The Set Up

by Kim Karr

  I’m so incredibly turned on that everything inside me draws tighter, knotting, twisting, turning, until I begin to feel like I’m unraveling. When my orgasm strikes, it strikes hard. My fingers dig into his skin. I cry out. Blasting colors and waves of light flash before me. A rainbow so vivid, it blinds me. “I’m coming!” I scream in ecstasy.

  My pussy clenches and I know he can feel it in his cock because everything about him changes.

  Sweat coats his brow. His body goes rigid. His lashes flutter. His lips twist. “I’m coming too,” he murmurs bending to bury his head against my shoulder, biting down as his cock jerks fiercely inside me. And then he thrusts one more time, hard enough to throw us both back down onto the mattress. In that instant that we both split apart, I swear I can feel my inner muscles ripple around his pulsing cock. A roar-like noise rips from his throat as he continues to come. It’s rough and wild, and the sound is spellbinding.

  While I lay panting, warmth rushes through my limbs to the tips of my fingers and ends of my toes.

  Jasper looks down at me. Opens his mouth to say something but closes it without words. Opens it again. Closes it, and then he flops to his back. One hand beneath his tousled hair and the other pulling me over to him. He’s quiet.

  I prop up on my elbow to look at him. “Wow,” I whisper, still picturing the look on his face when he came. It was the hardest he’d ever come with me, and it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

  “Yeah.” He exhales slowly, his fingers combing through my hair as he catches his breath.

  I smile languorously. “So that was pretty intense.”

  “Yeah,” he repeats.

  I laugh softly. “Are you going to say anything except, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” he repeats again with a cute chuckle.

  I crawl closer, resting my chin on his shoulder. “I’m waiting.”

  He grins at me and shakes his head, that silky brown hair falling over his eyes.

  “At least tell me what you are thinking.”

  Still grinning, he pulls me on top of him. “I’m thinking what just occurred between us had to be the best sex of my life.”

  Feeling smug, even though I felt the same way, I smile at him and then kiss him on the lips. “Don’t stop there. Go on.”

  His head falls to the pillow. “You need to give me a minute to recover before I can have this conversation.”

  Lowering my head, I can’t help but feel that I fit against his chest like I was made to be here. He kisses my temple and I can’t help but think that his lips are meant to kiss me. And when his arms wrap around me so perfectly, the only thing I know for sure is that we are two missing puzzle pieces in life that have come together.

  Not long after, he shifts beneath and rises up on his elbows. “I’m also thinking,” he whispers, as if still finding the ability to speak.

  I raise my head and look into his eyes, placing my palms flat on his chest and over his rapidly beating heart.

  “That sex was just sex before you, but with you, it’s so much more. It means so much more. It feels so incredibly better. I can’t explain this very well, but when I’m with you, I’m not rushing to the end to get the adrenaline high I used to crave. For some reason, I don’t need it.”

  Touched by his honesty and his feelings, I reach to press a soft kiss to his lips. “That means more to me than you could ever know,” I whisper.

  Sitting up, he brings me with him so I’m straddling his lap, and then pins me with those chocolate pools. “Charlotte, I’m in—”

  No.

  No.

  No.

  Placing my hand over his mouth before he can finish, I can’t stop my entire body from shaking.

  Love. That’s the next word. I know it because I feel it too.

  My heart stops and I squeeze my eyes shut. “Don’t say it,” I whisper.

  He takes my chin in his hand. “Hey, look at me.”

  “Don’t say it,” I repeat, keeping my eyes closed.

  “Okay, okay, I won’t. But talk to me.”

  Opening my eyes, I look into his. I hate the confusion I see in them. “Everyone who has ever told me that has left me. Forgotten me,” I admit.

  His deep intake of breath tells me he’s searching for the best way to respond. “They’re just words,” he says, as if trying to make light of it or maybe erase his hurt. “They don’t change what we have or how we feel.”

  That just makes me cry.

  “Shhh . . . don’t cry, baby. I’m not going anywhere, I promise,” he soothes and then holds me. Holds me like he’s never going to let go.

  I don’t know how much time passes before I’m able to pull back and look at him. “Jasper, I—” I start to tell him that I love him too, because maybe he needs to hear it.

  Those soft lips land on mine and silence me. When we’re both breathless, he pulls back and taps my behind. “What do you say we get back on deck before everyone returns?”

  With a laugh, I stand up and wipe my eyes, thankful for his lead back to normalcy. “You’re dying to know which I’d have picked, aren’t you?”

  Tugging up his board shorts, he puffs out his chest. “I already told you, I know the answer.”

  With my bottoms on, I slip my top over my neck and turn for him to tie the back strap. “Are you sure?”

  His fingers tie a bow and then slide down to my behind. “If you keep it up, I’d be happy to try it now.”

  Reaching for the door, I unlock it. “Last one on deck has to jump in.”

  “Hey, that’s cheating,” he yells lunging for me.

  Before I hit the top stair, he’s hoisting me over his shoulder and stepping onto the deck. “Looks like I win.”

  “Put me down, Jasper!”

  Ignoring me, he carries me toward the swim platform.

  “I can’t get my cast wet.”

  Steady on the platform, he lowers me down and laughing, he dives in the water. Moments later he surfaces and still laughing, he hoists himself up.

  My legs spread wide to balance myself, and with the ebb and flow of the water, I can’t move fast enough for what I know is coming.

  Grabbing me, Jasper pulls me flush to his body.

  The cold feels good against my warm flesh and this time I don’t argue.

  We end up lying on the cushion of the wraparound bench, me on top of him, his body cool and comforting, a towel shielding me from the harsh rays.

  The sun overhead, the rocking of the boat, the lake air, and the amazing sex makes us both a little sleepy. It’s not until I hear splashing and the thumping of feet on the platform that I realize I fell asleep.

  Pushing up on my elbows, I look down at Jasper to see him shielding the sun from his eyes as he looks up.

  “Wake up, sleeping beauties.” Jake’s voice booms.

  Drew’s head pops into view from the edge of the boat. He’s wearing a bandana around his head and an eye patch. “You gotta be shitting me? You’re sleeping during Jobbie Nooner?”

  Hopping to my feet, I step aside.

  Jake is hovering above Jasper and pretends to step down right onto Jasper’s groin.

  Jasper moves fast and rolls off the bench. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

  Jake laughs and hops down, holding out his hand for Shannon, who is wearing a single beaded necklace, and then he offers a hand to Jasper. “Don’t worry bro, I wouldn’t hurt the jewels.”

  He doesn’t sound in the least bit wasted.

  I turn to Shannon. “How was it?”

  “Oh, my God, it was so much fun. You should have come. All the Tigers were there.”

  I give her a smile, and think, I had so much fun too.

  With the platform clear, Drew climbs the ladder and two dark-haired women, who look like twins, with huge boobs bursting out of their itty bitty bikini tops are behind him.

  Jasper is standing behind me now and he wraps his arms around my waist, and whispers in my ear, “Best Jobbie Nooner I ever attended.”

  “But
you had no beads to give away,” I tease.

  “But I had you, and nothing could be better than that.”

  I melt right here in his arms—and it’s not from the sun or the warmth of his skin.

  Once Drew and company are on deck, Drew hangs his arms around each of the women’s shoulders. “This is Hailey,” he points to the girl on his right who must be wearing more than a dozen beaded necklaces, “and this is Bailey,” he points to the girl on his left, who is wearing way more necklaces than her sister.

  “Actually, I’m Hailey,” says the girl on his left.

  “And I’m Bailey,” says the other.

  Drew just shrugs.

  Jasper reaches around me and shakes each of their hands and I do the same. “Nice to meet you both,” I say, but they aren’t interested in anything but Drew.

  When Jake opens the cooler to discover the beers are all gone, he looks at Jasper. “Bro, you drank them all?”

  Jasper holds me even tighter against his warm body. “It wasn’t me, it was Charlotte.”

  I scoff and nudge him in the gut.

  He laughs.

  Drew sits down with a girl on each knee. “No beer, then I think it’s time to blow this Popsicle stand.”

  Jasper looks out over the horizon to where the sun is just starting to set. “Yeah, it’s probably time to head back.”

  With the anchor lifted and the motor roaring, Jasper stands at the wheel and trudges slowly out of the play zone.

  From the captain’s chair, I look around the quiet of the boat.

  Drew is heavily involved in a double make out session. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Then again, it’s really none of my business.

  Jake and Shannon are sitting on the chair across from me, quietly looking out onto the lake.

  Once we’re in the open water, Jasper pulls me to stand in front of him. With one hand on the wheel, he pushes down on the throttle with the other. In no time, he has us tearing through the water and over each and every wave like he was born to move fast.

  My man.

  Who walks fast.

  Talks fast.

  Drives fast.

  And fucks fast.

  All speed and hard edges . . . with the softest of hearts.

  Over my shoulder I whisper, “By the way, you made the right choice. That’s what I would have picked.”

  Sneaking a palm to caress my behind, he mouths, “I know that.”

  And I smile.

  I love that he knows me.

  Gets me.

  And that he’s okay with who I am.

  IN REVERSE

  Jasper

  THE SOUND OF my cell ringing from the other room doesn’t bother me.

  The truth is there never seems to be enough time to get everything done you want to get done.

  There will always be a trade-off.

  This for that.

  That for this.

  But when I’m with Charlotte, I’m unwilling to make that trade-off, so I ignore the call. Whoever it is will either call back later or leave a message.

  The creamy white sheet that perfectly matches her skin tone covers our bodies from head to toe. I caress my hand down her back, feeling her silky soft flesh while I dust light kisses all over her face.

  She giggles and my heart skips a beat.

  I really fucking love that sound.

  “That tickles.” She laughs from inside our cocoon.

  I bury my stubble-covered face in her neck and suck on the spot behind her ear that I know doesn’t tickle, but turns her on.

  There’s so much I know about her and so much more I want to learn.

  Her breathing picks up the minute my lips apply a little more pressure. She definitely isn’t ticklish in that spot—the sounds she’s making assure me of that.

  “This doesn’t tickle, does it?” I murmur in her ear, knowing for a fact that the more I suck, the wetter she’ll get.

  “Maybe it does,” she answers, and her voice sounds breathy. Turned on.

  I laugh. “Give it up now, Charlotte. I know I’m right.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because,” I answer, “I know that it makes you drip for me.”

  Her hands fly to her face. “Oh, my God, you have such a dirty mouth.”

  “And you can’t get enough of it,” I growl, taking her lips with a swooping kiss.

  She kisses me back with all she has. And she has so much to give. I want to be able to open her up and help her let her past go, the way I have been able to because of her, but she’s not there yet.

  I can wait.

  Choosing to focus on what works between us, and not what needs work, is the road I’ve decided to take. Very grown up choice for a guy with a fuck this attitude. That is why I refuse to dwell on what happened yesterday—that I’d found the courage to tell her I love her, feelings I’ve never had for anyone and words I can’t ever remember telling anyone—and she shut down.

  I’m not thinking about that today.

  “Now admit that when I kiss you behind the ear, you get wet for me.”

  All I get is a shake of the head.

  “I’ll bet you that blow job you promised me yesterday that I’m right.”

  She rolls her eyes. Actually rolls her eyes. “Of course you would.”

  To prove my point, I suck on that spot until she moans and then I swipe my finger across her very wet pussy and bring it to my lips. “See, soaking wet.” I grin and insert my finger in my mouth, tasting all of her sweetness.

  She stares at me with those wild blue eyes. Her breathing ramped, her cheeks flushed, and her body amped up.

  And then just for fun, I take my finger and rub it over those lush lips, and stare back at her, waiting for her to admit I was right.

  I give her some time. I know she’s tired. We stayed up late and woke early reliving the experience that took place on the boat. Over and over we brought each other to climax, and every time was just as spectacular as the last.

  Time running out, I nip at her earlobe, “Say it.”

  She narrows her eyes at me.

  “Say it.”

  With a huff, she finally admits, “You were right, I’m not ticklish there. Are you happy?”

  Close enough.

  Satisfied, I roll my raging erection and myself onto my back, more than ready for some more action. But when I pull the sheet from our heads, I blink at the brightness of the daylight and jump up. “Fuck, what time is it?”

  She burrows out of the sheet and crawls up on her stomach. “I don’t know, when we woke up it was still dark.”

  Finding her cellphone on the dresser, I look at it. “Phew, it’s only seven thirty. I have to meet the guys downtown at nine though, so we’re going to have to hurry.”

  She too jumps out of bed. “Oh, shit,” she swears, and she never swears.

  I cock my head curiously with a grin.

  She pulls one of my t-shirts over her head. “I’m going to be late for work on my first day back.”

  Bending over in uncontrollable laughter, I manage to say, “You’re going to be more than a little late because you still owe me that blow job, and this,” I point down to my saluting cock, “needs some attention.”

  “Rain check for tonight?” she offers sheepishly.

  I shake my head no, and point once again.

  This can’t wait.

  With her freckles bright, her eyes narrowed, and her hair a beautiful mess of tangles, she says, “How about I watch you jerk off in the shower while I get ready?”

  Incredulous, I say, “I don’t jerk off in the shower.”

  “Yes, you do. I saw you.”

  “Excuse me?” I manage, knowing I haven’t jerked off in weeks, and not at all since she’s been in my bed.

  Fuck, I haven’t had to.

  With a shrug, she scurries across the hall and into the bathroom, leaving the door open behind her.

  Both laughing and practically crying with humor, I compose myself and fo
llow her. “When exactly did you see me in the shower?”

  Already at the sink brushing her teeth, she talks around a mouth full of toothpaste. “Maybe you could forget I even mentioned that?”

  Caging her in, I whisper in her ear, “Tell me.”

  Setting her toothbrush down, she turns.

  My hands on either side of her hot little body, I say again, “Tell me.” I know I’m rattling her, and honestly it doesn’t really matter, I’m not embarrassed. Just very curious. I mean, come on, guys jerk off all the time. They put a loose fist around an erect penis and stimulate their genitalia. It’s been going on since the beginning of time. In high school we learned about healthy strokes for Christ’s sake. Don’t do it in the prone position, limit how often you do it standing up, you should be on your back. Really? Does it matter? Masturbation is masturbation.

  She covers her eyes with her hands. “I can’t. It’s too embarrassing.”

  Taking her hands from her face, I hold onto them. “Never be embarrassed around me.”

  She sighs. “Okay . . . but I don’t want you to get upset.”

  I pin her up against the counter. “Does this feel like a man who’s getting upset?”

  Her cheeks turn pink as she blurts out, “The day we went biking and came here afterwards, you went to take a shower. Someone was buzzing to come up, so I was going to knock and ask you what you wanted me to do. The bathroom door was open a crack and when I looked in, I saw you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have watched.”

  “It’s okay,” I grin.

  “I’m really sorry,” she says again.

  Giving her a break, I don’t pressure her to finish her story. I remember the day well. The pent-up sexual energy that had been building. The need to release it before I spent any more time with her because I knew moving too fast wasn’t the right move. Although I don’t ask her to go on, I am curious. “Tell me,” I say running my hands down her body. “Did you like it?” My voice is huskier than I mean it to be.

  The small noise that eeps out her throat gives me her answer before she even speaks. “Yes, I did.”

  “Enough that you’d want to see it again?” I’d rather have the blowjob, but her mindset isn’t there so I’ll take this option.