"Mom! Pete! I'm home!" Alyssa called as she entered her childhood home. Having moved out 2 years prior when she had just turned 18, she had developed a greater appreciation for home and family. She stomped her feet on the welcome mat in the foyer to dislodge any excess snow she had gathered on her boots walking from her car to the front door. Hanging her winter coat on the coat tree in the corner, she took a moment to close her eyes and breathe deep the familiar smells of home. The warm, comforting scents of the wood burning fireplace and a hint of her mother's apple pie greeted her.
"Mom! Hello!" She called out again but was only greeted with silence. Surely her mother and step-father hadn't gone out on the roads. It took every last nerve Alyssa possessed to make it to the house. Snow and icy roads weren't the nicest of things to drive on. She picked up her large duffel bag and decided to place it in her bedroom before searching for her lost parents.
As she trudged up the stairway at the back of the house, she thought she heard faint music. It sounded like it was coming from the basement area. She turned and went to the back of the staircase where the door leading down was located. Her step dad had the entire basement finished to make an extra bedroom for his son, Alyssa's step-brother, Jeremy. He didn't live with their parents but visited frequently when school was out and some weekends.
Their parents had married only 5 years before when Jeremy was a senior in high school. He had decided not to go off to college right away and had taken a year to travel the country. At 22, he was a junior at the local college. Alyssa on the other hand, to her mother's dismay, had decided college wasn't in her future and opted to immediately join the work force. Fortunately, a friend of her birth father, who had passed away of cancer when Alyssa was just 9, was the manager at a local bank. He had offered her a job as a teller straight out of school. That's where she had remained. Until recently. She wanted to wait until the right time to tell her mother she had been laid off. Currently, her mother assumed Jim, her manager, had been kind enough to allow Alyssa three weeks vacation to coincide with Jeremy's school vacation. Little did she know, her daughter was now unemployed and as a result soon to be homeless.
Shaking the stress of thinking about her currently messed up life, she flipped the light switch at the top of the stairway but was only greeted with darkness. Great, she thought. Leaving her bag at the top of the stairs, she carefully made her way down into the dark hallway of the basement. The basement had been made into three rooms, the hallway she was currently in which had a door leading outside, Jeremy's room and a full bath. She turned towards Jeremy's door, which was currently closed but light emanated from beneath it to give her a little bit of sight. She made a mental note to tell Pete to replace the light bulb.
A scuff on the carpet sounded behind her. She gasped and whirled around only to see the vague outlines of boxes and totes that were lined up against the wall by the back door. Shrugging it off as her imagination she turned to take a step towards Jeremy's door. Before she could complete the step, a large, warm hand covered her mouth while an equally large, steely arm snaked around her middle. The scream that had risen in her throat died quickly as she recognized the scent of the tall, hard man behind her. Polo Blue.
She had given it as a gift to Jeremy on his last birthday. When he had first opened the box he chuckled softly then set it aside. Feeling slightly offended, Alyssa had given him the cold shoulder for the remainder of the day. That is, until she had been walking down the upstairs hallway past the spare room when Jeremy grabbed her and pulled her into the room. He shut and locked the door then faced her with an apologetic look on his too handsome face. His dark silky hair that was short in the back and longer on the top fell into his eyes as he looked down at his hands, which were holding the cologne she had given him.
Before she could open her mouth, he said "I'm sorry I was amused by the cologne, Lyssa." He used the nickname only her birth father had ever called her. She never did correct him on it, however, because she thought it sounded so right coming from his mouth. "It just reminded me of something I heard a couple weeks ago. We were both here for the weekend and I went to use the phone. I didn't realize you were already on it."
He looked directly into her green eyes at this point and saw the moment she realized what he talking about. Her cheeks burned a becoming rose color and her eyes teared up in embarrassment. A triumphant look came into Jeremy's blue eyes, causing them to darken to a deep navy color. He started towards her, the grace of a predator in his every move, to force her back against the wall behind her. He placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head and leaned down until they were eye to eye.
A small smile played at his full lips as he continued. "I distinctly remember you saying, and I quote, 'Any time I smell Polo Blue on a guy, I just want to strip naked and drop to my knees to suck his cock.' I just want to know why you gave it to me then. Is that how you feel, Lyssa? Is that what you want to do to me?" He chuckled at the look of terror and anger combined on her face. Her mouth dropped open but no sound came out. "Speechless, Princess?" He ruffled her dark auburn hair and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Anytime you want to sniff me, I'm all yours, Baby." With that he left the room with Alyssa staring silently at his back.
From that moment on, she had avoided being alone with Jeremy in fear he'd bring up that incident. Now with his arms wrapped tightly around her and her fear subsided, her survival instincts kicked in. She took advantage of his not having too tight a grip over her mouth and sunk her teeth into the fleshy part of his palm. He pulled his hand away with a curse.
"Dammit, Lyssa! Why the fuck did you just bite me?" He released her to push open his bedroom door. He went directly over to his bedside table where he picked up a remote and turned off the music coming from his stereo then took a close look at his hand under the light.
Rolling her eyes at how all men were big babies, she crossed his room and took his hand to look at it herself. "You wuss. I didn't even bite you that hard. Look, not even a teeth mark." She threw his hand down to his side and gave him an amused glare. "So where's mom and Pete? They didn't answer me when I hollered."
Taking a final glance at his palm, he stuck his hands into the back pockets of a pair of well worn jeans. "They had gone to the store earlier, only to get a flat tire and now the snowstorm has them stuck at the city garage. Thankfully, Robbie, the owner remodeled to put an apartment above the garage. So they are safe but won't make it home until the snow stops and the roads are cleared. It's just you and me Kiddo." The wide smile he gave reminded her of the cat who ate the canary.
