Aria slipped under the blankets and nudged her head into just the right spot on the pillow before closing her eyes. She only opened them when she felt Billy’s breath on her mouth and heard him say, “Not even saying good night.”
She giggled very quietly. “I was just waiting for you to get into bed.” She opened her eyes and smiled at him until he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips. He got into a comfortable position and the two fell asleep almost immediately.
There was a time in their relationship the night would have gone very differently. There was once a time they would never be too tired to deepen the goodnight kiss and let their hands wander over every inch of the other’s body. Their heavy breaths would mingle in the air as their bodies pressed and rubbed against each other. Even if they were tired, they would find the energy for that.
They would always have the time and energy to touch each other in such a way that the room would fill with sounds of moaning and cause their skin to be covered in a light sheen of sweat. They would never be too worn out to graze fingers over bare skin, kiss every crevice of the other’s entire body, lick and suck the other’s most sensitive areas.
No, before they would have been all over each other the moment that door shut and there was something separating them from the rest of the group. But now they had fallen into a more comfortable and routine life that didn’t require it.
But that did not mean Aria didn’t miss it.
Chapter 3
The following morning, the Aria and Billy showered together. It had been a long time since they did. Their room had a private bath and it was something they were relieved to discover the night before. Aria slipped out of her pajamas and into the shower, enjoying the way the warm water felt as it cascaded over her skin. Billy stepped in after her, reaching up to grab the body wash. She leaned into his touch when she felt him place his hands on her back, soaped up, and begin to gently scrub her clean.
He continued moving across her skin slowly, running his hands over her entire body to spread the soap as the pads of his fingers gave her little massages. He turned her around to face him and gave her a long kiss, his soapy hands slipping along the sides of her body. The soap washed off her skin as they kissed under the water, unaware of the time passing.
I never needed to worry, she thought as he pulled her in close just before breaking the kiss. He went on to lather himself as she shampooed her hair. They finally finished up and stepped out to towel themselves off when they head the commotion outside their bedroom. They turned to look at each other and laugh. Their friends were all awake now and had been for who knows how long while they took their time in the shower. They dressed quickly and stepped out to join them only to be greeted by hoots and suggestive glances.
Aria simply laughed it off as she went into the kitchen to have some coffee. Kay was in there serving herself a mug of hot coffee as well.
She leaned over to Aria and whispered, “Guess you’re not falling into a slump after all.”
Aria rolled her eyes and playfully shoved her, careful not to push too hard so she wouldn’t spill the coffee.
“It really wasn’t like that,” she clarified. “It was nice but not like that.”
“Oh,” was all Kay said before she walked out of the kitchen.
Aria looked after her and felt the weight of her worries coming down again. Even though they had shared some sweet and affectionate moments, in particular Billy surprising her by soaping her up, it had just been a shower after all. She couldn’t help but think of the times they wouldn’t be able to resist touching and teasing and eventually having sex when in the shower together.
That was a different time, she reminded herself. Things were not always going to stay the same. It was in the nature of relationships to evolve. The problem was she was slowly starting to accept she did feel like there was a small component missing. Now it was just about figuring out what that was and fixing it. It didn’t have to ruin the whole relationship.
It will only ruin the relationship of I keep trying to ignore it and continued keeping Billy in the dark, she reasoned.
“You’ve been in here a while,” she heard Billy’s voice come up behind her. He leaned into her back as he reached up to pull a mug out of the cabinet. These were the small moments of unnecessary but desired physical contact she loved the most. In her mind, this was not keeping their hands off each other. It was charged with affection and done completely out of will and want. It was not restricted to intense passion and living in the heat of the moment. That still didn’t mean she should ignore whatever she felt. He poured himself some coffee and walked back out to join the others. She followed suit.
After breakfast the entire group went down to the lake to play in the water. Someone had even brought a net for beach volleyball and Kay had taken it upon herself to surprise everyone with a picnic. It was a fun and active day, meaning by the time they got back to the cabin for dinner, everyone was in a great mood but quite tired.
“We’re too old for this,” one of their friends said jokingly, “I swear even my bones are aching to their core.” He slumped down on the floor beside the couch and made a noise like an old man. Everyone laughed but felt somewhat similarly.
“I’m skipping out on dinner,” Aria announced. She was not hungry and even if she were, her desire to crawl into the bed was greater than her desire to eat.
“Me too,” Billy chimed in as he followed her to the bedroom. She could tell her friends were exhausted by the fact they didn’t hoot or cheer or make any lewd jokes about them skipping dinner together and heading straight to the bedroom. When Billy shut the door and locked it, Aria took off her shirt and pants. She threw them onto the armchair in the room and dropped with her entire weight onto the bed. She could feel him looking at her so she turned her head to meet his gaze.
“What’s up?” He smiled and shook his head.
“Nothing,” he replied as he pulled off his own shirt and unzipped his pants before kicking them off. He was just about to climb into bed when he grimaced and walked over to fold the clothes he had just taken off. He set them down neatly on the armchair and proceeded to fold Aria’s clothes as well. She just laughed and closed her eyes, feeling the plush pillow under her head make her feel like she might be floating on the world’s most comfortable cloud.
It wasn’t until she felt the bed sink with the weight of a body and felt skin against her own skin that her eyes shot open only to see Billy over top of her. He was looking straight into her eyes with a look she hadn’t seen in a while. It was almost as if he had been reading her thoughts.
He leaned in and gave her a long, slow kiss before pulling back and smiling at her. It was such a warm smile full of adoration and she never saw it on his face unless it was directed at her. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair just once before running her index finger down the side of his face until she held his chin and pulled him in for a second kiss. This one had a bit more passion to it but was still slow and steady. They desired more but their bodies simply weren’t giving in.
He ran his hand gradually and smoothly up her side, his thumb grazing over her stomach, until he reached under her back and lifted her up closer to him. She felt him unhook her bra before letting her lie back down flat on the bed. He dipped his head into her neck and kissed her while he swiped her bra off her and carelessly let it fall to the ground beside the bed. He continued kissing down until she let out a sharp moan when she felt his warm mouth close around her peaked erect nipple.
He flicked it with his tongue as she covered her mouth to stifle her whimpering. His other hand reached up to pinch her other nipple. This felt amazing. That’s when she realized how long it had been since she felt it. She felt something like horror followed by a sense of urgency well up inside her.
She pushed against his shoulders so he would move to his back, allowing her to climb on top of him. She rubbed down on him earning a moan from both at the friction even through the fabric of their underwear.
As she leaned down to kiss him, she felt the exhaustion take over her completely. From the very slow movement of his lips she had the idea the same had happened to him.
She pulled back to look into his red and tired eyes. She gave an apologetic look and he responded by giving her a tap on her butt and gently pushing on her hip so she would lie down next to him.
“I really want to,” he said in a heavy voice, “But as soon as my back hit the bed I couldn’t fight the exhaustion.” She let out a breath and draped her arm across his torso.
“As soon as I moved I felt it go through me to my very bones,” she admitted. They kissed goodnight. Soon she heard him snoring, though not very loud. Tired as she was she couldn’t easily fall asleep, now feeling worse than ever because of what had just happened.
Chapter 4
“It’s perfectly understandable,” Kay attempted to comfort Aria Monday night. Aria had asked her over for dinner to talk about the events of Saturday night and everything she felt about it.
“It was a long day,” Aria reasoned. Kay looked sympathetically into her eyes. Aria averted her gaze almost instantly. She didn’t want to feel pitied or whatever it was that was going on. She knew Kay didn’t mean it like that, but she just felt awful about the situation. She had barely even spoken to Billy because she continued to shorten their conversations. She needed time to calm down and think.
“We haven’t had sex in a while,” Aria admitted. Her statement was met with complete silence. “I think there’s something missing there and I don’t know why.”
Kay leaned in closer and made comforting circles on her upper back. She didn’t say anything. After all, there was not really much to say. This was something Aria needed to figure out and navigate on her own.
Billy dropped a bomb on her the next day as she stumbled through memories and feelings trying to weight everything out logically.
“Aria,” he said quietly as soon as she walked into his apartment. She didn’t want to come over for fear of feeling disappointed and lashing out on him unfairly, but she could hear the desperation in his voice. He didn’t beg, but the tone of his voice did. He pulled her in to a tight hug and kissed her neck softly in his usual affectionate way.
When he pulled back he took her by the hand and led her into the kitchen where he had laid out her favorite meal, cooked by him. Deep red candles sat on the table. It wasn’t over the top. It was different from the usual and showed enough thought, just the right amount. She had no idea what was going on or what the occasion was. She took a seat as he sat across from her looking at her in a way she couldn’t quite place. If she wasn’t mistaken there seemed to be a trace amount of nervousness in his eyes.
They had dinner and had a quiet, simple conversation throughout which only served to confuse Aria even more. It was not until Billy had cleared the plates and returned to his seat that she noticed he was shifting quite a bit and definitely seemed rattled. He cleared his throat and reached out to hold her hand on the table.
“Aria,” he said so low she wasn’t sure if he had actually said her name. “I love you and I miss you. And I want to be with you more without crowding you.” Aria stared at him, feeling more confused than ever. Try as she may, she couldn’t figure out what he was getting at. “Would you like to move in together?”
Aria let out a little gasp and cupped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide and shining. Though she had imagined this would happen at some point in their relationship she couldn’t have guessed at when. Given everything she had been feeling and worried about lately that was not a thought that occupied her mind. She practically jumped off her chair and went over to sit on his lap, laying numerous kisses on his mouth, cheeks, and forehead.
“I would love to,” she replied earnestly as she looked into his eyes. His smile lit up his entire face and he pulled her into a tight embrace. He kissed her tenderly at first but soon she felt the kiss heating up. His hands moved to pick her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around him as he carried her to the bedroom.
He placed her carefully onto the bed as she looked up at him with a mixture of warmth and desire. She hoped this time they really went through with it. It was about much more than just wanting pleasure; she missed being with him. She sat up enough to take her shirt off in one, clean motion and then laid back flat on the bed, the tops of her breasts bouncing from the movement.
He looked down at her and marveled at her beautiful, smooth skin and how absolutely stunning she looked. She felt her cheeks turn pink as he stared at her. Her eyes darted down to the hard and visible bulge in his pants, prompting him to undo them and take them off with his boxers at once. He took off his shirt and dropped it at the corner of the bed before climbing over top her and kissing her deeply.
She could feel the tip of his shaft bobbing ever so slightly against the fabric of her pants and this made her ache for him even more. As if reading her mind, he ran his hands down her neck, over her chest and torso, until he started to make quick work of undoing her pants. He slid them off swiftly along with her panties and kissed all the way back up her leg until she felt his tongue flat against her opening. He licked up to her wetness where he closed his mouth around her clit and gave a single suck before kissing along her hipbone. She moaned and arched her back, wanting more and wanting it fast.
After he positioned himself, he leaned down to kiss her and slid his cock into her at the same time causing her to moan into his mouth. She gripped his shoulder and pushed him off to the side so he would slip out of her and lie down flat on his back. Eagerly, she climbed on top of him and straddled his hips, positioning herself right over his hard cock. She leaned down and kissed him with all the need she felt as her nails dug into his shoulders and left little crescent marks.
Billy ran his hand down her back and grabbed her ass, pushing down so her wet slit could grind down against his hard shaft. The head of his cock relentlessly pressed at her opening. She rocked her hips and pushed down to allow him to slide into her again. He looked at her with hooded eyes full of lust and parted his lips as his breathing got heavier.
Aria took a deep breath and relaxed the muscles of her body, allowing herself to fully enjoy the sensation of him inside her. It had been so long that she already felt close to the edge. She moved her hips up and down slowly at first, but picked up the pace soon with his own hips rising and falling to match her movement.
It wasn’t long before they were both moaning out loud as their orgasms washed over them. Billy thrusted up with quick jabs as he grunted, feeling his cum shoot into her. She sprawled out on top of him and gave him a lazy kiss before leaning her head down into the crevice between his neck and shoulder with him still twitching inside her. Aria rolled onto her side and stretched, feeling content.
“Shower?” Billy was sitting up already as the question left his mouth. She didn’t respond with words, but she pushed herself off the bed and walked right into the bathroom, turning on the showerhead and adjusting the temperature before stepping in. When he stepped in after her, he pulled her into a tight embrace and whispered a deeply honest “I love you” in her ear.
“Wow! I’m so happy for you!” Kay’s smile was radiant and genuine. Aria pulled her best friend into a hug and beamed back, feeling much happier than she had in a long time. It wasn’t that she was unhappy in general; it was just an entirely different feeling of elation.
“How did it happen? Give me the details!”
Aria launched into the story of how she had been feeling down and acting distant with him when he called and invited her for dinner. She mentioned she could hear the plea in his voice and didn’t want to disappoint him so she agreed to go over.
“I’m so glad I gave in that night,” she said as her eyes shined. Kay was completely wrapped up in hearing about the details of how he had cooked dinner and set the table with candles. She thought it was cute how Aria had noticed he seemed odd and nervous but could not figure out why. She thought the way he actually asked was perfect. Then Aria we
nt on to happily inform Kay they actually had sex and it was great, followed by a quick and sweet shower.
“Wow,” Kay breathed out. “I’m really happy for you,” she said earnestly. “So do you feel better now?”
“I do,” Aria replied honestly, “But I think it’s still something to be addressed. I mean, it took something like moving in for us to finally have sex after a long time. And it was great and sweet but it wasn’t, I don’t know, fiery? And it doesn’t need to be like that every time but there just is something missing, I really feel it.” She spoke rapidly without pausing even to take a breath. Aria knew she really needed to figure out what this was and address it with Billy. She finally had the confidence to do so without the fear of shattering her relationship. But for now there were other things to focus on. She had some packing to do.
It was three weeks later and Billy and Aria had finally found the perfect apartment, signed the lease, and moved their stuff in. It took them about half a week to set everything up and settle in. This would be their first weekend truly spent together in their new place. She was positively giddy as she stepped over the threshold of the door.
Only You and Me Page 7