Chasing Shade Part 5

'Who you talking to?' came a voice from behind the closed door. Unaccustomed to being spoken to from behind closed doors in the middle of the night, Betsey let out a startled squeal and speckled the mirror with toothpaste.

'Jesus,' she whispered, clutching her chest. 'I was talking to myself,' she whispered, pulling the door open.

'Why are we whispering?' he whispered back.

She studied his bare chest and his jeans. 'So we can go back to sleep easier. Jeans?'

'No drawers underneath.' He grinned.

'Oh. Need the bathroom?' She blushed and hurried past him. 'I'll leave the light on so you don't kill yourself.'

Betsey turned the overhead light on so he could see. She crawled back into bed, feeling the ghost of his body heat. It was odd and thrilling to hear another person moving around the small s.p.a.ce. It felt somehow cosy. Safer.

When she heard him coming down the hall her heart picked up speed. He cracked the door open and stuck his head in. 'OK for me to come in?'

She giggled. It was a nervous sound. Betsey rarely giggled. Ever. 'Of course. I'm not kicking you out at ' she glanced at the clock ' two o'clock because you had to pee.'

'I can, though, Betsey, if you need me to.' He stood there in the doorway watching her. There was interest in that gaze. Attraction if she wasn't mistaken. But also unsureness and worry. He was a nice guy, wanting to be nice to her. To give her what she needed.

'I don't need you to. It's fine.' Her eyes skated along his body, studying him. Broad shoulders, a few freckles there. Nice pecs, a lovely flat, slightly ridged belly. Trim hips. Lean, long legs. Her heart flared and banged. Her breath came faster and she shook her head.

What she needed...

'What I need,' she said softly.

He c.o.c.ked his head. Watched her. Waiting.

When she didn't speak he said, 'Yes?'

'I was just thinking you look like a guy willing to walk home in the freezing dark if that's what I need.'

'Yes,' he confirmed. 'Whatever you need, Betsey.'

She held out her hand. 'Whatever I need.' She said it like a mantra.

He looked a little bewildered until she curled her fingers to him. 'Well, come on then. If you mean it, Archie.'

He nodded. Said nothing. His blue eyes had turned a stormy grey in the harsh yellow light from her overhead.

'I need you,' she whispered. 'If you can manage that. I mean, if you...want me too.'

He moved towards her and only stopped when she whispered, 'Hit those lights.'

He did and his weight dipped her bed a bed that usually only held her and she found herself in his arms again. And he was kissing her.

Chapter 8.

G.o.d, she felt good. She felt so good. She wasn't even naked yet and Archie marvelled at the softness of her. The yielding nature of her body beneath his. She stopped kissing him only briefly to mutter, 'Archie' and then she pulled off her T-s.h.i.+rt. His hands and hers warred to push her panties down. Yellow, he noted bizarrely.

'I'm on the pill,' she murmured. 'And clean. It's been...ages. Ages,' she repeated, eyeing him. 'But I have '

He waved it off and touched her. Stroked his finger from her collar bone to her belly b.u.t.ton. He watched mesmerised as her skin pebbled swiftly into gooseb.u.mps. Just from him touching her.

'It's been ages for me too. And I'm clean. As a whistle.' He laughed softly. Moving in to kiss her where his finger had just been. She smelled so good and yet there was no discernible scent or perfume he could identify. It seemed to be simply the smell of Betsey. 'But it's up to you,' he said, reaching her hipbones. He kissed her there, watched her jump a little. 'Whatever you want, Betsey. Whatever you need.'

She put her hands on his head as he kissed lower. Said nothing. Only a small whimper escaped her when he kissed lower than her hipbones and parted her thighs with his hands. Archie could feel her energy chaotic and wanting and it was a heady mix. She arched up slightly only to realise she'd done it and then force herself down.

He shook his head, whispered, 'Don't do that. Don't correct yourself.'

Her body rose up again, barely noticeable unless you were paying attention, and he slipped his hands beneath her a.s.s, kissed over her neatly clipped mound.

Betsey moaned. Her breath catching. Her entire body seemed to want to toss and writhe but she stifled it, her fingers threading through his hair.

He parted her with his tongue, inhaled the scent of her. Archie played his tongue across her slick folds and finally, finally, managed to swipe his tongue roughly across her c.l.i.t. The fingers in his hair tightened almost painfully. He inhaled but kept going. Sucking and licking her until her hips moved with need. She said his name again and something in his chest seemed to grow.

She was trying to pull him up, probably to move it along. He almost smiled. It seemed very Betseyish to want to take the focus off herself and move it to them together. He pressed his hands against the tops of her thighs, stilling her. Then he whispered, his mouth pressed to her inner thigh where the skin was insanely soft.

'Shh, Betsey. Let me do this. Let me have this,' he said to show her it was what he wanted. What he was doing was just as much for him as for her. He could still taste her on his tongue so before she could answer in any way, beyond her fingers loosening in his hair and stroking, he went back to licking her. She was sweet and musky and utterly perfect.

His c.o.c.k ached and he ground it against the bed to tame the urge to bury himself inside her. Not just yet. He wanted her to come. Not just come. He wanted her to come undone. Her juices coated his chin and he buried his tongue deep in her p.u.s.s.y before moving back to flick at her c.l.i.toris with just the tip.

'Archie,' she said again, more heat in her voice this time. More tension. She was close. And wet. G.o.d, so f.u.c.king wet. Archie drove his fingers inside her, moved them against that suede knot of flesh he knew would bring her the most pleasure. All the while moving his tongue over her, tasting her, giving her everything he could.

Everything she needed.

Betsey came with a cry stifled by her fist. She shoved it hard against her lips even as her body moved up to greet him. A shudder pa.s.sed through her and Archie watched her move. Beautiful, restless, striking until the spasm finally settled and she lay there relaxed and wanton.

She held her hand out to him and he took it, moving up her body. Feeling the kiss of silken skin against his as he came chest to breast with her. The heat of her of them together was staggering. Archie kissed her and she wrapped her legs around him, her wetness pressing against his c.o.c.k, welcoming.

It was like coming home, he thought fleetingly. But he didn't settle on the thought, and let it drift away.

'Hurry,' Betsey said. She felt an urgency now. Now that he'd been touching her. Kissing her. Making her come.

'I don't want to hurry,' he said into her ear, moving his body against hers, grinding his c.o.c.k against her pelvis. Betsey could tell even in the gloom of her darkened room that he was smiling. Ambient light from the trailer park's street lamps told her she was right. When he looked down at her he was a work of dark and light. Most of his face hidden by shadows but his smile evident.

'I don't want to hurry either,' she tried to explain. She felt as if she were failing miserably. 'But I...' She shook her head. Feeling powerless to explain well. Her words drifted away.

Archie wasn't about to let that happen. He took her face in his hands and kissed her. His lips tasted of her, he smelled of her. It was intoxicating to Betsey. It had been ages since she'd had s.e.x. It had been longer since she'd had s.e.x where she felt any kind of emotional connection. Let alone this...brushfire of feelings. It felt as if it could consume her.

'Tell me,' he said. He reared back, watched them touching. His arms trembled only slightly by her head and she turned her head and kissed his biceps. Then she licked them. He chuckled softly, his c.o.c.k brus.h.i.+ng over the split of her then. Her wetness creating a lovely sliding friction that had her panting his name again.

'I don't want to hurry but I need you...I need you in me,' she blurted. There. She'd said it. And now Now he made a rough noise and slid his hands along her hips, angled her, nudged her slit with the tip of his c.o.c.k. Her body erupted in heat and desire. She shut her eyes but forced them open. She wanted to see Archie's face when he entered her. Even if it was in shadows.

He went slow. Slow enough that she wanted to grab his a.s.s and yank him down but she didn't. She gripped the bed sheets and lost herself in the feel of him filling her. Emotions swept over her with each added sensation. Her heart realised, in a breathless moment, how long she'd been without someone close to her. Intimate with her. It brought a tightness to her throat that made it difficult to swallow.

A small sob burst out of her and surprised them both. 'Oh, Betsey,' he said. 'Do you want me to '

'No, no,' she said, tossing her head. She arched up, finding his face with her hands and then her lips. She kissed him. 'Don't stop, please. Don't stop. I'm fine. I'm good...' He moved his hips back and forth and pleasure speared through her centre. 'I'm perfect,' she whispered, on the edge of coming.

'Jesus, yes, you are,' he said. He twisted his hands in her hair and pinned her with his body. His movements were nearly maddening, somewhat lazy, but the pressure and crush of him moving into her was overwhelming.

She gripped his biceps, sinking her fingernails in but unable to control herself. 'I don't want to '

'I want you to. Come for me,' he said, pressing his lips to her ear. It tickled pleasantly and only added to her urgency. 'Come for me, Betsey. You made yesterday an excellent surprise. Let's shoot for starting today the same.' Again he rocked his hips. 'Even if it is the middle of the night.'

She nodded stupidly, all words lost. Tears continued to leak from her eyes but her body had abandoned its concern with emotions and fear and worry, and thrown itself fully into the present physical engagement with one Archie Rader.

She kissed him quiet, held on tight and let herself go. The o.r.g.a.s.m ripped through her, slammed her back, humbled her. It stole her breath and made the one she'd had minutes before seem like a simple blink of an eye. All the while, he rocked over her. Moving his body in the perfect way, reading her every sign so that every ounce of pleasure doubled, trebled and then completely overwhelmed her.

When the final shock of it started to pa.s.s, she kissed him, sucking his tongue gently. When his lips moved lower, kissing down her neck, biting her softly, he pushed a finger into her mouth. Betsey sucked it, drawing on it as if it were his c.o.c.k.

He didn't say a word as he came. Just buried his head in the crook of her neck and held her tight.

'You changed a lot in one day, Betsey Smith,' he said, pulling her close.

She hesitated and she could sense it worried Archie. Maybe thinking they had gone too fast. That it had been a mistake. 'It's Betsey Green,' she said, finally. 'Or it was Betsey Green. Years ago. Before the abduction.'

'Abduction?' he said, his breath catching.

But Betsey felt herself sliding into sleep. Warm, sated, his arms around her. She was powerless to stop it, so she let herself go.

When she woke in the morning, she found the original note plus the missing brownies and a second note.

THANK YOU FOR OPENING UP TO ME. DIDN'T WANT TO BE LATE FOR MY FIRST DAY AS OFFICIAL HANDYMAN. FIND ME WHEN YOU'RE AWAKE AND IF YOU WANT.

A.

She didn't have to go far. He was out at her trash-bin corral examining her latch.

'Morning,' Betsey said. She sipped her coffee and wrapped her robe around her tighter. She still smelled of them their intimacy and she had to force herself not to smile. It was smile-worthy, what they'd done last night.

'Morning,' he said. He grinned at her and it shot through the centre of her, lighting her up on the inside.

'Why are you working on that? I'm sure there are people ahead of me.'

He grunted, bent and started to unscrew the latch. She watched his jeans hug his a.s.s and thought, quite sincerely, about dragging him back into her trailer for a quickie. Now that they'd been together she wanted it again. And again. More and more and more of him until she was sated.

Which might be never.

'Charlie said that you brought me in so your reward was to be you get b.u.mped to the top of the list.'

She kept a straight face. 'Hunh. I'd have preferred money.'

He looked up, surprised, then chuckled. 'I bet.'

'Hungry?'

'I ate. Vending machine pop tarts are the bomb.'

She groaned. 'We need to get you to the grocery store.'

'Later.'

'I have the breakfast s.h.i.+ft. I'll be home by one to two. I ' She cut herself off, shook her head.

'What?' Archie stopped what he was doing and watched her. His bright-blue eyes even brighter in the muted November sun.

'I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

'I'm a.s.suming.'

'I don't follow.'

'I'm a.s.suming that you want to spend the day with me later. See me, I mean. I shouldn't a.s.sume. You know what they say. When you a.s.sume you make an a.s.s '

He held up a gloved hand. 'Betsey?'

'Yeah?' Her mouth had gone suddenly dry. Her heart kicked. What if he was done? What if 'Feel free to a.s.sume. I'd rather see you than anyone else in the whole world.'

Her heart revived its rhythm but then sped up. 'Oh,' she said. 'Good.'

He laughed. 'Yes, good. Now you'd better get dressed. Unless you go to the diner in your robe.'

'Oh, s.h.i.+t,' she said and bustled inside.

She was just pulling on her high-top sneakers and rooting for her keys when there was a knock on the door.

She opened it and he was there. He leaned in, kissed her. 'Have a good day, Betsey. Thank you for the job. And the ear to listen. And the...' He kissed her once more.

'The?'

He shrugged and touched her face briefly. 'The you. You. I'm very grateful I met you.' Then he hastened down the wooden steps and hurried off, boots crunching on the gravel.

She shut the door with trembling fingers.