Stone
Two weeks. It was funny how time worked. When preparing for a snowboarding contest, two weeks felt like two days. The time passed so quickly when I was training, and before I even had an opportunity to consider how many days had actually passed, it was already time for the contest. But when the world’s sexiest, most beautiful fucking woman walked up onto a stage to seduce me with the hottest fucking performance and I walked out, the following two weeks were absolute, fucking torture. It felt like years had passed. Every night before I went to bed and every morning before I started my day, I was playing that fucking performance in my head. And I’d see it playing in my mind throughout the entire day. I felt like I was walking around with a constant hard-on.
I knew it was wrong to walk out on her that night and that she had to have felt embarrassed, but it would have been more wrong for me to take her up on what she was offering knowing I could give her nothing in return…at least, not what she really wanted. If she were just some random chick in the bar I’d have no problem picking her up and taking her home for the night. I had done just that many times with women over the years. I never offered more than just a night of fun and they were willing to take it. I couldn’t do that to Monroe. We shared a group of friends and I didn’t want to make that awkward.
More than that, a few weeks before she and Nikki came out for their two-week visit, Wes and Charley had flown them out for one night so the girls could get together with Emme. It was learned then that Emme’s ex was stalking her and Emme shared a bunch of new information with the girls. While Monroe knew that her best friend had been physically, verbally, and emotionally abused for several years she hadn’t known how bad it was; none of the girls did. When Nikki and Monroe were out here that day, Emme shared with them that she had been raped repeatedly for the last year of her relationship with her ex. Monroe felt that deep and took it hard. I spent quite a bit of time talking with her about it that day. Then, one week before delivering that phenomenal show, I spent the night with Monroe at Wes’ house. Unfortunately, the reason for spending the night with her wasn’t one I would have preferred.
Emme was kidnapped by her sick and twisted ex-boyfriend and Monroe was devastated. Charley and Nikki were also a mess. While Wes gave Charley what she needed and Luke saw to Nikki, I did what I could to try and offer Monroe something in the way of comfort. It was difficult to watch her go through that turmoil. It was several hours after Emme was taken when Zane finally called to let us know they located her and were on their way to get her. It was roughly another hour and a half later when Wes received a text from Zane letting us know that he had Emme in his arms and they were bringing her home. That night, Monroe became something else. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew she was too good to be just some casual hook-up. She wasn’t just some random chick in the bar.
It just about killed me to walk out on her that night at Lou’s. I knew if I didn’t walk out of there when I did that I wouldn’t be able to hold back and that I’d give her exactly what she asked for that night. The problem was that I knew she wanted more than just a one-night stand and, sadly, I couldn’t give her more than that. What sucked even more was that ever since that night I’ve tried to get her out of my mind. I went out in search of random hook-ups. I found several willing participants, and no matter how many women I fucked over the last couple of weeks I couldn’t get off unless I let my mind wander to those images I had in my mind of Monroe.
This morning, as I was making my way over to Luke’s brother’s garage to check on the progress of my summer toy, I saw a Yukon pulled over to the side of the road with a spare tire leaned up against the back of it. The closer I got, I realized it was her. Monroe Archer. The woman I couldn’t seem to get out of my head. It was the first time I saw her since I walked out of Lou’s that night a few weeks ago and, after I took in just how beautiful she looked, I instantly felt angry. She had a flat tire and was attempting to change it herself. It was still extremely cold outside and she wasn’t exactly dressed appropriately for it. If I hadn't been driving out this way who knows what could have happened to her. I didn’t understand why it bothered me so much.
When I walked up to her and heard her on the phone talking to someone named Vaughn I wanted to rip the phone out of her hand and hang up on the guy, whoever he was. Instead, I took the jack out of her hand and changed the tire. As I removed the flat and put the spare on, I heard her conversation and, before she disconnected, she told the guy she missed him. I felt my jaw instantly clench. I had no right to feel the way I did, but for whatever reason I couldn’t control it. Jealousy coursed through me.
The feeling only got worse when I got back to her studio after having her tire fixed. After I switched the tires and the delivery guy left she told me about how much she hated her new vehicle. I never expected her to tell me that she drove around a Porsche back in California. During the summers, I spend my time at the track, racing. I have both a Porsche GT2 and a Porsche GT3. Both cars are purpose built so depending on what event I’m racing at I’ll use one or the other. Hearing Monroe talk about how much she missed her Porsche made me want to scoop her up and take her to my place so she could at least sit in mine until it was nice enough out that she could drive it. It’d be easier to take her to the one I had at the garage right down the road, but the guys would, no doubt, be checking her out and I was not okay with that.
What the fuck was happening to me?
I then learned she was going to be at her studio all day working by herself. She had new toilets and a refrigerator that I knew she wasn’t going to be moving by herself. Naturally, when I offered to stay and help her, in an effort to ease my guilt and apologize for walking out on her a few weeks ago, she questioned it. I gave her an honest answer because I felt she deserved at least that much from me. Seeing her reaction to my answer, though, was almost impossible to watch for two reasons. First, I saw the heat in her eyes when I told her how much I wanted her. Second, her reaction only grew more intense when I put my hand out and squeezed her thigh. She had a physical reaction to my touch and it made me want to take her right then and there so I could bring her to an orgasm and watch her come apart. Needless to say, that fantasy was squashed real fast when I watched her expression change from lustful to sadness. When I went on to tell her that despite the attraction I felt to her I would never cross that line, she fought to keep the tears at bay. The feeling it gave me to see her hurt knowing I was the cause is one I can’t describe. I hated myself for doing that to her.
Monroe tried to shake it off and distract herself with the tasks she had planned for the day, but she struggled to move the five-gallon bucket of paint. When I offered to help, she wouldn’t even look at me and that fucking stung. I tried apologizing, but I’m not sure it mattered. Her phone rang and she walked away without looking at me. I stood there and watched her, waiting for her to finish her call. Bad idea. I had to hear her tell some guy she kept calling Remi that she missed him. Before she finished the call, she told him she loved him. That feeling of jealousy spread through my body again. I may have felt it, but I wasn’t going to act on it. When she turned around I held up the paint and asked her where she wanted it. She begrudgingly told me. I turned around and took it down the hall for her hoping I’d have a few minutes to pull my shit together.
How many guys did this girl have and if she missed them all why the fuck did she seem so devastated when I told her I couldn’t be in a relationship with her?
I spent the morning painting one of the rooms with her. The room was large, but we managed to get on two coats of paint before lunch. When we finished painting the room, I took her out for lunch. She was a bit hesitant and her mind seemed a little preoccupied. I tried to be understanding and didn’t push her to share. Ultimately, we had lunch together and then we stopped at the hardware store to pick up a couple of tools. I had everything I needed back at my place, but the drive out and back would have taken too much time.
While we were out, Monroe pissed me off when she attempted to pay for lunch insisting she owed me for helping her all morning. Then, she pissed me off further when she attempted to buy the tools needed for the toilet replacement. She quickly realized I wasn’t going to give in and let out a frustrated sigh. It was the third time I’d seen her do that and I thought it was fucking adorable.
I was now in the bathroom at Monroe’s studio replacing the toilet; she was in the second room and had started painting. I told her I’d come in and help her as soon as I finished switching out the toilets for her. I had just finished up the second toilet, washed my hands, and started walking down the hall toward the room Monroe was in when she screamed. Panic seized my body at the ear-piercing sound and I ran the last few steps into that room. I walked in to find her back to me and she was slowly and carefully walking backward.
“Monroe?” I called as I took a few steps toward her. “Are you okay?”
She turned her head to look at me and panic was written all over her face. She ran right to me and leapt into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist and her body was trembling.
“Oh my God,” she yelled. “You have to get it. Please.”
“What?” I asked.
She turned around and pointed to the opposite side of the room. “The spider. It’s huge and black and gross. Oh my God, please you have to get it!”
I couldn’t help myself; I burst out laughing. My forehead dropped to her shoulder as the panic I had been feeling left my body. I laughed harder than I had in ages and was surprised at how good it felt.
“Stone,” she said, panic and fear still filling her voice. “This isn’t funny. I’m scared for my life here and you’re laughing about it?”
I tamed the laughing, pulled my head back from her shoulder, and I looked her in the eyes. Spider forgotten, it was then I took the time to assess the situation. Her scent was assaulting me. Monroe’s body was pressed up against mine and her gorgeous legs were wrapped around my waist while I had one arm wrapped around her back and the other at her ass. I’m pretty sure Monroe realized the same thing in that moment because the look in her eyes went from fear to intense heat. Her eyes were a mix of gold and green and they dropped from my eyes to my mouth. Then, she licked her lips. I was instantly hard and felt my fingertips beginning to squeeze her ass.
Fuck.
I couldn’t do this to her.
“Have to put you down if I’m going to save your life. You okay to stand over here?” I asked.
Disappointment flickered in her eyes, but she nodded. She slid down my body avoiding my eyes until she felt the evidence of what she had done to me. Her eyes shot back to mine, questioning. It was a look of pure shock at realizing I was just as hot for her as she seemed to be for me.
I walked to the other side of the room and located the spider. After taking care of that for her, she got back to painting and I helped. We managed to finish the first coat and get a second coat of paint on the walls in that room. It was odd. We didn’t talk a whole lot; I’m sure we were both feeling a bit off balance after what had happened. That said, it didn’t feel awkward. In fact, it felt comfortable. We had some conversation, mostly her talking about dance and her studio back in California while I talked a bit about snowboarding.
“Thank you so much for your help today, Stone. I really appreciate it. You’ve put me way ahead of schedule. I don’t know how to thank you.”
I could think of a million ways I wanted her to express her gratitude, but instead I shared, “Told you I didn’t have anything else important planned for today. It was no problem at all. When are you planning on officially opening?”
“I was hoping to have a grand opening within three weeks. I might actually be able to do it much sooner than that now.”
“What’s next on your list?” I wondered.
“Well, I’d really like to get the mirrors hung in these two rooms because then they’d be one hundred percent complete. After, I’ll move to painting the last two rooms, then hanging the mirrors there, and then adding the barre in both of those rooms.”
“The bar?” I asked.
She laughed.
Damn, she was beautiful.
“Not that kind of bar. A barre…B-A-R-R-E. It’s used in ballet.”
“Ah, okay. Now I know what you are talking about,” I said.
“I really do appreciate your help. With all the stuff we got done so far today, I’m thinking I might be able to dance a little over the coming days.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I had been by myself today I would have been lucky to get two coats of paint on just that first room. Now that there’s still time left in the day and we’ve already painted two rooms it leaves me time to dance. I didn’t expect I’d be able to dance for a couple weeks. That, for me, is pure torture.”
I let out a bit of chuckle. “It’s funny. You not dancing is torture for you while seeing you dancing is pure torture for me.”
She grimaced.
“I mean that in the best way possible, Monroe. I know nothing about dance but, from what I’ve seen, there’s no doubt in my mind that you know exactly what to do with your body.”
“Well, I guess if it’s that difficult to watch I’ll remember to not invite you to any recitals or shows.”
“I didn’t think the instructors danced.”
“My dancers are my top priority and they steal the show, but I always put on my own performance. I love it too much not to do it.”
“You interested in coming to a snowboarding contest ever?” I asked.
She tilted her head to the side, cocked an eyebrow, and challenged, “Are you asking me to come to one?”
Feisty. Fuck.
“Sure.”
“Well, if that’s an official invite then yes, I’d love to come to a snowboarding contest to watch you ride.”
Damn it.
“Okay. It’s a deal then. You come to one of my contests and I’ll go and watch you dance.”
“I didn’t invite you,” she retorted, fighting to stay serious.
“Are you saying you don’t want me there?”
“I’m saying I don’t think I could handle watching you walk out on me again,” she clarified.
I winced.
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I deserved it,” I admitted.
She stayed silent a moment and watched me, almost as if she was assessing me. “I would be very happy to have you come and watch me dance sometime. And I promise I’ll keep it G-rated. Maybe PG.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sounds like a plan,” I started. “So, you want to hang those mirrors?”
She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and nodded. “The sooner those are up, the sooner I dance.”
I groaned as I turned and walked out to where the mirrors were stacked. Monroe and I spent the next couple hours hanging the mirrors in the first room. Unbeknownst to me, somewhere in the middle of it all Monroe ordered pizza. I think she knew that if she had said something to me about it ahead of time I wouldn’t have let her pay for it. I let her have this small victory. After we ate, we finished the rest of the mirrors in the first room. The smile that spread across her face when she looked around the completed room was breathtaking.
“I think this is enough for today,” she sighed happily.
“You sure? I don't mind staying a little while longer.”
“Stone, I am so far beyond where I thought I’d be today thanks to you. I’m a bit exhausted now, but could you do me one favor before we call it a night?
“What do you need, angel?” I replied without hesitation.
She stayed quiet a moment and just looked at me. Eventually, she spoke.
“Would you mind bringing the other buckets of paint into the last two rooms for me?” she asked. “I hadn’t realized how heavy they were.”
“I can do it now if you want, but I can also just do it tomorrow if you are tired and want to get home.”
Her brows drew together. “What do you mean you can do it tomorrow?”
“I thought you were planning to come tomorrow and work on the place,” I answered.
“I am.”
“Okay, so what time are you planning on being here?”
“Probably by ten. Why?”
“I’ll meet you here at ten tomorrow morning and we can put in a full day. We’ll probably get enough accomplished that you could be up and running within a few days.”
“Oh, Stone. You don’t have to do that. Seriously, you were a huge help today. Thank you,” she said.
Did she not want me here?
“Is someone else coming to help you?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Are you saying you don’t want me to come here to help you?”
“No, not at all. I just don’t want to take up any more of your weekend. You’ve already done so much.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning at ten, Monroe,” I persisted, giving her a wink. “But just in case something changes, you should give me your number,” I added, pulling out my phone.
I handed it to her and she saved her number in it for me. I quickly called her phone, heard it ring once, and then hung up. “Now you have my number if you ever need me.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly stopped herself.
“What is it?”
Her eyes searched my face a moment before she finally asked, “Why are you doing this for me?”
“I wish I had the answer to that question myself,” I answered honestly.
And I did.
I had no fucking idea why I was setting myself up for this.
She seemed to accept my answer with a nod of her head, but then started walking toward the hall with her head down. I don’t know what moved me to do it, but as she began walking past me I stuck my hand out and pressed it against her abdomen. She stopped and looked up at me, her eyes curious. I brought my hand up from her stomach to cup her jaw. My thumb instinctively went to her bottom lip. Her eyes were now pleading with mine and I couldn’t control it.
“I know I shouldn’t fucking do this, but I really want to kiss you, Monroe.”
Her lips parted and she rasped out, “Okay.”
I wrapped my other arm around her waist and pulled her to my body. One of her hands fisted the hem of my shirt while the other wrapped tightly around my bicep.
Fuck. Was she nervous?
I slowly brought my mouth down and gently brushed my lips against hers. I felt her body trembling.
“You alright?” I whispered against her lips.
She nodded as she whispered back, “I’m sorry…just nervous.”
“Relax, angel,” I urged her before I crushed my lips to hers. The second I felt Monroe’s lips against mine I swear the sensation shot straight to my dick. I pulled her tighter to me and brought my tongue out to tease her lips. She opened for me and I slid my tongue into her mouth while she gave me hers in return. I was nearly knocked off my feet as the kiss grew more intense, and she put a bruising grip on my bicep while she moaned. I’ll never forget that beautiful, fucking sound for as long as I live. I tore my mouth from her lips and rested my forehead against hers.
“Stone,” she purred.
I pulled my head back so I could look at her. Her face was flushed, her eyes uncertain, and her lips swollen.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“You’re beautiful,” I stated.
Her eyes rounded as though I was telling her something she never heard before.
“What was that about?” she wondered, timidly.
“You’re irresistible, Monroe. I’ve been fighting the urge to do that all damn day. I’m sorry,” I confessed.
She looked at me through hooded eyes and murmured, “I’m glad you gave in. It was nice…really nice.”
I closed my eyes and dipped my chin. “It was.” That was the truth, but at the same time I felt defeated knowing I couldn’t do it again. I wasn’t going to disappoint her further by telling her that despite how nice it was it would never happen again. “You ready to go home?”
She nodded.
With that, I followed her out of the room and down the hall to the reception area. She gathered her things, turned off the lights, armed the studio, and locked up. I walked her to her car where she thanked me again for helping her before climbing in. After closing her door, I walked back to my truck, started it, and waited to go until she drove off.
I pulled away from the curb after she did and drove home. The entire way there I couldn’t stop replaying that kiss in my mind. I couldn’t figure out how the hell I was going to get through another day of being around her without wrapping her up in my arms and taking her right there in the middle of her studio.
Monroe Archer steamrolled through my walls with very little effort and right into my brain. I needed to find a way to get her out of there, for her sake and for my own. So, I went home and did the only thing I could that I knew that would set me straight. I hadn’t looked at it in years, but now I knew I needed to see it. I pulled out the letter and I read it. Then, I read it again. And again. And again.