Tainted Innocence
Chapter 8
Riddick and I basically slept on and off all day. After he got cleaned up I took my turn and when I came back to the bedroom he was out cold on the bed so I joined him and fell into a relaxing sleep. When we did wake up, we made no effort to get out of bed; we just looked at each other, eyes wandering over every inch of skin that we could see. It was nice to not have to say anything, everything we were feeling, everything we wanted could be seen in our eyes. I rolled away from him at one point when I thought he was asleep only to feel the heavy weight of his arm move across my waist as he dragged me back to him. He sighed and nuzzled into the back of my neck and I couldn't hold back a smile.
By the time we got up, it was late afternoon. Riddick was reading again and I was wandering aimlessly around the apartment. I was feeling a little on edge, a little jittery and I needed to find something for us to do. We could make cookies. Wouldn't that be interesting to see Big Evil making cookies?
"Hey," I said. Riddick looked up at me as I walked into the living room. "Wanna help me in the kitchen?" I asked. He cocked an eyebrow at me so I motioned for him to follow me and he got up off the couch. He's a pretty fast learner and seems to be able to follow directions without me even saying anything. This man was pretty smart, I could understand why there was a bounty put on his head, an even bigger bounty if he was brought in alive.
********************************************
It was so funny I couldn't stop laughing. Riddick had the dough in his hand inspecting it as it ran through his fingers. I reached for a handful of flour as he dropped the gooey stuff back into the bowl and threw it at him. He froze and looked down at his body; fine white powder was sprinkled across his bare arm and the front of his shirt. He slowly turned his head to me, the light from above glinting off his goggles as he fixed me with his pointed stare. I was still laughing but it wasn't as strong as before and it was slowly dying as his heated gaze locked on mine.
Something happened next that stopped everything. Something so amazing that I didn't believe I saw it at first. The corners of Riddick's lips curled up into a smile. A real smile. Not dark or altered out of anger or lust but genuine, a happy smile. My mouth dropped open slightly in shock as he closed the distance between us, trapping me in the corner of the counter.
His hands moved to either side of me so I couldn't run but he had it all wrong…I wasn't going anywhere. A prickly sensation moved over my skin as he leaned against me, running up and down my spine, down my legs, lingering longer between them. Riddick's smile was disrupted when he licked his lips, moving his tongue over the soft thick flesh. Unconsciously, I did the same; his head dipped slightly as his eyes were drawn to them. He shifted his stance and forced me to spread my legs with his knee.
When he brought his eyes back to mine I could see my reflection staring back at me, an altered version of me, I was sure of it. The woman I was seeing was glowing with arousal, beautiful as the pink colored her cheeks, glazed, dilated eyes heavy and watchful. That couldn't be me…I never look like that and I couldn't look at myself anymore. I wanted to see him, so I reached up to his face and removed his goggles without any protest from him.
He blinked a few times, squinting until his eyes adjusted to the light. I put his goggles down and kept my hands on the counter, leaning back to force him to lean closer, and he did. Our lips were so close it was ridiculous that I didn't just kiss him; he certainly had the kissing thing down but on the lips was something neither of us had done yet. It would be in a sense, his first time and for me, in an even stranger sense, my first time. Kissing on the lips wasn't new to me but I had a feeling this time was going to be different. This was Riddick; a man that made me feel things that shouldn't be possible by just standing next to me…a kiss from him would probably knock me on my ass. It would, for once in my pathetic life, mean something more than any other kiss. Is this something I was ready for?
And then, without thinking, I did it. I moved in, brushing my lips over his and the instant electric wave of pleasure shocked its way through my body, shaking me with its power right to the center of me. He not only had me at that point but I knew I had him as well. His breathing changed drastically, nothing I haven't heard from him before but this time the sound of it was different and I can't explain what it was. It was coming hard through his nose, blasting hot air over my cheek. If a simple brush of the lips made him do that then this kiss just might knock both of us on our asses.
It was as if he was reading my mind when he pressed his lips harder to mine with a fevered pressure, keeping them still for only a moment before he opened his mouth to me allowing my tongue inside to do some exploring. The taste of him was so sweet, so overpowering that I didn't think I could handle anymore but I didn't think I could handle stopping either. His tongue wrapped around mine turning everything below my waist into mush. I grabbed onto his shoulders to hold myself up, feeling the powerful muscles contracting as he leaned into me. There was that familiar hard feeling against my thigh again and I groaned into his mouth at the thought of his arousal. The fact that I could kiss him and bring him to this point, and I was feeling the same. The more intense the kiss became the hotter I felt, the more wet he made me.
Riddick was definitely learning the basic moves for sex, spreading my feet with one of his so he could step up right between them, pressing his erection to the center of me, making me quietly cry out. I kissed him deeper; ignoring the fact that I needed air, there was no way I was going to let go of those lips.
My hand moved down over his chest, squeezing in between us as I went right for his pleasure point. I needed to feel how hard he was, needed to touch him. He stepped back just enough to give my hand room without realizing what I was doing down there and what he was going to feel next. I wrapped my hands around him and squeezed him through his pants and he was bigger than I had expected.
Riddick pulled away from my lips and looked down at what I was doing, watching as I stroked him up and down. His mouth dropped open slightly and he drew in a shuddering breath. The way he sounded was so amazing, such a turn on that my hand stilled and I closed my eyes, leaning my head back. My world was spinning, I was dizzy, my heart was pounding so hard it hurt but that all stopped when I felt Riddick's lips on my neck. He moved up to my jaw and over to my ear, nibbling and licking until I was so heated I couldn't hold back.
I moved my other hand down between us and started on his button then his zipper, needing to free him, to feel his hot smooth skin. Riddick moved his hands around my waist to my lower back and pulled me so close to him that I couldn't move my hands. I'm not sure if he wanted me to stop or he just needed me that close but I did stop and slid my hands back up to his shoulder to hold onto him. It wasn't long before his lips found mine again and his tongue slipped deep inside my mouth. I pushed in to him hard, so completely lost in the kiss that I didn't hear the buzzer from the front door. I thought it was just in my head but it sounded again.
Who the hell could that be?
I pulled away from Riddick's lips and turned my head to the side, eyeing the kitchen door in confusion. But Riddick wasn't done kissing and he continued to lavish my jaw and neck with lustful attention. My eyes closed again at the softness of his lips, the wetness of his tongue, and I sank back into the feel of him. When the buzzer sounded again followed by panicked knocking, I jumped in his arms and put my hands on his chest to push him away. He let go reluctantly and I squeezed out from between him and the counter. I didn't get very far when I felt Riddick's hand grab the waist of my pants as he spun me and pulled me back for another deep, slow, sweet kiss.
Damn him…I didn't want to untangle myself from his arms but the knocking was becoming very insistent. Again, I pulled myself out of the safety and warmth of Riddick's arms and hurried from the kitchen before he could pull me back. I opened the door completely unaware of how flushed I looked and was surprised, but at the same time not surprised, to see Darren standing there in mid knock.
"Where the hell were you?" he asked as he pushed past me. I shook my head and took a deep breath to refocus myself and turned away from the door as I shut it.
"I didn't hear the buzzer…sorry," I explained lamely. There was a drawn out silence as Darren looked at me, really looked at me as he tried to figure out what was going on. He looked toward the kitchen then back to me. I could see in his eyes that he knew what was happening with me. Damn, I must be an open book or something for him to figure it out that easily.
"Sit down Eden. We need to talk," he said as he made his way to the couch. I stood there for a second before joining him, trying to decide what he was going to tell me. Lecture me, tell me I shouldn't have gotten involved with Riddick…either way, I wasn't going to put up with it. Not from him.
"I have a few leads for Riddick's transport and I'll know very soon exactly what's going to happen." I nodded and tried to keep any expression off my face but I could feel my heart flutter nervously. Darren got a solemn look on his face as he breathed in deep. "My question for you is…" He paused for a second, gathering his thoughts. "Are you going to be able to let him go?"
"What?" I asked in surprise. There's no way my feelings for Riddick could be that obvious. "Why would I have a problem?"
"Cuz Eden. You haven't smiled this much in a long time. And the way Riddick acts with you…well, you get it." I looked away from Darren's probing eyes and sighed.
"When you're ready to take him…take him. It wasn't in the deal for you to worry about what I thought or felt. This was a just a lay over…right?"
"Right," he said a little reluctantly. What? Was Darren getting a conscience? Not possible, that isn't like him.
"I knew what I was getting into and believe me, I've been through worse," I stated as I folded my arms over my chest.
"Look, I…" The phone rang suddenly, cutting off Darren's sentence. I got up to answer it, not caring if I heard the rest of his speech.
"Yeah," I answered.
"Hi Eden, it's Holly." Great. Holly from the office. I wondered what this could be about.
"Hi Holly," I replied, letting my eyes fall closed.
"I hate to bother you at home while you're on vacation but we kind of have a problem here." Of course there's a problem, what else would it be.
"What problem?" I asked as I started to move my hand to the back of my neck but stopped when I felt a hand settle on my shoulder. I was about to turn around to see but as it moved to my neck and began squeezing gently, I knew who it was. The feel of Riddick's hands on my body had become a familiar feeling.
"Something happened to some of the data in our files and it's all coming out coded. No one in the office knows how to fix it and we were hoping…"
"I can fix them, Holly," I interrupted. "Just have a messenger bring the disks to my house and I'll have a look at them." Holly heaved a grateful sigh of relief and I felt myself doing the same but only because Riddick was standing so close I could feel the heat of his body. I certainly hoped I could let Riddick go like I had told Darren. Being heartbroken because you loved someone that didn't love you back was extremely different than being heartbroken by the separation of someone you loved that also loved you back. Both very painful but still very different.
The call ended and I leaned back against Riddick's solid chest and just tried to breathe, forgetting all about Darren in the other room. It wasn't until he cleared his throat that I remembered what he was telling me and the realization that the end was near.
I pulled away from Riddick and went back to Darren, feeling worse than I did when he first got here. Things were moving along so fast and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I was powerless and frustrated that no amount of convincing of any kind would change the way things were going to end.
"I don't have an exact time of when things are going to happen but I do know it will only be 24 to 36 hours…it could even be less, I just don't know." I barely heard him speaking but the words settled unwanted in my head. 24 hours just wasn't enough time. It would be over before I knew it and then where would I be? I couldn't do this anymore. I didn't want to think of losing the only good thing in my life and it made me so angry.
"Whenever it happens it happens," I responded coldly. At this point it really didn't matter if my attitude offended Darren, he was part of the problem. It was Darren that would be back to take Riddick away from me. "If you'll excuse me," I said, doing my best to keep the quiver out of my voice. "I have things in the kitchen I need to tend to." Darren nodded and I walked off before he could even move, leaving him and Riddick standing there.
Inside the kitchen I stood there, not tending to anything. The front door opened and closed and I managed to find some relief that Darren was gone for now but the sense of dread that he would be back crept into the pit of my stomach. I tried my hardest not to cry but everything became blurry and I could feel the tears on my cheeks. I had lost again. You would think by now that I would be used to losing but it never gets easier.
Warms strong hands slid around my waist and locked in front of me, resting on my belly. I could feel Riddick's breath caressing my neck just before he settled his lips there and breathed in deep. All the sorrow I was feeling seemed to ease up for a moment. I needed to enjoy the fact that I had finally found someone that could love me back, someone that could show his love and affection towards me.
Riddick began kissing my jaw, moving to my chin when he stopped. He released me and moved around to my front to look at me but I couldn't look him in the eyes. I didn't want him to see the sadness there but he put his finger under my chin and forced me to look up at him. He looked confused and almost sad when he saw the tears slipping down my cheeks. There was no way I could explain what I was going through but I didn't have to. It didn't matter to Riddick what it was that made me cry; what mattered was that I was crying and the fact that he wanted to make it all better. It could be the dumbest thing like breaking a glass and I knew he wouldn't make fun of me or think I was stupid. If it hurt me it hurt me.
So, expressing himself in the only way he knew how, through action, Riddick pulled me into his arms and held me, kept me safe from everything he could. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and let him chase all the demons away.