| Fan Fiction |
by Eli =)
What had he said? Something about her marrying Jake? None of it made any sense to her.
As she sat up in bed, her nightgown slid down to cover her, reminding her. Damn it, he came into her room, practically undressed her, practically made love to her, and then had walked out!
Anger began to replace the need. She slid off the bed and rushed to put on the first thing she saw, the outfit she had worn that morning. She looked for her shoes, couldn't find them, and decided to forget them.
She hurried down the balcony to his room. The doors were open, but he wasn't there.
She marched downstairs to the lobby. "Mikee, have you seen Gerald?"
As always, Mikee was pleasant and eager to please, but there was also a certain wariness about him that told her she wasn't hiding her anger well.
"The boss left a few minutes ago. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Left?" No, no, no, she thought. Gerald wasn't going to sail merrily away while she was left here fuming mad about what had just happened. "The dock, right? He went to the dock."
"Uh.......he didn't say a word to me."
"Never mind." She turned on her heels and headed for her car. Even though she had been to the dock only once before, she drove without fear of losing her way. She could get lost in her own apartment back in New York. But Gerald was like a lodestone to her. She never seemed to have any trouble finding him, no matter where he was. She could find him even when he didn't want her to, even when she didn't want to.
Once at the dock, she located the correct pier with no trouble at all. Down at its end she could see the running lights of his boat. The thought that he might be about to sail off gave her an additional urgency and added to her fury. She ran the length of the pier and jumped onto the boat just as Gerald started its engine. She grabbed his arm before he could shift the gears and jerked him around.
His expression was harsh and reckless, but she wasn't deterred. "Just exactly what did you think you were doing back there in my room?" she yelled.
He was completely taken off guard by her sudden appearance. One second her image had been burning in his mind, the image of her quivering and willing beneath his hands. The next, she was standing in front of him, vibrating with anger, and more beautiful than he had ever seen her. But his anger matched hers, and he yelled back at her. "I was trying to show you what a gigantic mistake you're about to make!"
"Mistake?" Oh, you mean the mistake I made by giving in to you as easily as I did. Now, there's a gigantic mistake for you, and one that I can assure you won't be repeated."
"Fine! Whatever you want! But just know that if you marry Jake, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
Wind whipped her hair across her eyes. Impatiently she swiped it from her face. "Jake? You mean he's what all that was about? You came to my room because of Jake?"
"Ugh, damn it, Kim, don't you get it? You can't respond to a man like you did to me and get married to someone else. And, honey, did you ever respond! I could have taken you right then and there."
Irrate and embarrassed at hearing the truth, she felt her cheeks flush with color. "You give yourself way too much credit!"
"No way, Kim. Ten more seconds, and I would have been in you."
But he hadn't done it because he hadn't wanted her, she thought, growing even angrier. "You are the most egocentric, crude, unpleasant, uptight-"
"Don't leave out bastard. What's got you so upset, Kim? The fact that I didn't finish what I started?"
He caught her wrist in midair, stopping her before she could hit him. She had never slapped a person in her life, and she was shaken by the idea that he had driven her to the point where she had tried. She wrenched her wrist from his grip and made an attempt to lower her voice. She was only partially successful. "Damn you, Gerald, haven't you been listening to me? I'm not marrying Jake."
"Yeah, I heard you, but the mothers of the prospective bride and groom didn't, and, goodness, Kim, if you're not careful, you're going to wind up married."
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "And so you thought you'd take it upon yourself to give me a little practical demonstration that would remind me why I shouldn't marry Jake. How very kind. Just who in the world do you think you are, anyway? How dare you do something like that!"
He stepped closer to her, his eyes glittering with inner fire. "How dare I? I'll tell you how I dare. By your own admission, you didn't know you were engaged until one day you looked down and saw a damn ring on your finger."
The fact that it had happened just that way didn't lessen her anger by one bit. "I explained that! I was busy!"
"Right. You were busy. Your mind was on other things. Paris-Rome, Rome-Paris. I can understand. Those are two cities I often confuse because they're so much alike."
"It can happen," she said, furious.
"Obviously it can if you're making the reservations. You should come with a label; Warning: Mind will change directions without notice."
"That's not funny!"
"Tell me about it. I watched you tonight, Kim. I listened. Something sure as hell was on your mind other than what those women were saying. I give them forty-eight hours to have your whole wedding planned."
"You're exaggerating."
"Not in the least. If you heard two words they said. I'd be surprised. And call me simple, but I can't figure out what could be more important than convincing them that you're not going to marry Jake."
"I don't understand what your problem is, Gerald. Mom and Darlene mean well, and they're eventually going to understand."
"How? When? You don't even pay attention to them long enough to comprehend what they're doing."
Her brows creased. "So what if I don't? I've known them all my life. I know how they think. They're not saying anything I haven't heard before. And what is it to you anyway? Why do you care?"
"Why? Why?" He looked at her in frustration. Her eyes blazed; her skin was flushed and glowing; her hair flew wild and free around her. Her taste was still in his mouth, her feel still on his hands.
He loved her. The knowledge hit him like a sledgehammer between the eyes. He had been right to fear her, but in the end he never had a chance.
She crossed her arms beneath her chest. "Are you going to answer me, Gerald. Why?"
If he told her the truth, it would scare her to death. She had already said she wasn't cut out to have a serious relationship with a man, and now he knew he wouldn't settle for anything less. "Because I hate witnessing accidents, and that's what a wedding between you and Jake would be - a terrible, horrific accident." He swung around and hit a switch to turn off the boat's engine. The sudden quiet was startling. "Unless," he said, lowering his voice, "you really want to marry him."
She frowned, wondering why he was no longer yelling at her. "We've already been through that, Gerald. I told you I don't. And if you were paying as close attention as you say you were tonight, you would have heard me tell everyone the same thing."
"Yeah, and I also heard the impact it made. None."
The air was cool on her skin, but she was so engrossed with him, she scarcely felt it. Her system still had not recovered from him. She wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt her. "I can't believe you're actually standing there, critiquing my conduct at dinner tonight! If you have such an aversion to accidents, then I suggest you look the other way, not that one is about to happen, mind you. And anyway, as far as I can see, it's not any of your business."
He had made it his business even before he had realized he loved her. Now that he knew, there was no way he was going to let a wedding between her and Jake take place. "Maybe you're right, but satisfy my curiosity. What exactly was on your mind tonight?"
Emotions ran through her, buffeting her, repeatedly striking everywhere inside her that she hurt. She felt disoriented and wildly out of control. "You! Okay. I was thinking about you! How I irritate and bother you. How you want me to move off of your floor. How you're always trying to get away from me, even though I'm not stalking you, except for tonight when I felt perfectly justified in....." Something about him was different, she realized. He no longer seemed harsh or reckless. There was warmth in his eyes, a gentleness in his demeanor. "Gerald-"
His hands closed around her upper arms. "I'm sorry, Kim."
His apology was so unexpected, her mouth fell open. "What?"
"I'm sorry for getting angry about the dinner this evening. And I'm sorry for coming to your room and going as far as I did, then abruptly leaving." He paused, and his voice turned husky when he continued. "And I guess the thing I'm the most sorry about is that I didn't make love to you."
Kim stared at him, stunned. "You are?"
Although he still held her arms and could have effortlessly drawn her to him, he went to her, closing the small distance between them so that their bodies lightly touched. "I want very much to make up to you what I did. I want you very much- I can't even begin to tell you how much."
Where had her anger gone? she wondered, bewildered. How could he vanquish her righteous indignation so easily? "Well, if that's the case, why did you leave like you did?"
"Looking back on it, I think it was the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. It was also the hardest thing I've ever done, and believe me, I paid for it physically. I'm still paying for it. Every nerve, muscle, and bone in my body is aching for you."
Slowly he lowered his head, giving her plenty of time to pull away. When she didn't, he lightly brushed his lips across hers. At the touch of his mouth heat began to thread through her.
"Forgive me, Kim," he whispered. "Please forgive me."
"Just don't do it again." It seemed important for her to say that. But she knew if he came to her again, brought her to the point where she would do anything he asked, and then left, she wouldn't be able to stop the pain from completely engulfing her.
"Never. I couldn't. I want you so much, Kim."
The thread of heat became a stream growing wider, rushing faster. She started to remind him that she wasn't any good at it, that they would both be disappointed, but desire stopped the words in her throat. For a brief period of time anger had obscured her need for him, the need he had created in her moonlit room. But the need had remained inside her, and now that she was no longer angry, it surged with full, thundering force. "All right."
A hard shudder raced through him. He touched the soft curve of her cheek, then took her hand and led her downstairs, through the salon, to a hall. At the end of the hall he opened a door.
She saw a blurred image of a luxuriously furnished bedroom and an oversized bed. Only Gerald was crystal-clear to her. A fiery passion showed in his brilliant brown eyes and on his taut face, but he was overwhelmingly tender as he reached behind her and unhooked her bra. It slid to the floor without a sound.
Holding her eyes, he undid his slacks, pushed them down past his hips to his knees, and then stepped out of them. His lips moved as he murmured to her, but her heart was hammering so hard, she couldn't hear.
His lips moved again. She concentrated on the words and heard. "Don't be afraid."
"I won't be," she whispered, watching with mesmerizing wonder as his boxers came off.
She had thought she knew what a naked man looked like, but she had been wrong. Gerald was a marvel to her. He was all powerful muscles, smooth, glistening skin, and undeniable masculinity. To her own surprise, she reached out to him, wanting to explore him, and found herself delighted by the goosebumps she felt from his arms beneath her fingertips.
The sound of his harsh, indrawn breath at her touch emboidered her. She skimmed the flat of her hand down his muscled abdomen to his navel, and then back up to his chest. He made a rough, broken sound.
"Do you want me to stop?" she asked.
"Lord, no...."
Lured and fascinated by his body, he was perfect; the quintessential male. Her legs turned to water, her mind to jelly, her insides to molten lava.
Gerald felt as if she were turning him inside out, her small hand torturing him with an ecstasy too great to endure, and at the same time, too great to stop. But his patience snapped, and he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. A wildfire was searing her, depleting all her oxygen and ravaging her remaining inhibitions. She and Gerald were about to perform the most intimate act a man and a woman could perform together. The other two times she had had sex had been little more than the acts of a curious young girl. But instinctively she knew what was about to happen would be very different, and in some way she couldn't begin to fathom, momentously important. Unwilling to take time to examine her instinctive feeling, unwilling to wait for him, she stripped off her shorts and lingerie and dropped them over the side of the bed.
For a moment he could only stare at her. Her hair lay in lustrous waves against skin that gleamed. Her body beckoned and made his mouth go dry. Her long, sleek legs made him begin to shake. "You're exquisite," he said, his voice uneven. "And I've wanted you ever since I laid eyes on you."
Nerves were quivering thoughout her veins. She literally felt as if she were on fire for him. But there was one more thing she needed to say. "Tell me, Gerald. Tell me this won't be a one-night stand."
He laughed huskily. "Oh, honey, I can guarantee it." With feverish restlessness his hand brushed across her chest, then slowly smoothed down her flat stomach. She was soft, liquid, and hot, and he was about to give up his freedom to her without a qualm. For a flash of a moment he was astonished at himself, and then the thought vanished as fast as it had come. SHE was what he wanted.
He leaned down kissing, savoring the crook of her neck down to her collarbone. She made a sound of pleasure and satisfaction, and his tone of voice echoed her emotions. "Are you ready for this?"
"If I get any more ready," she said, her voice whispery with need, "I'll explode."
His laugh turned to a groan. "Your habit of saying exactly what's on your mind is going to be the death of me."
She didn't answer, because her mind had gone blank. Magical things were happening inside her. She was shimmering with heat, trembling with desire. She entwined her arms around his neck and opened her mouth for his hard, fierce kiss. Her hips writhed and undulated beneath his touch; her tongue rasped against his. And a deep frustration grew. She slid her hands down his back to his hips and pulled him to her, showing without words what she wanted.
A growl rumbled up from deep in his chest. He'd thought he was happy and fulfilled. Then he had met her and realized he had been so wrong. Now he had this deeply primitive need for her to belong to him. He wanted to bind her to him as tightly and as securely as her invisible strings had already bound him.
He entered her with a powerful thrust, and to his overwhelming gratification, her body took him with an ease that left him breathless. Her velvet tightness closed around him, sheathing him and driving a fire straight to his brain.
"You make me absolutely crazy, Kim," he muttered roughly, then forgot all about talking. Primal instinct took over. He surged in and out of her, each stroke more powerful, more urgent, than the last.
She turned hot, wild, and demanding; her hips eagerly rose to meet him. An almost unbearable pressure built deep in her womb, then quickly spread to take complete possession of her. She clutched at him and cried out, certain she was about to break apart into a million pieces and wanting it with everything that was in her.
Miraculously he was making her feel a completeness, a joy, and an ecstasy that she had never known. But somewhere in a haze-filled corner of her mind, a small fear lurked that it would be hard for her ever to get enough of him and the way he was making her feel. Then the fear was forgotten as she cried out his name- and she shattered and coming apart in his arms.
Heat and light, black fire and pure, shining white ecstasy crashed and seared. He kept her safe, holding her tightly to him, pounding into her, coming apart himself. Deeper and deeper he plunged. Kim clung to his glistening body, wrapping her legs around his hips, pulling him into her as she rose to meet his impassioned need.
Then suddenly it was upon them, exploding like a meteor from the heavens. Their restless bodies stiffened in surrender and release. Caught in the rapture of the moment, they lay together in a kind of breathless wonder. Moving to her side, Gerald pulled her tight against his chest, where she could hear the steady beat of his heart in her ear.