Chapter 15
Declan
Her body tasted like wine to me. It’s not an exaggeration. I’d longed for her for so many days that to finally taste her was perfection. Her sweet skin warmed as my lips pressed against it. Her body melted into mine when my hands moved under her shirt. The power of having her there with me was too much though; it made me feel out of control.
I only pulled away to reorient myself to her and what was going on. To give myself a moment to decide if I was ready to go down this path of seduction. Emmi wasn’t like the other girls I’d brought home. I knew her, I knew her father. I couldn’t have my way with her and then forget all about it. This was all new territory for me.
“Maybe we should get a fire going to keep you warm,” I offered.
Our hands still held onto each other as we walked to the great room and she sat down on the couch while I built the fire. The adrenaline rushing through my body had my hands shaking and my brain foggy with ideas of what could be to come between the two of us.
“You know, I’m not going to be your assistant forever,” Emmi said as she smiled at me from the couch.
“I know,” I smiled back.
“We could always revisit this after I find a new job.”
“Sure, I think that would be perfect,” I replied.
I stayed by the fire as my body started to relax from the full-on erection that had been dominating me since I tasted Emmi in the doorway. She hadn’t seemed like she wanted to wait for anything the way she had kissed me. But we should wait. We had to wait. I’d promised her father that nothing was going to happen between the two of us and I wasn’t the sort of guy who went around breaking promises.
The exact reason I didn’t date women long term was because I wasn’t the kind of guy who liked breaking their hearts. If I was honest and offered a night or two of fun, I didn’t have a problem getting women to agree. There was no deceit in my behavior, and that’s how I always lived my life. My stomach turned, and I felt queasy just thinking about Teddy and how he might react if he knew how I had just kissed Emmi. He certainly wouldn’t have been alright with it.
She kissed me though. I was perfectly fine with waiting, and she was the one who wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. My mind swirled with the memory of her as I organized the wood in the fireplace and got it going again.
“I wonder if they have a generator here?” I wondered out loud. “It’s possible they have an old gas generator somewhere in the basement. Might make sense so they could keep things running in situations like these. I’m sure they wouldn’t want their guests to have to eat canned foods.”
“How does a generator work? Would it give the whole place electricity?”
I was happy to have successfully changed the subject and moved passed our kissing incident. Anything I could do to keep a little distance between us was all I needed for the time being. It would only me another day or so, and the roads should be getting cleared. The bulk of the storm seemed to have passed, and although it was still snowing heavily, it wasn’t dangerously windy and dark out.
“Usually they just have a generator hooked up to important things. Maybe the kitchen and bathrooms or maybe just the kitchen and one bathroom. I’m not sure. Do you want to go into the basement with me and look.”
“No, I don’t want to go,” she laughed and covered her eyes. “But I’ll go with you so you don’t have to be scared alone.”
“Oh, you think I’ll be scared down in this old basement all by myself?”
“Yes, yes I do.”
“You’re right,” I laughed and closed the fireplace.
We slid our shoes back on and walked toward the door that led downstairs. When I opened the door, we could only see a long dark stairwell that led into the basement. Without any sort of light, we weren’t going to be able to see a thing.
“I’ll run up and get some candles,” Emmi said.
“I’ll do it. You’ve been on that ankle enough. Wait here, superwoman.”
I took the stairs two at a time as I hurried to our bedroom and grabbed a couple candles and the matches. The king-size bed taunted me as I looked at it and thought of how our evening might go. After that kiss we shared, it was going to be really hard to keep those pillows between the two of us.
“Are you coming, or do I need to get them myself,” Emmi teased from the bottom of the stairs.
“I’m an old man, give me a chance to catch my breath.”
When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw Emmi leaning against the handrail as she looked up at me. Her skin was rosy red and glowing with happiness as her eyes glistened up at me. She was so beautiful. Every inch of this woman was filled with desire and my body throbbed a little as I hurried down the stairs and lit the candles for us.
“I’m scared. I feel like this is the beginning of a horror film.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
“You’re supposed to tell me I’m crazy and we will be fine.”
“Oh, no. I’m not telling you you’re crazy,” I shook my head with my eyes wide as I could get them. “I’m smarter than that.”
She giggled such a sweet laugh that I couldn’t help but smile. My heart raced even more than it had from running up the stairs. Emmi had a way of controlling the beat of my heart like she had a remote control in her pocket. Simply smiling at me raced my pulse higher and higher.
“That’s probably a good idea,” she finally said as we stood at the opening to the stairs. “You go first. I’ll protect your rear.”
“Oh, yeah, that sounds helpful.”
I moved slowly down the steps with one hand on the railing and the other hand holding onto the candle. My hand shook slightly the further we got into the basement. I couldn’t see past the first few feet, which made it hard to determine where we should go.
The basement was unfinished with cement walls. There was a hallway to our right and a big room in front of us. The room seemed to be filled with shelving and storage, but we walked around the edges to get our bearings and see what all was down there. Most of the shelves held hotel supplies like extra sheets, blankets, towels, and soaps. There was one shelving unit that had snow shoes on it and another that had sleds stacked up. Nothing that looked like it would be useful to us in our search for a generator.
“So should we check out the hallway?”
“Sure, go ahead. Ha, I’m kidding. Yes, let’s go. There has to be a furnace room or something like that.”
I held my candle in front of me as we made our way down the dark hallway with several doors on either side of it. I slowly opened each of the doors and walked about a foot into the room as I held my candle up so I could see what was in the room.
We passed several offices and a storage room full of skiing and snowboarding equipment. Finally, we reached the large door at the end of the hall and opened the door to find the furnace room. The equipment was all outdated, but I had suspected that already. We knew our remodels was going to have to include a full overhaul of the heating and cooling systems.
“Is there a generator?” Emmi asked.
Her hands had been tightly gripping the back of my shirt as we walked down the hallway. She never left my side and constantly turned to look behind us, as if someone was going to jump out and attack us. Her fear was making the whole situation scarier than it would have been if I’d come down there alone. But then again, I wouldn’t have gotten to have her so close to me and practically wrapping her arms around me if I’d left her upstairs.
I took a minute to examine the electrical set up as well as the furnace system. My experience in heating and cooling systems was nearly non-existent, but it did look like there was a system outside that connected to the one inside.
“There is something connected to this panel over here; it’s outside though and probably covered with ten feet of snow. But it might be the generator.”
Emmi wrapped her arms around my waist and let her head rest on my back as she exhaled deeply. Neither of us wanted to go back outside in the cold and shoveling had already been exhausting.
“I’m fine with keeping the power off,” she said softly. “I can’t go back into the snow right now.”
“Wait a minute. What kind of stove did they have in the kitchen?”
“I don’t know. A big industrial type stove.”
“Look at this. It’s the gas line. It’s off, but I bet it’s still connected.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Emmi said with an exhausted tone in her voice.
“It means that I might be able to get the stove to work even if we don’t have electricity. If it’s a professional stove, it’s likely powered by gas and not electricity. Let’s give this a try.”
I turned the gas line on and grabbed Emmi’s hand as we made our way quickly back upstairs. I pulled her with me into the kitchen and then turned the knob on the stove to light the burner.
Sure enough, the blue flame came through as the stove automatically lit itself. The elation was intense and I grabbed Emmi and pulled her close to me. We could finally make some decent food. Well, decent with the canned goods we had to choose from, but it was better than eating fruit and canned vegetables alone.
“What should we make?” Emmi asked as she jumped out of my arms and went to the pantry.
She grabbed a variety of canned goods and brought them out to me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the best at thinking about deluxe meals that could be made from the types of foods we had. But we could start off by having some warm baked beans at least.
“I could warm up the beans.”
“Oh, no, no, no. I’ve got an idea.”
“You scare me,” I laughed. “Something good I hope?”
“I think you’re going to like this,” she said and grabbed two small cans of condensed milk from the cabinet. “Fill a pan with water, please.”
“Warm milk? I don’t know if that’s something I can get as excited about as you are right now,” I joked.
I did as I was told though and filled a saucepan with water as Emmi pealed the labels off of the cans. She was still really excited about whatever she was cooking. She kept bouncing up to the ball of her feet and then back down, occasionally even clapping her hands with excitement.
“Okay, this is going to take a little bit to cook. So why don’t you heat up those baked beans while my thing cooks.”
“How long is it going to take?”
“About three hours,” she giggled.
“Wow, okay then,” I grabbed the can opened and poured the beans into another pan. “This is exciting. Warm beans and warm milk for dinner. Mmmmm, a five-star meal.”
“I can’t wait,” Emmi said as she moved close to me and her hand slid around my waist. Her fingers lightly touched my skin as she slipped them under my shirt.
“Emmi.”
“Yes, Declan.”
“I…um…” I fumbled as I tried to figure out what to say.
Just having her hands on me was distracting enough that I couldn’t figure out the right words. But if she was going to be touching me like that, I wasn’t going to be able to keep my hands to myself. And if I didn’t keep my hands to myself then we certainly weren’t going to be able to wait until she moved onto a new job to explore what was going on between us.
“My Dad doesn’t need to know,” she said softly as she pulled me closer to her.
I continued to stir our dinner and refused to move. If I turned toward her, I couldn’t control my urges any longer. No, I had to stand strong.
“Emmi, I’ll hire a new assistant when we get back.”
“Okay,” she said as she grabbed my waist and turned me toward her. “That sounds like a good idea.”
Her hands grabbed my pants by the button as I dropped the spoon into the beans. Her eyes filled with lust and I couldn’t hold back another moment. My body longed to feel hers, and there was nothing I could do but give in to the desire she had because I had the same desires.
“Emmi,” I said softly as I put my hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “You are so beautiful.”
“Kiss me, Declan.”
Without pausing, I listened to her request, and we were quickly locked together in a passionate kiss. This time it wasn’t soft and sensual; instead, we pressed our bodies together roughly as she pulled at my shirt and yanked it up over my head. Her hands grabbed for my pants as the heat between us soared higher.
I grabbed her hand and was about to bring her upstairs when I remembered her hurt ankle. So instead of walking, I scooped her up into my arms and sped up the stairs. As we reached the bedroom, Emmi reached for the door and opened it, and we walked in. Our lips barely leaving each other’s.
I set her down gently near the bed as she continued to pull at my pants and I started to undress her as well. My breathing was heavy from a desire for Emmi combined with the exertion of the stairs.
“Are you sure?” I asked one final time as her fingers gingerly unzipped my pants.
“Oh, hell yes.”
That was all I needed to hear as I pressed her back onto the bed and let our lips continue to play with each other. My hands explored her body gingerly as I felt the delicate parts of her and took in the sweet taste of her lips.
Her body thrust against my hands, and she moaned with pleasure as I teased and played with her. Building up the anticipation of having her was only part of the fun as I took my time with Emmi. There was no hurry. We had nowhere else to be and nothing else we needed to be doing. If we wanted to spend hours and hours making love, then that was what we were going to do.
It was as if we were teenagers, stealing away time together and exploring each other’s bodies without any expectation of going further. First base, second base, and even third was explored, each taking time and playing out in a fun way.
One moment I was exploring her body and the next she had her lips moving down my neck and started exploring my body. The anticipation was building and building as we played with each other. Her soft lips moved down my chest and settled around my lower abdomen as her hand wrapped around my throbbing body and played with me.
I let out a deep breath of craving. Wanting to feel myself inside of her was all I could think about, but making love to Emmi was going to be something I’d never forget. She was simply unforgettable, so I let her play and tease me for as long as I could take it.
Nearly an hour went by as we took each other’s clothes off and played with the most delicate spots on our bodies. When my fingers delved to her wetness, I couldn’t hold back from delivering her a sweet moment of ecstasy as I kissed her. My fingers moved quickly and then slowly. They alternated between firm pressure and gentle pressure. All the while I continued kissing her and feeling her breath against mine as her body reacted to the attention I was giving her.
“I can’t take it,” she moaned out as my fingers continued.
“Oh, okay, I’ll stop.” I teased.
“No, don’t stop,” she said firmly as her hand pulled my body toward her.
Then there was a loud beeping noise coming from downstairs. We both froze as our minds pushed the pleasure out and we tried to focus on what the noise could be. Suddenly I realized it had to be the smoke detector.
“I left the beans on,” I laughed as I jumped up to go downstairs.
Emmi’s eyes were glazed over with pleasure as she looked at my throbbing body and how much I needed her. She seductively licked her lips and looked me up and down as she leaned onto her side.
“You better go get that. Hurry back.”
“You’re a goddess,” I said and kissed her as I ran downstairs.
Sure enough, the beans were nearly black they had been cooked so much. I grabbed some pot holders and pulled the concoction off and into the sink. I used the gallon of bottled water and poured it into the pan to let it soak. I also added some more water to the milk that Emmi had cooking.
“Add some water to my cans,” Emmi said as she walked into the kitchen totally naked.
“I’m doing that right now. And wow.”
She smiled and leaned seductively up against the wall.
“You like?” she teased.
“God yes,” I said.
I walked over to her and pressed my naked body against hers. The connection between us had grown into something I couldn’t remember feeling with any other woman. She was a friend, someone I felt like I could probably tell just about anything to.
“I like kissing you,” Emmi said sweetly as her arms wrapped around my neck.
“I like kissing you too.”
She turned around and pressed her naked body against me as her hands stayed connected to my neck. I moved my hands up and cupped her breasts as my lips moved to her neck and delicately tasted her. The power of our bodies together was hard and delicate all at the same time.
My fingers rolled her nipples between their tips and tugged gently to entice more moans from her. Her hands moved from my neck and pressed against the wall as she moved her rear hard against me. The soft, delicate look of her hands was in stark contrast to the old plaid wallpaper.
“Should we go back upstairs?” I whispered softly as our bodies moved together.
“No, I want you to taste my special treat I’m making you.”
“Oh, your special treat?” I teased.
“Shhh, silly. I mean the milk on the stove. Let’s go sit by the fire and wait.”
I literally rolled my eyes at the thought of sitting by the fire with Emmi. Not because I didn’t want to spend time with her, but we were both naked, and I wanted to feel her body wrapped around me so badly that I could hardly think straight. I couldn’t sit by the fire without covering up.
“I’m getting you a blanket to cover yourself then,” I said as I turned her around and took a step back to view her delicious body.
“You mean you can’t control yourself if I’m naked?”
“Nope. I can’t.”
“I bet you could.”
“Oh, I’m not even pretending anymore. There’s absolutely no way I can keep my hands off of you.”
“Fine, I’ll let you get me a blanket.”
Her nipples stood erect from the cold of the kitchen. My eyes couldn’t stop looking as I took in the sight. Her delicate white skin contrasted the dark wallpaper, and I took as many mental pictures of her as I could. Being with her in that kitchen wasn’t something I wanted to forget.