How You Tempt Me by Natalie Kristen Page A

Julian
pause near the top of the stairs. “Would you like...” he
begins gently.
    “ No! No, just no...” I back into the room
and slam the door. I would like nothing to do with him right now.
    I lock the door behind me and make my way to the
bathroom. I let the coat fall to the floor and step into the shower
straight away. Maybe the water will wake me up.
    As the water starts pelting me like bullets, the memory
of what just happened begins to play on the back of my closed
eyelids. My fingertips skim across my skin and I shiver violently.
While I was strapped to that machine, there had been no fingers or
hands or anything solid touching and stroking me. The only things
solid against my skin were the restraints and the surface of the
steel table. I must be out of my mind, but I'm pretty sure it was
just air that was pressing against me, stroking, sucking and
caressing me. It was air that had stimulated me and made me feel
such lust and desire. I had been aroused by air! And I think I had
climaxed...just by being in contact with air! Oh. My. God. I must
be some sort of freak!
    Shuddering, I hug myself as the water continues
pummeling my back. Air! How is that possible? The thought is
enough to creep me out. It is as though I had made love to a ghost
or something. Brrrr!
    I turn off the water and step out of the shower.
Grabbing the towel off the rack, I wrap it snugly around my body and
immediately curse under my breath. I had forgotten to grab my
clothes from the chair. But there is no way I am stepping back into
that room.
    I see a small cupboard at the far corner of the room and
I just hope against hope that there would be some clothes in there.
Ill-fitting is okay. I just have to wear something. It can be a
plastic bag or a sack. Anything.
    I open the cupboard doors and see a neat stack of
t-shirts and shorts. They don't look new, but they feel and smell
clean. Not that I have a choice. I pull on a large white t-shirt
that reaches down to my mid-thigh and try on different pairs of
shorts. They are all too big. The t-shirt is baggy and long enough,
so that will have to do.
    I lick my lips and swallow, feeling desperately thirsty.
The air, that infernal air in the sphere, must have been very hot
and dry. And I did perspire quite a bit. I had felt the sweat
trickling down my breasts and legs. Tiptoeing to the door, I open it
a crack and peep out. There is a line of light under Julian's
bedroom door. The rest of the house is in absolute darkness.
    I decide that I know my way to the kitchen well enough,
even in the dark. And I really need a drink. Even though the
experience hadn't been unpleasant, in fact it had been rather
pleasurable but I'm not ready to admit that yet, even to myself, it
had felt rather strange and surreal, and eerie in a way. I had never
had such an experience.
    I try to swallow but my throat feels parched and
painful, as if I had been screaming. But I hadn't. Had I? I
definitely need a drink, to quench my thirst, clear my head and calm
myself.
    Creeping down the stairs, I look behind me frequently to
check that Julian has not emerged from his room. Keeping my hands
firmly on the railings, I make it to the bottom of the stairs without
incident.

Chapter Six

    In the darkness and quiet, the house looks bigger, with
more hidden corners and spaces lurking behind the shadows. I turn
hurriedly away from the ground floor office, the room where I had
signed that seemingly simple and harmless contract. I should have
known. If anything is too good to be true—it probably is. I
should have asked more questions. I should have screwed my head
firmly on my shoulders, instead of drooling over the handsome doctor
and the unbelievable thirty thousand dollars. What if...what if he
won't pay me at the end of the three weeks? What would I do then?
Sue him? Slap him? Screw him?
    Shit! What have I gotten myself into?
    Balling my fists, I stride into the kitchen and flick on
the lights. The warm glow from the light makes