Hush Hush

by Lucia Franco

"Valentina?" he asks, his voice making something inside my belly swirl like the smoke trails of a cigar. I smile and nod in response. "Fuck, you're stunning. You're… I have no words." His voice is low and in the back of his throat, and it washes over me like warm caramel. He doesn’t enunciate his Rs, which tells me he’s a born-and-bred New Yorker.

As I bring the low ball glass to my lips, I hesitate just as James leans in to whisper, "I'll give you my coat whenever you wish, but I'm glad you declined. It would be a shame to cover your beauty. That dress compliments you. You remind me of the Greek goddess Aphrodite."

"You're trying to kill me with this dress," he says, leaning in toward my ear. “You are so fucking sexy, princess.”

had other plans for you today, you know," he says, his voice hoarse and low, and God, I fucking love it so much. I love the way he's looking at my mouth as he talks to me. "I’d planned to just fuck you until you couldn't walk and then send you on home, but something tells me you're the kind of woman I'll need to spend hours upon hours pleasing."

"Because your pleasure is what turns me on. I can't fuck someone who doesn't feel as good as I do and get off on it. I need to feel you come on my cock. I need to see how you look, the expression on your face when I'm fucking you so hard that you beg me to stop. I want your back to arch so my dick goes deeper and I can feel your cum soaking my cock. I need to feel your pussy contracting as I come inside you. I can make you feel things you've never felt before, Valentina, but only if you let me. If you don't feel what I do when I’m fucking you, then there's no point." He pauses, and I'm fucking breathless.

"I want you to feel as good as I do when we fuck, and trust me, we will fuck, Valentina. I'll never just expect you to satisfy me without making your time with me just as memorable. I want you to take as much as I give. I want to make you feel all those things, and in time, I think I can." His eyes shift back and forth between mine. "I don't know what it is about you, but I want the moment."

"That look right there is what's got my dick hard. Your body responding to my touch. You feel good and I feel good, sweetheart. It's that simple," he says, his voice raw and hot.

James smirks. "I bet you could, but I bet I can make you forget your name. Tell me something, Valentina, do you like being restrained during sex? If I secured your arms and took power over your pleasure, your thoughts, your body, so that all you can do is feel what I'm doing to you, would you come?"

He gives his head a firm shake. "No. Don't walk away from me," he says, and I freeze. My heart races in anticipation from his demand. James palms the back of my head with one hand and grabs my ass cheek with the other, then slams his mouth to mine in a brutal kiss. The taste of cognac on his lips provoke me, leaving little bites of heat in its trail. He doesn't ask, he just takes like he has a right.

"I've wanted to feel your pretty lips around my cock since the first time I saw you. I want you on your knees and sucking me off until I come inside that sexy mouth of yours," he says, lifting my chin so our eyes meet. "And I want you to swallow every single bit of my cum. Do you understand?"

Fingers at my pussy, he slides the lingerie aside and thrusts two inside. I clench around him unexpectedly and moan in utter desire. "James," I whisper, holding the back of his neck. He's pulling my flesh into his mouth, the fine hair of his beard provoking my senses. My heel digs into the mattress and my hips roll into his fingers. "I'm about to fuck you senseless," he rasps against my neck.

"I'm going to lick every inch of your body clean," he says. Goose bumps break out over my sensitive skin and I shiver in anticipation. "Then I'm going to fuck you until you’re filthy with only my cum."

"You're fucking dripping," he growls, his eyes swirling with heat and desire, like I'm sure mine are. "I can't wait to be balls deep inside your sweet pussy fucking it up."

His head pops up from between my legs and he almost looks high from indulging in me. “So. Fucking. Good.” Then he’s back down to business.

"Since you hid from me, yes. Give me a number and it's yours. I want you, Valentina. For my own. I'm willing to pay any amount. Want to do it privately and not through Sanctuary Cove? Even better. Name your terms and I'll sign a contract. I’ll draw up the papers myself. You want a monthly stipend? A condo in SoHo? The rest of your tuition paid for? Name it. There's nothing I can't make happen when I want something, and God, do I want you."

"So we're having a three-way," I state. Wouldn’t be my first time, but now it would be as Valentina. "No, sweetheart, we're not," he says, and I frown and angle my head. "I'm going to watch you."

"She's fuckin' soaked, Reece," James says.

"Put her on the bed," James orders huskily. "Take her panties off, but leave the shoes and stockings on. I want you to fuck her while I watch, but not yet. Let's get her ready first."

Reece pulls back and licks his lips coated with my pleasure. His eyes are dilated and I wonder what kind of drugs he's on when he slurs his words. "James, come taste this pussy. So fucking sweet."

"You're going to watch me while he fucks you," James says, and I nod, driving my hips back into Reece. I need it harder. I want it harder. "When you come on Reece's cock, your eyes will be on mine."

"We're gonna get too attached," I yell at his back before he leaves the room. My voice cracks a little, but that doesn't stop him from walking away. "Too fuckin' late for that, sweetheart."

"I'm not done with you," he says, taking in the length of my body.

"Liar,” he says, no doubt feeling how I’m trembling against him, my body betraying my words. “I'm a complication you need, sweetheart," he continues, his hands slowly moving down my waist to grab my hips.

"Why are you pushing this?" I whisper. "I wish I had a real explanation, but I don't. There's something about you that has captivated me ever since the first day we met. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. Why do you think I kept requesting you? When you blocked me I went fucking out of my mind."

"No. Not even close, Aubrey. Yeah, don't get me wrong. I’m fucking dying to be inside you, but it's you that fascinates me. The way you speak your mind, the jokes you make, the way you carry yourself in a public setting. The way you challenge me—I fucking love that you do. You have a beautiful heart and a dirty mind. I like what you bring to the table."

"Are you really going to refuse to feel what we have? Let me tell you something—I'm not a fucking pansy. I don't do soft and I'm not that romantic, but this feeling in my chest is not normal. This craving I have for you is not fucking normal. You're all I can think about—you’re what I want, what I need, like I need air to breathe. I've never had this before, and my gut is telling me to chase it. I’m not giving up on this… you."

He walks up to me and I can feel the tension radiating from his body onto mine. "Which room is yours? The last thing I want is to fuck you on my daughter's bed."

"Come in my mouth," he says, his voice muffled. "I want to taste this sweet pussy again." "No," I say, and my refusal only encourages him to ravage me.

"Roll over onto your stomach," he says, his voice rough. There's enough give in the sash that I'm able to do as he says. There's a dip in the mattress. He's sitting on the back of my legs and I'm trapped to the bed, unable to move. His hands rub circles on my butt cheeks, warming them. "You have such a nice ass. I'm about to color the shit out of it." Then, without warning, a whoosh slices through the air and he strikes my ass with a belt.

His hand plunges between my tight legs and he inserts two fingers into my pussy. I let out a loud moan at how good they feel against my tingling skin. My hips move on his fingers as pleasure spreads through my body. My mind starts to go blank. "James…fuck," I whisper. "Someone is going to hear us." Like most New York City apartments, my walls are paper-thin. "Let them. I want to hear you anyway."

"You'll get used to it," he responds. My orgasm is already here and I rock back into him. I'm not myself, but whoever I am, I want to feel like this again, because I feel desired and sexy and like I'm being cherished instead of the other way around for once. "I knew you'd feel good. Should've fucked you the first chance I got."

"Sex is how you connect with another person. It's where you see their vulnerabilities and insecurities, where you want to make them forget everything but remind them you're there for them. When you're both into each other and understand each other's minds, it's a deeper connection. It's how the intimacy grows."

"Sweetheart," he whispers in my ear, his arm going around my back. His breath is hot and it tickles my neck. "You're fucking killing me in that dress right now. Exactly what I'd imagined you'd look like." Tipping my chin up with two fingers, he drops a soft kiss to my lips and my eyes flutter shut. "Your legs and those shoes are going to look sensational wrapped around my hips. Tonight, I'm fucking you against the window—from behind—and maybe against the wall, or in front of a mirror, with those shoes."

"Let me show you what you do for me that my wife can't. What no woman can but you. Let me show you why you fucking drive me insane. Let me show you why I need to be inside you. Why I want you. Why I need you all the time. Open your eyes and watch us."

"Then get lost inside me and I'll take care of us. I need you to, because I'm already lost to you. I'm fucked, Aubrey. I don't know what I'm going to do, because I already know when our time is up I'm not going to be able to watch you walk away. I'm just not. I don't know what our future holds, but I do know I want you in it."

"Not enough time, but I'll take what I can get. You look so fucking adorable. I want to take a bite out of you."

He lowers his voice. "You're a ray of light for me, Aubrey. I see things differently, clearer. Things I want, things I need to change. I don't feel stressed when I'm with you. I feel a sense of relief. I feel like I can fucking breathe again."

“The universe is cruel for putting us together, but I don't feel bad because what I feel when I'm with you is what I've been wanting all along, I just never knew it until I met you."

"James?" "Hmm?" My jaw trembles. "Make love to me?" "Sweetheart, I've been making love to you all along."

He reaches between us and cups me. "You’re soaked," he says like he expected it, then unbuckles his belt and pulls his zipper down. His pants fall around his ankles in a heap.

"I'm not changing my life for anyone." "Yes, you are. You're mine, Aubrey, no one else's," he says, yanking down my little shorts. "Just like I'm yours."

"That's what you are, though. You're a fucking whore who I just happened to fall in love with."

Ms. Shelly set up the oxygen tank for her, and we fell asleep side by side holding hands with her cats surrounding her.

"If you don't leave now, I'm going to make you mine forever. It's what you want. It's what I fuckin' want, and we both know it. Last chance, sweetheart."

"You have no idea how many times I dialed your number only to hang up. Every damn day was a struggle to keep my distance. I've been holding out hope that in time we would find each other again."