Hard Choices: An Erotic Romance

by Joan Farraneau

  “That was incredible,” she continues, turning on her side to face me. She runs a hand down my chest, trailing her finger through my pubes. Her fingers close around my half-hard cock and I groan as she gives it a tug, the last residual bit of pleasure making my leg spasm. I laugh and she giggles again. There’s a look in her eye that I can’t quite tell what it is. Whatever it is, it’s good.

  “Where did you learn to make love like that?” she whispers, snuggling up to me. I slide a hand under her head and pull her onto my chest, breathing deep the sweet scent of her hair. A few stray strands tickle my cheeks but I don’t brush them away. I just can’t get enough of her and won’t let her go for anything.

  “Do you really want to know?” I tease, running my fingers down her side, making her shiver. She thinks for a moment and then shakes her head.

  “No. I suppose I don’t. It’s just…wow. That’s all I can think of to say. Two days in a row. I mean, I had thought maybe the first time had been a fluke, but after that…”

  She gives me her best doe eyes and I snort in amusement. I begin to tickle her, only letting up when she’s gasping for air and begging me to stop.

  “Okay, okay! I surrender! I surrender!”

  “Good,” I say, pushing myself up onto an elbow. The blanket below us is damp with the sweat of our bodies, among other things. “Now how about we go get some food? I’m starving.”

  “What about the food you brought here?” Sam asks. Together we look at the pile of cheese and bread and olives sitting in the grass next to the blanket. In the moonlight, I can already make out two or three ants scouring over the cheese.

  “Nah, I want something a little juicier. A little cleaner. Let’s go to Phil’s.”

  “You know Phil’s?”

  “Of course I know Phil’s. I grew up around here. Doesn’t everyone know Phil’s?”

  I pick up Sam’s thong from the foot of the blanket and position myself at her feet. God, she’s beautiful! Just seeing her stretched out naked below me makes me want to take her all over again.

  I lift Sam’s feet one at a time and slip her underwear on. She smiles at me as I pull her thong up to her hips, taking a moment to let my fingers slide between her legs. She groans as I roll my thumb over her clit, spreading the last of my juices still leaking out of her over it. Between my legs my cock twitches.

  “That feels so good…” she groans, her eyes fluttering shut. “If you wanted to keep doing that for forever, I wouldn’t mind.”

  “I’m not sure I’d last that long. Eventually I’d need some food. And way before then I’d need to use much more than just my thumb.”

  “It looks like you’re already ready to use much more than your thumb,” Sam says playfully, pointedly looking down at my now-hard cock. “I’m ready too.” She reaches between her legs and pulls my hand away from her pussy. She lifts her hips from the ground and pulls her thong aside, using two fingers to hold open her lips. Her pussy glistens in the moonlight.

  “What do you say?” she whispers as she pushes a finger inside of her, a groan escaping her lips. “One more time?”

  “One more time,” I agree, grabbing her thighs and pulling her forward. “And then we’ll go eat.”

  17.

  Sam

  I’m so weary by the end I can barely make it back down the hill to Luke’s bike. He walks with an arm around my waist, practically carrying me down the path. Now that I’m upright, I can feel his come trickling out of me, sliding down my thighs, wetting the crotch of my jeans. My nipples press almost painfully against my bra; they’re so tender from being pinched and pulled and nibbled on just thinking about them makes them ache, but in a good way.

  We ride in silence back into town. Everything feels so different. I had begun to hate this place, to abhor everything about it. I had felt like my life had become nothing but a waste, an emptiness that I’d have to spend the next sixty years trudging through in abject misery. And then, out of nowhere, this stranger that I felt so safe with had shown up and changed everything in an instant. For the first time in a long time, I had hope. Of love, of romance, of happiness.

  We leave my car at the diner and go straight to Phil’s burger joint across town. It’s early and the town is just starting to buzz with life. The main street is lit up; men in cowboy hats and women in summer dresses walk down the sidewalks on either side, their trucks parked in lines up and down the road. A few families are out for an evening stroll in the balmy evening. It’s cooler than usual for this time of summer, not that anyone’s complaining.

  Phil’s is jam-packed when we arrive. Luke pulls right up to the front door. He hops off his bike, turns around, lifts me off the seat, and sets me on my feet with a kiss on my forehead. I feel as giddy as a little girl. When I look up at him, his eyes are shining with adoration.

  “Come on,” he says, pulling me through the old-timey swinging doors into the dim-lit burger joint. “I’m starving.”

  We don’t have to wait even a second for a table. As soon as Luke gives his name, the young hostess grabs two menus and leads us through the restaurant. As we walk to our table, I can’t help but be amused by Luke’s effect on women. The young hostess keeps looking back over her shoulder at Luke with a coy smile.

  We sit down and the girl hands us the menus. She’s so enthralled by Luke she doesn’t once look at me. Luke glances over at me with a raised eyebrow as the girl drones on about the daily specials, one finger twirling her hair as her other hand rests on the seatback near Luke’s shoulder.

  “Wow,” I say when the girl finally leaves to fetch two glasses of water (‘Anything for you,’ she says sweetly to Luke). “She really liked you. She was practically foaming at the mouth. I should feel jealous.”

  Luke laughs and reaches over the table and places his hand in mine. His skin is warm and rough against my own. My hand feels so small in his, so delicate. He turns my hand over and runs his thumb across my upturned palm, tracing the lines as he leans forward conspiratorially.

  “Maybe so,” he drawls, his eyes flashing amusedly. “Though with an ass like yours, I’m the one who should be worried. Did you even see how all the men looked at you when you came in?”

  “They did not!” I giggle, though, truth be told, I could care less if it’s true or not. All I care about is him. I’m his now.

  “They did. I wouldn’t lie to you, would I?” he teases. “Anyways,” he continues, pulling open the menu with his other hand and scanning it quickly. “Let’s talk about this food thing. Hmm…I see the menu hasn’t changed. Same old greasy, heart-clogging burgers. Just how I like it. What do you think about getting some fried pickles to start?”

  We stay at the burger place until it closes, talking and laughing and sometimes just sitting quietly and staring at one another. The entire time we don’t notice a single other person in the room. It’s as if we’re in our own little world, completely shut off and separate from the rest of reality.

  Luke tells me about his childhood, about growing up with a rough father and a dead mother. Seeing him be vulnerable like this only makes me like him more. At one point, when he’s talking about losing his mom at a young age and his eyes are tearing up, it takes everything in me not to blurt out that I love him. Even I know it’s too soon. And really, do I even know what love is? I mean, I certainly never felt for Tim, nor for any other man, what I feel now. But does that mean it’s love? Or am I just glad to finally be getting fucked again?

  One thing I do notice is that no matter how hard I press, Luke always evades my questions about the specific details of his life. He doesn’t mention his mother’s name nor his father’s. And when I ask about his old address and who else he knows in this town, he gets distracted by ordering another beer. When the waitress (another young girl who gets giddy and blushes whenever Luke talks to her) walks away with his order, he quickly changes the subject and starts asking about my old life.

  “Can I ask you something kind of silly?” Luke asks after we’ve been sitting q
uietly for a bit, just enjoying one another’s company. Our feet are entwined beneath the table. His eyes are a little glassy from the beer and his neck is flushed. My fingers are tracing the curls of the tattoos on his right arm.

  “Anything.”

  “Do you ever feel…” Luke trails off, his glance falling down to the table. He takes a breath and looks back up at me with a sheepish grin. “This is going to sound cheesy, but…do you ever feel that your life hasn’t really started and you’re just waiting for some big event to occur that’ll put you on the path you were supposed to be on all along?”

  “All the time. It’s like everything up to that event means nothing. Or at least all the bullshit has had a purpose: to get you to the exact moment when it will all begin to make sense.”

  “Exactly.”

  We fall silent as we think this over. Just as Luke opens his mouth to speak, the original hostess appears with the bill. She sets it on the table and she smiles down at Luke. She’s a pretty girl—long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, a young, firm body.

  “There you go, sir,” she squeaks, bending over and sliding the tab over to Luke. The shirt she’s wearing is low-cut and I know Luke can see straight down her cleavage.

  “Thanks,” Luke says, not even glancing over at her as he pulls out his wallet and tosses some bills on the table. “Keep the change.”

  The girl’s mouth opens and closes like a fish’s as she straightens and picks up the two bills from the table. Obviously she’s not used to going unnoticed. With a deep breath, she forces another smile and bends down again, this time a little further. She pulls a pen from her pocket, grabs a napkin, and jots down her number.

  “In case you ever need anything from me,” she whispers, sliding the napkin over to Luke. “Call anytime.”

  She’s so brazen I almost burst out laughing. Luke glances down at the napkin and then up at the waitress. Her face is only a few inches from his, her upper row of teeth pressed seductively against her bottom lip.

  “Thanks,” Luke says after a moment. “But my wife here gives me everything I need.”

  The hostess is speechless. She straightens and mumbles a quick apology towards me before skipping away. I don’t notice any of this. I’m stuck on the word ‘wife’. Did he just call me his wife?

  “Let’s get out of here,” Luke says, rising to his feet and pulling me up with him. “I need some fresh air.”

  He leads me out of Phil’s, not even looking over at the hostess standing near the front door. As we approach, she pretends to be busy organizing a pile of menus, though I can feel her eyes on me as I pass. Outside, Luke walks out into the middle of the road and stretches his hands out to either side as he looks up at the sky filled to the brim with stars.

  “Ahhh, what a wonderful night! As much as I hate the Texas climate, sometimes it just can’t be beat.”

  Luke wants to walk off some of the beer we drank and so we go up and down the main street, looking in all the stores. As we walk, Luke holds my hand, gently caressing the back of it with his thumb. Being here with him I feel like I’m living a whole new life, one I never expected to have. Everything is bathed in a new light. Suddenly, all the people around me seem kind and inviting and interesting. We stop in at a sweet shop and taste the fudge; Luke hand feeds me some and I lick his finger clean as we gaze deeply into one another’s eyes.

  Around ten-thirty, when all the shops are starting to close and the families have disappeared, Luke yawns and pulls me into him. We’re in a bookstore, perusing a pile of used books. I take a deep breath, already used to his smell. It’s so familiar to me it’s like my own.

  He holds me out from him and his eyes meets mine. No words pass between us. They don’t have to. Without saying it we both realize what this is between us. Special.

  He leans forward and his lips brush mine. I sigh, my eyes fluttering shut as he plants gentle kisses upon my cheeks. Holding my face in his hands, he turns my head this way and that, smothering me with tender kisses.

  “Let’s go home,” he yawns again, turning me around and putting an arm around my waist. His fingernails dig into my hip as he leads me out of the store.

  Outside, the moon is brighter than ever. The streets are quiet now, the only sign of life the bookstore behind us and the taillights of a truck disappearing down the main road.

  It takes twenty minutes to get back out to my home. Already it feels natural to be going there with him, even though it will only be our second night together, our second night of knowing each other. It’s insane to think less than 48 hours have passed since meeting Luke. He’s so easy to talk to. It really is like I’ve known him forever.

  I hold tight to him on the drive, maybe a little tighter than necessary. He doesn’t mind. By the time we pull up to my front door, we’re both yawning constantly. The crickets are wailing in full chorus around us. In the big oak next to the garage, an owl hoots.

  Inside, we kick off our shoes and stumble our way to the bedroom. Without a word, I push Luke down onto the bed. He smiles vaguely, his eyelids heavy. I stand over him and pull his shirt off over his head. The curtains are open and moonlight spills into the room. It’s so bright there’s no need for the lamp.

  I run my fingers over Luke’s tattoos, tracing my way up his arm to the large cross on his chest. It’s slightly raised beneath my fingers. It’s like I’m examining a tapestry. I want to know where all of these tattoos came from, what they all mean. Was the cross for a girl? It almost pains me to think about Luke with anyone else, though obviously I know I’m not his first, nor probably anywhere near it. But I want to know it all, want to know everything I can about him. He’s mine now. My mind tells me this and I know that this is true. We’re ours. His story is my story.

  He falls back onto the bed and I bend down and undo his belt. I’m tired, but not quite ready for bed. I have something else in mind.

  I pull Luke’s pants and boxers off of his hips, bend down and slide them off his feet. He sighs contentedly and settles into the bed. The smell of our sex from earlier is strong in the air.

  I kiss my way up his thighs as I slide my hands up towards his cock. My fingers close around it. Instantly it begins to grow.

  Soon he’s rock-hard in my hand, his cock quivering as I gently collect the pre-cum leaking out of him and spread it over his tip. He groans, half-asleep, as I stroke him, running my tongue up the inside of his thigh as I do. When I reach his swollen manhood, I pause, letting my hot breath blow gently against it. He shivers and groans as I slide my tongue up the underside of his shaft. I swirl it over his tip as I run my other hand up his body and dig my fingernails into his abs.

  I close my lips around him and begin to suck, sliding down the length of him and taking him as deep as I can. He’s so big I have to force my jaw open as wide as it will go. Even so, I can’t fit much more than half of him into my mouth. With each bob of my head, my hand strokes his shaft, twisting as it glides up and down. Soon, my mouth relaxes and I take him even deeper, so deep it almost makes me gag. I bob faster, loving how his chest rumbles and his back is beginning to arch. I want to feel him want me. I’ve never surrendered myself to a man like this before. But it feels so right.

  I suck faster as spit dribbles down his shaft. With my other hand, I reach down and gently squeeze his testicles.

  It doesn’t take long to make him come. When I feel him close, I speed up. He gasps and his cock twitches inside my mouth. A spurt of hot come hits me in the back of the throat and I swallow it greedily, loving how warm it feels as it slides down into my belly. I suck and suck as he writhes. I want to swallow every last drop of him. His fingers are clasped tightly in my hair. I’m so relentless in my sucking that his body starts to spasm uncontrollably. He’s half-gasping, half-laughing. He’s coming so hard and there’s so much that some drips out from my lips and rolls down his shaft.

  When his orgasm is complete, I slide off of him slowly, pulsing my tongue against the underside of his shaft. I roll my tongue over his hea
d several times, collecting the last drops of come seeping out of him.

  “Christ…” he mumbles, his voice thick with sleep. He sighs and his body relaxes against the bed. Before I even have time to push myself to my feet, he’s snoring, passed out like a baby in its cradle.

  I pad silently to the kitchen. I grab a glass from the cabinet and fill it with water from the tap. As I drink, I stare out the window into the backyard. The lawn is glazed with silver. I’m surprised at myself. I’ve never been much of one for blowjobs. Always felt they were a duty to be performed, not something to be enjoyed. But pleasuring Luke like that made me feel a desire I haven’t felt before. A desire to do whatever I could to make him happy without regard to myself. Knowing that he’s less than twenty feet away, passed out in my bed, a smile on those beautiful lips of his, I’m happy anyways.

  I look out into the yard for a long while as I drink my water and let my thoughts wander far and wide. Not once do I think of my husband, nor anyone else but Luke for that matter. All I think about are the possibilities. The possibilities of a life with Luke by my side. Life seems so much bigger now.

  When I go back to the bedroom, Luke is in the same position as when I left. Before climbing into bed, I strip down naked, dropping my clothes on top of his. I lay down beside him, the taste of him still fresh in my mouth. Feeling my presence, he sighs and reaches out and wraps an arm under my shoulder and pulls me into him. We fall asleep like that, tangled together, our hearts beating as one.

  18.

  Sean

  It’s the best sleep I’ve had in a long time, maybe ever. Enough days like this and these old bones of mine will finally lose that weariness they’ve been carrying since I was eighteen.

  I’m woken much too early by the buzzing of my phone in my jeans on the floor. The sun is just rising through the trees. It’s that special time of morning, when everything is still and you’re sure you’re the only one awake in the entire world.