by Eden Proctor
Before she could respond, he reached between her thighs, pressed the clean, warm cloth against her.
And then he continued, cleaned every inch of her and then afterward shut the shower off and wrapped her in a huge, luxurious towel.
“Come on,” he said as he lifted her and carried her toward the bedroom.
She felt the heavy weight of his erection against her hip, but he didn’t seem intent on doing anything about it.
Instead he laid her down on the bed and then curled beside her and pulled the covers over them both, and then, in the warmth of his arms she drifted to sleep.
Chapter 10
Something heavy, warm was at her back, and Lexi snuggled against it.
It snuggled back, tightened its arms and a moment later Lexi realized it was Eric.
“It’s still dark,” he said.
Lexi opened her eyes and saw that it was.
“Did you sleep?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
“And what did you do?” she said.
“I held you,” he whispered.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t intend—”
“Stop it, Lex. I wanted to,” he said.
Then he punctuated the words with a quick little nip at her shoulder. Then he licked away the sting.
Lexi moaned despite herself, curled closer against him, and pressed her ass against his hardness.
“You like that,” he said.
Then he did it again, and she moaned again.
“Apparently,” she said.
He chuckled softly but made no move to separate them.
Again, Lexi was bowled over by what was happening, by the fact that she was here in his arms, but she was.
They lay there in silence, the moment different but oddly comfortable, and in the next breath, she noticed that something changed.
His hands had been roaming her body, making circles along her hip, circling her breast and occasionally brushing against her nipples.
But the air in the room had changed, and what had been idle touches intensified, deepened.
“Turn over, Lex,” he said.
She was reluctant to move, but even more reluctant to not know what he had in mind, so she complied and turned until she lay flat on her back.
In the next moment, Eric was above her, his big body over hers, his warm, thick cock against her thigh.
He traced a hand down her chest and then followed that trail with his lips, kissing her lower and lower until he reached her breast. He captured one of her tight, heavy nipples between his teeth and sucked hard, sending a thrill of electricity through her.
“Eric,” she said, and then she reached for him.
She stroked his back, the strong, heavy muscles that were playing under her fingers.
He didn’t respond but instead continued to suck at her, then switched to the other breast.
As he worked, he moved one hand between her thighs and stroked her pussy, moving up and down fast and then slow, his motions sending her into a tailspin.
He released her other breast and then kissed down her soft stomach, then kissed along the ridge of her mound.
He paused then, looked down at her. “Open your legs, Lex,” he said.
She moved quickly to do as he said and spread her thighs wide, feeling no shame in the moment, feeling nothing but passion, desire.
He hovered above her, his breath warm against her, and then he leaned in and kissed her softly, the way she imagined he would kiss her mouth.
She gripped his shoulders and tried to pull him against her, but he threw a heavy arm across her chest and held her in place.
And then he began to move in earnest, licking her pussy, circling her clit.
Then he held his tongue stiff and thrust it in and out of her, collecting her juices on his tongue.
“You taste so good. So sweet,” he said.
She didn’t have the energy to respond, so instead, she squeezed his shoulders.
“Gonna make you come. I want you to come on my tongue,” he said.
Then he dove back between her thighs, licking and eating at her with abandon. He ran his thumb across her wet lips and then pushed it at her back entrance, the pressure there combined with the feeling of his tongue on her clit making her explode.
He stayed still, continued to lick and suck at her until her body went stiff and then exploded in a mind-rattling orgasm.
When she finally went quiet and still, he looked up at her. She got the most delicious thrill when she saw his face slick with her juices.
“You sore?” he asked.
“No,” she said.
Not exactly the truth. She was a little sore, but she would give anything to have him inside her.
He rose up, lined his cock against her opening, and then pushed inside her.
There was less pain this time, but she spread her legs wider, desperate to have all of him.
He gripped her knees and thrust inside her, moving so hard that his pubic bone thudded against hers.
She didn’t care though. His cock inside her, filling her, his hardness splitting her softness was exactly what she wanted, and she took all that he gave her, held tight on his shoulders as he thrust inside her.
He did again, and then again until finally, just as Lexi screamed her own climax, he shot his cum inside her.
Chapter 11
A week later, Lexi had managed to disentangle herself from Eric long enough to meet Constance for dinner.
That was the plan anyway. She’d been at the restaurant for half an hour but Constance was nowhere in sight.
Constance was late, but Lexi didn’t mind. She was anxious to talk to her friend about all that had happened and wanted to catch up.
About five minutes later, Constance came rushing in, her heavy briefcase on one shoulder, one of her low-heeled pumps flopping against her heel as she ran.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry, Lexi,” Constance said as she rushed in on a huff.
“It’s okay. Sit down. I ordered you a glass of wine,” Lexi said.
Constance sighed and then looked at Lexi gratefully. After she stuck her foot back in her shoe, she slid her briefcase off her shoulder, adjusted her white blouse and black skirt, and then sat in the chair.
At her first sip of wine, she sighed and then she took another gulp for good measure. Then, she finally looked at Lexi.
“Hurricane Milo strikes again, huh?” she said.
Constance’s face, which had only just calmed, crumbled.
She shook her head. “I just don’t know how much more of this I can take,” she said.
“Constance, you should have left years ago. If the guy is just that big a jerk, you don’t have to work for him,” Lexi said.
For years Constance had told her stories about her difficult, demanding boss, and Lexi hated to see the kind and usually calm Constance under his constant attack.
She shook her head, then took another sip of her wine. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.
“Fine, but think about it,” Lexi said.
Constance nodded and then finished off her wine. She set the glass aside and then focused on Lexi. “It’s happened,” she said.
Lexi lifted one shoulder, then the other. “You can look at me and tell,” she said.
“You couldn’t even wipe the grin off your face when you were chastising me. So yeah. I take it the handsome Eric is everything you had hoped he would be,” Constance said, a knowing smile on her face.
Lexi thought she would melt in her seat.
“That and more,” she said.
Constance blushed and then giggled. “Yeah. I knew I was right,” she said.
“Is this what I was missing out on all these years?” Lexi asked.
“I think Eric has something to do with that,” Constance said.
Then she took a sip of her water, but looked longingly at her wineglass.
“So, it’s done. Are you guys over?” she said.
Lexi frown
ed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you’ve done the deed, so you guys are just going back to being friends?”
Lexi frowned deeper and saw the regret on Constance’s face.
“Oh my God. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” she said.
“No, it’s all right,” Lexi said. Then she shook her head. “I actually hadn’t thought about it,” she said.
“So you’ve been…seeing each other?” Constance said.
“No,” Lexi said immediately. “We’re just like before, except with a little bonus.”
And that was the right way to describe it. She and Eric had been just as they were before. Except they had seen each other pretty much every day, and if she wasn’t sleeping over at his house, he was at hers. That was definitely not seeing each other. They were just friends.
“Okay,” Constance said.
“Don’t look at me like that, Constance,” Lexi said.
“Like what?” she said, her eyes widening.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Lexi said.
“I’m not thinking anything. Except—”
“Uh-huh,” Lexi said.
Constance blushed but then continued. “It’s just. Do you think you should talk about it? I mean you did this with the goal, and the more time you spend with Eric, the less time you’ll be out there looking for your forever man.”
“Yeah,” Lexi said after the waiter had sat down her grilled chicken salad and Constance had ordered her own meal. “You have a point.”
She absently stabbed her food and thought about what Constance had said. She did have a point, but the idea of not seeing Eric anymore was one she wasn’t ready to confront.
“We’ll talk about it,” she said, nodding. When, she didn’t know, but she was happy with the status quo for the time being and since Eric hadn’t said anything she assumed he was too.
“Good. I so want to make sure—”
Constance was cut off by the shrill ring of her cell phone, and when Lexi looked at her dear friend she thought the other woman might begin to cry.
“I’m sorry, I need to take this,” Constance said, sounding as miserable as it looked like she felt.
“I understand, Constance. I’ll have them pack your food up to go,” she said.
* * *
After she had said a quick good-bye to Constance with promises to get together the following weekend, Lexi found herself headed home.
Before she reached her apartment, her own phone rang and she stared down at the text that lit the screen.
You coming over?
She hesitated longer than usual, thinking of what Constance had said.
She was right. She and Eric really did need to decide what was going to happen so that she could prepare herself for the end. But since they hadn’t yet, there was no reason to deny herself Eric.
She typed out her reply quickly.
Yeah.
Chapter 12
Twenty minutes later, she was walking up to Eric’s door, having parked her car in front of the house.
He opened it before she had a chance to ring the bell, and in less than a minute he had pulled her inside and began working her out of her clothes.
He was shirtless, and Lexi stopped and let herself stare at his strong body before she began to touch him.
“Where have you been all day?” he asked as he worked her out of her pants and then broke away to pull her shirt and bra off in one move.
“Dinner with Constance,” Lexi said as she kissed his chest.
“That jerk still giving her a hard time? I can have a word with him,” he said.
“She’s fine,” Lexi said.
And then she moaned when Eric pushed two thick fingers inside her.
“Always wet for me,” he said as he kissed her neck and then dragged his lips along her collarbone.
It was true. When he wasn’t around, she was always ready, waiting, and her entire body felt relief at his touch.
She pouted when he removed his fingers and then pushed them back toward the sofa.
He paused for a moment and then quickly kicked out of his pants and sat, his cock correct, standing between them.
She licked her lips, and he chuckled.
“What’s on the menu?” she said.
“Ladies’ choice,” he replied.
She smiled, knowing that he knew how much she liked that. But then she was torn.
She could take him in her mouth again. Or mount him, feel him inside her.
Both were appealing, but her pussy felt unbearably empty and she knew the only thing that would take that feeling away was Eric inside her. So she walked forward, put one leg on either side of him, and then lowered herself until he was fully inside her. They sighed at the same time, their faces so close together that their breaths were mingling.
She could have lowered her eyes, but she kept them opened, locked with his, and then began to move, rising and lowering over him until she was breathless, frantic with need.
She moaned again and he reached for her head, holding her in place.
Then, she felt her climax coming and as she began to cry out her completion he sealed his lips over hers, and began to kiss her.
She stiffened for a moment but when he pushed his tongue into her mouth, it sent her over the edge and she flew apart into a thousand little pieces, impaled on his cock, his body beneath her, his tongue inside her mouth.
He kissed her through her climax, swallowing each of her screams and cries of pleasure, and with their lips still sealed, he filled her pussy with his seed, his arms tight around her as he exhaled his own climax.
* * *
Eric had fucked up.
Bad.
Kissed her.
He hadn’t planned to but her breath against his face, her body against his made it impossible not to.
It wouldn’t change anything, but he shouldn’t have done it.
Because doing so took away the last shred of doubt.
He was in love with her.
Eric didn’t believe in love, but he was in love with Lexi.
It was the best possible feeling. And the worst.
Because though he had never believed he would be in love himself, now that he was, he knew it was only a matter of time.
He’d thought Lexi would get bored, move on, and he’d figure out what to do after, but that didn’t seem to be happening.
And then he had gone and kissed her, and now she would look at him with those soft brown eyes, think that the kiss meant something.
Think that he could be the one for her.
And he would let her down.
He didn’t want to do that.
Still, he couldn’t quite let her go, so he lifted her and carried her back to the bedroom. And then he held her close, didn’t let her go even when she fell into a deep sleep.
But he stayed awake, savoring these moments. Knowing that they would be the last he would ever hold her.
Chapter 13
When Lexi woke the next morning, Eric was gone. She heard him in the kitchen so she dressed, then went out to greet him.
His back was turned, and he didn’t look at her when she walked in. Strange, and Lexi felt an odd trickle of worry in her gut.
“Morning,” she said.
“Morning,” he replied.
But he continued to drink his coffee and stare out the kitchen window.
“I—”
She started but then stopped. Eric paused, lowered his cup, and then turned, looked at her through dark eyes with his expression flat.
“I talked to Constance last night,” she said.
“You told me,” he replied.
That feeling of trepidation increased, but she pressed on. Probably wasn’t the time to discuss this, but after that kiss, she knew that they had to.
“About that kiss last night.”
“Yeah. Shouldn’t have done that. It won’t happen again,” he said.
“Eric, I liked it. I liked it a lo
t,” she said, her voice lowering on the last words.
He set the mug down and walked toward her, his expression still flat.
“Lexi, we need to talk,” he said.
This couldn’t be good, but Lexi stood where she was, looked up at him.
“We’ve done the things I said we would. And I think it’s time for this to end. I value your friendship and want to stay friends, but that’s all,” he said.
It was smooth, polished, didn’t sound anything like Eric. It was almost robotic.
“Eric, kissing really isn’t that big of a deal. You don’t have to do this. I mean maybe…”
Lexi couldn’t bring herself to say what she was thinking, especially not when Eric’s expression darkened.
“We had an understanding, Lexi. Are you trying to change it?” he asked.
He was being cold, almost scornful, and Lexi felt her heart begin to shatter.
“No. I just thought that maybe we could, you know…”
“We’ll always be friends, Lex,” he said.
She kept her mouth closed and then stared at him. “So that’s it?” she said.
“Pool at the Palace next week?” he said.
She stared at him, tried to fight back the tears that clouded her vision.
Then, without responding she turned and left.
Chapter 14
“How are you holding up?” Constance asked.
“For the thousandth time I’m fine, Constance,” Lexi said.
A lie and Lexi was glad they were over the phone because she knew Constance wouldn’t believe her if they were in person. But she put on a brave voice.
“I really am fine,” she said.
“Okay. We should hang out. You want to go to the Palace tonight?” Constance said.
Even thinking the word was like a stab in Lexi’s gut so she said, “No. I’m just gonna stay here and watch some TV. I have two weddings this weekend, so I should rest,” she said.
“I’m here,” Constance said, her voice brimming with worry.
“I’m fine, Constance. And besides, you have your own stuff to deal with,” she said.