April returned to the guest house, noting the differences between the resort with its sprawling grasses and pristine accommodations, and the shabbiness of the Eden Paradise House. Concentrating on the exterior of the building, she was unaware that she was walking straight into someone.
They bumped each other and she backed up as the two made contact. Looking up, April expected to find Richard reaching out for her, as they had met that way on her first day. But there was someone else, someone shorter. The man's hands tightened on her arms as he prevented her from falling, but his eyes opened wide. April took it for surprise at their collision.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
His hands released her and April noticed there was none of the fire or electricity that had accompanied Richard's touch.
"You're the cereal queen," he said, stating a fact and not an accusation.
"It's good to meet you." April offered her hand and she always did when someone recognized her. She didn't want to confirm their usual question, as it was often delivered as a question. However, this man was certain of her identity.
He shook her hand. "My kids are going to be thrilled that I met you."
Since she always carried coupons, she reached in her purse and handed him a few. "Let them have the next box on me."
She hoped he'd thank her and go on his way. April didn't feel like talking. Josie's comments were still running in her head and she wanted to go to her room where she could think, process the conversation and decide what to do.
"Thank you," he said.
April smiled and moved around him, not giving him the chance to continue their conversation. As she reached the second floor, Richard stepped into the hall. April stopped as they faced each other. Her heart nearly jumped out of her breast. Are you in love with him? Josie's question repeated in her mind. And she had the answer. How could she not be?
Even though she knew there was some secret he was hiding, she'd fallen in love with him. You don't get to choose whom you love, she thought.
"April?" he called.
She nodded, unable to speak. She resumed walking as did he. They met in the hallway a door down from the rooms across from each other where they used to stay.
"I want to talk to you, but I can't do it now. Will you be here after dinner? I won't be back until then."
"Talk to me about what?"
"I'd rather wait until I can explain everything."
She nodded. She needed to talk to him too, but she would listen first.
Richard stepped closer to her, close enough that she could feel his body heat, close enough that their souls mingled. April kept her eyes on the open collar of his shirt. For an eon neither of them moved. Then Richard's hand lifted her chin and feathered a kiss on her lips. It was so light that it almost wasn't there.
"See you tonight," he said and disappeared down the stairs.
***
The four walls of April's room boxed her in. Not even hunger had pried her from the confines of room twelve. She wanted to get into Richard's room, but she had no key and while some of the guest house doors could possibly be jimmied with a credit card, Richard's was not one of them.
She'd tried.
April paced her own room. It was hot and her hands couldn't find a comfortable place. She twisted them, telling herself she wouldn't go to him. Her emotions were too close to the surface and she didn't want to let the news of her feelings spill over. She knew they would, knew that with his touch, she'd be little more than a fountain of knowledge, telling him her feelings, and knowing that would give him a power over her.
She just wouldn't go. And if he knocked on her door, she wouldn't answer. But as the clock inched closer to eight o'clock, her resolve was waning. She told herself she wouldn’t go. That the kisses they'd shared meant nothing. They were only kisses by two near strangers. They owed each other nothing. But she knew she was going. The only way to get into his room was to have him open the door and admit her. Once inside, she had the chance of finding what she came for. She had to try and retrieve the box.
Maybe there would be a moment. It was a one in a million chance. Maybe nothing would come of it. Maybe Richard wanted to come clean, tell her his real identity. Without her knowing how, her hand was on the doorknob. Her cell phone inside a folded case held her door key. She opened the portal and stepped into the hall. The doors didn't close by themselves as they did in most hotels. She had to pull this one shut and listen to the lock clicking in place. The hallway seemed to imprison April, yo-yoing back and forth in a dizzying vertigo pattern. No other doors opened. She had a few seconds to decide if this was the course of action she wanted to take. She knew she had to do it. She'd rushed out of her corporate headquarters and come to this house. She tried to get her box and failed. With the end of the meeting today, she knew she had to be back in her office by Monday or the acquisition would fail.
April had no choice. She had to go all the way.
Barely ten steps separated rooms six and twelve. April stood in front of Richard's room, staring at the number as if she could make it change to something else. She had to knock. The consequences of not doing so would end her career. She reached out for the handle, but stopped before making contact.
Thoughts of Richard kissing her suddenly bathed her in warmth. She remembered the tenderness with which he'd held her, the way his mouth felt on hers, the way the kiss changed to hunger so strong they both had to fight it. April didn't want to fight it anymore. She wanted to feel the rest of him, know how his weight on her felt, how his hands moved through her hair. She wanted to know what that unknown part of him could tell her. It pulled at her. And she wanted to shed the skin of the secret princess. She had too many secrets and so did he.
She wasn’t made to lie and conceal. April was bone and blood and flesh, hot, pulsing flesh and banked emotions. Richard unlocked the flood gates on those emotions and made her feel more than any other man ever had. He’d kissed April and nightly she had hours of sexual fantasies running through my head and causing several areas of my body to stand at attention.
But she wasn't here for emotion. She was here for the truth and for the incrimination evidence that resided behind this door. She had to find out.
Raising her hand, April knocked.
***
"I would have come to you," Richard said, taking her hand and pulling her into his room.
"I thought you wanted to talk," she said.
"I do, but not now."
April didn't resist when he pulled her close. He didn't immediately kiss her, but held her in his arms as if she were a precious jewel. He liked the feel of her. His hand traversed her back, smoothing over her dress, down over her backside as far as his arms extended. Richard's mouth settled on hers, hard, hungry, and insistent. There was no build up the way their first kiss had been. Richard was sure of where he was going and taking the quickest route.
He wanted to devour her. He was devouring her. Wrapped himself around April, he drew her to him, pulling her inward as if he needed her to be part of his makeup, part of him, inside the same skin, sharing the same heartbeat.
Blood pounded through his body, singing a fierce song as it picked up speed and grew hotter with each revolution.
She met him with a force he’d never known. His tongue dipped deeply into her mouth, plunging, mating, dancing, fighting, dominating. Sounds smacked as their heads moved, shifted, their lips sought each others. Richard’s arms welded April to him. She was soft, like cotton candy, a pure confection that could evaporate on touch, but she remained solidly against him.
He needed her now, wanted her in his bed. The bed was only few steps away, but Richard's need for her was so strong, he was unsure if he would make it there, didn’t know if the force that both pulled them together and kept them in individual bodies would allow them to get that far. He found the zipper at the back of her dress. Slowly he pulled it down. Opening it was like peeling back the door to a furnace. Heat radiated from her skin, inch by inch, as he separated the zipper's teeth. He could feel the steam of her desire against his fingers. He touched the opening space. Her skin was hot, almost to the point of searing. His body grew harder against April's.
Pulling her closer, his body going to heaven at the things he planned to do to her. Richard pushed the dress down, starting with the straps. Slowly he ran his hands over April, feeling her accelerated heartbeat, hearing the hitch in her throat when his fingers encountered puckered nipples, stopping at her waist and riding the curve of my hips until the dress slipped away and pooled on the floor.
Her bra freed her breasts and he took them in his hands, then bent down and nuzzled them with his cheeks and lips. Squeezing April tighter, sensation burst inside him. His fingers moved faster and he couldn't wait to get her undressed and himself devoid of his clothes. Using his hands like weapons of sexual destruction he grazed her skin when they were both naked.
She kissed his chest, her mouth working its voodoo on him. Every molecule of his body tightened, stiffened, hardened. He wanted April and there was no doubt that she knew it. Long fingernails scored his chest, seeking, traveling, working their way up and down, going through arousal points that had him bending her backward. Still she kept her hands on him, emigrating to his waist and lower to his erection.
“April,” he groaned, pushing her to the bed and laying on it with her.
Richard snapped at the need that exploded within him. Like magic a condom appeared and he quickly sheathed himself. She was back in his arms the moment he finished. He lifted April. Her legs went around his waist, her back arching as he held her. He filled April, rooted himself inside her. The sound that came from my throat was music. He drove harder, holding her in place, kneading the flesh of her hips as his hands contracted and released in the same rhythm as he plunged and released inside her. She clung to him, holding on as he rode her, rode hard and fast, harder and faster, so fast he thought he’d break through the wall. But it felt good. He felt good. He was lost. Out of control. Unable and unwilling to stop. He was going to die here, the two of them exploding in a rapid fireball that ignited and consumed them. Yet the prospect of it did nothing to quail his energy. If anything he pumped faster and harder.
Richard felt her coming. He thought she was shouting, but the voice when it registered in his ears was his own. He was calling her name over and over and over. “April, oh April." And then a final "April.”
Sweat poured from both of them. Richard collapsed against her, his slick, liquid body pushing her into the mattress with strength that was nearly expired. He was weak from his arms to his knees. His legs slid to the sheet, but we remained joined with her in the most intimate way. Gasping and gulping air he knew he was in trouble.
She might look and act like a company CEO, cool and professional in the board room. She might present that face to the newspapers and reporters, but to this man she was fire; hot, blistering, consuming, electrifying, and passionately torrid.
And she brought out the beast in him.