by Sian Ceinwen
She poked her tongue out at him as they entered the building. She hovered behind him as he went to the desk and got pool balls and chalk. They were assigned to table eight, which was on the left-hand side of the large room full of tables. They each picked a cue, and Gabriel racked up the balls.
“Do you want to break, or should I?” he asked her.
“You can break.”
Gabriel hit the white ball hard, and it slammed into the triangle at the end of the table with a resounding whack. Two stripes went down into the pockets at the end of the table.
“I’m stripes, you’re solids,” he informed her, smirking. “No pressure, but you have to sink at least one ball, or I’ll pants you.”
“You’ll ‘pants’ me?”
“Yup, traditionally, you have to drop your trousers and run around the table in your underwear. I guess, in your case, you would have to hike your dress up over your hips.” He winked at her.
“Is that even legal? Wouldn’t we be kicked out?” she asked him incredulously.
“The rules of pantsing are steadfast. They cannot be broken. So make sure you get a ball down, no matter how much I would love for you to be pantsed.”
Ariana took her shot and hit one of Gabriel’s balls instead of her own. He proceeded to sink two more balls before it was her turn again. She managed to hit one of her solids this time, but it bounced off the side of the end pocket and didn’t go in.
“You’re really not very good at this, are you?” he asked her when it was her turn again.
“I told you I didn’t play very well,” she said. “You might just pants me yet.”
“Here, let me show you what to do.”
Gabriel turned her, so she was aiming at a different ball than the one she had been going to hit. He moved behind her, placed his left hand over hers on the cue at the front and his right arm around her waist to grip the cue at the back over her other hand.
With his guidance, she successfully sunk the ball. She jumped up and down with excitement.
“I did it!”
“You sure did,” he told her, even though it had mostly been his skill that had sunk it. “You’ve still got another shot left because you sunk that one. Let’s try and sink the ball by the center pocket.”
Once again, he moved behind her to assist her shot. He took his time positioning her and stroked her arm as he placed his hand over hers. Ariana found her breathing becoming heavier as they shot the ball into the pocket.
“Um, I think I’ve got it now,” she told him.
“Are you sure?” he asked, not moving from where he was directly behind her, his arms still over hers. She could feel his breath on her neck as he turned his face to hers. “I really think you could use a little more instruction.”
“Yeah, I am sure. Plus, those people over there are watching us, and I think they might have recognized you,” she told him.
Gabriel looked over at the table across the room, where a group of people in their late teens or early twenties were playing snooker. They were whispering and glancing in their direction every now and again. Gabriel sighed deeply as he distanced himself from Ariana and moved around the table so that his back was to them.
She felt the cold air-conditioning hit her once he’d moved, and longed for him to be back behind her again. She’d give anything for them to be alone in this place, with him bending her over this pool table for reasons other than playing pool.
“It’s still your shot,” he told her, breaking her train of thought.
She was slightly better after his instruction, but she felt incredibly uneasy knowing that they were being watched and only managed to sink one more ball before he sunk the number eight in the corner pocket and won the game. The people at the other table were still looking over at them frequently, and Gabriel seemed to have lost a lot of interest in playing pool.
“Do you want to leave?” she asked him.
“Only if you don’t want to play another game,” he told her.
“No, I’m happy to go, plus I wouldn’t want to humiliate you by literally beating the pants off you in our next game.”
Gabriel smiled at her joke. They paid for their table and started walking back to Gabriel’s car. He visibly relaxed as soon as they were outside the pool hall.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t mind being recognized most of the time, but when people recognize you and don’t come up to you, it can get frustrating. You know that they know who you are, and they know that you know they know who you are, so they don’t want to make a fool of themselves. It’s like a stalemate. If they came over, said hello and got an autograph or whatever, it would all be done with, but instead, I just get on edge waiting for them to actually come over. Anyway, listen to me. Poor little famous celebrity.”
“First world problems,” she agreed, and he laughed.
On the drive home, Ariana was wondering what would happen when they got to her apartment. Would he want to come up? Would she let him? The chemistry between them was electric, and she definitely wanted something to happen between them.
Ariana was still contemplating what she was going to do when the question was answered for her—halfway to her apartment, the floodgates opened, and rain began pouring from the sky in an uncharacteristically severe summer storm. By the time they pulled up at the front of her apartment building, thunder had started crashing with lightning flashes in the distance.
“Do you want me to walk you to your door?” Gabriel asked her, and Ariana heard the double meaning behind his words.
She longed to invite him up to her apartment, to have him in her bed, and explore every inch of his body with hers. There was a part of her that was worried that he would write her off as some kind of groupie if she did, though. The rain felt like a sign, though, she didn’t want to just jump into bed with a rock star on their first date.
“It’s probably best if you don’t,” she told him. “There’s no sense in both of us getting saturated.”
“Okay then,” he said, and she could see he was disappointed and a little hurt.
“I’ll talk to you later. Text me when you get home, so I know you’re safe.”
“Will do, sweetheart.”
He leaned across the space between them to kiss her, and Ariana felt the heat rising through her body. She desperately ached for him to be inside her, but Gabriel broke the kiss before she had fully formed the words to tell him that, of course, he was welcome in her apartment.
“I’ll see you later, Ari.”
She nodded and opened the car door. She was soaked as soon as she was out of the safety of the car. She ran as quickly as she could to the entrance of her building, but it was pointless as she already felt like she’d jumped into a pool with her clothes on. Unlike the night she actually did that, this time, it was far less pleasant.
Ariana took the elevator to her floor, fished in her sodden bag for her house keys, and let herself in. She went straight to the bathroom and began wringing out her wet hair into the tub. She stripped off and kicked her clothes to the side of the room before wrapping a towel around herself and turning on the taps to run a hot bubble bath. As it ran, she lit candles so she wouldn’t be left in the dark if the storm knocked out the power. She placed her phone on the bathroom cabinet next to the sink where she could just reach it if it went off while she was in the bath, then dropped her towel and got into the blissfully warm water.
Ariana had been right to light the candles; she’d only been lying there for a few minutes before she was plunged into semi-darkness. The rain was tapping against the bathroom window, and she could hear the sounds of thunder. Every minute or so, the room would light up with a flash of lightning.
It felt incredibly decadent lying there in the warmth with the rain pouring down outside. Ariana reached out and grabbed her towel from the floor, rolling it up and sticking it behind her head as a makeshift pillow. She could feel her entire body relaxing muscle by muscle, and the scent of the
vanilla bubble bath was beautiful.
She had been lying there enjoying the bath and thinking about Gabriel when her phone buzzed and lit up. She rubbed her hand on the towel behind her head to dry it and reached up to answer the call and place it on speakerphone.
“Ari?” Gabe’s voice came through the line when she answered.
“Hi, Gabe. You got home, okay?”
“I’m home safe and sound. How are you?” he asked.
“I’m good, no power though, it went off not long ago.”
“No power here, either. I saw you got drenched, too,” he told her.
“Yup, pretty much immediately.”
“You looked so fucking sexy all wet like that.”
A dart of excitement traveled through her body. “Did I?” she asked faux innocently.
Lying naked in the bath while talking to Gabriel was making her feel a lot bolder.
“Definitely. I had more trouble driving home because of that than I did due to the storm.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“I’m glad you got home okay.” She licked her lips at the thought of her being able to drive him to distraction.
Ariana was very much regretting sending him home right now. She was an idiot; she should’ve just invited him to come up with her.
“Me too,” he said, “I’m just lying in bed and watching the storm through the window now.”
“Oh, really?”
She hadn’t been to his apartment, but she could imagine him in a masculine bedroom, lying in the dark between silk sheets and watching the storm. She wondered what he wore to bed and couldn’t resist asking him.
“Nothing,” he replied candidly. “You?”
“Well, normally, I wear pajamas. Right now, I’m in the bath, so I’m not wearing anything, either.”
“You’re in the bath?”
He sounded startled, and the information had obviously changed his perspective on their phone call. She was glad that he was catching up to where she was at right now.
“I am, it’s a lovely, warm bubble bath.”
“I could’ve warmed you up better than any bath,” he told her with a seductive tone.
“Mmmm, I bet you could have,” she agreed, “I wish you were here right now warming me up.”
“Tell me, Ari, where would you want me to be if I was there with you right now?”
Her hand drifted into the water as the conversation between them continued.
“Oh God, I’d give anything to have you in this bath with me.”
“Close your eyes.”
She did as he instructed.
“Imagine me behind you, my hands running all over your body, playing with your nipples as they get harder.” His breathing rate increased as he was talking. “Slowly lowering my hand down between your legs so I can finger you.”
She bit her lip and groaned aloud at the vision, then replied, “I would reach behind me to grab your cock, rubbing it ever so slowly up and down, I bet you would feel amazing in my hand.”
“Oh baby, you have no idea how hard I am just thinking about being with you.”
She was panting as she rubbed her clit, enjoying the pleasure they were sharing. The things she was saying to him amazed her. A tiny part of her was embarrassed that she was being so forward with this man she barely knew, but a larger part of her didn’t want to stop.
She could hear the effect she was having on him in his voice, and she felt a kind of power inside of her, knowing that this amazing man could be brought to his knees by her femininity.
“I’m so wet right now,” she moaned. “I’m rubbing my clit and pretending that it’s your hand, and I’m so close to coming.”
“Come for me, baby. I want to hear you orgasm.”
He was panting as well, and she could hear that he was stroking himself. She rubbed herself faster and moaned, enjoying the knowledge that he was listening to her do it. She came loudly and heard him grunt as he came, too.
“God, you’re amazing,” he murmured.
“You’re not bad yourself, sexy man,” she responded.
Later that night, she was lying in bed, and she felt amazed at what they’d done. She’d never done anything like that before, but as she drifted off to sleep, she fell asleep with visions of what could’ve been if she’d invited him up to her apartment running through her brain.
The Third Song
Ariana was nervous. It was Saturday night, and she was sitting in a taxi on her way to Gabriel’s apartment. It had been two weeks since their first date. Cruise Control had been busy since then doing promotional appearances for the tour, so they hadn’t been able to go out again since then.
She and Gabriel had been in almost constant contact, though. He would send her funny texts or emails, and she would often find herself smiling at something dumb that he’d sent her during the day at work. Ariana was currently working as a receptionist for an accounting firm, and it was dreadfully boring during the day. Gabriel’s texts were the only thing that got her through till five o’clock.
The taxi pulled up in front of a fancy looking building in downtown Chicago. Ariana paid her driver and thanked him before she made her way inside. She took the elevator to Gabriel’s floor, her heart hammering in her chest. They’d been flirting heavily, and when he’d offered to cook her dinner at his place, tonight, she’d felt sure that they were going to have sex.
Their conversations had gotten increasingly more sexual since their date. She masturbated almost daily, now, while thinking about him. Occasionally, she did it while on the phone with him. She loved hearing him moan as they talked, and was eager to see it in person. She’d gone out last weekend and bought sexy underwear in preparation for tonight.
Ariana knocked on the door and waited. After about thirty seconds, it opened, and Gabriel appeared. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him. He was just as gorgeous as she remembered. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, looked incredibly relaxed and he was smiling back at her.
“Hey, Ari. It’s good to see you.” He closed the door behind her and led her to his kitchen. “Take a seat, sweetheart. I hope you’re hungry.”
“What are you cooking? It smells amazing.” Ariana inhaled the scent and felt her mouth watering as she sat on one of the stools at his kitchen bench.
“Garlic chicken,” he told her with a smile before he turned to look in the oven.
“Garlic?” Ariana laughed. “So, you don’t want to kiss me tonight, then?”
Gabriel turned around and walked over to her. She spun around on her stool so that she was facing him, and the bench was behind her. He was giving her a cheeky grin.
“It depends, did you want me to kiss you? Because I don’t think that I would let garlic stop me from doing that if you did.”
Ariana felt her breathing rate increase as she looked up at him. God, of course, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted a hell of a lot more than that.
“I wouldn’t say no,” Ariana whispered.
She wanted to sound sexy and confident, but she felt like she sounded scared. Probably because a part of her was. Gabriel was amazing, so gorgeous and sweet and sexy. He could burn her like fire, though, and she would be nothing but a pile of ashes.
This wild thought ran through her brain as he dropped his head to kiss her, and she did feel like she’d been burned. The heat running through her body was so intense. Ariana parted her lips, and their tongues met. Gabriel stepped closer to her, placed one of his arms around her waist and the other around her upper back, as he pulled her closer to him while they kissed.
When it ended, Ariana could barely breathe, and Gabriel grinned at her. “I like you, Ari.”
“Thanks. You’re not bad, yourself.” Ariana felt the heat rushing to her cheeks as she blushed.
He dropped his head and kissed her lips softly, again, before he walked back into the kitchen. Gabriel opened the refrigerator and started getting out things to make a salad.
“Do you need any help?” she ask
ed him.
“Sure, if you want to.”
Ariana walked into the kitchen and took the items he was offering her, some lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Then, he turned back to get the rest of the things he needed. After a minute, they were standing side by side at his kitchen bench, and Ariana was peeling a carrot while Gabriel chopped some lettuce.
“So, do you have any brothers or sisters?” he asked her.
“Nope, I’m an only child. You?”
“Three sisters. Celeste, Evangeline, and Dina. They’re the best.” He smiled fondly, obviously thinking of his siblings.
Ariana thought about it for a second and frowned. Something was tickling the back of her brain, and when she realized what it was, she laughed.
“Your parents went hard on the whole angel theme, then?”
Gabriel laughed, too. “You spotted that, huh. Yeah, Celeste was just a random choice, then they kind of kept up the whole celestial theme with the rest of our names.”
“It must be a lot of responsibility naming another human being if you think about it. I mean, that person has that name for the rest of their lives, and you don’t even know if it’ll suit them.”
“They can always change it if they don’t like it, though.” Gabriel shrugged.
“No way, I know plenty of people who hate their name, but they’ve never changed it. They just go around in the world with a name they hate because their parents screwed the pooch when they were born.”
“Does the name Ariana mean ‘overthinks things way too much,’ by any chance?” Gabriel teased her.
Ariana blushed and handed him a peeled carrot before starting to wash the tomatoes as he chopped it.
“No, it means ‘very holy,’ thank you, very much.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Very holy?” Gabriel stopped cutting the carrot to look her up and down. “Accurate name. I certainly feel like worshipping at your feet.”
Ariana had never had a man flirt with her to the same level of intensity that Gabriel had been. She’d been turned on when they were flirting over the phone or in text, but it was next level in person. She could feel herself getting wet, and all they’d done so far was make a salad and talk about names. She tried to come up with an appropriately flirty response.
