This isn't the next wedding story. In fact it's probably not what any of you were expecting.
I'm not going to explain a single word of it to you before hand - you'll have to work this one out for yourselves!
And so, I think I'll leave it up to you to decide...
Dedicated to Joyce, who planted the seed in my fevered brain and rueful who encouraged it's germination (as she so often does!)
Soundtrack: In These Shoes – Kirsty MacColl
I once met a man with a sense of adventure,
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went.
He said "lets make love on a mountain top,
Under the stars on a big hard rock."
I said "In these shoes… I don't think so."
I said "Honey… lets do it here."
…
Rachel was feeling naughty. No, not naughty. Determined. She was on a mission tonight and being the determined type of person she was, nothing and no one was going to stop her. Except maybe herself, that was.
She stepped cautiously out of the back seat of her friends brother's chevy, tugged down the skirt of her rather short, white nurses uniform and bent to adjust the suspender straps holding up her white stockings. Rather self consciously, she flicked back her long, blonde, curly hair and concentrated on walking up the driveway of the big old house in her white stilettos, without falling over and embarrassing herself.
She'd had her first perm a few weeks ago, and finally the chemical smell had faded and the curls had settled into long gentle waves down her back. She'd hated it to begin with, but now she was rather proud of her head of blonde curls. Her father had never let her cut her hair or get it permed, and she'd been forced to endure long straight hair almost down to her waist for as long as she could remember. He'd told her she should be proud of her natural beauty, but she just wanted cool hair like all of her friends.
He also never would have let her leave the house on Halloween dressed as a virgin nurse, to go to a college party in New Jersey with a group of her friends from high school. But everything was different now. Instead of answering to him for everything she did, every decision, every step, every breath; she now had the freedom to do whatever she wanted.
When he'd first left, her mom tried to make the rules, but it didn't take long for Rachel to let her know that she wasn't going to start listening to her when she never had before. Her mom had never made or enforced a rule in her life. Rachel was 16 now, and as far as she was concerned, without her father to lay down the law she was free to do whatever she wanted and go wherever she pleased.
"Come on Rachel," one of her friends grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up the front steps of the house. On the porch lounged groups of college boys and girls in Halloween costumes, laughing, dancing and drinking beer from plastic cups. The house was literally jumping with the sound of The Love Shack thumping into the night. Since she'd started hanging with the bad girls, Rachel had done things and gone places that she never would have imagined a few weeks ago, and this was definitely one of them.
For a moment she felt a little young and out of place. But it just took a few admiring glances and wolf whistles from a group of boys dressed as superheroes, as Rachel and her friends pushed their way past and into the house, for her to feel better. They'd spent a lot of time getting dressed at her friend's cousin's house not far down the road where they were staying for the weekend, and they were fairly sure they were looking damn hot. The girls all laughed and giggled as they took in the boys lust-filled stares.
"See," her friend Suzanne whispered as they got inside the house, "I told you no one would know we're in high school once we were dressed and made up. We look every bit as old as any of these girls, and much sexier. This nurses thing is genius."
They dumped their drinks in the downstairs bathtub which had been filled with ice, and clutching their pre-mixed bacardi and cokes, danced in the living room to the sounds of the B52s and INXS and Madonna. The room was hot and packed with people, and with the music pounding it didn't take long for the bacardi to go to Rachel's head. She thought perhaps she might like to sit down for a while, but in the end she decided she was having too much fun.
The superhero boys had followed them and Spiderman was trying his best to get Rachel's attention. She danced with him for a while but after he started getting a little too close for comfort, Rachel conferred with her friends and they soon decided that there were better prospects at this party than these silly boys. They ran out to the back garden to make their escape, and get some much needed fresh air, grabbing fresh drinks on the way out.
Out in the back garden was a whole different atmosphere. It was much quieter out here than in the front of the house where the music was, and Rachel was sure she could smell pot being smoked. They spied a big trampoline at the end of the garden and after hobbling down the rough pathway in their heels, the girls climbed up on it and lay in a line looking up at the stars. Rachel was feeling decidedly tipsy and the motion of the trampoline wasn't really helping.
As they lay there, the girls giggled and talked about the superhero boys. "Come on, surely there must be some better boys here than them. They must only be freshmen. I thought we came here to find us some real men," Katy laughed. "Especially for our little virgin here. Don't forget we have to sacrifice her by the end of the night."
"Don't worry about me," Rachel giggled, slurring her words slightly. "I'm sure I can find a fucking gorgeous man somewhere who wants to do it with me"
They laughed. "What's wrong with Spiderman. I bet he'd leave his mask on if you didn't want to look at his pimply freshman face."
"I'd rather stay a freaking virgin," Rachel groaned.
Finally they decided to climb down from the trampoline, and Rachel tried to navigate the climb without snagging her white stockings or getting her suspenders caught on the springs and at the same time keep her skirt down over her bottom. As she did, she noticed a group of rather well dressed young men standing over towards the back of the garden. "Hey girls, get a load of those boys," she said pointing in their direction. "I think they're more our style."
They were well dressed, to the point of over formality, in various styles of breeches, cravats and long 18th century frock coats. They were smoking cigarettes held in long cigarette holders and drinking imported beer from long necked bottles. They were a complete contrast to the superhero boys with their keg beer in plastic cups and silly dress ups.
Noticing the attention that the giggling girls were throwing in their direction, the group of young men made their way casually towards them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said one of the group. "Demon nurses by the look of it. Except for this one," he indicated his cigarette holder towards Rachel. "Don't tell me, this one is your virgin sacrifice."
They laughed generously, all seeming to easily appreciate the point of the girl's outfits. Together with their nurse's uniforms, the girls all had ripped black stockings and dark makeup, blood on their white outfits and black roses in their hair. Rachel was the only one with a pristine appearance, with her long blonde curls, delicate makeup and white stockings.
It was a standing joke within the group that Rachel was the only remaining virgin amongst them, and so they'd decided that tonight was the night that she was going to be sacrificed, so to speak. Far from being a reluctant victim however, she was more than ready. Most of the other girls had found regular boyfriends over the year, but the only boys from their school that Rachel was remotely interested in were seniors who were already going out with older girls. All the boys her own age were little more than idiots as far as she was concerned.
And so she'd decided that if she wasn't going to find a regular boyfriend any time soon, that her first time at least was going to be with a real man. Not a pathetic high school boy. So when the idea of her being the "virgin sacrifice" for Halloween had come up, she'd accepted the role enthusiastically. Her friends all knew how strict her father had been in protecting her virtue, and they could well understand her keenness to throw it to the wind tonight, now that he was no longer controlling her life.
"So tell us," Alison said loudly. "Who are you gentlemen? Let me guess, there's what, six of you, so one must be Mr Darcy, you there in the red, you must be Captain Wentworth, there must be Mr Rochester and Mr Knightly, and maybe even Mr Bingley. And let me see..." She surveyed the group carefully, her eyes finally settling on a tall dark, interesting looking type at the back. He had a full head of wild black curls and a glint of mischief in his green eyes when he laughed. "You, you with the grab fuck hair, you must be Heathcliff."
The men all laughed and as they did, the girls got a glimpse of their fangs. Each of them had a full set of very sharp, white vampire teeth adding to their appearance of suave, sophisticated danger. A quick glance around her friends confirmed Rachel's excited feeling that they'd found a suitable group of boys with whom to spend some time.
So they sat together as a group for a while, chatting and drinking and laughing. Rachel found herself inexplicably drawn to the luscious, dark haired Heathcliff, and found it a little frustrating that he held back from the group in general. He sat a little aside from the others, deep in conversation with a tall blonde member of his group, not really participating in the general laughter. For two boys dressed as 18th century vampire lovers at a Halloween party, she thought they looked altogether far too serious, and eventually she left them to it and joined in another conversation with her friends.
…
The music in the big old house was thumping, and so was Jacob's brain.
He'd spent the day with his head down working on his thesis, and hour by hour, the pain in his head had been growing. And now he was hot and his throat felt like broken glass. He really just wanted to leave the party, but it had been weeks in the planning and he knew none of his college buddies were going to let him escape that easily.
Plus, that beautiful blonde in the white nurses uniform had caught his eye and he wanted to find her again and introduce himself properly. He'd caught a glimpse of the top of her white stockings and suspenders as she was climbing down from the trampoline and the image was seared into his pounding brain.
He was kicking himself for not speaking to her earlier when he'd the chance, but he'd been caught up in a conversation with Sergei about fermi beta decays. Damn theses, the sooner they were both shot of them the better. Half life measurements and viral DNA packaging really had no place at a Halloween party.
Crap. He realised that she'd been sitting less than a metre or so from him, but then he and Serge had started talking, and the next time he looked up she was gone. In fact everyone was gone and it was just he and Sergei sitting in the back garden, on their own apart from the pot smokers behind the bushes. Sometimes he just needed to pay more attention to what was going on around him.
"Do you want a beer?" Sergei asked. Between his strong Russian accent, several rounds of Carlsbergs and his vampire fangs, he was having more and more difficulty with the English language and Jacob laughed.
"Those fangs suit you. I think you should wear them more often."
He raised his eyebrows. "They suit me?"
Jacob laughed. "Absolutely. We should start calling you Vlad the Impaler"
Serge drew back his lips, baring his pure white teeth. "So do you think I look sexy?"
Jacob laughed, baring his own fangs, "Oh very, fucking sexy. I'd do you"
"That's good to know," he laughed. "I don't think I'm as sexy as you though. What did that little nurse say you had? Grab fuck hair. That sounds promising."
Jacob shrugged. "Maybe… I have no idea what she meant though. Although if that blonde one in the white stockings wanted to demonstrate it to me I wouldn't complain. Of course," he said, exposing his own fangs, "I'd have to suck her blood first."
"Perhaps she'd suck yours," Sergei said with a wink, "or perhaps it's not your blood you want her to suck."
"Does your mind ever drag itself out of the fucking gutter Serge?" Jacob interrupted, grinning. "You know I wouldn't enjoy that at all."
He snorted in derision. "This is me you're talking to, you horny bastard," he grinned. "Beer?"
Jacob nodded, "I need something to fix this headache."
Sergei shook his head, "Oh, well I'm sure more beer will do it." He got to his feet and went inside to track down a couple more Stellas.
Jacob sighed and lay back on the grass. He felt like shit. Maybe if he just swallowed a handful of paracetamol and put his head down upstairs for half an hour or so, he'd feel better. They partied pretty hard at Princeton, but even so, the Science & Engineering Halloween bash was not an event that you wanted to miss. The sheer number of people jammed into the house was testament to that, and it was only 9 o'clock. Come midnight this place would be jumping. He shook his head… he could see the police coming for several visits tonight.
Finally, when it became obvious that Sergei had been waylaid by a better offer on the way to bring back their beers, Jacob dragged himself to his feet. OK, he'd brave the noise and crowds of the house, and push his way up the stairs and to the bathroom. Hopefully he'd find some paracetamol in there.
It took him almost 15 minutes to get from the back door to the front stairs, stopping every few steps to chat with someone and negotiate the crowds. But when he finally stood at the bottom of the stairs he was tickled to find that the nurses had taken up residence on the staircase. He wasn't quite sure why they all started wolf whistling and laughing as he started up the stairs, but put it down to the tray of jelly shooters they now seemed to be enjoying with gusto.
As he tried to wend his way up the stairs, he had no choice but to push, as politely as he could, through the middle of the group of giggling nurses. As he tried to get past them the laughing increased, and they shoved the girl he'd had his eye on, the blonde in the sexy white stockings, into his path.
She was a couple of steps higher than he was and with her white stilettos on, they were eye to eye as she turned to face him. She was obviously trying to summon up the courage to speak, and he smiled.
"Would you mind if I just, er, got past you? I need to go upstairs and you and your friends are um…"
She smiled back and he noticed the slightly nervous look in her pretty blue eyes. "Um, Heathcliff isn't it?
He nodded and narrowing his eyes, flashed his fangs at her cheekily.
She laughed. "You do realise that if you want to get past, you have to pay the fee don't you?
He raised his eyebrows questioningly, "A fee? Is everyone paying a fee to get up the stairs?"
"No, just you, sexy," one of the other girls called out and they all laughed again.
He frowned. "Ok… so what's the fee that I have to pay?"
She smiled shyly. "Um, a kiss."
A shiver of anticipation ran through his body. She wanted him to kiss her? Fuuuuuck.
"Really, a kiss, is that all? I think I can manage that." He was trying to sound relaxed and confident, but he suddenly felt feverish. Standing just a few inches away from her, he realised just how beautiful she was. Her eyes were big and blue, and her rather too tight and too short nurses uniform clung to her body in all the right places.
"I'll gladly pay that fee… several times if you like," he said, silently willing his voice not to betray his pounding heart.
She looked him in the eyes and he suddenly decided that the best course of attack was indeed attack. He reached out and grabbed her firmly around the waist with one hand, pulling her body into his. He looked into her eyes for a moment and she smiled again, then he took a breath, lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her.
Her lips were sweet and delectable, and she yielded immediately to his mouth, sending a shiver down his spine and a jolt to his groin. Their tongues touched and he felt her body sink into his, her breasts pressing into his chest. His mind wandered and he wondered what it would feel like to hold her naked body in his hands.
Her eyes were gently closed and she showed no sign of pulling away from his kiss, and so he could see no reason to end it. For several minutes they stood on the stairs in the middle of the crowd of girls, kissing, touching, tasting, completely oblivious to the hooting and cheering.
Finally she drew back from him a little, breaking the contact of their lips and he sighed. "You have no idea how much I enjoyed that," he whispered into her ear.
His hands were still around her waist and their bodies remained touching, and for a few moments they just stood… as though they were the only people in the house.
"You can go up the stairs now," she whispered to him eventually.
He frowned.
"You did want to go upstairs didn't you?"
He blinked. "Um, yes, yes of course I did," he said, suddenly remembering where he was. "I er, I really need to go and lie down for a while. I'm um, not feeling too well. But I'll come and find you a little later if that's ok."
He couldn't resist one more taste of her mouth though, and leaned into her again, brushing her lips with his, before letting go of her body and striding up the stairs two at a time.
Fuck, he needed a breather after that. Getting hot and heavy with a gorgeous girl like her in the middle of a crowd wasn't really his modus operandi, especially not when his head was thumping and he was wearing rather tight fitting breeches.
He negotiated his way past the crowds of people standing on the landing and in the hallway, until he finally reached the bathroom. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found a big bottle of paracetamol in the medicine cabinet and he quickly downed a couple with his beer, and then another couple for good luck.
After spending a few minutes sitting on the side of the bathtub and cooling his face on the tiled wall next to him, he decided to try and find somewhere to lie down. He was as horny as hell after his close encounter with the girl on the staircase, but right then the need to relieve the throb in his head, was far greater than the need to relieve the throb in his breeches.
He made his way down the hallway and tried the doors of a couple of the bedrooms. Two were locked and he could hear giggling from inside, but the last one at the end of the hall was empty. He slipped into the room, locked the door from the inside with the big old key, and lay down on the bed with a grateful sigh.
With the house full of people and music, it was hardly quiet in the bedroom, but at least the sound was a little muffled and at least it was dark. Maybe if he just had a quick nap, he might feel better. And when he did, he'd be searching out that beautiful girl. The taste of her mouth was seared onto his lips, the memory of her body was seared onto his hands.
He had some unfinished business with that one.
…
As he disappeared up the stairs, Rachel collapsed back onto the step, gasping for air. Her girlfriends were laughing and she could hear their voices, their questions and comments swirling round her head.
But all she could think of was the taste of his beautiful mouth and the feeling of his burning hot body pressed up against hers. She'd wanted to kiss him from the moment she'd set eyes on him, and when he wrapped his big hand around her waist and pulled her hard against him, she'd been shocked. Shocked for a microsecond that was, until his lips found hers and then her mind took on the consistency of a jelly shooter. His mouth had made her inhibitions melt away and she'd pressed herself against him without even thinking, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do. And he seemed to enjoy it as well.
She'd been momentarily startled when she felt his cock twitch against her belly. She'd made out with boys before, but never had she been pressed against one like that and she'd never, ever felt a cock before.
Being an only child, and without close male cousins or friends, the world of the male anatomy was somewhat of a mystery to her. She'd certainly never thought it would move like that without even touching it. That's not to say however, that she didn't quite enjoy the feeling of it pulse against her, and not to say that she wasn't desperate to feel it again.
When he'd pulled away from her and whispered into her ear with his throaty, velvet voice, she'd almost hung onto him to stop him from leaving her. But before she knew it he'd flicked his long coat and strode up the stairs in his knee length boots and breeches, leaving her with just the taste of his mouth and the memory of his body, and a distinct warm feeling between her thighs.
Fuck, she really had to find him again soon.
In an effort to pass the time until he joined the party again, she stayed with her girlfriends and danced again for a while. After a while they replenished their drinks and hung out on the front porch with the superhero boys and some mummies and ghosts, but all Rachel could think about was her dark and sexy Heathcliff.
As he'd strode off up the stairs and down the hallway, one of the girls had followed him and reported that after leaving the bathroom he'd let himself into the last bedroom on the right. It had been a good hour since then and Rachel hadn't seen any sign of him. She wondered if he was alright.
She was tense and restless, and she had a couple more drinks to try and settle her mind. But all the alcohol did was to make her feel even more unsettled. She knew she'd never had this much to drink before, she just wished it was helping her to feel more in control.
Eventually though she couldn't wait any longer to find him, and she whispered to Jess, "I might go upstairs and see if Heathcliff is ok."
"I'll come with you," she said, and they pushed their way back into the house and up the crowded stairs. Fighting their way along the hallway, they tried the door of the room that Suzanne had seen him go into but it was locked. They listened at the door for a couple of minutes, but there was no sound.
"He must still be in there," Jess whispered.
"Well he did tell me that he needed to lie down," Rachel whispered back with concern. "I hope he's ok."
"Perhaps you should go in and check on him. You are a nurse after all," she giggled cheekily.
"But the door's locked."
"Oh that's no problem, do you not watch TV?" Jess unhooked one of her long drop earrings from her ear and took her diary from her handbag, ripping a piece of paper from out of the book.
She slipped the piece of paper under the door directly under the keyhole and stretched the hook of her earring into a long piece of wire. She poked it through the keyhole and jiggled it around until they both heard the key on the inside of the room fall to the floor with a dull clunk.
"Thank goodness for big old houses." Jess said with a grin as she pulled the key gently under the door on top of the piece of paper. "You wouldn't be able to do this in a new apartment."
Rachel grabbed the key and turned around to sit with her back against the door. "Shit Jess. Now I have the key. But I don't really think I should use it. Do you think I should use it?"
"Of course I do," her friend answered. "Did you like kissing him?"
"You know I did. But it seems a bit sneaky to steal the key and let myself into his room when he clearly wants to be left alone."
"Oh, I don't think he wants to be left alone by you," Jess said turning and sitting next to her. "By the look of those breeches when he strode up the stairs, he thought you were hot. I'm sure he wouldn't say no if you went in there just to um, check up on him."
Rachel looked unsure.
"Oh, go on," her friend urged. "This is what you came here for. You've finally found someone who actually passes your ridiculously ambitious profile of the perfect man, so go for it. Just go in and talk to him for a bit."
"But what if he thinks I just want to… you know?"
"Well you do don't you?"
"Um, I think so" Rachel frowned, "but what if I change my mind."
She shrugged. "Well, you change your mind and you leave. I hardly think he's the type to lock you in the room and not let you go. Listen, you don't have to decide what you're going to do right now. But I think you should go in. I can wait outside for you here if you like."
"No, no." Rachel couldn't think of anything worse than having someone listening in on her. "I'll be fine. You're right. He and his friends all seem perfectly nice. Even though they're older and have fangs and breeches and smoke and drink beer and have probably been having sex for years." Suddenly she didn't seem so sure. "No, I'll be fine."
"You bet." Jess hugged her encouragingly. "He's fucking hot Rachel, that's all that matters. Of course you'll be fine."
But she felt anything but fine. Her heart was beating at a million miles an hour and she was feeling sweaty. She wished she hadn't drunk that last bacardi. But, she reminded herself, she was a determined kind of person. Once she made her mind up about something, there was nothing that could sway her from her path. And she'd made up her mind.
Probably.
The girls got to their feet. Jess gave her an encouraging smile, took the key from Rachel's hand, inserted it into the keyhole and turned it. The lock clicked and the door swung open a little.
…
Jacob had been awake for a couple of minutes and was lying with his hands behind his head staring at the dark shadows on the ceiling. He was a little disoriented to start with, but quickly remembered where he was and why he was laying on this bed. His head did feel a little clearer so obviously the paracetamol and short sleep had done him some good, but he was still feeling quite hot and he was shivering a little.
He'd awoken to the sounds of whispering outside of the door, which had continued for a couple of minutes. Then there came a click as someone unlocked it, although he wasn't quite sure how seeing as he remembered locking it himself from the inside. But, as he watched the silhouette of the girl enter the room quietly, her short nurses uniform and long blond curls highlighted from behind by the light from the hallway, he smiled to himself.
"Hey there," he murmured, "would that be my beautiful nurse?"
She laughed nervously, and seemed to lose a little confidence after he spoke, standing rooted to the spot in the middle of the room.
"Have you come to take my temperature?" he asked. "Because, I might be hallucinating. I'm fairly sure I locked that door earlier."
She shook her head, "no sorry, you couldn't have. I have the key here in my hand."
"Well maybe you should lock the door now then," he suggested. "Just so we don't get disturbed or anything."
She turned and momentarily hesitated. And as he heard the key click in the lock, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Shutting the door had plunged the room back into darkness and Jacob leaned over next to the bed and flicked the switch on the lamp, which failed to do anything at all.
"Crap. I think they could do with a new bulb in this lamp," he said with annoyance.
Rachel laughed nervously.
"It's ok, I think there's a candle here." She saw a small flame as he flicked his cigarette lighter, followed by a slightly larger one as he lit the single candle next to the bed.
It wasn't a very big candle and did little more than fill the room with a faint glow. But at least she could make out his form, now sitting on the side of the bed. To her relief he was still fully dressed in his frock coat, breeches and boots, and his gorgeous mop of curls was even more dishevelled after his sleep. She thought he couldn't have looked any more roguish, dark or handsome if she'd hand drawn him from her imagination.
He looked over at her and smiled. "There, that's not too bad, is it? At least I can see you." He paused and she saw him bite his bottom lip slightly. "You do look really beautiful in that uniform you know. It'd be worth getting sick if nurses really looked like you."
She saw him run his eyes down her body, and she could literally feel his gaze burning through her clothes to her bare skin underneath.
"I'm not sure I'd want to be bending over in front of patients though, it's a bit short," she said nervously, tugging self consciously on her skirt, "and my feet might get a bit sore wearing these heels all day."
"No," he stood up and walked slowly towards her. He didn't want her to change her mind and bolt from the room, "I completely disagree. If I had a beautiful nurse like you bending over in front of me in suspenders and a short skirt, I think I'd make an almost instant recovery." The taste of her kiss still burned on his lips and he was desperate to touch her again. "Either that or I'd keel over dead. But at least I'd die a happy man."
She was standing in front of the door and as he reached her she took a step backwards so she was leaning against it. Tentatively, he reached out and touched his fingertips gently on the side of her hip, took a small step towards her. He waited for her response with baited breath.
Although she could hardly believe what she was doing, she reached her hand out and placed the flat of her palm on his belly. She felt his muscles tense, and he took the final step towards her. Encouraged by the intimacy of her touch, he took her more firmly by the waist and her arms automatically went up and around his neck.
He touched her cheek with his lips. "I think you'd make a wonderful nurse," he murmured. "In fact, I'm already feeling better. I didn't think I'd ever kick that killer of a headache, but right now I can't even remember having one." He buried his face into the side of her neck and whispered in her ear, "All I can think of is you."
Rachel's mind went completely blank. All she could feel was his burning hot body against hers, all she could hear was his breath and his velvet voice in her ear, all she could see was him.
Suddenly though, through the bacardi fog in her mind, she thought she should say something, didn't want him to think she wasn't interested in him, didn't want him to think she was immature.
"Um, you do feel rather hot," she stammered. "Seeing as I'm your nurse, I think I should maybe take your temperature." She tentatively moved one hand from around his neck and placed it on his forehead.
It felt small and ice cold against his skin, and he felt her draw her hand back quite suddenly.
"You really are very hot" she said, suddenly a little concerned. "I think you might have a fever." She felt him again. "Really, I do."
He laughed, the last thing he wanted was for her to decide that he really was sick and disappear on him.
"Wearing this coat probably isn't helping, I should have taken it off before went to sleep." He stepped back and slipped off the long black frock coat, leaving him dressed in just his breeches and boots and a blousey white shirt, tied at the neck with a cravat.
"This is a really great costume," she said admiringly. "Especially with the teeth." He flashed her his fangs and narrowed his eyes. She melted a little. "Makes everyone else at the party look a little underdressed."
"Well it's tradition for the PHD students to outdo everyone else at these things. It wouldn't be the done thing for us to arrive looking anything less than spectacular."
"PHD student? So that must mean that you're how old?" She was desperately hoping he wasn't 30. But he and his friends seemed so mature compared to all the other college boys at the party.
"I've just turned 23," he said, "the other day. But I haven't seen you around on campus I don't think."
"Oh, I'm not at college yet. "
He raised his eyebrows questioningly. She didn't look that young, but he could never pick how old teenage girls were when they were made up. He said a silent prayer to himself that she was at least 18. He really couldn't be doing this if she was any less than 18.
"It's ok, I'm 18, a senior," she lied. "I'll be coming to college next year."
She saw him breathe a sigh of relief.
He nodded. "Princeton?"
"Oh, I haven't decided yet," she said casually, hoping that he couldn't see the guilt written across her face.
He took a step towards her again, slipped his hot hands back around her waist. "I'd quite like to kiss you again," he whispered. "You blew me away on the stairs. I was planning to come and find you once I felt a little better."
"And do you? Feel better I mean." His gorgeous lips were mere millimetres from hers and she longed to reached forward and close the gap between them.
"Much, much better since you arrived. Although, I'm feeling hotter and hotter with each moment I'm this close to you." He finally touched her lips gently with his. "I assume you didn't just come in here to play nurses," he whispered.
"Um," she suddenly felt weak. The implication in his words was unmistakeable.
"Sssssh," he said softly as he kissed her again. "That was really a rhetorical question. I don't want you to answer it. I just want you to kiss me, I just want you…"
He didn't finish the sentence. Just took control of her lips with his gentle mouth, took control of her body with his gentle hands.
She felt herself shaking with anticipation, with desire, and with apprehension.
'Stop it Rachel,' she thought to herself. 'He's going to think you're a stupid little virgin if you keep shaking. That's not what he wants. He's a man in his twenties, he's probably had sex a million times by now. He wants a woman, not a silly girl.'
She tried to take a deep breath, but it wasn't easy with his sensual tongue in her mouth. She tried to calm herself, but it wasn't easy with his burning hands caressing her body.
"You seem a little nervous, beautiful. Are you ok?" He paused. "This virgin thing is just a joke isn't it? I mean… you have done this before haven't you?"
'Shit,' she thought to herself. 'He knows.'
"Of course, of course I have," she stammered. "Plenty of times."
"It's ok," he said putting his fingers to her lips. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing. If you haven't then that's fine. But you really should tell me, just so I know, just so I can be careful."
"No… no of course…. of course I have…"
"But if it's not that, if you just don't want to, then tell me. I'd rather not do it tonight and be able to see you again. I'm not that interested in a one night stand. You understand that don't you? I really like you. Really I do. I want to see you again, my beautiful girl."
"Um," she froze a little inside. She couldn't have a relationship with him. Her mother would kill her and him as well if she found out she was seeing a 23 year old. No, she needed to hide her nervousness and just let him make love to her.
He was absolutely perfect. If she'd had her pick of any boy at this party, he was the one she would have chosen. He was gorgeous, intriguing, a little bit bad, and sexy as hell. He had fantastic hair and was a great kisser and now he was trying to break her heart by being kind and considerate and loving.
No, if she wanted this fucking perfect man to take her cherry, she needed to pull herself together and stop acting like the silly 16 year old virgin that she was. This was part of her plan and she was damn well going to follow it through.
She reached out to him and pulled him closer to her. His body felt big and solid and hot, and as she ran her hands around his waist and down his buttocks, she pressed him firmly to her and felt his hard erection against her belly.
Right… yes… this was it, she thought. She was going to have sex with this man, and it was going to be the best experience of her life.
But she didn't really know what to do next. She really just wanted him to take charge. Should she ask him to, or would he just know. Her mind was racing and her body felt tense. She started to panic. What if he could tell what she was thinking, what if he could tell she was only 16, what if he could tell she was a virgin, what if he didn't want to have sex with her.
He took her face in his big hot hands and feathered kisses gently across her cheeks. "Relax my beautiful, you feel so tense. Let me relax you, let me make love to you."
That was exactly what she wanted to hear. He kissed her lips gently and she murmured into his mouth.
"Please," she breathed, and he groaned, slipping his hands swiftly down her body and over her ass, pulling her body up hard against his.
"I want you so much," he whispered.
And in that moment she was his.
…
Despite her assurances that she wasn't a virgin, he could feel she was tense. She might have had sex before, but she certainly wasn't confident in herself, although he certainly couldn't understand why.
She was unbelievably, breathtakingly sexy. Surely a woman like this knew full well the power she had over a man like him. But despite his confusion, he determined that he was going to take it slowly with her, no matter how hard that was going to be for him.
He silently thanked his headache. If it hadn't been for how much pain he had been in, he probably would have drunk a lot more by now, and wouldn't be so aware. He'd much rather have really great sex than get wasted anytime, and he had a feeling that this was going to be exceptional sex.
His restless hands caressed her and he felt her body firm and shapely, her curves sliding into his palms like they were made for each other. He slipped his hand up to her breast and he could feel her nipple hard against his palm. He marvelled at the way her breast fitted exactly in the cup of his hand. He thought about licking the soft white skin encased in her bra, about sucking her erect nipples into his mouth, about hearing her soft moans; and the thought sent a sharp pulse to his groin.
His legs were feeling unsteady, and the burning ache in his lower belly was getting stronger. He needed to lay her on the bed, needed to get out of these clothes, needed to get her out of this fucking sexy outfit. He wanted to feel her warm smooth skin against his. Wanted to taste her beautiful body.
"Come and lie with me," he whispered, running his hands down her back and gripping her tight bottom in his hands. He lifted her high up against him, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her mouth never leaving his. The feeling of her open thighs rubbing against his heavy groin made him gasp, and his cock pulsed with anticipation.
He turned and took the few steps towards the bed, laid her gently down. He was breathless with desire. There was nothing in the world like the anticipation of making love to a new woman, of touching an uncharted body, of exploring her with his hands, his mouth, his mind, his cock.
As he laid her on the bed, she looked into his eyes, it was hard to see him clearly in the light of just one candle but she remembered that when she had looked into his eyes on the stairs that they were clear and green. Now though, in the flickering candlelight, his eyes were dark and lustful, and the desire in them was unmistakeable.
The dawning realisation that this unbelievably sexy man really did want her was powerfully arousing, and Rachel found her body reacting to him as though it had a mind of it's own. She arched her back, trying to get closer to him, she wanted him to kiss her neck, to touch her body.
He slipped onto the bed next to her, and as he kissed her gently, he stretched out his long body fully along the length of hers. She felt his cock heavy and thick against her leg, and she couldn't help but reach down and run her hand along his hard length. She'd never touched a boy like this before and she didn't realise how much it would turn her on to feel his cock against her fingers.
She wanted to wrap her hand around him properly without the barrier of clothing. The warm ache between her thighs was growing, and she suddenly wanted him to undress her, wanted to feel his skin on hers, wanted to feel what it was like to have him inside her.
Her fingers on his cock seemed to encourage him, and he groaned gently as he kissed her neck, pushing himself into her hand. She fumbled with the buttons on his breeches, now frustrated with this barrier between them, while he kissed her neck and slowly unzipped the front of her nurses uniform, revealing her breasts and her white satin bra. He ran his warm hand slowly over her bare skin. Her nipples were hard and aching and he bent his head, tweaking first one and then the other through the silky fabric.
She finally undid the last button of his breeches and slipped her hand inside, feeling his cock hard through the thin fabric of his trunks. He groaned and whispered, "you'd better stop doing that beautiful, or I'm not going to last. You need to let me come inside you."
She shivered. No boy had ever spoken to her like this, no boy had ever touched her like he was, no boy had ever undressed her and kissed her and caressed her like this.
"Please," she whispered, "I want you to help me undo all these buttons." There were more buttons on his breeches to be undone and the front of his shirt had a row of at least 30 tiny buttons all the way up to the neck, which was still secured by his cravat. And he was still wearing the knee length black riding boots and his vampire teeth.
"Later," he murmured. "First I want to see your body, naked in front of me." He spoke the words with such fiercely controlled passion that she could do nothing but submit to him. She lay back and let him finish unzipping her uniform, before he lifted her gently upwards and slipped the sleeves off of her shoulders, dropping the dress on the floor.
While she was still sitting he gently kissed her face, her lips, her cheeks, before unhooking her bra and dropping that to the floor with the uniform.
"You have an exquisite body," he murmured appreciatively as he lay her gently back down on the bed. "But there's one more thing I need to do."
He straddled her, holding himself above her with his strong arms and very slowly licked his way down her body. From the throbbing pulse at the base of her throat, stopping to lavish attention on each soft pale breast, each puckered pink nipple, down the centre of her cleavage and her gently muscled belly, before reaching her navel.
There he paused, swirling his tongue around and in her belly button before continuing, lapping his way down to the top of her white satin panties. He took the lace waistband in his teeth and slowly peeled them down, finally taking the flimsy piece of lace and satin in his hand and removing them completely, blowing gently down her stockinged legs to her feet, where he slowly slipped off her white stilettos one by one and dropped them and her panties to the floor.
He knelt up on the end of the bed and surveyed his handiwork. "Very nice," he murmured, his eyes narrowing and his fangs gleaming in the candlelight. "Very nice indeed."
He suddenly looked dark and dangerous, his rigid erection plainly evident in his partially unbuttoned breeches.
Rachel felt exposed and vulnerable, but at the same time she felt… well she didn't really know. She just knew that she wanted to feel his hot body against hers, wanted to hold that hard cock in her hand again, wanted to taste his mouth, run her tongue along his fangs.
"What about my stockings? she whispered.
"Oh," he chuckled menacingly, "I think you can keep them on. A virgin should always be fucked with her sexy white stockings still on I think."
She shivered. How did he know…? No, no… it was just her costume… Please let it be just her costume. She took a breath.
He leaned forward and bent his dark head to her belly, ran his tongue along the lace of the suspender belt and down the straps to the top of her stockings, then kissed the soft, warm, exposed flesh of her thigh. His fangs grazed her pale skin and she felt a warm surge to her groin.
Rachel murmured with pleasure and he smiled. "Do you like that?" he whispered.
She writhed a little, not knowing what it was that she wanted, but wanting it anyway.
"Yesss…" she breathed, and he took his cue from her body language, from the rise of her hips against his mouth, from her breathless plea. He gently pushed her thighs apart with his hands and she gasped as he sank his mouth onto her, sank his tongue into her, his lips sucking her, his fangs providing a counterpoint of pain against the intense and unbelievable pleasure.
She didn't know what to do with herself, she had never experienced anything like this deep, overwhelming sensation he was giving her with his tongue. She reached down and wound one hand tightly in his wild, dark curls, her other arm flung behind her head. She didn't know what to do except surrender to him, give herself totally and completely to him.
But just as she was on the precipice of a place she didn't yet understand, he pulled his head away and started kissing up to her belly. She didn't really want him to stop what he was doing and without realising it, she groaned as the erotically intimate contact was broken.
He smiled, "I'm sorry my beautiful, were you enjoying that?"
She wasn't completely in control of herself, the combination of the bacardi and his tongue were making her head swim and she murmured an incomprehensible answer to his question.
"It's ok, I haven't finished yet. I just thought you might like it this way." He quickly turned himself around and half sitting, half kneeling on the bed next to her body and facing her feet, leaned over her and sank his head back down on her from the other direction.
With his chin resting lightly on her pubic bone, and his hot hands caressing her thighs, she almost shot off the bed as his glorious tongue lapped at her. "Oh my fucking god," she murmured, "what the hell are you doing?"
"I'm just making sure that you never," he whispered, the sound of his voice vibrating against her sensitive nerves…. "ever, forget me."
The almost unbearable, burning ache in her clit was intensifying with each downward stroke of his tongue and she gasped. As he lapped away the last vestige of control she had, she threw her other arm above her head and let her body react the way it wanted, arched her back, and pushed her hips up towards him. But she had to touch him, reached for his head again, wound her fingers in his hair.
She needed to… she needed to… she needed to… and as his broad tongue caressed her one more time, she felt herself hang in a kind of suspended animation as every tiny nerve ending, each and every muscle, gathered themselves and paused… before bursting into a symphony of unmitigated pleasure that throbbed relentlessly through her body.
He felt her tense and pulse, and his cock pulsed with her. It was all he could do to not come himself as she tightened her grip in his hair and held his head tightly to her. He felt her muscles throb, tasted her musky wetness as it dripped from her, heard her groan from deep inside her chest.
And then… she collapsed, her body limp and spent. He smiled to himself, she might have been tense and nervous a short time ago, but now she was his.
She was wet and sated and boneless, and as he slowly turned around and kissed his way back up her body to her mouth, she murmured. Her eyes were closed, and she took his face in her hands and kissed him, slowly and deeply and passionately.
She seemed fundamentally changed from the tense and nervous girl he had held in his arms a mere ten minutes ago, and the pressing desire he had felt for her then, was replaced by a deep and burning and all encompassing need to claim her body for his own.
"I need you… now," he whispered, and as their mouths explored each other, her fingers untied his cravat and flicked open the row of buttons down his shirt. With a newfound confidence and desire, she pushed the shirt from his shoulders and ran her hands over the expanse of his chest, murmuring with pleasure at the feel of his soft chest hair beneath her fingers, at the strength of his muscles under her hands. She breathed her pleasure at feeling him and his cock pulsed again. God, he needed to be in her. She was driving him wild.
As she ran her hands over his skin, she drew breath. He was such a man, and the feel of his still burning hot skin, of his body hair and of his strong muscles, made her weak. She could barely move, could still feel the memory of his mouth on her, could still feel her muscles faintly pulsing in the aftermath of what she took to be her first real, earth shattering orgasm, but she still wanted more.
The memory of his hard cock in her hand was driving her forward, she wanted him out of these clothes, wanted him naked against her, wanted to feel that exquisite hardness again, wanted to feel it against her and in her.
She ran one of her hands down his chest to the warm skin of his hairy belly and the waistband of his trunks. Her fingers brushed along the hard length of him and he murmured his pleasure, thrusting into her hand.
But she wanted to wrap her hand around him properly, free from the constraints of his underwear and she pushed his trunks and breeches down just enough to allow his cock its freedom. He gasped in obvious relief as she did so, and she took this opportunity to touch him properly for the first time.
She was surprised to find that the thick head of his cock was wet and slick with a warm, thick fluid which lubricated her hand. And as she wrapped her fingers around him and moved her hand slowly down his rigid length, she was intrigued by the sensation of his steel hardness encased in the softest skin she'd ever touched.
He groaned in uncontrolled pleasure as she stroked him, and the evidence of her affect on him made her want him even more.
How could she be controlling him like this? Why did he want her? But as her mind wandered down the path of what they would do next, she paused for a moment.
She hadn't realised just how hard, just how big, his cock would feel in her hand, and she took a breath as she realised that this was going to be inside her. All of it.
She frowned for a moment, thinking about the size of a super tampon. Surely that was how big a cock should be, not this. He just seemed to have got bigger since she had first touched him, and as she ran her hand up and down his slick length, she was sure she felt him twitch and grow some more. She hadn't expected his cock to feel so alive, hadn't expected to be able to feel every engorged vein, every pulse of his blood, hadn't expected him to be so heavy, so fucking thick.
"Jesus Christ beautiful," he groaned, "you really have to stop doing that or I'm going to come in your hand. And I think that would just disappoint both of us."
She was pressing herself against the bare flesh of his upper thigh and he could feel how wet she was.
"I seriously need to fuck you, right now," he gasped. "I need to be inside you."
She shivered at his words. "I want you to," she murmured and moved her leg so that he was directly between her thighs. Her desire to feel him inside her outweighed any fears she was having and she began to push herself against him, felt him start to slip inside her.
"No, no, no, beautiful, wait…" he pulled away from her. "I don't want to do this with my boots still on," he sat up on the bed and pulled them off one by one followed by his breeches and trunks. "And, I'm afraid that even though I'm out of my fucking mind with desire, unprotected sex with you is completely out of the question."
He walked naked to where he had previously discarded his long coat, and removed his wallet from one of the inside pockets. She wished she could see his naked body more clearly, but the light from the single candle provided no more than a gentle glow. He took out a small packet from his wallet, and ripped off the top with his teeth as he walked quickly back to the bed.
His eyes roamed over her body, naked except for her pristine white stockings and suspender belt. "You are so fucking beautiful, I think I could get you pregnant just by looking at you."
She took the condom packet from his teeth as he lay back down on the bed."
"Let me," she whispered. They had practised putting condoms on bananas in sex ed classes the other week, and she was keen to show him that she wasn't completely inexperienced.
He raised his eyebrows, "be my guest," he smiled, nipping his bottom lip into his mouth. He kneeled back on his heels and watched as she sheathed him, stroking her hand down the length of his cock as she unrolled the condom.
She was suddenly embarrassed as she realised he was concentrating intently on her face as she touched him, and she leaned forward and kissed him to distract him from his study of her. She hoped that she hadn't looked too pleased with herself. She desperately wanted him to think she was cool and experienced, but she needn't have worried.
All he saw in her eyes was desire and lust and want, and that was all he needed.
He took her in his arms and together they lay back on the bed. "How do you want me," he whispered as they kissed and touched.
"Just like this," she murmured back. And without breaking the contact of their skin, he gently nudged her legs apart with his thigh and sank slowly into the wet warmth of her body.
She expected it to hurt as he pushed into her, but her already aroused body was slick and ready for him, and despite a little discomfort as her muscles adjusted to his unfamiliar size, she felt nothing but intense and consuming pleasure as he thrust his cock deep inside her.
She clung to him as though she couldn't bear to lose the contact of his skin and he didn't pull back from her. He made love to her slowly and gently, not wanting to break the confidence she'd built up in him. And although he wanted nothing more than to kneel up high, to dig his fingers tightly into her hips and take her hard and fast, slamming himself into her until his world exploded, he discovered that that prolonging his pleasure, which was not something that he usually did, made for an experience like no other, putting every orgasm he had had before it to shame.
This time, his climax built deep in his lower belly for what seemed like an eternity. Every long, deep, slow thrust of his cock into the warm, tight depths of her body, increasing his arousal just a fraction.
Their bodies were wrapped together, her legs wound tightly around his, her heels digging into the back of his thighs, The feeling of her cool hands on his skin, the sweet taste of her mouth, her hard nipples dragging through his chest hair, her delectably smooth skin under his palms. These were the sensations that overwhelmed his brain as they made love… her taste, her feel, her scent.
And when he finally peaked, his incredible orgasm spreading from his lower back to his balls and throughout his abdomen in agonisingly slow but intense waves of pleasure, his mind was overwhelmed by the thought of the woman in his arms and the hard throb of his cock, and he bit down hard on the soft flesh at the base of her neck as he pumped his desperate release into her.
He bit her without thinking, forgetting about the sharp fangs in his mouth and the pointed ceramic tips pierced her skin effortlessly, making her cry out in pain.
"Did you… bite me?" she whispered questioningly.
"God I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he gasped breathlessly "I forgot I was wearing these teeth. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she breathed, her body and her mind a swirling mass of conflicting sensations. Incomprehensible pleasure, sharp pain, desire, confusion, relief.
She'd finally had sex. Earth shattering sex with a beautiful man who'd done things to her she could never even have imagined an hour before. Sex with a dark, passionate man who couldn't disguise his desperate desire for her. And she didn't think her life could ever be the same again.
The bite on her shoulder barely registered in her brain amongst all of the other emotions.
And so they lay together, wrapped tightly in each other's arms for what felt like an eternity, gently kissing and touching, whispering and laughing, until finally, they both drifted off to sleep.
...
When Jacob awoke a few hours later to the inevitable sound of a police siren, he was alone. The music was turned down hastily and he heard the owners of the house discussing the party with the police. He looked around the room, but there was no sign of his beautiful nurse.
His heart sank. Where the fuck was she? He needed to kiss her again, needed to touch her body, needed to talk to her, be with her, hear her laugh and see her smile.
He realised he was feeling weak and feverish, but he didn't care. He stretched his body languidly along the bed and sighed as he remembered the feel of her in his arms, the taste of her on his lips, the shocking intensity of his climax.
He ran his tongue around his mouth and realised that he was still wearing the sharp ceramic vampire teeth. He hoped he hadn't hurt her too much when he'd bitten down on her shoulder as he came. He needed to find her and apologise for that at the very least.
He smiled with unbridled joy. He couldn't wait to see her again.
…..
"Seeing as I ate everything on that tray, can I get up now?"
"No," she said sternly. "The doctor said three days of complete bed rest and that's what you're getting. You can get up tomorrow morning, as long as you stay in bed for the rest of the day."
He sighed. "Just because a doctor says three days bed rest, doesn't mean that's what you have to actually do. It's their stock standard recommendation Rachel. It was only the flu and I'm feeling better, and if I'm feeling better I should be allowed up."
"Listen Jake." She lay down on the bed next to him. "I know you're bored, but if you don't kick this thing properly the first time, it'll just hang around for weeks. Better to have 3 days bed rest and get better than to overdo it and not recover fully. You know Frank's expecting us both back at work on Monday, so you've only got a couple of days to get better… properly better."
"Here," she grabbed a book off the bedside table, "I'll read to you and you can take a nap."
"I don't need a nap, I need to do something." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Shit, it's been weeks since I did anything productive, what with Geneva and the wedding and the honeymoon. At least let me get up and, I don't know, mow the lawn or something."
She shook her head. "You don't have a lawnmower."
"I'll borrow Rob's"
"The lawn was only mowed last week while we were in Milan."
He sighed. "Well I'll do something else then. I don't really care what as long as I can get out of this bed."
"Now listen Dr Difficult. I am your assigned nurse, and until I stop being your nurse at midnight tonight, you need to do what I say. And I say that you still have half a day of bed rest to take and you will be taking it." She held up one hand in front of her face as he started to interrupt her. "No ifs, no buts, no arguments."
He rolled his eyes. "My nurse? I hardly think so. If you were a real nurse, you'd have a sexy little nurse's uniform. I'm sorry but I can't respect a nurse who doesn't wear a uniform."
She snorted. "Yeah, I know exactly where you're headed with this. And there'll be none of that either. Bed rest does not involve sex of any kind. With or without a nurses uniform. Now," she opened the book, "are you ready to listen to a story."
"As long as it's a story of when you were a naughty nurse," he said hopefully, raising his eyebrows and nipping on his bottom lip.
"Jacob. I was never a naughty nurse. And I'm not making up stories for you to fantasise about, however much you want me to. No," she said firmly. "I'm going to read you another exciting chapter of Longitude…"
"I'd rather hear your nurse story, I'm sure you have one at least. I already know enough about chronographs. Surely you've dressed as a nurse once in your life?"
She leafed through the book, looking for the page that they were up to, "Well… maybe once."
"See," he raised his eyebrows….
"But," she continued, "there's nothing exciting to tell. I dressed as a nurse one Halloween when I was young. Not long after my dad left home I think. That party was my first big bid for freedom. Although…" She laughed a little.
"Although what?"
"Oh, nothing."
He shook his head. "No, no, you can't do that."
"What?"
"Start to tell me something and then say 'oh nothing.' You have to tell me now."
"No, it's not anything you need to hear about."
"Why?" He frowned "Did you get in trouble?"
She shrugged. "No, not exactly. I could have though."
"How"
"Well…. no, I'm not telling you"
"Rachel, come on, I tell you everything"
She sighed, "oh, ok, but I'm telling you now that you're not going to like it."
"Let me be the judge of that"
"Well… I was wearing the nurses uniform the night I lost my virginity"
He grinned. "How could you possibly think I wouldn't want to hear this story? Now if you tell me all about it, I promise to stay in bed for the rest of the afternoon."
She was always very reticent to talk about her past, and he took with relish any chance he got to lap up details of her early years. "So… tell me more."
"There's not really much to tell."
He snorted. "He mustn't have been that good then."
She shook her head, "no quite the opposite in fact. He was good, really good…"
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. He didn't think she would be so frank.
"….I just wish I remembered more. I mean it was 20 years ago now and I'd had quite a bit to drink."
"OK… so you were only 16?"
She shrugged, "at least I was legal. Most of my friends weren't. I never told him that though. He was older, a PHD student I think. I told him I was 18. Anyhow, as I said I don't remember a lot. I'd had a lot to drink and it was pretty dark."
He frowned. "He didn't take advantage of you did he?"
"Oh no, quite the opposite," she smiled. "I had him picked out from the moment I laid eyes on him. My friends and I were all dressed as nurses and he and his group were, I don't know really, some sort of bizarre vampires."
He laughed, "nice…."
"Yeah, it was quite odd. If I remember rightly, they were all romantic literary heroes like Mr Darcy and Mr Rochester and he was, let me think, oh yes, he was Heathcliff, with vampire teeth."
Jacob stopped breathing.
"Anyhow, I'd decided that Halloween was going to be the night that I lost my cherry and I spied him. Lucky for me he didn't feel well and went to lie down in one of the upstairs bedrooms, so I had him all to myself, and on a bed, by candlelight. Most of my friends did it for the first time in the back of a car with a pimply high school boy, so I lucked out I guess."
He nodded weakly. His heart was thumping in his ears and he was sure that she must be able to hear it as clearly as he could.
"You planned it?"
"Of course. It's not like I wanted it to happen randomly."
"Ok..." He was lost for words.
"Well as I said, I don't remember that much. It was pretty dark, and I'd had a lot to drink, but I do remember that he had really fantastic wild, dark curly hair." She smiled, "we called it grab fuck hair."
"Grab fuck…?"
"Yeah, the kind of hair where you just want to run your fingers through it, grab it tight and fuck the boy it belongs to."
He raised his eyebrows, "that's a little bit sexist isn't it? Anything else you remember?"
"No, not really, I was pretty drunk. I do remember that it was fucking spectacular though. I don't remember ever having sex like it since…."
He raised his eyebrows.
She put the book down, leaned over and kissed him full on the mouth. "…until you of course sweetheart."
He saw a faint smile pass over her lips.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing really. I just remember hearing through the grapevine that he was looking for me afterwards and I was terrified that he might find me and figure out that I'd lied to him about how old I was. He said he wanted to see me again, but that was never going to happen. He was much too old and Mom would have killed me. I wonder though…."
"Mmmm?" he frowned.
"I wonder what would have happened if he had found me. If we had met up again. If we would've had the same sparks. Perhaps," she shrugged, "perhaps we would have fallen in love and lived happily ever after and I wouldn't have had to spend the next 20 years looking for you."
"Well, I'm glad you did spend the next 20 years looking for me." That wasn't what he really wanted to say, but it was the most appropriate thing he could think of given the random and bizarre thoughts that were swirling through his brain.
…
After she left the room he lay back in the bed and frowned to himself.
'Surely not? Surely…. not…?'
He remembered back to that night, to the weeks afterwards that he spent trying to track her down. She seemed to have just vanished and every time he got closer to finding her again the scent went cold. He had thought at the time that maybe she didn't want to be found, maybe she didn't really like him, maybe she hadn't enjoyed it.
He remembered being devastated that he never found her, devastated that he never even knew her name.
So now he knew it was true that she hadn't wanted to be found, but it was for a reason that he'd never even considered.
He shook his head. Should he tell her?
She wouldn't believe it. Never in a million fucking years… He wasn't even sure that he believed it himself. Maybe it was just a coincidence that they shared similar stories.
Just as he was lost in his thoughts, she popped her head around the door.
"There is one thing I remember about him though."
He swallowed… had she put two and two together?
"What?" he asked tentatively.
"The bastard bit me with his fucking vampire teeth. Drew blood. I still have the marks, here on my shoulder."
"Shit, those ceramic teeth can be pretty nasty can't they?"
She frowned. "Ceramic teeth? How do you know they were ceramic?"
Crap. He shrugged, trying to casually cover his mistake. "Well they must have been. Otherwise how would he have drawn blood?"
"Oh…. Ok…." She looked at him suspiciously for a few moments. "And… yeah, I remember one other thing… he gave me the flu. I spent a week in bed afterwards."
He smirked. "Was it really the flu or did it just take you a week to get over the fantastic sex."
She gave him a withering look and left the room.
He closed his eyes. 'Note to self' he thought. 'Must finally get rid of the ceramic vampire teeth. And the cravat.'
…
A little while later they were both lying on the bed reading. Jacob glanced over at the book in her hand, it was Wuthering Heights.
He raised his eyebrows. "That's not the type of book you normally read," knowing her preference for crime and mystery novels.
"Oh, I used to," she said dreamily. "In high school I read all the classics. I just thought it would be nice to catch up with one or two."
"Right…" he said, sceptically. "It's got nothing to do with what you were telling me earlier then?"
"What?"
"Heathcliff… at the party…."
"Well, maybe, just a little," she sighed. "When I think back, it was all terribly romantic. Just like this book. It's the whole concept I think, of a true love that never, ever dies."
He nodded.
"I think this is my favourite line of all" she said, her eyes shining. 'My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks,' said Cathy. I am Heathcliff.' "
He closed his eyes and rested his head back on the pillow, 'My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks,' he thought...
And he couldn't help but smile.