by Elin Peer
Charles kissed the top of my hair. “Sleep, beautiful. This has been the best first date I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to spend more time with you.”
“That’s disappointing.” My eyes closed and my breathing grew slow and heavy, making my words sound drowsy. “This has been my best date, period. For you it’s only been your best first date. Besides, we said these two last days count for six dates, remember?”
Charles played with my hair. “I said that wrong. It’s the best six dates I’ve ever been on, and to be honest, this has been one of the best days of my life.”
It felt nice lying cuddled up against Charles, with him stroking his hands up and down my back. I wanted to smile, but sleep was pulling at me like a powerful undercurrent dragging me out to sea. Just before I drifted off, I muttered, “We’ll need condoms.”
CHAPTER 10
Snoring
Charles
It took me a second to orient myself when voices from the hallway outside the hotel room woke me up.
Shit, so it wasn’t a dream. It really happened.
Liv was still asleep, her body lying closely against mine with one of her legs and an arm flung across me like she wanted to make sure I didn’t sneak off. Playing with a lock of her soft brown hair, I replayed in my mind what had happened between us yesterday and it put a goofy smile on my lips.
Some children running and using loud voices in the hallway made Liv stir and scratch her nose.
“Good morning, sunshine.”
“Good morning.” She yawned and stretched. “What time is it?”
“Almost eight.”
“Have you been awake long?”
“No.”
“I need to pee.” Untangling herself from me, Liv moved to the edge of the bed and looked for her clothes. “Where’s my shorts and t-shirt?”
They were on my side of the bed so I picked them up and dangled them in my hands. “I would prefer if you didn’t put clothes on. How about you just walk to the bathroom naked and let me enjoy the sight?”
“No, it’s too light in here and you’ll see all my imperfections.”
“Maybe I’ll like your imperfections.”
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Only if orange skin and rolls are your thing.”
I scoffed. “What are you talking about? I’ve seen you naked and you’re gorgeous.”
“Until you look closer.”
“Women. You’re never satisfied with your bodies, are you?”
“I’m fine with my body, but not to the point where I want to get up and walk around naked. I’ll need to know you better to do that.”
I frowned. “But you said that you feel comfortable around me.”
“I do.” She snatched her clothes, got dressed, and walked to the bathroom, where she stood in the doorway and looked over her shoulder. “Would you mind turning on the TV? I don’t want you to hear me pee.”
“But what if that’s my fetish? To hear women pee? Did you think about that?” I was smiling.
Pointing at me like a strict schoolteacher, she clicked her tongue. “Don’t mess with me this early. I’m not a morning person. Just turn on the TV or I won’t be able to go.”
“All right.” I had just turned on the weather channel when she popped her head out again. “When did you get a toothbrush?
“I got it from reception after you fell asleep. That and condoms.”
“Oh… okay.”
Hundreds of hours of therapy enabled me to pick up on the shy expression on her face before she closed the door. I didn’t want her to think I expected her to come straight back to bed and use the condoms with me, but I didn’t know how to communicate that to her.
When I heard the toilet flush and the water running, I called out, “Hey, Liv.”
“Yeah?” She opened the door with a toothbrush in her mouth.
“I’m hungry. We should get some breakfast.”
“Do you want to eat here or go somewhere?”
“What was that? Maybe I’ll understand you better if I put my toothbrush in my mouth too?
Liv returned to the bathroom and rinsed her mouth. “I said, do you want to eat here or go somewhere?”
“Whatever you prefer.”
Coming back out, she got back into bed with me. “We could order some room service and stay in bed if you’re up for it. I would love some French toast. Do they make that here?”
“Let me check.” I fetched the menu and handed it to her. “Here, I’m just going to use the bathroom too. Could you turn off the sound? I really want you to enjoy the sound of my urine hitting the toilet bowl.”
She ignored my attempt at being funny and looked up from the menu. “They have waffles but no French toast.”
“Waffles sounds good.”
“How hungry are you? Do you want to share a portion?”
Damn, she was so sexy as she sat against the headboard with her nipples showing through that thin t-shirt of hers.
“Sure, but I’ll need more than a waffle. Can you order some croissants and orange juice too?”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “But you don’t like croissants.”
I winked at her. “Everybody likes croissants; you said so yourself.”
“Did you pull my leg yesterday?”
“Maybe I always liked croissants or maybe you converted me. A man’s got to have a bit of mystery about him.” Closing the door, I smiled at my own joke.
After taking a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I walked back into the bedroom, and found Liv where I’d left her. She looked so tempting with her smooth skin and the outline of her perky breasts showing through her sleepwear.
“The food will be another twenty minutes at least.”
I wanted to be respectful, but my hands were drawn to her. Getting back into the bed, I muttered, “I can’t think of food when you look so pretty in the morning.”
She lowered the remote control and watched me. “Then maybe you should have me as an appetizer.”
My head screamed yes! and I was just about to answer her when my phone vibrated on the night stand. “Hang on.” I reached over and answered, “Hello.”
“Charles, where are ye?”
“Oh, hey, Ciara, I’m with a friend.”
“Ye didn’t come home last night. We’ve been worried about ye.”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “I fell asleep at my friend’s place and we just woke up. Sorry about that.”
“When will ye be home? Conor said he needs to speak to ye.”
My eyes went to Liv, who was watching me. “I’m not sure. Probably tonight?”
“Awk, ye missed our meeting last night. And now ye’re saying ye won’t make it today either. Who is this friend?”
“I’m not ditching you. I’m just… ehh, it’s a long story.”
Ciara sighed. “Try to make it back by noon. Ye know how important Sundays are to Conor.”
“Yes, I know. I’ll try and make it.” I hung up and turned to Liv. “Sorry about that. I should have messaged my friends that I wasn’t coming home last night. They worried.”
She had a cute frown on her face. “Do you have to go now?”
“No, I can stay for a few hours.” I reached for her hand, but she seemed stiff. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Liv, even I can tell something’s upset you. What is it?”
She looked away. “I just thought you saw me as more than a friend.”
I swallowed hard. “You mean the part about us being exclusive?”
Liv leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Yeah, but hearing you call me a friend. It’s like a bucket of cold water on my head.”
“Why?”
“I think we got carried away.”
“What are you talking about?”
She looked at me. “It was like a dream. Meeting the guy I had a huge crush on in college and being blinded by our amazing chemistry. But if we stop and get real for a second, being in a relationship will never work for us.
I tried a long-distance relationship once and I swore I’d never do it again.”
“We could make it work.”
“How? I’m only visiting Dublin, while you live here. Soon, I’ll be moving on to see some of Europe before I go back to the US.”
My throat felt tight. “So, what you said about wanting something serious and asking if I was worth it… Why would you ask me that?”
Liv looked down. “Because I want those things and having them with you would be a dream, but not if we live in two different countries.” Raising her head up, she looked deep into my eyes. “Falling in love with you would be the easiest thing in the world, Charles.”
“But you don’t want to.” All my fear of rejection told me to pull back before she could turn me away.
“I do. I’m just afraid that I won’t be enough and that you’ll hurt me.”
“No, no, no.” The vulnerable expression on her face sparked my protectiveness and I cupped her face. “You’re more than enough.”
“You only say that because you don’t know my worst sides yet.”
Trying to ease the tense atmosphere, I attempted a bit of humor. “You mean your snoring, your fetish, or your indecisiveness?”
“You heard me snore?”
“A little. It was cute.” I leaned in and kissed her before pulling back and locking eyes with her again. “I get that you’re scared. From the moment we reconnected, everything between us has moved fast. But that’s because it’s so freaking natural and effortless for me to be around you. I don’t think you understand how rare it is for me to say that about another person. People drain me, Liv. But not you. With you I can’t get enough, and that has to mean something.”
She brushed her hands down the front of my chest. “I feel the same way.”
“Good.” I let out a sigh of relief. “Then can we at least agree to explore this chemistry between us while we’re in the same country? Let me convince you to stay a bit longer.”
“And then what happens when I eventually have to go back? Will you come with me?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have all the answers, but if we’re meant to be together, we’ll figure it out. Maybe you can stay with me and my friends for a while. I’d love for you to meet them.”
“You mean the mastermind group?”
“Yes. They are the nicest people. Just the fact that they worry about me when I don’t come home one night.… I mean, doesn’t that say a lot about their level of care for me?”
Liv didn’t answer, but she moved up on her knees and hugged me tight. There was a sadness in her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just hope that you’re right. That it feels so magical because we’re meant to be together.”
I folded my arms around her and inhaled her feminine scent deep into my lungs. “I hope so too.”
Moving her head, she pressed her lips against my neck and kissed me. I was sitting on the bed and with her on her knees, she was a little higher up than me. I closed my eyes and let her place kisses down my neck, and then her tongue licked all the way up again to my earlobe. My senses went into overdrive right away and I pulled her onto my lap. Her fingernails raked over my back making my spine feel like a fuse on fire.
I growled low. “You can’t do that and not expect me to want more.”
“What more do you want?” Her voice was amorous and silky.
My hands slid up under her t-shirt and cupped both her breasts. “I want to see what I’m holding.”
She complied and took off her shirt, and like a hungry baby, my lips were drawn to her nipples. I loved the feeling of them hardening in my mouth as I suckled, nibbled, and played with them.
“Do you like them?”
“Uh-huh.” My answer was muffled because my mouth was full of one of her delicious breasts.
Pulling the rim of my shirt up, she gestured for me to undress too. I had no problem being naked with her and when she whispered in my ear to lose my briefs, I lifted her off my lap and turned to sit on the edge of the bed where I could pull them off.
Liv got off the bed and came to kneel in front of me. She smiled when she let her nails run from my knees and all the way up my inner thighs. I touched her hair, watching her with curiosity as she closed her hand around my cock and began stroking it up and down. My breathing turned shallow and I leaned back and rested on my hands behind me while watching her.
“Do you want to play a game?” There was mischief in her eyes.
“Yes. As long as it involves you touching my cock with your soft hands.”
“It does, but the rules are that you can’t touch me. Pretend that I’ve tied you up and I’m in control.”
“Okay.” I could pretend to be tied up if it made her continue what she was doing.
“You ready?”
“Mmmm.”
“Good, so remember, no touching.”
“Got it.” I moaned as she leaned in and swallowed the crown of my cock and let her tongue roll around it. Then she leaned back again and used the moisture to stroke it up and down.”
“Fuck, that feels good.”
“What, this?” She did it again, leaving even more moisture.
“Yeah.” I wanted her to keep giving me head, but on her knees topless in front of me, she began something that I hadn’t tried before. With a tight grip at the bottom of my cock she slid her hand up, but not down. Every time, she moved her hand to the root of my cock and stroked it upward. I closed my eyes, feeling the need to rock my hips to get that usual friction of rubbing both ways, but she kept at it and it drove me wild with need.
Again and again, her hands moved from the root of my cock to the tip, but never the other way.
“Look at it.”
Opening my eyes, I saw my erection was getting bigger than I’d ever seen it. It was so full of blood that it had turned almost purple. I swallowed hard and leaned my head back, forcing myself to not put my hand on top of hers and rub up and down.
Again, she lowered her head and took me in her mouth.
“Ohh…” I moaned out and squeezed the bedsheet in order to not use my hands to hold her head still and fuck her mouth.
She kept teasing me until I began arching and I couldn’t take it anymore. “Please, I need to come. You’re fucking killing me here.”
When she finally let her hands rub up and down in a fast rhythm, I began pumping my hips, feeling desperate to ejaculate what felt like a whole ocean of semen in my balls.
I came hard and groaned on my exhalation. “Ohh, yeesss…”
My eyes were still shut tight but then I felt her soft tongue clean me up. I looked down to see her lick my cock, which was getting back to its normal color.
“I don’t even wanna know who taught you that, but you should come with a warning label.”
“Why, what should the warning say?”
“Charlotte Liv Christensen will drive a man to sexual insanity and make him almost lose his fucking mind. That’s what it should say.”
She stood up. “Is that a complaint?”
“No, I loved every part of it. It was like sweet torture, though.” I reached for her. “Don’t put your t-shirt back on.”
“I have to, the poor man has been waiting by the door for at least a minute.”
“What man?”
“He knocked when you were just about to come, and I didn’t want to stop.”
I covered myself with the sheet and turned to watch her open the door and accept the tray of food. “Let me just put down the tray and I’ll sign for it.” Liv placed the food on the bed and gave me a playful smile. In the door opening, a girl around nineteen stood with large eyes and red cheeks staring at me. I smiled at her but when my tics set in, I turned my back on her.
“Thank you so much.” Liv closed the door behind me and came back to the bed.
“Are you ready for some waffles?”
It was mind-boggling to me how she could go from being on the floor and giving me the ultimate hand and b
low job to behaving like what happened wasn’t a big deal. “How can you look so calm?”
She set out the plates of waffles, fruits, and croissants, and handed me a glass of orange juice. “How should I look?”
“Like you just realized Santa is real. That’s how I feel.”
She drank from her juice. “I’m happy you enjoyed it.”
“To say that I enjoyed it would be an understatement. Now you have my head spinning with who taught you that.”
“You said that you didn’t want to know.”
“I don’t, but tell me anyway.”
“My friend Sydney told me. She learned it from a co-worker who is a bit promiscuous and very generous with tips on how to please men. I’ve been wanting to try it and it felt like the right time.”
“Yeah, it was so good that I didn’t even hear anyone knocking on the door.”
“To be fair, she only knocked once and called room service. From the way you roared out your orgasm, I think she could tell we couldn’t come to the door just then.”
“And you still took time to clean me up.”
She smiled. “I figured you needed a minute to calm your breathing before I could open the door anyway.” Liv took a seat against the headboard and dove into her plate of waffles.
“I swear, everything with you just feels so right. I can’t even imagine how good it will be to make love to you for real.”
We smiled at each other.
“It’s like that old saying about finding the right glove that fits, isn’t it?” I emptied my glass of juice in one long gulp and wished we had ordered more.
“Maybe, but you might still find things about me that are deal breakers.”
“I don’t know, at this point, I’m having a hard time imagining it.” I planted myself next to her against the headboard. “You’re pretty amazing, you know that, right?”
She leaned her head on my shoulder. “Thank you.”
“No, I’m serious. I can’t wait to introduce you to my friends. If you’re as good a match with them as you are with me, I might ask you to marry me on the spot.” It was meant as a joke, but she frowned a little.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m not really going to ask you to marry me.”
“It’s not that. I’m just worried that if your friends don’t like me, you’ll let their opinion affect you.”
