Kitten
895 Words
He took my hand.
And my brain said, Absolutely not.
My body said, We’re going.
My body won.
The night air hit me the second we stepped outside.
Cold. Sharp.
His hand was warm around mine, and that really wasn’t helping me think straight, but okay. Fine. We were doing this.
I looked back once.
Through the closing club door, I caught Cass with both hands over her mouth, eyes the size of the moon.
I mouthed: you’re welcome.
She started jumping up and down.
The door closed.
“My building is two blocks,” he said.
“Okay.”
Two blocks.
TWO BLOCKS ISLA.
I tried not to panic, but that was all I did.
You wrote the list, I told myself. Number one. Right there at the top. In your own handwriting. With your own pen. You do not get to panic now.
“You’re thinking,” His voice sounded like melted honey. “Don’t.”
I looked up at him “How do you know I’m thinking”
“I can tell,”
You know what, I told myself. I’m going to stop thinking and do the damn thing. I’m an adult, and adults have one-night stands all the time.
We passed a group of guys outside the club next door.
Loud. Rowdy. Drinks in hand.
I didn’t think anything of it.
But then one of them glanced over and just,
stopped.
Not obviously. Just a flicker. Like something had crossed his face for half a second before he smoothed it away. He said something low to the guy next to him and they shifted. Slightly. Without making it a thing.
Alec didn’t look at them.
Didn’t slow down.
Didn’t even blink.
I looked back at him and he was just, walking. Calm. Hand warm around mine.
I filed it away somewhere in the back of my mind under things I don’t have the bandwidth to think about right now and kept going.
His building was at the end of the block.
I grew up in a nice house. Good neighbourhood. My mother had fresh roses every Monday.
This was a completely different species of nice.
The doorman opened the door before we reached it.
Didn’t say a word.
I walked through and got the very specific feeling that this man had signed some kind of agreement to forget things.
I clocked two men near the far wall.
Seated. Still. They reminded me of the kind of man who hung around my uncle, the Capon of the Voss family.
They looked at Alec when we walked in.
He didn’t look back.
And somehow that was enough because they looked away and went back to being still and quiet like nothing had happened.
We got to the elevator.
The doors closed and suddenly I remembered we were alone.
Just us.
I was going to be so mature about this.
I was going to be calm and collected and completely in control of myself and,
He turned to me.
I could see that his control had vanished.
His hand came up to my jaw.
He kissed me, and I grabbed his shirt because my knees made a completely unauthorised decision, and structural support became an urgent need.
He kissed me slowly.
The elevator opened, and we walked into what looked like a penthouse.
Floor-to-ceiling windows.
The view of the whole city lay out like someone had arranged it specifically for tonight.
I had exactly one second to think before he started walking me backwards and interior design stopped mattering.
Number one, I told myself desperately.
You are doing number one. You wrote it. You circled it. You put on the dress. You are NOT backing out now Isla Elena Voss,
His mouth found my neck.
Every thought evacuated.
“Alec,”
“Still thinking?” Voice low. Against my skin.
“No.”
I felt him smile.
And then,
He pressed his lips in a way that had exactly one meaning.
My hand flew up. “Did you just give me a hickey?!”
“Mm.”
“You didn’t even ASK,”
He caught my hand before I could touch it.
He put my fingers into my mouth and sucked. The sensation went straight to my core.
He walked me back until my knees found the edge of the bed.
Then he dropped to his knees.
And looked up at me.
Dark eyes. Steady. Completely unhurried.
“Kitten.”
Something about that word.
I don’t know. I genuinely don’t know. It landed somewhere low in my stomach.
“Has anyone ever,”
He stopped.
Hands still.
Something moved through his expression.
He looked up at me again, and it was different.
Not less intense, just different.
The silence between us was very loud.
“Don’t,” I said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t make it weird.” I lifted my chin. If I were going to be embarrassed, I would be embarrassed with my dignity fully intact, thank you very much.
“Don’t stop. Don’t look at me like I need to be handled carefully. Just,”
I exhaled.
“Please don’t make it a whole thing.”
He looked at me.
One second.
Two.
Then the corner of his mouth lifted.
Slow.
“Okay, Kitten.”
His voice was quiet.
“We won’t make it a whole thing.”
- Writer
