“You can do this,” I reassured myself, before taking a deep breath and getting out of the truck.
Once inside the building, we caught the elevator. After pushing the button for his floor, Steve leaned back against the side wall, while I took off my gloves and scarf. When it stopped and the door opened, the common area looked different. While there was still no one in the room because it was still early, the recliner was gone and in its place was a smaller version of the two couches. Also, there was another pool table facing the old one on the opposite side of the room, along with a few more dart boards.
“We changed a few things,” Steve said, heading to the door to open it.
“Yeah, you did,” I replied, still looking around. “When did you get the new pool table and couch?”
“About a week or so ago,” he answered, holding the door open.
“Oh. I like it,” I said, going through, and heading down the hallway.
“I’ll be right back, I’m just going to change,” he said, taking off his coat, once in the apartment, and heading to his bedroom.
“Okay.”
After putting my jacket in the closet and taking off my shoes, I headed into the kitchen to get something to drink. I immediately noticed the changes Steve had made since I’d been gone, and it made me smile. The glasses that we used regularly were now on the counter, on a shelf that I could reach, instead of in the upper cabinet. Next to the glasses was a small glass jar filled with straws. Also, like the glasses, the plates that we used regularly were on a shelf, on the other side of the sink.
Going over to the counter, I grabbed a glass and set it on the island before going over to the refrigerator. Sitting in front of it, with the door open, I realized I didn’t know what I wanted. Finally deciding on lemonade, I grabbed it and poured half a glass before putting it back in the refrigerator. Before heading back into the living room, I grabbed a straw and put it in my glass.
Realizing Steve was not back, I put my glass on the coffee table and headed down the hall. Reaching his doorway, I couldn’t help but grin. He was barefoot and his somewhat loose, jeans were just low enough I could see the gray strip from the top of what I assumed were boxers, but what really made me grin was his naked upper body. Without a shirt on, I could see every defined muscle of his abdomen, chest, and arms, and I couldn’t help but roam over them intensely and seductively. I was so engrossed and focused that I didn’t even notice that Steve was looking at me now.
“Like what you see?” he asked, with a bit of a smirk, walking toward me.
“Very much,” I said, going into the room, not taking my eyes off him.
When we were inches away from each other, he leaned down and kissed me. As he kissed me, I wrapped my left arm around his neck pulling him forward, deepening the kiss. He wrapped his right arm tightly around my back and I unbuckled my seatbelt. With my belt unfastened, I scooted forward and he lifted me out of my chair. As we walked over to his king size bed, I wrapped my other arm around his neck and my legs around his waist.
When we made it blindly to the side of the bed, we fell onto it harder than expected and I laughed through our kiss.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized, looking into my eyes.
“It’s okay,” I said, threading my fingers through his hair and pushed his head down, gently, and kissed him again.
As we continued to kiss deeply and passionately, I unlocked my legs from his waist and slowly flipped us over until I was straddling him. Breaking our kiss, I sat straight up and looked into his amazing blue eyes. They were midnight blue and full of desire. Continuing to stare into them, completely mesmerized, I began rubbing my hands over his smooth chest and torso. I had to bite my bottom lip to keep from moaning at the feel of his taut muscles under my fingers. Moving further down his torso, I adjusted myself and noticed I wasn’t the only one affected by my hands’ activities and that sent a thrill through me.
Needing to taste him again, I leaned down and kissed him, while my hands continued to do their magic. As our tongues danced, Steve slid his hands under my shirt and I couldn’t help the moan that escaped into his mouth. I moved my kisses to his jaw and neck, in hopes of holding onto what little control I had left. Unfortunately, he had other plans. As I made my way down his neck, he moved his hands up my back, causing me to bite down to keep from moaning. Biting his neck, elicited a small moan from him. I immediately tried to soothe any pain with my tongue and sucked gently, causing him to moan even louder in pleasure.
Unable to take it anymore, and needing to feel skin on skin, I sat up, grabbed the edges of my jersey and pulled it over my head. As I tossed it to the side, Steve’s eyes began to sparkle and I just smirked, knowing I wasn’t finished. Grabbing the ends of my white turtleneck, I felt his hands go still underneath it. As I slowly raised my shirt, I watched his eyes widen.
When I finally pulled it over my head, I tossed it on my jersey and looked at Steve. His eyes were wide and he was completely still. I began to feel self-conscious, just sitting there in only my socks, jeans, and semi-lace bra. Oh my God, what have I done? I shouldn’t have done that! He’s not happy! He doesn’t like it! Say something, please! Oh, God, say or do something!
After a few more seconds, a smile slowly began to creep on his face and I relaxed. He reached up and cupped the back of my head and slowly pulled me down for another passionate kiss. I kissed my way along his jawline, as he ran his hands up my bare back. The sensation made me shiver and I felt his chuckle from deep in his belly.
Suddenly, without warning, he rolled us over, causing a squeal to escape and he laughed, as I wrapped my arms around his back. When I was flat on my back, he kissed me and I wrapped my left leg around his and started rubbing it with my heel. As he kissed along my jaw, I began to go down his back with a feather-light touch, causing him to shiver and I giggled lightly in his ear. In response, he made his way down my neck and I continued to rub his back ever so lightly. When he got to the middle of my neck, he gently bit down then sucked, soothingly, and I bit my lip hard at the sensation it caused. He blew lightly on the spot, and I shivered involuntarily and grabbed his shoulders. I also moaned loudly, despite my best efforts, and Steve laughed softly.
“Payback, baby. Ain’t it a bitch?” he whispered, in my ear, still laughing.
Before I could respond, he resumed his kisses. As he made his way down my neck to my shoulder, I just closed my eyes and continued to hold his shoulders. When he came to my upper chest just above my breasts, I inhaled sharply, causing Steve to look up. I nodded, reassuringly, so he continued and I exhaled.
As he kissed his way across my right breast, I closed my eyes, and goosebumps started to form everywhere. My heart felt like it would pound out of my chest any second. Before moving on, he made sure every inch of exposed skin had been touched by his mouth and tongue, then proceeded to give the exact same treatment to my left. By the time he got to my cleavage, my mind was spinning.
On his way from my cleavage to my abdomen, my arms began to slide off his back and out from under his arms. Luckily, he was low enough that I could run my fingers through his hair. Despite my intentions, I gently tugged on it and moaned softly, at the sensations he was causing, as he made his way down my abdomen.
When he reached the edge of my jeans, I couldn’t take it anymore. Needing, and wanting, to taste him again, and give him what he had given, I tugged just hard enough to get him to look at me. When he did, my lips turned up, seductively and I motioned “Come here,” with my finger.
He grinned back. He continued to kiss my exposed skin as he made his way back up, but when he reached the bottom of my bra, and looked at me, I grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him hard and passionately.
As I kissed him senseless, I took advantage of his fogged brain and rolled us over until I was on top again. There was a rumble from deep in his chest that resembled a moan and a growl as it reached my mouth, when he realized what happened, and I just chuckled through our kiss. Before m
aking my way to his ear, I placed small, quick kisses from the corner of his mouth to the edge of his chin, his beard tickling my lips. I left an opened-mouth kiss on the underside, before making my way down to his Adams Apple. I could feel him swallow as I kissed it, softly and gently, then continued my way down the center of his neck. When I reached the bottom, instead of continuing downward onto his chest, I headed back up, repeating my actions. Reaching the corner of his mouth, I kissed my way along his right jawline to his ear.
“Your turn, baby,” I whispered, sucking on his earlobe, causing him to shiver and let out a low moan at the same time.
Making my way down the side of his neck, very slowly, I made sure every single inch of bare skin had been touched by my mouth and tongue. Noticing the hickey starting to form, I just smiled to myself and continued my way down. Reaching his upper chest, I brought my hand up to feel as I left a trail of opened mouth kisses. I could tell, as I moved across and down his upper body, how much I was affecting him by his involuntary low moans and the goosebumps forming all over his body. I was just about to reach the edge of his jeans, when I felt him stiffen under my lips and wondered why.
“Oh, sorry man, I was just looking for my beer helmet. I think I left it here the last time I wore it,” I heard a deep voice say.
I stiffened and shifted my eyes up to look at Steve.
“I think it’s in the hall closet,” he replied, craning his neck to look at the guy in the doorway.
“Thanks, and again, my bad,” the guy apologized, before walking away.
When we heard the apartment door shut, Steve’s head fell back on the bed and he sighed dramatically, in exasperation, and threw his arms, openly, to either side. I couldn’t help but giggle, as I kissed his lower abdomen one more time before moving back up to look in his eyes.
“What?” he asked, cupping the back of my neck, and pulling me down gently for a kiss, as I looked into his eyes. “You find this funny?”
“Yeah, a little,” I said, as our lips parted. I snuggled into the hollow of his neck. “Don’t you?”
“No, I find it frustrating,” he answered, matter of factly.
I just giggled again, into his neck, making it vibrate.
Several minutes later, after just lying there and enjoying being with each other, we reluctantly got up. After putting me back in my chair, Steve handed me my turtleneck and jersey, and I headed into the bathroom. Once I had my shirt and jersey back on, and went to the bathroom, I decided to pull my hair back up because it was beginning to fall out. Before exiting, I looked at myself one more time in the mirror to make sure my turtleneck covered the hickey that was beginning to form and I smiled.
When I came out, I found Steve sitting on the couch, looking basically identical to me, in a white turtleneck and the same jersey. We decided to leave my chair in the apartment since we were only going down the hall. With him squatting in front of me, I checked to make sure his hickey was covered too, before he turned around and I got on his back, and we both grinned. After I had my arms securely wrapped around his neck, and my legs straddling his hips, he shut off the lights, shut the door, and we headed down the hall.
When we reached the common area there was about a handful of people around the TV. There were a couple men sitting on each of the couches that faced each other, and one was wearing a Colts beer helmet. I could only assume he was the one who walked in on us. Two other men were at the table set up next to one of the couches, one of whom I recognized as Casey. His dark brown hair was buzzed extremely short now and he had a full beard. I noticed he had one plate and two plastic cups, and I assumed one was for the woman sitting in a wheelchair next to the couch that wasn’t facing us. She reminded me of myself, not only because of the chair, but because she was small and had straight darker hair and glasses, which I wasn’t wearing because I had my contacts in. Unlike me, however, she had a much thinner face and a bit of a crooked nose and was a bit paler.
Watching Casey walk back over and sit on the couch next to his wife and the guy with the beer helmet, I noticed just how much stuff was on the table. It was completely full from one end to the other. There was a little bit of everything from actual food and drinks to junk food, including a few sweets. Taking it all in, I chuckled at the fact that most everything on the table was brought by guys, and probably the only reason why there were a few sweet things was because the woman brought them. Feeling and hearing me chuckle, Steve wondered what was wrong and I shook my head and whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”
“Hey, y’all,” he said, when we were almost to the smallest couch facing the TV.
“Hey,” they all replied, looking a little shocked when they saw me.
“Guys, this is Beth,” he introduced me, stopping behind the couch. “Elle, this is everyone.”
We all waved.
Instead of going around and sitting down, he turned a little to the left.
“That’s Ryan,” he said, tilting his head in the woman’s direction.
“Hi,” I said, hoping that my shock at her name didn’t come through, and she waved back with a smile.
“Next to her,” he continued, “you remember, is Casey, her husband.”
“Yep,” I answered, and nodded at him.
He nodded back.
“The brick wall next to him, with the beer helmet, is Alex,” he told me, trying to hold in his laugh.
“Hey, Alex,” I said, trying not to snicker, but not doing a very good job.
“Hey,” Alex replied, trying to clear his throat, nervously.
Steve and I just chuckled.
“And the guy on the other side of him, with short dark hair and glasses, is Billy.”
After he introduced me to a few more people, Steve rounded the couch, squatted down, and I carefully let go and sat on it. I scooted back in the corner and got more comfortable. I folded both of my legs to the left until they were almost under my bottom. When he knew I was comfortable, he sat down next to me, and Alex got up.
“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” he asked, sweetly.
“I’m not that hungry yet, but I would love something to drink,” I told him.
“Okay, how about a beer?” he offered.
Steve snorted and I smacked his arm playfully.
“What?” Steve asked, defensively, but his eyes were twinkling.
I just looked at him and laughed softly. “No thanks, but I would like a glass of lemonade,” I said, looking back at Alex, still laughing.
“Okay,” he replied, sounding confused.
“Long story,” Steve said.
“Oh, okay.”
“Oh, and make sure there’s no ice in it,” Steve added, as Alex went to get the lemonade.
“Okay, no problem.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.
Steve looked at me. “No problem. Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” he continued, digging in his pocket and pulling out a straw and handing it to me. “Here.”
“Thanks. I completely forgot about grabbing one,” I said, taking it.
“Yep. I just took it out of your lemonade.”
“Huh?”
“Your lemonade... on the coffee table.”
“Oh yeah.” I suddenly remembered. “That lemonade.” I bit my lip as the corners twitched.
“Yeah,” he agreed, with a chuckle “that lemonade.”
“I completely forgot about it.”
Just then, Alex came back with a glass of lemonade in one hand and two beers in the other. “Here you go, lemonade, no ice,” he said, leaning down and handing it to me.
“Thanks.”
“Sure,” he replied, turning to Steve, he added, “And here you go.”
“Thanks, man,” Steve said, taking the beer bottle from him.
“Yep, no problem,” he said, and sat back down.
I put the straw in my lemonade and took a drink as Steve opened his beer and took a drink.
“So, Beth, why didn�
��t you want a beer?” Alex asked, sitting back down.
“I don’t really care for the stuff.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s an acquired taste that I’ve never really acquired.”
“Oh, okay. I just thought it had something to do with you telling our boy here to ‘fuck off’,” he said.
Casey and Billy smacked him on the back of the head, simultaneously, as Steve choked on his beer.
“What?” he asked, defensively, rubbing his head, while looking back and forth between the two men.
I snickered at their narrowed eyes, as I patted Steve’s back to help him stop coughing.
“You okay?” I whispered, when he finally stopped coughing.
“Yeah, thanks,” he answered.
“No problem.” I smiled. Continuing to rub his back, I turned and looked at Alex again. “That definitely has something to do with it and that’s why I don’t drink it, besides the fact that I don’t like it.”
“If you don’t like it, why did you drink it?” he asked.
“Because by that time, I couldn’t taste it and I really didn’t care what it was.”
“So, is it fair to say you were pretty drunk?”
“It is.”
“How much did you drink?” he asked, curiously.
“Let’s just say she had about as much as I had the last time I got drunk,” Steve told him, before I could answer.
“Wow, really?” Alex asked, in astonishment.
Steve nodded.
“Well, no wonder you couldn’t taste it and didn’t care.” Alex laughed, before taking a drink of his beer.
“Yeah.”
“You would be a great drinking buddy then.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Why not?”
“Because I only get that drunk when I’m really pissed off or just want to forget about something,” I said, and looked at Steve out of the corner of my eye.
“Oh.” He understood, and looked at Steve. “What did you do, man?” he asked.
“Oh, look, the game’s starting.” Steve pointed his beer, trying to change the subject, and everyone laughed, including me.
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