Danielle’s POV
*****
“A spider?” My best friend Kimberly blared from the other end of the phone as though I’d just admitted to murder.
“Of all things, girl.”
I rolled my eyes as I finished dicing the onions before me.
“Last I checked, you’re the one who suggested I get a pet to get my head off my… Simon’s situation.”
“Yeah. A freaking cat, dog or heck… even a damn rat would’ve sufficed.” She paused.
“Okay, scratch the rat. But you know what I mean.”
I clawed the phone away from my shoulder once my hands were free.
“I know, boo.” A sigh slipped past my lips.
“But you know how needy those fur balls can get. I’m not in the right mental space for all that. Besides, it’s not just any spider.”
My head swerved to the peninsula counter separating the kitchen from the living and dining rooms.
On it was a glass terrarium with a cute little critter crawling inside.
“It’s a tarantula, okay? A very harmless one from what I’ve read online.”
“I don’t care if its got angel wings on its back.” Kim’s judgmental look was almost too easy to imagine.
“Dear lord. Simon, that jerk. He just had to be a cheating asshole.”
A bitter smile ghosted my lips when I remembered my ex-husband.
Five years of marriage… gone down the drain after he decided to hook up with his secretary of all things.
Fucking unoriginal.
The divorce has been finalised for over two months now yet I was still a literal shadow of my former self.
So much so that I had to keep our son, Jeremy, under my mother’s care.
If it weren’t for Kim cheering me up from the side I doubt I would’ve gotten this far.
I would’ve probably been begging that washed-up Ken doll to ‘choose me’ or some bullshit like that.
“Can we not talk about Simon right now?” I rubbed my nose, inhaling sharply.
“God, just thinking about him is giving me a migraine.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” Kim sounded genuinely remorseful.
She sighed, staying for a beat before speaking again.
“You can keep the damn spider. But if I’m coming over to that house you’d better keep it locked in your room or something.”
I caught myself grinning from ear to ear.
“Thanks, mom.”
“Shut up.”
We both laughed as I began adding the final ingredients for the sandwich I was making.
“I have to go now,” she mumbled.
“Timothy’s giving me a mean side eye over here because I’m on a call with you instead of watching this sappy romcom with him.”
A male voice barked in the background.
“Hey, I resent that! I wasn’t side-eyeing you.”
I giggled softly.
“Girl, it’s fine. I’ll let you watch that movie with your man.” I pulled the phone away from my ear.
“Good night, Kim. Night night, Tim.”
“Good night, babe! Love you.”
With that, I hung up, slipping the phone into my pocket.
Tch.
Not that I’m jealous or anything but… Kim’s life has really been shaping up for her recently.
And by her ‘life’ I mean her choice when it came to men.
She and Timothy have been dating for two years and he finally proposed right before I found out about Simon.
The man was tall, so handsome that he seemed straight out of one of her books and of course, he was so well-to-do that she didn’t even need to work.
To me she had everything.
All I got going on right now is… getting a pet spider.
Pushing my unfortunate circumstances aside, I quickly whipped up the sandwich and ate it within minutes.
“Come on, Bobby.” I grabbed the terrarium, looking through the glass.
Yes, Bobby sounded like a terrible name for a spider.
But considering I didn’t want a pet to begin with, I’d give myself a pat on the back for it.
I took the terrarium to my bedroom upstairs and set it on a reading table opposite my bed.
Giving the spider one last look, I peeled off my clothes and hit the showers.
After a much-needed relaxing bath, I strolled out with a white towel clinging loosely around my body.
I stood in front of my mirror, taking in the woman staring back at me.
From my dark skin which glistened under the lighting like polished mahogany.
To my curly hair that fell down my shoulders in gentle waves.
And then—those hips.
I remember how Simon used to praise the curves on my hips and chest.
“You’re too curvy to be thirty-two.” He’d say.
Which in hindsight, was crazy to say to a thirty-two-year-old.
Yet I always ate it up and blushed like an idiot.
I’d even gone to the gym once just to stay in shape for him.
“I’ll never understand what men want.” I smiled bitterly, subconsciously trailing a palm down my left thigh.
Memories of the times Simon had undressed me in front of this mirror with those strong, muscular arms before railing me into Narnia flashed through my head.
I squeezed my legs, already feeling an embarrassing buildup of something wet and hot between them.
“Get a fucking grip.” I spun away from the mirror to get dressed.
After slipping into a white silk night robe, I crept into bed.
The lack of an annoying snore beside me or arms wrapping around me made me clutch my pillow.
I barely had time to scold myself as my eyelids finally started batting with a welcome heaviness.
Turning off the bedside lamp, I flicked my eyes to the terrarium across the room.
“Good night, Bobby…”
Now I’m telling a spider goodnight.
Maybe Kim was right.
I should work on getting someone new.
Even if it’s something casual.
★★★★★
I don’t know how or why but I woke up only to discover that it was still dark.
I squinted, lifting my head off the pillows—
—And that’s when I noticed something.
A masculine musk hung in the air.
Like a man who’d just come back from a long day at work and was about to have a shower.
As enticing as that was for the first couple of seconds… a thought rang in the back of my head.
There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else in this room.
“Who—” My throat ceased when my eyes trailed to the end of my bed.
Hovering right over my legs was a man.
Not just any man—no.
Although he was currently kneeling, I could tell this guy was huge.
He had shoulder-length black hair and chiselled biceps that looked like he either lived in a gym or crawled out from a painting of the Olympians.
Plus, his skin was a milky gold.
His arms were pressed beside either side of my waist as his warm breath blew against my inner thighs.
And that wasn’t even the worst part.
To my absolute horror and confusion, I realised my underwear was off, thrown aside like a used tissue.
“What… what are you doing?” I hated how low the question came out.
Almost like a whimper.
Fortunately, it got the strange man’s attention enough to let him raise his head.
When he did my body flexed beneath him.
Those damn eyes!
They glowed with a silver light, assessing me like I was a snack.
Or more accurately—prey.
Then he revealed the rest of his body.
The darkness hadn’t let me see all of him clearly but now I could.
And I damn nearly flew out of the nearest window.
He… he had arms.
Okay, no—having arms was normal.
But this man didn’t just have two.
He fucking had six!
In addition to his ‘normal’ arms, he had another pair attached to his upper back and then the last one sticking so close to his waist.
To top it off he was stark naked, his veiny throbbing cock pulsing with an erection.
As huge and girthy as it was—it didn’t make up for the fact that this man was a stranger.
One with six freaking arms!
“W–What are you?” My voice was much louder now.
“Am I high? D–Did you come into my house to drug me and now I’m hallucinating—”
“You don’t remember me, Danielle?” His baritone rattled my bones.
My toes curled subconsciously as he lowered himself to my thighs again.
“S–Stay back!” I snapped yet for some reason I wasn’t trying to run.
My chest heaved violently as I pushed myself further against the headboard.
Every instinct screamed at me to run.
To kick.
To fight.
Because this wasn’t normal.
Nothing about this was normal.
Not the stranger in my bed.
Not the six arms flexing behind his back like some creature straight out of a fever dream.
And definitely not the way heat continued pooling between my thighs instead of fear.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Why the fuck wasn’t I running?!
Who in their right senses sees a naked man with six arms on their bed and doesn’t immediately call 911, the LAPD, the FBI and even the bloody Pope?!
The strange man didn’t listen as his lips grazed my entrance.
I jolted from the sensation, pressing a foot on his shoulder.
He didn’t budge, his silver eyes meeting mine.
“I could smell you oozing with desire not so long ago.” Came that baritone again.
“What’s the matter? Is my current form too much for you?”
I was about to curse out the American horror story reject when he buried his face in my cunt.
This time he made sure to slide his tongue into me.
“F–Fuck—!” The swear came out as a moan as I gripped the sheets.
I gasped, watching with an odd mix of delight and disbelief.
Soon enough he found my clit and dragged his tongue slowly between my folds like a hungry beast.
I arched my head back.
This couldn’t be happening.
This—argh!
My thighs tightened around him but he kept them apart with his hands.
All six of them.
Two roamed from my stomach to my boobs.
He twisted my nipples with enough precision to make my body buck toward him.
“P–Please,” I begged.
“I’m… I’m going to—argh, fuck!”
He didn’t pause for a second.
Didn’t move his face to breathe.
Didn’t stop touching other parts of my body until I felt sore.
For the first time in two months… I sensed a build-up.
THE buildup.
When I came, my entire body vibrated like I’d been zapped by lightning.
I spasmed, falling back onto the pillows as the corners of my vision blurred.
This fucking bastard was still on my entrance, licking off every last bit of my release.
“It’s been so long.” He muttered with the excitement of someone who had discovered their favourite food for the first time.
I struggled to keep my eyes open but it appeared to be increasingly impossible.
The room spun around me as I swerved my head weakly to the side.
“By the way,” his voice managed to slip through the haze, “Bobby was a truly terrible name choice.”
My brows twitched.
How… did he know that—
The world turned black before I could make sense of the last few minutes.
And for the briefest second before unconsciousness swallowed me whole—I swore I felt something tiny.
Hairy… and moving against my clit.