"A Shift of Axis"

Copyright 2006 Penn O'Hara

M

Usual disclaimers apply.

Chapter Seven

Come to me, Alex. Magic words spoken by the man she most wanted to hear say them, but the situation in which they were uttered was abominable. Alex' blood was ice in her veins, her cold fingers trembling under Bobby's, despite his grip on them. She wanted him, but not like this. Not at gun-point, not with an audience, and not so that she would always wonder, was he doing this because he wanted to or because he had to.

Her eyes slid sideways to see Nicole on the sofa, her head cocked to the side, smiling that little girl smile that was all teeth and pout. Her avid look of expectation appeared grotesque beside Rafiq's handsome boredom.

Alex trembled at the incongruity, the insanity, of it.

"Don't look at them, Alex," Bobby urged. "Look at me. Only at me."

Alex lifted her face to the most anguished eyes she had ever seen. Either honey-brown when he was amused at something, or chocolate mud when a perp was being particularly tiresome, Bobby's eyes were now dark pebbles in a shallow stream, glistening with unshed tears. Alex' breath caught on a tight gasp and she nodded, determined to do anything to minimize his grief.

"Don't look away. Close your eyes if you must, but don't look at them. Listen to my voice. Hear nothing but my voice." Bobby's face looked beautiful in its soft entreaty to her and Alex knew she would do anything for him.

She lifted her chin and closed her eyes. "Talk to me, Bobby," she whispered. "Just keep talking to me."

"See nothing but me," he said, his voice firm and sure, "and know that not one ounce of me would ever hurt you or do something to cause you discomfort. Every inch of me respects you and will worship you."

Alex tensed when she felt his fingers at her waist as he grabbed the sweatshirt and gently lifted it over her head. "Trust me, Alex," he said. "You know you can trust me. We'll get through this. If you want me to stop… or if you want me to do something for you, just say so. Anytime… anything. Do you understand?"

Alex nodded and willed her muscles to relax. She did trust him. To prove it, she strived to block out everything but the sound of his voice and the touch of his hands.

His voice lowered to a mere whisper. "And I will use my body to always block you from their view, okay?"

His fingers were on the track pants she wore and she aided him by wriggling up the bed and lifting her hips, her eyes tightly closed. She desperately wanted to look at him but feared embarrassment would rush in if she opened them.

"You too, Bobby," Nicole said, splintering Alex' composure. "And don't think about covering up with that sheet either. I want to see all that glorious flesh and muscle at work. This is going to be ripper, Rafiq. Better than the sex shops in Thailand." She sighed theatrically. "Made to order sex, Bobby Goren style. I'm getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it."

Alex whimpered and Bobby leaned into her and kissed her forehead. "Don't, sweetheart," he appealed. "Don't listen to her. Hear only me. I'll make this bearable for you. I promise. I'll turn something vile into something tolerable if you'll let me." He kissed both her eyelids. "Will you let me?"

"Yess…"

"Want do you want me to do?" he asked, his breath warm on her cheek. "How can I make this easier for you?"

Alex opened her eyes and looked into his, trying to project. through them, what was in her heart. "I want to enjoy this, not suffer through it. I don't want to feel I have to be embarrassed by anything you or I do."

"I understand."

"And I want to watch you," Alex said simply, believing it. They were past awkwardness. She intended to bury her inhibitions and accept the pleasure of having Bobby with her, no matter the circumstances.

"Then watch me," he said, a small smile lifting his lips.

Pulling back briefly, Bobby swept the t-shirt from his torso and Alex' eyes widened at the sight of all that flesh and sinew so close to her. She had his permission to look at him, enjoy him, and pleasure him. She lifted her hands and smoothed her palms over his chest, the silky tightness of his skin beneath her fingers beginning a tremor in her body that had her squirming on the bed and a small mew of pleasure rippling from her throat.

"Nothing else exists, Bobby," she whispered, looking into his eyes, now the eddying pools of a vintage port.

"Nothing else," he promised.

Bobby rose from the bed, his back to the sofa, chest bare and jeans hanging low on his hips. Alex held her breath, her mind leery of what was expected of them but her body, awakened by the sight of him, straining for his.

Bobby's hands went to the clip of his jeans and Alex' eyes skittered down to watch before flashing back, almost guiltily, to his face. Pulling the clip apart, Bobby's fingers sought the zip, the faintest smile on his lips making him look incredibly sexy.

"Is this okay, Alex? Are you… still with me?"

"Yess…" She felt she should say more, assure him nothing could dent her trust of him, but the sight of his pushing his jeans down his legs rendered her incoherent. He wore nothing beneath the denim and, despite the audience at his back, he was already almost fully erect.

"I'm sorry, Alex," he said, genuinely distressed. "The sight of you… beautiful…lying on that bed, naked… I'm only human." Stepping out of his jeans, Bobby leaned forward, one knee on the bed and placed his hands either side of Alex' face.

"I want to do this right, despite… that…" He jerked his head behind him. "I want to kiss you, stroke you… worship you and make love, not sex."

"Bobby!" Alex groaned and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him to her. "That's what I want."

"That's what I want too, Daddy!" Nicole squealed. "Love Mummy! Yes! Love her, Daddeee!"

Alex froze, shutting her eyes tight, trying to blot out the other woman's madness.

"Alex, I'm here," Bobby pleaded. "Open your eyes. See only me."

She did, to see his head descend to her, to feel his lips feather hers and then she shut her eyes again, to savor the experience of his mouth on hers, his lips warm and moving across hers, touching and lifting, touching and pressing. Tenderness explored her mouth but heated skin and hard muscle moved against her body, the pressing weight deliciously bearable.

Alex' arms slid over Bobby's shoulders and down his back, her fingers tracing a rib here, a sinew there. The living satin feel of him transformed Alex' breaths into tortured little gasps. Bobby opened his mouth over hers and drank them in.

"Touch me, Alex," he urged. "Touch me and pleasure me. I'm yours. Don't hold back. Nothing else matters."

Sighing with joy at the open invitation, Alex turned her face into his chest, inhaling the heated fragrance of his skin as she ran her hands down the small of his back and over his buttocks, glorying in the way they involuntarily contracted at her touch. She gave a small laugh of delight, running her hands back up again and squeezing them, settling his hips into hers, feeling his arousal press into her.

"That's good, Alex," he gasped. "I want you to touch me. And I need you to show me what you want."

Bobby's face was pressed into her neck, his considerable stubble sensitizing her skin. Pushing her heels into the bed, she thrust upward, aligning a breast with his cheek and growled with pleasure as the sharp prickles punctured her softness. She writhed under his beard's roughness, a long moan escaping her lips. Bobby turned his head, capturing the nipple with his lips and tongue and sparks exploded behind Alex' eyes. Her hands flew to the back of head, pushing him harder into her, her hips rotating against his, signaling her readiness.

Bobby hauled himself to his elbows to look down at her. "So soon?" he asked in disbelief.

Alex smiled. "Bobby, you can take five minutes or five hours. It doesn't matter just so long as I–" She stopped, suddenly self-conscious.

He shook his head in wonder. "There's something I have to do first."

His face swooped to hers, pressing her to the bed as he drove open her mouth, filling her with his tongue. Alex' fingers ripped at his hair, her senses shattered by the passion in his kiss…no, the onslaught of it. She rode the wave with him, gasping for air when he finally lifted his head to rain kisses upon her face. She purred as his beard scraped down her exposed throat, the sound escalating into a groan of bliss as his lips closed over a breast and drew it into his mouth.

"The only part of you that's not small, Alex," he chuckled, going back for more.

Alex' only response was to thrust her hips against his, unashamed by her demand. The outside world retreated and could no longer touch her. Bobby's naked body was on hers, his mouth devouring her, his hands enflaming her skin where they roamed.

"Alex, sweet Alex," Bobby gasped, lifting his head and shaking it from side to side. His shoulders above her shuddered with strain. "I fear…I can't hold back…much longer."

"Then don't, Bobby." Alex moved under him, opening her legs and positioning herself. She hissed through her teeth as he instinctively found her, quivering against her heat, enticing pure torture as he held himself back. Keening, she bore down on him, unable to wait, her aggression rewarded with his sure thrust into her.

Alex tossed her head to the side, her eyes flying wide with shock. Nothing and no one before had prepared her for the mind-blowing glory of having Bobby Goren inside of her. Her chest felt tight and ready to explode, her legs trembled with the threat of an instant climax and her head thumped with the rush of blood to and from her brain.

"Christ! Bobby! Oh, Christ!"

Alex' bite on her lip drew blood, the pain quickly dispersed in the waves of sensation as Bobby's stroke within her ignited a singing in her nerves, clamoring for gratification and shattering into pins and needles at her fingertips and toes.

Digging her fingers into his shoulders, Alex heaved herself out of her shocked passivity and started riding him. Gritting her teeth against the raw pleasure already swamping her, Alex threw her head back into the pillow and clamped her legs around Bobby's waist, meeting thrust with thrust until her body spasmed out of control. Screaming to the ceiling, Alex pummeled Bobby's shoulders then feverishly sought his skin with her mouth, biting down on the thick cord of his neck before she could prevent herself. Tears of ecstasy welled in her eyes and trickled down her cheeks as she tongued the wound in apology.

Bobby had frozen at her release and Alex was aware he was still very much engorged. He had far from disappointed her and she wasn't about to let him deny himself.

"It's okay, Bobby," she breathed. "I can take more." She gave a little laugh. "Much more. Let me ride you on top," she smiled, emboldened by their intimacy.

"No!" he said forcefully, his eyes raking her face for confirmation of her offer. Then more gently, "No, I won't let that ape see you. I won't expose you to them."

Alex understood. He had promised to use his body as a shield and he would honor that promise.

Alex pulled his head to hers and kissed him softly, then more deeply, drinking in his sweetness. Twisting her hips, her breath caught on the delicious hardness of him still in her. She began a slow rhythm designed to encourage him but discovered an answering mounting pressure within. God, he was delicious, powerful but gentle, and teasingly torturous. Alex' arms cradled Bobby's back as she rocked beneath him, her heels driving deep indents into the mattress as her body strained into him. What started out as a deliberate giving of herself to Bobby to grant his own release morphed into a greedy need to take more from him.

Lapping the salty moisture from his skin, Alex breathed in his heady maleness as her hips ground against his in renewed demand. Her want grew, cresting once more in a splintering of senses as Alex' sanity was swept before her in a tide of feeling. She felt Bobby shatter within her and heard his groan of release, her fingertips chasing the tremors under his skin, but still he held his weight from her, shielding her from both their audience and his own heaviness.

For the first time in her life, Alex felt as if her heart and soul broke away to seek to be with someone else. She stroked her fingers down Bobby's spine, her body soaking up the shivers her touch elicited.

"Daddy does love Mummy," Nicole cooed from above them.

Bobby jackknifed to the other side of the bed, pulling up the sheet to cover them as Nicole sat down on the edge of the bed. Alex watched Nicole warily, the beauty of her experience with Bobby souring and shriveling into their imperfect reality.

Nicole pouted, looking from one to the other. "Then Mummy's going to have to die, isn't she?"

oOo

TBC…