The Middle of Nowhere Read online

  Nothing outside the four walls of my bedroom existed. Time had no meaning. I rested my palms on his chest and bounced as my orgasm exploded through every inch of my entire being. “Oh God… Oh God, I’m coming,” I said and he grabbed my hips harder helping me as if he could sense my body ready to give out to the weakness before I even finished. I cried out as he pressed deeper inside of me right at the height of my orgasm. He made let out a grunt as he came with me. My hips swayed around as we came down from our cloud together.

  “Christ,” he groaned, his voice sounding hoarse. He closed his eyes, “You are so fucking amazing.”

  “So are you,” I said easing myself down on top of his solid body. Our heavy breath matching nearly breath for breath.

  I had to force myself to roll off of him, even though I barely had the energy to even do that. I pulled my shirt back down covering myself again but I didn’t bother to try to find my pants. I pulled one of the blankets up over myself instead.

  “What are you doing to me?” he said with that sexy grin that drove me crazy. He looked just as exhausted as I was, but he was just as sexy tired as he was when he was awake. I didn’t know what was happening between us, but I knew I didn’t want to question it. Especially not tonight.

  “What are you doing to me,” I countered. Really, truly I didn’t know the answer to that question.

  He climbed into next to me and pulled me into his arm. I happily accept and tucked myself into his arm. I pressed my cheek against his chest and it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. And I had just known it was with a big smile on my face.

  . . .

  The next morning when I woke up he was gone. At first I thought maybe I had imagined the whole thing, but it was far too real and I didn’t have my pants on. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, right as I was about to freak out about him leaving and not bothering to say anything, I heard the water running in the bathroom.

  Not that it would surprise me if he would have bailed, but it would have probably ruined my day. More like my week. After all, I really shouldn’t have just jumped right into bed with him on our first real date. I should have had more self-control. What would he think of me? It wasn’t like I normally did one-night-stands, this was new to me. The whole thing had taken me by surprise.

  Minutes later he walked out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped low around his hips. He looked absolutely amazing, and it took everything I had not to pull him onto the bed so I could feel every inch of that rock solid body. Again.

  “My name is Heather Perry,” I blurted, scrunching up my face after the words spilled out.

  “I know,” he said with a half-smile.

  “What? How would you know?”

  “It was on a piece of mail in your kitchen,” he said shrugging his shoulders. I could tell he didn’t want me to think he was snooping. I didn’t.

  “So you know everything about me, and I don’t know anything about you!”

  “I hardly know everything about you, since I just happened to see your last name on an envelope,” he said walking out of the room. Less than a minute later he came back with his jeans in hand. He sat on the bed with his back to me and pulled them on. “I’m Rex Gates,” he said with a sigh.

  Rex Gates? That name sounded familiar but it was probably just a coincidence. I didn’t know any Rex’s, it was an unusual name. One that I’d surely remember if I had heard before.

  He turned to look at me as if I should be saying something, or reacting in a certain way but I just shrugged my shoulders. I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest.

  “I used to work in the city, but came into some money and wanted to escape that life. So I moved out here,” I said as if I was trying to tell him more about myself. If I shared something about myself maybe he’s share more about himself. And then maybe I wouldn’t feel so bad that we hadn’t really know each other. “Did I tell you that already?”

  He smiled as he stood to face me, “I’m the Owner of Gates Corp… in the city. I inherited the business, well my sister and I did.”

  That’s when I realized where I had heard that name before. Gates Corp was this business downtown. The building was a huge skyscraper that I used to pass on my way to work. It was close to where my parents had been…. I knew the building.

  “What are you doing out here… in the middle of nowhere?” I asked meeting his gaze.

  “I prefer living out here…,” he smiled, “city life can be quite overwhelming at times.”

  We had something in common. Maybe that’s why he never asked about my locks or my gun. He just assumed I was a city girl who didn’t trust anyone. Although, while people who lived in the city always locked their doors and cars, they didn’t usually keep guns in their coat closet did they?

  “I go into town far too often if you ask me, but I have to. My sister can’t… won’t… doesn’t want to run the business alone. She just wants to sit back and collect the money.”

  “Oh,” I said getting the feeling he didn’t really want to be talking about his sister. Or his job for that matter. How rich was this guy anyway? It didn’t really matter. “You have to make the drive back to the city? How often?” I asked directing the conversation away from his sister.

  “I have a helicopter,” he said looking away. “I usually come back the same day when possible.”

  “That’s crazy,” I said smiling at him. I hadn’t ever known anyone so rich they just owned their own helicopter. Who just owned a helicopter? “I thought you were just someone who liked fishing or hunting! And here you are someone who owns, and flies…. Do you fly your helicopter? Or do you employ a pilot?”

  “Well feel free to keep thinking that,” he said with a slight smile. I couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed or if he was afraid I wouldn’t treat him the same now that I knew more about him. “And to answer your question. I’m the pilot.”

  Little did he know I didn’t care about his money, or large corporate buildings. I had more money than I would ever need, I mean, I wasn’t rich like he was rich, far from it. But I had enough that I could live comfortably, happily, out here in my cabin in the wilderness, for the rest of my life.

  I took a deep breath, “I came into a little money when my parents died.” I put my hand up to signal that I didn’t want to go into it any more than that. “I just didn’t want to be in the city anymore.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” he said taking the hint. It was his turn to change the subject, “Would you ever come into town with me?”

  I’d pretty much go anywhere with him, even the city. It wasn’t like I hated the city. I just hated parts of it. I hated that it reminded me of what had happened to my parents. “I think I would,” I said meeting his gaze.

  “I’d love to take you to my favorite Chinese restaurant, I promise you’ll love it,” he said sitting on the bed looking excited about the idea. “Have you ever flown before?”

  “In a helicopter?”

  He nodded.

  “Only big commercial airplanes,” I said with a smile.

  “Well then you are in for a treat,” he said taking my hand into his and kissing the back of it. He held his lips there and my whole body relaxed as I sighed. I couldn’t help but smile at him.

  “All right. Let’s do it,” I said wondering why he wanted to take me into the city if he preferred the country. He probably just wanted me to see the world he had come from. I was happy to know what made him who he was. More importantly I was happy to spend more time with him. But maybe he just wanted to take me on a proper date. Whatever the reason, I’d get to spend more time with him and that was a good thing.

  “Perfect. Tonight?”

  I nodded.

  10

  He called me when he was leaving his house to come pick me up. I knew I had roughly ten minutes before he’d arrive. I hadn’t known what to wear and called him earlier, but he hadn’t been much help. He said to wear whatever I felt comfortable in. I wasn’t about to wear my T-shirt and yoga pants, so I settled on a pai
r of nice pants and a cute button down shirt. I grabbed my jean jacket in case it would be chilly in the city.

  If he was taking me somewhere fancy, I figured he would have told me to dress up. When he saw me he didn’t send me back in to change, instead he smiled and gave me a hug and a sweet kiss. The only wrong with the kiss was that it was too short, but if it had been anything more we’d never leave my cabin.

  “Hey beautiful,” he said with his sexy smile. He had on a nice polo shirt under a sleek leather jacket and a pair of jeans. The second he put on his aviator style sunglasses I didn’t know how I’d stop myself from jumping on him. “You look great.”

  “Hi Rex,” I said wishing I could stop smiling like a crazy person.

  He opened the passenger door of his truck for me and I climbed inside. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him as he walked around the front of the truck. He hopped inside and quickly started the engine. We started down the road on the ten-minute drive to his cabin. Although, even though he called it a cabin, I started to imagine it more as some kind of log cabin mansion. Something he had specially built on an enormous plot of land. Hell, for all I knew he probably owned my land too. Maybe I had bought the house from him and hadn’t even known it.

  We hadn’t talked much during the drive. Not that I hadn’t wanted to it was because it was difficult to talk in his pickup truck. It was a little noisy as it bounced its way down the road. I wasn’t sure it could have been the trucks fault or the roads fault.

  “I think I need to take a look at the muffler,” he said almost as if he had been reading my mind. He turned into his driveway and my heart skipped a beat wondering what I’d see at the end. When he put his truck in park I didn’t know how to react. His cabin wasn’t any bigger than mine was, in fact maybe it had actually been a little smaller. It hadn’t been at all what I was expecting. There wasn’t anything special about it, but then I smiled. It was wonderful to think that he could be satisfied and content with the simple life. “I’ll show you around another time,” he said as he glanced at the radio clock.

  “No problem,” I said letting myself out of his truck. I walked around to his side and he guided me with his palm against my lower back. He led us around the side of his cabin and down a short path that went straight to the landing pad for his helicopter. It looked absolutely strange seeing the helicopter just sitting there amongst the trees.

  Before I knew it, he had everything set up and ready to go. I was buckled in and he was flying us up into the air. He glanced at me. I couldn’t see his eyes but I could see his big smile. I didn’t know if he was happy to be flying or pleased to see me enjoying experiencing something new.

  Once he was as high up in the sky as he wanted to be he zipped the helicopter forward and I knew we were headed towards the city. I had mixed feelings about going back for the first time, but I was glad it was with him.

  My stomach twisted a little when I saw the city come into view. Maybe it was because I was seeing something old and familiar, but in a very new way. I worried that maybe I had made a mistake. Maybe I shouldn’t have come back to the city. I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but there was no turning back now.

  Rex reached over as if he could sense the change in my mood. He took my hand into his and squeezed it before he had to return it to the controls.

  I could see when we got closer to his building, the huge marking painted on the landing pad. He started to lower us down… everything felt so surreal. I wondered what my Aunt Audrey would think if she knew I was currently descending on top of the Gates Corp building in a helicopter. I almost laughed at the thought.

  After he had finished doing whatever it was he needed to do to power-down the helicopter, he took off his headset, and helped me down to the ground below. Rex took my hand as he led me across the rooftop. He walked me over the edge and wrapped his arm around my middle, “One thing about the city… the view can be breathtaking.”

  “It is,” I said looking across the city. Night was falling around us and all the building scattered below were turning on their lights. The twinkling of the house lights made the city glow and come to life.

  “Where did you live before?” he said as if he was truly interested.

  “Umm,” I said looking around. I hadn’t lived too far but I wasn’t sure we could see my old apartment from where we were. Then I spotted it, “Ha! Over there,” I said somewhat impressed that I had been able to find it in the darkness. The lights were on in what I thought was my old apartment. It hadn’t taken them long to rent it out to someone new. Not that I cared, I hadn’t missed my old place in the least.

  “Funny, all this time we’d been only a few blocks away. It’s too bad we hadn’t met sooner… all the time that I could have been with you. Come,” he said as he pulled me around the corner of a wall.

  I gasped when I saw what Rex had done, or had arranged. The latter was probably more accurate. An area on the roof had been sectioned off and decorated as if it was a little corner of a Chinese restaurant. “This is your favorite restaurant?” I teased.

  “Well, the chef of my favorite place is here, so it practically is.”

  “You hired a chef to come here? Then he just leaves his business for the night to come here instead and prepare food for just the two of us?” I said surprised that a chef would even do that. What was the price tag on something like this? Going to all this trouble wasn’t something I needed him to do to impress me. That wasn’t the type of person I was.

  “I did. Sorry,” he said shaking his head. “I thought maybe you’d like it up here rather than going downtown,” Rex said tilting my chin up towards my face as if he was truly concerned about whether he had potentially made a mistake.

  I thought for a minute but he was right. Being up here was like being in the city but not really having to be in the city.

  He stood behind one of the chairs and pulled it out for me. At first I stood there looking at him sideways until I figured out what he was doing. I sat down and looked up at the sky above. It was a beautiful night with the stars sparkling like silver glitter. It was like they were all winking at me in approval. I looked over at Rex, who sat down and smiled back.

  A waiter walked over and poured some water into our glasses and then disappeared into a temporary tent before her returned again to pour us each a glass of wine. “This is how you live?” I asked.

  “Not usually,” he said as he nodded his thanks to the waiter. “But to be honest, who doesn’t enjoy something like this every now and then?”

  “Honestly Rex, I wouldn’t know! This is my first time eating a meal prepared by a chef from some fancy five-star restaurant on top of the tallest building in the city.” I wanted to add that I’d be just as happy sitting in my living room with him, but I didn’t want to make him feel like I didn’t appreciate all the trouble he had went to. This was nice and I’d certainly enjoy it, but it wasn’t something I needed to be happy. I already had crazy strong feelings for him, he didn’t have to do anything like this for me. But I think he already knew that.

  We sipped our wine and ate our amazing food, enjoying each other’s company. After the waiter cleared our plates, Rex sent him away. He handed him something, I assumed money and he left us alone.

  “Did you like the meal? Best Chinese food you’ve ever had?” Rex asked as he reached his hand out to me.

  “I loved it, thank you. It was delicious,” I took his hand and followed him over to the side of the building. We looked out over the edge at the twinkling city that surrounded us and the glittering stars above. I tried to save the moment in my head. No matter what happened I wanted to always remember how I felt so peaceful, relaxed and like I could actually breathe.

  Rex stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tight against his body. I felt his warmth radiating against my back. I let myself melt into him as I inhaled the cool night air.

  “Mmm…,” he hummed into my neck as he placed a lingering kiss that made my skin prickle. I pushed backward
s against his solid body and could feel his hardness pressing into my lower back. He slowly dragged his fingertips along the side of my arm. “God, I want you so bad.”

  “Now?”

  “Right here… right now. Not inside my office, although that would be something, not back home at the cabin, but now. Right now,” he said as he slid his hand upward to cup my breast. And then the other. I sighed as he found my erect nipples and stroked them through my shirt. I didn’t even bother to turn around to see if all of his staff had left the rooftop. For all I knew there was a cleanup crew behind me putting everything away.

  “Oooohhhh,” I moaned airily as I closed my eyes. “Not here…. We can’t.”

  “Who says we can’t? It’s my building… I can do whatever I want.” he said kissing my neck.

  “They’ll see us….” I placed my hand on top of his while he teased my nipple. I felt as though I was trying to hide what he was doing, but I didn’t even know for sure if there was anyone still around to see.

  “There is no one here. I sent them home,” he said as his moved his other hand down between my legs. I wondered if he could feel how turned on I was even through my pants. “You want to too, don’t deny it.”

  And I couldn’t deny it. He could feel the proof. But it was chilly, it wasn’t like I was going to strip down. His fingers were on the button of my pants instantly. He popped them open and I sucked in air. I was about to protest, tell him to take me somewhere else, but I stopped myself. It turns out, I hadn’t wanted to wait either.

  He eased my pants down low enough to allow him access. I shivered at the cool air hitting my bare skin. It was as if I could actually feel the goosebumps popping up, but I wasn’t certain if it was from the cold or from the anticipation.

  I heard the zipper on his pants and a second later he was gently bending me forward against the wall. I pressed my palms against the cold concrete.