It Began with a New Year's Iss

(Hope there aren't many mistakes and that you enjoy this part as much as the first. Please let me know what you think, you have no idea how much feedback and comments help. Thanx Alicexxx)

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FRIDAY... 4.00 PM

I looked at my watch for the thousandth time and told myself just like the last time, that he could just be late.

I took another sip of my warm tea and glanced out the café. It was windy and pouring outside, typical of the British winter. Of course, as usual I'd had a streak of bad luck when it came to my umbrella. It had broken on my way here. And it had been quite some time ago.

Stifling the sinking feeling in my stomach, I allowed my eyes to take in the café. It suited the area it was in. This was a middle class area in Hammersmith... and very nice too. She'd seen the houses on the way over and she had to say they were impressive. This café was just as impressive and the waiters and waitresses were impeccable. I sighed. I didn't give a damn about my surroundings. I cared that I had the feeling that someone had just played with me and I was going to be stood up. I'd never been stood up in my life and I couldn't say that I cared for the feeling.

Why me? As always there was no one to answer that question and I just found the feeling in the pit of my stomach get worse. I brushed my hair back from my face. I'd tied it back but with all the wind it had just come loose at the front. Suddenly I had the insane urge to just cut it all off. Maybe it would stop me from attracting bastards that just wanted to make a fool out of me.

I glanced at my watch.

4.20

That was it. I drank the rest of my tea and politely thanked the waitress as I stood. I stole a fleeting glance at myself in the reflecting glass and saw a young woman with uncontrollable curls escaping from a hair band, light brown eyes narrowed in anger and disappointment. Lips, usually full were pressed into a taut line and cheeks slightly flushed.

I turned from my reflection and pulled on my black coat and righted my turtleneck. Then, taking out my mood on my things I yanked my purse onto my shoulder and grabbed the damn broken umbrella. So much for a great start to the New Year. Really, how stupid and desperate did a woman have to be to fall for that line? I'd never felt so stupid in my life as I did walking out into the vicious weather.

Gritting my teeth as rain and wind slammed into my body, I tried to get a look at the bus stop and well - honestly, I was hardly able to see anything. Clutching my coat to me I felt the rain hit my cheeks and bowed my head down, trying to walk as fast as possible so that I could reach the other side of the road.

I think I was angrier at the fact that I was feeling so upset about having been stood up. I mean; he was just a guy I had met and kissed at New Year's - yeah, so he'd gotten me worked up like no one in the past had but hey; you live and you learn right?

Intent on my thoughts and my eyes focused on the floor I didn't really see anything else and then suddenly BAM!

I gasped and my eyes flew wide open as I bounced off the damn wall I'd hit and I was well on my way to the ground when hands locked around my arms and jerked me upright.

Startled and extremely embarrassed I looked up, stammered apologies spilling from my lips only to flow to a stop when my eyes met striking blue ones that had my breath stopping in my lungs.

You! The word flashed in my mind in neon red. He'd left me sitting like an idiot who'd been stood up in the café.

"You came." He breathed, those stark blue eyes roaming my face.

My eyes narrowed in disbelief. Is he for real? I mean... I mentally shook myself to clear my head.

"Yes," I heard myself say coolly, feeling the harsh rain drenching me, "and I'm leaving now." I tried to pull away but his fingers tightened around my arms.

"Why?" His voice was as good as the rest of him was and it almost made me wonder why I felt so determined to just get away from him.

"Why?" I echoed, incredulous. Taking a step back from him and forcing him to let me go I flipped up my wrist and checked my watch. "4.30PM." I felt like a fool, knowing I'd waited for him an hour and now that I was leaving he decided to show his face. Hell, I was a fool.

"I know."

He said this quietly, looking away from me and I took the opportunity to take him in. He looked as gorgeous as he had the other day. Only this time he was wearing faded blue jeans and the rest was obscured by that same black jacket. He was so unbelievably male and gorgeous that it left me wondering if I was even in his league. I don't think I was.

"It really couldn't be helped." He continued, snapping me out of my trance.

I looked up at his face and saw the honest expression of regret. I sighed. Well he had showed up, which showed he hadn't been messing me about but... Maybe it had been for the best. I think I needed the wake up call. He was really out of my league. Why it took me an entire week and an hour of looking like an idiot to figure it out I really did not know.

"Okay." I said softly as I looked away from him. I was wet and cold and feeling more miserable by the minute. I really didn't want to look at his face and see those eyes that fascinated me so much.... They were what had gotten me into trouble in the first place. "It's okay." I repeated. I took a deep breath and another step back, my eyes still trained on some unknown spot on the floor. "But... I think it's best for me to go." Why did my heart seem to constrict at the sound of those words? God, something about his guy was starting to make me feel completely out of it. It was definitely good for me to get away from him.

With a nod in his direction I went to side step him but he just moved with me and reached out one of those hands that I distinctly remember diving into my hair... sliding down my back... kneading my ass. Those long elegant fingers wrapped around my hand this time and froze me in my tracks.

"Please." The word was softly spoken, not desperately, but with dignity and an honest plea.

I stood feeling torn between what my brain was telling me to do and the extremely powerful pull I felt towards this stranger. I made the worst mistake that I could've under the circumstances.

I looked at him.

It was almost like time came to a standstill. He lifted a hand to my damp face and brushed my cheekbone with a thumb. I shivered involuntarily and looked away.

Then before I could say anything, he was taking off his jacket and spinning it over my shoulders, exposing his t-shirt clad torso to the horrible weather and making my mouth go dry as the rain that pelted down on us plastered the thin white material to his body and gave me a clear outline of a washboard stomach that flexed as he moved. I swallowed on a dry throat and allowed myself to go with him as he led me away from the café.

Wait. Away?

"Uh... isn't the café that way?" I sounded like a damn mouse as he had me tucked under an arm, leading me away.

"Do you wish to go back to the café?"

I looked down at my disastrous clothing and with a wince I had to admit that that wasn't exactly a good idea. "Well no... but where are we going?"

***

Fifteen minutes later I found myself hesitating at the threshold of his apartment. This obviously was not my most brilliant idea but the guy seemed to reel me in like a magnet drawn to the extraordinary power of him.

As I paused he stopped too. He hadn't said much on the way over, he'd just told me where he lived. I didn't even know his name and yet here I stood at his door, clutching his jacket over my wet one and my hair probably a horror.

With the door open between us he focused that intense gaze on me and I felt the beat of my pulse speed up.

"I won't hurt you."

God. Just that low tone of his voice sent ripples of pleasure through me. Could you have an orgasm from just hearing someone speak? I personally had never heard of it but then you learn something new everyday.

I watched him for a few more seconds, measuring the level of honesty that I could see there. No. I didn't think he'd hurt me either but... in this day and age? But even as I thought that, I found myself nodding and then I was moving towards the open door and taking a cautious step forward. I must've been out of my mind.

When I stood on the light wooden floor of the hallway I hear the door shut gently behind me. When there were no hurried turns of locks or sliding chains I allowed myself to relax a notch before turning and looking at him.

In the car, his t-shirt had dried somewhat. But it still clung here and there... his jeans were of course still drenched and his hair was dried but sort of messy... falling slightly over onto his eyes. But not covering their spectacular colour and power by any means.

"Here, you should get out of those clothes - or you'll catch a cold."

I felt heat creeping up my face as I dropped my eyes to my body. "Well - I uh... okay."

For some reason stood still as he pulled his jacket from my shoulders and hung it up on the old fashioned standing coat hanger beside the door, saying he would wash it later. Then he did the same with mine... accept that with mine he had to unbutton it and I went completely still as he got really close to me.

He was wearing the same cologne he'd been wearing that night and as the scent of it invaded the air I was breathing along with the feel of his fingers working the buttons on my jacket methodically, I felt myself grow warm... felt some of that warmth pool lower south. Who would've thought that taking off a jacket could feel so intimate? And what was it about this man that made me feel like this?

As he got down to the last one, I remained as I was. He straightened and his eyes met and held mine as his strong hands went to my shoulders and then as if he was too lost in me to pay attention to what he was doing, he started sliding the jacket off my shoulders... accept he didn't just push the jacket fro my shoulders... instead his hands kept going... sliding over the curve of my shoulders... pushing the sleeves slowly off my arms as he followed the line of them, his hands firm and warm over the thin material of my turtleneck, making me feel the delicious slide of his fingers as they slid down my arms.

The sleeves reached my wrists and the jacket just fell to the floor. His hands though, just curled around my wrists. His eyes hadn't looked away from me once. They hadn't even blinked I don't think, as they had removed the heavy material from me. And they didn't look away from me now as they watched every expression that crossed my face.

With a gentle tug he pulled me closer - and that was all it took for my body to bump into his. A moan lodged in my throat as my breasts pressed against what felt like iron wrought warmth. His hands still held my wrists down at my side and I was now breathing through my mouth and his smell - that sexy scent that I think was uniquely his was filtering into me.

Feeling slightly confused by the unusual activity going on inside me I have to crane my head to look up at him this close up. He really is tall.

His eyes spear mine with their tormented blue before sliding down to my mouth. His lips part slightly and I catch a glimpse of his tongue as it flickers absently over his bottom lip. The sight has me forcing myself to stand still as I would've pressed myself against him hard. His gaze moves on and I can see him tracing the line of my arched neck with them.

Slowly his head lowered and his lashes sweep low over his eyes so that only a slit of that incredible blue is visible. One hand releases my hand and comes up to capture my chin in a gentle but firm grip tugging down my high collar before settling there. I feel his warm breath on the underside of my chin and I bring up my free hand and my fingers wrap tightly around the wrist of the hand that holds my chin. I feel soft warm lips brush against my throat and my hand on him tightens as does the rest of my body. Another kiss brushes a bit lower, but this time it's firmer... the next one has a hint of wetness and makes me tremble against him. Why am I letting a complete stranger do this to me? I ask myself, feeling a rising panic at my own recklessness. Then his lips reach my collarbone and they close over it. I feel a scrape of teeth - feel them rasp against my kin and bone and I can't help pressing closer. His tongue touches me as he gives my skin a gentle suck and I catch my breath. Yeah, that's why I was letting a stranger do this to me.

His hand on my chin flattens itself against my cheek and I feel his thumb brush against my lips, feeling their texture even as they part and his finger dips in slightly. God, it was the most erotic thing that had ever happened to me, which might seem a little tame - but there was this thing about this man that just made me want to strip everything off and let him have his way with me.

I heard the catch in his breath when I allowed my teeth to nip the pad of his thumb lightly. Giving me a slightly rougher suck he pulled his mouth from that spot and started climbing up my neck with a soft trail of kisses and nips until he was tracing the line of my jaw... tracing his mouth to the corner of mine. His tongue caresses that little place... then began sliding along the outer line of my lower lip and a small breathy moan escaped me.

My hand left his wrist and ran up to his nape, my fingers spreading outward so that my hand encompassed as much of his warm skin as possible. His tongue slid into me mouth, hot and slick as it flicked over my one before retreating, he gave a slight bite to my upper lip... then his tongue slid again, his time rubbing against mine with a more forceful caress. His breathing had become more pronounced as had mine and still - all he did was clutch my wrist and hold my chin whilst I just stroked his nape lightly.

Still holding my wrist he took that hand and placed it at the small of my back, pressing me into him harder so that I could feel every hard line and my breasts flattened against me. The fact that he was pinning my hand behind me leaving me slightly helpless sent an electric thrill to me. The kiss deepened and our joined hands were now slipping inside my shirt. I drew in a sharp breath as our cool hands touched my warm skin. To fingers uncurled from my wrist and traced the line of my spine... Our kiss muffled my groan. Our hands slid back down... over the curve of my ass and then my hips were sealed with his and I felt a delicious pressure between my legs as his thigh slid between them... that felt incredible and I couldn't help but -

A phone sounded out and we jerked. We blinked several times not understanding what had pulled us out of our own world. His hand on my chin just slid along my throat to settle on below it, his whole palm taking up a large amount of space... so much so that I could feel the mound of his palm over the slope of my breast. His head started lowering again -

To be continued...