The Thing About Love

by Kim Karr

  Her lips parted on a whimper, and she gave me full access to what I wanted. What I needed. What I craved.

  This time she kissed me back harder and clung to me in a way that had her fingers digging into my back.

  Feeling like I needed more, I tugged her thigh up so I could press deeper between her legs. When my hand tightened around her neck, she pushed against me, and I groaned. The vibration of it causing only more heat to shoot through me.

  As the kiss grew more demanding, it muddled my head and took me somewhere else entirely. The air crackled dangerously between us, and I let myself go. My hands wandering, my lips seeking, my tongue thrusting, and my body wanting.

  When I felt my control starting to fray, I lifted my head, but didn’t step back, didn’t let her go. “We should talk first.”

  Breathless and panting, she was attempting to steady herself and placed a hand on my chest as if she needed the support. “Okay, you’re the first guy to ever say something like that to me.”

  Firsts were all over the place tonight.

  “It’s just that jumping into bed, or anyplace, would be easy, and I’m not saying I don’t want to.” I glanced down at my raging erection, “I mean obviously, I do.”

  A smile feathered her lips along with a slight blush that coated her cheeks. “But . . .”

  “Yes, there is a but.”

  “Isn’t there always?”

  I shrugged. “But, you are going to plan my sister’s wedding.”

  She shook her head back and forth. “I can’t. I don’t have enough resources to pull it off.”

  “Yes, you can. And yes you are. Somehow, someway you will make that day happen because I’m not letting you quit.”

  She raised a perky brow, and I couldn’t help but glance further down at her perky nipples. Fuck, I wanted to take them in my mouth. “Did you just say you’re not letting me?”

  I shook off the thought of putting her in my car and having her naked beneath me right this minute. “Yes, I’m not letting you quit. I’ll sue you if I have to.”

  Her palms pressed harder against my chest. “Oh yeah, on what grounds?”

  I smiled. “Misrepresentation.”

  “Of what?”

  “Using that sexy body of yours to lure me into doing business with you and then not allowing me to sink deep inside you. Not allowing me to fuck you so hard and for so long that you can’t even remember your own name.”

  I watched her eyes smolder with an explosive heat and had to order myself not to press her right back against the car and just take her right there. In a public place. She cleared her throat. Straightened her shoulders. Her voice was shaky when she finally spoke. “I never said I wouldn’t allow that.”

  Triumph blazed in my eyes. “Good. Then the faster we can move past the business aspect of our relationship, the faster we can move on to getting naked.”

  “That’s right to the point.”

  “I’m always right to the point. You’ll figure that out soon enough, just like you’re going to figure out where to have this wedding. And then once you do, you are going to plan the biggest event the country has seen in decades.” I lifted her chin with my fingers. “Do you understand me?”

  She nodded. Swallowed. Went to open her mouth, but I shut it with a kiss.

  “Don’t even think of disagreeing,” I whispered around her lips.

  Ignoring me, she placed her hands on my face and leaned back. “What I was going to say is what happened to figuring us out? To being friends? To dating? You’re skipping right to the sex part.”

  “Isn’t that the best part?” I murmured.

  Dirty blonde hair and big eyes framed an unexpected charm of twin dimples. “Well, yes, and no.”

  “No?” I asked in surprise.

  “I mean, when it’s good, yes.”

  “I don’t know who you’ve been having sex with, but I promise you with me it will be more than good.”

  She rolled her eyes at my flirtation, but those dimples flicked in amusement on her cheeks when she went on. “You sound like Tony the Tiger by the way, and I’m waiting for you to say, It’s great.”

  An exasperated sigh escaped my throat, but so did a surprised smile. She knew how to dish it, that was for certain.

  “Seriously though, Jake, dating is how you get to know someone.”

  I sobered. “Dating is . . . complicated, and expectant, and time-consuming,” I ran my hand through my hair. “Three things I can’t handle in my life right now, and besides, I have a job waiting for me in New York.”

  “New York?”

  I nodded. “In the trauma unit at New York Presbyterian Hospital.”

  “When do you start?”

  “That’s open-ended right now.”

  She nodded as if she understood that it was dependent on my grandmother. Then she rose on her toes, linked her hands behind my head, and laid her mouth on mine. A jolt of pleasure shot straight through me. I had to fight the urge to grab her as I had before, because all I wanted to do was release even a small portion of that pent-up lust that was between us.

  I could have just a little taste right here, and it would help do just that. I ran a hand up her body then down it again. Stopping at the loose waistband of her pants, I eased my fingers inside.

  Quivering, she drew back, and a pretty flush tinged her tan cheeks pink. “How about this? I agree to plan the wedding—with your help—and you agree not to define us, to see where things go, regardless of the place.”

  All kinds of alarm bells went off in my head, and I pulled my hand back. That was dangerous right there because it meant she wanted more than I knew I could give.

  Than I had to give.

  “Look,” she said. “I have a business to run that you must already know is floundering, and that is my first priority. I like you, and I want to figure this out between us, but I want to do so with an open mind.”

  I looked down at her. “Figure it out, that’s all.”

  She removed her arms from around my neck and offered me her pinky. “Pinky swear.”

  I shook my head. “I am not doing that.”

  “Come on, please, it means we both understand the deal. We enter into a relationship with no expectations.”

  “But with sex?” Hey, I was hopeful.

  She smiled. “Yes, with sex.”

  I offered my pinky and couldn’t believe I was doing such a foolish thing. She just had a way about her. Part strong woman, part lost girl. She was both a kitten and a lion, and I was drawn to her. With my pinky wrapped around hers, I said, “Now, for the sex part.”

  “Yes.” Her eyes were wide, and her lips parted.

  However, before I could tell her we were going to my place in midtown because it was closer than Buckhead, and I didn’t want to hear anything about it, my phone started ringing from my car, where I’d left it. I uncurled my pinky and held up a finger. “Give me one second.”

  She nodded.

  Opening the door, I grabbed for my cell. It was late, so either there was an emergency at the hospital, or it was concerning my grandmother. “Dr. Kissinger,” I answered.

  “Dr. Kissinger, this is Matthew.”

  I stood and held my phone to my ear. My heart was clambering in my chest. “Yes Matthew, is something wrong?”

  Matthew was my grandmother’s night nurse. I’d hired him to take care of her at her home, and tonight was his first night.

  “Yes. Yes. Everything is fine. And I hate to bother you, but she’s asking when you’ll be home.”

  Relief washed over me and I laughed. “Tell her I’m on my way and then will you please remind her that I’m nearly thirty, which means she no longer has to wait up for me.”

  “Yes sir, I understand sir, but I’d rather not if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure thing, Matthew, I’ll tell her myself when I get there.”

  “Okay, sir, goodbye then.”

  I shoved my phone in my front pocket and backed Jules up against the car. “I’m s
orry, but I’m going to have to postpone things. My grandmother just came home today, and I told her I’d stay with her. Somehow she took that to mean I need to be home before she goes to bed.”

  Jules was giggling. “I heard you, and I think it’s cute.”

  I thrust my hard cock against her. “Baby, I’m anything but cute. When you get home tonight, and you’re touching yourself, thinking of me and what I’m going to do to you, I doubt the word cute will come to mind.”

  “I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’ve been playing with myself a lot since meeting you.”

  I groaned and thrust into her again. “That’s something we have in common then because I’ve had an itch I haven’t been able to scratch. But tonight when I get in the shower and grip my cock, this time I’ll be thinking about you playing with your gorgeous pussy and the sounds you make when you come.”

  Her lips formed a perfect O. “When will I see you?”

  Stepping back, I took her bag and immediately found her keys. “Me or my cock?”

  “Don’t they come together?”

  Unlocking her door, I smirked. “Oh, they do. Trust me, they do.”

  “Seriously, when?”

  I opened her door. “I’ll call you tomorrow, but check your phone tonight.”

  “Are you going to send me a dick pic?” she asked, lowering herself inside.

  “Not just a dick pic. Something better,” I told her and stepped back to shut the door. “Now get going. I’ll follow you out. If I don’t get back to Rosewood, my grandmother won’t get any sleep tonight.”

  “That’s it!” she shouted with a burst of excitement.

  “What’s it?”

  “Rosewood. We’ll have the wedding at Rosewood and recreate the scene in that picture of your great-grandmother. A tea party in the garden before the ceremony during the day and the ball of all balls inside at night. It will be just like one of Gatsby’s parties, only so much better.”

  I had to hand it to Jules; my sister would love the 1920’s vibe. I wasn’t so sure she’d love the Rosewood idea, though. Yet, I could sell her on that, especially since I knew Mimi would go for the suggestion the minute I repeated it. I tapped my knuckles on the hood. “Start planning, but Juliette, not before you make yourself come thinking of me.”

  She ignored me again. It was really starting to irritate me, and that only turned me on more. “I need to come over, but not tomorrow. How about Sunday?”

  I raised a brow. “My grandmother will be home, but if you insist on having me, I guess I’ll have to say yes.”

  “Not for sex,” she scolded.

  “I know,” I said and closed the door.

  She opened the window. “I’ll be there at eleven.”

  I leaned in. “What about getting together tomorrow for the sex part?”

  With eyes the brightest green, freckles alight, and dimples practically dancing, she shoved me back. “Oh, that will have to wait. I have a lot to do tomorrow. See you Sunday,” she said, and then closed the window.

  I watched her back out and then I watched the taillights of her little Miata fade. As she turned the corner, I wondered if this was all a big mistake because I couldn’t wait to see her again.

  And that was so unlike me.

  So very unlike me.

  Taste of Your Own Medicine

  JULES

  EXHAUSTION HAD LONG AGO SET in.

  At nearly eight at night, I was finally able to relax. I had run a bath and was lowering myself into the water when I decided on lavender-scented oil and bubbles.

  After adding them, I settled myself against the back of the tub and reached for my phone. I thumbed directly to my messages to play the video Jake had sent me last night for the hundredth time.

  It wasn’t of his dick.

  It wasn’t of him making himself come.

  But it was still such a turn on.

  It was of him eating a piece of chocolate cake. “I want to come inside that hot mouth of yours,” he whispered and then opened his mouth wide. “I want to taste your pussy and make you come so hard,” he moaned as he licked at the fork with his tongue. “I want to bury myself deep inside you,” he said in a guttural tone, and the way his eyes closed when he did, made me think he was orgasming right in front of me.

  He knew this of course.

  And he was acting.

  He was trouble.

  And I knew it.

  The dirty talking doctor was a bad boy through and through.

  And I liked it. Worse, I wanted more.

  What I had responded with was:

  Me: No dick pic

  Him: How bad do you want it?

  Me: Not that bad.

  Him: Send me something first, and I’ll consider it.

  Me: Something like what? Me painting my nails?

  Him: Something worthwhile.

  I didn’t respond to that text, and we hadn’t spoken all day, but I’d spent the day contemplating what was worthwhile.

  And I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. I was going to give him a show, and it was one he didn’t have to use his imagination for.

  I’d never done anything like this before, and my hands were shaking.

  Turning the video on, I angled my phone toward my sex, which was, of course, hidden by the bubbles, and then using my free hand, I ran my fingers down my belly.

  Resting my chin on the water’s surface, I found my clit and started circling. The bath oil made my skin slick and my cunt even slicker. Smooth. Soft.

  For some reason, my arousal seemed heightened because I knew I was doing this for him.

  Sinking lower into the deep tub, with my ears in the water, I was able to hear the wildly beating thump of my heart.

  The pitter-patter caused by thoughts of him.

  His mouth.

  His lips.

  His tongue.

  His cock.

  Spurred on by the sound, I took my nub and started pinching it between my fingers. I pushed myself back up and allowed a sigh to leak out of me as my pussy tightened and bucked.

  Water splashed out of the tub, but I didn’t care because his voice was in my head. “I want to come in that hot mouth of yours.”

  Needing more, I opened my legs wider and pushed my hips against the water when my fingers plunged inside me.

  I bit my lip, the intrusion causing my hips to jerk toward the surface. Still, it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Not him.

  Needing even more, I applied pressure and circled my clit. Over and over. My moans were real, and they were for him. The water supported me and lifted me, but not for long. Soon I was pushing my pelvis against my fingers, and my shoulder blades bumped the bottom of the tub.

  I held the phone up higher.

  His hands.

  His big, callused palms.

  Rough and soft.

  His long, strong fingers.

  That’s what I wanted to feel. That’s what I pretended I felt.

  Sliding two fingers inside, I tried to make believe it was okay that it wasn’t his thick, hard cock fucking me. And for a minute, it was okay. My clit swelled. And my body opened with an ache to be filled. But then I realized it wasn’t him, and I forced myself to keep pretending.

  I imagined it was him in here with me. Fucking me. Telling me to sit on his lap. To ride his hard cock. And we were all tongues, hands, and hot explosive kisses. And then, and then, I exploded in a small whirlwind of tiny sparklers.

  No fireworks.

  No stars or other galaxies.

  And surely no earth moving under my feet.

  I mean, I was alone. But I came hard, and I came for him. I may not have known what it was Dr. Kiss was making me feel, but I did know for absolute certainty that I wanted to find out.

  I turned the camera off and thought about deleting the video, but what did I have to lose by sending it?

  Just then my leg slipped from the tub and bubbles blew all around me and landed on my screen.

  It was a sign.<
br />
  So, without overthinking it any further, and before I could totally chicken out, I brought up my contacts list and hit send without attaching a message.

  He’d figure it out.

  I relaxed back in the tub and closed my eyes. Oh, how I wished I could be there when he watched it.

  Five minutes passed and nothing.

  Ten minutes passed and nothing.

  At fifteen, I stopped counting.

  The caustic bastard wasn’t going to respond.

  He was waiting for me to come begging.

  Well, he’d be waiting a long time.

  Off One’s Rocker

  JULES

  I HAD TURNED INTO A prune, literally.

  My skin was all wrinkled and my toes shriveled by the time I finally emerged from the tub. Grabbing a towel, I dried myself and noted that my skin might have been clean from the hot water, but my arousal was not nearly satisfied.

  As I wrapped a robe around my naked body, I knew that I would give in and call him to invite him over. Now. Tonight. The simple truth was—I wanted him. His mouth on me. His hands on me. Him.

  I wanted to feel him lick the soft, wet slit of my pussy. I wanted to coax a smile on his lips when I came hard under his tongue. I wanted him to fuck me with his hands and his cock and his mouth until I came. I wanted to make him come and beg for more.

  And I couldn’t wait any longer.

  When my phone rang, I lunged for it. It was him. I was sure, and I was going to order him to come over right now.

  Before I could get to it though, I slipped on the wet floor and landed on my butt. With my rear throbbing, I got on my knees and crawled across the tile to grab for my phone, and then I hurriedly pressed answer. “Hello.”

  “Is this Jules Easton?” the gruff voice asked.

  I glanced at the number. I didn’t know it. “Yes.”

  “I have a guy in my back room that gave me instructions I was to call you if anything happened to him.”

  “What happened?” I asked in alarm.

  “He got knocked out, and he’s in pretty bad shape.”

  “How bad?”

  “I’m not a fucking doctor, lady, but he doesn’t look good, or I wouldn’t be calling.”