Born To Run: A Counterpoints Novella Page 8

  Look at me, look I can do this, I was trying to show him at every move.

  And Noah was, he was looking at me, with an expression on his face I couldn’t quite decipher.

  It started raining, but we kept going, we kept it up. We changed bar, to a lower one. I worked on my abs, bending and stretching my legs, following Noah’s directions.

  Sweat was rolling down my back, my chest, but I kept going. It felt good, the rain tickling on my skin, washing away the heat, washing away my doubts.

  ‘It feels so good to have his hands on me’, I thought as Noah took my legs and helped me up, helped me bend them.

  I sucked in a breath and let out a sound, he looked up at me then and something crossed his eyes. We moved, once, twice, three times, his hands on my hips, guiding my movements, until I gasped again. My lips parted, my breathing changed. His did too. I noticed it was laboured, like he was panting, like he’d been the one exercising.

  That’s when he stopped telling me what to do and I let my body dangle down a little. Watching his hands move up my thighs, as he guided me down gently and I let out a soft moan, it came out muffled with the sound of the rain.

  It was raining harder and harder, our bodies were soaked. But Noah heard it. I saw it, the way his lips curled to the side a little. He heard it perfectly well, my soft cry.

  Slowly, he eased me down to my feet and didn’t let go of me until they were back on the sand. The hottest and sexiest seconds of my life.

  I kept my head up, he kept his up too, neither one of us wanting to take a step back, not wanting the tension to vanish. I could feel the pull, even though it shouldn't have been there.

  Wet through and only inches away from each other, all I could think of were his hands on my skin. They had dropped down to his sides and they weren’t on me anymore. I wanted them back.

  Hold me again. I wanted to say but I didn’t.

  Instead I told him something I hadn’t had the courage to tell him before, facing the sea.

  “I am scared that after the tournament, you won’t look at me the way you are looking at me now,” this time I didn’t shout, I barely murmured the words.

  Noah took a step forward. We were close, our noses touched, I sucked in a breath and tilted my head up a little, welcoming his body against mine.

  “How? How am I looking at you now?” he asked, his piercing, steely eyes glued to mine.

  Like I am extraordinary, like I am worth fighting for, I thought.

  “Like I am special, like you just can’t take your eyes off me,”

  Immediately my hands went up, tracing lines on his arms. They felt so strong and hard. Tense.

  “Vera,” he began to say, as drops of water trickled down his face, but I shook my head.

  “Don’t say anything” I whispered, my mouth only inches from his. “Walls down, Noah.”

  Noah’s breathing grew louder and I suddenly felt lightheaded, I could feel his heartbeat, hard against my chest.

  “I feel it, too,” I said and Noah closed his eyes for a moment. He was trying to fight it, trying to hide what he was feeling.

  But when his eyes were back on mine, I saw it, everything he’d been hiding. The passion, the desire, that fire that burned inside us both.

  I want you.

  I closed the distance, my lips danced softly on his, pressing a little harder than intended, but making a point. I wanted him, his touch. I wanted to see what he felt like, what his mouth felt like.

  Rough, salty, divine, I thought, as his hands were back on me again. On my skin, digging into my shoulders. I melted into him.

  We kissed under the rain, uncaring.

  His hands moved up to my face quickly, greedily, aching to hear me moan again.

  I did, softly against his lips this time.

  One hand in my hair, the other by my stomach, I quivered as the tips of his fingers brushed against the elastic band of my trainer pants. I wanted him to tear them off me, like they were on fire.

  “Let’s go,” he said breaking the kiss and with a sudden rush.

  We took our things and we ran up, back to the parking lot, my hand firmly in his. I thought we were going back to the car, but instead Noah pulled me further up to a white house nearby and we stopped under its wooden porch, while he searched for something in his bag.

  A set of keys, I realized then and watched him play with the lock.

  “This is your house?” I mumbled surprised.

  “Yeah, we can wait here until the raining stops,” Noah said and let me in first.

  Our shoulders brushed against one another, I could feel the electricity between us but I went in without looking back at him, searching the place.

  As he switched on a couple of lights, I took in the beauty of the room- the wide glass windows and white interiors, the white wooden furniture. That was all I noticed, I don’t remember seeing much else.

  Noah took my hand and spun me around, his nose brushing against mine. He spoke to me slowly, but his voice was now husky and his lips inches from mine. I loved how our mouths almost touched, as he spoke again.

  “I think we should stop,” he said, but his body was saying something completely different.

  “We should,” I smiled cheekily, doing absolutely nothing to put distance between us.

  “I mean it, Vera. This is the moment you ask me to stop, you ask me to back off. And then maybe we can laugh about it later,” Noah said but I was already shaking my head, my hands on his trousers. I was already unbuttoning them.

  “Does it look like I want you to stop? Does it look like I want to ‘laugh’?” I bite my lip as my hands kept searching his body.

  I knew what I wanted and I wanted Noah. I wanted him to read my thoughts, know how much I longed for him. When something felt right, I never stopped to think twice.

  I wasn’t the sort of woman to play cat and mouse.

  No more doubts, no hesitation. I let his pants drop to the floor, keeping my lips against his, a soft smile playing on my mouth.

  “Make love to me Noah, like you've never made love to anyone else before. I want to feel you,” I purred and Noah sucked in a deep breath, his thumb reached for my mouth, circling my lips.

  I kissed his finger, sucking it gently into my mouth and closing my eyes, rolling my head back a little, while his other hand slid to my shoulders.

  He pulled down my top and almost ripped it off, biting my lip as he did. I gasped and shuddered as his hands explored me.

  “You really want this?” Noah murmured and I nodded. “This is wrong. We are fucking things up,” he groaned, my hands sliding to the front, over his crotch.

  Wrong? My grasp tightened around it.

  It was the first thing that had felt right for me all day. I was exactly where I needed to be, my hands were exactly where I wanted them to be.

  Around him, warm and hard.

  “Then why does it feel so good?” I moaned back, realizing his hands were travelling down to my thighs again.

  “You are absolutely right. It’s so good, you taste so good,” Noah bit my lip again and pushed me further into the room. My pulse picked up.

  Clothes fell to the ground, out the corner of my eye, I saw them fly off the living room table. And then with the sexiest smile on his face, Noah lifted me up and placed me on top of the table.

  His rough hands went down on my body, softly caressing my breasts as he slowly made his way south. He studied me carefully, tracing the length of my thighs, teasing me, watching me shudder, until I felt his fingers drift between my legs. I cried out and closed my eyes for a moment, just as his fingers circled my core.

  Slow, fast, deep.

  My mouth opened again but his lips were on mine immediately, claiming me, his hands kept moving, Noah kept worshipping my body.

  “Vera,” Noah moaned my name and I opened myself to him, our eyes locking, our bodies burning with desire.

  “I want you,” I said, never looking away, my heart pounded harder just staring at him.
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  The way he gazed at me- his face solemn, like touching me was a serious matter and required his undivided attention- I never wanted him to stop.

  I pulled his body towards mine, my legs wrapping around his waist, and his grip on my thighs tightened. He filled me slowly, but firmly, eyeing me with the same piercing stare as before. Thrust after thrust, never looking away from me.

  “Is this what you wanted?” he groaned. “This?” he moved in deeper. I nodded and mumbled my answer.

  Yes, Yes.

  My fingers dug into his back and I pulled him harder against me, Noah’s voice became huskier, his hands warmer on me.

  What are we doing? What?

  A strange feeling crept inside of me- of pleasure and fright. Whatever it was we were doing, I realized it could’ve shaped our future, maybe change our relationship. I hadn’t forgotten he was my instructor, like he hadn’t forgotten I was his trainee.

  I blocked all those thoughts, I just wanted to enjoy it for what it was, I didn’t want to think it through.

  I don’t give a damn.

  He was inside of me and I was wrapped around him all evening, I don’t remember making love to someone like that in a long time.

  As the night began to fall and the house became darker, my giggles became moans again and again, until we passed out.

  I was in his bed, in Noah’s bed and I didn’t want to leave.

  “I don’t want this to make things complicated between us,” he began to say before my eyes closed.

  “Things are already complicated between us, remember? You're the Asshole and I am the Bitch. Nobody will get hurt. We should be fine,” I smiled, my eyes already half closed.

  His lips came searching for mine once more and then I fell asleep, curled up in Noah’s neck.

  Chapter 8

  Noah

  What the hell just happened?

  That was my first thought, waking up the following morning, Vera’s warm body still against mine. She was sleeping soundly on her stomach, one hand on my chest.

  Her mouth, I kept my eyes on it for a moment, remembering how soft her lips had felt, as they’d closed all around me- how intense it had been to fuck her all night.

  Just thinking about it made my stomach clench, my body suddenly aroused again.

  You are an asshole!

  I stood and walked half naked to the bathroom, I needed to pee. Instead I stared at myself in the mirror, at the bloody joke I was and felt like hitting myself.

  What the hell was I thinking? Sleeping with a trainee? Was I not capable of keeping my dick in my pants, for heaven’s sake?

  There is nothing worse than a person who doesn’t follow his own advice. Hypocrite, I was such a hypocrite.

  Sleeping with Vera, how was that different from Christopher sleeping with Isabella back in the day?

  I should learn to keep my mouth shut, that’s the truth.

  From the bathroom I heard the sound of ruffling sheets and I made my way back to the room, ready to tell Vera what I thought. It was all my fault, we needed to just pretend nothing happened.

  Fuck.

  I found her sitting on my bed, her hair so wild I just wanted to pull it like the night before and lose myself in her again. I walked back to the room with nothing on my mind besides setting things straight, instead I found myself staring at the naked goddess that she was.

  Vera sat there smiling at me- head tilted to the side, her full, round breasts naked- waiting for me to say something.

  She spoke first.

  “Good morning,” she mumbled and I walked to the bed, her hand took hold of mine and she pulled me down, stretching her neck a little to kiss my lips.

  My head felt dizzy again, like when we had kissed at the bars outside.

  We were just two lonely people with a lot in common, that were looking for someone to lean on, I told myself as the kiss deepened.

  “Good morning,” I said to her and then looked down at her hand. “I need to get you back to the Academy, we’re going to be late.”

  Her blue eyes studied me for an instant, as the smile slowly disappeared from her lips. She nodded, she knew I was right. It was late, we didn’t have time for this, for staying in bed to talk about us.

  And the mess we just got ourselves in.

  There couldn’t be us, she was there because she needed help and I was there to help her. No us.

  No thoughts on her mind, I wanted Vera to stay focused on the tournament, on her career. The last thing I wanted was to be a distraction.

  You are her instructor. How? How could you let this happen?

  We had something to eat at my place and then drove back to the Academy. We didn’t talk much, until I realized I was fucking things up, I was messing with her brain.

  “Vera, I want to get something straight, right away,” I said.

  She kept staring ahead, her eyes firmly on the road.

  “What happened last night was,” I searched for the right word. The truth. “Amazing, it was amazing,” and she turned to look at me, a hint of a smile on her lips. “But the last thing I want is you to have something else on your mind, besides getting into a race team.”

  “What do you mean?” she shook her head a little.

  “The tournament, getting into First Category Racing. I want these two things and ONLY these two things on your mind until next week. Nothing else,” I didn’t say the word ‘us’ but she understood perfectly.

  “Okay,” she nodded and I searched her face a little, just to make sure she understood.

  And she did. During our drive back to the Academy, Vera told me nothing had changed between us, nothing had to feel awkward or different.

  We'd let our emotions carry us away, it didn’t need to be anything, it didn’t need to lead us anywhere. We were just two people that had enjoyed each other’s company.

  I nodded and kept my mouth shut, that was the perfect moment to keep quiet and lie.

  For a good cause, to keep her focused.

  But the truth was, I couldn’t shake certain thoughts out of my head. Her sweet scent, her soft moans, the way her body shook under my touch when she came.

  It was a one-night thing. No matter how good it was, I told myself and kept my eyes on the road. We were almost there.

  Almost there, I held my breath.

  “Nothing is going to change,” Vera stressed the point and smiled, while I parked the car in the training facility. It was still early, just a few cars were there.

  Vera looked at me before getting out of the car and smiled again.

  “Today I feel like I know what I am doing and I am fully concentrated on the tournament. So, no worries,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “But yes, last night was absolutely amazing.”

  I smirked and relaxed a little.

  I wanted to tell her that under any other circumstance, I would have done her again in the car, right there and then. Just looking at her- how sexy she looked with her hair down, her lips so full and soft- I’d imagined a few ways to take her, nice and slow but hard ever the same. Just the way she liked it.

  “Oh god, yes. Don’t stop,” it was like I could still hear her shaky voice in my ears.

  Instead, I pulled that wall back up and kept my face serious, hard as always.

  “Go get ready, I’ll see you down at the simulator in half an hour.”

  Vera nodded and stepped out of my car. She walked to her dorm, turning back once to smile at me, while I sat there like a total idiot, my eyes following her all the way in.

  The night was over, our night was over.

  I’m the instructor, she’s the trainee, I told myself and cursed my name under my breath.

  Vera

  Breathe, don’t forget to breathe Vera.

  Despite the tension, the reflection in the mirror made me smile. It made me proud.

  I was wearing my tracksuit- my very own Christopher Taylor’s Drivers Academy suit- and I had just finished fastening it.

  Perfect, it was perfect. W
ith our helmets on, we all looked the same, I realized. We were all there for the same reason, we were all there because we wanted to be number ones.

  I loved that suit, I loved how it made me feel and that it made me look like them- the boys. Not less worthy, not slower nor faster, but a race driver like them.

  Breathe, breathe Vera. You got this.

  Did I?

  Then Noah’s words from the other day came back to me.

  “Clear your head, no doubts. No hesitation.”

  I looked at the clock and it was almost time.

  The cars were already out, mechanics were working their magic on them and I was one of the few drivers still in the boxes. Everyone was out on the tarmac. The tournament was about to begin.

  “Vera, come on,” one of the guys that worked on my car called out for me and I nodded, as if he could see me. No, it wasn’t for him, I was nodding to myself. I was answering the question I had asked myself before.

  I got this.

  Gloves on and helmet in hand, I walked to my car, head down, shielding my eyes from the sun. It was incredibly sunny that day and the temperature of the tarmac was strangely hot. It didn’t matter, I had practiced this with Noah so many times, with every weather condition known to mankind on the simulator. I had this, I really did.

  Christopher walked down to the grid line - Noah right behind him- and we all gathered around. He took a good look at us and told each and every driver to have fun and give it all we had. We had a chance, a fighting chance to be spotted.

  “There will be other opportunities,” he said at the end of his speech but I knew that wasn’t meant for me. I didn’t. I wasn’t like the other guys there. I was lucky enough if anyone was willing to give me a chance, nobody would give me a second shot. If I failed, if nobody spotted me that day, I was going home, back to my old life.

  “Let’s do this, good luck and see you all later,” he waved and left, but Noah stayed back, giving us last minute advice.

  “Drive safe, no foul play, no stunts,” he said and eyed every single one of us there.

  He gave us his blessing and then paced the track back and forth, stopping by each car as we took our seats.

  I was at the front, I had qualified third, the car had felt great the other day- smooth and easy to drive during my last lap.