The Shadow Box Read online

  Table of Contents

  The Shadow Box

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  About The Author

  Red Sage Publishing

  An eRedSage Publishing Publication

  This book is a work of complete fiction. Any names, places, incidents, characters are products of the author’s imagination and creativity or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is fully coincidental.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form whatsoever in any country whatsoever is forbidden.

  Information:

  Red Sage Publishing, Inc. P.O. Box 4844 Seminole, FL 33775

  727-391-3847 eRedSage.com

  The Shadow Box

  An eRed Sage Publication All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2011

  eRedSage is a registered trademark of Red Sage Publishing, Inc.

  Visit us on the World Wide Web: http://www.eRedSage.com

  ISBN: 9781603107037; 1603107037 The Shadow Box Adobe PDF

  ISBN: 9781603107068; 1603107061 The Shadow Box MobiPocket

  ISBN: 9781603107051; 1603107053 The Shadow Box HTML

  ISBN: 9781603107044; 1603107045 The Shadow Box ePub

  Published by arrangement with the authors and copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  The Shadow Box © 2011 by Alexis Ke

  Cover © 2011 by Lynn Taylor

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  ebook layout and conversion by jimandzetta.com

  The Shadow Box

  ***

  By Alexis Ke

  TO MY READERS:

  One day when I got to work one of my co-workers walked in with an abrasion on her forehead. I immediately started joking her about using a pillow under her face the next time. She immediately blushed a bright red, which she always did when anything sexy or sensual came into the subject. She immediately told me that she fell out of bed the night before, actually giving herself a concussion from hitting her head on the dresser. After I made sure she was okay, I broke out in giddy laughter. I didn’t care what she told me, the story that popped in my head was the Shadow Box. I’ve had some really vivid dreams, myself, as any red blooded woman has. So this brought on the birth of my story. What a wonderful mix, a sexually healthy female who’s had the hots for her best friend for years. Something has to give.

  READER ALERT:

  Afryca didn’t know entering the Shadow Box would send her secret desires into a whirlwind of sexual pleasure. The one man she’s dreamt about has spiraled her into a glorious, tantalizing awareness she didn’t think possible. Beware. When reading this story make sure you have two things available. 1. A tall ice cold glass of water and two a change of under ware because you will definitely overheat in the best way.

  Chapter One

  “Ah, damn, baby. Why do you have on so many clothes?” His voice slid across her, heating her to the core. Or was it from the core to the outside? Afryca Leigh wasn’t sure. The only thing she was sure of at that precise moment was that if he didn’t get inside her quickly she was going to die.

  She opened her mouth to answer Simon when the sound of her Tee shirt ripping snapped her mouth shut. She moved her head from right to left, trying to make sense of it. The pleasure this man gave her was like nothing she’d ever felt before and probably never would feel again. Nonetheless, she wanted, needed more.

  Simon pressed his mouth, his glorious mouth with those full, soft lips, between her cleavage. She attempted to suck in a steadying breath but it was no use. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Her lungs burned. He was killing her.

  “I can’t wait to taste you.” He glanced up toward her face, winked and then lowered his head to her already hardened nipple.

  He twirled his tongue around her nipple, sucked it into his mouth and nipped it. Her body jack-knifed off the sofa, a moan poured from her throat.

  “I gotta take this to the bed,” he said as he lifted her in one swift move and cradled her to his body.

  Sweat beaded his forehead and dripped down the chiseled muscles of his chest. This wasn’t happening. She’d dreamt of this day for over a year. She’d been invisible to Simon for as long as she’d known him. Sure they were friends, best friends, but you didn’t screw your best friends. . . or did you?

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  God no! Afryca shook her head.

  “Then open your eyes and look at me.”

  “I ca-can’t.”

  “Than I’ll make you.” She felt her body pressed against the mattress, felt his body slide in beside her.

  Immediately his mouth was on her. Tasting. Teasing. Pleasing. He kissed his way to her nipples, giving each one his undivided attention until her moans fractured the sounds of his breathing. He caught her nipple between teeth and tongue and tugged. The throbbing of her clit rippled to the magnitude of a megaton bomb, yet still it wasn’t enough. He licked his way to her stomach, a slow torture.

  “Please Simon. Don’t tease.”

  “This isn’t a tease, Afryca. This is a promise.” His hands pressed her knees apart until they were almost touching the mattress. He pressed his mouth to the lower pit of her stomach.

  Please. If he does what I’m thinking.

  “You still have on too many clothes.” His fingers slid beneath the lace fabric of her panty, while the other hand held her hips. His mouth kissed each inner thigh and then her heat. The panty was no obstacle. “Lift your hips for me baby.” Her panties slid away.

  “Please, Simon. I can’t stand it.”

  His tongue flicked across her already throbbing bud and her mind fractured. Prisms of pleasure shot through her body, escalating her heartbeat to a fever pitch.

  “You like that baby,” he asked as his tongue slid slowly from one end of her heat to the other. It pressed against the opening and her pussy and paused. He lifted his head and inhaled. “Damn, you smell sweet. Taste even better.” His tongue slid across her again.

  “Oh, God. Simon please.” She was reduced to begging for release. She reached out, tried to grasp his head, still his motions.

  “Um, uh. You don’t get to demand.” He crawled up the bed, kissing every inch of skin along the way and captured her mouth before she could moan her pleasure.

  His hands were tantalizing her, torturing her. He massaged her breast, tweaked her nipples. One palm pressed against her mound and rubbed. The sensations were mind boggling. Her release was seconds away. If only he’d slide his cock into her wet heat. And she was wet. She felt her own juices soaking the insides of her thighs. He had to see her arousal. Hear it. Smell it. Taste it.

  He slid a finger into her as if he read her mind. “Afryca, baby, damn you’re so wet.” He then slid in two fingers and slowly pumped his hand.

  “Ooh God, Simon. I’m gonna come!”

  “Not until I’m in you.” He withdrew his fingers.

  Damn him.

  Simon tugged his shirt over his head, pushed his pants below his hips and kicked them off. He quickly pressed his body between her legs. His cock was as hard as steel and as thick as a rod pressed against her opening. He was huge. She wasn’t sure if he would fit. It had been so long since a man had been between her legs. She had never felt such pleasure as the burning in her core as his cock stretched delicate tissue that hadn’t felt a man’s caress in years. The toys she owned didn’t even compare in the slightest.

  “I need you inside!” She grabbed his hips. She wanted to pull him to her as she shoved her body
up. There would be no wasting of precious moments this time. She wanted him in one grand slam.

  “I need—”

  “And I need you on top.”

  Yes! Glorious yes! No way would she object to that. She’d have all of him and he her. She nodded, a rapid motion of the head, and closed her eyes. She knew as soon as he flipped their positions she would be impaled on him. Her peak was only seconds away. It had been building from her toes and touching the tip of her head. One slow glide of his shaft in her core move that would be it.

  Simon grabbed her waist, and started to roll. The air left her lungs in one swift whoosh. It was as if she was air born. Afryca’s moans were replaced by a scream. Her body slammed against a hard surface, pain shot through her head and the remainder of air in her lungs was punched out.

  Bam!

  What the hell?

  She opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings. Memory floated back at a snail’s pace.

  Damn.

  Double, triple damn.

  The sun flitted past the partially opened curtains and brightened the room. The spread and sheets from the bed were half on the bed and half tangled in her legs, her feet. She brought her hand up to her face, stared at the cream coating her fingers. She sniffed her hand and blushed with embarrassment. Afryca shook her head and rubbed the other hand against the knot on the back of her head. She’d hit it when she fell out of the bed. Damn.

  “Ah, hell.” She pushed the covers away, glanced at the clock sitting haphazard on the bedside table. “Shit, shit, shit.” She jumped up, wavered and grabbed the bed to steady herself.

  Even in her dreams, Simon Ellery made her scream, cream and come all in one night. If only she could get him in her bed and between her legs for real.

  “And he’d gonna be knocking on your door in forty-five minutes.” She chastised herself.

  She grabbed the covers to toss them on the bed and her BOB (battery operated boyfriend) clunked to the floor. More embarrassment heated her cheeks. She didn’t even remember getting it from her suitcase. She took it everywhere and used it often. After all, it was a far cry from the real thing, especially when the real thing was in the form of Simon Ellery. Simon Ellery, her partner in crime, her compadre, her co-worker, her friend. And where the hell where her clothes? Allowing her mind to run back to that most vivid dream she smiled to herself. Last night would be her secret.

  She made her way to the bathroom and turned the shower on full blast. She was going to need everything at her disposal to get thoughts of Simon out of her head. If only she could tell him how she felt. If only he felt the same way. But she refused to have her emotions, her desire put out there for the entire world to see and for what, for him to reject her? No. That would never happen again.

  She stepped into the shower, let the hot water cascade across and down her back. She turned in the water, the hot pellets stinging her everywhere they touched. The stream touched her nipples and sent a wave of electric heat straight to her clit. It throbbed and sensation exploded in her core. Her juices flowed from her and creamed her thighs, yet again. She grabbed the shower wall to steady herself when she felt her knees weaken.

  What was she going to do? No way was she going to be able to spend the next two days with him in meetings and in cars, on the plane. Damn, was he going to want her to eat with him too? She prayed not.

  God, he was in the hotel room next to hers. She covered her mouth when thoughts of him hearing her moan in her sleep entered her mind. Hotel walls can be as thin as paper. How could she face him, carry on a civil conversation, work with him each and every day? She giggled and slid her hand down to her mound. “Might as well get another one in and finish the job.” She mumbled to herself. After all, if all else failed, she could get another job. IT people with her experience and expertise were hard to find. However, deep down she knew that would solve only one thing. It wouldn’t cool the blaze she had for the man she couldn’t have.

  Thirty minutes later, Afryca stood in front of the mirror and finished her makeup, her mind wandering back to Simon. She wondered if he would be wearing one of his tailored suits or jeans. The suits fit him perfectly but covered up the cut muscles and toned, tight ass. The jeans were another wet dream waiting to happen. He wore relaxed fitting jeans but they left nothing to the imagination. On more than one occasion they warranted her a good look at his package. Sure, he’d been staring at another woman but the lust in his eyes and the swelling in his pants made her cream her panties. If only he looked at her like that.

  She knew him, every single inch of him. She knew his walk, the sound of his voice when he was angry, sad, happy, and sleepy. She knew everything about him, down to the jagged four inch scar that looked like a ‘Y’ above his right hip to the way he licked his lips when something tasted good. She knew everything, except his touch and that was a stab to her gut, her heart. She swore just one touch was all she’d need to stave the feelings she had for him, but that was a bigger lie than the one she told herself constantly that she didn’t feel the way she did. After all, why should she? He certainly didn’t see her the same way.

  Even when the women at work called him a dork, a nerd, she saw more. She loved his geekie Clark Kent look right down to the thick black framed glasses.

  She shivered at the thoughts slamming through her mind and relished the thought of Simon’s pink lips suckling her clit, his cream colored cock pushing pass her wet swollen folds, stretching her, filling her. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen. She wasn’t his type and the day she accepted that her life would probably be better. No, not better, just plain old plain.

  The loud pounding at her hotel door made her jump. She dragged in a haggard breath and blew it out between clenched teeth.

  “Okay.” She fanned her face. “I can do this. After today we’ll be headed back home to the safety of her own apartment and office.”

  She pulled the bathroom door shut, and walked toward the living room of her suite. The lips of her pussy were swollen and tender and with each step her clit throbbed. She really didn’t need this distraction. She peered through the security hole and shook her head. Damn, it was going to be a very long day. He’d decided to wear the jeans.

  * * * * *

  His nostrils flared as soon as Afryca opened the door. Damn, she smelled good. So good he wanted to grab her, throw her over his shoulder and run back to her bedroom. Lately, every time he was near her his heartbeat escalated to the point of pain. At one time he actually thought, just maybe, he was having a heart attack. At least that would explain the way he felt each and every time he saw her. Who was he kidding? Sure, it would explain the chest pain but definitely not the swelling of his cock. He was tired of having her in his dreams and not actually in his bed.

  There were only so many cold showers a man could take and he was pretty sure he’d met his quota for this life and the next. Yet there she was, standing in front of him with her hair tussled and her face impeccably made with just the hint of makeup. That’s what he loved about her. She didn’t bathe her body in imitation coloring and artificial hair. Don’t get him wrong. He didn’t have a problem with any woman who thought she needed those things to enhance herself but he liked Afryca just the way she was tall, dark skin and short hair.

  His gaze raked across her body from her face to her hips. He wanted to pause at her voluptuous breasts but refused to go there. His throat was already dry from the quick glance at the way the blouse pulled across her bosom. With just the right flick of his finger and the button would pop free and her glory would spill forth.

  He didn’t have time for another cold shower and he knew she didn’t see him the same way so why embarrass himself? But, by God, she was gorgeous. He loved the way her espresso skin contrasted against his sun kissed ivory, her brown eyes to his gray. He wondered if her nipples and areola were as dark as her skin. His mouth watered at the thought that they might even be darker. If only she knew what was going on in his head on the few occasions she caught him staring
at her. He wanted to lick her from tip to toe until she screamed his name. Hell, until she screamed period, but he’d not stop there.

  Drawing her heated, throbbing clit into his mouth gave a whole new meaning to the word heaven. He knew it would be great, probably the best he’d ever have in his life but it wasn’t going to happen. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. He blinked and stared back into her face.

  Was she saying something? Her mouth was moving but the pounding of his heart clogged his ears and drowned out all sound. She punched him and brought him back to reality.

  “Are you okay?”

  He swallowed, hard, past the lump in his throat. “Um, sure. Yeah.” He shook his head and looked beyond her to the far wall. “You ready?”

  Damn, his throat hurt. He needed water, a beer, anything to help him to sound more like man and not a high school kid who was spoken to by the lead cheerleader. And why did she have to wear a skirt? Didn’t the woman own a nice pair of baggy pants, something that covered those long legs and curves?

  Now, every time she moved his gaze would target her ass to catch the sway under the thigh high loose fabric. Oh how easy it would be to push it above her thighs and slide into her moist heat without any deterrents. How easy would it be for her to sit at her desk and he crawl under her skirt and have his way with her clit. His cock swelled with just the thought. He was glad he wore jeans. He was going to need a lot of room.

  Damn, what is wrong with me? Get a grip.

  “I’ll get my bag.” Afryca strolled over to the small table and grabbed the satchel hanging on the arm.