Lane One: Seduction Read online

  She places her hand over her mouth suppressing a soft giggle as she looks down at her Chucks and then back up at me.

  "I don't know if that kiss is going to hurt me or help me with winning the bet," she giggles.

  "Screw the bet," I say seriously. I don't care about our bet, or how long I'll have to wait to have her as long as I get to continue to taste her, and kiss her like I just did.

  Although, it would be nice knowing how long I'll be walking around with blue balls. Will it be days, weeks or months?

  As I cup her cheek my thumb brushes against her lower lip before I lean back down and press my lips to hers in a soft peck.

  "I don't care about the bet, Cassie. Not anymore," I whisper.

  She pulls back and looks up at me. "What about Chris? Yesterday you seemed really concerned with how he would handle the two of us being together. What changed?"

  "I don't know. I don't really think much has changed. I can't really explain all that I'm feeling and I still need to talk to Chris about us, but I also know that I don't want to lose you before I have a chance to see where this could go. You're different, Cassie. I can feel it in my bones."

  Her smile is contagious and I smile back at her. I think I'm... happy. What an odd feeling to have wash over me. I'm so used to being brooding, dark and stuck in my own sex-induced delusion of happiness. The only moments of euphoria I have are the few seconds I'm coming at the end of sex.

  Cassie introduced a whole new version of euphoria and it doesn't even require her to touch my dick.

  Strange.

  "Hey, Cassie, is the hot chocolate ready?"

  I turn my head to see Matt's joined us in the kitchen and is looking at Cassie expectantly.

  This prick. I know his game. I invented the fucking game.

  "Almost. Give me five more minutes."

  The fact that Cassie and I are so close together isn't lost on him, but Matt nods his head and leaves the kitchen just as quickly as he entered it.

  "Can we talk about this later, Theo. I've got to get this ready. I'm slacking at my job."

  Stepping away from her I pick up the measuring cup of powdered chocolate and hand it to her. "Sure. Let me help."

  Three

  Theo

  Entry #1601

  There are many women in history who are admirable and will be remembered for what they did here on this earth. Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, Mary Magdalene, Susan B. Anthony, and Eleanor Roosevelt, to name a few. Watching Cassie today made me realize she could easily be on that list. She has little resources but is such a selfless woman. I'm in awe of her. I have an infinite amount of resources and I'm a selfish bastard.

  After spending the morning at the park district building, we've fed hundreds of Chicago's homeless population and cleaned up our mess so the cafeteria is ready for an event that will be held there tomorrow. I'm tired and really wish I had a spare pair of clothing with me so I wasn't still stuck in yesterday's clothes. I'm just thankful Cassie hasn't noticed.

  Most of the volunteers have gone home. It's just Matt, Cassie, an older woman with a full head of silver, and me. I'm ready to get out of here but I don't want to leave without talking to Cassie. We haven't had any more time together since we were in the kitchen and I'm itching to touch her again.

  "I think that's about it for the day. Do you want me to give you a ride home, Cassie?" Matt is looking at me when he asks her the question. I try my best to look unaffected by the fact that he's trying to trample all over my time with her.

  "My car's here, Matt. Besides, don’t you have a date to go on? Wasn’t that the whole point of us driving separately?"

  "Oh yeah, right." He looks genuinely disappointed that he has other plans besides driving Cassie home. I don't blame the guy. No date could be better than being alone with Cassie.

  Sucker.

  "Go. You don't want to be late for your date. I'll lock up."

  Matt glances at me again and then back at Cassie. "I don't want to leave you here... with a strange man I don't know."

  Strange? How would he like a bloody, broken nose to go along with him on his first date because I can make that happen? Who knows, maybe I could fix the crooked mess it already is.

  "Theo's harmless. Go, Matt." She practically shoves him out of the cafeteria behind the older woman who's already started to make her way out of the building. Cassie turns back to me and we're the only two people left in the room. I want to say something but I'm suddenly speechless and unsure of what to say next, which is so unlike me.

  Shit.

  I act like an entirely different person around her. I want the old Theo back who would say something crass, kiss her, and then take her home and fuck her.

  "You don't have to stick around, Theo. I'm just going to lock up and head out."

  "I was hoping we could talk about everything."

  "Everything? That's pretty vague. Could you be a little more specific?"

  Okay.

  "I thought we could talk about what happened between us at Chris's house, and in the pool, and again at Chris's house and then in the parking lot of the health–"

  "Okay. I get it," she interrupts. Her cheeks turn a bright shade of red. "Where do you want to talk?"

  "I'd suggest my place, but I don’t know how comfortable you'd be there and I want you to be comfortable so you'll speak freely. Why don't we go to your apartment? We can order food and talk things out."

  I'm hoping she'll agree to this plan easily because I want to be alone with her again. I want to feel her lips against mine and I wouldn't reject her if she decided she wanted to screw my brains out. The wait is an unwelcome torture, one I'll continue to endure if I need to, but I'd love it if we could stop the back and forth.

  "We should go back to your place. I'll be comfortable there."

  Well, that's a little shocking. I would have thought she'd want to be on home turf when we talked, but I'll gladly take home court advantage and let her be on the visiting side.

  "Alright, let's get out of here and you can follow me to my condo."

  ***

  My condo is in pristine condition when we enter it. Every item is in its exact place, not a speck of dust or leftover food on the counter top. It's easy to live this way when I'm hardly ever home and like my things in order. That was the one thing my parents did teach me–to clean up after myself so I didn't embarrass them with uncleanliness.

  I order food from the Chinese restaurant down the street and the regular delivery boy drops it by. We have an early dinner and pass the time talking about mundane things. I'm on my third scotch when I settle down on the sofa in my living room. I pick up the tablet on the coffee table, entering my passcode and clicking on my entertainment center app. The soft sound of Keane comes over the surround sound, and I place the tablet back on the table and turn to face Cassie.

  She's sitting comfortably on the couch with her legs tucked beneath her ass, while she sips on her sparkling water.

  "So why is it that we've spent most of the afternoon together, yet I still feel like I know very little about you, Cassie? Tell me something. Anything."

  She takes another sip of her water as she looks nervously down at her lap and then back up at me. "What would you like to know?"

  I adjust my body to get myself more comfortable, bending my right knee so my right leg is on the sofa while my left foot is still on the ground. I changed into a pair of jeans and my worn Lollapalooza t-shirt when I got back to the condo, leaving Cassie on her own to wander about the living room. She's still in her volunteer clothing, but she's pulled her hair tie out and let her hair fall in soft waves down her back.

  "Tell me about yourself. What was your childhood like? Where did you grow up? How many boyfriends have you had and where do they live so I can inspect them and see if they were worthy of dating you," I tease.

  "Wow. You want to know an awful lot about me for someone who just wants to win a bet and then get in my pants."

  The fucking bet. Why does she ins
ist on continuing to bring that up? I'm not going to deny I want in her pants, but I wish I never made the fucking bet with her. My dick wishes I never made that bet with her, too. While it'll be easy to abstain from sex for thirty days, it's unnatural to ask a man not to masturbate. It's like asking a woman not to breathe.

  "Can we forget about the stupid bet? I don't want to play that game anymore. I don't want to win a date with you. I want you to go on a date with me willingly."

  "So you're conceding and I win? Wow, I've never won anything before. It feels kind of great, even if I only won because you forfeit." She rises up from the sofa and starts moving her hips back and forth as she raises her hands above her head, pumping her fists in the air.

  "What are you doing?" I ask, laughing at the odd way she's moving her body.

  "My victory dance," she answers seriously as she continues to sway her hips.

  I completely loose it, grabbing her hips and pulling her down on top of me, laughing hysterically into her shirt. This woman is absolutely adorable.

  Once I've calmed myself down I look up at her as she smiles down at me. "I like it when you laugh. You look completely relaxed and content, Theo."

  "Compared to?"

  "Compared to the demanding, overtly sexual man that I'm usually in the presence of."

  She moves to adjust her body and it's then that I realize she straddling my cock. I look up at her; my hands still on her hips, and see the moment she realizes the position she's in, too. I'm about to apologize when one of her hands wraps around the back of my head and she leans down to kiss me. It's nothing like the slow, sweet kiss we shared earlier at the park district building. This kiss is rushed. Her urgency to have me expressed by the way she's grinding her core against my body.

  I feel my cock harden underneath her and I thrust my hips up to meet every rotation of her hips. She moans against my lips, opening her mouth and I use this opportunity to slip my tongue between her soft lips.

  She tastes sweet, too sweet. My hands move up her body, caressing her sides before grazing her breasts on their way up to cup her face. When my palms reach her cheeks I slow the kiss down, sensually licking the roof of her mouth before sucking on her top lip and biting her plump bottom lip.

  She whimpers against my teeth and it's taking every ounce of willpower I have not to take her here and now, but I know if we sleep together tonight it will blow any chance I have of a future with her.

  And for some fucking reason I want a chance at a future with her.

  My palms stay on her cheeks as my thumbs caress underneath her eyes. Our mouths continue to move together and I've never enjoyed kissing a woman so much. I could spend the entire evening just kissing her. The problem is my dick isn't getting the message. My cock is strained against my pants and Cassie's small hip thrusts aren't helping the situation. My dick is in search of a hole and it knows the only thing coming between him and Cassie's pussy is a couple layers of clothing.

  I pull my lips away from hers, ending our kiss while I can, but I'm still holding her with my hands.

  "God, you're stunningly beautiful. Do you know that?"

  The honesty in my words seems to hit a nerve with Cassie. She pulls away from me, standing up before sitting back down on the other end of the sofa.

  "Did I say something wrong?" I ask puzzled at the distance she's put between us.

  She doesn't look at me but I see a tear fall from the corner of her eye and I know I fucked up. Something I did or said set her off.

  "Cassie, what's wrong?"

  "You don't have to say things like that to me. I know I'm not beautiful so when you say things like that it makes me question your motives for wanting to hang out with me."

  Is this woman blind? She's the most beautiful woman I've ever been around.

  "Cassie, you are beautiful. I don't know why you think so negatively about yourself. I wouldn't have been so fascinated by you this past year if I didn't think you were beautiful."

  She fidgets on the sofa, clearly uncomfortable talking about herself. It just makes me want to strip her naked and worship every inch of her body until she realizes just how beautiful she is.

  "Sorry. I'm just so used to seeing myself one way that I find it hard to believe that anyone sees me differently."

  "Don't apologize to me, Cassie."

  "It's just that I've been working so hard the past two years to have a more positive image of myself. I started taking better care of my physical appearance and working out. I gained so much weight as an adult to hide from the things of my past, and I realized that the weight was just a mask and I couldn't hide forever. I needed to come to terms with my life and move past it.

  "I feel better than I have in a long time, but physically I'm still not where I want to be. I'm still overweight and unhappy with my body. If I could just lose another thirty pounds–"

  "You want to lose more weight? Cassie, that's crazy."

  "You don't understand. In my teens I was a size four."

  "Then you were too fucking skinny. I think you’re perfect the way you are. I’ve watched you drop a significant amount of weight this past year and at a fast rate. That can't be healthy. You have a great figure; you have soft, luscious curves in all the right places. There’s no reason to lose any more weight."

  "But, Theo, I'm a size ten. I'm still considered to be plus-size."

  "Fuck what is considered plus-size. If you're a size ten then that's the size you were meant to be because you look fucking perfect to me. I can't stop imagining having your full tits in my hands or grabbing onto your plump ass. If you don't believe me, my dick can confirm it. Come reach over here and feel how hard you have me."

  It's only now that I realize what I've said. I've never wanted a woman who was a size ten before. I've definitely never fucked someone larger than a size eight, but I'm realizing now, for the first time, that I'd want Cassie at any size. I'd fuck her now, and I would have fucked her a year ago when she was twice the size she is now. It's never been about her size. It's always been about Cassie.

  "That's very forward of you," she replies, her cheeks flushed.

  "Get used to it. I'm trying to be a gentleman, but I can be a bit vulgar sometimes."

  I reach over and grab her hands, placing them between mine and then look her straight in the eyes. "Tell me, where does all this insecurity come from?"

  "What does it matter to you?"

  "I told you, Cassie. I want to know more about you. I want to know everything."

  I can see the indecision in her expression as she decides whether or not to confide in me, and just when I think she's about to avoid the topic and continue to leave me in the dark about her past, she starts to speak.

  "I already told you about my mother and the fact that I was left at a convent, but what I didn't get into was what my childhood was like in and out of foster homes. I never felt wanted... by anyone. I think I was in a total of eleven foster homes up until I was sixteen. In between my time in each home, I'd stay back with the nuns at the convent in Wisconsin, but they weren't equipped to take care of a little girl. Oddly enough, neither were most of my foster parents.

  "There was one great family I got to live with when I was eight years old. The Nelsons. Mrs. Nelson had the warmest home and she always smelled like cake batter."

  Cassie's eyes glaze over as she stares off in the distance while telling her story. It's obvious the Nelsons had an impact on her in some way.

  "I know cake batter is an odd smell to remember, but she loved to bake and she would let me bake with her. After school we'd go to the local park for a little bit before coming home and preparing dinner. With every dinner she always made a homemade dessert and I would help her. Then we'd work on my homework before her husband got home and the three of us sat down to eat. I thought we were the picture perfect, happy family. I thought they were going to adopt me. They nearly did."

  "What happened?" I ask her, trying to fill in the blanks of her story.

  "Mrs. Nelson bec
ame pregnant and they no longer wanted a foster kid. I went back to the nuns and started to be shuffled between foster homes again. I was with the Nelsons for almost two years.

  "Then, when I was sixteen, I was put in a foster home with a single man in his forties. There were three of us in his home–two boys, both around eleven or twelve, and then me. At first it was okay. He kept to himself and made sure there was always food in the house for us. I had a roof over my head and a warm bed to climb into at night, so I was content. Then things changed. It was subtle at first. He'd make a sexual comment or briefly caress my arm or waist. Sometimes he'd come up behind me and start massaging my shoulders. I was uncomfortable with him touching me, but I figured it was harmless. One night that changed."

  Oh shit. I don't think I want to hear this.

  "He came into my room. I didn't hear him because I liked to fall asleep with headphones on. One minute I'm sound asleep and the next minute I feel someone lifting up my pajama top. I woke up to him standing over me, attempting to strip me naked. I fought him but he was so much stronger than me. He managed to strip me completely naked, and when his hand slipped between my legs, I wanted to hurl.

  "I hated him, I hated myself. He started to stroke me and I stopped fighting him. I relaxed my body and let him fondle me. I wanted him to trust me. As soon as he realized I stopped fighting, he let his guard down and that's when I attacked. I kneed him in the balls and he dropped to the ground, hovering in pain."

  So that's where she learned it. I've been on the receiving end of her knee. It hurt like hell. I'm proud of my little ninja.

  "I jumped out of the bed and grabbed whatever was near me, which happened to be my bedside lamp and smashed it against his head. It knocked him out cold. He was already drunk so I figured I had a little time to get dressed and get the hell out of there. I threw on some clothes, emptied my school backpack and filled it with some additional clothing, a few toiletries and my phone. Then I went into that bastard's room in search of his wallet. It was in a pair of pants that were on the stained carpet floor of his room. He only had eighty bucks, but I needed any money I could get. I took it all and left the house in the middle of the night and never looked back."