AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was useless to pretend that a restlessness didn’t roll right through her at the audacity of the man. Along with the rudest images of the hot, devilish expression on his face moments before he’d dipped his head between her legs and greedily drunk her in.
It was why, although every grey cell in her head was screaming at her to decline, she could only sit there, her body tense and...needy, as she stared at him in silence.
‘But if we do, Anouk. Then there will have to be ground rules.’
‘Ground rules?’ she echoed faintly.
‘To avoid confusion at a later date.’
‘Avoiding confusion is good,?
? she conceded, her voice sounding thick and slow.
She felt as though she were outside her own body.
She ought to be telling him no. Instead, she just wanted to get the so-called ground rules agreed so they could get onto the meatier portion of the conversation.
Who was this strange woman inhabiting her body? And what had Sol done to the real her that night? She should be disgusted with herself; at how easily she seemed to be falling in with what Sol was suggesting.
Her weak acquiescence was all too reminiscent of her desperate mother.
And yet something niggled at Anouk, even if she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.
Something in the way Sol sat, slightly more upright than usual. Or the way he appeared to be choosing his words deliberately. Or the intent look in his eyes. It all gave the impression that he wasn’t nearly as blasé about it as he wanted her to believe.
Or possibly it was just in her imagination.
Either way, Anouk made the decision there and then to accept it at face value. When would she ever get the chance to act so daringly with someone who thrilled her the way that Sol did?
‘Let me guess, the ground rules are that it’s just sex?’ she managed hoarsely. ‘That it’s just for the one night? That there are no troublesome, wild emotions complicating things afterwards?’
‘Yes, to all three,’ he growled. ‘Except for the wild part.’
‘Oh?’ she managed.
‘I intend it to get very wild,’ he promised, his voice low and practically pulsing through her. ‘And very hot. And very lustful.’
She thought she might have swallowed her tongue for a moment.
‘I’d be disappointed if it was anything less,’ she managed, at last.
She didn’t quite recall moving, but suddenly they were both standing and Sol was helping her into her coat before enveloping her hand in his and leading her outside. They didn’t stop, or debate it any longer, but he pulled Anouk close to him and began threading his way through the streets spilling over with Christmas shoppers.
Streets that were still slick and wet from the rain that had fallen whilst they’d been inside but that had now stopped. As if just for them. The darkness enclosed them, the coldness not able to bite into her.
She didn’t know when it occurred to her that something wasn’t right. Possibly around the same time that Sol slowed down, scanning all around them with a grim expression on his face.
‘Something is going on,’ he ruminated. ‘The roads are too busy, even for this time of year.’
‘And the traffic is going the wrong way,’ Anouk concurred, twisting around to look. ‘A road traffic accident, maybe? A main road closed? Diversions?’
It was one of the side-effects of being an A & E doctor: she could perceive a potential major accident like a sixth sense. Things just didn’t...sit right.
‘More than one road, I’d say, given the volume of traffic.’
‘So a multiple-car RTA?’
‘Something.’ He nodded, sliding his phone out of his back pocket as they exchanged a glance.
