Pale Stranger Read online

  I glanced down at his relaxed face, and gently ran a hand through his hair. He stirred, and I stiffened when his hands slid down behind me to grab my butt. I scowled at the sleeping pervert, my suspicions aroused by his trying to arouse us both. The breaking point came when one of his hands slid up and wrapped around my breast. My face turned red and I knocked him on the head. "Now I know you're not asleep!" I yelled at him.

  He grinned and cracked one eye. "Too obvious?"

  "Just a little, now get off," I growled back. I tried to pry him off my lap, but his arms wrapped around my waist and stuck him fast to me. I was trapped, and yet I wasn't alarmed; he could never scare me because he would never hurt me. "Haven't you ever heard of taking too many liberties with the hired help?" I scolded him.

  "Yes, but when you love someone taking too many liberties isn't possible," he teased.

  "You're proving yourself wrong right now," I snapped back.

  Benson lifted his head and our noses brushed together. His voice was soft, low, and sweet, and sent shivers down my back. "I'm going to prove how much I love you." He took me in a kiss so intense my mind short-circuited and I pushed back against his lips. We battled for supremacy, and his demanding mouth won the war. My stiff body relaxed in his arms and I groaned into the kiss. He pulled away and showed off a smug smirk. "Proof enough?"

  My cheeks were warm and my eyes half-lidded. I slowly shook my head. "No, I want more."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" I nodded, and his eyes wandered down to my blouse. My heaving chest strained my breasts against the front, and he raised his hand to pop off the top button. "That better?" he teased me.

  I parted the shirt to show off the tantalizing tops of my breasts. "Is it?" I tortured him in return.

  His eyes were glued to my pale breasts. "No," he hoarsely whispered. He popped off two more, and my bra pushed out of my blouse to show off the full curves of my breasts. His breaths came out in strained gasps, and his bright blue eyes had a darker tinge to their color. They were the blue of a stormy sea; he was holding back that storm inside himself; I wanted to sail those waters and let the wind take us where it would.

  I undid the rest of my buttons and completely opened my blouse. He caught my hand and raised those sultry eyes to mine. "Are you sure?" he softly asked me.

  I wasn't, but not enough that I wanted to stop. My hand slid up and seductively massaged the tops of my swollen, tingling breasts. They ached for his gentle caresses, as did the rest of me. Heat pooled between my legs and soaked my underwear, and I rubbed my thighs together to satisfy the craving. Rubbing my thighs only increased my need, and I leaned my head back and groaned; that broke his control.

  John pulled me down so my back was against the cushions of the couch, and went after my breasts like he was a man starved of milk. He nipped and licked at my sensitive flesh while his hands pawed at the bra clasp. The bra was freed, and his hot lips grasped my buds in a wild abandonment to lust. I moaned and arched my back into his sweet mouth. My legs opened and he settled between them, but not comfortably. He rubbed his hard manhood against my inner thigh like a dog in heat, and I was his bitch; I whimpered and pushed back.

  His hands worked feverishly to remove my pants, and with my help they found themselves on the floor along with my shirt and bra. I had only my underwear to protect me from his feral needs, but he paused atop me and glimpsed my nakedness. His hungry eyes swooped over every curve and bit of flesh. I blushed against such an inspection and tried to cover myself with my arms. He pulled my arms apart and leaned atop me to catch me in one of his commanding kisses.

  I felt him pull away his pants and underwear, and he lay atop me completely naked. His pale skin blended with mine as our hips rocked against one another. I looped a finger beneath the band of my underwear and slowly, teasingly pulled that down. He grabbed the band and tore it down my legs. His thick manhood twitched and pulsed with heat, and he eagerly set it at my hot, wet entrance.

  He paused too long; I needed him as badly as he needed me. "Please," I groaned. "Please take me."

  John grunted and thrust himself into me. What he didn't count on was that he was my first, and he roughly broke through my maidenhood. I flinched and grasped his shoulders with my quivering hands. His eyes glanced down at me in surprise and fear. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know-" I shook my head.

  "It's fine, just don't you dare stop," I breathed out.

  John nodded and pulled out just a little. My tight, wet walls clung to him, and he shuddered at the feel of them massaging his stiff erection. I let out a shaky breath, both from the dissipating pain and the increasing pleasure. His entire length brushed against my sensitive nub, and started a flow of sensual titillation. He grunted and lay down on top of me, covering me in his sweat-soaked, tense body. I wrapped my legs around him, and when he pushed back in he penetrated deeper than before. We both groaned and gasped, and he planted soft, nipping kisses along my neck.

  His pace was tortuously slow, but oh so gratifying. I matched his hips and pushed against him, and my nerves hummed with the pleasure of him brushing against me. My hands slid along his tense, sweat-soaked back, and reached as far as his delicious butt. He penetrated me again and again, and I reveled in the faster speed as his lust overtook his desire to keep us in this self-made paradise. I squirmed and gasped, and he wrapped his arms around me and pinned me to the couch to hold me still while he thrust into my quivering folds. I couldn't keep up with his fast penetrations, and my body twitched and pulsed with the reverberations of the coming orgasm.

  My muscles deliciously tightened and my juices flowed over him as he pounded harder into me. The world around me disappeared; there was only the feel of him inside of me, pushing me to a greater place of sensual satisfaction. The waves of pleasure flowed over me with all the power of an ocean, leading me higher and higher. I gasped for breath and thrashed in his hold. He tightened around me, in me. All my senses but one disappeared; there was only touch, and he touched me in my deepest, most sensual spot to the point of bursting with desire.

  My orgasm swept over me in crashing waves. He sent me to a place I could never have dreamed of in all my fantasies. It was so filled with blinding lights and a touching, lustful wave of bliss that I never wanted to leave, but all good things come to an end. He finished inside of me and collapsed atop my smaller frame, pulling me out of paradise and the air out of my lungs.

  I wheezed and glared at his face in the crook of my neck. His eyes were shut tight, and his breathing was shallow and hoarse. He was soaked in sweat, but I'd never seen so great an angel as I saw in him. I smiled and brushed aside one of his golden locks. His eyes fluttered open, and those sky-blue eyes were returned. The stormy seas were passed; we'd made love. Now all I wanted to do was sleep, but I was afraid he'd strangle me with his weight. "Mind switching places?" I squeaked out.

  His eyes widened when he realized my dilemma. "Oh right." He deftly flipped us both over so I was on top and he beneath me. It was a comfortable arrangement for both of us, and completed when he grabbed a blanket from over the back of the couch and lay it over us for some propriety. "Better?" he asked me.

  I yawned and nodded before I set my head down in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his strong arms around me, and we both fell asleep.

  CHAPTER 11

  I woke up an hour before sunset with sore muscles and a crick in my neck from lying on something hard. I lifted my head and found the hard thing was John's chest. The man himself was still asleep and, most importantly, naked. We both were, and the only thing that saved anyone from coming into the room and having an image engraved on their memory was the blanket from over the couch.

  That scenario rattled me; what if someone had come in and found us in this, well, compromising position? I blushed to think of the shock, horror, and mental scarring. Hell, what we did struck me with horror; I'd finally done, well, my boss. How could I have let the relationship slip into this? What would he do now that his craving for my flesh was satisfied? Did
he think I was a slut? Worse, did he think he could take me anytime now that he had me under his power?

  I shuddered; that's what happened. I had been under his power. His delicious, masculine power. It had felt so good to have his strong arms around me, protecting me from the world by becoming my world. The way he held me close and touched me where I'd never allowed anyone to touch me. He was my first, nobody could take his place, and that scared me. He had a place in my life, a permanent place, and I didn't know if he was the one I wanted in there.

  I slipped off the couch, taking the blanket with me, and wrapped myself in it as I stood over his still, pale form. His hair was ruffled, and I almost regretted that his shining blue eyes were closed. However, closed meant I could make a clean getaway, and he wouldn't be able to stop me. I had to leave here and think about what had happened. Staying in that house meant biased memories, and he was there. This was all just so confusing that only escape could clear my thoughts.

  I grabbed all my clothes and crept out into the hall. Each squeak of the old boards made me wince and wish for DW40 for wood. I changed in the study and snuck back down the hall to the front door with my purse and coat in hand. As a precaution I slipped my head into the living room to check on Sleeping Beauty. Somebody must have kissed him because he was gone.

  A noise at my back startled me, and I instinctively swung my arm around to knock their head off. John grabbed my arm and raised a mischievous eyebrow. "Do you hit all your employers, or just the sneaky ones?"

  I wrenched my arm from his grasp and scowled at him. "I don't do anything to my employers except what they deserve." At my words his grin grew wider, and that made me angry. I didn't want him to see me as an easy sex partner. "But I make a mistake every now and then, and I'm going to remedy this one by leaving." I stomped toward the door, but he grasped my arm again. "Let me go! You can't keep me here!"

  He let me go and I stumbled back into the wall beside the living room entrance. His expression held confusion and pain. "What's wrong? Why are you acting like this?"

  "What's wrong? You're asking me what's wrong?" I gestured to the couch. "We just had sex on the couch, that's what's wrong!"

  "We could have had it in the bed, but the couch was right there," he pointed out.

  I threw up my arms. "You're impossible! All you're thinking about is getting back into my pants!"

  John's good humor slipped from his face. "That's not what I'm thinking, and you should know that."

  I furiously shook my head. "But I don't know that, and I can't think straight here. I need to leave."

  I rushed to the door and made it out onto the porch with John close behind. "Wait! Please don't go!" he begged me.

  I didn't pay any attention to him until I was out on the gravel driveway, and that's when I heard his bare footsteps behind me. I swung around to find him blinking in the sun in only his pants. The sun shone off his pale skin, and his blue eyes sparkled in the full light of the evening day star. My eyes widened and I rushed over to place my hands on his bare chest. "What in the world are you doing?" I shrieked at him. I tried to push him toward the house, but he stood firmer than a boulder in a field needing to be plowed.

  "I won't go back inside without you," he insisted.

  "And I won't go back, so you go on in right now!" I ordered him.

  "Then come back in with me or I won't go," John repeated.

  I glanced between him and my car; freedom from this insanity was so close, but I expected him to turn the shade of a tomato at any moment. I growled, turned him around and shoved him back into the house. He toddled along with a stupid grin on his face, but when we got inside the dark hall I noticed his body had a distinct touch of heat on the skin. "Aren't you supposed to combust or something?" I quipped as I shut the door behind me.

  John turned around and shook his head. "No, but the symptoms will come along in an hour or two."

  "And what are the symptoms?" I asked him.

  "You'll see the welts and blisters, but I'll feel the heat," he replied.

  "Any way we can avoid this? Any medication or anything?"

  He sadly shook his head. "The only relief is a cold bath, and even that-hey!"

  I had shoved him toward the stairs. "Then let's get one for you right now so you'll be ready for when the heat comes," I told him. I shoved and pulled him upstairs and into the bathroom, where I readied his bath and sat him down on the toilet. "Now watch the water and don't move!"

  John noticed me creeping backwards to the door and shot up from his royal seat. "Where are you going?" he questioned me.

  "Only downstairs, now watch that water and I'll be right back!" I closed the door behind me and clattered downstairs. In the study I found what I was looking for; a phone number for Cecil. Since he'd raised the boy from the age of ten he would know best what to do in this situation. I called the number and was relieved when Cecil answered. "Cecil, this is Miss Calhoun, the girl-"

  "I remember you," he chuckled. "What seems to be the problem that you'd search out my number?"

  "John went out into the sun without a shirt on and-"

  "What!" he exclaimed, and I flinched. "Why in heaven's name would he do that?"

  "Because he was being stupid-"

  "Obviously," Cecil quipped. "Have you made him comfortable? Within reason, that is."

  I rolled my eyes. "Yes, and he's filling the tub with cold water, but isn't there anything else we can do?"

  "I'm afraid not, but I'll be right over." Cecil canceled the call and I felt a wave of relief wash over me and sweep me onto land; he would take charge and handle John while I slunk off.

  Cecil was quick in coming, and even quicker to take charge. He stalked up the stairs and surprised John in the bathroom on the, well, john. John shot up and glared at his uncle with me behind Cecil. "What are you doing here?"

  Cecil looked him up and down, and frowned. "I heard you'd done something stupid. Now I can see for myself that it's true." I, too, could now see the effects. His skin had a reddish hue and he moved with a stiffness showing the increasing pain he felt.

  John scowled at Cecil. "I'll be fine. It's not like this hasn't happened before," he countered.

  "But not for a long while, and I can't think why you would-" Cecil paused and glanced between John and me. I blushed, and he smiled at me. "Could you leave us for a moment, Miss Calhoun? I want to, um, help John into his bath."

  I eagerly nodded and would have shot off but for John's pleading look; he still didn't want me to run off. I sighed. "I'll be downstairs if you need me," I told them.

  I tromped downstairs and went into the living room to relax. With the couch sitting there laying testament to our sexual romp, the living room was now the worst room in the house to clear my worried, befuddled thoughts. I distracted myself by listening to the murmuring voices upstairs. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but John didn't sound happy and Cecil was amused by something. The exchange was tedious until John's voice rose up and there was a splash as a great amount of water spilled over the walls and floor. I shot up and stared with wide eyes at the ceiling. The splashing noise was followed by a great deal of laughter, but only from Cecil.

  A few minutes later I heard squeaking shoes down the stairs and stuck my head out into the hall to see Cecil step down soaking wet and with a big grin on his face. He noticed me and aimed his wet feet toward me, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him. "There's something I wish to speak with you about, Miss Calhoun. Would you do me the honor of stepping outside so I may dry off a little?" he politely requested.

  "Um, sure."

  He guided me out to the gravel driveway, and soaked in some of the lingering sun before he turned to me with an attentive glance. "You must be very fond of John to have stayed this long with him."

  I blinked in bewilderment. "I'm supposed to work for him, remember?" I countered.

  He waved aside my explanation with his hand and a frown. "Yes, yes, John told me the arrangement, but nobody could be this in
need of money to put up with the strangeness around John's life. There must be something else

  I shrugged. "I just wanted to help him get outside. He just seemed so afraid of his shadow, literally, that I thought maybe he just needed somebody by him to encourage him out."

  "So you stayed out of pity for him?" Cecil guessed.

  "I guess."

  "I don't buy into that," he snappily replied.

  I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. "And why not?"

  "Because I believe there's another reason you stayed with him."

  "And that would be?"

  Cecil leaned in and winked at me. "That age-old troublemaker, love," he answered.

  My face warmed with my blush, but I held my tone firm. "How can I love somebody? I just met him a few days ago."

  He chuckled. "Does love have a point at which it comes into existence?"

  "I don't know, but I don't love him!" I insisted.

  Cecil still grinned from ear to ear. "Then perhaps you might tell me why your hair is such a mess, and your clothes in such a disarray on your person?"

  I self-consciously tried to de-muss my clothes and control my hair. "It's been a hectic day for us."

  His face lost some of its humor. "So I heard, but you haven't directly contradicted my statement."

  I stopped my fussing and blinked at him. "What was the question again?"

  "Do you love him, or not?" he rephrased.

  "I-I don't know," I stammered out. "I mean, he's nice and cute and a lot of other adjectives, but I don't know how I feel about him. I mean, how am I supposed to feel about my boss?"

  "Is that all he is to you?" Cecil persisted.

  I threw up my hands. "I don't know, okay? I can't think straight, not after-" I froze, and Cecil raised an eyebrow. "Not after today," I finished.

  Cecil sighed and rung water out of his coat. "Well, I'll leave him in your uncertain hands and check up on him tomorrow. Make sure he stays in that tub for at least an hour, and if you need to feel free to add some ice cubes."