The Naked Truth: A Romantic Erotic Short Story

by Madison Martin

  The Naked Truth

  by

  Madison Martin

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Chances Press, LLC on Smashwords

  The Naked Truth

  Copyright © 2011 by Madison Martin

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  ***

  “I don’t like goodbyes.”

  Standing before me while I sat on the edge of his living room chair, Will took my face in his hands and made me a promise. “It’s not goodbye. I won’t be gone that long.”

  “Two weeks feels like forever.”

  I slid my dress off my body and reached for him, determined to get him out of his shirt and pants as fast as I could. I wanted his hard body on top of me, my hands all over him. I wanted his work clothes off and him deep inside me before he left. I’d never get my fill of him, but at least for the next few hours, he was mine, and I could try.

  “You think this’ll be easy for me?” he asked, his eyes fixed on me while he undid his tie and tossed it on the coffee table.

  I stood up and pulled him closer. I bit my lower lip. “It won’t?”

  “It’s going to kill me.”

  He leaned down to kiss me but I lowered my head, bent on my efforts to get him undressed. My fingers undid the buttons of his shirt, and his eyes grew hazy while he watched me strip it off. I ran my hands down his chest, savoring the feel of the smooth, hard muscles, my fingers roaming into the indentations between them. As I unbuckled his belt, Will’s hands worked their way down my belly and over my hips.

  I liked the clean, masculine smell of him, and after I’d gotten him naked, I liked the feel of his skin under my hands. I liked that tonight, he was mine, no matter where he planned to go in the morning.

  “Will you be with anyone else while you’re in New York?” I asked.

  His hands splayed through my hair and his green-gray eyes met mine. “No.” He was a serious guy, but I’d never seen such a serious look on his face before. “Will you wait for me?”

  I nodded.

  In the months we’d been together, we hadn’t been apart more than a few days, and I didn’t know how I’d make it.

  My hands exploring the soft skin of his shoulders excited me, and I traced my finger over the rough trace of stubble on his jaw. I loved this masculine part of him. I loved kissing his throat and licking the pulse at the base of it, so I did.

  He responded by pushing my hair aside with one hand and burying his face in the crook of my neck. His mouth there made me shiver.

  “When we first met, I never thought you’d fuck me,” he said.

  “No?” I asked.

  “Nah. You had all that other stuff going on. Thought I was the last thing on your mind.”

  “But you still wanted me to.”

  “Yeah. Didn’t think you liked me, though. Not like that.”

  “So you…thought about me? Before we were together?”

  “Every minute.”

  I reached down and touched him. He was hard, and I loved the feel of his cock in my hand. I stroked up and down, and when his mouth met mine, I felt him pulse in my palm.

  “Did you ever touch yourself thinking about me?” I murmured, my mouth grazing over his.

  He stifled a groan as my fingers stroked him. “Yeah.”

  I loved the rough sound of his voice when I excited him. He was always so focused, so in control. I loved that about him, but I wanted to see if I could make him lose it.

  “When we fucked that first time, was it as good as it was in your mind?” I asked.

  “Better.”

  I let out a small moan at his reply, remembering how good it was.

  I had no idea what I’d gotten into then, and I didn’t now. I was pinned up against the wall, with nowhere to turn, except into him, and I knew he liked it that way. His hands reached down to strip off my panties. I stepped out of them and hitched one leg around his thigh, anxious to feel his flesh against mine.

  “I thought about you, too,” I said.

  Rubbing his body against mine, he shifted his hips until his cock stirred between my thighs, sliding between my folds. His mouth met mine as he stroked against me, opening me for him, and I gasped against his mouth.

  “You said no when I asked you out,” he said.

  “I know. You were right. I had a lot going on. But I wanted you to fuck me. Just like I do now.”

  Will groaned, lifting me off the ground with both hands. I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me to bed.

  ***

  The ring of my cell phone startled me out of my memories of the night before Will left, and I almost knocked the pile of paperwork off the small table I sat at in Lina’s Café. Thoughts of that night had driven me crazy the past few weeks, and I had big plans for us when his plane landed at LAX tonight.

  I snatched my phone off the table and answered the call. A muffled voice over a loudspeaker made an announcement in the background.

  “Hey,” Will said. The sound of his masculine, deep voice sent a familiar shiver of excitement down my spine.

  “Where are you?”

  “Still at LaGuardia. My flight got cancelled.”

  The long weeks we’d spent apart instantly got longer at the news, but I stifled my disappointment. “Any idea when you’ll be back?”

  “Everything’s booked. Tomorrow night.”

  “Okay.” I tried not to be selfish. After all, he was the one stuck in New York another night, when for the past week all he’d talked about was coming home.

  “I know we had plans.”

  “Did we ever,” I replied. He’d been so focused on work that we hadn’t had so much as phone sex since he left, and we had a lot of making up to do.

  “How about you let me make it up you?” he suggested.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “You free tomorrow night and all weekend?”

  I stared at my laptop and thought about the never ending pile of work awaiting me in the office. I thought about the calls to clients I had to make, the meetings I needed to prepare for, and the research I planned to do. I knew Will would make it worth my while if I could rearrange my schedule. I cleared my throat. “Nothing I can’t get done tonight and next week.”

  “Meet me in the bar in the Madigan Hotel in Santa Monica tomorrow night at eight?”

  I’d off-handedly mentioned that I’d always wanted to stay there, just to check it out. I was surprised he’d remembered. “I think I can make that work.” I paused. “What should I bring?”

  “Casual. Something to wear to dinner. A bathing suit if you want. You won’t need much else.”

  I smiled at that admission, wondering what this was all about. “This sounds like more than making tonight up to me. What’s the occasion?”

  “Does there have to be an occasion?”

  “Not with you,” I replied. But
knowing him, I figured there probably was. “But is there?”

  A few seconds of silence followed on the other end. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  I wracked my brain to figure out what it could be. He knew I had no patience. “Can’t you tell me over the phone?”

  “No.”

  I knew begging wouldn’t do any good. “Fine. Tomorrow at eight.”

  As I hung up, my friend Adrianne set a coffee mug on the table and sat down across from me. I’d been so focused trying to hear Will over the noise that I hadn’t even noticed her come into the café. I’d hardly seen her lately and we’d agreed to spend an hour catching up.

  “Thanks for meeting me,” I said.

  “Of course. Although, I think that phone call just confirmed my suspicions.”

  “Suspicions about what?”

  “Will. I think he’s spoiling you rotten,” she noted, and took a sip from the coffee mug. “That was him, right?”

  I gave her a knowing smile. “Caught.”

  “I figured. It’s getting serious, huh?”

  I slid my phone in my purse, eyeing her. “What makes you say that?”

  Adrianne shrugged. “Kind of obvious, isn’t it? Last weekend he took you to Seibert’s for a very expensive dinner, followed by a play at an intimate little theater on Melrose. Then a drive up the coast late the next morning for a picnic lunch on the beach. The weekend before that he took you to dinner at your favorite dive, where the atmosphere is cozy and the food is good. Afterward he whipped out surprise tickets to a small show at the Eleven Club to see a band you love.” She paused. “The weekend before that—”

  “Okay. Enough!” I laughed.

  “I could go on and on. I’ve put all the little details you’ve given me together to paint this picture of what’s been going on. I dare you to tell me I’ve got it all wrong.”

  I blushed and stared at the floor. Could I deny it?

  Adrianne squinted. “So my assumptions are true. Damn. I knew it. It’s serious.”

  I shrugged, my cheeks flushing. “Now there, you’re wrong.” I shook my head, fumbling with my empty coffee mug. “Will is just…a diversion.”

  “No. This all adds up to something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You’re moving on.” Adrianne sat up straighter, her serious tone scaring me. “I’m glad you’re moving on, Michaela. It’s about damn time. And he’s a great guy to move on with. Am I off-base about that?”

  I’d avoided thinking about how or why I’d gotten involved with Will. I tried to avoid thinking about our time together as anything but having fun.

  “Better grab him before someone else does,” Adrianne warned.

  “No, it’s…it’s not like that. This isn’t going anywhere. It can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  I shook my head, my eyes focused on the floor. “I don’t love him,” I murmured. I can’t.

  The words sounded cruel, but I had no desire to love another man again. Not after spending two years of my life at a sick man’s bedside, only to have him leave me for another woman when he recovered.

  I look at you and I feel like I’m right back where I was.

  I shuddered at the words I’d never been able to get out of my mind. They’d echoed all around me when I got served the divorce papers, and I’d felt nothing but anger.

  According to all of my friends I’d ruined the best years of my life when I married a man much too old for me. I’d loved him, though, and decided to stick by him after he became ill and needed my constant care. After he left me, I wanted no part of love. Love meant nothing.

  Will handled my end of the divorce, and a month after it finalized, he asked me out. Still reeling with bitterness for any man who came near me, I’d said no. He’d given me some time, and three months later, I gave in and went out with him. It was curiosity more than anything. I wanted to find out what his interest in me was. It wasn’t my money, because I’d asked for nothing out of the divorce. I made a good living as a financial advisor and I hadn’t wanted a dime of my ex’s money. All I’d wanted was to put the whole experience behind me.

  I thought maybe Will felt sorry for me, but we laughed and had a good time together and part of me didn’t care if he did.

  Unlike my ex, Will was eager to get me into bed. I slept with him for the first time after our fourth date: we’d gone to dinner to at a tiny restaurant tucked away a few blocks behind the beach, and to a small coffee shop for dessert afterward. As soon as we sat down with lattes and a piece of peanut butter pie we planned to split, he looked over at me across the table, and we both knew there was no point in holding back any longer. Back at his place, we’d spent the rest of the night making love. The sex was unbelievable.

  Afterward, lying next to him on the bed with tears rolling down my cheeks, I’d decided I would be in this for the sex and nothing else. With a husband I’d slept with only a handful of times before he’d gotten sick, and not much experience before that, I’d been more than eager to find out what I’d been missing my entire life.

  As I continued to see him, Will did things to me I never dreamed existed. The first time he started to go down on me, I squirmed and tried to push him away.

  But I’ve wanted to do this since the day we met, he’d said, slowly teasing the insides of my thighs with his lips.

  I won’t like it, I protested, pushing hard against his shoulders.

  He pretended not to notice. Give me a chance.

  When his tongue slid into me, I froze.

  You taste so good. I could do this all night, he’d said.

  My head fell back against the pillows, and he took it from there. He’d smiled before his tongue pressed deep inside me, and then flicked over my clit, over and over again. He tested to see what made me moan with pleasure, what made me clench my thighs and grab his head.

  When I begged him not to stop, he smiled, knowing I’d given in and he’d won. Before I knew what was happening, I came so hard that I shuddered and groaned and grabbed at him. I’d never come that way before and the force of it terrified me. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I’d tried to bury my face in the pillow even when he came up and kissed me, his tongue stroking against mine. Later, after I’d finally calmed down, he entered me and brought me to another orgasm that left me delirious with pleasure.

  Determined not to fall in love with him, I tried to be immune to the dinners he cooked for me, the way he paid attention to my needs before his own, and the fact that he made me laugh. I felt myself coming to life again, and the goofy part of me that had been gone for years slowly returned. I started to have fun again, and discovered that I could make Will, who was more serious than I was, laugh, too. I tried to ignore the fact that I enjoyed his company, feeling happy and turned on at the same time.

  “Michaela,” Adrianne said, waving her hands in front of my dazed face.

  I shook my head. “Oh. Sorry. I missed that.”

  “So I see. I said I don’t believe that.”

  “Believe what?”

  “That you don’t love him.”

  “Well, believe it. I’m using him.” Using someone was unlike me, and part of me felt guilty. But part of me wanted to be selfish and get back what I’d given up for my ex. “Is that wrong of me?”

  Adrianne looked disgusted. “You can pretend all you want, but I know you. And I know you’re not using him. You’ve never used anyone in your life. It’s something more. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to face it.”

  I shot her a defiant look. Adrianne might know me, but she didn’t know everything. And I knew she was wrong about this.

  ***

  Sitting at the bar in the Madigan Hotel on Friday night, I sipped an iced tea and watched the sun set over the ocean.

  I looked at the time on my cell phone and wondered if I could dare to dream about the weekend ahead. It was a warm night and I’d changed into a sleeveless summer dress and a pair of slinky shoes, ready to put work behind me,
and find out exactly what Will had in mind tonight.

  I shivered at the feel of a man’s hands sliding over my bare shoulders.

  Will’s strong, delicate fingers knew exactly where to excite me. His lips pressed against the delicate skin of my neck and I stifled my gasp of pleasure.

  I loved the way he looked at me when he sat down. He was even more beautiful to me than I remembered, and I wondered if I’d ever get enough of him.

  “Hi.” His voice sounded rough but happy, and he grabbed my hand. I could see the pleasure and relief in his eyes, and knew he wanted to say something, though he didn’t.

  I couldn’t wait to go to our room and give him a proper hello. “Welcome home.”

  “Thanks.”

  Before I could ask if he wanted to head upstairs, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. He looked around at several other couples, slow dancing to some song. “Want to dance?”

  I accepted, even though all I could think about was tearing his clothes off.

  He took my hand, and when his arms wrapped around me, my greedy hands wandered over his body.

  “You’re driving me crazy,” he whispered.

  “Likewise,” I whispered back.

  “Michaela…”

  “Let’s go upstairs.”

  He stopped and looked at me. “We’ve got all night. What about dinner?”

  “Room service later?” I suggested.

  He scrubbed one hand on his head and squinted, the way he always did when unsure about something. “Okay, but…”

  I grinned, trying another tactic to get him over his apprehension. “Don’t you want me?”

  “I always want you.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  I grabbed his hand and yanked him toward the elevators up to our room.

  Adrianne was right. I’d gotten spoiled by him over the last few months. He always had a plan for us. Whether it was dinner in a beachfront restaurant and a walk on the sand, coffee and a museum I’d always wanted to visit, or a picnic at the beach, he was always the gentleman. Despite his plans to make it more than that, I would have been content to do nothing but have sex. Tonight, I didn’t want anything else.