3!One More Mistake!

ANDREA

The man stares at me, taken aback by my question. "Why would I want to do that? Why would you want to do that?" he asks.

I bet he is beginning to wonder if the whole accident and the tears had been a ploy to get to him.

I feel my cheeks burn with a mixture of shame and a strange feeling of defiance. The words had stumbled out of my mouth before I could even think.

"I mean," I stammer, my voice barely a whisper. "Do you find me attractive?"

He stares at me, his eyes narrowed in confusion. The silence stretches between us. Thick and heavy.

I want to crawl under the seat and disappear. This impulsive act, born out of heartbreak, is already spinning out of control.

Finally he speaks, his voice carefully neutral. "Yes," he concedes. "But I don't understand. Why would you want to have sex with me?"

I take a deep shaky breath. Every fiber in my being is screaming at me to run, to get away from this man. The stranger who witnessed my breakdown.

But the raw exposed vulnerability within me battles that instinct.

There is a strange calmness in the face of the unknown. A temporary escape from the wreckage of my life.

"Look," I begin, my voice unsteady. "I just realized I made the biggest mistake of my life. The worst mistake." I hesitate, tears welling up again in my eyes. "And I need to make one more mistake before I snap back to my senses."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would you want to make one more mistake if the one you already made left you in this state?" he asks, trying to find reason in what I just said.

"Because by doing this I might be able to forgive myself for that mistake. Don't try to understand me. The only thing I want from you is sex," I swallow hard. "I don't want love and I'm not asking for money. I don't want to know who you are or your name either. I don't need any of that from you. All I want is sex."

I can see him studying me intently for a long time. His expression is unreadable. I can almost see the wheels turning inside his head, the questions forming behind his gaze.

Then to my surprise a slow smile spreads across his face. Not a mocking smile, but one touched with understanding and maybe sympathy.

He shakes his head. "No, I can't do that," he says. "You are clearly upset. What was the mistake you made? Maybe I can help you better by giving you a listening ear."

I don't respond and begin to take off my clothes one by one, watching the utter shock on his face.

I watch his face battle between confusion and desire as I walk toward him with pleading eyes. "Please just have sex with me."

He looks away from my naked body. "No, I can't do that. You are hurting and I don't really think this is the solution."

"I don't need a solution. I need a temporary release," I say as I raise myself on my toes and press my body against his and kiss him.

The moment I kiss him he lets go of any hesitation and returns the kiss with equal passion and intensity.

Before I know it he carries me over to the bed and lays me on it.

Breaking the kiss he holds my gaze, his eyes searching mine.

"Are you sure about this?" he asks gently.

I meet his eyes, a new resolve hardening in my gaze, and I nod. "Yes," I say, my voice stronger than it has been since our chance encounter. "I'm sure."

The moment I give my consent he pins me against the bed and ravages my lips while his hands move to grab my breasts.

I had only wanted to have sex because I thought being with a stranger would help me get over the fact that I had been with Marcus for four years without truly knowing him at all.

But something about the way this stranger touches me arouses me more than Marcus ever did and I find myself moaning loudly.

I pull off the towel and let my hands travel down to the bulge between his legs and squeeze gently, eliciting a soft groan from him.

I close my eyes when he lowers his lips to my breast. He circles his tongue around my nipple one at a time while his hands slowly move down my abdomen.

A gasp escapes my lips when his fingers connect with my clit and I tightly grip the bedsheets with one hand and bury the other in his dark hair as I kiss him fervently, trying to stop myself from moaning as he pleasures me with his fingers.

As though he senses I am trying to hold back he increases the pace of his fingers and I can't hold back anymore as my silent moans become loud cries of pleasure.

"Please," I plead with a throaty cry, wanting nothing more than to have him buried inside me.

"I will, but only after you cum for me," he says, and as though that is all I need to hear I topple over the edge of my pleasure, stunned by the force of it.

While I am yet to recover he positions himself between my legs and thrusts into me with an urgency I am not used to, sending me into another wave of pleasure.

I cry out, wanting him to stop so I can catch my breath but at the same time not wanting him to stop at all as I move my hips with the rhythm of his thrust.

I had always thought I was frigid but I discover for the first time tonight that I was wrong.

I spend the rest of the night in the arms of a handsome stranger, rediscovering myself and washing away every lie Marcus had made me believe about my body and about who I am.

When I finally open my eyes the room is still dark but the sky outside the window has begun to shift from black to the deep grey that comes just before dawn.

I lie still for a moment, listening to his breathing beside me.

Even and slow.

He is asleep.

I turn my head and look at him in the dim light. He is beautiful in a way I hadn't fully taken in last night, all sharp angles and dark lashes and the kind of stillness that makes a person look younger when they sleep.

Something stirs in my chest that I immediately push down.

I sit up slowly, careful not to disturb him, and find my clothes where I left them on the floor. I dress in the dark, one piece at a time, moving quietly the way I have always known how to when I don't want anyone to know I am leaving.

I look back at him one last time from the doorway.

He doesn't know my name. I don't know his. That was the agreement.

I walk out and pull the door closed behind me without a sound.