Arousal

by Simone Sowood

  “Stop thanking me for these things, of course I would do anything for your friends or family.” She shook her head, as if in disbelief.

  “Baby, I know a lot has passed between us, but I still care about you.” She very nearly dropped her mug, I caught it and set it on the coffee table.

  “I, um...” She looked in the opposite direction. “I never understood why you stopped contacting me. Just kind of left me hanging, you know?”

  It was my turn to shake my head. I didn’t know the answer to that either. To why I let things between us drop. Fun. Party. Money. Massive ego stroke every night. All of that mixed together in a bad way, and things ended up the way they did.

  I reached over and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards me. Her body went limp, and she let me drag her into me.

  I put my lips to her ear and in a low voice said, “I don’t know baby, I don’t know why things ended up like they did.”

  She groaned and flipped her legs over mine, so she was sitting across my lap. I pulled her closer to me and rested my chin on the top of her head, inhaling her coconut shampoo.

  “It really hurt, the fade. How could you do the fade on a three year relationship?” My gut churned at the pain in her voice. She still carried the pain around. Though it still weighed pretty heavy on my shoulders too. Mostly for doing it to her. Why did I treat her the way I did? She didn’t deserve it.

  “I don’t know baby. I don’t have any answers. It was just life getting in the way.”

  Jenny’s breath sped and for a moment I thought she was going to cry. Instead she inhaled deeply and twisted her head to face mine. She glanced into my eyes and then leaned her face against my chin, the way she used to do when she needed comforting.

  How much had she changed? How much had I changed?

  “You never told me what you’ve been up to all these years,” she said into my neck. I rubbed my hand up her back, resting it between her shoulder blades.

  “I’ve gone all over the world opening new clubs. Some high-end that need my face there to please the VIPs, some low-end I don’t publicly attach my face to. It’s been a blur, to be honest.”

  “Is that why you don’t drink?” My hand fisted on her back. Fuck. I hadn’t wanted this conversation right now. But I couldn’t stop picturing Harlan in her arms.

  “You know how it is. Things get out of control when you’re mingling with big wigs in a club every night. It’s best I don’t touch it in the first place.”

  “And did something prompt that decision, or did you have some amazing foresight?” Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was not where I wanted tonight going. I couldn’t tell her about all the shit that’d gone on. I’d lose her for sure, and I’m not ready to let her out of my arms.

  Before, it was me ignoring her. But the thought of having those tables turned did not appeal to me for one second.

  “It’s late, we should sleep.”

  “What? That’s your answer? Trying to change the subject? It must be a good story.” Jenny never missed anything, ever. I loved it.

  “I think it’s a long story, and better left to be told when we haven’t just had the night we had with Abbie and we’re rested.” She sighed, a long, drawn out sigh that came from deep down in her core.

  “Fine. I’m exhausted. But I want to hear it over breakfast.” I patted her back and kissed the top of her head.

  “I promise.”

  It was nearly four by the time we went to bed. Not the spare bed in the second bedroom she’d slept in when she’d stayed her that first night. She stripped down to her panties and snuggled up beside me in my very own bed.

  In only my boxers, I put my arm around her and held her tight against my body.

  Just feeling her delicate little body against mine soothed me. It actually made me feel better than I’d felt in years. Almost like I belonged somewhere again.

  After so many years of two months here and three months there, I’d lost a complete sense of home and where I belonged. Which is the main reason I stayed so long in Honolulu: it’s a tropical paradise. I kind of thought I’d settle there and make it my home. Instead Raylene happened and the whole thing got out of control.

  I squeezed Jenny tight and all thoughts of Raylene went from my head.

  “I missed you.” Her voice was so quiet I wondered if I’d imagined her saying it.

  “I missed you baby, I really have.” I pressed my lips to the back of her head and inhaled her scent. For the moment, everything was good.

  Jenny

  I laid snuggled against Collin, as if I’d never been out of his arms. My body slotted straight back into where it belonged. I breathed deep and summoned my courage.

  “Collin?” I started tentative at first, “What’s going on between us?” My heart fluttered, scared of what his answer would be. Whichever way he answered. Being back in his arms made me feel so complete, but I couldn’t bear the thought of him hurting me again.

  Would the pain of the last seven years carry on to through the next seven? Could I ever forgive him for the way he’d treated me?

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, what do you want this to be?” Somehow it was easier talking in the dark, facing away from him but with his arm around me for strength.

  “Right now? I want this to be about you in my arms.”

  “But is this just a few nighttime calls for you? Sex for old time’s sake?” I could feel him smile behind me and I nudged my butt against his belly to try and coax out an answer out of him.

  “I don’t think so.”

  My heart swelled and burst in my chest at his words. He must have felt the way I did. At least the deep connection feeling.

  But I didn’t think he understood the pain he put me through. Would it ever be possible for me to get over that? Even if being in his presence did make me happier than I could remember being in all the years since I last saw him?

  My hands clutched his arm, conveying all the emotion I couldn’t vocalize. For the moment, all the pain he had heaped on me melted into the mattress underneath us. My body was light, his arm grounding me to him.

  Exhausted, I started to lull to sleep at the rhythm of his breath against my back. Right now, I felt like I was exactly where I wanted to be. Moments away from sleep, I sank heavy into the mattress when Collin broke the silence.

  “Baby?”

  “Yeah?” I said, my voice heavy with fatigue.

  “Do you want to go down to Texas in the morning and see your mom?” That jolted me awake and for a moment I was too floored to answer. Instead I gripped his arm tighter, wordlessly thanking him for everything he’s done for me in the short amount of time he’d been back in my life.

  “Of course,” I said, my sleepy voice gleeful.

  “We’ll leave straight after your room service breakfast. I’ll have the jet positioned up here and ready. He got out of bed and reached for his phone, typed a quick message then got back into bed.

  “I can’t believe everything you are doing for me.” It was a thought I couldn’t state enough times to him, mostly because I didn’t understand why he was doing it. He wrapped his arm back over me and squeezed me tight.

  “I told you, stop thanking me. It’s the least I can do for you. I would do anything for you. After…”

  I waited but he didn’t finish his sentence. After what? After the hurt he had caused me? After the way he still felt about me? I needed to know. I wanted to put everything out on the line, but was too scared he’d get pissed off and stop my mother’s cancer treatment.

  Fuck it, my mind couldn’t take any more whirring.

  “I, uh.” I steadied my nerves to carry on. “It seems like the past seven years of your absence never happened.”

  “It does seem that way, doesn’t it babe?”

  I sucked my lips between my teeth, scared of everything we had just said. But however scared I was, my heart was elated. Its thumping had taken over and all thoughts of fear faded away the way our relationship had
faded years ago.

  My legs cried out in a sudden need to feel him between them. To turn what we’d just said into a physical act.

  The beginnings of an erection pressed against my back, and I leaned back into it to encourage it further.

  Collin let out a light moan and rolled me onto my back. His lips found mine and through our emotions and fatigue, our kiss was slow. Our lips lingered together and our tongues took a slow pace in exploring the other’s mouth.

  My body awakened, the fatigue pushed to the side for the moment as I was driven by the overriding need to have him against me. For us to be as close together as we could get.

  I shifted my legs wider, and his weight moved between them. Without releasing my lips, he arched his back and ran his hand down my side, cupping the side of my breast and teasing my nipple with his thumb as he made his way to my waist.

  Collin’s hand clamped onto the fleshiest part of my waist, sending a moan from my throat through his mouth.

  My panties were damp with want, and I wished he’d pull them off.

  Instead, his other hand shifted both my arms around my head and pinned them together. My breath quickened with anticipation.

  The hand on my waist moved back up my side and cupped my cheek as he deepened our kiss. I craned my neck to get closer to him and he pulled his mouth away, trailing kisses down my exposed neck and back up my jawline until he nibbled at my earlobe.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” he said, his voice so earnest and caring that the pain I’d been carrying around the past seven years seemed to float up to the ceiling.

  Collin

  Jenny wrapped my legs around one of hers and began to grind against my thigh. Her panties, wet for me, rubbed against my leg.

  “You want me to make you scream?”

  A deep moan left Jenny, resonating down my back.

  “I said do you want me to make you scream? Because I don’t have to, we can go to sleep now if you want.”

  I tugged her bottom lip into my mouth and sucked it, loving each fucking moan and whimper coming out of her. I needed to hear how loud she’d moan when I sucked her lips into my mouth.

  “I’m still waiting for your answer.” I tightened my grip on her wrists, urging her to respond. To beg.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes what?”

  “Make me scream.”

  “My fucking pleasure.”

  Releasing her hands, I moved down her body, stopping to flick my tongue over each of her nipples until they turned to stone. Satisfied, I kissed over the soft flesh of her belly.

  My hands reached her panties, and I yanked them off. I shoved her legs wide and buried my face in her pussy, already glistening for me.

  I blew across her lips and her back arched. She was so responsive, always, and I fucking loved it.

  “When I get done, this sweet pussy isn’t going to know what happened.”

  A high-pitched moan flew out of her mouth. I fully intended to ruin her pussy; sex without me will be nothing but a disappointment for her from now on.

  My tongue explored her folds, dipping in her slick entrance and licking up her slit. I clamped my lips around her clit and sucked it into my mouth. She gasped and moaned as I prodded it with my tongue and nibbled at with my teeth. I had to lay my arm across her to hold her still.

  “Please,” she gasped. Her begging made my cock throb.

  I slid two fingers into her juicy pussy, and pumped them against her g-spot while circling my tongue around her clit. Her body squirmed and she grabbed at my hair. Each time her moaning increased in pitch, my arm had to work harder to hold her still.

  Her thighs squeezed my head in a vice grip, her pussy spasmed around my fingers in equal force as she came. I let her peak, enjoying the sweet fucking sound of her screaming in ecstasy because of me.

  When she calmed, I moved up my body and rammed my cock into her in one motion. My back arched to reach her lips, my mouth claiming hers, letting her know she’s mine now.

  Jenny wrapped her legs around me, trying to trap me against her. I pushed back and drove into her until the tip of my dick hit her cervix. Her pussy wrapped around my cock in a spasming orgasm, sending a shudder through my body.

  “Collin!” she squealed and her body twisted and writhed underneath me.

  My balls tightened and I grunted, filling her with my cum.

  I collapsed beside her, exhausted. After five in the morning, we fell asleep, Jenny tangled in my arms.

  Jenny

  “Baby.” I became aware of Collin’s hand on my shoulder as he tried to wake me. Feeling as though it was the dead of night, I moaned and tried to free my shoulder of his hand.

  “Tired,” I mumbled.

  “We have to get up, it’s eight thirty and we need to get on the plane. We need to get going to get there for a late lunch.”

  “Can’t we go for a lupper?” I said without opening my eyes. Three hours sleep, after such an eventful night, was just not enough for my body. Which freaked me out, because I always, always wake up earlier when I go to bed later. But that had been turned on its head since Collin had appeared back in my life.

  With his voice low against my ear, he said “Okay, twenty more minutes but you have to skip room service for breakfast.”

  “Is there coffee?”

  “There’s always coffee.”

  “Then fine.”

  Collin kissed my cheek. Without opening my eyes, I could sense him get out of bed leave the room. I was back asleep within moments.

  “Come on! Up!” Collin’s voice jolted me awake and his clapping made sure I stayed that way.

  “You said twenty minutes,” I said, whining.

  “It’s been forty five, so if you want to see your mom today, you’re going to have to get out of bed.”

  I pushed back the cover with all the strength I could muster. With great effort, I pushed myself to a seated position and rubbed my eyes.

  “Shit. I only have the skimpy dress I wore out last night, I can’t go to my mother like that.”

  “Don’t worry, I took care of it. I had my driver Mo swing by your place and grab you a bunch of clothes. Plus your pills.”

  My brow knitted, absorbing what he had done. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of someone going through my stuff in my apartment without me, especially my fricking birth control pills, but I guessed Collin did it to let me sleep a little longer.

  I tied my hair back and staggered into the shower, letting the water pound off my torso in an attempt to move from dream state to awake state.

  As I rubbed the shower gel over me, my head floated back to last night. To everything that had been said and the physical act afterwards. As I rinsed to sudsy water off me, I realized how fast my heart was beating.

  Could this really be happening? Could I trust Collin not to hurt me again? After all he’d done over the past few weeks, was he just going to get up and move on to the next city he opened a new nightclub in?

  Even though I’d downed two cups of coffee, my eyelids were still heavy as I stepped out of the backseat of the Maybach and climbed the steps into Collin’s private jet.

  I’d never stepped foot on a private jet before, and was filled with excitement as I roamed around the interior, even in my tired state.

  The interior was dark, and made me think it was a nightclub with wings. All black walls and high gloss black trim, black leather seats, LED lighting and television screens scattered around the space. What had my parents thought when they set foot onboard?

  Collin sat down on a sofa and patted the seat beside him. I snuggled up against him on the sofa. He pulled a seatbelt across my lap and put his arm around my shoulders. I tilted my head and rested it against him as the engines revved.

  We taxied along the runway. I watched out the window behind me as we lifted off the tarmac and the Chicago faded into the distance.

  I dozed a little, but was awakened by an attendant bringing me coffee. She set a table up in front out our sofa, and laid out sev
eral pastries and fresh fruit. It was heaven to my eyes. I picked up a Danish and bit a massive chunk of the gooey goodness into my mouth.

  The food and drink energized me, and for the first time that day I was fully awake. Which allowed my mind to flick back over the past twenty-four hours.

  How was Abbie? There had been no word from Jay, no matter how many times I checked my phone for text messages. All I could do was believe she was in the best possible place to get her the best possible care.

  Satisfied, my mind switched to my mother. There had been no word from my father, other than to say how great the doctor and nurses are. I guessed we would find out more today, especially if any of the test results were back.

  I sucked the last sip of coffee into my mouth and transported myself back to last night. After I’d left Marla’s. To the point when he’d said this thing between us wasn’t just a few nighttime visit calls.

  And the question of the evening that he evaded percolated its way to the top of my mind.

  “You promised me you were going to tell me why you don’t drink this morning.”

  Collin took a sharp intake of breath and I passed him a strawberry.

  “What the fuck do I want with a strawberry?”

  “Something to suck on while you come up with an answer to my question.”

  He took his arm off my shoulders and twisted his body in the sofa to face mine. Collin lifted his hand and brushed the back of it down my cheek.

  My stomach lurched at whatever was so bad he was reluctant to tell me about it. He popped the berry in his mouth and chewed, in the slowest motion imaginable. Screw it, I wasn’t waiting any longer.

  “So, you’re an alcoholic.” I stared straight into his eyes as I said the words. I tried not to sound judgmental; it wasn’t an issue I’d been untouched by.

  After all, it was Abbie’s alcoholic father that crashed the car and killed him and his mother, leaving her an orphan at age seventeen. He’d never had the courage to own up to his problem and try and change things. If Collin did then he already had my respect.