Seduction Game (Art and Soul)

by Candy J. Starr

  “Come on. Become the acorn.”

  He’d sat back down and somehow the distance between us had gotten smaller. His body turned to mine and I’d turned to face him. It would have been awkward to sit any other way. But now our legs almost touched. I wondered if I should move mine closer to his or move it away, but I did neither. I just sat with my leg almost touching his, super aware of the closeness of our legs.

  “Do it again. With feeling this time. You were too slack.”

  “You never said I had to do it enthusiastically. I did it and I did it with actions. That’s enough.”

  I sighed.

  “Truth or dare?” he asked.

  “Truth,” I said, picking up my beer.

  “What do you think of me?”

  I choked and spluttered beer on myself. Really cool. That was so not what I’d been expecting.

  He stared at me. He really stared. That gaze was unreadable. I turned away because his stare was way too intense for my liking.

  A zillion things seemed to happen in my body at once. Adrenalin shot everywhere and I wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement or just general horniness. My heart went into overdrive, pounding like a jackhammer. That pounding jackhammer feeling went all the way down.

  I couldn’t answer that question. I just couldn’t.

  I reached for the bottle and poured myself a shot. That was much more acceptable than going anywhere near answering a question like that. As I reached over, though, my foot grazed his leg. Just an accidental touch but that damn electric charge came back.

  I wasn’t even sure what the answer was myself. Not so long ago, it’d have been easy. Lazy, arrogant jerk was the label I’d put on him. But now he’d become so much more. The guy I’d seen playing guitar on stage was a different person. Even the teasing person he’d been in the restaurant was a lot more fun than I’d expected. I didn’t hate him, that was the only sure thing. He intrigued me, he annoyed me and, as he sat there with his thumb pressed against his lower lip, I wanted to kiss the fuck out of him. My whole body buzzed to touch him.

  I gulped down the shot. The heat that pulsated through my body this time wasn’t only from the booze.

  “Truth or dare?” I asked him, my voice husky.

  “Dare.”

  “I dare you to kiss me.”

  There, I’d blurted it out. That’s what this whole game had been leading up to. And, to be honest, kissing was a lot less of an issue than discussing my feelings. He’d not refuse, surely. I’d just die.

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  He leant in closer to me, so close I could smell him. Close enough that our lips almost touched. Almost. There was still a gap between us. I shuffled over, twisting my legs under me so that my knees touched his legs.

  My breathing stopped. He grabbed my shoulders, pulling me against him. It was uncomfortable as hell, sitting like that. But I’d not move. Not until we’d done this. I hoped he wouldn’t laugh. That would ruin everything.

  Our bodies touched in so many places. My boobs squeezed against his chest. I rested my fingers lightly on his arms to steady myself.

  For an instant we paused, our gazes locked. I could read nothing in the depths of his eyes but I could tell by the way his heart pounded against mine that he wanted this as much as I did.

  Then he kissed me, on the lips. Not an open mouth kiss, just a brushing of his lips against mine. A safe kiss.

  I reeled back. That’s how he’d kiss his grandmother. A kiss that said nothing. That kiss was much more lacklustre than even his acorn had been.

  “That’s cheating,” I said.

  He shrugged. Then he got himself a shot. I guess even he realised that it was a piss poor effort. Jeez, I’m not that hard to kiss. When he’d gotten that close to me, my entire body cried out for him to kiss me. I ached for his kiss. A real kiss.

  “Okay, I dare you to kiss me.”

  So, it wasn’t the “me” part of the kiss he had problems with. Maybe he was as inexperienced as his parents thought. Maybe he’d been teasing. I couldn’t work it out at all.

  Screw it. He wanted this, he’d get it. Full force. Nothing held back. I wouldn’t be fobbed off with that weak kiss. I bet no woman had ever kissed him properly, and that full bottom lip of his was perfect for kissing.

  “Are you sure you can handle it?”

  He nodded.

  Okay, I took a deep breath and pushed him back against the sofa. He put up no resistance.

  I moved on top of him, straddling his lap.

  “What do you think of that, Sunshine?” I asked him, my voice more husky than I thought possible.

  He laughed nervously. His arms hung by his sides until I grabbed his hands and put them on my legs. My skirt had ridden up, leaving my thighs bare. There was only the thin fabric of my knickers and the thick denim of his jeans keeping us apart. As I sat, watching the expression on his face, my chest tightened. I was changing things between us. Making all those feelings swirling around us into something tangible.

  Unable to resist any longer, I reached out and caught that lock of hair in my fingers. His hair was softer than I’d thought, and so shiny.

  His eyes sparkled. And while his hands didn’t move, I was well aware of the swelling of that denim between my legs. That was an encouraging sign. Hell, if I’d been sitting on his lap toying with him like this and he hadn’t cracked a fat, I’d have given up.

  I wasn’t prepared for just how turned on that got me. I hadn’t even kissed him yet and I ached to have his cock inside me. Surely, he’d feel the heat radiating from me. I bit my lip, trying to repress the sigh that still escaped my lips.

  His hips moved beneath me. He felt this as strongly as I did.

  I rolled my hips, full lap dancer style, wanting to get closer to that. As I pressed against his erection, shudders went through my body. I swirled and gyrated. He moved against me and a lazy smile spread his face.

  Then I reached out and traced his bottom lip with my thumb, building up the anticipation.

  He shuddered a little.

  “Are you ready?” I whispered.

  He nodded.

  As I moved forward, that hard ridge of denim teased me. Already my panties were soaked. This wasn’t playing around for me. I wanted him. Every part of me desired him.

  My lips met his and whoa! I was not prepared for the intensity.

  My body sizzled. Jesus. I could kiss this man forever. The buzz jolted straight to my core. He didn’t move his hands from where I’d placed them on my legs. Damn him, I wanted those hands all over my body but mostly I wanted them between my legs.

  We humped against each other, as close to screwing as we could get fully dressed. The fully dressed thing bugged me and I ran my fingers under the bottom of his t-shirt. Those abs felt every bit as good as I’d imagined.

  The condoms were still upstairs in my drawer. We needed to get up there, fast.

  Even though he still hadn’t moved, his gaze fastened on my nipples almost bursting through the fabric of my t-shirt. Why the hell was he just staring? He had hands. He had a mouth. I needed him to do something.

  The front door slammed.

  He pushed me off him. I sat frozen, bursting with unsatisfied desire.

  What was it? If someone was robbing the place, they wouldn’t be making a noise like that. If they wanted the valuables, they could hurry up and take them so we could get back to what we’d been doing. A dull pain throbbed in my chest, the pain of being suddenly thrust from Junichi’s lap. I glanced at him and the longing in his eyes reflected my own.

  Hell. I wanted him so bad. We needed to do this or we’d explode.

  The door to the living room slid open.

  Yumi walked in. I was about to ask what she was doing home when I noticed her eyes, red and puffy like she’d been crying.

  She looked at us then shut the door. Her footsteps pounded on the stairs as she ran to her room.

  Junichi and I exchanged glances. I didn’t w
ant to leave him.

  I wondered if we could keep on kissing without Yumi hearing us but she was in pain. That much was clear. Even though my first feeling was anger at being disturbed, she needed someone.

  “I’ll go talk to her,” I said.

  I smoothed my hair.

  As I started to get up, he grabbed my hand. A gentle grasp, as though he couldn’t bear to let me go. Our lips came together one more time but I pulled away before it got too intense. If we started again, we’d never stop, even with Yumi in the house.

  CHAPTER 15

  When I got to Yumi’s room, she was sitting on the bed hugging a pillow with her knees drawn up to her chest. All the typical signs of a teenage girl in the middle of a crisis. She wasn’t crying but looked like she wasn’t far from it.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  “Anything you want to talk about?” I sat down in the chair beside her bed.

  It might’ve been totally selfish but part of me hoped that she’d just had some stupid misunderstanding and she’d head off back to her friend’s place, leaving Junichi and me alone. My body whirred, all muscles taut and jangling with desire. Repressing that was like putting out an electrical fire. I hoped the lust wasn’t shining out from me but she wasn’t really aware of anything around her.

  Yumi wasn’t the type to come home in tears unless something bad had happened.

  She shook her head and didn’t look at me. She’d been crying, though, definitely. I didn’t blame her for not wanting to talk. I’m not really a talking about my feelings type either. It was kind of awkward to be sitting there with her not saying anything, though. Maybe she wanted to be alone. When I got up to leave, though, she grabbed hold of my arm.

  “Don’t go,” she said.

  I nodded and sat back down. The two of us didn’t talk but if it helped her to have me there with her then I’d stay.

  “You were at your friend’s?” I asked. That’s where she’d told her parents she was going but she could’ve been going anywhere. I mean she wouldn’t exactly tell them if she was planning on going out to a club or a wild party. I hoped it hadn’t been anything too horrible.

  She nodded again.

  “I went to Hana’s place and she invited some other friends. Eri and Mina.”

  “A sleepover?”

  Yumi nodded. “It sounded like fun, right?”

  “Yep.”

  She just shook her head. She seemed to want to talk about it but the words weren’t coming out. Maybe it was hard for her to talk about or maybe it was too hard for her to get out in English.

  “You can tell me in Japanese if you like. I’ll try to understand.”

  “No. It’s okay. English is easier. It’s not so personal.”

  I kind of understood what she meant.

  “I guess it’s no big deal but they started saying things to me.”

  “Mean things?”

  She nodded again. Hell, poor kid. Teenage girls could be so bitchy and it was awful to have your friends turn on you. I’d not had many friends in high school. Sean had seen to that. But I knew what it was like to be the target of that kind of nastiness. That deadweight feeling in my stomach came rushing back with the memory.

  “They talked about boys. I don’t have much experience with boys.”

  “Well, that’s normal at your age. You don’t need to rush things if you’re not comfortable.”

  She looked up with a wan smile. “Really?”

  It was like the idea had never occurred to her before. Shit, I’d been screwing at her age but I wished I hadn’t. It hadn’t seemed like such a big deal then but I’d been way too young. I’d not even realised how amazing things could be until tonight.

  Junichi wasn’t Sean. He sure as hell wasn’t forcing me into anything I didn’t want to do. I was the one pushing, but things had gone from zero to almost screwing in a hurry.

  “Sure. What’s the point of doing things you don’t want to do just to keep up with your friends? That would be gross, right? Why would you kiss a boy if he doesn’t make your heart flutter?”

  My heart had fluttered. It’d fluttered like a crazy fluttering thing. The aftershocks of that fluttering still reverberated in my body. I wasn’t rushing things with Junichi. Not when I felt like this.

  Junichi knocked on the door, then opened it a crack.

  “We don’t have any leftover pizza but I can order some more if you are hungry,” he said.

  Just the sound of his voice got my heart trembling again and that dull ache inside me grew stronger. My body flooded with heat. I couldn’t sit here like this while he was in the room.

  Yumi shook her head.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Well, I am. Order away.”

  Wow, I couldn’t believe that someone who was usually such a jerk could be so nice.

  “Maybe one slice would be good,” Yumi said.

  Junichi left the room. I’d not even looked at him. I couldn’t risk the extreme lust inside of me being caught by Yumi. I wanted to look, though. I wanted to know if his feelings were the same.

  I got up to follow him out of the room but Yumi grabbed my arm again. I got that she didn’t want to be alone and I’d stay with her while she needed me but it was super awkward. I’d like five minutes alone with Junichi to talk things over. If we waited too long, who knew what would happen.

  It didn’t take long for the pizza to arrive and Yumi perked up a bit. Even though she’d said she only wanted one slice, she got her appetite back when she started eating.

  I sat in the chair beside her and Junichi sat at the end of the bed. Both of us staring at the pizza box. The unresolved feelings between us couldn’t be sorted out tonight but the rawness of the emotions hurt like hell.

  I ended up sleeping in Yumi’s room. She really hadn’t wanted me to leave her alone.

  The next morning, she seemed fine. I’d stumbled back to my bed to get some real sleep. Above me, Junichi’s footsteps thudded around his room. Rather than making me angry, it was reassuring to know he was so close. I hugged my blanket close to me. Surely we’d have a chance to be alone together soon. I pushed away any thoughts I had about it just being the booze and the situation. I wanted him and he sure as hell wanted me. That couldn’t be denied.

  I needed to know how he felt. As soon as I woke up, I wanted to go to him and ask him. Well, part of me did. Part of me wanted to hide in my room and never come out.

  I’d kissed him.

  I’d kissed him and I’d loved it.

  That was the reality. But where to from here? I knew what I wanted. I wanted him. I wanted all of him. Every particle of my body ached for him. If Yumi hadn’t interrupted us, we’d have ended up in bed together. Jeez, we’d have been lucky to make it to bed from the couch, the way we were grinding against each other. There was no doubt there, at all.

  But how did he feel? Was he aching too or did he regret everything?

  I couldn’t stay in bed all day. Well, I could if I wanted to starve to death. I got to the door of my room when I realised I didn’t want him to see me in my just woken up state. My hair looked frightful and I think I had food stains on my pyjama top. I ran to the bathroom and showered, then cleaned myself up.

  By the time I got downstairs, I was starving but at least I didn’t look like a slob. Junichi was nowhere around though. I made myself a sandwich, since it was way after noon.

  There was no one around at all. I was happy to avoid Mr and Mrs Tachibana.

  “Hey Audrey, ready for me to kick your butt?” Shun appeared out of nowhere.

  “Yeah, sure, just let me eat my sandwich.”

  “There’ll be no game playing. You have homework to do.” Mrs Tachibana must have overheard him. Shit, she gave me the dirtiest look, like I was the one encouraging the gaming.

  “Your mum’s right,” I said. “I have study to do too.”

  Mrs Tachibana kept staring at me, as if I’d have some traces of last night’s debauc
hery on my face. I guess my sleeping in so late gave the impression that I’d had a big night.

  I heard footsteps on the stairs and my head spun around. It wasn’t Junichi though. It was Yumi.

  “Oh, you’re home from Hana’s already?” Mrs Tachibana said. “Did you have a nice time?”

  “Yes, it was fun,” Yumi said. She looked away from me when she said it.

  “Oh, Junichi isn’t going to be home for dinner. He’s gone to a study group.”

  My heart sank when she said that. Sure, it would be easier to not have to face each other but was he doing it to avoid me? That stung.

  CHAPTER 16

  I’d be better off forgetting this whole situation. My life had become a mess since I’d moved in with the Tachibana’s. I didn’t need this emotional chaos on top of it. I figured getting up early and heading off to university was my best bet. I’d avoid any awkwardness with Junichi. He obviously wasn’t obsessing over me like I was over him or he’d have not disappeared. I wasn’t stupid. I got the message loud and clear.

  The rest of the household left by nine, so I jumped in the shower and figured I’d be out of the house early enough to give Junichi a miss.

  I stripped off and got under the water, hoping to wash away any thoughts of Junichi. He could’ve at least sent me a text or something. Goddamn, he was a weirdo. He’d probably just avoid me for the rest of my time here. Like I couldn’t handle rejection. I scrubbed my armpits. As though he was such a shining prize that I’d not be able to leave him alone.

  I’d only been doing it for his parent's sake anyway. I didn’t even like him that much.

  I scrubbed harder. He could go to hell. I wouldn’t even talk to him again.

  The bathroom door banged. I jumped around. I was alone in the house and something weird was going on.

  Through the steam of the shower, I saw him standing in the bathroom. I wanted to kill him for scaring the shit out of me.

  I opened the shower door. Water and soap suds ran down my body. Instead of shouting at him, my voice left my body.

  My nipples hardened as he stared at me. So hard they caused me pain. All kinds of emotions stirred up in my body.

  His glance swept over my body, from my head, slowly moving down to my tits, then lower and lower, right to my feet. Then back to my face.