The Blank Canvas (Apartment #2)

by Amanda Black

  “Oh my God,” he gasped, unable to look her in the eye once his gaze had locked onto her dripping sex. “You’re so fucking wet for me, baby.” He ripped his t-shirt off over his head and pulled up on her hips. “Here, lift up.” When she was up high enough, he slid his shirt underneath her, putting a barrier between her and the upholstery. Slowly he slid his hands between her thighs, pulling her legs wider until her free leg was resting with her foot on the back window ledge.

  “Oh fuck,” he whimpered. “I thought I remembered how perfect you were… how gorgeous this was.” When he finally glanced up at her, he looked almost apologetic. “No memory can compare.”

  And with that, he promptly buried his face between her legs.

  The sounds that emanated from that car would have terrified any unsuspecting hiker who might have happened by after that. Ethan’s groans and Lily’s cries of pleasure blended together to make some sort of raw, primal soundtrack to their stolen afternoon.

  He licked and sucked at her wet, swollen flesh, quickly feeling drunk on her lust. Swirling his tongue around and around her clitoris, he would leave just long enough to dip it inside her opening a few times before flattening it out once more and making long, broad swipes back up to her tightened bundle of nerves. When he eventually felt her hands clamp down on his head and hold him in place as she started to grind herself into his face, he growled over and over against her wet flesh, emitting noises she thought were merely animalistic grunts, but in truth was his possessive mantra: Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine!

  Ethan was so hard he was throbbing painfully, unconsciously shifting his hips against the seat beneath him to relieve some of the pressure as he devoured her. When he slid two long, slender fingers deep inside her and began massaging her from the inside while she bucked against him, he knew that it wasn’t going to be much longer before she found her release. And when he curled those same fingers upwards and pressed in just the right spot, causing her inner muscles to clamp down and grip him tightly while she screamed his name and flooded his fingers with her fluids, he knew it wasn’t going to be much longer before he found his release.

  Lily’s hands gripped and pulled at his hair as she rode out her explosive climax, nearly passing out from the pleasure. As she crashed back down to reality, she was surprised to feel a huge tremor pass through Ethan’s body, a guttural moan escaping his throat before he collapsed with his head on her stomach. She stroked his hair lovingly, realizing that she had missed this intimacy with him even more than she had thought.

  “That was so fucking amazing,” she panted. When he didn’t reply after a moment, she looked down to find that his face was buried in her stomach. “Is something wrong, baby? I didn’t forget about you, you know. I just needed a second to recoup,” she laughed lightly. “You almost knocked me out there.”

  “Um… I don’t really think you need to do anything right now,” he mumbled, still averting his eyes.

  “But I want to! I miss you too. We should have enough time if we hurry,” she said, starting to sit up.

  “Uh, no, that’s okay,” he replied, pushing her back down. “Just rest here for a minute before we have to go back. That took a lot out of both of us.”

  “Is something wrong?” She was beginning to get concerned at how distant he was acting. “Why won’t you let me help you, too?” She propped herself on her elbows and forced his chin up until he was looking at her.

  “Because I don’t exactly need any help anymore,” he muttered, his face turning beet red.

  “Oh!” It finally dawned on her what he was trying to say. “You mean you… already?”

  “Yes!” he snapped.

  “Well, that’s okay,” she smiled. “Why are you so upset? Didn’t you pretty much do the same thing yesterday on the pool table?”

  “That was different, it was intentional. This wasn’t.”

  “Why does that matter? I mean, I’m bummed that I can’t repay the favor until later, but what’s the big deal?”

  “The big deal is that I haven’t blown my load like a teenager since I fucking was a teenager. I got so goddamn turned on going down on you that I couldn’t hold it once you started coming.”

  “Well, that’s no reason to be embarrassed. I’m actually flattered.”

  “Flattered?!”

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “Now that I think about it, it’s kinda hot.”

  “How can you possibly find that hot?”

  “Okay, pretend for a second our roles were reversed. Look how turned on you get just knowing that I’m wet for you. How hot would it be if I just got so excited while sucking you off that I couldn’t stop myself from coming without even touching myself?”

  “Well… when you put it like that,” he laughed.

  “Exactly. It would drive you crazy, don’t even try to say it wouldn’t. It’s the same for me. I’m actually going to have a very hard time concentrating at work this afternoon, just thinking of you so turned on for me.”

  “Speaking of work, we better get you back before you’re late.”

  “Oh crap,” she sighed, glancing at her watch. “Yeah, we should get going.”

  Lily shimmied back into her pants awkwardly, grabbing her shoe from the front seat and shoving her foot in it. When Ethan sat up and lifted his shirt to put it back on, she gasped loudly.

  “Good lord! Please don’t tell me you are thinking about wearing that again.”

  “What? Why not?” He held it up and turned it back and forth, showcasing the enormous wet spot that had soaked through both sides of the material. “I don’t see anything wrong here,” he chuckled. “It’s just a little love stain.”

  “Well, there’s a whole lotta love on that shirt!” she laughed.

  “No kidding, I think I might frame this thing. I mean, it’s like a personal best. I sort of feel accomplished right now.”

  “No fair! If you get to frame that, then I get to scrapbook those jeans you’re wearing.”

  He looked her in the eye and winked. “Touché.”

  Getting out of the car, Ethan walked to the back and popped the trunk. After a minute of listening to him rustle around, Lily grew tired of trying to guess what he was doing and stepped out to follow him.

  The sight that greeted her nearly made her heart stop.

  Ethan was standing in the bright sunshine, completely nude, rifling through a few boxes in his trunk.

  Once she finally regained her composure enough to speak, she cleared her throat dramatically. When he stopped what he was doing long enough to look at her, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Uh… baby, what the hell are you doing?”

  “I have a box of old clothes in here with some of my art supplies,” he explained as he shoved a few more things around. “I was thinking of maybe doing some sketching or painting out here later, and I always keep spare clothes around in case I get splattered on.”

  “You got splattered on, alright,” she teased.

  “You can say that again,” he mumbled to himself as he tore open another box. “Ha! There they are.”

  Lily watched as he climbed into another ungodly sexy pair of jeans that rode low on his hips, accentuating the fact that he was going commando. She would have been perfectly fine to stand there slack-jawed and staring for the rest of the day, but when he pulled an old black t-shirt over his head and turned around, she almost squealed when she saw I’m Old Gregg on the front of it in large white letters.

  “Oh my God! Where did you get that?”

  “Over in England a few years back. Why do you look so surprised? I told you I was a Boosh fan.”

  “I don’t know… I guess I just…” Lily had no idea how to articulate the fact that seeing him in a goofy old novelty shirt struck such a chord with her that it was like she was looking at a mixture of her soul mate and her wildest dream come to life. Smiling up at him bashfully, she blushed. “I guess I just really like it.”

  “Come here.” Ethan held his hand out to her, pulling her close the moment his fingers cl
osed over her own. “I guess I just really like you,” he whispered, leaning down to capture her lips in a soft, gentle kiss. No one had ever looked at him like that before, as if he were the answer to all of their prayers, and seeing that expression coming from her made him a bit lightheaded.

  When Lily broke the kiss a moment later, she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed loudly. “I hate to say it, but I really do have to get going.”

  Ethan chuckled lightly to himself. “I know, beautiful. Let’s get out of here.”

  They jumped back in the car and took off toward town, getting her back to work only three minutes late, which was better than either of them expected. She thanked him for lunch—and other things—agreeing to talk on the phone again later that night after she got off work.

  When Lily made it back to her desk to clock in, Becky took one look at her and started laughing.

  “What’s up, Nooner?” she cackled.

  “Shut up!” Lily hissed under her breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh whatever, bitch! Nobody, and I repeat, nobody, goes to lunch with Ethan Fucking Foster and comes back looking that satisfied without having just been screwed six ways from Sunday.”

  “We did not have sex!” she gritted through her teeth, brushing through her hair quickly with her fingers and checking her reflection in the small hand mirror she kept in her desk.

  “Okay, Bill Clinton,” Becky smirked. “Whatever you want to call it.”

  “Don’t you have a patient up?” Lily muttered, glancing around for eavesdroppers.

  “Nope,” she grinned widely. “My first one is a no-show and yours is still updating her insurance, so spill it.”

  “What do you want to know?” she moaned, knowing that Becky would keep asking until someone eventually overheard her.

  “For starters, how the hell do you know Ethan Foster, and how long has this been going on?”

  “How did you even know it was Ethan?”

  “Please. Kim had the entire office on red alert the second you walked out the door. Now she’s got a whole new reason to be bitchy to you.”

  “Why? They didn’t date, did they?” Lily gasped, trying not to throw up a little in her mouth.

  “No! But if she’d had it her way, they would have. Hell, we all would have!” Becky sighed wistfully. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Jared, but Ethan was the unattainable perfection that we all fantasized about getting our hands on back in high school.” That comment did not particularly help Lily with her jealousy issues. “But he never talked to any of us. Anyway, stop changing the subject. I want details!”

  Lily finally caved, immediately feeling better about having someone she talked to on a daily basis up to speed with her life. She went on to explain that Maggie Foster had been trying to set them up a few months ago, but thanks to her unhappy engagement and his traumatic breakup, it wasn’t the right time for either of them. However, she hinted that the sparks had still flown between them, and when they had bumped back into each other over the weekend it had been a whole different story.

  It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie. She wanted to share as much as she could while still maintaining a modicum of privacy. The last thing she needed was to inadvertently give away their biggest secret to even more people. It was bad enough Ethan’s whole family knew they’d been sleeping together while she was still engaged. She didn’t need that little tidbit getting around her work, too.

  “Have you told your father yet?” Becky gave her a knowing look.

  “No,” Lily groaned, not even wanting to think about that yet. “It’s all so new. You’re really the first person I’ve talked to about it other than Ethan’s sister, Emma.”

  “How do you think he’s going to take it? I mean, won’t everyone else in the world pale in comparison to Scott the Golden Boy?” Becky had been open about her dislike of Scott for years, hating the way he seemed to expect her friend to drop everything to be at his beck and call. Her respect for Lily’s father had dwindled for the same reason.

  “Oh, I don’t think it will be that bad, whenever I do decide to tell him. He’s starting to accept that Scott and I were never meant to be, and I know he’d never admit it, but I think he’s proud of me for starting over on my own.”

  “Well… good luck with that.” Becky didn’t bother masking the doubtful tone in her voice.

  “It’ll be fine,” Lily replied with more conviction than she felt.

  As long as Ethan sticks around long enough to actually meet my dad this time.

  They both got back to work, each of them helping their respective patients for the rest of the afternoon. Whenever they would bump into each other again, Becky would ask another question, trying to get to the bottom of the Ethan mystery. By the end of their shift, Lily had promised to ask Ethan about possibly going out on a double date soon, which tickled Becky to no end.

  Driving home in her massive boat of a car, Lily let her mind wander back through the day’s events. She had been officially “outed” at work, fielding questions left and right after bigmouth Sanders blabbed to all who would listen that Lily was dating someone new. She also took it as a personal accomplishment that she’d managed to make everyone with a pulse completely jealous of her when “someone new” turned out to be a certain Mr. Ethan Foster. The same Ethan Foster, in fact, who had treated her to a delicious lunch followed by an even more delicious orgasm.

  All in all, it hadn’t been too bad of a day.

  As she turned into her parking lot, trying to think of what she might throw together for dinner, her phone beeped in her pocket; it was a text from Ethan. Swiping the screen excitedly, she felt her heart begin to pound in her ribcage when she read the two little words on the display screen.

  Next weekend

  Finally! They had a deadline for their frustration. She let out an enormous sigh, surprised at how much better she felt just knowing that in a little over a week they would once again be able to share themselves completely with each other. Hell, she might even be able to make it that long without sexually assaulting him in the process.

  Had she thought this day hadn’t been too bad? Scratch that.

  This day had been perfect.

  Chapter 10

  Ethan was gone for the next two days, only giving Lily the cryptic explanation that he needed to “finalize” a few things in Chicago before their big night in just over a week. She pouted when he wouldn’t give her any more clues, but gave up gracefully when he assured her that being away from her for that long was going to be pure torture and promised to call her every night before bed.

  When Ethan arrived in Chicago, Greg introduced him to Joan, the owner of a trendy new gallery that was gaining a lot of notoriety in the local art scene for its bold and ballsy collections. They spent the better part of an afternoon going over Ethan’s demands and Joan’s ideas, trying to meet somewhere in the middle. When they finally reached a compromise they agreed to meet the following day to go over the final details of the plans that Joan would finish drawing up that night.

  Not quite sure what to do with himself for the rest of the evening, Ethan took a deep breath and called his sister, shocking the hell out of her when he asked if she and Brandon wanted to grab some dinner.

  Now, a few hours later, he sat in their lavishly decorated guest bedroom and dialed Lily’s number.

  “I was beginning to think you were never going to call,” Lily teased as she answered the phone.

  “Sorry ’bout that, baby. I went out with Emma and Brandon. We just got back.”

  “Oh, you did?” she smiled. “That sounds fun!”

  “It really was,” he said, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. “That Brandon’s a funny fucker once he finally starts talking.”

  “I know,” she agreed. “I can’t tell who’s funnier, him or Eric. They both crack me up. Did Eric and Maggie go too?”

  “No, he’s out of town until next week and apparently Maggie has been glued
to her computer lately working on a new story.”

  Lily perked up like a curious puppy. “New story? What new story?”

  “I don’t know, fangirl,” he laughed. “You’ll have to ask her yourself. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will have lots of smut in it.”

  Lily sighed loudly. “Oh, I hope so! She does it the best.”

  “Really? I always thought we did it the best,” he smirked.

  “Well, when it comes to practical application, sure, but in the written form it’s all her.” They both laughed lightly, enjoying their easy banter.

  “I missed you so much today,” he whispered after a brief lull had settled over the conversation. “I know it’s only been a few days, but I need to have you close to me. I want to be near you all the time, and it’s worse now than it ever was before.”

  “How do you mean, ‘worse than before?’”

  “Well, before, I couldn’t get you out of my head. I was always wondering if my beautiful goddess was going to visit me. But now that you’re mine, my beautiful Lily, I just can’t be close enough to you. I can’t get enough of you in my life. I’m happy for the first time in years, and the only thing I’m high on is you.”

  A loud sniffle could be heard on the other end of the phone. “I love you, Ethan,” she eventually managed to choke out. “I love you so much.”

  Every time she said it, his heart skipped a beat. “God, I love you too, baby. So fucking much. I don’t really know how to handle it, it’s so overwhelming.”

  “Yeah, me neither,” she chuckled, wiping her eyes.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked after she was silent again.

  “That I really wish you were here right now… and that we didn’t have to wait any longer.”

  “Soon, Lily. So soon. And I can’t wait to be back home so I can hold you again.”

  “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you refer to Aledo as your home, even though you grew up here. You always acted like you were just passing through.”