StrangeDays (7 page)

“Okay.” She put out her hand. “Condom.”

He’d almost forgotten. Thank goodness she still had her head
on. His brain had gone straight to his dick. Christian craved skin-on-skin
contact with her, but there would be time for that later. There would be years.
For now, even though he knew he was healthy and would be shocked if she were
not, he would keep them both safe from any unforeseen consequences. Tonight
would be entirely about pleasure, not about regret in the morning.

She rolled the condom onto his hard erection and he groaned
when jolts of pleasure traveled up his spine. His hips bucked and he dug his
hands into the bed sheet to stop himself from coming at her gentle touch. This
woman could get him turned on like no other.

When she finished, she climbed on top of him. Perched,
straddling his body with her soft legs, his cock dying to be enfolded in her
warmth. She held all the power of the world over him. If she wanted, he would
beg.

But she didn’t make him. Taking his penis in her small
hands, she pushed herself on top of him until she inserted his cock into her
pussy. He closed his eyes. Her muscles stretched around him and after a few
minutes he was buried balls deep inside her, pressed up against her womb, so
fully contained that he could barely breathe for fear of ending the sensation
too soon.

His balls ached and his cock begged for release. But this
was about her, about showing his girl she could control their situation, could
believe in it. It was also about watching her boobs bounce when she moved up
and down on him. His needs could be basic and he didn’t feel shame about them.

Christian opened his eyes to find Dodie staring down at him.
“You okay?” Her voice sounded husky.

“I am better than okay.” He’d never been so okay in his
life.

She gripped her nipples, pinching them between her thumbs
and pointer fingers. His mouth dried and for a second air left his body.

“You take my breath away.”

She pursed her lips. “Good.”

The she moved. Up and down she slid on his cock, clenching
her muscles around him with the motion. He bucked his hips, driving deeper
inside her. “Shit, baby. You make me so hot.”

His words seemed to spur her faster. She increased the speed
of her movements until they gasped for air with each thrust. He considered
himself to be in really good shape, but he could barely keep up with her.

“Oh.” She let go of her breasts, her hands stroking her face
instead. “Christian.”

The way she said his name sounded sacred. He grabbed onto
her hips, drawing her deeper down on him, and cried out when she moved all the
way down his erection.

“It’s happening.” With her head thrown back, she looked like
some kind of sex goddess. He had to possess her. “Oh Christian, I’m coming.”

Her pussy wept, her juices making their movements slick. He
loved the noises their bodies made coming together. A true joining. And
suddenly he couldn’t hold back anymore either.

Her orgasm spurred his forward. Soon, he couldn’t hold back.
Someday he’d be able to last all night with this woman. He’d show her the
control he valued so highly in himself. Someday, she wouldn’t be able to undo
him so completely.

He cried out her name. Someday would have to wait.

* * * * *

Christian held her in his arms while she slept. She breathed
deeply and steadily against him while he drew circles on her back with his
pointer finger. The moon still lit the room and a glance at the clock next to
him told him it was just after two thirty in the morning. He had to sleep. After
all, he was supposed to look beautiful tomorrow.

He smiled at the thought. They’d Photoshop anything they
didn’t like. She murmured something and he tugged her closer. Apparently his
girl had some vivid dreams.

Rolling onto his side, he adjusted her until he had the
outer spoon and then just for good measure, he swung his leg over her to keep
her in place against him. Dodie could be skittish. He wouldn’t have her running
away when he slept.

Kissing her shoulder, he closed his eyes and let the day
wash away. Everything would be okay from here on in. It had to be. Life
wouldn’t give him this woman only to take her away.

“Come on, Dodie. We don’t want to be late for all the fun.”

She whirled around at the sound, suddenly remembering where
she’d heard the voice before. It was the clown. The one she’d put out of her
mind when she’d woken up the day before. Now he was back? In another dream?

For some reason, she chased after him. That was the problem
with the stories her mind told at night. They always started right in the
middle of the tale and she had no idea why she ran after the clown when she
should be going in absolutely the opposite direction.

“We’re going to be late and there is so much fun to be had.”
He waved his knife in the air again. At least this time he wasn’t doing it to
her.

“I don’t want to play with you. I don’t want to be part of
this fun.”

But the clown busted through a large, red-painted door. She
had no idea where they were or if she’d even been to this particular place
before. Was she inventing locations to stick this clown?

She ran through the door. The clown stood in the living
room, still wielding his knife. A family of four cowered in the corner. The
father, a tall, balding man, tried to cover his son, daughter and wife from the
painted-faced monster.

“One, two, three, four. I’m sorry that all of your time is
up but you won today’s clown prize. A trip to hell for all of you.”

He lunged forward, sticking his knife into the father who
stared down at it as if he couldn’t quite make out the fact that he now had a
deadly weapon inserted into his stomach. The wife cried out, trying to lunge
forward, while blood dripped from the man’s intestines onto the floor.

“Oh look, I have another knife.” Another slicer appeared in
the clown’s hand. He giggled as if he’d just made a joke.

Dodie screamed out, shrieking as she never had before in her
life. Why was this happening? Why couldn’t she make it stop?

“Dodie. You’re dreaming. Wake up.” Christian pulled her from
her dream with his words and the dark safeness of her room enveloped her,
shoving away memories of the house of horrors where she’d just been.

She shook and after a second grabbed onto him, pulling him
even closer.

“Shhh,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve got you. Did you have
a bad dream?”

Dodie nodded, pressing a kiss to his chest. Never had she
been so grateful for another person’s presence than she was for Christian’s at
that moment. She kissed him again. Over and over.

“It’s okay.” He stroked her hair. “What was it?”

“Monster.” How else could she describe it? “I feel like a
baby.”

He pulled the cover over both of them. “A monster?”

When he readjusted her so her head rested on his shoulder
and her body fit to his, she didn’t object. If he wanted to baby her at that
moment, he could go right ahead. Not since her parents hadn’t returned home
from dinner one night had she felt so taken care of in the face of fear. “Sounds
stupid to say it, but yes, a monster.”

“Tell me about it. As it is, I fight monsters. I make them
go away forever.”

She laughed, this time rolling over to plant one more kiss
on chest. “If only.”

“You might be surprised.”

His words were like a salve on the horrible dream she’d
endured and she closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat. Exhaustion won much
faster than she anticipated.

This time she dreamed of nothing at all.

* * * * *

“Dodie.” This time when she opened her eyes, she stretched
and felt deliciously immobile. Smiling up at Christian seemed exactly the right
thing to do in the morning.

“Yes?” If he was up for another round so was she.

“It’s six. You have to get up now, right?”

Work. Damn it. She nodded before she groaned. Her legs felt
like iron and it took several tries to get herself out of the bed. “Our late-night
schedule is going to kill me.”

Christian rubbed her back. “I know. It’s just another couple
of months. I guess I could try to back off until then, but I don’t want to.”

She laughed. “I don’t want you to. Maybe I’m going to have
to figure out how I can fit in a nap at my desk every day.”

“No.” He got out of the bed. “I don’t want you in trouble. We’ll
work it out. I’ll sneak in after you’re asleep every night. Wake you, take your
hot body as many ways as I can think of, and then you can roll over and go back
to bed.”

Dodie stretched her arms over her head. Not until after
she’d enjoyed the sensuous movement did she realize how completely
unembarrassed she was to be naked in front of him. He might be the only one on
the planet to think she was flawless, but for some reason Christian really
liked how she appeared in the buff. “Sounds like a plan.”

He clothed himself quickly, which gave her a pang of
disappointment. He had such a cute ass. “Except for tomorrow. That’s Saturday. You
can sleep all day and let me take you out at night.”

A date? He walked out of the room and she let herself grin
broadly. He wanted to take her out to eat, or for drinks, or wherever in front
of people, just the two of them.
This is really happening.

Christian put on the television in the living room and she
heard him puttering around in the kitchen. He had said something about
breakfast when he’d come the night before and apparently he planned on making
good with his statement.

If he wanted to cook, she wasn’t going to complain.

* * * * *

Having showered and dressed for work in record time, she
walked out into the living room. Christian sipped coffee while he stared at the
television. His eyebrows were furrowed downward and he shook his head.

She walked closer and stood close next to him, resting her
head on his shoulder.

The newscaster on television spoke. “If you’re just joining
us, we are covering breaking news. A family in Northwest Austin were the
victims of a horrific act of violence last night. From initial reports, it
appears to have been a home invasion. All four members are reported dead at the
scene.”

Dodie’s knees buckled and Christian caught her before she
hit the ground. She gasped. Those poor people. Why did she feel as if she knew
them? The faces of the family in a happier time, all of the family posing in
front of Cinderella’s castle in Disney World, displayed on the screen. She did
know them, but she couldn’t place how.

“Hey, you okay?” Christian set down his coffee on the floor
and carried her to the couch.

“Yes. I just think I know them, but that’s impossible. Those
poor people. What is happening in Austin? We’ve never had this kind of crime
here.”

Christian nodded, kissing her cheeks. “I was thinking the
same thing.”

He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a plate from the
counter. He set it down on her coffee table. “Eat this.”

He’d really managed a small feast while she bathed and dressed.
Eggs, bacon and toast. Usually, she settled for just getting coffee into her
system and functioning. She dug in and eventually he sat down next to her. The
clock read seven, which meant she had fifteen minutes before she had to leave.

“Do you believe in good versus evil?”

She choked on her toast and, when she stopped coughing,
turned to look at him straight on. “What?”

“Good. Evil. The eternal struggle. Do you believe?” He
leaned back as if he hadn’t just asked her a metaphysical question at seven
o’clock in the morning when she’d had only a few hours of sleep.

“Well. I guess I don’t think about it very much. I’m not
religious, if that’s what you mean.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’m not concerned with religion.
Some things just are, whether you believe in one thing or another. It doesn’t
really matter. I’ve never been one for doctrine and I don’t know that anyone
has it exactly right.” Christian scratched his chin. “That’s not really what I
was asking you.”

“Then I don’t understand.” She stood up to put her now empty
dish in the sink. When she got back later, she’d do a load of dishes…if she
didn’t crash the second she walked through the door.

“I guess I’m talking about that family who died. And what
happened to Mindy’s Brian. My parents’ murder. Do you believe in evil?”

She shuddered. The room felt five degrees cooler than
seconds before. “How could I not?”

Once she’d uttered those words, she realized she meant them.
As much as she would have dismissed the idea days ago, the things happening
made her scared. She looked over her shoulder on the way to her car, she
thought about those people who needed help in the hospital.

Maybe it didn’t matter what she called what was happening.
What did words matter anyway?

“My parents were murdered in their bed while I slept in the
next room.” He took a sip from his glass and then set it down. “With an ax. No
one could believe I didn’t hear a thing. They arrested me, put me in jail. I
lived there for a year while they prepared a trial. Even my lawyer didn’t
believe that I hadn’t done it. I was a dumbass kid and had been in trouble the
year before when my buddy and I set off a small pipe bomb in an old abandoned
house. I’d been a jackass. Even as I’d done it, I’d known better. I have no
excuse. Good parents, every chance.”

She interrupted him. “Kids do dumb things. I mean I’m not a
mom and what do I know? But I remember just being stupid for no good reason.”

“Exactly. But they made it out to be a thing, an incident
which showed an escalating pattern. They said I was some sort of sociopath.
Anyway, a man named Jacob Foy came to my defense when he heard about it. In
addition to being a top-notch lawyer, he’s a master in many forms of martial
arts and runs a school in Chicago. He took over the case, pro bono, and pointed
out I couldn’t have lifted the ax, let alone wielded it. They let me go. But no
one would adopt me and I had no family who would even consider taking me in. A
great-aunt who pretended I didn’t exist, a cousin who didn’t return calls—they
all worried I might actually be crazy.”

“That’s terrible. When my parents died, I had my
grandparents at least. You must have been so alone.”

“Master Foy took me in.” He shook his head. “There’s more to
this story, but listen, I promise you, if there’s evil around, I’m actually a
good guy to have in your corner.”

“For many reasons.” Of that she had no doubt.

He nodded, making love to her with his eyes. Something
inside her body thawed, some part of her she hadn’t known was frozen.

“I put my cell number in your phone.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” Christian might even be addictive.

* * * * *

“Hey,” Christian called after her, chasing her out to her
car.

She turned when she heard him and Dodie’s warm smile made
the early morning seem even brighter. “What’s up?”

“Two things.” He kissed her on her nose, which was rapidly
becoming one of his favorite places to plant one on her. “First, I needed one
more kiss before I could let you go and second, what is the name of your
company?”

“Dew Technologies. Why?” She smoothed her fingers over his
shirt and he got hard. He wouldn’t make her late for work, but the ache she
started inside him would make today a constant challenge. Unless he got into
the shower and took care of it manually, although he suspected that would not
work. Now that he’d had her touch, his own wouldn’t be the same, not even if he
imagined her while he did it.

“How am I going to know where to send flowers when I want to
surprise my genius of a girlfriend?”

She blushed and he grinned. It was so easy to make her turn
red and he loved doing it. Now he would actually arrange a bouquet. Truth was,
he just wanted to know where she stayed all day so he could know how to keep
her safe, if need be.

Dodie leaned up and kissed him square on the lips. “No
flowers necessary. Come down sometime and we’ll have lunch on South Congress.”

“Okay.” He nodded and waited for her to get in her car and
drive off. The tires made a slight squealing noise when she pulled into
traffic. They’d pulled the other night. “Note to self. Get Dodie’s car looked
at for her.”

“Hey.” He whirled around, not surprised Jonah snuck up on
him.

“Hey yourself.” Christian nodded to his friend. “What are
you doing up here?”

“I drove Mindy home. Hope you don’t mind that I took your
car.” Jonah held up Christian’s own keys. How the hell did he miss that his car
had moved? Somehow he had to figure out how to be with Dodie and to not be so
distracted at the same time.

“Mindy went home?” Dodie had assumed the other woman was asleep
and hadn’t wanted to bother her. He should have checked.

“She’s insisting on going to work. She wants the
distraction.”

Christian shook his head. “Dodie’s going to take one look at
her and insist she go home.”

“Well, she can argue with the stubborn lady. I did it all
night.”

That stopped Christian in his track. “What did you argue
with her about all night? You just met her.”

“Whether or not she should come to Chicago with me
tomorrow.”

“Hold on. What?” Had he heard Jonah correctly? “Why would
you suggest that? You just met the woman.”

“You’d been with Dodie once before you declared her yours to
me. Before she apparently knew about it.” Jonah laughed. “And I’m not taking
her to Chicago to date her, although I would if she wanted that, which for now
I know she doesn’t. I’d take her to teach her how to be strong, to show her she
can take care of herself.”

“You’d take her to Foy. That’s what you want to do. Are you
nuts?”

Jonah slapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for the vote of
confidence. And she says she’s not going, so cool your jets. I’ll be going back
all by my lonesome.”

“On that subject.” He walked back toward his apartment and
Jonah followed him. “It got suddenly cold in her apartment this morning. And a
family was murdered in their home last night. I saw it on the news.”