Chapter Six-New
Don't lose your faith in me
And I will try not to lose faith in you
Don't put your trust in walls
Cause walls will only crush you when they fall
"Be Here Now" by Ray Lamontagne
"Bella can you get these to Ray before noon?" My coworker, Amber, asked. She set a file on my desk and leaned onto the surface. I glanced through the file and nodded.
"The editing is minor," I said. "I'll do after I'm done setting up his travel." I had been working at Roth Publishing, a small publisher just outside of Port Angeles for six months. It was hard work but I liked working there. I was still only an assistant but occasionally I helped with editing as well.
"Two whole weeks off," she said twisting her curly red hair into a knot on top of her head. "Whatever will we do?" I teased.
"Watch Netflix and have so much sex," she said. I grinned. Amber was dating one of the guys who worked at the security desk in the building, Rodney I think his name was.
"I'll stick with the Netflix," I said. I confirmed the flight and opened the document I needed to edit.
"No hot dates?" She asked. I shrugged.
"With my remote maybe," I said.
"What about that hot guy that comes by with lunch sometimes…Peter is it?" She asked, her green eyes slightly unfocused as she tried to remember his name.
"Paul," I said. "He's just a friend. We're watching Teen Wolf at my place tonight." Paul would never admit it, but he adored teen drama television shows.
"I'd tap that," she said frankly as I made corrections in the document.
"You and everyone else with a pulse," I said. She grinned.
"You know it," she said. "You still coming to Red next Friday?" She asked. Red was a club near work where everyone gathered for drinks once a week. I shook my head.
"Nope," I said. "I have to go dress shopping with a friend." She stuck her tongue out at me and then laughed.
"You're boring. Thanks for the help!" She said. Then Hurricane Amber, as I referred to her in my head, left for her own office. Twenty minutes later I was pulling out of the parking lot at work. Ray had sent me home due to my massive overtime acquirement. My apartment was only a few blocks from work. It was a nice, three bedroom apartment on the top floor with vaulted ceilings that made the space look more open than it was. To my surprise Paul was waiting on my couch.
"You're early," I said tossing my keys onto a small table and stepping out of my black pumps.
"So are you," he remarked. "Got off patrol early and you have better food than my house."
"Go grocery shopping," I challenged. "Be right back." I changed from my work formal into a more casual outfit of yoga pants and a tank top that said "Forks PD" on the front in white letters.
"You buy better food," he said taking a sip of his favorite beer which I usually kept in the fridge. I poured myself a glass of white wine and curled up on the couch.
"Seriously we are like the most boring people ever," I remarked twelve hours later as we finished the season on Netflix. It was well past midnight.
"Hey speak for yourself," he said. "The guys and I are going clubbing tomorrow."
"Where you will get lucky and then end up at the free clinic again," I teased. Four months prior he had begged a ride to the clinic from me, fearing the teasing of the others, because he had taken some "performance enhancers" and his erection wouldn't fade.
"That needle was big," he snapped. "You didn't see it."
"And thank god for that. Next time don't try those samples they show on TV," I said.
"If you would just sleep with me I wouldn't have to go clubbing," he teased.
"I'm holding out for a hero," I quoted. He yawned.
"Footloose," he said. "Too easy."
"Hey I worked all day," I said poking him with my toe. That prompted a tickle battle which ended when we fell off the couch and I landed on top of him with a loud thump. I silently apologized to my downstairs neighbors and begged for mercy.
"I'll end it for a kiss," he bargained. I hesitated. He took advantage of my momentary distraction to flip us so I was now beneath him. My body responded to his closeness, nipples pebbling against my shirt and the hair on my arms raising slightly.
"If you get a kiss you have to declare me tickle champion of the universe," I said. He pinned my arms above my head effortlessly, one hand holding both of my wrists.
"For that title…three kisses and I get to see your boobs," he said. His closeness was both intoxicating and unsettling. He'd never been quite so forward with me before, mostly kept it to cracking inappropriate jokes.
"Two kisses and one boob," I said. He lowered his face until his lips were right above mine.
"Done," he whispered. It had been close to a year since anyone last kissed me. Paul's lips brushed mine with a gentleness I didn't know he possessed. He kissed me slowly; thoroughly even as I wiggled my wrists in vain to get free. "One," he whispered when our lips parted. I opened my mouth to argue but he covered my mouth with his again.
This kiss was ferocious and wild and passionate. It was all I could do to keep up with his lips and tongue as he tasted my mouth. And my body was on fire. This was passion. This was hot and wet and so damnably sensuous. He pulled his lips from mine slowly, my lower lip releasing from his last. The movement was slow and sensual. Casually it seemed, he slipped the neckline of my tank top down, exposing one breast to his gaze. His eyes flicked to mine, back down to the exposed breast and hardened nipple and back to my eyes again.
"No wonder Kim calls you perky tits," he said quietly. My skin practically screamed out for his touch but I bit my lip in time to stop from begging him to touch me. He did anyway, his hand finally releasing mine. My hands landed in his hair, intending to shove him away from me with purpose, seconds before his hot lips closed over my nipple. The pushing became pulling as his tongue and teeth teased my nipple. Every nerve in my body was screaming and my core pulsed with sudden need. He released the nipple as slowly as he had released my lower lip, his gaze raising to mine. "We'll count that as the third kiss," he said.