‘Next time ...’ Shane started but then trailed off.
‘Next time, what?’ I asked, running my hands through his sweaty dark hair. Touching his broad shoulders, his flat stomach, tight ass. He felt good to the touch.
‘Next time, if you’re OK with it ...’
I waited.
‘I want to watch you with him,’ he said.
Oh, dear.
‘Don’t answer me now, Merritt,’ Shane whispered. ‘Think it over.’
So I did.
Chapter Ten
I FONDLED THE PINK cloth shoeboxes. Jeffrey was three steps behind me sipping a latte, dressed in an orange sweater, yellow jeans and red ankle boots. Somehow this worked on him and he didn’t look like a clown. I’m not sure how.
‘So what are you going to do, Merritt, dear? Or should I say who? Or, wait,’ he frowned, ‘Is it whom?’
I waved a hand at him. ‘I have no idea. Who, whom, or what. How much are these?’ I called to Sheree, the owner of STUFF IT.
‘On sale, girl! Twelve each or three for thirty!’ She poked her head from behind the paisley curtain to the storage space in the back. We’d gone to high school together, Sheree and I. I was currently a thorn in her side. I came to her store for deals.
‘Can you do any better?’ I wheedled.
‘Twelve each or four for thirty-five. Beyond that I might as well give them to you for free, Merritt!’ Her punk rock spiked bleach-blonde head disappeared like a rabbit darting into its hole.
Jeffrey snorted with laughter and drank his coffee.
‘Will you?’ I yelled.
‘No!’
I laughed too, gathering eight of the boxes into my arms. ‘Here. Be useful.’ I handed Jeffrey my clipboard and he clutched it to his broad chest like a den mother on a mission.
‘Who’s this for? Whom?’
‘God, you’re hung up on that. It’s for Melissa Viera. She is the new owner of a small store that sells sex toys down by the way.’
By the way was how we referred to where we’d semi-grown up. Hanging at our grandparents and great aunts and uncles. Down in the city that had once been up and coming, then downtrodden, now up and re-coming.
‘Oh, girl has a toy shop down by the way. What’s it called?’
‘Shiver,’ I said.’
‘Good name,’ Jeffrey grinned.
‘I agree. And the colours will be red and pink and purple and cobalt blue.’ I waved a hot pink shoe box at him.
Jeffrey shut his eyes, pursed his lips and blew out a decadent sigh. ‘The colours of orgasms.’
‘Exactly.’
‘What are those for?’ He grinned.
‘They ain’t for shoes,’ I joked.
‘Giiiirl.’
‘I have some brushed silver cabinets coming in a few weeks from now,’ Sheree said, ringing me up. ‘For some reason they made me think of you. You and your eclectic self.’
‘Hmm, how big?’
‘That’s always her first question,’ Jeffrey said and I smacked him.
‘Don’t I know it,’ Sheree laughed. I did not smack her. But I thought about it. She held her arms out to show me.
‘Pretty big,’ she said.
My mind leapt (very willingly) to Penn and his loft. Brushed silver would work. The rest of me had sprung heartily enough to the man too. I noticed a distinct warm feeling all through me. Especially in my nether regions and my pulse had jumped from normal to cardiac arrest. I shook off the thought and made a note. ‘I’ll want to see them when they come in,’ I said.
‘Done and done,’ Sheree said and handed me two big STUFF IT bags packed with boxes. ‘I’ll give you a call when they show.’
We passed out cheek kisses like candy and then Jeffrey looped his arm through mine the way my grandmother used to when she was still alive. It was a feminine loving gesture and for just a heartbeat I missed my grandmother so bad it stole my breath. And then it passed and we were walking.
We hit the street, trying to find a diner to feed the growling hunger that was embarrassing the hell out of me with rolling, grumbles from my belly. Jeffrey tugged me toward BABYCAKES that specialised in fresh corn cakes, pancakes and yes ... cake-cakes. ‘Ack! No!’ I sputtered. ‘I want to watch my ass line.’
‘Your waist line and your ass line are fine. And I seriously need a corn cake with some bacon and maple syrup,’ he said and dragged me through the door. OK, so once the smell hit me, I didn’t need to be dragged so much.
We found a booth and a small woman with big hair took our order. ‘Whatchahavinghon?’ she asked around a wad of gum the size of my fist. Bleh. I had a gum hang-up.
Jeffrey put his head down, cracking up, as he is aware of my gum-chomping aversion. ‘I’ll have the hot corn cakes, double order, bacon, maple syrup enough to float a boat, a huge coffee and a butt load of cream to go with it.’
I almost choked on my own spit at the butt load of creambut got my act together and said, ‘Same and same but with a big OJ and a water too,’ I said and handed Rose – according to her nametag – my menu.
‘Coming right up.’ She shuffled off on white orthopaedic shoes with the grace of a drunken longshoremen.
‘Good lord. She should be able to open tin cans with her teeth with those jaw muscles.’
Jeffrey grinned, white, white teeth surrounded by barely visible sheer lip-gloss. ‘So have you decided?’
I shook my head. But deep down, I had to admit, I liked Shane a lot but I wasn’t in love with him. If I was going to try this crazy kinky thing, best with someone I a) trusted and b) liked a lot. ‘I don’t know,’ I shrugged. ‘I didn’t even see Rob the roommate,’ I sighed. ‘But I do like Shane and he’s good and he seems like a good guy with a distinct kink and ...’
I trailed off and Jeffrey said, ‘Well, safety first. When you do it–’
‘Don’t you mean if?’
Rose put down our coffees and my OJ and water. She’d even slipped me a wedge of lemon. We thanked her.
Jeffrey gave me his patented, sister, pleasestare and said ‘Whenyou do this, let me know. If I don’t hear from you within a few hours, I’ll alert the police to look for you and some fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti.’ He did his Hannibal Lecter sucking sound and I shivered.
‘Does that mean you think I shouldn’t?’
‘Nah. I think you’ll be fine. Shit,’ he laughed, ‘I think you’ll be more than fine. I think you can try out some of your fantasies this year, get your shit together and then find you a man who will love you above all others. Including coaches with tight, shapely rears.’
‘Jeffrey!’
‘Well, I’m sorry. That gym teacher did have a nice bottom.’
I attacked my corn cakes like a prisoner when Rose set them down. They were too good for words so we didn’t talk at all until we’d demolished our very late breakfast plates. Then I sat back, sipped my coffee that Rose had just topped off and dialled Shane.
Jeffrey filed his fingernails pretending he wasn’t listening. But if his ears were any bigger he could have been a stand-in for an elephant.
‘Shane, here.’ I could hear some kind of tool running in the background. Shane was a carpenter. Like Jesus. I grinned.
‘Shane, it’s Merritt. I thought it over.’
The sound cut and I could hear him breathing. It turned me on, that sound. The somehow nervous but excited in, out of his respiration. ‘And?’
‘And when did you want to ... set this up?’
‘How’s tonight?’ I could hear the smile in his voice. Deep, dark, happy voice.
My stomach tingled and then bottomed out like I was free falling. ‘Tonight is good.’
Jeffrey snorted. ‘Girrrrrrl,’ he said and shook his head, smiling.
Rob was taller than Shane, sandy haired and fair skinned, bright blue eyes and a crooked, endearing smile. They didn’t come any cuter and when he kissed my hand, I smiled. My mind supplied the eager stroking shadow in the doorway when Shane fucked me. That had been R
ob. That realisation was enough to make my pussy wet and my stomach nervous. ‘Nice to meet you.’
‘Not in the dark, right?’ he asked and his grin was somewhere between Big Bad Wolf and cute little boy.
‘Right. I ... um ... well, I’m a bit out of my element.’
‘Want some wine?’ Shane asked, leaning against a small bar they had tucked in the corner of their living room. The TV played some old western and it was snowing outside. The snow had somehow made me feel safe and nostalgic all at once on my way over. I had wondered briefly what Drake and I would have done for the evening. Probably dimmed the lights and lit candles, built a fire and then turned the outside lights on to watch the driving downward spiral of precipitation as it covered our deck. Baltimore didn’t get much snow near April, but when we did, it was pretty and appreciated. It’s easy to appreciate snow when chances are good that the morning will bring sun and warmer temperatures and what was pretty the night before would simply be gone with the sunrise.
‘Yes. Just give me the bottle ... and a straw.’ I was joking but a tiny part of me was serious. I was so nervous I expected to explode into tiny colourful bits of girl confetti at any moment.
‘I think you’ll be OK,’ Rob said and before I could think, he leaned in and kissed me. His hands coming to rest gently on my hips, his mouth warm and sweet and soft against mine. It stole my breath for a second and when he pulled back, I leaned in. He took the hint and kissed me again. Walking a step closer so that I could feel his body heat but he wasn’t quite touching me.
‘I think I might be,’ I mumbled, running my hand along his jaw where stubble, barely visible but present, rasped under my touch.
The kiss deepened and he stepped in, pressing his thighs to my thighs, his hips to mine, his belly to my belly. He only had a few inches on me but his bulk was impressive and so were his kisses. I heard Shane make an excited sound and ignored him. He was so far on the edge of my periphery at the moment, I simply didn’t care. Rob pressed the impressive ridge of his hard-on to me and I pushed my fingers into his thick soft hair. I pressed back, very much into this whole scenario now. It would be freeing and different and fun. And temporary.
‘Let’s get you off your feet,’ he said, and surprised the hell out of me by bending and then scooping me up in his arms. He carried me to the sofa and had me lie on the soft chenille blanket that was artfully tossed across the black leather. I let him pluck at my jeans and pull them off. I took his kisses when he bent to give them and when he pressed his face to my pussy and started to eat me, I spread my legs, not caring that Shane was in the corner watching. I liked Shane. Shane could watch.
Rob was good, his kisses to my pussy lips were wet and gentle with just enough pressure to make me feel like I would lose my mind if I didn’t come soon. He stroked my inner thighs so gently I trembled and when he shucked his sweatpants and rolled on a condom, I watched his strong hands stroke his thick cock with an eagerness that surprised me.
‘Ready, gorgeous?’ he asked.
I could only nod. My gaze darted to Shane in the corner, popping the buttons on his button fly jeans. He smiled at me and I smiled back. Relaxed and excited and ready to do this whole new brand new sex thing. My big sexual adventure. Exhibitionism.
Rob hovered over me, bending to kiss me once more. His kisses raining down on my cheeks and nose and throat. He licked my collar bone, nibbled my shoulders, nipped at my breasts until I lost my tiny shred of patience and took him in hand, guiding his cock to my slit. Then he slid into me with no further provocation. ‘Come on up close, bro,’ he said to Shane. ‘It’s OK with you, Merritt, yes?’ he said moving slowly, mild undulations of his hips making my cunt grown tighter with each thrust.
‘It’s fine,’ I said, kissing his warm skin because I had to do something with my mouth. The pleasure that swelled in me was nearly overwhelming and I felt too warm and too cool all at once, all my nerves on red alert and tingling with the sensation of him moving in me.
Shane stood at the arm of the sofa, his body over my head as Rob fucked me. ‘Put your arms up for him,’ Rob said and I did. I laid my arms in an X on the arm of the sofa and Rob dipped his head to take my nipple in his mouth. He rolled his tongue around the aching tip as Shane placed his hands over my arms to keep me still. My body bucked when Rob bit me gently but I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t move. That realisation brought me closer to the orgasm that was tightening my cunt around Rob’s thrusting cock.
Rob moved to the other breast, his hands slipping under my ass and tilting me aggressively so that he could fuck me deeper. Shane made a sound again and I studied, in a vague stunned sort of way, the heavy blushed cock of his hanging over my face. His fingers gripped my wrists tighter the more excited he grew.
I wrapped my legs around Rob’s waist, thrusting up to meet him, to get him in me as deep and hard as I could, then he pulled out and I yelped.
‘Shh, shush, Merritt,’ Shane said softly. Rob ran the head of his cock along my outer lips. He nudged my clit with the rubber sheathed tip. I was babbling, little words and pleas coming out of my mouth like prayers. I could see how turned on Shane was, his cock bobbed on its own. Out there but untouched.
‘Rub it,’ I said, bluntly to Shane. The words spilling out before I could refine my request. ‘Jerk off. Come on my face.’
Rob chuckled darkly and said, ‘Wow, and we were worried she’d be scared or not be into it.’
Shane simply sighed. He pinned me with one of his big hands – one was more than enough – and started to stroke his erection with the other. I loved the sight of a man handling his own cock. It never failed to turn me on and just as I felt that zing of excitement, Rob pushed back into me, spearing me with his cock so hard that my head banged the sofa arm with a soft, muffled thud. He leaned back as he moved, watching his cock slip in and out of me. I realised he was doing it for Shane too, whose hand was nothing more than a whispering blur as he jerked off.
Rob’s thumb found my clit and he rubbed slick circles as he drove faster in and out of my wet pussy. ‘Jesus,’ I said, not thinking.
Shane laughed but then he groaned. Rob nudged higher into me, his movements desperate and hurried. He pressed my clit and I came, trying to move to touch him, failing because I was pinned. Rob did a stuttering jerk over me and then came, eyes pressed shut, mouth open.
I heard myself say, ‘Oh,’ as I watched him come and then felt the first warm drop of come hit my face as Shane joined us in the release. His eyes were wide open and studying me, but his mouth was a tight seam of concentration.
When he was done, he leaned down and kissed me, licking my lips as Rob pressed himself flat atop me and embraced me.
I have to admit, I liked the sensation.
A lot.
I was still glowy the next day, having promised the boys – as I now thought of them – that I would call and we’d all do dinner one night. I hustled up the front steps with my date book and a bag of hangers for a steady client. She liked the ones that held multiple pairs of pants and then tiered down and I’d found a fabulous sale. I had to call her, schedule an intervention for a hoarder via her therapist and tidy my own damn apartment before I got laughed out of the professional organisers’ union.
My body was pleasantly sore and my mind giddily occupied with instant replays, so I didn’t see him at first.
‘Here she comes strewn with bags.’ I got the flash of a wide grin and a dark handsome face and my brain double clutched. But the accent spurred my memory.
‘Penn!’ (the man who had popped into my head and made my panties wet more than once, mind you). I dropped my bags and went to hug him – backed up to shake his hand – faltered, and tried a hug again. Awkward!
But he pulled me in for a bear hug and the traditional European double cheek kiss. ‘Hello, Merritt.’
‘I thought you went home for a family thing!’
‘I leave tomorrow. The wedding was postponed.’
‘Oh no. Nothing bad, I hope,’ I sa
id and unlocked the door. The scent of him filled my head and I tried not to swoon. Damn. The man was just too cute, too yummy, too finely scented. I bit my tongue. Focus. No diddling the customers.
‘Nope. The bride’s mother had a run-in with an illness. She’s fine. Much scrambling to redo everything, but things will work out.’ He stooped to get the bag of hangers for me and I gasped.
I had forgotten my apartment was a bit ... mussed.
He laughed softly and all the tiny hairs on the back of my neck went up at the sound. A tingle like electricity shot across my skin and I went right back to the night before but only in my mind at the moment, Penn was fucking me. And oddly enough Penn was the man standing over me too. I was the cream in a Penn sandwich. Mentally, mind you. ‘I ... um. I’ve been really busy,’ I said. Hell, I would not hire me to organise if I walked into this house. But, I was also off the clock, dammit! So all bets were off, right?
‘You don’t practise what you preach?’ he asked. He walked in when I moved aside and sat the bag of trouser hangers on the entryway table.
‘Normally I do, but this week has been a bit hectic to say the least,’ I verbally backpedalled. ‘Various jobs, shopping expeditions, helping a friend Jeffrey out, dates–’
He made a sound that was like a grunt and I stalled. Why had he done that?’
‘And my mother has been up my a– yeah, um, I mean she’s been needy for a while. My brother just came out and my mom’s having a hard time adjusting. Which is putting it mildly,’ I snorted and then hurriedly covered my nose, blushing hotly under my hands.
He wandered to my mantle and touched a picture of me from before I married Drake. I was on a ski slope (I had never skied, just watched the snow and hung out in the lodge) and I was ruddy, happy and laughing at the camera. The girl in that picture was a stranger to me now. Most days I barely recognised that content person as me.
‘Your cheeks are rosy here too,’ he said and winked. ‘Beautiful,’ he muttered as he set the frame down.
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