by Claire Angel
“Good, very good,” Xavier mumbled against my breast. By this point, I’d had enough of the talking/teasing. I climbed on top of him and took his cock out of his boxers. It was rock-hard already and I knew it wouldn’t take too many strokes before he exploded all over me. When I wrapped my fingers around it, Xavier closed his eyes and tilted back his head, emitting a small groan of intense pleasure.
With my hand now stroking him and my lips pressed against his, Xavier slipped his hand between my legs and gently pressed his fingers against the crotch of my underwear, which was now soaking wet. “If we’re only tiding ourselves over,” Xavier stammered, obviously distracted by my hand movements, “then I don’t think that I should put myself inside you.” My heart dropped, but then Xavier’s eyes popped open and he smiled wickedly. “Or rather,” he corrected himself, “My cock can’t be inside you. But I can still do my bidding with other parts of me.”
And then, Xavier slipped his fingers inside of me so quickly and with such pleasurable force that I cried out. I maintained eye contact with him and watched as he started plunging his two fingers inside me over and over. His brows immediately became furrowed, and he looked like he wasn’t going to make it much longer. Luckily, I wasn’t either.
I put both my hands on either side of his neck and begged, “More, more,” as he thrust his fingers inside of me over and over. As commanded, Xavier paused and gently inserted three fingers in. When my eyes widened and I pleaded, “No, more,” he looked more excited than I had ever seen him.
Obeying my command, he took all of his fingers and his thumb and inserted them slowly inside me. Finally, I felt full enough. I tilted my head back and positively screamed in pleasure as I continued pumping away at him with increasing intensity. I looked in his eyes and saw that glazed look that I knew very well come across them.
When he was about to erupt, Xavier tensed up all over his body, his movements became more jerky inside of me, and then his pupils dilated, his mouth dropped open in a silent cry of pleasure and he exploded himself all over my hands. He groaned with each ejaculation, and as he did, I could feel myself reaching the edge. I knew I needed his full focus to finish though, so I let him have his moment.
And then, when he had recovered from his orgasm, he plunged inside me with such fervour that I only had 1-2 seconds before I felt my whole body erupting with pleasure. The orgasm washed over me like a tidal wave from the ocean, and I sprayed almost as much as the ocean would have all over Xavier’s legs. His hand was forced out of me by the orgasm, but he put his fingers on my clitoris and made my orgasm twice as pleasurable.
When we were both finally done, we were covered in our own juices. I looked down at our legs and then up at Xavier just as he was doing the same. We both burst out laughing.
“Well,” I said with a satisfied sigh as I crawled off of him. “I think that tided me over, how about yourself?”
Xavier laughed even harder. “Certainly did,” he said, sounding equally satisfied. “But you know, we don’t have to just do this if we don’t want to. We could”-
“I know,” I interrupted him. “But I think this is best for both of us. We rushed into things too quickly, you were right. And after what happened with Angela, I still need to take things more slowly.”
Xavier looked disappointed but accepted what I was saying. “You’re absolutely right,” he replied, picking up a towel that was hanging off of his bathroom door and mopping himself up. He then changed out of his underwear and into fresh ones and I had to admit that I watched him longingly as I did so. “I was the one who said we should take things slowly in the first place, and you’re doing me such a big favour by pretending to marry me. So I guess we’ll just do that and then... see where we go from there?”
Xavier pulled on a pair of expensive-looking sweatpants and a novelty t-shirt that said, “If you’re not winning, you’re losing,” and had a picture of Uncle Sam on it. I couldn’t help but laugh, but Xavier looked hurt. “What is it?” he asked.
I stopped myself from laughing any more. “Sorry, sorry,” I said as I re-centred myself. “I’m just laughing at the sentiment of ‘we’ll get married and then see how things evolve from there.”
Xavier looked much less hurt and then started chuckling himself. “Pretty absurd, huh?” He ran his fingers though his hair, and then stopped. “I didn’t wash my hands before I did that, did I?”
I shook my head and held in my laughter. “Oh well,” I said casually. “I’ve heard that stuff makes great hair gel.”
Xavier made a disgusted look with his face and then laughed. He retreated into the bathroom and I heard the tap running, and when he re-emerged, his hair was now damp and he was drying his hands on a towel. “Come on,” he said, motioning towards the door, “let’s get you something else to wear.”
I looked down at my dress, the bottom of which was now damp with both of our bodily fluids. “You have something I could change into?” I asked.
Xavier nodded. “Duh,” he said simply and then exited the room, expecting me to follow him.
Which, of course, I did. I raced out of the bedroom after him to catch up to him, and made it to him just as he was rounding the corner into another bedroom. I followed him inside and my jaw dropped.
“What... what is this?” I asked, amazed. The room was done up just beautifully, but in a distinctively feminine fashion. There were long silky drapes waving in the wind coming from the open windows, a four poster bed in the middle of the room with beautiful white covers, pillowcases and blankets. There was a marble-encased fireplace on one side of the room and a massive big-screen TV hanging over it made to look like it was a painting in a frame.
“Oh nothing,” Xavier said nonchalantly. He looked around the room as though it was no big deal and said, “I just had this made up for you. I figured if we were going to be fake-married you might like to have a room to yourself in my house. I hope you like it.”
I was so taken aback that I was speechless for a few minutes as I went around and saw all the details of the room. There were potted plants that looked about as expensive as a whole wing of my condo lazily sprawling themselves across tabletops. There was a reading nook in one window, complete with a fully-stocked shelf of books right beside it. There was even a chandelier hanging from the middle of the room that had strangely entrancing geometric shapes on it.
Xavier saw me looking at it and said, “Pull the chord.” I looked at him, unconvinced, until I saw that he was entirely serious. I reached up and pulled on the chord dangling from the chandelier, and when I did, the geometric shapes slowly transformed into... “Constellations,” I said in disbelief. “This is just too much, Xavier, I can’t take over a whole room in your house.”
Xavier scoffed. “Erika, you’re committing yourself to a fake marriage with me to save my company and my reputation. I think the least I could do in this circumstance is give you a room to yourself,” he replied.
And then he went and opened the walk-in closet and I was rendered speechless all over again. It was filled with the most beautiful collection of clothes that I had ever laid eyes on. I wordlessly walked into it and ran my fingers over all of the clothes. There were so many of them that were far beyond anything I would have bought for myself normally, even though I had the money to.
“Xavier...” I said, turning back to him. He was standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, looking shyly at me.
“I hired someone to pick everything out, so don’t thank me for that,” he said sheepishly. “I just hope there are a few things that you think you might”-
I don’t know what came over me, but I knew in that moment that I needed to kiss him. I strode across the closet in three steps, wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.
It was unlike any of the other kisses we’d had before. Those ones were born of passion and fire. This one was born from fondness and appreciation. I had never had anyone who was as thoughtful as Xavier was, and I was so happy
that there was even a chance that I might get to spend the rest of my life with him.
Xavier kissed me right back. We stood there in the closet, kissing passionately for a few minutes, until I finally broke myself away from him. I looked at him with my finger pressed against my lips, as though I couldn’t believe they had just let me get away with that.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “I got so caught up in the moment that”-
“Please, don’t apologize,” Xavier reassured me. “I wanted to kiss you. Badly. But...” And then, Xavier trailed off and looked embarrassed as well. “I’ll leave you to get changed now.”
He turned on his heel and without looking back at me he left the room. When I heard the door to the bedroom softly click shut, I was overcome with emotion.
Why am I doing this? My thoughts cried at me. Why am I letting myself being tortured by these feelings about Xavier and then telling myself that we shouldn’t take things further? Why did I agree to the marriage idea in the first place? This is all getting so much more complicated than it needs to be, and I don’t think it should continue like this.
But then, I thought about how we had rushed into our first love-making session and how much I fretted over whether or not Xavier felt romantic feeling towards me after it happened. I didn’t want to feel like that again; I wanted to be sure that when we made love the next time, it was because we both cared for each other so much that we couldn’t hold back any longer.
And in spite of all of my complaints and whining, we really were making incremental progress. So I decided to focus on that while I changed into my clean clothes (which, I discovered, also very kindly included properly sized bras and underwear which I was ASTOUNDED by) instead of fixating on the problems that were arising.
Chapter 12
Xavier
After our visit to Erika’s Dad’s care home and our subsequent passionate session afterwards, we did look at the venue portfolios very briefly, but then Erika had to leave. She said that she had a lot of work to do before she went back to the office the next day, but I had a feeling that it was because of the awkwardness that was now between us. To tell you the truth, I was feeling the same way, and so I was glad to have a little while to myself after she left
When I went into work the next day I was pleased to see that Erika and I had made the front page of many gossip magazines but had also been mentioned quite a few times in news stories online. The shares of AccuTek were rapidly growing as Erika and I’s relationship went on, and I hoped that NowNews was doing just as well.
Over the next week, I saw Erika a few times when we were figuring out wedding-related things, but we didn’t talk very much outside of that. I think we were both taking a break from the heavier aspects of the relationship, and allowing ourselves the chance to take a step back from each other.
However, on Thursday of the next week, I didn’t hear a single thing from her the whole day. I thought maybe she was just busy, but when I saw on her WhatsApp banner that she hadn’t been active on it since the night before, I started getting worried. I knew that I shouldn’t, but Erika was always so prompt with messaging even when she was swamped at work.
After anguishing over whether or not I should call her work, I finally worked up the nerve to do it. As I dialled the number I felt like an idiot because I was worried I’d seem like the over-protective boyfriend checking in on his girlfriend who was really just busy. But then I figured that that was a better alternative to all of this worrying, and so I stayed on the line.
“Erika Heatherington’s office, Natalie speaking,” came the voice on the other end a few seconds later.
“Good afternoon, Natalie,” I greeted her warmly. “Is Erika in this afternoon? It’s Xavier Franklin, I just wanted to talk with her about something private, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of her today.”
There was silence on the other end of the line and for a moment I was worried that Natalie had hung up. But then, she said, “You haven’t heard from her either? Oh no. I thought that she was just avoiding my calls because I was being the overly-protective best friend and leaving messages for her all afternoon.”
I chuckled to myself. “I know that feeling well. I’m sure everything is fine, but why don’t I go over to her place and check in on her? I’ll report back to you when I know what’s going on,” I replied.
“That would be great, thank you Xavier,” she said gratefully. “My worries have been gnawing at my stomach all afternoon, but I can’t leave the office because I’ve got too much on my plate right now.”
“My pleasure,” I said, and then was about to hang up the phone when Natalie added something.
“Also,” she said, “I know we haven’t spoken before, but... Don’t toy with Erika, ok? If you do, I might have to break every bone in your body.”
I wanted to laugh, but decided that it was better not to. “I promise I won’t,” I responded. “Erika is a remarkable woman, and I have no intention of upsetting her in any way, shape, or form.”
“Good,” Natalie said, sounding satisfied. “Now go rescue her from whatever trouble that’s taken her away from her phone.”
The line clicked, and I hung up. I liked the sounds of Natalie, and I hoped that I would get to meet her in person one day.
I headed down to the garage and picked up my car. I would’ve taken the car service, but I was in too much of a rush for that. I flew across the city as fast as I could, and when I got to her condo building, I explained to the concierge what was happening. He let me in right away, and watched me go into the elevator with a look of concern on his face. When I got up to Erika’s floor, I started getting more and more worried, but I tried desperately to put all concerns out of my mind.
When I got to her door, I knocked loudly and said, “Erika?” very clearly. There was no answer, and so I tried again. “Erika? It’s Xavier, can I come in?” Still, no answer.
Finally, I decided to try the doorknob. Thankfully it was open, and when I walked inside I announced myself. “Erika, I’m coming in, Natalie and I were getting worried about you because”-
And then I saw her. She was sprawled out on the couch with her eyes closed. There were boxes of Kleenexes around her as well as a hot water bottle and other evidence that Erika was not doing well at all.
“Erika,” I said quietly, rushing to her, and when I took her into my arms, she didn’t rouse. I knew there was something seriously wrong, I just didn’t know what. I put the back of my hand to her forehead, just as I had seen my mother do with me many times when I was younger, and felt that she was burning up. Not knowing what else to do, I pulled out my phone and called an ambulance.
Once I had given them all of the pertinent information, I re-adjusted Erika so that she was lying more comfortably on me and held her close. “Erika,” I said quietly, “can you hear me? I don’t know how long you’ve been like this and... and I really need you to open your eyes, just so that I know you’re alright. Could you do that for me?”
Erika did not respond. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was burning up. I knew that I shouldn’t take her blankets and sweaters off of her though, because then she would be freezing. And even though I knew help was on the way, I could not keep my worries at bay.
“Please, Erika,” I begged her, my concern overpowering me, “open your eyes. Why didn’t you call me when you knew you were sick? Are you truly that stubborn? Come on, all you have to do is wake up and I’ll let you ream me out for not getting here sooner. Believe me though, I’m already doing that enough in my own head.”
Erika still didn’t stir, and my hope was fading quickly. I couldn’t imagine what could have struck her in such a short period of time, but if she was in this bad shape right now, I was sure that it must have been quite serious. The thought of losing her suddenly flashed before me, and I stupidly felt tears stinging in my eyes.
“Please, please don’t go yet,” I begged her. “I was only just getti
ng to know you, and you were only just starting to show me what a fool I was for having gone without you in my life for so long. Erika, you have to wake up, because... because...”
I could have sworn I saw her start to wake up, but right at that moment the paramedics arrived. They immediately started tending to her and got her loaded up onto the stretcher. When they were leaving the condo with her, one of the paramedics turned to me and said, “Are you the husband?”
I became flustered. “The hus- no, no, I’m just a... a, uh....”
The paramedic rolled his eyes. “Well, whatever you are, do you want to be the one to accompany her to the hospital? Only one person is allowed to go,” he explained. I nodded vigorously, and the next thing I knew I was in the back of an ambulance speeding to the hospital.
When we arrived there was a flurry of activity. For a long time, I was left waiting in a stark, industrial waiting room with nothing to do but sit and worry about her. Of course, my imagination ran away with me, and I started fearing for the worst. I thought of the possibility that Erika might have contracted something life-threatening like meningitis and what if she never woke up from her unconsciousness?
Then, I started worrying that I had never been brave enough to tell Erika how I truly felt about her. I knew before we had come up with the idea of getting fake married that I felt strongly for her, but when she had asked me directly about my feelings that fateful day, I had of course panicked. And then she had seen me with Angela, and things had gotten all turned around... and now we were two awkward individuals who obviously felt a great deal for each other but we were both too cowardly to admit it.
I had just put my head in my hands because the stress and worry of the situation was getting to be too much for me when the door to my tiny waiting room opened.