The Best Friends Anthology (A New City Story Book 5)

by Stefanie Simpson

  “Okay, look. Let’s put any attraction between us aside. What is your desire?”

  “See, that’s part of my problem. I’m not sure. If I seek that out, is that really a path I choose?”

  Will scowled, taking a moment. “Women aren’t really cultured in the pursuit of sex and desire without becoming sexual commodities. That commodification of desire is damaging, not the sex you might get.”

  I nodded slowly, letting it tick over. “Yes. I think that’s it.”

  “You can explore those things with me. You initiate anything you want. We talk about it.”

  I watched him, and he looked uncomfortable under my gaze.

  One side of his mouth twitched up eventually. “Sometimes we need a person who’ll hold the net. I’ve always been that. You’re going through some changes, and those things take time. You can hurtle into those situations and be really hurt by them. If you want that, of course, that’s your choice too. It’s your desire and sexuality.” He leant in more. “I will always seek your consent and wellbeing, and if it’s something you don’t want to seek out, fine. But I find you interesting, and these conversations are honest. I respect that.”

  “Has anyone ever been your net?”

  He blinked, but we were called to our table. He changed the subject, and we talked about family and life, interests and music, and our careers. It was nice. And sometimes that’s enough.

  Running a small business was time consuming, and it was good to be on a level field with someone. Except that his level was much bigger than mine.

  We got onto the subject of Ceeli.

  “So, momma bear raged through Chadford? I’m sure that was quite the sight.”

  “I don’t get angry often.”

  “But things are better?”

  We split the bill, and left, walking arm in arm.

  “Tentative. I think a lot is going on with her, and she needs me right now.”

  “Then you should go home to her.”

  “Probably. I thought I was done being her mum and could try to be me. It was hard at first to let go, and now she needs me again. We’ve not spoken for months.”

  His eyes fixed on my mouth, and he hovered close. “And if you don’t help her now, you might waste the opportunity to set it right.”

  I held his shirt as I nodded. Will kissed me, hard and searing, and then stepped away.

  “It won’t be forever.” I tried to smile.

  “No.”

  “How about we still see each other, talk, text, whatever, just not stay the night. Hold back a little.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Good.” I pulled him back in for a kiss, and my car turned up.

  I climbed in, and he leant on it for a second. “Text me when you get in.”

  I watched him as we left, sad and desperate to go back.

  ✽✽✽

  “You got home earlier than I expected last night.”

  I paused, sipping my coffee. “We had a nice dinner.”

  “Mother.”

  “He runs the building company doing the outside work. He’s very charming and kind.”

  “He’s quite young.”

  “Five years.”

  “And you like him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sleeping with him.”

  “Cecelia Granger.” I thumped my cup down, sloshing coffee.

  “I hope you’re careful. Dating is difficult, and men are gross.”

  “Yes, they are, but there are a few non-slime ones, and I think he might be one of them.”

  “Is it weird? Being with someone else?”

  “Don’t you have a lecture to go to or something?”

  “All right. I’m going to see a few places then I’ll be at the library until late.”

  She’d been gone less than half-an-hour, and Will called me, and my heart dipped. “I’m just on my way out.”

  “Hustling?”

  “Always.”

  He was silent for a minute.

  “What’s up?”

  “I’d like to see you. I know what we said, but I have a meeting later, and I’ll be off-site. Would you like to meet for a drink, a coffee, anything?”

  “Anything?”

  I grinned at his laugh and checked my diary. We made arrangements, and I went off to bid for a cleaning contract at a rehab services clinic. It was a big contract, and I would have to take on more staff, but it would really help to have a secure contract.

  I left the meeting with a verbal agreement, and just had to wait for confirmation after checking the proposal and found my way back into town and found the restaurant where we were meeting. My heart raced, and I went over the dinner we shared. Something about it stuck with me; he’d not answered my question. Who’d been his net?

  Will wore a dress shirt, and though it was cool, he’d cuffed his shirt sleeves, and I glanced down at his forearms. Tanned and muscular, veins were visible under his skin, and all I could think about was his fingers inside me.

  He ran them through his hair as he stood and smiled before kissing my cheek. He lingered a little, hot minty breath on my skin. I wanted to grab him and fuck him right there. Having an overwhelming need for something was strange. I’d been untouched and unwanted for too long.

  “Okay?”

  I nodded, trying to swallow.

  He smiled and gestured to a chair, and we sat. For a minute, we just looked at each other.

  “We should order.” He neatened the cutlery on the table.

  “We should. Or we can get out of here.”

  His chest expanded, and with a nod, he grabbed his coat, paid for his undrunk coffee and took my hand.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Hotel?” He pulled me close. “This isn’t what-”

  “It’s fine.”

  We passed through a street of shops, he ducked into a pharmacy, and my heart wouldn’t slow down. We barely said a word but didn’t need to.

  The nearest hotel was a chain place that’d just opened nearby. Mortified, I hung back windswept and cold, and the receptionist cut us a look. I felt out of place and wrong as if I were going to be caught out for cheating. I wasn’t though. I was free to fuck who I wanted in a hotel. I had those choices now.

  The door of the room clicked shut, shaking me out of my thoughts, and Will slipped the key card into the wall, lights flicking on. Not knowing what to do, I just stood there shivering.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.” It was a breath no more.

  “We don’t have to do this.” The concern was sweet, and he was gentle.

  “Kiss me.”

  Cupping my cheeks, he did. His presence was solid and hot, he warmed my icy bones, and I couldn’t get close enough. I pulled at him, pushing his rustling coat off, kissing harder.

  We fell on the bed, tearing off our clothes, tangled up in each other until we giggled at getting my bra twisted up in my blouse. I pushed him off and straddled him.

  He held the back of my neck; lips close to mine. “I want you to fuck me however you want. Show me who you are.”

  “Condoms.”

  “Coat.”

  I scrabbled off, and he finished undressing. I stared, and he grinned.

  “You like?” Grasping it, he stroked, all the while, his eyes roved over my body.

  “You’re beautiful. The moment I saw you, I thought it. When we spent that night together, it was incredibly intimate and…” I stalled at a loss to know what to say.

  With a soft smile, he reached for me. Between us, we fumbled the condom a little, and I hesitated, hovering over him.

  The need was sharp in his face, but he spoke in a whisper. “This is up to you.”

  “It’s just… I’ve never been with anyone else.”

  With a peck to the corner of my mouth, he ran his hand over my back. “I think we should stop. But I’m going to go into the bathroom and take care of this.”<
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  I pushed down onto him, drawing out the last word into a moan.

  Will closed his eyes and buried his face into my neck.

  He put his hand on my heart, kissing my neck as I moved slowly, almost tentatively riding him.

  New and different, he felt deep inside me, not just his body, but in the way he touched me.

  His stubble scratched as he kissed along my collarbone and down. His tongue and lips over my breast, all the while, resting his hand over my heart.

  “What do you like?” I clutched his hair, and he hummed.

  “A woman who takes what she wants. Who’s unashamed of it.” He teased his lips over my nipple. “Your pleasure is my pleasure, fuck, anything, I want you to enjoy my body.” The other arm around me tightened, and he moved his hips in rhythm with mine.

  I pushed him down, hands on his chest, and rode him as he watched me. I found an angle I liked and did as he asked. Enjoying the power he gave me, I slid up and down, undulating forward, unabashed with him watching. He hissed and smiled with a wicked look in his eyes.

  Pleasure built, desire and need took over, and as I dug my nails into him, he held me steady. My thighs tensed, squeezing him, and I revelled in it. Loud as I had never been, I spiralled and let go of everything. There was him inside me, and that was all that I wanted.

  I came hard, my body out of my control, and he started thrusting up, hard and fast, and I begged for more as I peaked. He hissed and cried out.

  “Can I take you from behind?” He stilled me.

  “Please, just take me.” I flumped against him.

  With a grunt and a kiss, he moved me, my body spent, and kneeling, he took me with his hands on my hips. His grip was hard, and the sound of our bodies and satisfying cock in me gave me what I needed.

  I leant down, and he shouted wonderful filth to me as he came. I’d only ever had silent sex, and I realised how much I’d missed out on. I collapsed down as he withdrew, and he took the condom off and joined me.

  I reached for him, and he covered us in the covers and snuggled me as we caught our breaths.

  “Okay?” I panted.

  He was wide-eyed and licked his lips. “I said this before, but you have a strong vagina.”

  I laughed, loud and unabashed.

  “I’m serious, it’s like a fist when you come. It’s amazing.”

  “I had weak muscles after I gave birth. I did a lot of Kegels after that.”

  “It worked.” He shook his head and kissed me.

  I made a noise and nestled close, pulling his hand over my chest and held it.

  “Happy?” he whispered over my shoulder as we spooned.

  “Yes. It was lovely.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  I shifted to look at him. “You liked it? Not just my wonder vagina.”

  He kissed me, hard and deep as he laughed. “Glorious.”

  I bit back my grin and cuddled into his chest and closed my eyes.

  FUN

  I wasn’t asleep, but not quite awake either. Noise brought me around, and I sat up. It was Will’s phone, so I went to the loo.

  My makeup was smudged, my cheeks a little brighter, and hair a mess. I looked happy.

  He was getting dressed as I came out. “Sorry, work, I have to.”

  “It’s okay.” I started dressing too but pulled him into a hug, holding tightly before pressing a hard, searing kiss.

  He grinned, smug as hell and did up his shirt, glancing at me. “I want you again.”

  Slipping on my shoes, I didn’t say a word but smirked, and put my jacket back on. “I’m really busy all week.”

  “Me too. Can I call you tonight?”

  “I’d like that.”

  The warm kindness he gave me was so bright. Made me sad his heart wasn’t free. Then I wasn’t sure I’d want that from him, that wasn’t a place I was in, but someone deserved the love he could offer because it was beautiful. That thought made think I could do this.

  We said goodbye at my car, and I watched him hurry away as the wind got up.

  When he’d gone from sight, I squinted into the dull sky, clouds tumbling overhead.

  There’d be a storm.

  ✽✽✽

  I didn’t get in until eight. All afternoon, I’d wandered in a daze. Even Ashley picked up on it. I just said I didn’t feel well. I sat in the supermarket car park for more than an hour, reliving every touch.

  I felt him inside, my lips still tingled with his firm kisses. I’d never experienced anything like it. It weighed on me. The waste of my youth on a man who didn’t really care about me and didn’t know how to love me when I gave him everything.

  Ceeli grabbed the shopping bags from me as I got in.

  “Mum?”

  “I’m tired.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  I shook my head as I went to the bedroom and changed.

  She leant on the door. “I cooked.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No really what’s wrong?”

  “Hard to explain. Tell me about your day over dinner.”

  I ate the reheated pasta and sauce, and she chatted about the flats and all the other minutia of the day.

  I went with her to look at a flat the next day. It was a hovel with a toilet in the kitchen.

  “You know this breaks the law?” I pointed at it.

  The shifty landlord attempted to speak, but I put my hand up.

  “No, I’m not in the mood for bullshit. Let’s go.” I made her ring accommodations, and when Ceeli spluttered, I took the phone off her and told the woman off on the other end.

  She found another place to look at.

  “You can stay with me as long as you need to.”

  She looked at me while I drove. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “Being a brat about dad.”

  I cleared my throat and focused on the road. “I understand.”

  “No, mum, please. I am sorry.”

  “Thank you.”

  We didn’t speak for a bit, and she murmured the words to a song on the radio. “Are you seeing Will?”

  “We’re taking things slow.”

  “You’re blushing.” She laughed.

  As we pulled up in traffic, I turned to her. “I like him.”

  She grinned, but it fell. “Like him like him or a good fling like him.”

  “I don’t know. We said fling. I need… well never mind, and he’s in love with someone else. We both just need someone.”

  “You’re worried it’ll be more?”

  “I never had a wild youth where I was free. You’re the reason I can’t regret that, but sometimes I wish I’d had those experiences.”

  “You’re going to have them now.” She grinned.

  “That’s enough of that conversation.”

  She laughed, and when her phone peeped, she paid attention to it.

  Outside the flats, the work had been finished, and the scaffolding was already coming down. I parked up in the little residents’ car park, and my eyes searched for him, but he wasn’t there.

  “I’ve been invited by some friends to go clubbing. Let off some steam.” Ceeli opened and closed the fridge.

  “Okay.”

  I cleaned and worked, but my mind wasn’t present, so I texted him.

  Are you around tonight?

  Nothing.

  He was probably busy, but I questioned everything in a wallop of insecurity. It was just a one-time thing maybe. I wouldn’t have minded if that’s what we’d agreed. Or maybe I misunderstood. Whatever, if he didn’t want me, fine, I wasn’t chasing a man, not now or ever.

  An hour after Ceeli had left, the door went again. The girl was forever forgetting her keys, and I opened it, my heart stopping. He looked different. The easy charm was gone, and he held himself rigid.

  “Sorry. I…” his breath left him, and his shoulders sagged.

  “
What it is?” I hovered in the doorway, braced.

  When he didn’t speak, I urged him inside and poured us some wine. “Look. We don’t have to do this. Really.”

  “You’re amazing.”

  “Not really.”

  He put his hand on my waist, gripping tight. “You are.” He searched my eyes and pulled me into a kiss. I don’t know what I expected, but he was needy and almost voracious. I hummed, clutching tight and we stumbled against the wall.

  He worked down my neck, nipping my skin.

  “Will.”

  “I want you. I know we said measured and cautious, but after the hotel I…” His lips hovered near mine, the question and want in our hot breath.

  “Yes.”

  With a grunt, he picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him as he turned and went to the bedroom.

  He let me go slowly, focused on our kiss, and I pulled his polo off, kissing his chest.

  His breathing quickened when I undid his jeans, and the swallow was audible as I pushed them down. Every touch was like the first. A strange sense of excitement and new, but at the same time familiar and safe.

  I explored his body. The scent of his skin, his rough, calloused hands, but the rest of his skin soft, dispersed with rough hair, and all of him warm to the touch. The sounds he made were an old favourite song.

  I sank to my knees, and he bit his lip, moaning.

  I pulled his underwear down and freed his cock. As Will’s breathing quickened, I looked up at him, smirking, before sliding my lips over him.

  His eyelids fluttered, and he put his hands in my hair. The visceral pleasure on his face was beautiful; a raw, vulnerable masculinity he showed me as I licked and sucked, pushing deeper until he trembled.

  I pulled off, blinking, and he bent down and kissed me before virtually tearing my clothes off.

  “I…”

  “Tell me.” I pulled him down onto the bed, opening the condom.

  “What sex do you want?”

  “Be like this. In charge, take me.” I said into his mouth, stroking his cock.

  He grinned and bit the inside of his cheek. “Ask me to stop any time you want.”