I have ever seen. They were made up of tiny black dots, reminiscent of a mehndi design, but strong and striking, revealing the large, snarling face of a wolf. It was incredible.

‘Raoul,’ I gasped, desperate to touch him, to run my hands over this wild, intricate beast, to feel the ridges of the ink, the small, dark scars on the surface of his tanned skin. Raoul didn’t move, so I stepped closer to him, and held out my hand. I touched the wolf’s ears at first, erect and listening, and then stroked my way down to the eyes, then the jaw, and finally… the teeth. My fingers were in the wolf’s mouth. I gasped.

Raoul turned around.The bathroom was hot and steamy. Raoul’s skin was flushed.

I could smell him now, so salty and earthy. I felt the moistness collect between my legs.

Rah-ool
, I said, ever so quietly, under my breath.
Touch me, Rah-ool.

Raoul’s eyes pierced mine, boring into me, drilling me with their potent stare, and then, deliberately, they began to run down the length of me, down to my neck, then my breasts. I felt my nipples harden from the penetration of his gaze alone. Raoul lifted his hands to my shoulders, took the thin, delicate red straps in his strong, manly hands, and ripped apart my dress.

I heard the quick, creaking tear of fabric, and then felt his hands on me, running all over my ample breasts, my straining nipples, across my smooth stomach, grabbing me by the hips and pulling me close.

I grabbed the elastic around his waist and pulled down his kickboxing pants. I only just caught a glimpse, but he wasn’t wearing any underwear! Did he really teach his classes like that? I grabbed his ass, felt the taut, muscular skin in my palms, the way a small down of soft hair drew me in towards the cleft in the centre, and then stroked my hands outwards, towards his hips, desperate to grasp his enormous member.

But before I could do that, he pushed me down backwards onto the bathroom floor, and pulled my dress down over my hips and off. Then, without even stopping to admire my lovely lacy knickers (still, at least I wasn’t in my white cotton panties today), he pulled them off too, and threw them behind him, hooking them over the taps at the sink. Then, he touched himself for a moment, grabbing his big member in his fists, enjoying, momentarily, the feeling of his own arousal.

The cold bathroom tiles pressed hard into my back, and I struggled up onto my elbows to take a look at him. I was desperate to see this huge man’s cock. I was desperate to see it, and then feel it inside me.

When his hands moved away from his groin, I was dumbstruck.

This man was beautiful.

All that pure masculine energy, that testosterone, had created something magnificent, straining up and out of him, towards me, desperately seeking my warm, wet lips.

‘Fuck me, Raoul!’ I shouted. ‘Do it now!’

Raoul didn’t stop to argue. This time he wasn’t about to make some stupid remark, or walk off without saying goodbye. This time, he pinned me down to the tiles, and took complete command of me. First he kissed me full on the lips, then moved his mouth down to my breasts, taking my nipples between his teeth and squeezing gently.

Next, his tongue ran down to my stomach, tasting me all the way down to the thin line of hair at my pubis, which I’d finally decided to shave, and it showed off my small, pouting lips, which were no doubt teasingly open and moist, willing him to put his tongue into my delicate parts within, to drink me up as he had done earlier today.

But before Raoul’s mouth reached the spot between my legs, he let out a lustful growl, and pushed his expansive chest down onto me.

I felt his hard, smooth penis, nudging the top of my thighs, and then, after only the tiniest amount of resistance, he entered me, the full, hot wetness of me, filling up every inch of me with his giant member, and I screamed in ecstasy.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A Haze Of Lust

That night, I slept in Raoul’s bed. I say slept - but I barely slept a wink. In truth I was lying there, with Raoul’s arms wrapped around me, and I was taking it all in. Drinking in every moment of being in this man’s bed, in his room, with all of his things.

There was a weightlifting bench in the corner of the room, and a selection of dumbbells. Where my bedroom was full-of make-up and clothes, his was chock-full of exercise equipment. I guess we both looked after ourselves in different ways.

The next morning, my eyes were heavy, and I couldn’t stop yawning, but Raoul seemed refreshed, as awake now as he’d been last night - as awake as he’d been for every one of the three hours he’d fucked me, then stopped to kiss and hold me, then fucked me again, then hold me some more, before finally coming, a thick stream of white, spilling out onto my stomach, over the flat skin, dripping onto the sheets, rising and falling on my skin as I panted with satisfaction.

In the kitchen, he made me some coffee and eggs, and we talked about normal things, like our jobs, and our favourite childhood memories, the sort of whimsical thing that people do in the early stages of a relationship, but what we
didn’t
talk about was what had happened between us. There was an elephant in the room, and I wasn’t going to be the one to point it out.

Raoul offered to drive me back to mine, but I decided I’d walk and then get the bus. I wanted the fresh air, and some time to enjoy this strange new pleasure running through me, this warm satisfaction that had spread throughout my body.

At the door, I wondered whether to kiss Raoul goodbye.

‘I had a great time with you,’ I said, pulling the jacket he’d lent me around myself, covering the broken straps of my now unfixable red dresss.

‘Me too,’ he said, and took hold of my shoulders. His face leaned in close to me, but then, instead of kissing me on the lips, as I wanted, his mouth moved to my cheek, and planted a firm, gentlemanly kiss on my cheek. ‘Goodbye,’ he said.

In a haze of lust, I turned around, almost tripped over my own feet, and left his apartment.

As I walked home, practically skipping down the sidewalk, I felt like I could finally bring myself to check my phone. Two missed calls and a text from Ben. One text from Rebecca. I’d start with Ben. Get it over with.

Hey, are you okay? I’m outside the address you gave me. I’ll wait here another 5 minutes.

Okay, that wasn’t too bad. No angry text message having a go at me for standing him up. That guy certainly had manners. Now for Rebecca. I hoped she was okay.

Darren wants me to give him another chance. Ha! Not likely. I’m waiting for Mr. Right. Love U. X

I texted Rebecca back.

Good on U! Mr. Right is the only one good enough for U. X

I thought about telling her about Raoul, but I didn’t want to rub things in. Besides, Raoul and I had only spent one night together. I’d wait until next time before I jinxed it by telling anyone.

As I looked at my phone, it hit me.

Raoul didn’t have my number. And I didn’t have his.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Public Humiliation

The following week, I threw myself completely into my work, no longer daydreaming pathetically over what it might be like to kiss Raoul. Now I knew. I went back to my old strict-boss ways. Picked up on any slackers. Chased up outstanding jobs. Congratulated my highest sellers, and encouraged them to do even better.

But as the days went by before the next kickboxing session, I grew more and more irritated that I had no way of contacting Raoul. I tried looking him up on Facebook but no luck there. Was he going to ignore me in class again? What would it be like, seeing him again for the first time, in there? I’d hoped we’d have a one-on-one before that, give ourselves some time to let things develop in private. Not unleash any second-date dynamics in public, in front of the class.

But as we didn’t have each other’s numbers, and I certainly wasn’t going to turn up at his apartment unannounced, I just sat tight and worked.

By the time Friday came around, I was so excited my heart was fluttering like a sixteen-year-old school girl. I desperately tried to get Rebecca ready on time, so we wouldn’t be late again, making sure she had her car keys, her water bottle…

I’d even bought myself a new outfit. A black sports bra and black pants, low-slung at the waist like Raoul’s. Sure, mine didn’t have the fancy Chinese lettering on them, but they still looked good. I didn’t look quite as ‘on show’ as I’d looked in my hot pants and pink vest, but there was something sexy in the parts of me that were hidden, in the way that the material pulled tantalisingly around my lean muscles when I stretched. I almost felt, I guess, like a real fighter.

Forget yoga:
this
was good for my core strength.

As we walked across the car park towards the old garage, it took everything I had to not tell Rebecca what had happened between me and Raoul. Thankfully, she was talking too giddily about a new French class she’d started on Tuesday evenings, yet another ploy to get over Darren, and she was so effusive about it I barely got a word in edgeways.

Thankfully (hallelujah!) we were just on time. We paid our money just before the cash tin was closed, and then we took off our shoes and got in line. Raoul gave me a look, as I stood there, but I wasn’t sure what the look meant.
I enjoyed our sex last Friday? I want you now, baby? Sorry I never got your number? I think I’m falling in love with you?
It was impossible to tell.

As usual, the warm-up was a killer, but I managed to keep pace with Rebecca, who was struggling to follow the instructions a little, having missed last week. As we sat on the floor and I held down Rebecca’s calves as she did her sit-ups, I allowed my eyes to wander, looking for Ben. He was at the other end of the room, with an orange belt guy as his partner. He caught me staring at him, for a moment, then smiled valiantly, and looked away.

I lay back on the floor to take my turn-for the sit-ups, and waited for Raoul to give instructions for us to begin. I felt my black top riding up a little, showing a thin strip of my midriff, and I noticed Raoul’s eyes, blazing down on me.

One…
he said, and everyone on the floor lifted their chests off the ground, exhaling.

Two…
Up I went and we exhaled again.

Every time I lifted my chest off the floor, breasts high in the air, I felt Raoul’s eyes on me. He just wouldn’t stop staring. For a moment, I felt like I was the only person in the room.

I felt the muscles in my stomach stretching and straining, and my vest riding up further every time I fell to the floor. I desperately wanted to keep pace with his instructions.