Stranger, page 11
“I’ll cook. I did learn a few things at that diner as a kid.”
“Really? Even better.” Thank God, I am definitely not the greatest cook.
He stands and goes to the fridge as I take his place on the chair. He’s a wonderful sight moving around the kitchen looking right at home. His natural confidence is truly a ray of sunshine flowing brightly from him and it warms me making me smile.
“Well, it looks like all we have is breakfast stuff,” he turns grinning at me. “What do you eat, Elizabeth? We should go to the store later. If we don’t we might starve.”
I lower my head laughing in playful embarrassment. “I know, it’s so sad. Usually I’ll just have a salad of some kind when I get home. You know, just me and all. I don’t usually have dinner parties, Mr. Kastanopoulis.”
He laughs as I watch him take out the pans, eggs, spinach, pan spray and some spices. There are some whole wheat wraps he finds in the pantry as well.
“You know, I don’t know much about you, Elizabeth. You’re very private,” he asks as he turns the stove on to sauté the spinach.
I turn my face to look away and try not to let my walls close in on me. “Well, there isn’t too much to tell.”
“You have so many fantastic pictures of your family. I hope you don’t mind I was looking at them.” He’s fishing for information but he’s being very polite about it.
“No, not at all.” I smile more to myself thinking back on those moments in the photographs. “Yeah, we were very close...” My mind visits more than just the places but the closeness as well that was lived in those pictures and I turn to look at him. He’s whisking the eggs and glances at me waiting to see if I’ll continue, giving me some space.
“I am the youngest of five children,” I begin. “My parents had an international grocery store in Westchester County in New York where I grew up. Both of my parents are deceased now.” It still hurts to say that, more than I ever would have realized.
He’s still quiet and I’m not quite sure he’s satisfied with just my life blurb, not that there’s anything very exciting about my ‘so-called life’. So, I continue. He deserves at least that much.
“Like your parents, mine worked themselves almost to death. Neither of them graduated from high school, I don’t even know if my mother attended high school, but they were the poster children of the American dream. Work hard and you’ll make it. My parents really didn’t participate in our lives while we were growing up because they were always working, they were the best, absolutely amazing. To this day my brother’s friends talk about how much they loved my mother.”
I pause and he’s still silent waiting for me continue.
“I didn’t really care for school. My brother and sister were popular, I was well known, likeable but not well liked. I don’t know if I developed the bitch persona because of that or because I was a bitch was the reason I wasn’t well liked. Anyway, I graduated high school early and moved to the city to start my life. A year later I got a job with the designer. Sometime after that, I started to live the city life, you know, probably like you. My parents had retired down here by that time. Then a few years later the company began restructuring and people were being fired on their lunch hour. It was summertime so I decided to leave and take the summer off and do what young people do in New York. My parents kept asking me to come down here and help them with a business they had bought. I, of course, refused so they sent my brother to come and get me. I cried the whole way down. But I realize now it was for the best looking back. And here I am.” I raise my hands in finality.
He turns to me with two mouthwatering plates of spinach egg wraps and two bottles of water.
“I’m sorry to hear about your parents. It sounds like you loved them very much.”
And it’s true, no matter how old you are when both of your parents are gone you can’t help but feel like an orphan. There is so much sincerity in his face I can’t look at him because of the lump in my throat. He deserves so much more but that’s all I can give him right now.
“Thank you. And this smells wonderful, thank you again.”
He leans in to kiss me tenderly. “You are welcome.”
We eat in silence making those eyes like ‘This is so wonderful’ moaning in satisfaction.
When we’re done and sitting back content, he looks mischievously at me and says, “Well, Elizabeth I think we need a shower,” and swoops me up over his shoulder. Peals of laughter echo through the apartment as I’m pretending to protest the whole way to the bathroom, kicking my feet and screaming. Turning the water on with me still over his shoulder he puts us both in, clothes and all, while the water is still cold.
After the shower we sit on the couch relaxing, I’m in a robe, he’s in a towel. His head is lying on my lap as I’m playing with his beautiful damp hair.
“I’ve called Joe to come and get me.”
“Ok.” My heart drops but I try to keep the hurt from showing on my face. I should have known, shouldn’t have gotten caught up in silly ideas of romance and hearts and flowers. It serves me right, though. I wasn’t supposed to be doing this in the first place. I’ve learned that lesson too well already so I guess it’s payback time. “Well then, you should get up and get dressed.” There’s a slight bitterness in my voice even though I try to make light of it.
“I can’t go walking around in those clothes all day, baby.” He says noticing my tone and I can see the surprise on his face.
I laugh, relief flooding me, but I’m still feeling guarded. I shouldn’t just trust, shouldn’t just open myself up, kicking the door open and say, ‘Common in.’ I did that before and it got kicked in, smashed, and left me lying on the ground beaten and I’m still trying to clean up the mess. Besides, I can’t open it, no matter if he’s banging on that door demanding to be let in or not. What have I gotten us into?
“No, that would look a bit out of place. They have a saying down here, ‘Dirty Stay Out’. I think that ensemble would definitely fit that category, regardless of how amazing you look in it.” I joke, trying to make it seem like I don’t care one way or the other.
“So, I thought I’d go and change and come back and pick you up. Does that sound alright?” He notices that I’ve withdrawn and he tries to soothe me. Guilt stabs me but my defenses are already up. He doesn’t owe me anything, we haven’t made any promises to each other and I have none to give. We’re just having sex, no more, no less.
“Great. It will give me time to get dressed and get some things done.”
“Good,” he says smiling. His phone beeps so he takes it out to check it. “He’s here, baby,” pulling my head down, he places a light kiss on my lips then heads into the bedroom to get dressed.
My head falls back on the couch and I try to calm the mixed emotions swirling inside of me. “Shit, just relax.”
He comes out dressed and I walk him to the door as he wraps his arms around me, kissing me deeply. Looking into my eyes he says reassuringly, “I’ll see you in about an hour.”
“Alright, see you then.” And I watch him walk out, holding his jacket over his shoulder as my heart cracks just a little. Why do I feel so vulnerable right now?
An hour later I’m dressed in skinny jeans and a black thermal. My iPod is on the dock and Meg Myers’ Desire begins her seduction. I’m lying on the couch as I get lost in the words. My fingers begin to tease my breasts as an ache grows deep in my loins. I scrape a fingernail over the seam on my sex and unbutton my jeans, arching my back. Sliding one hand down my pants, the other up my shirt cupping my breast, my body starts to writhe. What has Marco done to me, I want him inside me now, I’m on fire.
I don’t hear the door open while I’m lost in my world. He’s on me. His hands slide down mine inside my pants mixing with my finger in my sex while his other is twisting my nipples but I still don’t open my eyes.
“Take me now, Marco, please...,” I moan.
He pulls my shirt up, pulls down one cup of my bra and greedily pulls the hardened nipple into his mouth, teasing the point with his tongue as his hands are jerking my pants down. Positioned between my legs he begins to slowly slide into me. His teeth bite my lip as his tongue flicks the captive skin. His thrusts are slow and shallow moving his hips up, rubbing my clit as he enters. Biting my jaw and licking my neck, his mouth consumes me, finally coming down on mine and slowly caressing my tongue with his.
The heavy breathing of Lana Del Rey’s Burning Desire fills the air with our own. He feels my walls grasping down on him, pulling him in more as he continues his slow shallow thrusts building me higher. My nails score over his ass cheeks, pushing him harder into me, begging him to push me over the edge. He answers my need and buries himself all the way in and holds himself there while pinching my nipples, giving me that extra sensation to tip me over. And I cum slow and languid, floating in bliss.
“Oh, God, oh God, oh God...” I’m spinning, spiraling, doing that cosmic dance.
He begins to thrust into me again deep and fast. I feel his cock throbbing as he buries himself, his face in my hair, growling. I feel his release in me and I grind into him, moaning. His arm wraps tightly around my waist holding me close, as we lie silently together, coming down from our blissful ride.
“Hi, Marco...,” I whisper into his ear as I lick it. My desire for this man is insatiable.
“Hi, baby...,” he breathes heavily as he sucks on my neck sending aftershocks through me making me shake with them.
“Mmmmmmmmmm.”
He sighs heavily, smiling. “I’m gonna get a towel, love, be right back.”
I watch his ass as he walks away in only his shirt. He is so sexy I could just watch him all day and soak in him. When he comes back he’s grinning and still semi-hard, his erection glistening with our juices. Lifting my legs and sitting down, he places my feet on his thigh, opening and separating my legs, leaving me wide open to him.
“Lift up,” he says his eyes fixed on my swollen sex. He puts a towel under my bottom then begins to trace circles around my sex. I’m watching him looking at me, his eyes fixed and hungry. He takes his shirt off. That finger then slides down my folds and circles my entrance. I feel the cum dripping from me and my eyes widen. His eyes rise to mine and he’s smiling seductively.
“It’s so sexy watching my cum drip from you, Elizabeth.” He swirls that finger around my entrance again, tracing it with his cum. That is so hot!
A new wave of desire flows through me as he pushes that finger inside of me beginning to fuck me again with it and I feel tinges of my last orgasm stirring. I watch his cock as it hardens, growing, turning red with the blood that’s filling it. He twists his finger, curving it so that he’s rubbing that spot inside me. His other hand wraps firmly around his shaft at that base.
“Touch your breasts, baby,” he commands huskily.
I pull my top up and release the other breast, pushing the cup down, forcing both of them up. I begin to move my hips as my finger traces circles around my pebbled nipples.
“Keep your hips still, this is mine.”
I stop and my sex instantly clasps onto his finger and he smiles at me, feeling my reaction to his command.
“You like it when I talk to you like that, Elizabeth.” It’s a statement, not a question, one he’s certain of. And this makes my sex clench him again.
His look intensifies with my body’s response to his commands. He begins to slide in and out again slowly turning his finger around inside of me as he strokes himself. He stops to rub the pre-cum of his beautifully engorged head, making it glisten. I pull on my nipples and squeeze the swollen globes as his thumb flicks across my clit.
I gasp loudly, throwing my head back and push my ass down, clenching down on his finger. He’s finger fucking me and fucking himself as I’m teasing and playing with my nipples. My sex is holding on to his finger tightly still swollen from our lovemaking and I feel my climax ready to push me over the edge again. My body belongs to him, it responds to his every command. I’m helpless, and it’s wonderful.
“Cum with me, Elizabeth,” the words firm and deep.
His thumb pushes down on my clit as his finger curls on that spot inside of me. I grasp onto my nipples tightly, pinching them as the erotic pain shoots to my pussy and I come undone. My hips grind into his hand as my sex spasms on his finger.
“Yes, yes, yes!!” I whisper in ecstasy.
Throwing his head back and lifting his hips to the hand holding his cock, his orgasm explodes all over his stomach as another growl comes from him. He lowers his face to place a sucking kiss on my clit.
“Oh, God, Marco,” I moan.
“That was so beautiful, baby,” he murmurs adoringly as he strokes both me and himself.
He begins the job of cleaning me first, then him, and he looks like he’s thoroughly enjoying himself. When he seems like he’s finally satisfied with the results he stands, bends to kiss me and says, “Be right back,” and heads back towards the bathroom.
Holy shit! What just happened? I’m stunned momentarily. The music is still playing with 30 Seconds to Mars’ Hurricane. Wiping myself first with the towel still tucked under my ass, I get up and begin to dress.
Marco returns. I can’t help but admire his naked body again making my breath catch slightly and I hope he doesn’t notice. His lips quirk up, he noticed.
“Interesting compilation of songs, love.” He pulls me to him smiling down at me.
“It’s my ‘feel sorry for my horny self’ collection.” Shrugging, I laugh.
“Feeling sorry for yourself, baby?”
“Not actually, I guess I was horny,” blushing deeper, the last tinges of my earlier uncomfortableness slipping away. For guys it’s easy for them to be honest and open about their desires and I can’t believe that I’m at a place with Marco that I feel I can say these things so freely to him.
“Still horny, Elizabeth?” he whispers seductively in my ear.
“It’s a perpetual horniness with you, Marco. You make me burn.” My voice is still raspy from the lingering effects of my orgasm and I’m flushed and heated.
“Dragon, baby.” His hands are on my ass holding me close as his lips brush my ear with his words.
He releases me and goes to get his clothes to dress. Pulling on his boxers and pants, he asks me, “Want to go to the store now? I have a feeling we’re going to be famished soon.” He winks at me and I throw a pillow at him, laughing.
He laughs looking at me with a warning in his eyes, “Oh, yeah? You wanna play?”
I squeal and take off running away from him. Making a few laps around the living room, I’m the hunted and he’s the hunter, he pounces on me and throws me to the couch kneeling straddling me on my lap he pins me down with my arms to my sides. He hasn’t even broken a sweat and I’m panting. Looking into his face I see his expression change becoming stronger like a predator with a hint of intimate satisfaction. My pulse quickens and I don’t know if my panting now is from the play or the vibes coming off Marco.
Holding me down his voice is low and sexy, there’s something different about it and it sends sensual tremors through me, “Do you submit, Elizabeth?”
Heat seeps through my veins and my mouth opens slightly as my tongue begs for him. “I do,” I whisper, my heart slamming against my ribcage. The woman that I’ve kept locked up who’s been waiting to submit wakes from her slumber and is at full attention ready to be tied.
Leaning his face slowly to mine, his tongue teasing my mouth, quietly he says, “Not yet, baby, but you will.” His mouth claims mine with all of the promises in that one little answer.
We walk leisurely through the aisles at the grocery store completely relaxed falling in step with each other as if we’ve done this a hundred times. Marco’s pushing the cart and I have my arm hooked over his elbow. We’ve picked up a French baguette, swiss cheese, fruits, asparagus, endive lettuce mix, a bottle of chardonnay (he picked it out), some baby potatoes, chicken breasts, and various other things. We are in no hurry so we’re just looking around at all of the selections. This is one of the high end chain grocery stores so there is a wide variety of high quality items. We come across a children’s sunglass display in all sorts of funny designs so I pull out a monkey pair with bananas on the frames and put them on.
“Do you think they’re me, Marco?”
He doesn’t bat an eye but reaches for his own pair.
“Those are amazing but I think these are better,” and he slides on a hot pink pair covered in rhinestones with huge stars on the corners. We’re laughing at each other when I hear my name.
“Liz?”
I turn with the glasses still on and I feel like the floor drops out from under me.
“Hi, Adriana, how are you?” My voice is flat and there’s shock written all over my face. Marco and I take our glasses off and put them back on the rack. Fuck. I turn slowly to the woman bracing myself.
“I’m good, you know, I don’t like to complain. How’ve you been?” No, she doesn’t like to complain but she enjoys making you feel like shit because you haven’t been in touch with her and she knows she looks like hell.
“I’ve been good.” I answer short and sweet, let’s make this quick.
And her eyes move to Marco, starting at his feet her eyes scan him taking everything in and move all the way up to his face. Even if she’s not well she’s still the ever-flirting bitch she always was. She holds her hand out to him, palm down, the way a woman extends her hand to a man when she wants him to kiss the top. My blood is boiling.
“Hi, I’m Adriana, Elizabeth’s big sister.”
I can see the look of surprise on his face he’s trying to conceal with a gracious smile that he’s perfected. He takes her extended hand and shakes it but does not kiss it. Good!
“It’s a pleasure to meet one of Elizabeth’s family. I’m Marco Kastanopoulis.” Oh, he’s very good.
“The pleasure is all mine.” What a cunt, she never changes even after everything.
“I didn’t know you shopped here.” I drag her attention away from the man I’m with and back to me. I’m not giving Miss Black Widow any opportunities with him.
