by Selena Scott
Will considered Andrea’s eyes. She moved her right hand across and placed it on top of his head, down the side of his long face and smiled.
“It’s okay.”
Andrea smiled.
“It’s more than okay. You’re as beautiful now as you were five minutes ago.”
Andrea smiled again. This time so warm and affectionate and genuine that Will felt it would last forever. She smiled with her mouth and her eyes and her very being.
Compassion and kindness where he thought there would be fear and horror. Probably even an element of disgust. But she wasn’t disgusted. She wasn’t filled with the abhorrence that he had pictured. He wasn’t a monstrosity. A repugnant being that was barely a man.
He was whole. She made him realize that. By how she looked at him. How her eyes followed him and sank into him.
With that, Andrea stood up and turned her back on Will. But Will knew by her body language that she wasn’t rejecting him. He couldn’t have been more certain of that. All the self-doubt that had lived in his mind over the years and that had grown the longer he knew Andrea and the longer he wanted to be with her, was leaving him. It felt like it was physically lifting from him.
Andrea moved back inside and grabbed two beers from her double-doored fridge. She sat back on a stool by the island and let the moment sink in.
Will felt his muscles expand and his form expand. The coat dissipated more, the more he grew back to his human form, until it eventually ceased to exist. With a nervous excitement, he pulled his clothes on. He wanted to speak to Andrea. He wanted to make sure this was real. That he hadn’t misunderstood.
Or when he returned to the warmth of the house, would she have been hit by reality? Was she in shock?
The doubt was still hanging around. But something deeper inside him said no. That the connection was real and that Andrea accepted. Just as Maria did before.
Maria. Every time he even spoke her name or thought of her, he felt a weakness in his legs and a sadness in his heart. It still lingered. Five years on and it still lingered. But she had no malice for him as she died. And that beauty would live with him forever.
But that was then. He had come to accept it wasn’t his fault, what happened to Maria. And now his life was in a different place.
His life was at a juncture where someone else, another woman of depth and beauty, was willing to look beyond what he was. Or maybe it was more. Maybe she was accepting of what he was. There was a very real possibility that Andrea was.
But he must be sure.
Dressed again apart from the boots under his arm, Will walked across the decking, careful not to slip on the cedar surface which was moist from the elements of the day.
He stood by the door and opened it and stepped in.
He let his upper lip sink into lower lip and he endeavored a smile. He still had to be sure.
Andrea turned around and looked at Will.
“I got us a couple of beers.” She was smiling as she held two Budweisers in her hands. Cold from sitting in the back of the refrigerator, the label consumed by a fresh moistness.
Will looked at her and said nothing. He felt his breathing getting heavy, he could hear himself breathe.
Andrea felt a warmth explode through her body. An anticipation that she had never felt with a man before.
Will felt the want to hold Andrea. A small part of him was still holding back. But he had to be sure. He had to be sure she was accepting. Accepting and ready.
The two bottles of beer nearly slipped from her grip. She stopped them and placed them on the island.
Will let his boots fall to the ground.
Andrea smiled.
“Come here,” she said to Will.
Will’s last bit of apprehension left him.
He wanted this woman with every part of his being.
Andrea’s eyes creased with a smile as they made their way towards each other.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Andrea and Will embraced in a burst of affection. Andrea felt like she was going to melt into Will’s arms. Will felt the physical connection like he had never felt it before.
Five years since he had held another woman. All that time, made worse by a year of seeing a woman every day with whom he wanted to do just that, but couldn’t. Until now.
Andrea kissed Will softly on his cold lips. She could taste the bacon and the brisk night from his mouth. She kissed him slowly and deeply.
Will felt her mouth on hers and he felt he was going to collapse. She kissed him with tenderness and passion both fighting for control. Her tongue licked his lips. She let her tongue roam slowly. The connection, though, was more. What they both felt was more than just the physical interaction. They both felt together. Like a part of something bigger than themselves.
Will pulled back slightly and then put his forehead to hers. He was panting. Out of breath with the emotion of the moment. The excitement, sure. But with the depth of what he was feeling.
Andrea felt no different. She felt her heart was going to stop and she felt her blood race itself in its own warmth. She kissed Will again, this time on the cheek. Then she stepped away from him again.
Andrea pulled her cashmere sweater over her head, letting her arms slowly slide out and leaving her standing in her pink, molded-cup bra.
Will ran his hands over the top of her bra and felt the fullness of her breasts, but also their beauty. His hands were shaking as he took off her bra. He felt them in his hand. He wanted to ponder them and savor them and devour them, all at the same time. He felt his way around the curves that he had only imagined.
He had held back. But all this time, whether he had wanted to admit it or not, he had wanted her. Every time he saw her sexy curves in the coffee shop. Her strong, beautiful legs. The beauty of her ass, how he had wanted to grab it and feel it in his hands. Those times he smiled as she handed him a coffee. He wanted to fuck her then. He didn’t think he would fall for her as he did. But the momentum never slowed. He had always wanted to make love to this woman.
Andrea’s chest was heaving. Will looked at her and felt a need to have her skin on his lips. She made him wait and pulled his sweater off and then his vest.
His chest and stomach muscles couldn’t have been in finer proportion if he tried. How he got that balance, along with his arm muscles, was beyond her. Yet he wasn’t overstated. He was in proportion. He looked like she could smash one of the cold Budweisers over his chest and he wouldn’t flinch.
Andrea placed her hands on his chest and they both stopped. They took in each other’s eyes. They kissed again, with more depth than before. Andrea felt her nipples, hard, against his chest.
Will lifted Andrea off her feet in one fell swoop. He managed to do it with one hand behind her back and the other under her legs. He carried her and she wrapped herself around him at the same time. As he kissed her neck, they lost their balance slightly. They fell and then, just in time, Will lifted her onto the island.
Excitement ripped through the atmosphere. They locked eyes and then Andrea brought Will’s head into her chest. Will’s cold hands held Andrea’s side, his fingers nestling between her ribs and waist, the curvaceous feel making him feel moist at the tip. Will kissed her breast and held her nipple with his tongue. He moved his mouth around both breasts.
Despite the urge he felt in his trousers, he wanted to keep it at bay. He wanted to let go because he knew coming with this woman would be incredible. But he wanted her to be at the same point. He wanted her to reach the same crescendo. He was hard, but he wanted this to last. And so did Andrea.
Andrea wrapped her arms around Will’s neck as he continued to kiss her and her feet returned to the cold floor. She directed them back a foot or two onto the carpet.
She grabbed Will’s ass and then let her hands slide down. She moved them around to the front and felt him throbbing. He must be ready but he moved her hands away. She understood. She wanted to embrace this, too.
Andrea rubbed her groin agai
nst his leg. She hadn’t imagined this part, but Jesus did it feel good. A few seconds later it felt even better. Will pulled her pants down and then her panties. He pulled her back in tight again and she continued the motion. His leg muscles were hard and strong and she loved the feeling of her wetness against him. Will did, too. He dropped to his knees and Andrea thought she would erupt. He licked her folds, he kissed them with tenderness and his tongue came close to getting lost inside her.
Andrea felt her ass cheeks shake and her whole body turned cold with excitement. Cold and then sweat rolled down her back and her stomach. Will let his face settle slowly and she thought he was about to stop.
And then he went again, devouring her with complete zeal and vigor.
“Oh, shit,” Andrea cried out without having planned to. She had broken the silence, but she had to. She thought she was going to detonate.
Will stood back and his eyes looked into hers like no one else’s ever had. She pulled him close, their bodies immersed. Sweating, beating, alive. She felt the sweat down his back and she slid her hand into his trousers and grabbed his ass.
She couldn’t wait any longer.
Andrea unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down from his waist.
Will looked deep into Andrea. Their eyes locked. He lifted his face to hers and again their foreheads settled against each other, the intensity of the connection growing. Andrea felt his eyes latch onto every part of her. They kissed and he let his strong hands clasp her lower back and then her ass.
Will kissed her neck again and let his mouth and tongue roam Andrea’s breasts with control. He continued south. Andrea didn’t stop him. Will let his teeth graze her stomach and ribcage, slightly.
Andrea felt more than wet. She wasn’t just tingling, she felt she was going to erupt. She wanted Will to enter her. Will did, too. But he still wanted to hold off. He didn’t want this feeling to cease.
Will dropped right down to Andrea’s feet and let his chest and mouth and chin all take turns in making their way up Andrea’s glistening legs. On his knees, he rubbed his dick against her leg, his boxers just about holding him off. Its bulk, though, couldn’t be hidden. And the wet tip was rubbing itself slowly against Andrea’s legs and then her thighs as he rose to his feet.
Will let his mouth dance around her wet core.
Now he needed to enter her. This was too much. For both.
Andrea sat forward and pulled Will towards her by his waist. His throbbing bulge was beating through his Calvin Kleins. They locked eyes.
They both were clamoring for breath.
She pulled down his Kleins and she felt her breasts harden more. Will felt he was going to come there and then. He was throbbing.
And then it rang.
Andrea’s eyes widened.
Will froze.
Both sets of eyes stared at the island. Andrea’s iPhone 5s was ringing. The vibration set it moving around the cold surface.
There was no question about it. This wasn’t any ordinary night where they could dismiss a ringing cell. She was expecting Sally to call, even if she hadn’t said she would. Sally always checked that she got home safely. Why in the hell would she not do it tonight of all nights?
Andrea let her face rest against Will’s chest for a moment and she kissed his stomach. The smile they shared was accepting.
“Shit,” Will said.
“Shit is right,” Andrea laughed.
Andrea grabbed the light navy throw and wrapped it around her chest, letting it cover her. Decent, she walked over and picked up her phone.
As she turned and flicked her hair, she smiled at Will. And she winked.
The wink was something that signified a change between them. It was comfortable and it was knowing. Will felt his heart flutter. Everything this woman did made him feel even more alive.
“Sally?” Andrea answered.
And then her face froze.
Something was wrong.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Will stood up, sharply. He had a history of having to adapt to situations quickly. This was no different. Andrea’s face was saying something. The stillness in her eyes was frozen with fear and confusion.
Andrea immediately made a return call. Sally’s number rang, but it rang out. Sally had never had the interest to even set up a voicemail. When Andrea had tried to do it for her, Sally dismissed her efforts. Go ahead and set it up, she had said. But I’ll never listen to one message. Not one. Andrea recalled her pursed lip, her raised finger and her intense eyes. So, no voicemail reigned. Even if it did, it would have had a futile existence.
“Something’s wrong.” Will wasn’t asking, he was stating the obvious.
“There’s no one there.” Andrea was staring ahead; the connection between them had been loosened.
“I don’t get you,” Will said.
“Sorry. I mean, something’s wrong.” Andrea was waving her right hand side to side in short, sharp bursts. It was a habit she had for as long as she could remember. When stress overcame her, she would accompany her words with some frantic shaking. She reminded herself to breathe deeply. It was something that had worsened after that incident a decade earlier, an incident that led to several sessions on a psychiatrist’s chair. Someone who taught her how to control it. With breathing. And she was using that technique now to slow her racing imagination and to help induce calm.
Will, though, was trying to keep up. He didn’t need to recall his training, it was innate. He needed to get the primary facts first and then he needed to make a judgement call on what the first port of call should be.
“Andrea,” he said, as he pulled his pants on and tightened his belt, the shape of the evening now reconfigured. “Who was on the phone?”
“Sally.” Andrea, though, didn’t look convinced.
“Sally? Did she say anything?”
“Well, no, I mean, it was her number, but she didn’t say anything.”
“But it was her, though?” Will was standing close to Andrea, a couple of feet and an unexpected injection of drama were what filled the space between them.
“Well, yeah. I mean, it was her number. But it wasn’t her.”
“Did she say anything?” Will was still trying to get any facts he could, whilst they were still fresh in her head.
“No. I mean it was her phone, right?” Andrea wasn’t really asking a question, she was running through the brief events aloud. “Yeah, it was her phone.” With that, Andrea clicked back into her calls again and there Sally’s number sat.
Will stepped within inches now. He placed his hands on her shoulders. Both bodies were still glistening with sweat. He felt himself harden. He surprised himself. It was a purely physical response. Despite the togetherness of their minds, on another level, the primal connection between them was overwhelming.
For a moment, Andrea forgot what it was she was worrying about. Will’s chest was still heaving slightly and she wanted to glide her hand across the chiseled feature that was his chest.
But she came around.
“It was her, all right,” Andrea looked Will straight in the eye. “I mean it was her number, but she didn’t speak. She didn’t speak, Will.” Andrea shook her head, gently, but with intent. “It was like a muffled voice.”
Will let the most logical thought hit him and presented it as the most likely scenario.
“Hang on,” Will started, “we love giving Sally shit, right, about her cell? How many times we goad her about not being able to use it properly? You say it’s like a muffled voice?”
“Right.” Andrea was beginning to feel a little better.
“So, if it’s muffled, yet she’s talking, it’s most likely she has hit the phone off in her pocket and she is carrying on talking, unbeknownst.”
“Yeah, okay.” A calmness was returning to Andrea’s face now.
“And,” Will started, stretching the “and” out, in mock presentation of a knock-out line, “if she set it off in her pocket, which she probably did as she is the only
person we know who doesn’t lock her phone screen, then it would make sense that you wouldn’t be able to get through to her.”
Andrea felt better, but at the same time she didn’t. What Will was saying made sense. But there was something amiss. She felt it. If only she could replay it clearly in her head, exactly what she had heard. But there was too much emotion racing around; it was already distorted in her memory. She now asked herself if she heard a faint cry. Did she hear Sally struggling? She didn’t say it aloud. She knew it would sound odd to Will if she began to introduce different variables. She took another deep breath and tried to recall what she had heard.
But now she was questioning herself. She breathed again slowly. She remembered what Dr. McKay had taught her. Breathe in. Hold it. Breathe out.
And repeat.
She did. She felt her heartbeat return to normal and she began to think with more clarity.
“Will, what you’re saying is logical.”
“Thanks.” Will smiled as he continued to hold her, this time closer, his arms draped around her back, enclosing their bodies in a warmth that felt right.
“But,” Andrea continued, as she pulled her face away and looked him again in his deep brown eyes, “something doesn’t feel right. Instinctively. I can feel it, I can feel something inside me telling me there is something off.”
“Well, I’m not going to question your instincts.” Will was speaking with sincerity. He knew the contradictions all too well between logic and instinct. He had grown up and lived his whole life by logic and with order. Yet it was instinct which had told him there was something different about him. He should have trusted that instinct earlier in life. He was more aware now of its strength and importance.
Andrea continued to dress in silence. There was nothing awkward in their silence. Andrea felt comfortable. This wasn’t some fling, some one-night stand. It wasn’t even like it was with Lloyd all those years, who always turned back into his own world after he came.