No Strings

by J. C. Hayden

  I bit my lip. “A little.”

  “Well! What are we waiting for?”

  “Oh!” I leaned down to kiss him quickly and then jumped up. “Be right back.”

  I rushed back out to his front door where I had dropped my bags. When he was at practice earlier, I took a quick trip to the mall. I went to a specialty lingerie store and found the sexiest lingerie I could find, complete with an extremely skimpy black lace thong attached to black lace garters. The bra was lace and essentially see-through, leaving very little to the imagination. It was going to drive Brody crazy.

  I shimmied out of my jeans, sweater, shoes, and my plain cotton underwear. I put on the lingerie carefully and pulled my hair out of the braid. It fell in long waves around my shoulders. I went to the full length mirror in Brody’s foyer to check myself out.

  “Damn, girl.”

  I let out an excited little whoop before I practically ran back to Brody’s room. I slowed down when I got a little closer so I could walk up all sexy and stuff. When I got to the doorway, though, my plans significantly changed.

  From where I stood, I saw Brody laying on the bed on his back, an arm slung over his eyes.

  He was snoring.

  I wanted to yell at him and wake him up, but all I could do was laugh to myself.

  “Maybe next time, girls,” I said, looking down at my breasts in my shelf bra.

  I knew that Brody had been practicing late every night since the last tournament game of the season was coming in a few weeks. He was getting home past ten o’clock every night after running around and exhausting himself. I was honestly surprised this was the first time he’d fallen asleep like this. But every night when I came to his place after practice he was awake and ready for me.

  Oh, well. Poor thing was exhausted.

  I shut the light off and walked over to the bed. Since Brody was laying on top of the covers, I first went to the chest at the foot of his bed and pulled out a blanket to put over us. I draped it over him and then crawled into bed beside him, pulling the blanket up over me so that it covered both of us. Still asleep, Brody turned toward me and wrapped his arm around me, snuggling his face into my neck.

  God, I could get used to this feeling. I was so comfortable in his arms that as I was asleep just a few minutes later.

  ◆◆◆

  I was insanely warm and comfortable when I started to wake up the next morning.

  Sun was streaming in through Brody’s sheer curtains and he was still wrapped snuggly around me. At some point in the night I must have turned to face him because I was now securely in his arms, my face buried in his chest. I inhaled deeply. He always smelled incredible.

  I stretched a little bit and he started to stir.

  When his eyes fluttered open, he saw me and smiled. It was a warm, sleepy smile all for me, and it made my heart race.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he said huskily. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Like a bug all snug in a rug,” I said, wiggling against him.

  He laughed. “I see that. Sorry, didn’t meant to suffocate you.” He started to roll away, but I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer.

  “No, don’t go yet.”

  He smiled and then it immediately turned into a frown. “Oh, shit, Cat, I fell asleep.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “You were so tired.”

  “Shit, no, you came here all hot and tipsy and I fucking fell asleep.”

  “It’s okay,” I said stretching up so I could kiss the tip of his nose. “There will be other sexy, tipsy times.

  He sighed and then he looked at me and arched an eyebrow. “Well, it won’t be a tipsy time this morning, but it’ll still be sexy.”

  Brody stretched and then grabbed my arms that were around him. He slid his hands down to wrap around my wrists and he pushed me onto my back with my arms above my head. My body immediately lit up at his touch. This man could make me go from half-asleep to fully turned on in about ten seconds.

  I bit my lip and opened my legs so he could settle in between them. I felt him already hard against my already throbbing core, and he was leaning in and my mouth was opening in anticipation of his when he froze and pulled back.

  “What the hell are you wearing?”

  Before I could answer him, he scrambled up off me onto his knees in between my spread and bent legs.

  “Holy fuck.”

  “That’s what I was going to do when I pushed you off me last night. I was going to put this on.”

  Brody groaned and put his face in his hands. “So not only did I fall asleep before I could fuck you, but I also missed you walking into my bedroom wearing nothing but this?”

  I nodded and shrugged apologetically. “Like I said, next time.”

  “No, not next time,” he said, climbing over one my legs and nudging me. “Now.”

  “Brody.”

  “Get up. Get out of my room and then walk back in wearing that.”

  I sat up in the bed and gave him a look that said, seriously? I was hot and ready for him right now. I didn’t have time to walk in and out of the room when I was ready for him inside me right this second.

  “Baby, please,” he begged. And he looked so genuinely distraught about missing out that I agreed.

  “Fine.” I jumped out of bed and ran out the door so he wouldn’t be able to see everything (even though he could see everything), and a moment later I stood in the doorway. I lifted my arm up on the frame in my best Jessica Rabbit impersonation, and I swear his tongue rolled out of his head like we were actually in a cartoon.

  “Catrina.”

  “You like?”

  He exhaled heavily. “I have never seen anyone more sexy in my entire life,” he whispered. My heart hammered in my chest as he said, “Get over here.”

  I walked slowly over to the bed, trying to tease him and let him get his fill, but as soon as I got close enough, he reached forward and yanked me onto the bed.

  I squealed in excitement as I ended up on my back.

  I expected him to rip off my lingerie and have his wicked way with me, but as soon as he was over me, he slowed down, coming up over me, and meeting my eyes. “I want you so much, Catrina,” he murmured quietly. My mouth fell open slightly as I looked into his eyes and saw the depths of his sincerity. “You make me crazy with wanting you.”

  “Brody—”

  He cut me off with his mouth on mine. He kissed me until I couldn’t breathe.

  “I’m gonna fuck you with this lingerie on,” he whispered against my mouth. “I’m gonna fuck you until you scream.”

  “Brody,” I sighed, arching into him. Desire was coursing through my veins. I couldn’t remember ever wanting him this much. I couldn’t remember ever wanting anything this much.

  “When you go home I want you to still feel me inside you, I want you to remember how I make you feel.”

  “Always,” I breathed.

  “Gonna fuck you until you forget everything but me.”

  “Do it, Brody.”

  He leaned in and nipped at my lip hard, making me cry out in pleasure and pain. He pushed his sweats down just enough to free his cock and I felt him rubbing at my center.

  “Ask nicely.”

  My eyes widened a bit, but I wanted him too much at this point to question anything he was telling me.

  “Baby, please,” I practically moaned.

  “Please what?”

  Shit. He was going to make me say it. And I wanted to say it. Wanted to please him. And talking to him like this and hearing him talking to me like this was making me more out of my mind with lust than I had ever been.

  “Brody,” I breathed. “Please fuck me.”

  He did as he promised. He fucked me with the lingerie on, until I screamed, until I forgot everything but him. And hours later, when I finally made it home, all I could think about for the rest of the day was the feeling of him inside me, the way he looked at me when he slid the condom on and entered me. All I could think ab
out was how scared I was of this coming to end, and how much I would long for him when it did.

  Chapter TEN

  I’ve sworn off men.”

  I looked up at Talia over my coffee mug and rolled my eyes at her as she dropped her bag on the ground and sat across from me.

  We were at this café called Marmaduke’s right off campus, which had always been one of Talia and my favorite spots to go since we were freshmen. It had a big open dining room and clearly the owner was a lover of dogs because there were Andy Warhol-like pictures of dogs everywhere in the place, as well as several big black and whites of extremely regal looking dogs. There was an Afghan Hound right above our table that kept catching my eye.

  Talia thought a lot of the art was creepy, but I thought it was quirky and amazing.

  “Tal, you swear off men, like, once a month.”

  “But this time it’s serious!” Talia slammed her fist on the table just as our server came over. Talia order a coffee and three cranberry muffins.

  “Talia, you know you just ordered three cranberry muffins, right?”

  She glared at me. “Yes, Catrina. If you must know, I eat when I swear off men.”

  I snorted. “Um. Okay.”

  When the server brought over Talia’s muffins and coffee she put her hand on his arm. “Keep it coming.” He smirked at her and said he’d make sure of it. She batted her eyelashes at him. He was a tall, skinny hipster with dark, horn-rimmed glasses and a short Mohawk.

  “I thought you were swearing off men,” I muttered when he walked away.

  “Well, I’m not swearing off flirting, Judgey McJudgerson.”

  I held up my hands. “I’m not judging.”

  “Anyway, I am.”

  I sighed and took a sip of my coffee. “What happened with Jack?”

  “Look, the status of our relationship was made clear at the beginning,” she said, huffing in frustration. “I told him I don’t do… relationships.” Her voice got lower and she said the last word like it was some kind of taboo. “He made it seem like he was totally on board. He was cool with being fuck buddies.”

  “And then?”

  She sighed dramatically. “And then he fucking invited me to his sister’s wedding!” she tried to yell through a mouthful of muffin.

  I couldn’t help but choke out a laugh. “Jesus, Talia. Fuck buddies can still hang out when they aren’t having sex, right?”

  “Um, yeah, but only if the hanging out is, like, watching Netflix in anticipation of the sex,” she said, her hands flying wildly as she talked.

  I rolled my eyes. “Talia, he asked you to go to a wedding, not to get married.”

  “He may as well have!” she said loudly, shoving more pieces of muffin into her mouth angrily. “When you ask someone to go to a wedding that, like, means something, you know? It means relationshippy things.” I opened my mouth to respond, but she went on before I could. “I knew he was catching feelings, too,” she said, shaking her head and taking a drink of her coffee. “He kept asking me to stay over and if he could meet my friends and what I was doing over the summer. And because I’m an idiot I just let it keep happening because he’s seriously the best fuck I’ve ever had.”

  “Dear God.”

  “But I should’ve put a stop to it,” she said, ignoring my horror at her extremely blatant language in a very public place. “I should’ve ended it back in February when he tried to subtly take me out for Valentine’s Day.”

  I swallowed down a laugh. “How did he try to do that?”

  “Oh, he acted like he didn’t know it was Valentine’s Day,” Talia said. “He was like, oh, let’s go to dinner, and I thought okay it’s fine because we’re gonna have sex after—”

  “Right, and it’s okay to hang out in a non-sex way as long as it’s going to lead to sex,” I interrupted dryly.

  “Right,” she affirmed, either not noticing my sarcasm or choosing to ignore it. “But he took me to this, like, nice restaurant that he definitely would’ve had to make reservations in advance for. That’s when I knew.”

  “Knew what?”

  “That he… likes me.”

  I widened my eyes in faux shock. “The horror!” I put a hand to my chest for a moment before saying, “You didn’t think sleeping with you for over six months at that point was an indication that he might like you?”

  “Um, no,” she said like I was an idiot, gesturing with a piece of muffin in her hand before popping it into her mouth. “Because we established what we were in the beginning.”

  I sighed. “Tal—”

  “Look.” She wiped her mouth and balled up the napkin in her fist tightly. “I know you think I’m crazy, Kitty Cat, but boundaries are important to me.”

  I softened a bit when I saw her face change from angry to slightly distraught. “I know, Tal.”

  “And it’s really important that men be honest with me about what they want.”

  “I know.”

  “And when they say one thing but then act a different way, that really bothers me.”

  “I know, Tal,” I said quietly. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

  What was unsaid in what Talia was explaining to me was why this was important to her. We had only talked about it maybe twice since it happened, but freshman year, Talia had been in a relationship with a guy that had gone really south really quickly.

  I remembered when they dated. Talia had been absolutely head-over-heels for him, and based on what I saw of them, he had been crazy about her, too. He was a senior, and they started dating early in the year so I always assumed they would work it out when he left school since they had time to lay the foundation.

  Later, when things ended, there was one night Talia laid her head on my lap, sobbing, saying she should’ve known because every time she tried to bring up the future, he would find a way to artfully change the subject.

  As it turned out, the entire time they had been dating, Talia’s boyfriend had had a secret girlfriend that he had been dating since high school that lived in New York. He often made trips into the city, and Talia had never questioned it when he didn’t invite her. She assumed he just wanted time with his friends because the few times she mentioned coming with him, he had said he was hanging out with high school friends who were assholes and she’d be bored the whole time. The truth was that he was the asshole going to visit his real girlfriend.

  Talia hadn’t known any of this until he left at the end of the school year, sent her a text saying he couldn’t see her anymore, and then a few months later, she saw on Instagram that he and his girlfriend had eloped on Cape Cod.

  She’d been devastated for months, and I knew that part of the reason she kept every guy she saw since at arm’s length was because of her experience freshman year with Vincent. She was so terrified to let any man in because there was a part of her that believed that any guy was capable of the kind of deception that Vince was.

  I wanted to tell her that not every guy was like that, that not every guy would break her heart in such a drastic way. I wanted to tell her that if she kept herself closed off like she had for years she would never know if every guy was like Vince or not. But I knew that there was still a part of Talia that was broken from what happened to her. And I knew that the only way for her to put the pieces back together would be if she chose to do it on her own. Nothing I said would change her mind until she convinced herself to take the risk. Until she found the guy that would make her want to.

  “So did you two argue about the wedding?” I asked her to change the subject a bit.

  “Yeah,” she sighed. “It was awful.”

  “I’m sorry, Tal,” I said, smiling sadly at her. “Do you want to talk about the fight?”

  “Not really,” she said with a shrug. “I mean, well…”

  “What?” I asked, frowning at her tone. “Did he say something? Do you I have to hunt him down and beat him up?”

  She laughed a little, and shook her head. “He didn’t say anythi
ng that wasn’t true.”

  “What did he say?” I hedged.

  She sighed again. “He said I was so fucking terrified of getting hurt that I refused to open up to anyone. He said he cared about me and wanted to be with me for real, and he could be good for me if I let him.” Talia’s eyes fluttered up to mine. “I know he would be, Cat. Jack is…”

  “He’s what?” I asked softly.

  She sighed. “I know I told you that he was a fuckboy, but I totally lied.” I shook my head at her and she sighed again, almost dreamily this time. “He’s sweet and he’s kind and he cares about people and he makes me laugh so hard that I snort sometimes,” she said with a smile. “And not to mention he’s big and muscley and smoking hot.”

  I laughed. “Well, if you know all that—”

  “I can’t, Cat,” she said. I saw her as she went from sad to resolved and back to angry. “Whatever!” she said loudly, digging into her second muffin. “He knew. He knew from the beginning what we were.”

  “Yeah, but sometimes what you do is more important than what you say,” I said, trying to ignore the niggling in the back of my mind. “If you say, ‘we’re fuck buddies and we’re not in a relationship’ but then you spend almost nine months spending time with him and going out with him and spending the night at his place—”

  “I only spend the night at his place when I’m too tired to go home!” she said, waving a hand at me dismissively. “Sometimes he wears me out.”

  “Okay, okay. But don’t you think—”

  “No,” she said firmly. “I don’t. I told him at the beginning. I’ve never lied to him. Just because he’s choosing to see something that’s not there doesn’t mean that I haven’t been completely up front about what I want.”

  I couldn’t ignore the thoughts creeping in about Brody and I. We had been sleeping together for almost a month now, and there was a part of me that secretly hoped that we would become more. I told myself I didn’t want it, that I knew what we were. But then he would look at me a certain way or ask me to stay over and I would wonder… I would wonder if we could be more. If he wanted more. But maybe I was like Jack. Maybe I was choosing to see something that wasn’t there. Something that I wanted to see.