Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  “And that’s it? You weren’t trying to tell me what to do, or how to do my job, you were just trying to make sure I stayed safe?”

  He looked me in the eyes and nodded. “That’s it.”

  I beamed at him. “So I’m good. Thanks for worrying about me. You are about the sweetest thing, ever.”

  Luke still looked a little confused, but our burgers came out then, and I think he was too hungry to argue any more. He took a huge bite, chewed, swallowed, took a swig of beer and pointed at me with the bottle. “You really are not like most women.”

  Here we go again. “So you’ve said. First, when I ordered a messy dinner on our first date, and now. Look, if you’re trying to get part of my lunch forget it. I’m eating the entire burger and all of my fries, so trying to shame me into eating like some wimpy, salad-worshiping girl won’t work.”

  He snorted. “Please. I know better than to get between you and your lunch,” I lifted my middle finger and smirked at him as I took a huge bite and promptly squirted the entire burger out the end of the bun and all over my plate, with a good bit landing on my chin. He sighed, shook his head, and handed me his napkin. “No, most women would be holding a grudge and making me pay for my transgression for the rest of the day. I’d have to buy jewelry or flowers or something to get out of the doghouse.”

  I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “Seems to me like your main problem is that you’ve had bad taste in women.” I smiled at the waiter and asked for a few more napkins and a glass of water. “I don’t hold a grudge because I don’t see the point in it. Once a situation is resolved, why stay pissed?” I shrugged. “And let’s face it. I don’t like jewelry that much and I’m too easily distracted to remember to stay mad.”

  The waiter dropped off some more napkins so I started wiping up my mess. Suddenly, I stopped dabbing at my hands. “Oh wait, there is one exception. If all this was so that you can tell me that you just knocked up your teenage girlfriend, we might have a problem.” I raised my eyebrows and wagged my finger in his face. “I think you already have an idea how that could turn out.”

  He laughed as I finished cleaning my face and the table, and my hands, and, damn it, a spot on my pants. Holy crap, that burger made a mess. He smiled at my efforts and handed me another napkin. I dipped it in water and tried rubbing the spot on my pants, but it wasn’t going away, so I gave up, wadded up the napkin, threw it at his face and smiled at him as he caught it. “So we’re good?”

  He drained his beer and smiled back. “We’re good.” We finished eating, paid the bill, went to his Jeep, and he drove me back to the studio so I could pick up my car. He told me he’d be over tonight to walk the dogs, told me to make sure I put my top up when I got home because the rain was coming in late afternoon, kissed me goodbye, and he drove off.

  I stood in my driveway watching him disappear down the road. It turns out that an overly large, grumpy, autocratic man is kind of hot.

  By the time Luke got to my house that night, the rain had moved in and it had started to pour. We tried to take the pups for a walk, but my two delicate princesses, Cletus and Diego, refused to go outside because they don’t like to get their feet wet. Cletus flopped on his side and refused to move and Diego immediately joined him in his protest. Luke and I gave up and made sure the dog door was open in case they had to go out.

  Since the weather was too nasty for a walk, and neither of us had to be anywhere the next morning, Luke and I decided to hang out and stay up late and watch movies on my enormous TV. We settled in with some popcorn and some crispy coconut cookies I had made that afternoon. All the pups came to curl up on the sofa between us, and I felt cozy and comfortable. As usual, Luke was in a t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, and as usual, he looked amazing. As usual, I was in shorts and a ratty t-shirt and, as usual, I looked slightly homeless. I kept sneaking glances at him during the movie, and after a while, I gave up and was really just watching him. With my ADHD, I’m not great at watching movies, anyway. When he caught me looking, he frowned. “What?”

  I smiled at him and said, “Nothing,” although what I was really thinking is that he looks and smells delicious.

  He paused the TV and looked at me. “Seriously, what?”

  I smiled at him. “Seriously, nothing. I was just thinking that you were looking pretty adorable over there watching that movie.”

  He grabbed my arm and lifted me up enough to pull me over the dogs and onto his lap. Apparently waking them from a sound sleep annoyed them enough that they all jumped down and collapsed on the rug under the ceiling fan. “Well, you’re looking pretty adorable yourself, and you looked lonely over there.” He buried his face in my neck and start nibbling where my neck and shoulder meet. “Let’s see what I can do to help you feel better.”

  I smiled as I felt him gently bite me and then he instantly kissed and licked the spot. Let me tell you what, if you ever want to make me instantly hot, do something to my neck. Some women are into nipples. Not me. I’m all neck, all the time. It drives me crazy.

  My head fell back, mainly to give him better access, my hands traveled up his arms to his neck and I pulled him closer. I love the way he feels so hard everywhere. You can actually feel each individual muscle flexing with his movements. I felt his hands on my back and they slowly ended up on my hips, then his biceps flexed as he easily lifted me up and turned me so that I straddled his lap.

  Now that we were facing each other, he pulled back and smiled into my eyes. “That’s better.” He ran his hands up my back and into my hair. He smoothed it down and then ran his big hands down my back until they rested on my hips. He pulled me closer and rocked me slowly against him. “Now you don’t look lonely at all.” He kissed me and tried unsuccessfully to look sincere. “I was really worried about you.”

  I laughed. “Haha. I’m sure you’re worried about me being lonely.” And no, I wasn’t about to freak out again. I realized a while back that Luke really likes the way I look, which helped me relax about the whole sex thing. Now, I’m actually to the point that I’m thinking that us getting together is a great idea, mainly because he’s about to kill me with all this kissing and touching. Over the past few months, we’ve both lost our shirts and I’ve lost my pants twice, but he’s refused to let me take his shorts off until we actually have sex because he said he’s afraid we wouldn’t stop and when we finally have sex, he wants it to be my conscious decision and not because we got too carried away. I appreciated his consideration, but the last two times we were fooling around like this, it took me hours to get to sleep because he got me so riled up.

  Apparently, tonight was no different. I was so turned on at that point I could barely breathe, but he still just rocked me gently against him and smiled.

  We’d already had the birth control conversation, actually over breakfast a week or two ago when we found out one of our 46 year old college friends just found out she was pregnant after she unknowingly jumped her husband while on Ambien. Apparently, she pretty much forgot everything that night, including any sort of birth control, so she was beside herself a few weeks later when a pregnancy test came out positive. Ugh. Anyway, we’d already determined that I’m on the pill for hormone reasons and he’d had a vasectomy years ago while married to Glenda, and both of us had recent blood tests and weren’t seeing anyone else so we knew we were both okay.

  But that was the last thing on my mind at that moment. Nope, now I had something new to worry about. We were kissing, and I kind of squirmed against him and he wrapped his arms around my hips so tightly that I could feel every inch of him against my stomach. And Lawd have mercy, all of a sudden it hit me…that felt like a lot of inches. Holy crap, how big is that thing? Suddenly, I was more than a little nervous about our size difference. I mean, I’m under five feet tall, and he’s way over six foot, so, let’s face it, now I’m wondering if us together is physically going to work.

  As usual, when my mind goes wandering, I go still, so it didn’t take Luke long to realize that I was off
on one of my mental tangents. He pulled back and looked in my eyes and asked me if I was all right. I blushed when he asked, because my whole thought process was so embarrassing. I thought about trying to lie to him about what I was thinking, but I’m such a terrible liar I knew that wouldn’t work, so I figured I’d just tell him my concerns and we’ll see what happens.

  I took a deep breath and tried to start. “Well, when we were just kissing, I couldn’t help but notice you were excited, I mean…you have an erection.”

  He nodded. “Okay. Yes I do. Is that a problem?” He stared at me, not really sure where I was going with this. “I mean, you’ve certainly felt it before and you understand how this whole man/woman thing works, right?”

  That made me laugh. “Yes, smartyass, I do know how that works.” I looked at him and shook my head and kind of waved vaguely in the area of his crotch. “What I couldn’t help thinking was that you, I mean it, seems…um, kind of big.” I wrinkled up my nose. “I mean, even though I tell everyone I’m 5’1’, I’m actually only 4’11” and I’m kind of short-waisted, and you’re 6’4” and all kidding aside, from the feel of things, I’m wondering if we may have run into a compatibility issue.”

  He tried to look serious, but gave up and started laughing. “I can see your concern. But if it helps, I promise, I’m not too big for you. As a matter of fact, I can assure you, I’ll be just right.”

  I snorted. “Thanks, Goldilocks.” I intoned in a high pitched voice, “And this penis was too small, and this one was too large, but this one was juuuusssst right…”

  He lifted an eyebrow and laughed at me. “You want to try it on for size, Goldilocks?” He hugged me close and kissed me a big juicy, smacking kiss on my lips. “I’m willing to sacrifice my body for a scientific experiment if you are.”

  I looked at him with a mock serious look on my face. “You’re such a giver. And so brave.” We both laughed, which I love. He’s got a great sense of humor, which is almost too much when you consider the fact that he’s also smart and gorgeous.

  He must have realized that I was feeling better because he went right back to my neck and started kissing it, apparently trying to get me back to the state I was in before. As he kissed me, I pulled back long enough to pull off his shirt and throw it on the floor. I wanted to feel all that muscle and hot skin under my fingers, and Lawd have mercy, I was not disappointed. He had a nicely hairy chest, not too much hair, but enough to go from nipple to nipple and then it narrowed and went down the middle of those abs into his low-slung shorts. Seriously, he looked like something out of a magazine. I felt one hand grab my hips to keep me against him, and the other moved up under my t-shirt to my breast. As soon as he touched it, I felt a groan from deep in his chest. I was startled. “What?”

  He lifted his head from my neck and looked at me. His other hand moved up to palm my other breast. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been wanting to get my hands on these since the first time I saw you at Georgia.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Oh please…this isn’t the first time you’ve seen them. We’ve fooled around a lot the past few months.”

  He smiled. “No, but I never get tired of the view. Daisy, trust me. There has never been a man alive, including me, that didn’t want to see these babies up close and personal.”

  I laughed and he released me to grab the bottom of my shirt. “You mind if we lose this?”

  When I said sure, why not, he whipped the shirt over my head so that it was just me in my bra and cut off shorts straddling his lap. He cuddled my breasts with both hands, staring at them with an intent look on his face. I reached behind me, opened the clasp, slid the straps down my arms and pulled the bra off and threw it on the floor, telling him that now he could look all he wanted without any distractions. He absently thanked me without looking up and gently squeezed them together and took one of my nipples in his mouth.

  Normally, like a lot of large-breasted women, and unlike my neck, my nipples aren’t very sensitive. But watching him lick and kiss and suck them in turn, enjoying every minute, was incredibly hot. I could feel myself getting hotter and wetter, until finally I felt like I was going to explode.

  I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer. He groaned and continued licking and sucking and squeezing my breasts while still moving rhythmically against me. I wrapped my arms around his head to hug him and whispered in his ear if he would like to go to the bedroom.

  He pulled his mouth off my breasts and drew back, breathing hard. He searched my face. “Daisy are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Luke, I’m absolutely sure. If we don’t do something about this tonight, I will never get a lick of sleep. We’ve been dating for months, and it’s time.”

  He was not arguing with that. He stood up easily with me still straddling his lap, so I grabbed his shoulders and locked my legs around his waist to make sure he didn’t drop me. He walked us back to the bedroom, stopping occasionally to pin me against the wall and kiss me until I couldn’t breathe. I’m small, but I’m not a lightweight, and I can honestly say that, for whatever reason, it turns out I really like a guy who can toss me around and put me exactly where he wants. Hey, don’t be all judge-y. I take my thrills where I can get them.

  It’s also pretty handy when you have a height difference like we do. When you’re 4’11”, sex can be a challenge. In my extensive experience, well, okay, mostly Bobby, for a lot of positions to work, the guy either has to bend down, lift me up, or put me on some kind of ladder or stepstool or something, so everything lines up right. Fortunately, Luke and I are problem solvers and I have no doubt he’ll rise to the challenge.

  When we got to my room, he kicked the door shut behind him to keep out the dogs, then he put one knee on the end of the bed and lowered me down to the covers. He stood over me looking down with a very focused look on his face. I asked him to turn on the ceiling fan, and as he walked over to the wall switch, I lit a couple of candles on my bedside table. Now, we had a soft glow that was light enough so we could see each other, but it wasn’t obnoxious like an overhead light.

  For a moment, he just stood there at the end of the bed staring in my eyes. When I smiled at the intensity on his face, he smiled gently back at me and stepped closer. He climbed on the bed and knee walked over until he straddled my thighs. He put both hands on either side of my shoulders and lowered down so he could kiss me. He kissed me gently at first, one quick kiss on the forehead, one on the nose, one longer one on my lips. He then lowered himself until he could prop himself on his elbows and smiled into my eyes. He started kissing my neck, which took about two seconds to get me back to the level of excitement I’d felt while we were on the couch. I grabbed his ribs with both hands and squeezed as I moaned in his ear. When he realized how excited I was, he moved up and his mouth slammed down on mine, tongues wildly tangling, and both of us straining against each other. My hands were all over his back, and even as crazy aroused as I was, I still marveled at the muscles on his back and shoulders, and honest to God, his butt was ridiculous. High, tight, and rounded with muscle.

  I tried to unbutton his shorts, but he was pressed so tightly against me that I couldn’t get my hands between us. Finally, I jerked my mouth free and told him he needed to lose the pants, now. He reared back and stood at the end of the bed. He leaned forward, unbuttoned my shorts, and yanked them and my panties off in one motion. Okay, I actually meant his pants, but, whatever, this was a good start. I could hear his harsh breathing as his eyes moved over every inch of me. Suddenly, I felt very exposed, and I raised up on my elbows, bent my knees, and pulled my legs together as I stared up at him.

  He smiled and said, “Nope,” and joined me on the bed. He kneeled by my feet, grabbed a knee in each hand and slowly pulled them apart so he could see all of me. I collapsed back on the bed so I could see his face as he stared between my legs with a serious, absorbed look.

  He then raised his eyes to mine, his eyes hot and greedy, “Baby, I can see how wet you are already,” and I felt both of h
is thumbs there, spreading me apart. The next thing I know, he was kneeling on the floor. He grabbed my hips in both hands to raise me up and he pressed his mouth against me.

  Holy. Shit. I felt my eyes roll back in my head as he got down to business. Long licks up both sides. A gentle nibble here and there. He pushed his big finger inside me and moved it in time with long laps of his talented tongue. As he added another finger, I could feel myself getting closer and closer to the edge, but he refused to let me finish. I grabbed his hair and pushed him down harder, but he slowed down. Finally, I was just about whimpering, please, please, please and suddenly, he sucked hard on just the right spot and, at the same time, he pressed hard inside me with both fingers.

  That was it for me. I was hollering and moaning, and still he wouldn’t let up. Finally, I went limp. My legs just flopped to the bed and my hands rested on his head. He pulled out his fingers and gave me a couple of gentle laps with his tongue and raised his head to smile at me, “You okay, baby?”

  I could barely lift my head to see his eyes. When I saw him smiling at me, I smiled back and my head dropped back on the bed. “Okay? Yeah, you could say that.” I ran my hand through his hair and let it drop back on the bed. “Except you just about killed me. I’m sorry, but I’m just too tired. I think I’m done for the night.”

  I heard him chuckle and he looked very satisfied with himself. “Want to bet I can change your mind?”

  I closed my eyes and gave a huge yawn and pretended to snore. He scooted up between my legs and propped his head on my stomach, laughing at my antics. When I continued my fake snores, he turned his head and bit my stomach and my eyes flew open. He laughed, kissed me where he’d bitten me, then pushed himself off me and stood up next to the bed. I smiled at him, curious about his next move. He waited until he had my full attention and then he slowly unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts and I sucked my breath in when I could see he wasn’t wearing underwear. Nice.