Stay

Goal in mind, he went at her with lips, tongue, teeth and fingers. This time when she screamed it was because she'd been pushed to orgasm over and over again.

Somehow, in the midst of the madness, he managed to find enough sense to put on protection. She may have cum over and over but she needed more, she sat up impatiently reaching for him. He pushed her grasping hands away, placing them flat on the glass, moving over her until his face was even with hers. Poised to truly claim her as his own, he refused to allow her to lay with her eyes closed, pretending. "Open them. Look at me. Stay with me. Stay with me."

All around her, time stood absolutely still. Fell into place. The mask cracked then fell away completely.

He felt the moment the mask broke. He held her head tightly, not wanting her to look away, to try and get that shield back in place. The need was still there in her eyes, the fire, but it was for him now.

Slowly, slowly, he eased himself inside her. When he was fully seated he released her to brace himself on the desktop. Her head fell back, mouth gasping. When she looked at him again there was only his reflection in her eyes. No darkness. No emptiness. Just him.

Moving inside her was like finding home. Before long, deep, slow thrusts weren't enough for either of them. Wrapping her legs around his hips, he pulled her to the edge of the desk, changing the angle of penetration. Pushing up onto her elbows, she looked down, watching as they came together then apart. His moans thrilled her, making her want him to lose control, take her with him.

Looking back into his eyes, she pulled his face to hers with one arm around his neck, let her lips barely touch his, took his breath and breathed back one word, "Please."

That was all it took. It was all he'd needed. Wrapping her tight in his arms, he took them higher, higher until she screamed, broke and took him with her into shuddering bliss.

Once his heart stopped its desperate racing, he laid her gently back down on the desk and withdrew from her body. "Don't move," he bade, very serious. He made quick work of disposing the condom in the trash, rushing back to lift her still relaxed body into his arms, settling them into the leather chair.

Snuggled into his body, her head tucked against his strong shoulder, she traced the scars on his chest and face. After a few minutes her hand stilled and he thought she slept. Then she began to speak.

"You asked why someone like me had come to a place like this." She gestured to the bank of security monitors on the wall in front of them. "I came here thinking I could find a soul as dark as my own. Someone I could use to make myself forget. Just for one more night. A different kind of pain to replace the usual pain."

"When I heard your voice, something clicked inside me. I was so lost in the need to feed the darkness that I didn't examine my reaction too closely."

"You asked me to trust you, and I did, fully, with no real reason to. I thought it was instinct. It wasn't." She sat up and looked directly into his eyes, those gorgeous, confused green eyes. "Will you trust me now?"

He nodded yes, worried by the sudden sadness in her eyes.

"I need a shower. Do you have one here?"

"Yes, through that door." He pointed to the door behind them.

She stood and held out her hand. "Come with me?"

He rose, willing to follow her anywhere at this point.

The bathroom was huge with a giant shower, lots of body jets and a steam feature. It was his one true indulgence here. He reached in and turned the water on. "It takes a while for the water to heat here."

"I need you to answer something for me. Why was everyone staring earlier? I could feel all their eyes on us. I wasn't imagining it, was I?"

Running his hands through his hair, he chuckled but it wasn't a happy sound. "When I bought this place from an old Marine buddy it was already what it is now. I wanted to change that, make it into a real bar. I realized very quickly that this place was more than it appeared on the surface. I give these people a safe place to come live out the fantasies they need to make it through another day. I make sure no one gets hurt and they keep me comfortably in the black."

"In the five years that I've owned this place I have never, not once, touched any of the women who came here. Not one. I've had women interested, but they weren't for me. I never wanted to play in the fantasy world these people come here for. Then you walked in the door."

"These people have seen me every night we're open, for five years, reject woman after woman. They were shocked and, I'd like to think, happy I'd finally chosen someone to be with."

She nodded, pleased but unwilling to show him just how much. Not yet. She stepped into the now steamy shower, avoiding the sprays and held out her hand to invite him inside.

She led him under the sprays, his back to her, grabbed his soap and foamed it up between her hands. "Today is an anniversary of sorts for me. It is for you too, isn't it?" She felt him tense under her hands. Could feel the confusion her words had caused.

Collecting her thoughts, she let him turn and began to soap up his chest, taking tender care with his scars. She could tell he had a million questions but he was being patient with her, letting her do this her way. He washed his hair and rinsed, stepping aside so she could get under the sprays.

Loading her hands with shampoo, she leaned back and let the water wet her hair, taking a lot of the black dye with it. She couldn't look at him and do this. It was the only way right now.

"His blood poured out between my fingers. I couldn't make it stop. All I cared about was keeping him with me." More and more dye went down the drain, revealing more and more of her true hair color, a golden brown with lots of auburn highlights. She dared a peek at his face and saw her words sinking in, saw him realize what she was talking about, who she was. She looked away before he could see her watching.

"I was so consumed with saving him that I never realized I was bleeding. Didn't feel my own pain at all."

The last of the black dye went down the drain. She had to finish. "I saw Death come for him, never realizing he was hovering, waiting for me as well. You. You saw. As badly as you were hurt, you made them come for me first. The last words I remember hearing that night were yours. Stay with me. Just stay with me."

"I've heard those words in my dreams every night since. For a whole year, every time I've picked up a razor or stared down at a handful of pills, those words played in my head."

"You saved me. Not just that night, but every moment of every miserable day since that night."

"Tonight, I heard your voice but it didn't fully click. It didn't click because I was in full destruction mode. I came here tonight to get numb. Get hurt. So I could finally go home and end it all. Then you said those same words to me and the whole world fell into place."

She let her guard down and looked at him, let him see her. Every single part of her was in her eyes.

Pain and joy were like a carnival ride in his head. "They told me that the man in the car with you was your husband. They took us to different hospitals but I still tried to find you. To say.... I don't know what I would have said but I needed to see you. They wouldn't give me your name."

"Delilah."

"Michael."

She smiled, then began to laugh, the sound rusty and strange to her ears. "Nice to meet you, Michael."

He didn't join in the laughter. His face was serious. His eyes searching. "I meant what I said. I want you to stay. Just stay with me."

She turned and shut off the water. "Michael, my soul is so damaged. So black. I'm not fool enough to assume that I'm close to being okay."

"I can handle you and your darkness. I won't fail you if you'll just stay."

His words rang with such overwhelming truth that it made her chest ache. She needed time and she didn't know how to ask him for it without hurting him.

He handed her a towel, wrapped one around his waist and walked away. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done. He left her there, dripping wet, towel clutched to her chest and let her have time to think.

He'd just finished buttoning a clean pair of jeans when she came out of the bathroom, hair still wet, towel wrapped tightly around her body. She looked so scared, so tiny and delicate that he could barely stand it. Moving swiftly, he picked her up and deposited her back in his lap in the leather chair. He sat there, silent, listening to her rapidly beating heart, her uneven breathing.

Eventually her heart rate slowed, her breathing deep and even, body relaxed. This time he was sure she was asleep. Once again, he was wrong.

"Take me to bed, Michael. I want to stay."