by Aria Grace
“I get that. When my mate died, I refused to stay in our bedroom and slept on a mattress on the floor beside Jamie.”
“Oh, Todd. My heartbreak’s nothing compared to yours.”
“Grief is grief. There is no scale, Avery. We both experienced it, and even during the happy times, it sometimes creeps up on me and my eyes fill with tears.”
He raised his glass and I clinked mine against his. “Here’s to not banishing sad memories because as you say, they return every now and then. But let’s put them in a box and only pull them out when we’re ready.”
After dinner, we watched TV and Avery fell asleep. His head fell on my shoulder and I inhaled his intoxicating scent. I would have loved to have stayed like that all night, but I was invited for dinner, not a sleepover. So, I slid off the couch and put his head on a cushion. After covering him with a throw, I loaded the dishwasher, took out the trash, and left.
12
Avery
I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. I’d woken up a thousand times in my bed and had studied the view above my head in the middle of sleepless nights. This wasn’t it. Fear clutched at me. My last memory was watching a new TV series with Todd!
Todd! I sat up and flung off whatever was covering me. But as my eyes focused on my surroundings, my heart slowed. This was my living room and I was fully clothed. “Todd?” I called out tentatively, thinking he might be in the bathroom.
No answer. I padded over the floor and peeked in each room. I was alone. But as I made coffee and relief flooded over me, I also experienced disappointment. He left, no goodbye, no note, though he had cleaned up after dinner. Ten out of ten, Todd!
But something was different. I wasn’t exhausted, desperate for that first coffee while I yawned and stumbled into the kitchen, wishing I could go back to bed. I wasn’t human until I’d had my first cup, something I’d never told Todd when we jogged. Even though we drank coffee at the park, I’d already had one before I left home.
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. While six months of disturbed sleep couldn’t be erased in one night, I was certain the shadows under my eyes were not as dark as they were yesterday.
I grabbed the phone and scanned the messages. Nothing from Todd. But as I flung it on the kitchen island, it vibrated.
Morning, sleepyhead, he texted.
Yeah, sorry I fell asleep. But thanks for doing the dishes and locking up.
I waited as Todd typed and his next message popped up. No. Not that. Normally we’d be finishing our exercise about now.
What? I checked the time. Shoot. I’d been asleep for ten hours. I haven’t slept that long in ages.
I punched in Todd’s number, and he picked up. “I’m too lazy to text,” I told him. “Sorry about the jog.”
“I’ll take a raincheck. That’s two days in a row.”
“Can I make it up to you?” I had no idea what made me blurt that out.
“Oh, I’ll have to think about it. Might take a while.” His voice had a lilt to it, and I pictured him rubbing his jaw, his gorgeous eyes twinkling. “Let me see. What can you do for me? Thinking thinking.”
I gulped and sank onto a kitchen stool. I half expected him to ask for sexual favors. No, I wanted him to ask. But at the same time, if he did, I’d collapse or hide under the bedcovers. The suspense was killing me so I had to say something. “The offer’s only good for a short time.”
“Is that so?” I could hear mim smirking through the phone.
“Yep,” I replied.
“In that case, it’s my turn to feed you. But no pizza. I’ll cook,” he said.
“I thought I was supposed to do something for you.”
“You are.”
“How do you figure that?” I asked.
“You’ll be my guinea pig because I want to try something new.”
“Is that one of your hidden talents?” I cringed, wishing I hadn’t said that. “Cooking, I mean.”
“Mmmm,” he answered. “One of many.”
I shivered trying to guess what they were, though as usual, my mind went to what was hiding in his pants. “Okay. See you this evening.”
His place was a bungalow, set back from the road, with shady trees lining the driveway. “This is nice,” I said as he waved to me from the deck.
“Thanks. It was a dump when we bought it and there was no garden. Took years to get it the way we wanted it.”
Todd using the word ‘we’ wasn’t as uncomfortable as I’d expected. He had a history, as I did, and it had made him who he was. Though he’d poo-pooed the suggestion, my sadness couldn’t compare to what he’d experienced. “So, you’re a gardener. I guess that’s one of your talents.”
He studied me with a piercing scrutiny which kindled a flame in my belly. “Nah. I’m a digger of holes and a weed puller-outer. I can rake leaves and mow the grass with the best of them and I’m an expert at watering, but Billy, my late mate, had the green thumb.”
I jerked my head at the immaculate, healthy garden. “But…”
“Jamie. My son. He inherited Billy’s talent with plants.”
We both stood in silence admiring the green space. “That’s the thing about a garden. Each year, there’s new life. Winter never lasts and the gray disappears.”
“Are we still talking about plants?” I asked.
“Life, I guess.”
“But you have a lovely garden. I’m an amateur compared to this.”
“Come inside and have some wine while I finish off the dinner.”
I walked into the kitchen and was hit with an amazing aroma. “Wow. What’s cooking?”
Todd opened the oven. “Rack of lamb, roast potatoes and carrots, plus broccoli and mint sauce.”
“I was right. You’re a talented cook.”
“You haven’t tasted it yet.”
He left the meat to rest and poured us a glass of wine. “Welcome to my home, Avery. Cheers.”
I sipped my drink, and I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol affecting my brain but I wanted Todd. Not wanted him the way teens pine over a reality star or members of a boy band and imagine sharing their life and bed. This alpha, who’d offered me friendship and done everything I’d asked, was someone I wanted to share more with than regular jog through the park.
After we ate and we were stacking the dishwasher, he was bending over and I brushed against him. It was accidentally but perhaps on purpose. “Todd, I…”
He stood up and we faced one another, only inches apart. Something stirred inside me as I inhaled his wine-laced breath. “Yeah?” he asked.
Maybe this was the wrong time, wrong place. Wrong everything. I reached out and trailed a finger over his jaw. He shivered and caught my hand, placing a gentle kiss on my palm. His rough stubble grazing the soft skin. I was giddy at the thought of him kissing me, but he took it slow. His lips kissed up my arm until my body was tingling, and when he finally placed them on my mouth, I leaned in to him.
As he placed his mouth on mine, lightning crackled across the sky, highlighting his face, followed by thunder rumbling in the distance and the pitter patter of raindrops on the window pane. Todd’s heart pounded, matching my own that was racing, and when he pulled away, I was breathless.
“That was nice,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
“Much more than nice.” I rested my head on his chest and listened to the comforting thump of his heart. “But I don’t know if I’m ready to stay the night. Don’t get me wrong. I want to get naked with you and … have sex, but I’m scared.”
“I want the same. Since the day I met you in the park, but we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
“I do and I don’t.” I was so confused, I didn’t know what I wanted. Stay or go?
“I have a suggestion.” He took my hand. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. No work, right?”
“Mmmm,” I mumbled.
“Stay here tonight.”
I stood back and my gaze wandered over his face. �
�But I just said…”
“In the guest room.”
“I didn’t bring my PJs.” That was a stupid thing to say.
“You won’t need any.”
“But…” I protested.
He put a finger to my lips. “I’ll be in my room.”
That was a little weird. “Okay.”
He pointed down the hall. “It’s the second on the right and has its own bathroom. Everything you need is there. And take your phone.” He shooed me away. “Go.”
After brushing my teeth and taking a quick shower, I climbed into the big bed wearing a freshly laundered pair of cotton pajamas. My phone buzzed and I answered. It was Todd on a video call.
I clicked accept and was met with his face as he lay surrounded by pillows. “Ready?”
“For what?”
“You said you wanted to see me,” he answered.
“I can see you fine.”
“All of me.” And he lowered the phone to his bare chest.
“Oh my God!”
13
Todd
I hope this is a good idea.
Lying on my bed, I said to Avery, “You said you wanted to see me.” He’d been seesawing between wanting intimacy but wondering if we were going too fast. “I thought this might make it easier for you.”
His wide eyes peered at the screen as he asked, “Are you… are you…?”
“Naked? Yeah. Is that okay?”
Avery licked his lips. “Yeah.”
“You wanna see more.?”
“I do.” He twisted the bedding between his fingers. “Am I supposed to undress too?” His wavering voice tugged at my heart.
“No. I mean, only if you want to. Let me go first. And if it doesn’t feel right, we can just talk and then go to sleep.” Though I wasn’t sure I could sleep knowing Avery was in the next room.
I positioned the phone over my chest. Both nipples were standing at attention. I circled one with a finger and then stuck my finger in my mouth. Avery gasped as I trailed it around the other nipple and lowered it to my belly button.
“Can’t see,” he shrieked.
With my focus on his face, I’d forgotten my duties as cameraman. “Sorry. Better?”
“Much.” He was sitting up and had thrown off the bed covers, but this was my gift to him. A long-distance striptease. He wiggled one finger toward the screen. “Don’t stop there.”
I loved how eager he was but didn’t dare push him. Slow and steady. I bucked my hips as I lowered the camera but not by much.
“Love the happy trail.” He smirked, “But it’s not the first time I’ve seen it.”
My hands froze. “Huh?” Was he a Peeping Tom who’d been hiding outside my window?
“When you fell in the lake I caught a glimpse.” He giggled, and his face reddened. “And when you came to my house and had the towel wrapped around your hips, I got an eyeful.”
“I see.” I rubbed my jaw. “In that case, if you’ve seen it all before, there’s no need to continue. Maybe I’ll read a book instead.” I brought the phone to my face.”
“Don’t you dare,” he snarled. “I love your face. Every part of it. But you’ve got me hot and bothered and I want to see your dick.”
“I’d love to see yours too,” I murmured.
“Soon.” His voice was little more than a whisper as I spread my legs and held the phone over my cock. When I’d started, I’d had a semi which had rapidly become more than that. Knowing Avery was staring at my dick had a surge of adrenaline pulsing through my veins.
A whimper escaped Avery's lips. “Are you all right?” I asked. Was he disappointed? Overwhelmed? Turned on? Turned off? One tiny whimper wasn’t enough to tell me which it was.
“More than all right.” He put his face close to the screen. “Your cock is gorgeous and freaking enormous. Show me more,” he mumbled as a bead of sweat plopped onto his phone.
After bending my knees, I cupped my balls and moaned before palming my dick. My eyes were fixed on the screen as Avery licked around his mouth, and I wrapped my fingers around my length.
“Go on.” This breathy voice sent a raging lust coursing through me, but I needed to hear him say it.
“W-What d-do you want me to d-do?” I stammered.
Avery chewed his bottom lip in that adorable way of his before replying, “More of you.”
“Like this?” I stuck two fingers in my mouth and slid them along the shaft.
Avery’s ragged breath and heaving chest had heat sizzling over my skin.
“Tug it,” he begged.
I obeyed. Once.
“Keep going.: He stuffed a pillow in his mouth and his teeth tugged at the corner. “Todd,” he gulped. “Your cock is enormous. Pump it hard.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say, “I’d prefer to be inside you,” but stifled the urge. Wanting to use both hands, I propped the phone against a cushion and positioned it between my legs.
“God, it’s huge.” My ego inflated on hearing his words. A bead of pre-cum sat on the tip of my length, and I captured it with my finger. Avery’s eyes grew wide as I raised my hand to my mouth and sucked.
“How does it taste?”
“Musky. And it smells like a moss-covered forest floor after a storm.”
Avery stuck out his tongue and closed his eyes. His hands scrunched the pajama top and I caught a glimpse of a sliver of skin around his hips as the fabric lifted. He was in the next room but he may have been on the other side of the country. So near and yet so far.
With one hand wrapped around the shaft, I tugged. Once. Twice. Three times. And closed my eyes. I pictured Avery offering his bare ass, glimmering with slippery slick. My hand squeezed his butt, coated in wetness, and I nudged his behind as my knees trembled. Then I positioned my cock at his small puckered entrance.
Bucking my hips and moaning, I slid my hand over the shaft as wave after wave of pleasure flooded through me.
“Todd.” The far-away voice niggled at my thoughts as it repeated my name. “Todd.”
Avery! “Mmmm. Is this okay?” I panted.
“Look at me.”
My eyes snapped open. I blinked trying to focus on the screen, which was smudged with my fingerprints. What was different? There was the same smiling face, those stunning eyes. The muscular chest. Wait! He was bare-chested. “Your pajama shirt. What happened to it?”
“Don’t know,” he shrugged. “And I don’t care.”
Wow! “What about the pants?”
“I’m thinking of taking them off. Wanna watch?”
My hand froze. “Yes, please.”
The phone jiggled as he placed it on the bed. “Avery,” I gasped. “I can’t see.”
He waved the blue-and-white pajamas he’d borrowed in front of the phone. “Thanks for the loan, but I won’t be needing them for the rest of the evening.”
“A-All n-night?” I stuttered.
“Think so.”
14
Avery
“Can you come here, Todd?” The door flung open before his name was out of my mouth. “That was quick.” But as he stood in the doorway, my brain registered that he was naked. I’d seen him on my phone. The narrow hips and enticing happy trail leading to curly dark hair. I blinked as I took in the impressive dick that was pointing at me. “Wow! The camera didn’t lie. You’re enormous.”
While I’d removed my shirt, the PJ bottoms were still in place, hugging my hips, though my engorged cock was making a tent at the front.
“Hi.” His tentative voice pulled at my heartstrings. When had I become so emotional? I didn’t have an answer. “May I join you?”
“That’s why I invited you.”
Todd sat beside me as I chewed my lower lip. Now I was shy, and no matter where I looked, Todd’s cock was staring at me. My fingers played with the sheet, but he put a finger under my chin and lifted it and there was nowhere to look but in his eyes. “I’m going to kiss you again. Is that okay? That one in the kitchen doesn’t
count as a proper kiss.”
“Okay.”
His lips touched mine. Soft, warm, and luxurious, reminding me of velvet. His little pecks were flirty and persuasive, drawing me in, making my head spin and my nipples harden so they almost hurt. My cock squirmed as an inferno ignited deep within me.
Todd pulled away, and one hand went to my waist and fingered my pajamas. Well, technically they were his. “I think these should come off. They’d look better on the floor.”
“I agree.” I lifted my ass, and Todd yanked the pants over my hips and tossed them aside. His fingers stroked over my shaft, and we both moaned.
He leaned over and captured one of my puckered nipples between his lips. Air whooshed out of my mouth as I draped a hand over his shoulder and arched my back. He pushed me down on the bed and smothered my chest with kisses, before sticking his tongue into my belly button. The feathery strokes of his tongue over my flesh had me whimpering.
I wriggled my ass over the mattress, giving him space to lie beside me, but he ripped open a condom packet with his teeth before getting on his knees and nestled between my splayed legs.
“I want to see you,” he said as he spread my legs farther apart. He sat back on his heels and ran his gaze over me, and I lifted a leg and placed my foot on his swollen length. As I rubbed and increased the pressure, he grabbed it and pressed it down harder.
The only sound in the room was our panting until Todd pushed my foot away and had me raise my legs. His finger prodded my hole as slick streamed from it. He held up his hand, covered in the slippery wetness. “You’re so ready, Avery.”
“Hurry,” I urged. I panted as he lined up his thick cock with my hole and wriggled my ass as he loomed over me.
“Look here, Avery.” And when our eyes locked together, he thrust inside. The shock had me yell, “Shit!” as he took me. Not just plunged in or penetrated, but possessed. Todd was in deep, he was in all the way. He fit inside my channel so snugly and he filled me completely, it was as though his cock was meant to be there.