I sent back a string of thumbs up emojis. I couldn’t let her know more. Emilio’s life was on the line. I texted again: Absolutely ok, babe! But I need to do this – you understand? Gotta get the cash for Emilio. If you-know-who calls back, let me know, please?
Of course, babe! Anything for you!
I heaved a sigh.Thanks, my friend. Love you. xxx
Love you more! xxxxxx I smiled. The expression felt strained, but it was good to have this small connection to my past reality. As I looked around my gilded cage, I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia. This was the biggest space I’d ever stayed in – and I felt like a prisoner. Trapped.
Snapping my suitcase shut, I stowed it in the bottom of the closet and reached for an old t-shirt. My favorite for sleeping in; it was worn and soft from years of washing and wear. I held it to my nose, then shrugged out of my blouse, toed off my boots and peeled off my jeans. Dinner might be waiting, but I had no appetite for it. And if he wasn’t going to be there anyway, there was little point in heading into that huge, terrifying place alone.
I walked barefoot to the side of the sprawling bed, not caring that I hadn’t washed my face or brushed my teeth. When I pulled back the covers, the scent of lavender wafted up in a soothing wave. I slid between the downy sheets and felt some of my earlier anxiety slip away. Exhaustion was suddenly descending and as the pressures of this crazy day began to dissipate, I felt the soft comfort of the mattress consume me and I sank in…
∞∞∞
Smooth hands slid along the curves of my feet and up the lines of my calves and I murmured softly. The sheets were so silky, the mattress like heaven. And the hands explored higher, stroking soothingly. My murmur became a moan.
Mmmm…
This was blissful. I smiled in my sleep and pressed my thighs together, feeling those firm fingers gliding past my knees. The sensation was irresistible, and I let my thigh muscles ease and then splay, allowing access to the silky flesh between them. In the darkness, I pictured those strong hands attached to well-defined wrists and tanned muscular forearms framed by crisply rolled back shirt sleeves. Hands that slid higher, fingers that pressed, and then probed, pushed into me. I arched my back and pushed my hips up, legs moving beneath the sheets that must surely have been woven in paradise.
Mmmm… Yes…
It felt so good…those fingers that delved and now began to thrust, swirling in the wetness of me, seeking out the tiny ecstasies…
I cupped a hand over the swell of my breast beneath the soft t-shirt, pinching at a nipple and giving a sharp little gasp of pleasure at the pain.
“Be quiet, Sasha. Be a good girl for me.”
The low words, a voice from the past, hit me like a bucket of ice-water. I shot upright with a short scream, scrambling for the bedclothes that were bunched around me.
“No! I don’t want to, Joe, please!”
Fumbling for the switch of the lamp on the bedside table, I flicked the light on, struggling to find my breath. My vision flared with the sudden brightness, then slowly gathered focus as I tried to make sense of my foggy moments of waking…
