The Protection

Twenty-Two

I stumbled home some hours later a little sunburned and more than a little drunk. Ben had offered to take me home, but I refused. The idea of him coming inside to my room, to my bed, where my sheets still smelled like Kyler was a little confusing. Kyler. My inebriated heart thudded sluggishly at the thought of his name. Why would he leave me at the pool so abruptly? Wasn't his main job to watch over me and make sure I didn't have any "special powers" or "skills" or whatever they called it? It didn't make any sense for him to suddenly abandon his post. I walked into my room, looking for his soft, black t-shirt so I could feel close to him. I wanted to feel something of his wrapped around me. What I found was better than what a t-shirt could provide.

"Well, if it isn't my mysterious stalker, er, I mean Protector," I shouted, throwing my pool bag off to the side, stumbling a little in the process. Kyler's eyes creased into worried lines from where he stood next to my bed.

"You're drunk," he accused as I stripped off my cover-up and pushed past him and into my bathroom.

"And you're engaged."

"So that's what your little performance was all about?!" he roared. The intensity of his voice caused me to jump. "Because I am promised to someone else? Because I can't choose?" The disgust was apparent in his voice. I turned around and pulled the rest of my hair out of my ponytail. I didn't even care how wild and mascara-stained my eyes probably looked.

"Why does any of that even matter? Why are you here? You obviously felt I was safe earlier when you left me at the pool. Unprotected." I spit the word out with venom as I tried not to sway back and forth. I placed a hand on my bathroom sink for balance. He pressed his fingernails into his arms until they left little red half crescent moons.

"I don't know why I am here," he admitted as he quietly paused for several seconds, debating. His Brown Eyes stared at the floor while his teeth sunk into his plump lower lip. My eyes were glued to his mouth imagining for the millionth time since meeting him what it would feel like to taste him, to press my full lips against his. His eyes lifted to meet mine and their intensity made me breathless. "I guess I'm here because I haven't been able to stop replaying that stupid guy's hands all over you." He choked, and I could see in his eyes how tortured he was by my swim with Ben. My heart pounded wildly in my chest. Out of rhythm. Out of my control. He moved slowly towards me, and I backed against the sink, knocking a few items on the floor, but I didn't care. I cared about nothing, but the way he looked at me. He licked his lips and my legs felt wobbly, like they may not support me.

"It makes me absolutely insane to think about the way he picked you up and held you, and you let him." His eyes never left mine as he picked me up and placed me on the white porcelain counter. I shivered against his arms. His eyes were dark. Storming. Hungry. I suddenly felt very sober. Hyper aware of his need. My own need for him rising to an unfathomable level.

"Or the way he kissed you, and you just let him." He gripped my thighs even harder, his fingers making imprints into my bare skin there. I tried to move back on the counter but he was between my legs, his hands wrapped around my thighs, holding me in place. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. My heart felt like it was about to beat right through my chest and onto the cheap counter. Kyler was contemplating something; conflicted. I softly rested my hands on his strong chest. His muscles were so tight and firm beneath the soft, black t-shirt, but I could feel them quiver a little under my touch. I was unsure if I should continue down this path or push him away. I knew what I should do, what the good girl in me would do: push him away, tell him that he was engaged, and that we were making a huge mistake, but every nerve ending in my body screamed to do the exact opposite.

He pulled his head back, his Brown Eyes piercing mine, pulling me deeper into their depths. His fingers gripped my thighs impossibly tighter. I was his. I couldn't move, not that I wanted to. I had never wanted anything more in my life than to have him claim me at that exact moment. My fingers dug into the material of his shirt, pulling him closer, and that was all he needed. His lips moved onto mine. Without restraint. Fireworks.

"Oh my God," I gasped as he kissed down my neck. His lips agreed with me, moving back to mine in a moment. He tangled both hands in my hair and parted my lips with his soft tongue. It was the most explosive kiss I had ever known. I didn't know a kiss could feel like this. Our minds became one, and I could feel him. Feel the way he was enjoying this, how he had never wanted anyone else as much as he wanted me in this moment. I never felt anything so intoxicating. My body answered, pulling him impossibly closer, my entire body ablaze. My fingers dug into his back as his hands moved methodically beneath my red bikini top until I couldn't stand it anymore. I pulled on the ties behind my neck. The wet material slapped against the bathroom floor as the bikini top fell off my body, my naked chest pressed to him. He picked me up and carried me to my bed. I grabbed his shirt, pulling it over his head on the way, relishing our bare chests touching when he placed his large body on top of mine. The feeling was so electric, as if I was going to burn up from the inside out. I had never felt anything like the raw need I felt in this moment. Ben and I had been together for two years before we carefully made love, but with Kyler the feeling was so different. I had to have him. All of him. His hands found my bikini bottoms and tugged at the strings. I kissed him harder to let him know I was ready to be his, all his, begging him not to stop. The parts of my body he touched, as his hands ventured down below, felt as though they were going to spontaneously combust, scorched beneath his finger tips. He stared into my eyes with a strange look, and, suddenly, his hands froze.

"No, don't stop," I begged, moving beneath him and pulling his face back to mine. I could feel him pressed against my thigh. He was huge. Proportional. Ben's earlier comment be damned.

"I have to go," he said suddenly, his face a stone mask.

"What...," but before I could get any more words out of my mouth, he was already gone, out my window. Less than a second later, my bedroom door slammed open, and I pulled the covers up to my chin, covering my wet, naked body.

"Do you have any condoms I can borrow? Well... have," Beth drunkenly asked, swaying as she giggled at her own bad joke. I shook my head and she sighed. "I don't know why I thought you would. You know, sex every once in a while isn't a bad thing, Perry. It's perfectly natural and healthy," she lectured with her hands on her hips. I tried to hide my smile.

"Thanks, Beth. I'll keep that in mind," I said as she disappeared into the hallway. I glanced at my open window, and the dark starry night, and touched my lips, reminiscing on what had just happened. I stood up, my cherry red bikini bottoms falling the rest of the way off my body. I glanced outside the window, staring at nothing in particular. What did this mean? Kyler was a Protector. And he was promised to someone else. I had a feeling we had just broken more than a few rules. Big ones. I shivered and closed the window. When had my life become so complicated? An even scarier question came next: What would have happened if Beth hadn't intervened?