by Alisa Mullen
“Okay, but I want to clear something up as well,” she started. Confident Aoife was back as she smiled brightly at me and then down to my shirt, covering my colorful chest of art.
I lifted an eyebrow and smirked at her. “Yes?” I drew out the word in a rugged and husky voice.
“Well, two things, really.” She pointed at one finger. “If we are alone behind closed doors, you aren’t allowed to wear a shirt…like ever.”
Her eyebrow lifted and I chuckled as I tore the shirt back off.
“And number two?” I prompted.
“You have to kiss me now.” Her voice was small again and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard another person say.
I fully leaned over and took her jaw into my hands. “Don’t” on one hand’s knuckles took her right side of her face and “Quit” on the left knuckles took her left side. Her eyes poured something into my hands and it radiated up through my arms to my throat. I couldn’t swallow as I watched her lick her lips before I gently pressed mine against hers.
She took the back of my neck and forced me into her mouth. A sensual play. A sexy turn of tongues flicking and licking within our mouths and her jaw staying strong and there for me to be a part of for however long I wanted. Fuck me, it was a kiss.
That was what I did the first morning I spent with Aoife Flanagan.
Chapter Ten
Sean
If you told my brothers at The Ink Shop that I spent almost two hours lying in a bed with a girl just kissing and touching each other’s faces and arms, they would have called me the biggest pussy on the planet. I suppose I was but it felt incredible. I was so glad that we didn’t have sex the night before because I would have ditched Aoife at first light and not given her another thought. It wasn’t until about twenty minutes into our tongue foreplay that I realized I didn’t even want to have sex right now. It was so cool to honor her face, soak in her amazing moans of pleasure, and build up the anticipation of wanting more.
“Do you want to get naked now?” she playfully asked me while my lips were still stuck to her neck. I pulled back and looked into her hopeful eyes. Damn, she did want to have sex and fuck, I did, too by the way my body was reacting to her, but a small voice in my head told me I needed to slow down and take my time with her.
I grabbed her fingers with one of my hands and stroked them with my thumb. I lay my head down on my part of the flat green pillow and smiled. Again, another genuine smile that almost hurt my chest to show. Her eyes fluttered alive as she smiled right back at me.
I shook my head while I still smiled at her, throwing in a little chuckle. Her hopeful face diminished and once again, I confused us both.
“Aoife, I haven’t ever just kissed a woman – you know, just to kiss her. I don’t want more right now because that was really something,” I said as I squeezed her hand and smiled again.
“Oh,” she responded quietly.
“I want to do more of that again…soon,” I said as I took my hand away and touched her from the top of the shoulder all the way down to her hip bone. She closed her eyes and exhaled.
“Were you holding your breath?” I asked on another laugh.
“Yeah, you’re hot…like seriously hot. You are a gentlemen and I've never met anyone like you,” she stated with all seriousness in her eyes.
“Who you just described is not me,” I laughed while I nervously continued to rub circles on her hip bone. Jesus, if I could have her lay out in my chair at The Ink Shop, I would put stars and flowers in all of my favorite spots.
“Yeah! It is Sean,” she exclaimed with a grin. I shook my head uncomfortably. Yeah, maybe I didn’t take advantage of her. Yeah, maybe kissing her and only kissing her was fun – but gentlemen? She was out of her mind.
“What do you have going on for the rest of the weekend?” I asked, still feeling everything I could of her body. It was beyond amazing to be lying and talking with a female. It did remind me of someone but it was different. It was obvious we had a mutual attraction. Friends? No, Aoife and I were not just friends. We would have sex. It may not be today but I planned to spend more time sleeping with her and feeling her hip bone and watching her blush after today.
“Today’s Saturday?” she prompted me. I nodded and slyly moved in to give her another kiss on her full, reddened lips.
She tasted so friggin’ awesome and ripened with sex this morning as she whimpered a little. I pulled away but I didn’t want to so I moved back again. Was I teasing her? Did I like that I was teasing her? Yes, yes I did. It was fucking amazing. I wasn’t playing with her head because if I was, I was also playing with my head. I would have already banged the chick and left. This slow moving attraction was really sexy. I officially loved “slow.” She watched me moisten my lips. I watched her brilliant green eyes flash as I licked my bottom lip.
“I've to ring my da then I'll probably just finish the book I'm reading and relaxing with a nice cup of tea or maybe ten, and most likely take a long, hot bath,” she explained in a rush. She could talk so damn fast that it took me several moments for the total sentence to catch up with my brain synapses. Then I waited. Obviously, that wasn’t her entire weekend.
I waited to listen to her real plans for the night. Would she head to Cambridge or Downtown to party? Would she try out a certain restaurant with a friend? Surely Ireland didn’t have all that Boston had to offer in the food department. After long quiet moments, I was still waiting.
“So what will you do the rest of the weekend?” She finally asked.
“Wait. That is really all you are doing this weekend? Tea, a bath, and a book? You do realize you are living in one of the most bad ass cities in America, right?” I asked, basically stunned.
“I know but I am not here for any of that. I came for work. My da needs me to make the money for our life. America pays better and the school I attend will see it as a completion for one of our levels.”
Money. She was here to work. Aoife was so young and yet her mindset was that of someone much older than me. She had to take care of what?
“Why doesn’t your father pay for his own life?”
She shrugged and clearly didn’t understand my question.
“Do you still live with your parents?” I probed, trying to get her to say something. Anything. A glimpse into the life as Aoife Flanagan from Ireland.
“Yes, it is very common for girls my age to still live with their parents. My mam died when I was ten years and so it has just been me and my da, you know – my family.”
“I am so sorry,” I soothed as I moved into kiss her forehead. She quickly breathed me in and her arms immediately came up around my neck. She was clearly suffocating me but there was a need – a pull that she craved just from my asking her about her life. Was I part of her life now? Why did I even care so much about this girl?
“Sean?” She asked as she snuggled her face into my upper chest.
“Aoife?” I asked against her temple.
“I don't want to talk about life at home. I'm just me. I don't like…I don't party like I said earlier. I’m not a big people person. I've been there, done that and that’s okay by me,” she explained as I felt her shrug. “But I think, well, I know that I am that loneliest when I am in a crowded room of people. That probably doesn’t make any sense.”
I thought about what she said. I knew that feeling. I felt the same way when I was at a party one night – the night of Lizzie and Nick’s wedding. There were so many hot girls, so much drugs and booze. Everything I could ever want was right there and I remember just sitting on the couch with the same beer in my hand the entire night. Girl after girl tried to wake my spirit up by sitting on my lap. When I didn’t respond to their come-ons, they moved on. I was so lonely because I needed her. I think that was the first time I didn’t enjoy a party up until last night. I thoroughly enjoyed this morning and being with Aoife.
“Are you lonely now, sweetheart?” I whispered in her ear.
She shook her head and I smoot
hed her curly locks down to her head, watching them spring back up into action as I continued to try. It became a little game. Her curls were just as stubborn as I knew she was. It made me smile despite the subject at the moment.
“Do you want to come home with me this weekend?”
Her arms tightened more, if that was possible, and she squealed into my chest.
“Was that a yes?” I laughed.
“You don’t mind?” she asked, retreating so not to show her reddened face.
“Mind? I want to kiss and hold on to you all day long. Let’s just go do it in a bigger bed.” I grabbed her back into me.
Her laugh was unlike anything I had ever heard. She tried to keep it in by holding her hand over her mouth but when I pulled her fingers away from her face, I became saturated by her entire demeanor. She shimmered like gold and felt lighter than she had two minutes ago in my arms. She had a child’s laugh after seeing the first snowflakes of winter. I imagined her turning around and around in the night, clouded by soft, white powder of mystery – the heaviness of her exterior was absent in this one moment of pure bliss.
I had done this.
Me.
The small things, an inner voice said. All I did was ask her to spend the day with me and I swear I just told her that Santa Claus was coming the next morning. For purely selfish reasons, I wanted her to sleep in my bigger bed but I knew it wasn’t just that. This girl needed someone and I wanted to be everything she needed as long as I was the one to put that glorious look on her face. And as often as possible. Suddenly, we both felt that we needed to get going and we jumped up out of her bed. I stretched while collecting all my things off the floor. If I ever did stay in the city with her again, I would be doing a run to Salvation Army for at least a table to put my shit on. I laughed at myself.
Aoife was grabbing her clothes, her phone charger, her toothbrush, and a book. I quirked my eyebrow at the book after she placed it in the bag. “So, I am rescuing you from a weekend of monotonous tea, baths, and reading and you’re still bringing the book along anyway?”
She wrapped her arms around my sides like she had done it so many times before. I grinned down at the fact that we were already there. So damn comfortable to hold each other, to touch each other, to playfully jab at each other.
“I thought if you get bored, I could read you some of my smutty romance novel,” she teased.
“Baby, if you want to talk dirty to me in that sexy accent of yours, I am all ears,” I answered her as I dropped a quick kiss on her lips.
Her face got warm and I went in for another kiss to show her I was committed to having her with me. She gripped the back of my neck and her bag dropped to the ground. I picked Aoife’s little framed body off the floor as she wrapped her legs around my waist. Jesus, she felt so good like this, too. I would hold her up as long as she needed me to. I would and could and wanted to. When our kiss ended, I looked up into her eyes and the worst possible thought came to my head.
“Fuck, I have to work tonight at the shop. I only had last night off,” I slightly whined. It surprised me because I loved going into The Ink Shop. It was the place where I felt I was my true self. It didn’t matter if customers were assholes or trying to get their hands down my pants. When I was working, nothing else around mattered. I was in it for the art.
Aoife was coming back to Newburyport with me today and then… what? How could I ask her to stay at my place while I worked at the shop until two o’clock in the morning? Of course, I had to work. So why now, after she had gotten all ready, as we were heading out the door, did I realize I had a job? Seriously, this girl made me forget my own life. I expressed my conflict to her like the asshole I didn’t want to be.
“Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s not a problem. Like I said, I planned on a quiet weekend anyway so I will just stick around here. You need to go to work so you go and maybe…” she kept talking as I just stared at her. Any other girl, including Lizzie, would make a huge deal about me not spending enough time with them or me being an asshole for putting them through the excitement only to disappoint them. She continued to talk about why it was probably better that she stayed home until the words just fell out of my mouth without conscious thought.
“How about you bring that smutty book to The Ink Shop and read it to me there while I work. I have three clients to work on tonight. Can you read to me for that long? A few hours?”
The air between us was thick. She was trying to figure me out and I was exasperated, wanting to but not able to understand what she was thinking. After several moments of sizing each other up, we both nodded in unison without saying one word. I begrudgingly put Aoife back down on the ground. She picked up her bag. I grabbed my keys. I took her hand hostage with a small kiss to her cheek.
I still held her grip thirty minutes later, when we retrieved my truck from Lizzie’s valet. It wasn’t until we were in my truck, traveling north to my hometown, Newburyport, Massachusetts, that I brought her small hand to my lips and kissed it with fervor. It felt amazing to have her by my side, in and out of bed. I preemptively accepted my new nickname they guys would give me. Pussy. It did ring sweetly accurate as her palm continued to burn through mine.
Chapter Eleven
Sean
I was startled when Aoife finally spoke. We had remained quiet for long minutes, feeling each other’s hands. Again, another thing I didn’t realize was so sexy. She took her pointer finger and traced the letters on each of my knuckles. Why was that so fucking hot?
“What kind of music is this?” she asked with a smile.
Music? Was there music playing? I looked down at the iPod attached to my system and realized that Deep Purple’s “Son of Alerik” was on. The song was playing loud, too. Music was just background but this song? This song, without question, was a part of this car ride – part of us. The long dramatic rift of the guitar solo filled my chest with motivation, passion, and contentment. I was a part of the song, a part of the steady wheels of the truck, the beautiful smell of the New England leaves – so vivid, and ready to thrive throughout the summer. The gorgeous girl sitting next to me was appreciating and paying attention to every mark on my hand. I wondered if I would ever listen to this song again and not feel Aoife crowding in on my being. All of these odd feelings unwelcomed or welcomed – they were a part of me now because of her.
“A band called Deep Purple. Have you never heard them before?” I look over at her, trying to disguise all of these feelings I was having for her. Was this… was this what “just being” with a woman felt like?
She shook her head. “I like it. It’s very… you.” Her smile topped the beauty of the trees that passed by her on the highway.
“And you,” I said without thinking. The drum beat started in a bit and her face turned away from me as I looked back to the road. That was a dumb thing to say. Too fast. Too soon. Too much for one girl after one fucking confusing night. I chanced a glance back to her and I noticed her fingers had stopped moving and her other hand was trying to wipe away tears from her face.
She felt it, too. Thank God. I blew out a deep breath and let her cry, as I continued to stroke her fingers and feel the beats – as each one told the story of this day. When it was over, I turned down the volume.
“What would you like to do today, babe?” I excitedly asked as I gave her hand a squeeze.
“You mentioned something about your bed?” Her giggle that followed made me twist my lips, effectively disguising the excitement I, too, had for my bed.
“Yes, Aoife. Bed is in our future, but come on. It’s your first time in America. You must want to do something.” I didn’t want to sound like a guy. She had to want to do something other than get in my pants. I inwardly laughed at myself. Aoife was like a guy’s girl. She could probably hang with the best of them, I didn’t doubt that.
“Do you have those hot spring places here?” she asked with genuine interest. I racked my brain. The last place I saw hot springs was on my road trip through Arizona.
“Nah, we don’t have those here but I could take you to the beach,” I offered. “I have to be to work by eight tonight so we have time to walk on the beach for a while and then grab some dinner.”
“That sounds savage,” she answered on an exhale. “Maybe next trip to America, I can go to one of those hot springs. They look so amazing on the internet.”
I nodded as I got off the Newburyport exit and watched for traffic as I merged onto the main road that led me to my place. My cell phone started to buzz in my pocket. For the first time in almost an hour, I let go of Aoife’s hand to grab it. I hoped work wasn’t busy as a bitch and I was being called in. I would claim ignorance and say that I was still in the city. Fuck everyone who tried to mess up my time with Aoife. Most days, I was selfless and covered people – no problem. I didn’t want to be that guy today.
Nope, it wasn’t work but oh how I wish it had been.
“Hello?” I answered, trying not to look Aoife’s way.
Lizzie’s voice was as bubbly and excited as ever. Something in my chest twisted as she called out “Seany Boy.”
“Hey, Lizzie, what’s up?”
“Well, I was wondering what happened to my best guy last night?” She sounded busy. The kids were obviously either in the same room or in the car with her.
“Uh, I hope Nick slept with you last night,” I deadpanned.
“Not Nicholas. You, babes. Where did you go?” She sang her words with the little husky undertone that always got me in the pit of my stomach.
There was a long pause while I tried to figure out what to say. Headed out with friends? Should I share that I hung out with Aoife all night? What would it matter to her? She had never really asked me about my girlfriends but she had to know I saw women because… well, I was a guy.