She took a step together then stopped, thinking better of it, she spoke some more, “Let me tell you. Because the relationship I thought was it, the one that was supposed to be my one, the one that was supposed to work, almost ruined everything for me. While I was building my business, Eric was lying, cheating, stealing, and the sad part is, after a while, I even knew. I’d confronted him about it and he’d lie, the same more-or-less convincing lie, and I’d buy it. But deep down, I knew. And finally ripping myself out of that, getting away….” Her face was ashen, and I wanted to hold it in my hands, kiss the pain away. “Was the hardest thing I ever did.”
She turned her angry stare to me. “Don’t pretend that you have dibs on being fucked up.”
“I never claimed to.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
As I looked at her, all the things I want to say dropped out of my mind, one by one, like sand in an hourglass.
All there was to say was the thing that I was meaning to, “I’m not sure I could take it if I messed things up with you.”
Naomi nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. “And I couldn’t take it if I messed things up with you,” she said, to my surprise.
“We’re quite the pair, eh?” I asked. Tears were still rolling down Naomi’s cheeks, although she said nothing. And it occurred to me, that I didn’t have to either. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have to make this thing right just then. I didn’t have to have the perfect answer. I just had to be there for her. To show her. To comfort her.
And so, I pressed my lips to a shining beacon-of-a tear on her cheek. And then the other. All that I knew in that moment was that my lips couldn’t leave her.
Not with that mysterious flower smell of her, and the way she was tugging at my shirt already. Not with how our bodies already knew what to do, how to make it all better.
Hadn’t they known in the beginning, how well we fit together, by just how we moved with each other?
Naomi was nibbling on my ear and tonguing it, our groans fused. I did her one better by suckling the gorge of her throat.
She didn’t understand – but she would. This kind of bodily understanding, this limb to limb sensation fest, was not for nothing. No.
I needed to show her what we were together.
The sweep of her tongue in my mouth was gentle, egging me on. As if how I was pressing my straining erection between her legs wasn’t enough. As if how her moans were already uncontrollable wasn’t enough either.
Her blouse had buttons and I undid them; loved every new patch of skin they presented to me.
“Fucking sexy,” I burst out, walking her over to the bed and kissing her down onto the mattress.
Now, lips twisted and hands worked and, somehow in the fray, Naomi got my pants off first. I was still working on hers, when she stopped me by pushing up against me and flipping me onto my back.
I was too surprised to react as she crawled down my body and onto the floor. She grabbed my hand to pull me into a seated position on the edge of the bed as she got on her knees before me. She looked up at me with a wicked smile as she dipped her head low and took my cock in her warm, wet mouth.
I released a strangled groan as she pulled me deep into her throat. I looked down at her and grabbed a fistful of her hair, enjoying watching her suck me off. The way her lips and tongue moved over my thick shaft was enough to make me blow my load right then if I wasn’t careful.
I tried to distract myself with other thoughts so that I could hold out as she took me in as deeply as she could
What she couldn’t cover with her mouth, she used her hand for. The slow, steady rhythm of her strokes and licks was driving me almost to insanity. I wanted nothing more than to spill down her elegant throat, but I wasn’t ready for the pleasure to end just yet.
She paused and dragged her gaze over me, from my stiff rod to my face.
That look slayed me.
“Fucking sexy,” she declared, and then she enveloped me in her mouth again.
My hand settled on her head and she moved along to my encouragement, seeming to get even more into it with the contact. In and out, deeper and deeper. My legs were shaking now. What she was unleashing on my dick was nothing short of a frenzy, a complete fucking oblivion of pleasure.
Finally, she took me deep into her throat, cupped my balls, and I let loose. Spasming into her mouth, all I could think was – fuck yes – and then it was over and I was stroking her as she sucked ever last drop from me.
She smiled up at me, and I reached down at her, for my real thank you. She stopped me again, though.
“That was for you,” she said.
I would’ve argued, only sleep was already overtaking me.
21
Naomi
I knew why I couldn’t fall asleep.
It wasn’t because I wasn’t exhausted; I was.
It wasn’t because my parents still hadn’t called or texted.
It wasn’t even because of how good it felt to be in Xander’s arms like this, like I was wrapped in my own personal adoring furnace.
I knew why I couldn’t fall asleep, but that didn’t mean I had to lie here with my throat parched either.
As I got up, Xander stirred, one eye shifting, beginning to open.
“Where are you going?” he murmured as I walked to the door.
“Water. Want some?”
He flung up a thumbs-up, and I grinned.
“Wait,” he rasped, once I was almost through the door. A glance back found two thumbs-up. I giggled. Guess he was really thirsty too.
In the fridge, the Brita was full, and I got two cups. When I brought them back in the room, Xander was propped up, his eyes a bit more open.
He started laughing.
“What?” I asked.
He motioned to the full Britta. “You look like a really sexy naked waitress.”
I laughed and crawled into bed, pouring us each a glass and handing him his.
Although once we got to drinking our waters, we didn’t do much else. I waited for him to say something, and maybe, he waited me for me to say something. Or maybe he didn’t have anything to say.
No, we just drank from our waters until there was none left, while I wondered what the hell I was going to do now.
Maybe I would’ve nodded off if I’d known what to do about us. How was I supposed to sleep when I was wrapped in the arms of a giant sexy question mark?
Finally, I just said it: “What do you want to do?”
Xander let my question hang, let it grow and swell and fill the air until there was nothing left but it.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“I don’t know. We can still go through with everything with your family, if you want us to. Just because I told my family doesn’t mean yours has to know too. It’s only another week or so of this anyway.”
“Maybe,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced. “I just, I’m sorry about how this screwed up things with your family. That was never my intention.”
“I don’t think intention had much to do with this.” I said. Suddenly and irrationally furious. “You still didn’t answer me what do you want to do?”
22
Xander
There was only one answer, the same as before.
As my lips pressed to hers, it felt like a cop-out – because it was.
“I want to do this,” I said between kisses, hoping she wouldn’t protest.
Because, as I fed on her – I was doing it because it was true, because I did want this, want her, always. But I was also doing it because I didn’t want to answer her just yet.
Although, as my lips twisted on hers, and my body pinned hers down and I slipped into her, both of us sighing with it, it became clear. It wasn’t working.
Because, with every stroke deeper inside of her, with every new stab into that perfect fit, I became surer.
“I want this,” I groaned, but I meant more than that.
“This,”
Naomi murmured, her eyes half-lidded, the smile leftover, developing further as I fucked her senseless.
This was no savoring fuck this time; this was pure passion, pure driving need.
“This,” I said as I drilled into her with everything I had.
And, as she began to spasm on me, I said it again, “I want this, Naomi.”
As she came on my cock, and her eyes fluttered open to fix me with another slaying look, that feeling ran away from me, bypassed my brain.
As she came, I said, “I want this. I want to be with you.”
--
Is there any way I can just pause this, cancel the day?
My arms wrapped around her, her scent that I was now pretty sure was tangerine, clogging my mind almost like some too-strong hand sanitizer, I was good as stupid. All I could think of, any set of excuses, was just of all the things I wanted to do with Naomi right now, today. I wanted to bite the tip of her ear and grab her breast and hold it and nuzzle my face over the crook of her shoulder, where it somehow fit perfectly, we’d found.
But today was Monday and right now it was 7:30 AM and in half an hour I had to be in my office. And no excuse would be good enough for the boss, because I was the boss and I knew that I was full of shit.
Not to mention that Naomi had work too, of course. All there was to do was to get up and get my ass ready.
We got ready in a giddy haze, laughing at each other for no reason, each grabbing a banana on our way out. A goodbye kiss got me going, even though it wasn’t nearly enough.
Once I got to my office, all it took was fifteen minutes for me to get pissed off. Fifteen minutes when my client was supposed to have arrived. Thirty minutes later, she finally decided to grace me with her presence.
“You did look over the footage I sent you, yeah?” she asked the second her crocodile-print pumps were through my door. As the rest of the morning unraveled, my client insisted on arguing that we do things her way, as opposed to the way that would actually win her the case.
Although the day wasn’t without its perks. At lunch, I closed my office door, and called up the only person who could possibly salvage this morning.
“Miss me already?” Naomi teased.
“What do I get if I say yes?” I said.
“You’re lucky it’s my lunch too,” she purred. Then, seeing that I was still waiting for an answer, she said, “Not sure. What’s on the table?”
“My belt’s unbuckled,” I said.
Damn. Where had that come from? Last night had just ignited my hunger for her, clearly.
“And I’m in my break room,” she purred.
“What are you wearing?” I asked.
A pause, then, “Xander.”
“Never mind, I remember. It’s that tight t-shirt you don’t realize is sexy.”
I closed my eyes and could see it, the way it emphasized her pert full tits.
“You’re not…” she said, not sounding totally scandalized.
“Can you really blame me?” I asked. “After this morning and last night, then you leaving me high and dry.”
“We do have work.”
“So go back to work, then,” I dared her.
Meanwhile, I was already unbuttoning my slacks. A quick jerk wouldn’t hurt.
“You first,” she purred, in that voice that got me stiffer.
“I am going first.”
Her little, almost inaudible groan was as good as a dick stroke.
By now, my dick was out and I was glad I’d taken the foresight of locking my door. Fuck, what Naomi did to me.
“Sex with you is so hot,” she was saying now.
“Stop talking and do what you want to,” I said suddenly.
“How can you…”
“You know you want to.”
Another little groan.
“You’re touching yourself, aren’t you?” I said, fisting my cock. Fuck, just the thought of her, with her legs spread for me. “Thinking about all the things I’m going to do to you the next time I see you.”
“Mmmhmm,” she breathed.
I sure was thinking about it.
“How next time I’m going to bend you over and fuck you from behind.”
Another moan.
“Yeah baby,” I said, getting closer. “Touch yourself for me. Come for me.”
“Xander!”
But now I was in my own world, my hand gliding up and down my cock mercilessly. Images of my plundering her slick, juicy pussy were flashing through my mind – her bare upturned tits, her playful smile, those hungry eyes.
“I want you,” she groaned.
“I want you now,” I hissed.
It was her moaning, the helpless kind that I knew meant she was coming, that got me losing it too.
A few seconds later, Naomi was breathing heavily over the other line. “That was hot.”
“You’re hot.”
“Xander.”
“You’re right, if I keep this up, we’ll be deep into Round Two.”
A pause, as my cock stiffened eagerly.
“I could be up for it,” I said. “If you…”
“I have to work, you fiend!”
“Fiend.” I chuckled at the word. “Sorry Lady Naomi. My greatest apologies for behaving like a cur.”
“Apology accepted. Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I have to get to work, seriously. I have a client coming in ten.”
“Alright Miss Maybe,” I said, switching gears. “We’ll finish this later.”
“Goodbye,” she said, and I could hear she was smiling.
“Goodbye.”
--
After, I washed up, then got back to work. As weird as that was, it had been a distraction, and I had two cases on the go that I had to get to work on. The next few hours passed quickly as pen scratched across paper, fingers sifted through documents.
I got so into it that I didn't even notice that the clock on the wall across from me read 6:30 pm. Time to go. Past time, in fact.
Getting up, I laced my fingers together and stretched, giving my tight shoulders a nice crack. Mental note: Book that physio- appointment. Ah yes, now that I was free, the first thing I wanted to do was….
My gaze fell to the drawer where I’d put my phone. Call up Naomi.
I didn't move yet. I stood there, considering my options, before I took out my phone and dialed her number.
I was in no mood to question it. After workdays like these, which were most workdays, where I put my nose to the grindstone, my brain was basically fried.
She picked up on the first ring. "Round Two already?"
"Now that you mention it…."
"Xander," she giggled.
"Okay. Do you want to come over tonight?"
“Because?”
"My family's calling," I said, "So you’re being there wouldn't hurt."
"And that's it?" she asked.
"Of course not. I want to see you,” I said.
"Okay," she said. "What time?"
And the smile in her voice was as good as gold.
23
Naomi
Will he be mad when I tell him?
As soon as I got to the door, Walter was a prancing flurry of joy. I crouched down low to the tile, so he could lick my face. I scratched him and he rolled onto his back, his legs still cycling hilariously in the air.
"I'm impressed," Xander said, "you've already been promoted from friend to best friend."
I scratched my way onto Walter’s proffered belly. "I always wanted a dog when I was a kid."
"Your parents weren’t dog people?" Xander asked.
"No," I said, "Worse – allergic people."
"Damn."
I nodded. "Me too." My body shook with the sneezes just in time.
Xander put a hand in front of me as if to usher me away. "You don't have to keep petting him, it's fine." He smiled with the side of his mouth. "If it were up to this guy, he'd be petted nonstop until the day he died."
&n
bsp; But I didn't move. "I like petting him. Watering eyes and a sneezing nose are a small price to pay."
Xander eyed me warily as though my nose was turning to Rudolph-red right before his very eyes. "You say that now."
Just then Walter scrambled up and made for the door. I turned to Xander. "Walk time?"
"He just had one,” Xander said with a chuckle.
But Walter was scratching at the door as desperately as if the last time he’d had a walk had been 2016. "I'm game if you are," I told Xander.
Xander looked from me to Walter back to me again, still shaking his head. "You two." He reached onto a hook on the wall and got a leash. "Guess there's no use in trying to get out of this."
I looped my arm in Xander's. "Don't pretend you don't like it."
He only smiled.
Outside, the air was crisp and cool and the maple tree's leaves were rustling. It was odd being here, repeating my first walk of shame, this time in entirely different circumstances. Hand clasped in Xander's, with Walter's leash wound around my wrist, I was in no hurry. The night didn't seem to be either, fat lazy clouds slid across the sly like slugs.
It was obvious, but I said, "It's beautiful. You must love living here."
"I do," Xander said. "But not as much as that guy." He motioned in the direction of Walter, who had wandered pretty far ahead. He was now frolicking merrily in some mud. All we could do was laugh. Then, silence descended.
By now, it was too quiet and I couldn't take it anymore.
"I've something to tell you," I told Xander.
"I do too," he said, with an infuriating smile. "You first."
"Fine," I said. "I have to go in an hour. I forgot that I was seeing a desperate client tonight for work."
Not really that big of a deal, but I wanted to enjoy the night without worrying about a time limit.
Xander considered this. "You really take your work seriously."
"I don't have much choice right now," I said, "Eighteen is still in its early years. If I don't make my clients happy, I could lose them easily. And if I lose them, I could lose my entire business, everything I've worked so hard for. No way am I letting that happen."
Playing Pretend Box Set Page 12
