To Know Her (Erotic Romance) (2 page)

When she opened her eyes,
sunlight shone through the two windows in the room.  She’d made it through
the night.  Safe. 

She sat up and her head gave a
throbbing pulse.  Still there.  She rose from the bed and stretched
before entering the bathroom.  Her first thought was that the
accommodations were first rate.  Second, was that she was an idiot. 
Another door stood open across the tile.  It led to a second
bedroom.  HIS bedroom, if she had to guess.  The bed was obscenely
big.  Just like him.  The décor was masculine and rich.
  Also just like him, if she had to guess. 

She turned to face herself in
the mirror.  She shook her head and frowned at the unfamiliar
reflection.  She hadn’t thought to check for other entrances last
night.  She’d gone to sleep sure she was cocooned in the safety of her
room.  Alone.  How wrong she’d been.  But she’d made it through
without incident.  He hadn’t come inside.  Or had he?

She returned to the bedroom to
quickly scan for changes.  The door to the hallway was still closed and
locked.   Her clothes were no longer on the chair where she’d left
them.  And there – on the dresser – sat a stack of clothes and toiletries
that hadn’t been there last night.  So he had come in.  But he hadn’t
hurt her.   He was still taking care of her.  Still, it was a
bit of an invasion. 

She rifled through the new items
and found a ponytail holder.  After a quick shower, she pulled her hair
into a messy knot before looking at the clothes.  A pair of soft gray
pants that were just a little loose and a pink top that fit perfectly, if a
display of cleavage was the goal.  It was better than recycling
yesterday’s bloody garment.

In the kitchen, Sara found
Derek sitting at the table as a woman bustled around the stove. 

“Here she is.  I was just
about to wake you.”

She stood staring, struck dumb,
at the woman behind the counter.  She immediately crossed her arms over
her chest, feeling exposed without the added layer of a bra.

“Did you sleep well?”  He
stood beside her now, his hand on her back, urging her to an empty chair. 

“Y- yes.  I slept fine.” 
She pulled her eyes away from the cook to glare at him.  “You came into my
room?”

He either didn’t notice her
censure or didn’t care.  He nodded in response.  “You found the
clothes?”

She slid her hand down the soft
fabric of her sleeve.  “Thank you.”  She watched his eyes play over
the curves and hollows of her breasts, the way the top molded to her, perfectly
accenting her figure.  “I didn’t know there was another door.”

He laughed softly.  “I
figured but saw no reason to tell you.  You seemed to have enough on your
mind without that fact.”

The woman moved from the stove
to the table to deposit a plate in front of her. 

“Hello.”  Sara’s greeting
went unanswered. 

“This is Gretchen, Sara.”

For the first time since she’d
entered the room, Gretchen looked Sara full in the face and gave a quick nod
before turning away again.  Employee or girlfriend? 

“Pleased to meet you.” 
Gretchen gave no indication that she heard.  Sara turned back to
Derek.  His eyes were narrowed at Gretchen who was bringing him more
coffee. 

She didn’t like her here it
seemed.  Maybe she had a thing for her employer.  No need to get
worked up, Sara thought,
I’ll be gone today.

“So, I’ve been thinking about
my next move.  I think you should take me to a police station. 
Someone’s bound to have filed a missing person’s report.  They’ll be able
to tell me who I am.”  She sipped the glass of juice.  “Get me back
to wherever it is I belong.”

Gretchen dropped a platter onto
the counter with a loud clatter, and Sara jumped.

“I’m already on it.” 
Derek focused on his plate, slicing and buttering as he spoke.  “I’ve
contacted the department in town, and they have nothing yet on a missing woman.

“Oh. No one is looking for
me?”  Her brow pleated, the thought disheartening.  “Maybe no one has
noticed I’m gone yet.”

“I have a friend there,
Detective Donovan, who will contact us if something turns up.   He’s
going to do some digging to see what he can find.”

“Oh- okay.  So what should
I do in the meantime.  I can’t exactly stay here.”

Gretchen’s loud hmpf was easily
heard across the room and drew their attention.

“I don’t see that it would be a
problem.  Stay here.  You can see you’re not in any harm, and it will
give some time to settle you, so we can find out exactly what happened to
strand you on that highway.”

It sounded like logical. 
It wasn’t as if she had lots of other choices.  The thought brought a
niggle of fear at the unknown.  “Maybe just for a day or so?”

“Good.”  Derek finished
his breakfast, cleaning his plate, as Sara picked over hers, her stomach
rolling slightly as the foods blended together in the middle.  The bump on
her head must have been some knock.  Her headache was slightly better but
reminded her every moment of her situation.

When the table was cleared and
Gretchen had disappeared, Derek pulled Sara to her feet and led her into the
living room.  He settled her onto the sofa.  “Relax here.  I’ll
get another pain pill and set up a video.  You can watch or sleep and try
to get rid of that headache.  I have a few things to take care of in my
office.”

She nodded.  “I really
just woke up, so I’ll channel surf if it’s all the same to you.” 

He handed her the remote and
left.  She quickly settled into a decorating channel. 

He returned several hours later
to find her snuggled into the couch in a deep sleep.  He knelt to wake
her.  His hands trailed up her arms, resting on her shoulders and
massaging her awake.  She opened her eyes to find him close, his hands
working magic on her muscles. 

She smiled and took in the dark
lashes that framed the blazing blue eyes watching her.  “I guess I was
more tired than I thought.”

“How’s the headache?”

She took inventory of her
pain.  “Getting better.”

“Good.”

Derek slid his hand to her
neck, still rubbing gently, and pushed her hair back to look at her face. 
He treated her with such familiarity that Sara knew she should be wary, but she
felt comforted instead.  He was beautiful to look at, and the way he
watched her told her how powerful it would be if he ever looked at her with any
degree of intensity.  She felt her breathing speed up under the warmth of
his gaze. 

He ran a finger to the hollow
at the base of her throat where her pulse raced. 

“I want you to know I
appreciate your kindness.  You don’t even know me and you’re taking such
good care of me.” 

His mouth quirked up to one
side.  “It wouldn’t take long for anyone to know you’re worth the
trouble.”  She watched his hand slide down her chest and over to cup her
side, beside her breast.  Her nipples immediately peeked, and her eyes
flew to his.  Had he noticed?

He was watching her closely,
full of awareness at her response. 

His hand tightened and
released.  Once.  Twice.  Then slid a little south to stroke
across her belly. 

“Instead of distress over the
memory loss, maybe you could look at it as a clean slate for now.  Just
until we learn a little more about what happened last night.”

Derek’s question threw
her.  Distress?  Sara felt no distress when he had his hands on
her.  Warmth throbbing through her veins.  Heat warmed her nipples
and her core.  Even her mouth felt dry.  She swiped her tongue over
her lips and swallowed.  It did no good. 

She shouldn’t be so turned on but
his touch was powerful, and her body responded without her permission. 
Sometime, somewhere in her past, she’d had an incredible lover, she knew it
with every fiber of herself.  Her body was responding to those suppressed
memories, the way it was readying itself for more.  Either that or she was
just easy.  She’d choose to believe the former. 

His hand stroked again across
her lower belly, leaving flames in his wake, before rising to cup her
breast.  “I don’t want you to be afraid, Sara.  This is okay. 
Natural.”  She wanted to meet his eyes but couldn’t seem to raise them
from his fingers edging toward her nipple. 

“Uh-huh.”  She was
positively breathless.  His big warm fingers slid to the scalloped edge of
the blouse where her cleavage showed.  He nudged the fabric to the side of
her breast, trapping the flesh above the folds so her nipple stood tall and
erect above the mound, begging for his touch.  Maybe she should cover
herself, but his touch felt so good, reassuring.  Her voice said nothing
but her body clearly asked for what she wanted.  He slid his other hand to
the shoulder of her blouse and edged it down, freeing her other breast for his
inspection.  His hand grazed one nipple then the other.  She felt her
heart skip at his touch.

“So beautiful.”  He used
two knuckles to clasp a nipple and tweak, pulling it up and out, working it
between them, until he released it.   Sara licked at her lips as she
watched the movement and Derek dropped his mouth to hers just in time to catch
her tongue with a gentle swipe of his.   She opened to the gentle,
sexy thrust of his tongue.  She lifted her hands to stroke his dark
hair.  She wanted more.  His fingers still played leisurely with her
nipples, pinching and stroking.  Her breasts were firm mounds and her nipples,
not overly large, appeared even smaller now as they tightened and stood up,
seeking his attention. 

The kiss raged on, ravenous one
moment, gentle the next, until he caught her hands and lifted them above her
head.  He pressed them lightly onto the arm of the couch. 
“Stay.”  His whisper was low and direct.  She did and the position
left her body arched, open to his will.  He kissed her again and smiled
gently.  “Good girl.”

His mouth was warm and sensual
as he kissed and licked down her neck to tongue her nipple before sucking it
into his warm mouth.  Lick, suck, lick, suck.  He did it over and
over to her breasts until she thought she would explode.  His mouth was
spreading heat throughout her body, and her hips bounced, without her consent,
signaling that she wanted more. 

He squeezed her breasts,
playing with the mounds, ignoring her silent plea.   She felt damp
everywhere as if she was lying on a beach in the hot sun.  He was the hot
sun, burning her up.  “Please.  Please.”  She licked her lips, unsure
where the words came from.  “Please, touch me.”

She felt shocked at her words
but meant them.  His mouth curled into a smile over her breast, but he
didn’t stop playing there.  He pressed her breasts together, licking the
mounds and nuzzling the tender flesh underneath.  She moaned in
frustration, but her hands remained overhead, frozen where he had placed them.

Finally, finally.  Sara
exhaled a breath of relief as his hands slid into the jersey fabric of her
pants to pull them off.  He laid his warm palm over the bare skin of her
mound.  Bare.  She’d noticed that and wondered if she always shaved
herself.  He stroked her skin with the tips of his fingers.   

“Such soft skin.  I need
to touch you, Sara.  Taste you.  I don’t want to harm you.  Is
your headache okay?”

Headache?  She had
completely forgotten about the trauma of the night before and the throbbing
pain from the morning.  She nodded frantically, and he smiled.

“Good.”  His hands spread
her thighs and he inspected the folds there.  “Lovely.”  His thumbs
rubbed her outer lips before he used two fingers to firmly tap her clit. 
She jumped in surprise.  He stopped and arched an eyebrow at her. 
She said nothing.

Again, he used his fingers to
rub her folds without plunging inside before tapping twice on her clit. 
She was wet.  She knew he could see that. 

“Please.  Please. 
Please.”  It was a chant from deep within.

His expression hardened a bit
as he stroked down before plunging one finger deep into her core.  She
flexed and arched to move it deeper, and he withdrew.  He licked the
finger and plunged it inside again.  This time he stroked the sensitive
flesh over and over until Sara felt her womb tighten.  She moaned her
approval.  He pulled his finger free and brushed it over her lips.

“Open.”  She stared at him
just a fraction of a moment before obliging and taking his finger into her
mouth.  She didn’t particularly care for her own taste, but the eroticism
of his middle finger thrusting at her mouth, in and out, made her core grow
even tighter, more excited at his touch.  She pursed her lips and swirled
her tongue around him, closing her eyes as she sucked. 

“Talented mouth.”  He took
her hands, still obediently clasped above her head, and helped her sit
upright.  He pulled the band from her hair and ran his fingers through the
light curly strands as they fell around her shoulders.  “Show me what you
can do with it.”

It wasn’t a request.

She wanted to do this. 
She spread her legs, and urged him to step closer to stand between them where
she sat on the couch. She quickly unzipped his trousers and slid her hands
around his hips, pressing the fabric down.  Her own heated excitement made
her move faster, wanting to give him the same urgency.   Soft black
cotton boxer briefs were next to go, leaving him bare and impressive.  His
cock was hard and thick, long and ready.