LAURA

“Maybe I should dash home and change.” Laura looked down at the outfit she’d worn to work that day. She had on a rather sedate blouse in a pretty cream color and a set of dark slacks that emphasized her long legs but didn’t cling. That was accessorized by a wide belt and a pair of boring loafers. Hardly the stuff of seduction.

Not that it was likely Ashton could be in any shape for seduction.

A wry grin twisted her lips, and she quickly dug around in her handbag. She had a small can of dry shampoo and she sprayed it into her hair because she hadn’t washed it that morning, then she quickly brushed her tresses with quick hard strokes. A fast application of deodorant, a short burst of perfume, and a hasty rinse with a trial-sized bottle of mouthwash followed by a quick flossing had to do.

Laura quickly reapplied her lipstick and a thin line of eyeliner over the faded liner already on her wide and long upper lid and a dash of fresh mascara, and she was done. The five minutes of grooming made her feel much better, and she cranked her car and headed out of the parking garage, groaning when she saw the heavy flow of traffic streaming down the avenues.

She took a right. Downtown was massive – set between four highways that led to the suburbs on three sides of the city and the industrial parks on the eastern side of the city. Traffic was congested and the noise near deafening. As she sat in her car, fiddling with the air conditioner to get the temperature to one she could bear, Laura had to admit that the traffic was something she could live without.

The traffic back home had been an occasional back-up around the local strip mall. She grinned as she recalled how often she’d cursed that mild traffic and how many times she had thought that that traffic was the worst thing in the entire world.

She finally got to the hotel. The lobby was huge and gracious, and the elevator whisked her up nearly twenty stories before she landed on the floor Ashton’s room was situated on. He opened the door wearing a smile, a pair of jeans undone at the top, and the heavy bandages around his ribs. His hair was soaked and still uncombed. The scent of soap and cologne wafted to her nose, turning her senses to him.

She shouldn’t sleep with him. It was dangerous to sleep with him. She already had some emotions tied into him that frightened her, and she knew it. The bandages gave her pause. Just then, he stepped forward and her body went right to his. She hugged him gingerly and their mouths met. That kiss was raw and passionate, it invoked all the things she wanted to say, wanted done to her body and to do to his.

She closed the door with her foot. Ashton muttered, “Jesus Christ you’re going to kill me.”

She muttered back, “I’ll try not to.” Their bodies moved toward the bed, their fingers working on each other’s buttons and clothing. Her arms locked around his neck, and their bodies swayed together.

Ashton stepped across the floor and she went with him, her legs tangling up into his. His hands ran up and down her body, sending more thrills along her skin. Her nipples went rock hard and tight. Her belly filled with butterflies of anticipation.

She breathed, “Shit, your ribs. What if we do something to hurt them?”

“Fuck them,” Ashton muttered.

“I don’t know that position,” she retorted, earning a brief laugh.

He said, “The worst that could happen –”

“Is that we do something to cause one of them to pop a lung or something and have to call an ambulance,” she gasped as his mouth found her neck, and then his fingers went to her breasts, rubbing them hard through her blouse.

“They’d think I was a lucky guy,” he muttered, “Besides, as long as we don’t lay down, I think we’ll be okay.”

“Don’t lay down?”

His mouth was still on hers, robbing her of her ability to think or breathe. Her fingers tangled in his hair and his mouth devoured hers yet again, sending all thoughts of his ribs tumbling right out of her head.

His mouth never left hers. His fingers teased at her nipples through her blouse and bra. A button flew off her blouse, and she made use of what skin she could safely touch, letting her hands wander across his steely abs and dark-brown nipples.

Their mouths broke apart, their tongues untangling. Her tongue went to his ear and then to his neck. He shuddered once, then growled out, “Damn woman, I can’t even think of anything but how much I want you.”

All she could think of was how much she wanted him, so she figured that they were even. She knew they shouldn’t, not as injured as he was, but she couldn’t stop herself from reaching for him and trying to get closer while not hurting his abused body. It was a delicate balance, and she was terrified one wrong move would totally destroy the mood but he didn’t seem to notice his aches and pains just then.

His breath came back, blowing against the wetness that his tongue left behind, and she squirmed and cried out, her fingers digging into his thick hair.

Her whole body arched and trembled. Her pants were down around her ankles and his hands were running across the front of her damp panties, testing the moisture there and then pressing the scrap of lace into her cleft, massaging her clit through the material.

Her ass jerked forward. Her feet flexed, and she lifted herself up and down, trying to ride his fingers as he teased her stiffened bud. His fingers pressed harder. Her cries were no longer muffled; they were loud and clear in the silence. The soaked panties were chafing her vulva, rubbing against her labia, and she felt her lips parting for him.

More fluids trickled and ran into her panties, but then he yanked them down, bringing the scent of arousal to her nostrils. Her fingers dug deeper into the flesh of his shoulders as he pressed against her.

The hard press of his cock, the soft denim barely restraining that thick hardness she wanted in her body so badly, and his hands wrapped around her waist all made her body shake and tremble. Sensation soared through her body, and a slight pant became her breathing as his fingers moved back to her pussy, cupping it hard, his fingers squeezing rhythmically.

Her panties were halfway down, holding her legs open and yet keeping her from being able to spread them as much as she would have liked to. The predicament was astounding as were the sensations that were filtering through her body with every touch and caress – every moment.

His hands went back to the panties, tugging them down along her thighs, and then they were falling toward the floor. They landed on her shoe and she stepped neatly out of one side of them. The panties dangled from her ankle, but she didn’t know that and didn’t care. All that mattered was his fingers stroking her wet center, parting her lips and then going deep inside of her.

His kiss lit up her senses and made her knees go weak. Her bottom hit the desk that sat against the wall, and then she was being turned around. Her bottom was up in the air, and his fingers rubbed the round slopes of her ass, his breath a hard gasp now, too.

A shiver broke out along her limbs, and her hands clasped the edge of the desk as he rubbed his hard cock against the soaked and swollen entry to her tunnel.

He sank into her flesh, her fluids easing the passage for the hard flesh he was pressing into her deeply within her walls.

She cried out, her body aching with the need to come as his stiff cock opened her walls even further and sank deeper into her. Her ass shot backward as she strained to get him inside her. She needed to feel that heavy muscular dick inside her swollen and creaming walls. Her back arched and her legs shook. He was so large that her walls had to stretch and stretch again. Her teeth grit together and pleasure rocketed through her. Her breasts bounced as he withdrew and thrust into her yet again.

His cock filled her again, making her whimper as he created friction within her lower body. Her walls opened and closed, and she sighed as his cock left her dripping inner folds and came back. His hand slid around her front to rub her high standing clitoris, and she began to thrust backward even faster, desperate to reach the climax that was hovering just at the edge of her reach and pleasure.

Her eyes were still closed and her mouth hung agape. She could feel the slackness in her face. Her body was tight though; it was shaking and aching. Her desire had gone even higher than it ever reached before, and she cried out – a long pleading cry.

His hand squeezed her buttocks, gripping them tightly as she cried out once more. The massaging motion raised heat on her bottom, making it ache and throb at the same time. He kept that up and she felt her opening widen as he did so. Her breath was coming harder and faster. Her hands clenched more tightly at the counter, and she began to push her hips backward frantically. Her heartbeat sped up and she moaned, losing all the control she had left, which was not much.

She felt her walls tighten. The orgasm hit her hard, making her entire body go rigid and then loosen. She almost fell, and would have if it had not been for his strong hands around her waist. His finger was still stroking her clitoris, and that drove her over the edge as her juices splashed onto his pulsing cock.

Her pussy closed around his stiffened organ. Ashton worked his hips harder, driving every inch of his cock into her pussy. The sound of their flesh slapping together was very loud, and the smell of sex filled the air.

They were both close to coming. His breath washed over her cheek as he bent over her body, drilling hard and fast as he began to come, his dick spurting hot, thick come into her slippery and soaked walls.

Laura sobbed out a ‘yes’ while Ashton filled her hot tunnel with the long, thick flesh that was taking her to such great heights. Her fingers scrabbled across the desk, knocking a note pad and ink pen to the floor. Her ass jerked and jiggled, and her knees went completely weak.

She let him help her upright and turn her around. He gave her long kiss and she sighed, resting her head on his chest. Her knees were weak and her heartbeat had yet to return to normal. “I guess this was different huh?”

He asked, “Are you okay?”

Laura said, “I’m absolutely great, thank you. How are you?” Then she burst into giggles. “That has to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever said to somebody after sex.”

“Let’s lay down for a second, okay? I’m a little tired.”

Instantly, remorse hit. “Are you okay?”

“Darling, I’m perfect.”

He was pale despite his words, and she pulled the covers down and helped him into the bed gently. Her pussy, swollen and pleasantly sore, gave off a few low throbs as she climbed into the bed, too, and carefully settled in next to him.

He said, “I was going to ask how your day was.”

She chuckled. “Lousy, up until I got here. I hate my job.”

“Quit.”

She wished! “No way. I like being able to eat.”

He caught her hands. “Maybe we could make some money on that app.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t think many people make money on apps. I know some folks get lucky with one, but it’s more miss than hit in the market, isn’t it?”

There was a strange look on his face that gave her pause. He looked like he wanted to say something and had changed his mind just before he had. He said, “I guess it depends on the app. So, tell me why your day was lousy at work.”

Laura sighed. “Oh, I work with a bunch of older people and the whole thing, accounting I mean, is really boring. It might be a lot more exciting if they ever let me do something like run the programs or write them, but they do everything with several checks, which I understand, and with all kinds of other outdated regulations that makes it so much more tedious than it really has to be.”

“I see.” He surveyed her face. “You don’t like anything tedious huh?”

“I don’t like being bored.” Her words were strongly stated. She softened her tone. “I think I was bored enough back there in my hometown.”

“Small towns. I don’t have any experience with that. I grew up here. I guess I never noticed it’s such a big city until I was way older. It just always felt like the place I lived. Sometimes, when I’m out driving around, it hits me just how big and crowded and crazy it is.”

“I know.” Her fingers caught his. “Sometimes, I still get as excited as I did the day I came up the big hill out there on the highway. It was dark and all the lights were on, and that’s how I first saw it. It was just this giant glittering place, and I couldn’t believe I was lucky or crazy enough to live here. Sometimes I still don’t believe it.”

“Do you miss home at all?”

She shook her head. “No. It was not all bad either. It was just boring and suffocating. Everyone knew everyone. I always felt like I was living in a fishbowl, and I hated that feeling. I like being free, and I need freedom I guess.”

She fell silent. Had she just seen something shift in his eyes? Had she said something wrong or really right? Given how fast he was to run, she hoped he heard a promise that she wouldn’t ask more from him than she could give.

Ashton sat up carefully. He said, “I can see that.” There was a guarded tone in his voice, and she had the feeling she had just reassured him in a way. But she wanted to take it back. She wanted to tell him she would not press him for anything but that she would be willing to trade all the freedom in the world for whatever time he would give her.

He said, “I forgot to order our dinner. Do you like steak?”

“I love it,” she said.

He picked up the phone and hit a button, then said, “Hello, room service? I would like to order dinner please.”

“I’m starving,” she put in. She was. She’d skipped breakfast because she had heartburn from the meager amount of cafeteria fries and chili she had had the night before, and she had worked through lunch as well.

Laura giggled as Ashton spoke into the phone that sat on the small oak desk. “We’d like steak, oh, scampi. Shrimp and crab please. Two orders. No, steak and scampi. We’re starving.”

He threw her a wink over his shoulder. Laura, still naked and flushed, suppressed a giggle with one hand. She was starved, no doubt about it. She was sure she was about to die from hunger in fact, but not all that hunger was in her belly.

Ashton was also still nude, and her eyes roved over the sleek skin and muscles of his body as he shifted from one foot to the other while trying to make sure the room service order was right. He added, “Oh and bread – lots of it. We need our strength.”

Now, she did laugh. Her laugh was restrained though by her hand. Ashton had a way of making her laugh, and she loved that about him.

Loved.

Her heart sank.

Nope, she told herself, loving something about someone is not the same as loving them and don’t you forget it either. You barely know this man and even if you did, you already know he’s not in it for the long term. What’s wrong with you anyway? You never wanted something like love in your life.

Ashton hung up the phone and padded back to the bed. He sat down on the edge carefully, and she sat up. The sheets were a tossed and tousled mess. Outside through the windows, she saw dusk falling in dark shades that accented the jewel-like tones of the city skyline.

She said, “I suppose we should get dressed so we don’t shock the staff.”

“I’m sure they’ve seen things far more shocking.” He smiled but fished his pants off the floor and slid his legs into them, standing to get them the rest of the way on.

Laura left the bed and dressed hastily. “How are your ribs?”

“Good.” He smiled at her, and they went to the sofa. He leaned his head back and said, “Listen, about that app. I wasn’t kidding about that. I really want to work on something like that. I drew up a few ideas but they’re in my car, so if you can grab that laptop over there I can give you a rough idea of what I had down, but I can’t promise I remember all of it.”

“Cool.” Now that the desire had been tamped down, she, too, was interested in creating that app, though she was more interested in it as a reason to spend time with him than in actually creating something.

Ashton opened the laptop, a top of the line model that was both functional and sleek, and expensive. He hit a few keys and buttons, and said, “So here’s what I was thinking. I heard you the other night when you said you hated Fly by Night because it’s geared toward men. And I wonder just how many people are more interested in having like a fun date that means a second without pressure to find their perfect match.”

“Lots.”

Laura was not really paying attention. She was focused more on Ashton. His excitement was palpable, and he seemed truly interested in the app! That was a side of him she had never seen before, and a sudden surge of excitement filled her, too. If it meant that much to him, she’d help.