The Trouble of Taboo

Paige’s POV

I was running, I didn’t know from what but I knew it was something dangerous to me. I was so scared. Just looking for Neil; I was screaming his name. I needed him to help me, to make me feel safe, to protect me from what I was running from.

I tripped. Stupid tree branch. I tried to get back up, but my legs had turned to jelly. I couldn’t stand up. I was crying and shouting for Neil to save me. The shadow of someone larger than Neil shut me up. I was scared into silence. I couldn’t move or scream or anything. The shadow moved closer and closer. Finally, I found my voice “NOOOOO!”

I sat up in bed, shaking, not knowing what to do. I was going to try getting up when Neil came rushing into my room. I guess I’d been talking or screaming out loud.

“Paige?” Neil asked me, rushing over to me. “Are you okay? You were screaming like you were scared out of your mind.” He pulled me to him as I tried to figure out what I had been so scared off.

“I think it was a dream is all.” I told him, my voice eerily calm. Neil pulled back and looked at me, he seemed to be trying to investigate my soul, trying to see if I was really okay. “Really, I don’t remember it, just a shadow, is all.” I told him, not even sure what that even meant. All I knew was that something had scared me, and if I fell back asleep that it might get me again or try to do whatever it was doing in my dream. I shivered as the thoughts flew through my mind.

“Okay, if you are sure. Try to get back to sleep.” Neil said, stepping back from me and the bed, but my hand shot out and held onto his.

“Please don’t leave me alone. I don’t.... I don’t feel... safe.” I told him, not used to admitting such things to people. Neil bent down and picked me up from my bed. I curled into his chest, suddenly realising he was just in jogging bottoms, I smiled a little, looking up at him, he really was my hero; here he was saving me once again. He carried me out of my room, and into a room that I assumed was his, it was amazing. There was a manly-looking four-poster bed and the walls were a deep blue, with a few pictures of him with people I didn’t know. He must have caught me looking at them.

“My family.” He told me, and I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding, that it wasn’t his fiancé, or ex-fiancé I guess. He put me down in his bed, and I blushed a bit as I realised while he had jogging bottoms on, I only had one of his work shirts and my underwear on. I realised if anyone saw this snapshot, they would get the wrong idea. I looked away from him, he was still leaning down over me from putting me down. “What is it?” He asked gently, tilting my head so I was looking straight into his eyes, his perfect green-blue eyes that looked like a tropical sea.

“Umm, I was thinking, if you put our outfits together, we might just have a whole proper outfit.” I told him smiling a bit, as I looked down at his chest again. So slender, with some chest hair, but not like a rug of it, his skin so pale that before I could stop myself my hand reached out to stroke it. It was so soft, it felt amazing underneath my hand. I looked up at him and saw a flash of something in his eyes, something that ignited a fire in the pit of my stomach. “Neil.” I whispered, just wanting to say his name; I could hear that my voice had taken on a certain tone, which gave away everything I was feeling. I lifted my head, my eyes never leaving his deep sea-like ones until my lips touched his and they fluttered shut. I could feel him responding to my kiss, a slight urgency between us, hidden beneath the softness of our kiss, of wanting each other, or needing each other. I reached a hand up around his neck, playing with the bottom of his hair, and I felt him smile against my lips.

Neil’s POV

Here I was, hovering over Paige’s body, since she mentioned the little amount of clothing we were both wearing, it became stuck in the fore front of my mind. We were so close I could feel her body partly pressed against mine. I saw her eyes lingered on my chest, she looked back up to me and breathed my name: “Neil.” Her voice, telling me she was feeling the same. She looked into my eyes and I got lost in the swirls of lighter blue in the deep sparkling blue that could always pull me in. I knew she was getting closer to me, something in my head said I should stop this, but the rest of me ignored it. Her lips were on mine and everything vanished; all I could think about was this vision.

I returned her kiss; something pressed that I should kiss her harder, deeper, but at this moment this soft sweet kiss was what I wanted. I needed her to know how much I cared for her. I smiled into the kiss as her hand snaked around my neck and started playing with my hair; I loved the way her fingers felt in my hair and I kissed her slightly harder. My body was getting closer to hers, just to stop her getting neck ache from leaning up to kiss me, I knew I was trying to rationalise this. It did not matter; nothing was going to happen. I would not let it. I just wanted to kiss her. To kiss away her fears from the dream. To kiss her so she would be able to sleep, next to me... in my bed... all night. My brain slowly shut down as these thoughts became known to me.

I moved a hand, so that it rested on her hip, just above the hem of my shirt on her. The idea of that alone was causing things to stir within me; she was wearing my shirt and damn she looked hot in it. The second thing I noticed when I ran into her room, after checking she was okay, was damn she wore that shirt better than I did. It showed off her curves and having left a few buttons undone it showed just the right amount of cleavage. She had never looked less like a teenage student since I had known her, and I wanted her so badly. That thought threw me off. What was I doing? This was my student still and I had promised her I would not take advantage of her.

I gently slowed down our kiss and pulled away. She looked up at me, but she did not look confused, puzzled, hurt or anything like that and I mentally sighed a breath of relief; she was so much more mature than I had given her credit for.

“I was waiting for that.” She told me and I felt like she could read my mind. I smiled down at her. I was going to explain but she placed a finger against my lips and the sensation stopped any thought processes I was having. “It was the right thing to do. You’re an amazing man Neil, it makes me like you even more.” She whispered to me, and I smiled at her. I slowly licked her finger and then pulled back realising what I had just done. She smiled up at me, “That felt nice.” I smiled down at her, kissed her gently and then moved off of her onto what I considered my side of the bed. Paige turned on her side, one knee coming up to rest on the other, slightly bent, and I felt my breath being taken away from me at the sight. “You know you’re lucky.” I hesitantly looked up at her, not wanting to look away from her legs but confused as to what she was talking about. “You put me on the right side of the bed.” She told me giggling slightly, and I felt my heartbeat speed up at the sound. I looked deep into her eyes and smiled.

“You are perfect. Even your not so... good parts are perfect.” I told her, trying not to upset her again and she giggled at me, making me feel less tense about what I had just said.

“That’s sweet of you, but I can never be as perfect as you are Mr Pearls.” The way she uttered my name made more than my heart flutter and stand to attention. I turned to be on my side, hoping to hide my situation from Paige. I wanted nothing less than for her to get the wrong idea. I smiled at her as I saw her yawn.

“Come on, dear. Time to sleep. I have a monstrous amount of marking to get through tomorrow.” I told her. She smiled slightly confused at me, as I pulled the covers over us and laid on my back, smiling as Paige moved slightly closer to me.

Paige’s POV

Something at the back of my mind triggered when Neil mentioned that he had marking to do tomorrow, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I smiled at him and moved slightly closer to him, just so I could feel his body heat radiating off of him and know I was safe. I didn’t feel brave enough to cuddle up to him; he might have seen that as too inappropriate, so I settled for being near him and knowing he was there. “Goodnight Paige.” I heard him say in a husky voice full of sleepiness. I smiled as I inhaled and smelt everything I loved about him surround me.

“Goodnight Neil.” I said, before letting the scent of him lull me into a deep, dreamless sleep.