How You Touch Me by Natalie Kristen

that he is going to drive both of us out of our minds.
    I have to swallow a couple of times before I can trust
my voice enough to speak. “Julian, I am here because I signed
the contract,” I say, struggling to keep my voice steady. “The
contract stipulates clearly what we each have to do. I am to help
you in your research, do whatever you require me to do, allow you to
monitor me with that machine, and you are to pay me the agreed sum at
the end of the contract period.”
    Julian's gaze is steady and he nods firmly to
acknowledge the contractual terms. I study him in silence for a long
while. He doesn't flinch. His eyes don't shift and look away. His
hands and lips don't tremble and there is no perceptible change in
his breathing and demeanor. I continue searching his face for any
sign of doubt or deception. If he doesn't intend to pay me, he will
guess that I am on to him.
    “ Yes. I intend to honor every term and condition
of the contract. I have undertaken to ensure your well-being and
safety, and I will. You will be paid in full at the end of three
weeks. You did test the machine very satisfactorily, so you have
already performed your end of the contract. There is nothing for you
to worry about. The contract is entirely valid. You can take me to
court if I refuse to pay you. I can't run. I don't intend to.
You're safe,” he addresses my unspoken concern simply and
succinctly.
    I look down for a moment, slightly embarrassed that he
has read my mind. I wonder if he can read my body as well. I lace
and unlace my fingers to keep my hands from shaking. His words
reverberate through every nerve in my body. The next stage of the
experiment...involves him going down on me. Images of him holding
me, spreading me wide, licking and probing me with his mouth and his
tongue flash painfully through my mind. He will drive me wild with
desire; just the thought of him tasting me is already making me hot
and wet. I snap my eyes up to see him studying me quietly. My face
feels hot, and I wonder briefly if he can see the aching need that is
overtaking my body. I'm sure he can. He studies human sexuality,
and he can probably read me like a book. I might as well just spit
it out to save us both the agony.
    “ I want to do this.” I gulp and speak as
quickly, as loudly and as evenly as I can. “This is your
research, and I want to do what I am contracted to do. If the next
stage of the experiment involves cunnilingus, then do it. But I want
you to do it. Not the machine. I want you.” I tilt my chin
up and stare at him boldly. My false bravado is betrayed only by the
tremor in my last sentence.
    Julian's lips part but he is speechless. The minutes
tick by and I start to squirm under his gaze. Have I been too
forward and foolish? Did I assume and imagine that he might want to
touch me and taste me? Maybe he would have preferred that the
machine do the job. My face begins to feel uncomfortably hot and I'm
sure that I must be beetroot red by now.
    I stare at the floor and stutter, “If
you...d-don't want to do it...”
    I hear him inhale sharply. “Sophia. Don't you
know how much I want you? I've wanted to put my mouth on you for so
long. I've dreamed and I've fantasized and I've struggled so hard.
To have my lips directly on you, on the most intimate part of your
body. The thought is enough to drive me out of my mind. I want you.
And I don't think I can wait.” The heat flares in his dark
eyes as he growls, “I want to do it to you. Right. Now!”
    With that, he grips my wrist and yanks me up from my
seat. I whimper in shock, but I don't resist. Still gripping my
wrist, he pulls me up the stairs, two at a time, as I lurch after
him. A strange fear and thrill is churning in my gut. His raw lust
and fierce need is scaring me and turning me on at the same time.
His hands are forceful and strong, and he starts to strip me even
before I have made it through the door. He turns and pulls the
t-shirt over my head. Before my t-shirt has