American Honey

I plopped down on the mattress and took a sip straight from the wine bottle. It was pitch black in the room, so I couldn’t see a thing. I let my body fall back on the pillows, while I thought about contacting the insurance company about the roof. I was probably going to have to take a couple more days off of work, and my boss was going to ream me a new ass over it. Then I thought about my aunt, and the reason she’d left me this big house. As much as I wanted to get back to my life in the city, it was her last attempt to get me to stay here. She hated that I chosen a life that took me away from the family. I hardly had time on the weekends to visit with anyone.

I should have been there in those last couple months to say my goodbyes to her. As I lay in her bed a rush of tears hit me. Maybe it was the wine, or just the fact that I was in this situation, but I lost it.

I secretly loathed my job.

I was stuck in this creepy house because of a tropical storm.

My roof had a hole in it.

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There was a man downstairs trying to get into my pants.

Those were the facts.

I hated my life.

Curled up in a ball, I cried for all of those reasons. I’d neglected my family, friends, and even relationships to get to a position that I thought I wanted; a life I thought I wanted.

Meeting this stranger had made me question everything, and it pissed me off. My life seemed fine until tonight. Now I was all messed up over it.

I sat up and poured the rest of the bottle of wine down my throat. I wanted to forget about my worries and pass out. The loud booms of thunder, and crashes of lightning kept me from being able to relax, so I knew getting drunk was my only option.

The warm feeling started to fill my stomach, and I was sure it was only a matter of time before I finally let myself fall into a somber. My body began to relax, and I knew the wine was taking affect when I started laughing at myself for being so upset.

Then I heard the knock on the door.

Chapter 3

I giggled and sat up in the bed, realizing that there was a door standing between me and the sexy man who wanted to get me naked. “Nobody’s home!”

He kept knocking. “I’m not leaving until you open this door. Come back downstairs with me, Erica. It’s safer.”

I stood up and walked over to the door, letting my head rest against it as I talked. “That’s a matter of opinion.”

“I promise I won’t touch you. Does that change your mind?”

The alcohol was getting to me, because I wanted more than anything to open the door. “No. I’m staying in here and going to sleep. You should do the same. I’ll see you in the morning when the sun comes back out.”

He tapped on the door with his last words. “If you need anything at all, you know where to find me.”

When I heard him walking down the stairs I walked back to the bed. That door was going to stay closed, because if it didn’t I’d be down on that plush rug, in front of the fire, giving a stranger everything I had to offer. It was the one thing I was fully certain of.

The longer I stayed awake, the more the wine was taking effect. I became restless with myself and my choice to hide upstairs in a locked room. Realizing that I was acting like a child, I stood up and walked in front of the mirror. With only a flashlight on, I could still see enough of my body reflecting back at me. I sat the device on the floor and ran my hands over my waist and then down to my hips. I knew I had a nice figure, and that I could look sexy, even when I never considered myself to be. I let the back of my hand glide over my tank top where my breast sat snugly in my bra. Imagining what it would be like to be touched by Reed, I closed my eyes and touched myself there. My top teeth dug over my bottom lip as I imagined what he was willing to do to satisfy me completely. His words repeated in my mind while envisioning him touching me instead.

It had been at least thirty minutes since he walked down the stairs, and I hadn’t heard a peep from him after that. Since I’d rejected him I just assumed that he’d probably gone to sleep. After all, it wasn’t like he really expected me to want him, or did he? If I was standing around secretly imagining being with him, was he doing the same thing? The chemistry between us was like nothing I’d ever felt before with someone I’d just met, and I had to believe that it had a lot to do with our situation.

The wind brought new sounds to the house, and I got chills imagining the whole roof coming off, sweeping me away in the dark of the night. I pictured someone finding my broken body in a field weeks later, and how horrible it would be to die that way. Being downstairs was safer. Reed had been right to try to get me to join him, whether he touched me or not.

I’ve heard the saying that curiosity killed the cat, well if that is the truth then I was on my way to my demise, because nothing could stop me from going downstairs. I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep until I knew for certain that I was safe. Plus I was dying to peek at Reed as he slept. I wanted to look at him to see him lying there so quietly.

It was just a peek, and then I’d lay down on the other couch and go to sleep.

No harm, no foul.

Quietly, I crept down the stairs, skipping the third one because I knew it creaked. I approached the back of the couch, fully prepared to peer over the top of it. Seeing him shirtless lying there was going to put my mind at ease, and let me finally be able to close my eyes and get some rest.

I placed my hands on the back of the couch and peered over it, hoping to catch a glimpse of his perfect body.