Entwine (21 page)

“That why you think Brittney wasn’t my type?”

“In that ‘your personalities and lives seems so different’ way, yep.”

“I have to disagree,” Nicholas said. “Sometimes, two of the same people make for a destructive relationship. Brittney doesn’t know how to save her money; I struggle to spend too much. She doesn’t plan; I plan so much it’s more of a plan to plan, rather than to
do
. When we worked, it was good for both of us.”

“You don’t know what he did tonight, though,” Sarah mumbled. The alcohol had given her a push of courage, and so boldly, she stood and poured some more wine for herself. She came back, already sipping it. “I just can’t trust him now. What a prick.”

“Well, whatever happened sounds like it needs sorting, but he sounds like the guy for you, otherwise. Sarah, I may have not seen you for a few years but you and I are like brother and sister for God’s sake, not boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“That’s a flip from today.”

“Well, look at us: we chill with drinks, and chat about our lovers. This is true friendship: being able to pick up easily after all this time. But Malik, he seems like a great guy for you. I hope he didn’t hurt you too bad, or at least can be forgiven, because it sounds like he made you happy before tonight.”

Sarah looked down and said, “He did. I mean, really, really happy. But we don’t love each other. It’s only been a week.”

“Time doesn’t have to measure love. You’re connected, and you have something special. I think that’s what counts.”

“Maybe,” Sarah said. She finished off her glass of wine and cosied up against Nicholas. He was stiff at first but then lifted his arm, and she snuggled against his chest.

Sarah was drifting off by the time he lifted her up and let her head rest against the couch arm. He came back with a blanket and draped it over her. He peeled her feet from her wedges, and left them at the bottom of the couch.

Tired himself, Nicholas staggered to his bedroom, already dialling a number. He answered, “Yeah, hey” as he kicked the door shut behind him.

• • •

NOW

Sarah’s head spun when she woke, but that wasn’t what had disrupted her sleep; a knock had. She took several seconds to let her world still, in which time she heard his footsteps already coming in, and then he was in front of her.

“Sarah? What’s going on?”

Malik would have looked intimidating any other day, but today, the guy was a mess. The skin around his eyes was dark, his T-shirt had a rip that exposed a slash of his six pack, and his belt did a lousy job of holding up his dirtied jeans—the elastic of his briefs peaked out on the opposite side to where his T-shirt was randomly tucked in. In fact, Sarah could ignore how mad she was at him for lying to her and betraying her trust, and appreciate that Malik could have been the most perfect male specimen she’d ever seen.

But then
their
kiss entered her thoughts, and it was impossible to remember once again why she felt anything romantic for him.

“How did you get in?”

“I knocked. No one answered. The door opened. Is this …” Malik looked around, a quick sniff, like he was disgusted by the results. “Payback?”

“No, but do you say payback because you remember what you did, or did that beautiful wife of yours, Alyssa, tell you?” Sarah’s body itched to move. She wasn’t slow in her dreamy state of sleep now at all. She stood, hands on hips. “I’m betting she wouldn’t admit to it, even if you asked. You must have been sober enough to remember what you guys did.”

“Don’t put this all on me. I came here, feeling like crap after what happened, and wanted to tell you the full story. Then I see you’ve slept at some random guy’s place?”

At that moment, Nicholas walked in, hand tousling his hair, eyes squinted. He woke in an instant, though, and his eyes bulged wide open. “The fuck are you? And what are you doing in my house? Didn’t I lock the—” Nicholas’s expression froze. When he spoke again, his voice was almost back to normal. “You’re Malik.”

Malik looked to Sarah, eyes full of questions. He shook his head slightly at her, eyebrows furrowed. He threw up his hands. “The hell is this?”

“We’ll just leave. Thanks Nicholas. And sorry. I appreciate it.”

Sarah didn’t waste a second putting her wedges back on. She hoped her make-up wasn’t smudged too badly, and she swiped under her lower lid and at the sides of her eyes in case the raccoon-look had spread there. She left, leading the way with Malik behind her. He glowered at Nicholas. Half a head taller than him, Malik was enough to do intimidating well, even to someone like Nicholas, despite his hung-over, messy state.

As soon as Nicholas closed the door behind them, Malik spoke as she took them to the lift.

“Did you fuck him?”

“Did you fuck her?” Sarah countered.

Malik growled and pressed the G button, then stood back and crossed his arms as he waited. Sarah looked under her eyebrows, disguising herself by brushing her hair behind her ear, her hand partially in the way. His biceps were bigger and bulged crossed over his chest. Even his triceps gave his arms more tone, and the triangular shape of his shoulders finished off the perfect shape.

Sarah looked away.

“I want to know.”

“So do I, Malik. So do I.” She breathed out and spoke again once she was calmer. “How’s your throat?” she said to diffuse the tension.

He paused at first. “Oh, on the phone yesterday?” She nodded. “Yeah, the Skype conference irritated it, but it’s better today.”

“Oh, good.”

They took the lift down and Sarah started towards the rotating doors, but Malik grabbed her arm and steered her to the left. “Let go!” Sarah said through gritted teeth, low enough for just him to hear, and not to cause a scene. He didn’t reply, just pushed a door to a disabled toilet around the corner in the complex and shoved Sarah’s body against it, locking it shut, trapping them in the small space.

“Resorting to kidnapping me, are you?”

He stood back and, once again, distracted her by crossing his arms. “We need privacy, and you’ll get distracted out there.”

“No I won’t. You can’t tell me what to do. I’m an adult.”

“Tell me the truth. Was that just to get me back? You should have let me explain.”

“I told you I’d only ever be honest to you.”

She glowered at him, matching his stance by crossing her arms under her chest. She knew exactly what she was doing, and maybe she was acting childish now. But she had boobs that were easy to be pushed up, and they gave her power over him. Just that dreamy look latched onto her chest told her so.

“Looked different to me, if you get my position.”

“Well that kiss looked pretty real from my position, and so did your bodies all cosied up together, if you get my position.”

“
God
, Sarah …” he breathed, lips barely parted, stiff.

He stepped in and leant into her, his forearms pressed up on the door on either side of her head. His teeth were still gritted, his lips in a thin line, but they were slightly parted, and the intimacy of that sent her control away. She allowed herself to be taken by his presence. His scent was like a drug to her. She could close her eyes and describe it. Fresh sea breeze, yet with tones of oriental, musk and vanilla. She closed her eyes and a delicate moan not only quivered her lips, but made her legs weak, too. When she opened her eyes, he was gazing into her, and they were hungry, his breath panting and lips an inch away.

He closed his eyes, and evened his breathing back out. “I think I have some explaining to do.”

“I think I might, too.”

Sarah gave in to her needs, and brought her fingers up to trail down his jaw. He caught her fingers just as they were about to drop and weaved his with them. Their eyes met, and she read that expression as “No”. She didn’t care to listen to him, but her heart was beating like crazy from his touch. Neither of them wanted to part.

She bit her lip as she remembered him kissing her for the first time, and didn’t realise her body had arched the slightest up to his. But he did. He trapped her other hand and brought both back behind near the small of her back, and pressed them against the door. She turned her head as he leant in to kiss her. She wasn’t sure when she would be ready to share the same lips that had touched Alyssa’s, but it definitely wasn’t now.

Her body had betrayed her anger at him. She’d gone and slipped their twined fingers just under the line of her jeans. Thankfully, they were tight, and as she slipped her hands from Malik’s, his didn’t get far down, allowing some space for her to think.
Stop, stop and get out of here, now.

His hands managed to squish against each of her cheeks as he lifted her off the ground, and her legs found grip wrapped around his thighs. She moaned, but it was a torn plea, one of erotic need, but also pain. Just as she was about to speak, her voice broke.

At least part of her was all for her stopping this.

Just then, he dropped his lips to just behind her ear and breathed, “I want you so much, Sarah. I need you. Please.” Sarah thrust into him, and needed her jeans undone to feel him closer to her.

She looked down to her button, fumbling, then fumbling again, as Malik kissed just below her ear. He let go of his breath and breathed his hot air down her neck. She shuddered, then focused, and popped out the button. The zip followed down by itself, with her legs strained around his body so tightly.

“Please forget the idiot I was, I love you.” He kissed her temple, her cheek, her lips. “I want all of you.”

“Oh, Malik,” she moaned.
I love you
flashed in her thoughts, but she was too conflicted with what she should have been doing to let that come out in the throes of sex.

She was positioned slightly above his face, and mumbling those words while pressed against his cheek, must have been as much as a turn on for him, as he had just been to her. He squeezed his hands around her cheeks, then slipped them out and traced her curves up, pushing upwards at her breasts, and grunting when he felt her plump mounds pressed into his palms.

His lips pecked at points near her mouth ‘til he found hers, still as urgent as ever, blindly searching for contact. She felt his hands at her panty-line, felt him undoing his buckle with the back of his knuckles. She slipped off him for a moment to flip off each shoe and strip off her skin-hugging jeans. He only had his briefs on, his jeans were pooled near his feet, and ripples of muscle poured from his thick shoulders down to his forearms. His chest tapered from broad to a perfect triangle where his abs were clearly defined into a six-pack where his V-line hinted at more muscles below. When she let the jeans fall to the ground beside her, she looked into his fierce gaze, his tongue gliding over his lower lip.

Sarah’s head filled with thoughts of all the things that tongue could do her. In every spot, all over her body, it could pleasure her, and she pounced on him again, securing herself around his body once more.

Malik flipped them around and she bumped up on top of the bench. She scooted forwards and settled herself perfectly between his legs. His hardness pressed against her, and it made her dampen between her legs. She let her head fall back and moaned softly, gripping onto his hard biceps as she cried. God, was there a part of Malik that wasn’t hard? She could feel one part especially hard for her.

“Ergh, I hate you Malik,” she cried as she tipped her head up. She held onto the sides of her face. “I hate, so much …” She wanted to rattle off a list of how much of everything he was, but her body didn’t care for that.

She tugged on his lip and then wrapped her lips around his tongue and sucked. She jerked back and forwards, then dug her hand under his briefs to cup his length. He was as hard as he needed to be to pleasure her completely. She continued to work his tongue with her lips in the same way she wrapped her fingers around his length, and then fluidly moved back and forward, too.

He pulled back from her enough for her lips to slip from him. “Sarah,” he moaned. “I could come in my pants with your hands around me right now. Mmm.”

“I hate how you intoxicate my control.”

He kissed her neck, palming her breasts again, caressing her nipples.

“I hate how you know exactly what I want you to do, even when I shouldn’t want it.”

“It’s only you. Oh my God,” he groaned, working his own length in her hand.

Sarah hated him plenty, but right then her hate was equalled by her need. She pushed him back and tugged on his briefs. He untucked his hard length to have it spring out at her, and he slid his briefs down his thighs. She bucked her hips up, and slid her panties over her bottom. She pushed them over her knees, and then raised her legs so he could see them glide down her smooth legs by themselves. She twinkled her toes and they fell to the ground.

Malik looked down at them for a moment, considering, then settled between her legs. He grabbed her feet around the soles, and at his touch she extended pointed toes out at opposing angles. One look from one toe down to her exposed pink flesh, and his eyes rolled back.

He sunk down between her legs and closed his mouth over her, yielding her to yelp for a moment before she could clamp her hand over her cry. For minutes, he flicked her senseless with his tongue, and then sucked and flicked his tongue, mixed with the power of his vibrating finger working at her opening.

“Please,” she cried, when she was tensing around his tongue and finger.

She looked down to his erection sticking out by itself, and her eyes locked onto her target; she had to pleasure him, both for her pleasure, and to watch his reaction.

She looked him in the eyes as she dribbled onto her palm and brought her hand to cup him. She worked him again, her hand slipping in speed, aiding her to pump him faster than before. He started panting, standing, motionless, his hands helpless near his head, clenching and unclenching. His body jerked, and Sarah felt his length start to pulsate. He pulled back.

Resting his head against her forehead, he asked, “Do you hate me still?”

“Yeah, no, mm …” Sarah breathed in, out. “Shush. I’ll give you the wrong answer.”