Chapter ten

[Ray’s POV]

“Hey!” I growled angrily. Since living back with my mom I hadn’t felt an ounce of anger, but now I was definitely feeling it and I could feel my inner ‘Beast’ starting to emerge. The teenage girls looked up and I saw their mouths drop in silence; however the boys continued to tumble around in the sand. The sounds of fists hitting bodies and shouts between them persisted and soon one boy was fighting dirty by throwing sand around to distract his opponent.

“Hey watch it!” I heard Seychelles shout out. I turned to look at her and she was spitting out grains of sand from her sweet mouth and I growled. This wasn’t how I wanted the night to end and I was beyond pissed off now. In a few long, angry strides I grabbed the fronts of both the boys’ shirts and tore them apart, lifting them in the air so their feet could no longer touch the ground.

“What the fu-!”

“Hey! Piss off-!”

Both boys were shouting at me but I was way past seeing red. I threw them both to the ground and I could feel my nostrils flare with anger as I slowly stepped towards them. “You’ll be smart to head back home” I warned them quietly as my eyes bore into theirs.  I had always been told back at the base that while my shouting could scare the mane off a lion, my quiet, calm threats would have had a ghost digging back into his grave.

Both the boys stood up with anger etched onto their bruised and bleeding faces. “Who the hell are you!” They both shouted angrily, though I noticed they didn’t step any closer.

“I think the question here, boys, is who the hell do you think you are?” My eyes blazed as I remembered them nearly smashing into Seychelles. Their fight and the anger between the two seemed to have been forgotten as they and their friends stood in front of me; apparently trying to intimidate me with their numbers. I scoffed on the inside. “If you’re planning on ganging up on me, I suggest you move along before I make you move along”

“Ray... I don’t think that’s such a good idea” Seychelles whispered from behind me. Her small, soft hand touched my shoulder but I was too used to having young men thinking they were tough and knew everything just because they could throw a punch. I spent years breaking that nasty little habit of theirs and I had an itch to do that again, now, with these teenage boys.

“These little boys don’t scare me Beauty” I laughed, antagonising them even more. “They might as well pick up their tutus and go prancing back to mommy before their curfew is up”

I couldn’t help it. I felt the familiar drops of adrenaline warming up my blood and if these boys wanted to tumble, then they could go ahead and deal with a real man. Maybe then they would think twice about fighting while they lick their wounds clean. A chorus of profanities were shouted at me and without a second glance over their way I threw my hand out to my left catching the fist of a boy as he tried to punch me without warning. Little did he know I practically had eyes at the back of my head.

“Looks like you want to be taught how to fight like a real man” I murmured.

I tightened my grip over his fist and used it to block the oncoming punch of his friend. I didn’t want to actually hit the teenage boys. I was smarter than that, but there was never anything wrong with teaching them a lesson. I heard a mix of agonised shouts from the two boys and soon both their groups of friends were running at me in a pathetic attempt to overrun me.

The high pitched screams of the girls shrieking for us to stop seemed to turn into background noise as I turned and ducked under kicks and punches being thrown my way. It was twelve against one and... well, it slowly becoming less against me. I revelled in the angry adrenaline that had been dormant for few months now and felt the slightest sheen of sweat dampen my forehead. I used my forearms and shins to block and hit back, without too much force, as each boy attempted to land a fist or knee down onto me and it was easy to see that they had no sort of training in fighting or self defence. It was pathetic.

The muscular boy that had originally tackled the two fighting boys kicked my shot leg from behind and I fell to my knees automatically hissing at the pain from the bullet wounds. The remaining boys who hadn’t backed away laughed quietly and stalked forward. I couldn’t help the grin that pulled at my lips from their over confidence and swung my good leg out and around, effectively taking out their feet from beneath them.

As they thudded to the ground I jumped up and grabbed the backs of their t-shirts and hoodies. I had two in one hand and another three in the other and I dragged back towards the bonfire while they continued to struggled out from my grasp. With a little effort I tossed them forward and the teenage girls ran over to them, gushing over the bruises the boys were sporting.

I was breathing a little harder and it only added to the anger that was being portrayed by my angry glare at the group of teenagers. “I’m going to say this once more... I suggest you all get back home before I actually show you how a real man fights”

The muscular boy spat down at my feet, “You call what you did fighting! I could take you old man!”

I stared at him and watched his gaze falter slightly, “No. That wasn’t fighting... that’s what I call warming up”

Most of the group had left and there were only the five boys and their girlfriends staring at me as I glowered back at them. Seconds ticked by and after the urging of their girlfriends, they finally turned around with their egos deflated. I shook my head a little as I watched one of the boys push aside his girlfriend’s hand as she tried to look at his bruised eye. “Some boys need to be taught how treat women properly... as well as others”

“Wow...” The sound of Seychelles’ voice shook me out of my thoughts and I saw her wide eyed and staring straight at me with her plump lips slightly opened. I blushed. I hadn’t wanted her to see that side of me, especially before we could actually get to know each other. I watched her chest heave up and down in shallow breaths and I was sure she was frightened of me now.

[Seychelles’ POV]

Oh my God.

I knew Ray was strong, but I had no idea how strong and I knew he had a bad-ass side, but I had no idea how bad-ass. I could still remember how fast and swiftly he moved dodging and ducking hits as the twelve boys attacked him as though it was second nature...

... and it was seriously hot.

I felt flushed at watching his body move and how his muscles clenched and tightened. I was so hot and bothered that I mentally thanked the wind for being so chilly. My breaths were shallow and my hands were itching to trail over all the muscles that had just teased me. I had no idea how I could be feeling like this after watching him fight, but I supposed it was more of watching Ray’s body movements than watching the actual fighting.

I raked my eyes over him and only realised after a few seconds that he was staring warily at me. “Beauty? Are you okay? I won’t touch you if you’re frightened”

Frightened?

“I don’t... uh, what?” I mumbled.

Ray slowly walked towards me, looking as though I was a deer and would run away any second. I had no idea why... What I wanted to do was the complete opposite of running away; I wanted to press myself so close to him that the only thing between us was our skin! I blushed at where my thoughts were going and dropped my eyes to the soft sand.

I had to look anywhere else besides Ray because I just didn’t think I could trust myself. The entire beach had cleared out now and Ray and I were the only ones left. The cold wind blew against my flushed face and cooled the perspiration that had dampened across my forehead and between my breasts. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Calm down, Seychelles!  I angrily had to chastised myself.

When I opened my eyes I gasped at how close Ray was to me. Oh he’s so close... if I leaned forward just an inch my breasts would be pressed up against his hard chest and- “Beauty?” Ray leaned down and placed a crooked finger under my chin tilted my face upwards so I had no choice but to look at him.

Hs warm eyes were soft as they gently caressed my face and when they landed on my lips I was done for. I moaned and leaned forward crashing our lips together and I swear I’d just died and gone to heaven. His lips were firm and yet soft at the same time and his hot breaths fanned my face. I melted into him and I couldn’t stop my hands from reaching up and splaying over his wide, hard shoulders.

Ray finally seemed to relax after my shock move and a deep, primitive growl vibrated up his throat as his big, rough hands crushed me to his body. Oh my! A soft gasp escaped my lips when my knees gave way and if Ray hadn’t been holding me so tightly I would have melted into a puddle and seeped into the sand below us. He took that opportunity to slowly push his warm tongue passed my lips and gently caressed my own tongue.

Goosebumps erupted all over my body and it had nothing to do with the cold wind whipping across my bared skin. I timidly massaged his tongue with mine and by the deep moan he emitted I knew he was enjoying our kiss as much as I was. Ray seemed to be taking over all my senses and I couldn’t think. I could barely move and all I could seem to concentrate on was the overwhelming taste, sight, smell, sound and feel of Ray.

In the back of my mind I knew I was forgetting something, I knew it was important and yet I pushed it aside while I continued to taste the deliciousness of Ray Hodges. My head began to feel heavy and I started to feel a little light headed and before I knew it our lips were torn apart as I lost consciousness.

Oh right, I remembered now... I forgot to breathe!

[Ray’s POV]

I stared at the unconscious Seychelles in my arms and just... continued to stare at her. Holy crap! I was rock hard and breathing just as hard all because Seychelles surprised me by doing the thing I’d wanted to do since I first saw her surfing in the water. It was something new for me, having a woman instigate our first kiss.

However, I never in a million years thought she’d pass out on me...

I was confused and just didn’t know how to feel about that. Part of me felt proud that I could make a woman pass out from a kiss, while the other part was still shocked. She passed out on me?! “Beauty? Seychelles?” I spoke softly to her, pushing her hair out from her hair. She didn’t respond but I already had a feeling that she wouldn’t. “Looks, like I’m carrying you back home again Sleeping Beauty”

I knew that in retrospect, this situation would be hilarious. At the moment, however, I was still completely shocked. Somewhat numb. I fixed her so that I was carrying her bridal style and I looked around in case she dropped any belongings. Just her small bag that held her keys from what I could tell.

The moon was hidden by clouds which hid any reflections of light on the lapping water. The ocean was dark and, if not for the dying bonfire, the beach would be pitch black too. I limped across and up the small mountain of sand before I finally could see Seychelle’s house come into view. “Thank God” I murmured. I couldn’t stop the grin that was glued to my lips and reached into the small bag.

I managed to balance myself while holding Seychelles and unlocking the door and tripped slightly when I walked in. Using my elbow, I switched on lights to see where I was going and found myself wondering down a hallway to look for her bedroom. Her bedroom was the last door down the hall and I walked in before gently lying her down onto her big bed. She wasn’t wearing shoes and only wore her white sundress so I left her as she was.

I pulled the blanket up and over her petite and very sexy body. It was chilly inside and I could hear the faint howling of wind as it blew into the house. A frown marred my face. Maybe I could come around again one time and try to fix up and holes so it wouldn’t grow quite as cold at night.

I gazed down at Seychelles’ sleeping form. Her eyes fluttered lightly as she dreamed and her bottom lip stuck out slightly. Damn, she was an amazing kisser. I bent down and hovered over her sweet lips, wanting just one more taste, but knew it wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do. I sighed and settled for kissing her cheek.

“Goodnight, my Sleeping Beauty” I whispered. Seychelles didn’t stir. I left her bag on the bedside table and quietly left her house, locking the door behind me.

Despite the fact that we’d shared one kiss, I seemed to be addicted to Seychelles’ sweet taste and one thing for sure was that that kiss would not be our last.

********************************************************************************

A/N

And voila! They finally kissed!

Anyone else imagining they were Seychelles? LOL!

Nix <3