Free Perfect Harmony by Sarah P. Lodge Page B

inches from my own, my lower lip swollen
and quivering, craving his touch once again, his warm breath beating against my
skin.  My mouth glides towards him, and I tilt my head up, our lips closer and
closer, an inch apart, the distance closing.
    He says something.  His words trail over me like a soft
blanket.  “A night of pure pleasure.”
    His fingers slide down my hair like raindrops, and my heart
races.
    “We let go of everything, for just one night.  You and me. 
Together,” he says.
    No.  I can’t.  This is wrong and stupid and wrong.
    I need to stop this.  If I don’t then my life is over. 
There’s so much danger and risk.
    And why the hell does that make me want him more?
    I can’t do this - I can’t have sex with my boss.  I can’t
screw a man who hates my family and believes I’m another person.
    I can’t let him take my virginity.
    But I want to.  Holy shit, I want him so much it blinds me. 
There is nothing else, no reasons no excuses, only him and his body and mine
and I need it so so much.
    I crave that risk and that darkness and this powerful man
who scares me to the deepest level of my soul.
    My mind is spiralling out of control.  I can’t make sense of
anything.  All I know is I want him.
    I need him.
    “I... I don’t... I can’t...” I whisper.
    Chase’s face remains strong and stoic.  A faint smile curls
on his lips.
    He cups my face with both hands and I’m lost.
    “You must choose, my princess.  The safety of what you know,
or the reward of what could be.”
    My god.  His gaze stares deep into my soul, and he knows it
all - my darkest secrets and fears and horrors that haunt my every waking
moment.  And the pure blinding desire in my heart.
    I stare up at him and he lowers his mouth to mine, about to
touch.
    My mouth open and hot breath billowing out, I nod.
    “That’s my girl.”
    I close my eyes.
    And he kisses me.
    The smooth velvet of his lips is hot, pushing against my
own.  I taste his mouth and his tongue and he tastes mine, the rough stubble of
his chin pressed against me and his strong arms wrapped around and pulling me
into a sensual embrace.
    A lightning bolt shoots through me and my body ignites into
a sexual fire.  His tongue is like silk, stroking the inside of my mouth.
    Tension coils up in me, ready to explode, sparks of pure
ecstasy and bliss rushing through my lips and into my head and my hair and down
my heaving breasts and down to my belly and into the deepest most tender parts
of my sex, nerve endings flickering and sparking and setting alight, as my toes
curl and my body screams.
    Chase pulls away and the world slowly fades back into view,
the baritone gasp of his breath the only sound in the universe.
    My own breath sits in my throat; I’m unable to breathe - too
afraid to move or this perfect moment could end.
    He strokes my cheek and I realise the truth: it has ended. 
But the experience - that kiss - is something I’ll never forget.
    Because it’s my first.
    And it was our first kiss.  Me and Chase.
    It felt so insane to think we’d reached this point when only
a few hours ago I was weeping in his office and deathly afraid he’d find me. 
And now, we speed off to his penthouse to kiss and touch and make love.
    And it’s because he wants me.  The actual me.  The real me,
as he calls it.  This man, this paragon of masculinity and power and success
and dominance - he could have any woman in the world.  And he wants me .
    The real me.  Not the scared timid bird ready to fly away at
the first sight of danger.  But a powerful, beautiful woman.  One who could
take the whole universe into her hand, if she wanted.
    A woman who could chance everything on what might be.
    A woman afraid of nothing, except spending another waking
moment not living life.
    In Chase’s arms, I’m not afraid anymore.
    He pushes me against the leather seat and the heavy weight
of his body presses against my own.  His hands explore my skin and I throw