by Jessica Roe
It terrified me, and like a complete and utter pussy I've been avoiding her ever since. It's not like I'm the only one – Ivy's been home even less than I have. Last night she even babysat Daisy for Heather and I know she didn't do that out of the goodness of her heart.
I'm beginning to think I never should have brought the whole sex thing up. It seemed like such a perfect idea at the time, but I. . .I miss her. Though things have only been weird with us for less than a week and we share an apartment, I still miss the hell out of her. I miss our friendship.
I grab my jacket from the bedroom and slide it on, exiting my room while still tugging at that godforsaken bow tie. “You ready?” I holler, trying to decide if we should call a cab or just walk over to the gallery since it's not that far. I guess it'll depend on the height of Ivy's heels.
“Just a sec!”
A second turns out to be more like five minutes, and I spend the time alternating between trying to figure out the bow tie and texting Nathan to tell him what a jackass he is.
Her door opens behind me and I spin. Ivy finally appears and she. . .
She takes my damned breath away.
My hands drop uselessly to my sides as I take her in, my eyes greedily scouring her from top to bottom, from the toes peeking out of her black heeled sandles, to those slender ankles, to that pale silver dress. It hugs her body like it was made just for her. It's high necked and short sleeved, but it stops just above mid thigh so those legs. . . Damn, those fucking legs. Every inch of those perfect legs are on show, and I remember why I've always liked them so much. The dress shimmers when she moves, like the whole thing has been coated in a layer of frost, and I just want to touch her so bad that I have to clench my hands at my sides to keep from reaching out.
“You think I look okay?” she asks almost shyly, as if she somehow can't tell that she's rendered me speechless. A hand lifts to touch the hair she's twisted up at the top of her neck and I can tell my staring is making her self conscious. She's never been self conscious around me before. I don't know if I hate that I'm making her feel that way or if I like that it's becoming more apparent that she's just as affected by me as I am her. “The dress is one of mine. I bumped into Calin from high school the other day and she got me thinking about my old designs, so I dug this out at Mom and Dad's house and made a few alterations. . .” Her rambles die off as her eyes finally meet mine, and suddenly I see everything I'm feeling reflected in her eyes. She likes the way I look in the tux, and I try to take some satisfaction in that but mostly it's doing seriously fucked up shit to my insides.
“You're beautiful,” I tell her hoarsely. I've said the same thing to so many women over the years, but I've never meant it as much as I do with her. She's so goddamned beautiful it hurts to breathe right now.
A blush stains her cheeks, and I want nothing more than to trace the heat of it with my fingers. Smiling faintly, she steps forward to fix the bow tie I'd abandoned, glancing up at me from beneath dark lashes. Her eyes are smoky tonight; it makes the blue in them stand out vividly. “You look good too. Amazing, I mean. You look amazing.”
Finishing with my bow tie, she goes to step away but my hand darts out to catch her elbow, because something in me just won't let her go. She looks up at me in surprise, her eyes wide and innocent even though I know she's anything but.
Ivy doesn't know, she doesn't understand that I've been battling this attraction between us almost as hard as she has. She's one of the most important people in my whole damned life and our friendship means everything to me, yet I can't get rid of this need for her.
I thought I might be feeling this way because it's been a while since I've gotten any action, and since we live together and I see her every day, I figured that was the only reason I couldn't stop thinking about her naked. So I dragged Nathan to a bar, determined to find a girl able to get my mind off her, but it didn't work. Not even a little. One drink in and all I could think of was how I'd much rather be home watching dumb holiday movies with Ivy than there in that bar sat with a woman wearing way too much perfume.
If the whole attraction was one sided like I'd thought it had been when we were seventeen then I'm sure I could bury this whole thing and let it go. But it isn't one sided. She wants me as much as I want her and it's killing me.
I cup her cheeks in my hands, relishing the feel of her soft skin beneath my fingers. Most of me expects her to push me away and tell me all the reasons this is crazy again, but she doesn't. She stares up at me with parted lips and I know, I know that she wants this as much as I do. “Just one kiss?” I ask of her. I beg of her.
She blinks, one of her hands rising to my chest. “Just one,” she whispers after a lifetime of waiting, as caught up in this as I am.
My heart thuds; she can probably feel it beneath her palm but I don't give a damn. I'm too far gone in her to give a damn. I lower my head slowly, giving her time to back out, and graze her lips with mine just like I did the other day.
In a surprising turn of events, Ivy is the one to make the next move. I'm glad; I think it had to be her. She reaches up on her tiptoes and presses her lips harder against mine, and finally we're kissing. God, it's good. It's so damned good. She makes a little gasping noise that makes me want to press her against the wall and take her right here as my tongue finds hers and our kiss deepens.
This isn't the same fumbled, inexperienced kiss of two horny seventeen year old kids. This is different. This is so much fucking better, so much fucking better than I imagined. And this past week. . .yeah, I imagined it a lot. Ivy tastes like sweetness and fire, her lips are soft but forceful, she's wanton but somehow shy at the same time. She's a million incredible contradictions, all rolled up into one perfect woman.
We pull back half an inch, gasping into each others mouths. She gasps, like she's finally coming to her senses, and I wait with bated breath, expecting the worst. “Maybe one more,” she gets out between heavy breaths. And then we're rushing each other, our lips clashing furiously as we grasp and pull at one another with our hands. I wrap one arm around her waist to hold her against me, grasping her head with my other hand. My fingers slide through her hair, dislodging pins that probably took her an hour to put in but it doesn't matter because now that we've started, I don't think either of us is capable of stopping. There's no way we're making Nathan's party tonight.
We stumble back until she hits the wall behind her, hard enough that a framed photo near her head wobbles and drops to the ground with a clatter. It cracks, but neither of us care enough to check on it. I grasp her head to kiss her hungrily, then I rip my lips from hers so I can taste her neck, tracing her rapidly beating pulse with my tongue. When I bite down she lets out a breathy moan that drives me fucking wild.
Her skin smells like strawberries, and for a moment it gives me pause because that more than anything reminds me that this woman in my arms, this sensual, sexy as hell woman, is Ivy. This is Ivy. Someone I've known my whole life. Someone who's seen the best and worst of me, who accepts me no matter what, who never expects anything from me unlike every other woman I've ever known. This is Ivy, somebody that I cannot lose. Can I do this? Can we do this?
I pull back to look down into her eyes. That trepidation that seems to have lived in them ever since our moment in the rain, it's all gone. Now all that remains is a deviousness that makes my dick harden, as if she has some very bad things in mind for the two of us. Her lipstick has all been kissed away, her lips are swollen from my kisses, and her cheeks are flushed. Everything about her is just. . .insanely tempting. We're both still fully clothed and already I'm hard as a fucking rock.
She flattens her palms against my chest, sliding them up until they're beneath the lapels of my jacket, without taking her eyes from mine. In one quick move, she pushes the jacket over my shoulders and down my arms until it drops to the floor in a crumpled heap, a sly grin on her face.
I may have been the one to start this off tonight, to kiss her, but that right there was the first move
that indicates things are going further. I'm glad as hell that she was the one to make it, because it means she wants this. She wants me.
God, yes. Yes, we can fucking do this.
Raising an eyebrow, I try and fail to reign in a smirk. “I have to return that, you know.”
“Who cares?”
Nobody. Nobody cares because nobody else exists right now but her and she feels so damned good that I can barely think straight. Her arms entwine around my neck and her lips fuse back onto mine. I slide my hands beneath the bottom of her dress, fondling her soft skin as I cup her ass to lift her. She waists no time wrapping her legs around my waist, and I stumble back blindly as I try to remember where the hell my room is without taking my tongue out of her hot mouth. I know this apartment like the back of my hand, but having her this close has short circuited my brain and I don't think I could even remember my own name right now.
We slam into another wall. Ivy lets out an oof of air and laughs into my mouth, but I soon put a stop to that by biting down hard on her bottom lip. She seems to like that, because she mewls in pleasure and grinds shamelessly into me. I emit a low groan. Mental note to self – Ivy likes it rough.
Spinning, we finally find my bedroom. I walk us forward until my legs hit the bed and we tumble into the sheets, never once parting lips.
Ivy rolls over so she's on top, making short work of ripping my damned bow tie off and tossing it carelessly behind her. Before she can start on my shirt buttons, I sit up with her facing me in my lap and wrap my arms around her.
“Tell me you want this,” I demand, looking into her eyes because I know she won't be able to lie to me this way. “We can't go any further unless you tell me you really want this.” After all, she was the one who'd listed all the reasons why this should never happen. And this thing between us, whatever the hell we're doing here, it'll only work if there are absolutely no regrets for either of us tomorrow. I want her so desperately I'm sure I'll explode if she tells me no now, but I need her friendship more. We have to do this and still be able to be friends tomorrow, to still be Ivy and Nash. She has to want this as much as I do.
Ivy takes my hand and slides it into her damp panties, and my head spins when I get a feel of just how wet she is. “What do you think?”
“I need to hear you say it, Ivy.”
She must sense something in my voice then, vulnerability perhaps, because she cups my cheek in her delicate hand and kisses me gently. “I want this,” she promises. “I want you. I tried not to, but I can't pretend I don't anymore. When you kissed me it was like. . .you freed something in me, and I don't want to cage it again.”
Thank fuck. “No regrets tomorrow? Promise me you'll still be able to look me in the eye and you won't hate me for this.”
“No regrets.” And then to prove her point, or just to stop me from talking anymore, she yanks my shirttails from my pants. I hurry to unbutton the shirt, but she gets impatient by the time I'm half way down and yanks the thing over my head. It gets stuck on my wrists where we forgot to unbutton the cuffs, and I get tangled in my rushed attempt to undo them. “Nuh uh,” she scolds, stopping me. “Maybe I want you all caught up like this. Totally at my mercy.”
I grin as she pushes me down against the bed with my hands still trapped behind my back. “Damn. Didn't know my little Ivy had such a naughty side.”
On her hands and knees over me, she stretches languidly, smirking as she watches me through hooded eyes. She leans down and presses hot kisses down my neck and over my shoulder. Groaning deeply, I buck against her when she tugs one of my nipples with her teeth. Her lips brush against the sensitive planes of my stomach as she moves down my body and underneath my belly button.
“Fuck,” I moan, when she kisses the head of my erection, straining against the material of my pants. With deft hands, she unbuckles my belt and rips it off in the hottest way. She's a woman on a mission, that's for damned sure.
Before she can tease me any further, I yank my hands from behind my back after finally having freed one of them. I have this intense urge to touch every inch of her supple body and I plan to do exactly that. She squeals and giggles in surprise when I grab her around her tiny waist, flipping her until she's the one pinned down beneath me. Quickly, I free my other wrist from the shirt and throw it aside. She eyes me, throwing her arms above her head and sucking her bottom lip into her mouth as her gaze rakes my body. Grinning, because this girl wants me, I kneel between her legs and pull off her heels. Making sure she's watching my every move, I slowly slide her dress up over her ass and lean down, placing a hot, wet kiss over her panties.
“Oh!” she exclaims in surprise, her mouth remaining in the O shape long after the noise has escaped.
“You like that?” I murmur, tracing a line over the damp material with my tongue.
“Mm hmm,” she replies breathlessly.
I crawl over her, taking her lips with mine again, loving how eagerly she welcomes me. I reach up for her hands, tugging them until she's up on her knees before me. “I love this dress,” I tell her. “but it needs to come off right the hell now.” There's a tiny purse thing attached to her wrist; I turn her hand over as I try to figure out how in the fuck it's supposed to come off.
She laughs at my confusion, unclasping it easily and dropping it on the bedside table. Wasting no time, I pull at the bottom of her dress, lifting it carefully over her head so the sequins don't scratch her peachy skin, because that would just be a damned shame. By the time it's off her hair has completely dropped from its pins, falling in mussed up, golden waves around her shoulders – just how I like it.
“Aw man,” I drawl, taking a good, long look at her in her underwear. Those tiny little scraps of turquoise barely cover her, and this image right here, it might just be the sexiest thing I've ever seen. “Oh yeah, look at you. You were definitely planning on getting into my pants tonight.” I lift a cocky eyebrow.
Her responding grin is impish – I love that she doesn't even try to deny it. “Might've been thinking about it. Subconsciously. Guess I finally reached my limit of watching you walk around shirtless.”
“I am an insanely handsome devil,” I agree.
She lays back down, leaning on her elbows to stare unashamedly as I kick of my shoes, socks and pants. It feels like there should be some level of awkwardness between us, like we should be acknowledging that we're two long term friends and we're totally getting naked in front of each other, but there's not. No awkwardness at all, not even any lingering from the past week. Like everything else between Ivy and I, we've fallen into this so easily, fallen into each other so easily.
“This is just a one time thing,” she reminds me sternly, and I nod eagerly because there's a hot as hell woman laying half naked in my bed promising me sex with absolutely no strings attached. She's kind of perfect.
“We're just getting rid of the sexual tension,” I concur.
“And rebounding. I mean, technically we're fixing each other.”
“Yeah, this is all just a good deed.” I smirk, putting my knee on the edge of the bed and moving over her, stalking my prey. Her elbows drop down as our stomachs brush. “We're just helping each other out.”
“That's what good friends do. This is a strictly no feelings kind of deal.”
I kiss a pathway down her chest between her breasts. “It's just lust. Purely physical.”
Her hands grab my head and she kisses me again, and things begin to move faster then. I impatiently rip away her bra and panties and she shoves down my boxer briefs, kicking them off with her toes. When her soft hand finally takes a hold of me I moan like a little bitch, and then I make her moan with my fingers because two can play at that game. Soon I take a condom and roll it on while she watches, biting down on that swollen bottom lip.
“You ready?” I ask huskily, moving over her and nudging against her entrance.
“So ready,” she breathes, so I rock into her, pushing in, and then-
Then my cell phone rings. “Mothe
r fucker!”
“Ignore it.”
“Plan to.” I rub my thumb over her nipple and she makes a pleased hum. The phone stops, but starts ringing again immediately. “For fuck's sake. Do not move!” Reaching over the side of my bed, I snatch the phone out of the pocket of my pants. It's Nathan. Of course it's Nathan, because only he could have such shitty timing.
“Hey, man,” he says cheerfully when I answer. “Where in the hell are yo-”
“Fucking busy,” I growl, not waiting for him to reply before cutting the call short. This time I make sure to switch the phone off because I don't need him, or anyone else tonight wanting to wish me a happy new year, interrupting us again.
But a second later Ivy's phone goes off inside her wrist purse thing. I grab it before she can even think of answering it herself, and I don't even give Nathan a chance to talk this time. “I said we're fucking busy!”
Clearly answering Ivy's phone was a giveaway, because he bursts into laughter. “Oh, shit-”
I switch her phone off too, tossing it behind me on the bed. Beneath me, Ivy starts giggling at my frustration. “I'm gonna wipe that grin right off your face,” I threaten.
“You better.”
I kiss her again, paying extra attention to that full bottom lip of hers. I grip the bed sheets on either side of her head, scrunching them up in my fists as finally, fucking finally, I slide inside her. There's no more laughter from her; instead we grunt and gasp into each others skin because this, this is heaven right here on earth.
Ivy bites down on my neck, a low moan escaping her as her hips rise up to meet mine. I thrust into her, slowly, deeply, determined to fill every inch of her in a way no one has before. Her hands grip my ass, her nails digging in as she rakes her fingers up the ridges of my spine and out over my shoulders. I groan, because nothing has ever felt as good as my dick inside her and her scent surrounding me as I bury my face in her neck. Nothing has ever felt as good as her hands on me and mine on her, her lips on mine and my tongue in her mouth.