Twelve Days - The Beginning (36 page)

“That was all fine and I was happy helping out and then Dr Edwards asked me to help undress you. He needed to check you for any other injuries and so we began by cutting off your sweater, which is when he found the damage to your ribs. After that we slowly removed your jeans and Christ Elise, I will never forget what I saw. Your legs were bleeding, there were scratches all over them and when we got to your feet, we found the ripped remains of your stockings. The thought of what you must have gone through made me feel ill and then the doctor said that he needed to examine you internally so he asked me to help move your legs a little. As soon as he said that, I looked up and I realised that you didn’t have any underwear on and there was blood. Elise....” Celeste stopped and she was now breathing heavily, as if reliving a nightmare. “The blood. It wasn’t coming from the scratches on your legs, Elise. I couldn’t cope anymore and I dashed from the room and was violently sick.”

“As soon as Vaughn saw me leave the room in that state he charged in and the next thing I knew, the flat was filled with the most heart-wrenching and anguished sobs I have ever heard as he realised exactly what Dale had done to you. The doctor banned anyone else from coming in after that and from that moment until you woke up, Vaughn never once voluntarily left your side.”

Celeste finished speaking, her voice now wobbling with emotion, and rubbed at Elise’s hand again. She cleared her throat.

“That’s pretty much it really. It was just a case of waiting after that and so Cole and I took it in turns to sit with Vaughn and talk to you. You woke a few times but you were really disorientated and pretty much went straight back to sleep. The doctor had told us it could take a few hours so we just made sure there was someone with you all the time.”

“It was scary, Elise – proper, proper scary, I can’t tell you how relieved we all were when you finally woke up.”

Tears started to form in Elise’s eyes and she dashed them away with her hand, overwhelmed at what her friends had done for her over the last few days. She couldn’t believe that they had all put their lives on hold - over Christmas no less - to look after her and keep her safe and she knew that she would never forget this for as long as she lived.

“Thank you, Celeste. You don’t know how much it means to me to know that you are here for me and I’m so sorry that I turned up on your doorstep like that and that you had to see...what you saw. I just didn’t know where to go that Dale couldn’t find me and yours was the only place I could come up with.”

“I’m glad you came to me Elise – really I am. We are friends and friends are there when life sucks. I’m glad that you felt that you could come to me and I only hope that you can sort things out and finally get that bastard out of your life. You are worth a million Dale’s, Elise, you know that.” Suddenly her friend’s eyes began to twinkle mischievously. “Besides which, I get the added bonus of two hot hunks twenty four hours a day. I would have been majorly pissed off if you’d gone anywhere else!”

Oh yes, Sean and Stan, the security men. Or Bill and Ben as she was thinking of calling them. Bill and Ben the security men. She giggled at her own joke and then as the laughter began to give way to hysteria, she clued Celeste in on what she had found so funny. Soon they were both laughing; laughing so hard it felt like it would never end and Elise feared another one of her ribs was going to pop.

It was a release. A release of tension and anxiety and fear and worry and when they had finally finished their seemingly endless, pointless laughter, they huddled on the sofa together and watched terrible reality TV until Vaughn arrived for his ‘shift’.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The following morning Elise woke relatively early and stretched out gently, testing all her muscles and sore limbs to gauge how much they hurt today. Having completed a full body stretch with minimal pain she was finally pleased to realise that she did in fact feel a lot better. Her ribs were the main thing that still hurt but that was bearable now and she felt much more like her old self, ready to get up and take on the world.

Turning carefully to her side so as not to aggravate her injuries, she looked across at Vaughn who was still sleeping soundly behind her. She loved that she got to see him like this. When he was awake, he was the epitome of alpha male; full of testosterone and always in control. She had a feeling that few people got to witness the gentle man behind the ‘mask’ and she loved these unguarded moments that she got to share with him.

He was lying on his back with one arm flung above his head and the other to his side, reaching across to where he had been anchored to her. His hair was a little longer now than when she had first met him and it suited him, the length of it curling just below his neckline and brushing the top of his shoulders. His fringe was flopped adorably over his eyes and she resisted the urge to push it back like he did during the day. In sleep, he was completely relaxed and there was an air of serene calmness about him. She felt totally safe here lying beside him and it was at times like this, in the peace and tranquillity of the morning when it was just the two of them that she realised that she never, ever wanted to be anywhere else.

His eyes were closed so she couldn’t see the beauty of their dark depths but she loved the sleepiness in them when he had just woken up. She was tempted to wake him now, just so that she could get lost in their heat but he had been very restless last night and she wanted him to get as much rest as he could.

As she continued to study his face, she noticed the small dimple on his chin, which was covered with a light dust of shadow. Most days Vaughn was clean-shaven but on occasions she had seen him with a day’s worth of growth, especially now, and she actually found that sexy as hell. She hadn’t told him that yet but she figured there would be plenty of time for that in the future.

Vaughn wasn’t a big fan of pyjamas and had told her the first night that he had stayed with her that he usually just wore boxer shorts if anything. She was so out of it that she hadn’t really cared what he wore but now she found she was exceedingly grateful that he always left his chest bare as it gave her opportunity to study the hard lines and planes as he slept, her eyes following the predictable route down over his pecs and abs to the arrow which disappeared below the quilt.

There were signs that certain parts of his body were awake as she continued her visual journey and she sucked in a sharp breath as she saw the quilt slightly tented over his cock. Elise had been married for a long time so knew that this was perfectly normal for all men but she couldn’t help hoping that Vaughn’s ‘excitement’ in the morning was somehow added to by being in the bed with her.

Unable to resist, she tentatively reached down and moved the quilt slowly, pulling it away from his torso to reveal his shorts. He wasn’t fully aroused but due to his size, his shorts were already struggling to contain him and without really thinking it through, she slipped her hand
underneath the elastic and eased them down far enough to release his beautiful cock to her hungry gaze.

Elise paused momentarily and wondered whether she should continue her exploration or get back under the covers and wait until Vaughn woke up. She had never been this bold before and wouldn’t have dreamed of behaving like this with Dale but she was rapidly realising that her desires and feelings were very different with this man and she knew that she had to stop comparing the two of them in her mind. Hopefully, once all of this was over, Dale would be out of her life for good and so it wouldn’t matter anymore what she would or wouldn’t have done with him.

Boldly, she reached out and traced his length with the tips of her fingers, hoping to give him a little pleasure without waking him and smiled to herself as he immediately began to harden further in her hand. She continued with the light strokes for several minutes, dropping lower to caress the hidden sacs beneath and then pulling her fingers all the way up and down his length. After a few minutes, he was completely aroused and she again found herself marvelling at his size and beauty. She had never before considered the male anatomy to be beautiful; it was just there to serve a purpose, but with this man, it really was a thing of great beauty. As she watched, she found herself enjoying the view perhaps more than she should have been.

Briefly, she looked up to check that he was still asleep – he was - so she decided to up the level a bit. She began gently brushing her lips down from the tip to the base and then back up again, ending with a kiss at the very top. A small bead of moisture leaked out as she did so and she greedily lapped it up, enjoying the musk of the taste. Wondering how much further she could go before he awoke, she began to run her lips in tiny circles over the top and then ran them back down again, this time taking in the weighted sacs at the base.

Still he slumbered, so she made her way carefully back up to the tip, opening her mouth when she got there and sucking him in as far as she could go, licking him delicately and nipping him gently as she moved her mouth up and down. Another bead of moisture escaped and Elise let out a groan as she took in the taste of him. She could feel herself becoming aroused now too and sat up on her heels to give herself a better angle, enabling her to touch herself through her nightdress as she continued on with her ministrations to his cock.

Her breathing was now becoming heavier as she combined the sensation of having him in her mouth with the excitement of caressing herself and she wondered how much longer she was going to be able to hold on.

As if in answer, she became aware of a tortured groan rumbling through Vaughn’s chest and she lifted her head up to see that he was now wide awake, his eyes heavy and almost black with unquenched desire.

“Good morning,” she said cheekily and grinned at him.

“I take it you’re feeling better then?” he asked and grinned back at her. “Fuck, what a way to wake up.”

“You like?” she asked suggestively and without waiting for a response, went back to her task; this time taking more of him into her mouth and biting and sucking just a little bit harder now that she knew that he was awake.

Her arousal was growing by the second and as she continued to work on Vaughn, she carried on touching and rubbing herself; the double sensation almost torture. Vaughn had begun to writhe around underneath her and was himself stroking his chest and his nipples. Seeing him does that turned her on even more and before she knew it, she was close to her release.

“Shit baby, yeah...”said Vaughn as he closed his eyes and let his head loll back onto the bed.

He reached down with one hand and began to pump the base of his shaft himself, colliding with her mouth on every stroke which only added to the eroticism of the act. This whole situation was mind-blowing and Elise suddenly found herself wanting to taste his release, to take all of him, like she had never done before.

“Fuck baby...I’m so close...” groaned Vaughn and Elise lifted her head momentarily to check what he wanted her to do. She was so inexperienced in these matters it was laughable and having never really done the whole oral sex thing, she wasn’t sure how to play out the next part.

“What do you want me to do? I’ve never....” she stopped, almost embarrassed to admit to Vaughn that she had never gone this far before. Vaughn smiled as he obviously registered her nervousness and he reached down and tenderly ruffled her hair for a moment.

“Baby – you do whatever you want to. I need to come and I can’t deny it would blow my mind to watch you swallow me but if you’re not comfortable then we can do something else. I want you to enjoy everything that we do together, Angel, and I will
never
force you to do anything you don’t want to do.” Sincerity was written all over his face and Elise knew what she wanted – no, needed, to do.

“I want to – I just don’t know how to and what if I don’t like it?” she asked feeling like a naive virgin – she was thirty-one years old, for Christ’s sake!

“Just do what comes naturally, baby. Just let it happen and if you don’t like it, then we won’t do it again. I promise.” Vaughn continued to caress her hair and Elise found herself relaxing completely – she was going to do this, she was really going to do this.

She dropped her head back down and took him in her mouth again, this time working him in a faster rhythm which she mirrored with her other hand through her nightdress, continuing to caress herself. Vaughn groaned as she took him in as deep as she possibly could and she was amazed to realise that this was actually a massive turn-on for her too. Never would she have thought she could enjoy this as much as she was but she had found that she was learning and discovering so many things about herself and her sexuality since she had met this man and so far, all of them were good.

Upping the tempo further she felt his shaft stiffen more in her mouth and realised that he was getting close. She increased the pace of her other hand, determined that they were going to find their release together, so long had it been since they had been able to do anything other than lightly hug.

“Shit.....” ground out Vaughn “I’m coming baby – are you ready for me? Fuuccckkkk.....”

Elise bobbed her head as if in acknowledgement and sucked one final time as she felt him stiffen totally and then abruptly her mouth was filled with the warmness that was his seed. Greedily, she swallowed it down, relieved to realise that the taste wasn’t at all repulsive and concentrated on sucking every last ounce out of him as she plunged headlong into her own mind-blowing release.

Elise stirred a while later to find Vaughn awake and propped on one elbow watching her. Instantly, she was reminded of the very first night that they had ever spent together in his flat when she had woken to exactly the same image. She smiled up at him and he reached down and dropped a light kiss on her forehead.

“That – that was amazing, baby.” He said and smiled at her. “I need to wake up like that every single morning of my life.”

“Ha...I see.” laughed Elise, “Well, I need my beauty sleep so you might find you’ll have to go somewhere else if you want that kind of service every day.” She was teasing but the second the words left her mouth she regretted them as she saw the anger flare in his eyes.

“Don’t you ever say things like that, Elise. I do not want anyone else – ever. If I can’t be with you then I’d rather be on my own. I don’t want to hear those kinds of suggestions.” Vaughn was deadly serious and Elise punched him lightly in the ribs to break the moment.

“Relax, I was teasing.” she said, somewhat overwhelmed by the depth of his reaction; particularly as they had yet to define what this thing was between them. “It was a joke, Vaughn. I couldn’t bear the thought of you being with anyone else – it’s bad enough contending with the knowledge that Olivia has intimate knowledge of you. Bitch.” she muttered under her breath.

Vaughn looked completely perplexed. “I don’t understand what it is about Olivia. You keep referring to her and her ‘intimate’ knowledge of me but I have no idea what you are talking about. She seems to be the only person that ever causes us to argue and I am at a total loss to understand why.”

Elise looked at Vaughn as if he was a complete idiot. Seriously? He didn’t get it? So the fact that he had left the Christmas party with her meant nothing? Oh, and the small matter of her waiting behind for him at the office when they got back from the conference. He didn’t think that either of those warranted concern on her part?

She was about to reply when his phone on the bedside table chimed, indicating that he had a text message and he reached across to read it. She watched as his expression changed to one of pure anger as he opened and read the message. Once he had finished, he closed it down and threw his phone back onto the table none too gently.

“Everything okay?” she asked concerned, “Who was that?”

“Nothing.” He replied and she knew that he was lying. “Just work.” Still lying.

“It didn’t look like work to me.” She countered and regarded him carefully as a shuttered expression came across his face and she knew that she wasn’t going to get any more information.

“Just drop it, Elise.” The mood had been broken, the damage done by a simple text message and Elise could feel unwelcome anger and frustration rising to the surface.

The day had started off so perfectly and for the first time in ages she felt better. She had some energy, the pain had largely subsided and she wanted to get out and about and explore the world again. She had spent far too long cooped up in the bedroom with the seriously bad wallpaper and now, after one of the most intense experiences of her life, all of that had been ruined by one simple text message. A message about whose contents she had absolutely no idea.