Either the sudden contact with his chest,or profound astonishment,knocked the breathe out of her and rendered her speechless,and unable to move. His eyes held her spell-bound as his hand groped beneath her robe. The sleeves of it were wide enough for him to push the straps of her camisole off her shoulders. Even the she didn't move. Not until she felt his rough palms on her breast did she move,and that was to stagger backwards Into the nearest wall,dragging him with her.

As his mouth descended on her breast,she arched up to meet it,shamelessly eager to feel his lips,his tongue on her flesh. She felt as though every cell in her body were awakening to a blaring reveille. Surging through her was a rush of passion,of life,that could not be contained or even disciplined. She never experienced anything like it,this assault of carnality,this all-encompassing,overwhelming,primal,unconscionable instincts to mate- soon,quickly, now!

Together,they stumbled blindly toward the sofa in the family parlour. She unbelted her robe,in the process,ripping one of the straps of her camisole and exposing her breast. They fell laterally on the sofa,where caressing became a wrestling match with no rules or boundaries. Reaching up her thighs,he removed her panties.

Then he touched her.

Deeply. inside.

His touch was like lightning bolt, all sizzle and heat. Moaning with pleasure,she readjusted her his to accommodate his caresses. His lips moved against her stomach, kissing it lightly. Flicking her skin with his tongue,he nibbled his way back up to her breast. She laid her hand against his hard cheek,and was delighted by the sand-papery texture of it against her palm.

His caressing fingers were so erotic and suggestive,and so well placed,that the orgasm was upon her almost before she realized it. Too enraptured to be embarrassed,she flattened her hand over his, pressing ur deeper into her,grinding her body against it,squeezing it hard between her thighs.

When the waves receded,she lay like a victim of shipwreck-damp,spent,eyes closed,stomach rapidly rising and falling. When she finally opened her eyes,he was gazing directly into them. He took her hand and guided it to his cock.

"Tell me now," He said thickly. "Is there anything you won't do?"

Her lips parted on a startled breath. She swallowed dryly. "What do you have in mind?"

Placing a hand on each of her knees,he slowly pushed them apart. When he lowered his face into her,her initial cry of surprise dissolved into a moan of pure animal pleasure. He wasn't timid. He wasn't shy about sliding his hands beneath her hips and tilting them up to him. Tentatively her fingertips explored his hard length. Her thumb glanced the smooth tip. Then she turned and sought him with her lips. He groaned a rich curse when she took his throbbing,hot,cock into her mouth.

But even those absolute,blind sensation,couldn't prepare her for the first thrust of his penis into her,not for the tempered savagery of his strokes. No slow,warm rippling tide of sensation,this climax. No. It was a meteoric burst of energy and fire that was upon her suddenly, snuffing out everything else,leaving in it's wake an airless,soundless, sightless void.

When she finally recovered,and opened her eyes,he was standing beside the sofa,naked except for his shirt which remained intact. His face was set,and tense. At his sides,his fists were reflexively clenching and relaxing.

"When I get out of the shower,you'd better be gone." Snatching up his trousers and boxers, he turned and went upstairs.

Annie closed her eyes and remained perfectly still,hoping that when she opened her eyes,she would be back home in bed with Brown eyes,binge watching a show on Netflix. It was one of those times she hoped she was dreaming. The game was a carryover from her childhood. Whenever she felt sad or had another spat with her father,she would get into her bed and shut her eyes tightly, and make believe that her waking world was a nightmare,and that she would soon awaken in another world, one of enchantment,and love,and peace, a world where everything was pleasant, and the people in it found joy in one another.

The trick had never worked when she was a child,and it was no different now. When she opened her eyes, she was still on the sofa in the family room,her clothing- what little she had on, was in disarray.

As was everything else.

Annie gathered her wits enough to get up. She went up into the guest bedroom to change into her still damp clothes. She picked her purse, stuffed her ripped camisole onto it,and went downstairs to the front door. But once there, she paused. If she left now, she would have gained nothing except an embarrassment so severe that she could never have fathomed it before. There was no explanation for her behaviour, so she didn't insult her conscience with any attempt to justify or rationalize.

It happened. She let it happen. Correction: she had actively,avariciously participated in making it happen. It was a fait accompli. She couldn't change history. All she could do now was live with the consequences of her actions,make the best of a disastrous situation, and hope to recapture at least a shed of her dignity.

When he entered the kitchen ten minutes later,she was waiting for him, her back to the countertop, on the defensive. "Just for the record,Mr. Phim,I don't know what happened in there."

"Just for the record,Miss Mckade,I do." Casually,he took a mug from the cabinet and poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot she had taken upon herself to brew. "Get a notepad and a pen. You might want to write this down." Then he turned to her. "It's called 'fucking'."

Inwardly she flinched; outwardly she kept a stiff upper lip. "You're hoping that if you're horrible enough,I'll leave. It won't work."

"What will?"

"I need your help."

"No way in hell," He said angrily. "Part of the reason why I live alone with Kass was to have my privacy. Which means,I am not helping you. Or maybe you're a reporter posing as some helpless damsel just to get close to me to jet your filthy hands on the story of my life."

"I'm not a reporter!"

"Yeah?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Could have fooled me. Most of you would sell your souls for a story. And if there isn't a story,you make up one." He gave her a derisive once-over. "Although you're in a league of your own,Ms. Mckade. You didn't even sell anything, you gave it away."

"That was an... accident."

"I don't think so. You were practically begging for it like a bitch in heat. And my cock knew exactly where it was going."

Annie rolled her lips inward to keep from saying anything. She was also trying to keep from crying,which she had sworn she would not do. "Please,Jovon. I'm trying to salvage what's left of my dignity."

"I didn't know you had any."

Spreading her arms at her sides,she asked. "Do I look like I came to your house with seduction in mind?"

He took in her dishabille. "Not particularly. But when the situation presented itself,I didn't hear any objections from your side."

She felt her face colour at the memory of the sounds she had heard from her side of the sofa. "I came here only because the rain was too heavy for me to make it back home on my own."

He snorted. "Keep telling yourself that. We passed your house to get to mine. You could've stopped there. Yet you followed me here,and allowed me to fuck you the first chance you get. What does that say about you? Huh?"

Annie blinked at him for a moment. Then she slapped his cheek. Hard. "You asshole. I intended to see you on Saturday,not today, to ask for your help. But, then even I can't control fate,can I? We both made a mistake,and I'm trying to put it behind me,yet you're acting like an asshole."

Jovon cursed,before grabbing her purse,and pushed it into her arms. "Time's up." His hand encircled her biceps as he pulled Ber out of the kitchen,past the foyer and out to the porch. There he released her as if she burned him.

"Don't ever come back here." He went inside and locked the front door.

~   **   ~

"Are you kidding me? Jovon Phim?" Lea's voice escalated into a dramatic high-pitched squeak. "You had sex with him?!"

"Yes." Annie was watching herself in the mirror as she talked long distance to Lea from her guest room in Lea's house. Was the lightning poor or her increasing apprehension made her look so pale.

"Oh my God. I can't believe he allowed you into his house,not to talk about his bed. If you had sex with him like you said,you should be happy girl. But why do I detect a slight tremor in your voice?"

"The aftermath of mind-blowing sex?"

"This is no laughing matter,Annie."

Another defense mechanism she'd developed during childhood was a sardonic sense of humor. This time her wit did nothing to alleviate the situation. "He,uh, kind of kicked me out after."

Lea gasped. "He did not." She gasped again. "That jerk!"

Annie's breath became shaky,her hands trembling as she tried hard to battle the tears threatening to spill. "A patronizing sharp mouthed jerk."

"Do you want me to come over? Or maybe you could go back home,and not ever see that jerk again."

"No. I don't want to give him that satisfaction. Besides, I still have to find out what he's so afraid of."

"We can always sabotage that house of his. Maybe key his expensive car."

Annie let out a shaky laughter. "As tempting as that sounds,I'm going to have to decline. Besides, he is hurting too. He's just lashing out to keep me from seeing him at his weakest. That's why he acted that way."

"Trust you to see the good in everyone,and ignore the bad." Lea sighed. "You're still considering talking to him after he treated you like shit?"

"Yes."

"You never cease to amaze me,you know. And I can't talk you out of this?"

She had made up her mind the moment she saw his reaction in the rain. "No. But can help me by doing some researches."

"Okay." Lea sighed again. "Well... Just be careful,okay?"

Lea's concern was touching and made her feel homesick for her. Even after hanging up, she kept her hand on the received,reluctant to break the emotional contact. Lea was more like a family than a friend,more of a sister than even Cassie or Ella.

Wearily, she went into the bathroom,and began removing her clothes. The mirror over the basin was no kinder than the one above the bedroom dresser. She looked a fright. She was twenty-eight, yet the fine lines around her eyes etched themselves deeper on a daily basis. What would she look like at thirty-three? Forty-eight? She had no basis for comparison.

Annie pushed aside the shower curtain,and turned on the water. She yelped when the shower spray struck her chest and looked down to see what had caused the stings. There were faint, pink abrasions on her breast. Whisker burns.

God,what had she done?

She ducked her head beneath the nozzle,wishing the hard spray would pound out her memories of Jovon Phim. His thighs were lean,tough and supple. It didn't have the smooth perfection of youth. She wondered why he kept his shirt on,even though he had been sweating.

She needed reset,she thought, Working shampoo lather through  her hair. Fatigue and stress were making her emotionally fragile,and dangerously reflective. First on her father. Then on her nonexistent love life. Now on a tall, rangy man with molten- hot- hazel eyes,and a cruel mouth.

'You were practically begging for it like a bitch in heat.'

He politely called her a whore.

Annie stepped from the shower,and reached for a towel. She'd read the books,listened to talk shows. She knew the psychology. Girls neglected by their father's usually went one of two ways: They became nymphomaniacs; looking for love and attention in whatever form, from every man they encountered, or rejected men altogether.

Annie hadn't done either.

She hadn't become a slut,craving male attention and relying on it for her self-worth. She had never been the type to loose control. That kind of mindless, heedless,reckless plunge into passion was hazardous to one's psyche. Annie would share her body when desire and circumstances permitted.

But she had sworn never to let her head, and certainly not her heart, get fucked.