He held out both hands and she took them. "I thought it best if you take charge in the beginning."
Her mouth gaped open. "I don't know what to do."
Everett drew her closer. "Have you ever had the opportunity to explore the body of a man?"
"No," she admitted. "Not that I haven't seen them before." She'd gotten bemused glances at her two previous lays and there was the occasional walking in on her brothers in the bathroom. That was more embarrassing than sexy.
"There's a good place to start.” He released her hands and tugged at the sash holding his robe closed.
It came loose and the satin slithered open.
He hadn't a single stitch on underneath.
Ros's breath caught in her throat. Everett's chest was smooth, almost as if he'd shaved it, all the way down to his navel. Hair below there, and continued, thickening, until it reached--
Ros lifted her eyes. Maybe she wasn't ready for this?
Everett caught her hand and brought it to his penis. "No, you need to explore. The more comfortable you are with my body, the more comfortable you will be with yourself and your own sensuality. This is your chance to explore without performance pressure or expectation.
"In fact, if that's the only thing we do tonight, that's okay."
She looked into his eyes. "You don't mind if we don't go all the way?"
"There will be other nights, if you want." Just like there had been other dates. Everett had been gently persistent, not pushing, not over-thinking. He'd been watching her ever since he'd first laid eyes on her. Of course, he had. That's how he knew to bring her a second box of candy hearts. He hadn't pushed her too far, but neither had he simply sat back and let her proceed.
Her hand closed about his shaft. "I was expecting it to be erect."
He gave her a playful grin. "I can fix that for you." He laid a finger to his lips. "On second thought, how about you fix that?"
She raised an eyebrow in question.
"Here's your opportunity to stroke a man and see what turns him on." He laid a hand on her bare shoulder. "A word of caution, though. Please don't squeeze too hard. It's not a tomato sauce bottle."
Ros couldn't help but giggle. "Okay. What do I do?"
"One second." He disengaged her hand. From the bedside table, he returned with a pink bottle covered in a riotous design. "Hold out your hand." She complied. Into it, he gave a few pumps of lube. The scent of artificial strawberry tickled her nose. She played with it, rubbing her fingers.
Everett tossed the bottle onto the bed and guided her hand back to his penis. "Here. Stroke it. Try different pressures, different speeds. See what works, and what happens."
This was new. Ros can't recall having ever really handling a penis, certainly not like this. She let her hand slide down the length of it until the end. Recover, and stroke again. It remained limp, but was that a little bit of a jump?
She stroked once more, then wrapped her fingers about it.
Everett closed his eyes and sighed. "Gentle's a good way to start."
Ros got both hands in on the act. Together, they cupped the shaft and gave it a bit of a massage. Warmth spread to her fingers, and she felt some action. "Is it starting?"
"Yes. Have fun."
While one hand stroked along the shaft, the other scooted underneath to cup his testicles. "Am I supposed to stroke these as well?"
"Be very gentle with the boys. They're more spectators, rather than the player."
She let them rest in her hand, taking care of them as if they were one of her foster kittens.
By now, the shaft of the penis had definitely thickened and had gained more rigidity. She abandoned his balls to focus more on the bat. When she had started, his unerect penis had been only a little longer than the palm of her hand, and she could grip it easily. But now, it lengthened and thickened, and she found it difficult to make her fingers meet. Definitely two hands were warranted here.
It was interesting how it felt. While it had grown larger, the skin about the shaft was still loose. It slid back and forth quite easily over the structure underneath. That was quite rigid about now. Even the tip was rather turgid. She ran a thumb over it, causing Everett to toss his head back. "Oh, that's good!"
His reaction amused her. He was enjoying this. How fascinating. She tightened her hand and slid it down to the base of the shaft. Everett drew in a deep breath. Slowly she brought her hand back out to the tip and his knees nearly buckled.
She wasn't expecting that reaction! "Perhaps we would be more comfortable on the bed?"
He could only nod.
Ros laid him back, tucking a pillow behind his head, then focused on the part of him that wasn't prone. Even laying down, his penis stuck straight up. Interesting that they could do that. Whenever Ros laid down, whatever she had on her also relaxed.
Everett's hand twitched and reached for himself, but he stopped and gripped the doona instead. Ros noticed the hesitation. "What? I am doing something wrong?"
"Oh no," he breathed. "You're doing everything right."
Was she? She reached out and drew a finger up the underside. "Does it always react like this?"
"Pretty much."
She straddled his legs. "Now what do I do with it?"
He laughed. "Whatever you want. You're the one exploring. If you've had enough of this, we can look into something else."
Ros had no idea what that could be. Besides, how often did she get to play with some guy's dick? Again, she reached out with both hands and grasped it, but not too hard. She remembered how un-delightful it was when she experimented with a fast speed. Did guys get road rash as well? Best to go gentle until she learned his limits. This was supposed to be about exploration and pleasure.
Her hands were covered in strawberry-scented lube. She raised a few fingertips to her nose and inhaled. Tentatively, she stuck out the tip of her tongue and gave the lube a taste.
Not bad. Surprisingly sweet, with that artificial sweetener tinge. Fair enough. Sugar-based anything would be too sticky.
On a whim, she bent over and glided her tongue up his shaft and over the head of his penis.
His sudden inhalation had startled her, until he released it in a long moan. That was a winner.
"Do it again?" he urged.
She complied. The shudder that ran through his body was oddly satisfying to her. Is this what it meant to be sexually responsive?
"You mentioned something else. What else can we do?"
"Whatever you want."
"So you said. But I don't know what that is?"
He propped himself up on his elbows. "If you're up to it, we can play with you."
Ros thought about this. "No. I'm happy exploring you." All of him. Surely there was more to sex than just the peen. "Where else are you sensitive?"
He laid his head back, momentarily at loss for an answer. "I don't know."
What did she like? On a whim, she told him about the Sydney Tower, and how she was a sucker for a backrub. "Roll over and I'll give you a massage."
At this, he hesitated. "Um, rolling over isn't exactly a possibility." He gestured to the bit of his anatomy that was at angles to the rest of him.
She laid a hand over her mouth in dismay. "Sorry. I've never had one of those before." What else could she rub? "Feet?"
He hesitated. "As long as you're firm. I am ticklish."
Ros gave Everett a foot rub. While he wasn't as reactionary as when she was giving him a hand job, he did relax, and that pleased her.
Maybe he relaxed too much. His flagpole began to descend. "Uh oh." She abandoned his feet and rubbed him back up to attention.
He gathered enough of his thoughts to suggest a condom. "It'll be less messy, especially if you plan on bringing me to completion."
She held up her lube-sticky hands. "And this isn't messy?"
He handed her a condom from the bedside table. With little prompting required, she managed to get it on. "It's like putting on stockings."
Everett grinned. "You can try that on me too sometime."
A sudden flash of Tim Curry through her brain made Ros laugh. "You'd do that?"
He shrugged. "I'm game to try anything."
Ros hesitated. "I don't know if I'm there yet." She folded her hands in front of her.
Everett reached out and took them. "That's okay. We're proceeding at your pace, to do what you want."
Ros let him hold her hands as she considered his words. "Anything I want? Even if it means roll over and go to sleep?"
He sighed but nodded.
She looked at his sheathed shaft raised up all eager like a puppy wanting attention. "I want to see if I can make you come."
He released her hands and spread out his arms, presenting his body to her. "I will not complain."
Once more, she took his shaft into her hands. "What do I need to do?"
"What you were doing earlier was working."
Ros thought about how his strongest reaction was when she had licked him. It had been an experiment, and a rather successful one, but she wasn't sure she was ready to do that. "Can I really make you come with just hands?"
"Guys do it all the time."
True that. Ros set up a slow and steady rhythm with her hands. She adjusted her grip and her pace at Everett's urging. Faster, lighter, harder, ease up. Soon she was watching his face more than the penis in her hands, waiting for that tightening of the eyes, the sharp intake of breath, that pulse throbbing in his throat.
Now this was awesome! She could vary his breathing by varying her stroke. The moment he inhaled, that's when she'd intensify her rhythm.
"There," he cried. "Faster. Faster."
Ros complied.
At once, his body clenched. In between her hands, his penis throbbed as an orgasm took him over.
Oh, wow. Her hands froze as he finished. So that's what an orgasm looked like. Pornos had nothing on reality.
It left Everett gasping in effort, a sheen of sweat across his skin. Eventually he opened his eyes to find Ros studying him. "Oh, we've got to do that again sometime."
"What? Tonight?"
But Everett shook his head. "I don't think I could handle another one tonight. A guy needs some time between orgasms."
Soli was fast asleep on the couch when Ros arrived home the next morning. Poor dear must have collapsed after her last feeding.
Not that Ros cared. After having spent a rather pleasant night sleeping--just sleeping--in the arms of someone, she'd discovered the joys of morning wood. She'd been able to bring Everett to completion before their morning had been cut short by a phone call. Hannah needed help getting the lawnmower started--again.
"I'm so sorry." Nevertheless, Everett had insisted on nice breakfast of fried eggs and bacon on toast. He even had the nice brand of fresh orange juice. "Don't tell Hannah I wanted to spend more time with you than her."
This brought a smile to Ros's lips.
She kept that smile all the way home. Who cared what Soli thought?
But Soli was asleep. Ros let her. She had enough to do on the weekend without disturbing her housemate. She even snuck away Soli's phone and took care of the next feeding and toileting of the kittens when the alarm went off.
Ros felt satisfied. Content, even. It had been Everett's trust in her, trusting his body into her inexperienced hands, and his willingness to let her take things at her pace that made last night so wonderful. By lunchtime she couldn't resist; she pulled out her phone and sent him a text message: "Last night was great. Thanks for showing me what I had been missing." She even put a kissy emoji at the end. Soli would approve.
Soli's alarm went off. Time to feed the kittens again.
Saturday came and went. Sunday morning came and kittens needed feeding and toileting and loving, and Soli needed sleeping. By Sunday arvo, she'd managed to catch up.
"Ta," she said, wandering into the laundry room, a cuppa in her hand. "I'm sorry you had to take the burden."
"It's all right," Ros replied, a sleeping kitten curled up in her lap while she fed another. "I let you sleep."
Everett had let her sleep, and that had been glorious.
She'd sent him a picture several hours ago of a feeding kitten but had gotten no reply. All through the day, her phone had remained silent. Ros cared for the kittens until the evening when Soli took over. After all, Ros had to work the next morning and she needed to sleep as well.
Only she couldn't. At midnight, she sent a text to Everett. "You okay?"
After she'd hit the send button, maybe she shouldn't have texted him so late. If he had decided to ghost her, a midnight text would only have given him another reason to leave her alone.
Oh no.
Had she done something wrong? She laid in the dark, her brain playing over every little thing of their Big Night In. It had gone so well. Even the next morning, despite Hannah's interruption. There was no reason for him to desert her like this...
...unless he'd told Hannah about her and his sister disapproved.
Sigh. Was this what he meant when he said his last girlfriend thought three was a crowd?
The next morning found Ros rather groggily making her way to work. Maybe she'd skip her lunchtime workout today. She had no mojo. Her phone remained silent in her desk drawer, and quiet on the way home.
Ros fed little kittens, but her heart remained on the phone.
Just before bed, she sent one last text. "Please let me know everything's all right." And that was it. No more texts. If he was going to ghost her the way Livvie had ghosted Tyler, then maybe it was best Ros retreat with dignity.
But only after she'd had a good cry.
At least there were kittens. Ros kept that focus all through her Tuesday. She moved through work, she skipped gym again, and on the way home, she refused to look at her too-quiet phone. There were kittens at home, kittens who needed her, a housemate who needed her, and that was her life. And maybe the occasional shoulder rub by the Sydney Tower.
She'd take over the evening feeding of the kittens while Soli sought some much-needed sleep. Maybe later she'd pop some popcorn, find an action movie and ignore the world until her heart stopped aching.
Hearts. Oh, those stupid candy hearts! She still had most of a box left. She loved them and she hated them. Here they were, half-way through December, and still so many candy hearts. Would she get over this by February and the annual package of love from her family? Or would that only bring back the heartache and pain?
Ros was home and nearly up to the porch when she realised, she was not alone.
Everett, who had been sitting there, waiting for her, rose up. His hands fiddled in contrition. "Hello, Ros."
She stopped and clutched her shoe bag. "Hello." How should she be feeling?
"I got your messages." He held up a phone.
Wait. Was that a new phone? "What happened?" Curiosity won out over petulance.
He couldn't meet her gaze. "Lawnmower. You'd be appalled at what it can do to an iPhone." He thumbed open his new phone and handed it out to her. "Can I get your number again?"
He hadn't abandoned her! As she put in her digits, she asked, "Why didn't you back up your contacts?"
Everett ran a hand through his black hair. "Because I'm stupid." Guilt weighed down his shoulders.
Only then she noticed the box by his feet. A familiar box. "What's that?"
He looked down. "An apology."
Ros had to laugh. It was another box of candy hearts. She'd be eating them for the rest of her life.
"Want to come in and see the kittens?"
Everett launched himself forward to cling tightly to Ros. "I'm so sorry," he murmured in her ear.
She held him until he felt ready to face the world, even if it was only a batch of bottlies.
The rest of Ros’s week went much better. On Friday, she saw she had missed a call from Everett while she was at her lunchtime gym session. He'd left a voice message: "Fancy a cheap cheezburgr after work tonite?"
She texted
back, "Sure." After all, who wouldn't love a guy who shared her love for cheap cheeseburgers?
Five P.M. found them in a cheap plastic booth fighting over fries and discussing everything from their day at work, to the value of one's own herb garden and whether movies were better seen at the theatre or streamed at home. (It all came down to the comfort of the seats and the company.)
Dates could be really cool when one wasn't expecting them to end in sex. Since that night at Everett's house, Ros had found a certain freedom. She'd had sex! Okay, maybe not SEX-sex, the PIV, risk-of-pregnancy sex, but it certainly was Not For Public Display. Maybe because it wasn't traditional missionary position, but still counted, was why Ros felt she could relax.
She'd enjoyed it. No orgasm required, at least, not hers.
Maybe she didn't need an orgasm.
Maybe all she needed was the companionship of a man who didn't have any expectations in the bedroom but was happy to get whatever came his way.
Heh. 'Came.' Ros laughed to herself.
Across the table Everett quirked an eyebrow. He wadded up his napkin and deposited it on the tray. "What's so funny?"
"Just thinking about how much I enjoy your company." And making you come. And feeding you strawberries. And watching you work wood. She grabbed her drink while Everett dumped the tray in the bin. Nice to see that he didn't leave it for the poor fast-food workers to clean up. Her brothers had worked fast food and they always loathed the people who left their trays.
They were just about out the door when Ros remembered, "My shoes!" Everett stood outside the door, holding her drink, while she darted back in. Honestly, why couldn't her office simply accept joggers as appropriate business attire? To carry one's court shoes around could be a pain.
She fetched her bag and ran back out...
...to find another woman wrapping herself about Everett's face. She was nearly as tall as he was, and her hair almost as dark, albeit slightly frizzy. Her yoga pants did her butt no favours but did make it easier for her to attempt to climb Everett like a tree.
Um... What did one do when she found another woman insistently kissing her man?
Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart Page 57
