After a few minutes of pretending to read, I said, “Hmm, looks great!”
When I tried to get up, Ben stopped me.
I turned, so we were facing each other, and just as I was forming the question he leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. A thrill ran through me. He kissed me again and this time the kiss grew deeper, more insistent, and I found myself responding. When he pulled away, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
“I’ve wanted to do that for quite a while,” he said, as his eyes held mine. “I didn’t know if you were interested though.”
“I didn’t know you were interested,” I said and we both laughed.
We kissed some more and I slipped my arms around his neck. He felt wonderful and smelled so good. A clean guy smell. His hands slipped under my shirt and then slid down the length of my back. Warm fingers glided over my skin. Our kisses grew hotter and it became clear this was headed somewhere.
“Come on,” he said. We got off the chair and he took my hand, leading me back towards his bedroom.
I’ve never slept with a guy on the first date, but as I followed Ben into his bedroom it didn’t feel like a first date. I hadn’t even known it was a date at all!
We stood next to the bed and he kissed me for a while before stepping back to help pull my shirt off. Next he moved behind me and unfastened my bra. He slid it off and then cupped my breasts with warm hands. I leaned into him and sighed. His hard body felt good behind me and I liked what his hands were doing too. When he rolled his thumbs over my nipples, it sent a shower of sparks through me that led straight between my legs and I whimpered softly.
Ben had me stand in front of him then while he sat on the bed and unzipped my jeans. I’m glad I was wearing nice panties. They were only cotton bikinis with little red flowers, but they were still nice enough.
“You’re so sexy,” he murmured, kissing my stomach, sending butterfly shivers through me.
“Am I?”
“I couldn’t wait to touch you. It’s all I’ve been thinking about for weeks.”
He slid my jeans down, then my panties, and stood up so he was standing right in front of me. He pulled me against him and we kissed while I took in the feel of him, the decadence of his hands on me, roaming everywhere.
I slid my fingers under his shirt, pushing it upward. His skin was smooth with miles of lean muscle. Lust pulsed through me like a river.
“Take this off,” I whispered.
Ben stepped back, yanked his shirt overhead and stripped his jeans away. My hands reached out for him in a way I couldn’t control. He pulled me in close so we were skin to skin, the hard demand of his body obvious as he pressed himself against me. As we stood facing each other, I couldn’t help notice that, like in the photo, he had a great body. Broad shoulders that tapered down. He was nicely muscular all over. His cock poked my leg, so I reached down and wrapped my hand around it.
“Nice to meet you,” I said softly.
Ben made a strangled sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “Let’s go on the bed.”
He pulled me down onto the tangle of sheets and lay over me, kissing and nipping at my neck, lowering his head to my breasts, while I tried to catch my breath.
I felt his hand slide between my legs.
“You’re so wet,” he whispered, moving his fingers around in a circular motion, before sliding a couple of them inside of me, eliciting a gasp. “Does that feel good?”
“It does….” I managed to say. It felt so good that I couldn’t remember if I’d ever been this turned on with someone before. I reached down and put my hand around his cock, wanting him to join me in all these good sensations. I moved my fingers up and down the shaft and over the glans that were slippery with pre-come. We did this for a long while, kissing deeply, lost in each other.
At some point he shifted position, his mouth sliding down to my nipples where he licked and suckled each in turn until I was hot and desperate, until I rocked my hips, pulling him to me. Ben had other ideas though as he worked his way down towards my stomach so his face was finally between my legs. His arms gripped my thighs and I felt his mouth on me, sliding his tongue around, working the right spot. It was wonderful and he kept at it until I couldn’t take it anymore, until waves of pleasure overtook me and I came hard, gasping his name, clutching his head with both hands.
When I finally managed to let go of him, he sat up. His mouth open, breathing hard. Leaning over me, Ben opened the drawer on his nightstand and started rummaging through it.
“Shit! Tell me I have a condom.”
A few seconds later he pulled out a small blue package and held it up for me to see, both of us grinning with relief. He tore it open and slipped the rubber on and I reached for him impatiently. Still excited from my climax, I wanted him inside me.
We kissed and his mouth tasted like me. I felt his cock between my legs and I thought he might take it slow, but it was clear he was past the point of control. He pushed into with one hard thrust.
“God, you feel good Kate,” he said hotly. “Everything about you feels so good.”
He felt amazing too, moving inside me, the weight of his body on me, and I wished it would go on forever. I wrapped myself around him and made gasping, sobbing kinds of noises, barely recognizing myself, barely even aware that anything else in the world existed. I felt a rush come over me and realized with surprise that I was coming again in another wave of ecstasy. Somewhere in there Ben grabbed my legs and pushed my knees up high. His pace quickened and I could sense he was close, so I dug my nails into him, watching as he eventually groaned and gave in.
Afterwards we lay there, both of us too exhausted to speak. I’d only had sex with a few guys, so I was no expert, but this was the best sex I’d ever had.
“That was great,” he breathed. “I knew it would be good between us.” He rolled onto his side. “Come here, lay closer.”
I scooted into him and he wrapped his arms around me. We lay quiet for a short while. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.
I smiled and then turned to look over my shoulder at him. “I’m thinking that if I’d known you were this good in bed I would have had sex with you years ago!”
Ben chuckled. “Well,” he pulled me in tight, “now you know.”
Chapter Three
The Present Day….
It’s Monday and I’m sitting at my desk at work. While theoretically I’m writing a Java script, in reality I’ve been staring at Ben’s business card all morning, which I have perched against my computer screen.
Should I or shouldn’t I? That is the question.
Declan, my Irish boss comes in and stands peering over my shoulder. “Hmmm, I believe that’s the same line of code you were working on last time I was here. And who the feck is Ben Mathews?”
“An old boyfriend I ran into last Friday.”
Declan sits down on one of the chairs in my office, making himself comfortable. “And this explains why you’re daydreaming instead of working.”
“Pretty much.”
“Well, what’s the trouble?” And if it seems weird that I’m discussing my love life with my boss, it’s because he’s also my friend. He’s only been my boss for about six months. Before that he was a lowly web developer like me, but then he was promoted to program manager, head of the department, and king of the universe, though he’s told me he prefers it if I simply address him as “Master.”
I explain to him about running into Ben and that I can’t decide whether I should call him or not. “For all I know he might be happily married with a house full of kids. Then all this indecision doesn’t matter.”
“But you don’t think so.”
“No,” I say quietly.
“Do you still have feelings for him then? Even after all these years?”
I was so in-love with Ben at one time, but the way we broke up was horrible. That alone makes me hesitant to see him again. On the other hand I hate that I looked awful when I ran
into him at the store. It sounds silly and vain, but I can’t help it. Part of me wants to prove that I’m still hot, despite all the evidence he saw to the contrary.
“Let me give you the male perspective.” Declan leans forward. “He gave you his number. That means he wants you to call.”
“You think so? Maybe he was being polite.”
“Trust me. Men don’t give women their telephone numbers unless they want to hear from them.”
I chew on this. Declan is studying me in that way he does sometimes, when he thinks I don’t notice. I’ve never been absolutely sure about this, so it’s only a suspicion, but occasionally I sense that he may have a small crush on me. It’s a feeling I get when we’re together sometimes. I once caught him staring at me during a meeting at work. When I glanced over in his direction, he quickly looked away, but not before I saw what I can only describe as an expression of longing on his face.
He’s never said anything to me, has never asked me out, has never even hinted that he wants more than friendship, which is just as well because he’s not my type at all, though I’ll admit he has sex appeal. A lot of women find him attractive. He usually has a girlfriend, though his relationships never last long. I’ve met a few of them and I’ve noticed that Declan has a thing for brown-eyed brunettes which, admittedly, has fueled my notion that he might have a crush on me. I imagine his honey-tongued brogue has also been a big help in his love life, since he does sound sexy.
“Who is that?” I remember Suzy exclaiming once when she heard a message Declan left on my answering machine during one of our pajama parties a while back.
“Oh, it’s just this guy I work with.”
“Really? He sounds hot.”
“Hmm.” I shrugged.
Lauren, who’d been in the kitchen, came out carrying a platter of margaritas and wanted to know who sounded hot.
“This guy Kate works with.” Suzy fiddled around with my answering machine. “How do you get this thing to repeat?” She pushed the playback button and we heard Declan’s message again.
“Is that an Irish accent?” Lauren asked, putting the drinks down.
“I think so.” Suzy tilted her head to listen more closely. She reached down and hit the playback button once more and I had to admit it was sort of funny—the three of us standing around listening to Declan as he droned on about some mundane matter at work. I once read about a study where scientists played a tape of a woman speaking in French to a group of American men and how they assumed what she was saying was highly erotic when it turned out all she was doing was reciting a list of vegetables. “I’m not entirely sure if that’s Irish,” Suzy mused. “Let’s hear it again.”
“ENOUGH,” I finally said. “Yes, he’s Irish, so please stop playing that damn message.”
“So, what’s his story?” Suzy wanted to know. “I hope he’s as hot as he sounds.”
“Not exactly.”
“Oh? What’s wrong with him?” Lauren asked. “Is he a jerk?”
I picked up a glass and tasted one of the drinks. It was icy, sour sweet, and extremely strong. I’ve never been a margarita fan, but both Suzy and Lauren love them.
“No, he’s not a jerk. He’s really great.” I thought of all the things I liked about Declan. His quick wit and how we made each other laugh all the time. We both liked to watch obscure movies and hang out in the city together. Plus Declan has a great smile. For some reason I’ve always had this thing about men with pointy eye teeth and Declan has the perfect pair. His teeth are very white and the whole effect is that it gives him a wolfish look that I’ve always liked. It was the first thing I noticed about him when we met—his fantastic smile.
I sighed. “Unfortunately, Declan is short and bald.”
“So he looks like George Costanza?” Lauren asked incredulous. She put her drink down. “What a shame.”
“No, he’s not fat or anything and he’s not that short. He’s taller than I am, but I wouldn’t describe him as tall and he’s bald, or mostly bald. He keeps his hair super short.”
Suzy grinned. “I don’t know...he doesn’t sound so bad. I think I’d do him even if he did look like George Costanza. What a voice!”
“You’ll have to take a number. Women love him. He’s like the Irish Don Juan or something. It’s almost ridiculous the way some of them carry on. I do kind of understand why they’re into him. He’s smart and has sex appeal. But he isn’t my type.”
Suzy and Lauren both give me an amused look as they sip their drinks. I know I’m overstating my case and they probably think I’m harboring some secret feelings, but I’m not. I work with Declan every day so I’ve heard plenty about his love life.
***
“Why not send Ben an email or just text him?” Declan asks. “And then if he doesn’t respond you can be assured that he remembers all too clearly what an opinionated harpy you are.”
“Shut up,” I laugh. “Maybe you’re right though.” I study the email address on Ben’s card and don’t know why I keep thinking I have to call. “Thanks for the idea.”
He looks at me expectantly.
“Excuse me,” I say. “Thank you Master.”
He nods approvingly and gets up to leave. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this Kate, but we are here to work. No more daydreaming about old boyfriends.”
I roll my eyes, making sure he sees me.
“That looked like it hurt.”
“Ouch, it did.”
“Are you going to send Ben an email right now?”
I nod.
“All right, I’ll leave you to it. Let me know what happens.”
When he leaves I open a new mail message and begin typing.
From: Kate Alexander
To: Ben Mathews
Subject: Hey!
Hi Ben,
How are you? It’s been such a long time! I still can’t believe that we ran into each other like that on Friday. It sounds like you’re doing really well and that life’s been good. I’m happy to report that things are going great for me too.
Would you like to get together and catch up on old times? I think it would be fun. We could meet for lunch. Let me know!
Kate
Light hearted. Short and sweet. Perfect. And before I can chicken out, I click the send button and watch as my outbox empties. I suddenly have this curious sensation that I’ve altered the course of my life, that my Fates have gotten up off of their dowdy and faded Lazy-boys and are now re-arranging themselves on a pair of lovely rococo style chaise lounges. And while I’m pondering this I notice a new message has appeared in my Inbox. I get a jolt of nerves when I see that Ben has already responded.
From: Ben Mathews
To: Kate Alexander
Subject: RE: Hey!
Kate - It’s great to hear from you! Let’s definitely meet for lunch. How does tomorrow sound?
Tomorrow! My God, I can’t possibly lose ten pounds and lipo all the fat rolls off my stomach by tomorrow. I’m already mentally running through all the clothing possibilities in my closet, rejecting each one and realizing that I’ll have to go shopping right after work. I stare at Ben’s message, reading it again, examining it for any sort of hidden meaning. There’s nothing to be gleaned from it though. It’s so short. But then I think—the way he wants to meet me so soon is rather flattering in itself, isn’t it?
I respond telling him that tomorrow sounds great and suggest we meet at a Mexican restaurant in Belltown that’s one of my favorites.
***
After work I meet Suzy downtown to go shopping. I called her and Lauren at the end of the day explaining about my lunch with Ben and asking for help finding something to wear. Unfortunately Lauren said she had to work late that night, as one of the Seattle Seahawk wives had decided to color her own hair and needed help.
“I’m sorry, but it’s basically an emergency,” Lauren tells me. “I usually foil her hair a sandy blonde, but one of her girlfriends talked her into becoming a brunette and now her hair is pin
e green. Apparently they were drinking tequila at the time—you know how that goes. Anyway, she’s sitting in my chair crying.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Let’s just say I’ll be looking at some nice tickets to the Seahawks come this fall. Hey, maybe I’ll take Justin with me.”
“So you guys are still going strong?”
“Fourth date this Friday,” she giggles. Lauren has a rule about not sleeping with a guy until the fourth date. It seems arbitrary to me, but she swears by it. She read it in a book on dating. Apparently if you wait until the fourth date you’ll know whether the guy is taking you seriously. He’ll respect you for making him wait a little longer, but not too long. If you make him wait too long, then the concern is that he’ll either think you’re a tease or that you’re not interested in sex.
“I take it Justin’s getting lucky this Friday. Does he know?”
“I’ve hinted, but I haven’t come right out and told him yet. Oh darn it, I should go. I’m sorry I can’t help you out tonight Kate. Call me tomorrow and tell me what happens at lunch. I can’t wait to hear about it!”
Luckily when I call Suzy she says she can come right after work. Mysteriously though she tells me she’s glad that Lauren can’t make it because there’s something she needs to talk to me about alone.
I’m already in the dressing room trying on a pair of designer jeans when Suzy finds me. They look fantastic, but grimace when I see the price tag. I make okay money, but there’s no way I can afford them. In the olden days before I bought my house I would have snatched them up in a second, but now that I have a mortgage and all the associated debt that goes with home ownership, I’ve had to force myself to be more responsible.
“Wow, those are amazing on you.” Suzy sits down on the small bench in the dressing room and puts her car keys away. I can smell her woodsy perfume. She has a distracted air about her though. “You should get them.”
Fire Down Below Page 2