[Time for Love 01.0] 8 Weeks

by Bethany Lopez

  His face looked truly happy, and I realized that it had been a long time since I’d seen him that way.

  He followed me inside and I led him toward the kitchen.

  “Nice place,” he said.

  “Thanks,” I responded quietly. I didn’t want to dwell on the fact that I was living in a new place on my own. I wanted to continue with the easy camaraderie that we’d had all day.

  I pulled the beers out of the fridge and popped the tops, then turned to hand one to Cal. He took a long pull, then set it on the counter before turning to me and saying, "I'm sorry if this is out of line, Shel."Before I understood what he meant, I was pushed up against the counter, his lips on mine, and my legs came up around him. My bottom landed on the counter, and I groaned as his lips trailed down my neck.

  "Is this okay?" Cal asked softly in my ear.

  Chapter 21 – Cal

  My body throbbed painfully as I waited for her answer. I nuzzled her softly under her ear, in the spot I knew would cause her to come undone.

  When I heard her moan and say, “Yes,” on a soft breath, I wanted to shout out in victory. Instead, I decided to show her how much I’d missed her.

  I turned my mouth greedily to hers, pulling her hips closer to the edge of the counter as I brought my body to meet hers. My hands began to travel the length of her, worshiping her, as my mouth did the same.

  With every hitch of her breath, I felt my body ignite and burn.

  My lips traveled across her jaw and down her creamy neck as my hands found her breasts, which were full and heavy. Her nipples were taunt, and when I rubbed my palms across them, Shelly leaned farther in to me.

  I felt her hands reach for the bottom of my shirt, and I leaned back far enough to allow her to pull it over my head. Her hot hands began to touch my exposed skin, and I jolted as desire whipped through me.

  I tugged her shirt off quickly, then brought her to me so we were touching skin to skin.

  It felt like coming home, back to the place I was always meant to be. Our bodies knew each other, and we knew how to turn each other on.

  I unclasped her bra as her hands continued their assault on my chest. My breath hissed out when Shelly pinched my nipples and rolled them through her fingertips.

  I put my hand at the base of her neck and fisted her hair in my hand, causing her head to fall back and giving me access to lay claim on her mouth. I kissed her greedily, my brain a haze of need, before I kissed a trail down to her succulent breasts. I took one nipple in my mouth as I fondled her other breast with my free hand. She moaned loudly, so I bit down softly, causing her to buck against my mouth.

  Her responsiveness caused my dick to harden to a painful level, and I rocked my hips against hers roughly, unable to control the movement.

  Able to read my body as well as I could read hers, Shelly unbuttoned my jeans and reached below the edge of my boxers to run her hand along the length of me. I felt her soft palm stroke me and my control snapped.

  Before I even knew I’d managed it, I’d lifted Shelly off of the counter and was pulling her jeans off before her feet hit the floor. She lifted her feet, one by one, to allow me to slip her jeans off, but rather than standing and lifting her back up, I leaned in and kissed her.

  I trailed my hands up the back of her legs, grasping her delicious ass and pulling her closer to my face. Her groans got louder as I licked and sucked, and I prayed to God that I wouldn’t come right there on the floor.

  I felt her hand grip my hair, urging me closer, faster, and I felt her legs tense, so I pushed my tongue inside her and nuzzled her with my nose, until her entire body began to shake around me.

  When her hand went lax on my head, I stood swiftly, lifting her as I did, and placed her back on the counter. I shucked off my jeans and boxers and grasped her face, bringing her satisfied gaze to mine. She smiled languidly at me and I brought our lips together, plunging my tongue in her mouth as I slowly eased my length into her.

  Jesus Christ! She felt amazing, and as she slowly took in every inch of me, clenching and surrounding me with her heat, I felt as if I was losing the ability to breathe.

  When I filled her completely, her head fell back and her hips came up. I grabbed them and brought her as close to me as possible, then I began to move. What started out slow and worshipful soon turned to mind-numbing need. Shelly braced herself with one hand on the counter and the other on my shoulder while I pounded into her. When her body tensed and I felt the vibrations transfer from her body to mine, I shouted out as the most intense orgasm of my life shattered me.

  I swear I blacked out for a minute. When I came to, Shelly and I were breathing rapidly, our bodies slick with sweat. My forehead was resting on her shoulder, and I pursed my lips to kiss her skin softly.

  I eased myself out of her slowly, then brought my hand to her cheek and leaned in to kiss her lips. Now that the frenzy had died down, I wanted nothing more than to carry her to bed, wrap my arms around her, and kiss her all night.

  When I pulled back to look in her eyes, my stomach filled with dread.

  Shelly looked at me, her face full of worry and confusion.

  “Shel?” I asked, terrified that she was regretting what had just happened.

  She put her hand on my chest and pushed slightly, jumping down off the counter when I moved back a step.

  “Just give me a minute,” she said.

  I watched helplessly as she walked out of the kitchen. Not sure what I should do, I bent down and picked up our clothes. I put mine on and folded hers neatly, placing it on the counter before turning to lean against it as I waited for her to come back. I picked up my beer and took a long pull, hoping to ease the burning sensation that was building in my throat.

  I hoped she was coming back.

  Shit, what if she isn’t coming back? I thought, before I heard her footsteps coming back down the hall.

  When she entered the kitchen, she was wearing a robe and looked just as confused as she had a moment ago.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, moving toward her.

  She held up her hand to stop me.

  “I am,” she responded, but her eyes were sad when they looked at me. “I just need time to think about what happened.”

  “I asked if you were okay,” I said, desperately. “I would have stopped …”

  “I know, Cal,” she said softly. “I’m not blaming you for anything. I wanted to have sex with you, I just don’t know what to do now.”

  “Let me stay,” I said softly.

  Shelly shook her head slowly. “I can’t.”

  Chapter 22 – Shelly

  “You had sex with him,” Sasha said knowingly, pointing her finger at me and grinning wildly.

  I looked up at her, then down at myself and asked, “What? Am I wearing a sign?”

  “I can just tell,” Sasha said with a shake of her hips. “How was it? Where did it happen? Tell me everything.”

  Sasha slid into the booth across from me and put her hands together in front of her, then looked at me and fluttered her eyelashes.

  I laughed. A wonderful, deep-belly laugh.

  “You’re nuts,” I said, trying to deflect.

  “Nope,” Sasha responded. “You aren’t clamming up on me.” She reached her hand across the table and placed it over mine, looking at me with a serious expression. “Are you okay?”

  I bit my lip and nodded.

  “I am. I wanted him, and I’m not sorry it happened. Shit … it was great sex. I may have seen stars, but I just don’t know where to go from here.”

  “Where do you want to go?” Sasha asked softly.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, where don’t you want to go?”

  “I can’t go back to the way things were, too much has happened,” I began. “But I can’t imagine my life without Cal in it. I just don’t know in what capacity I can handle him. And, although I loved having sex with Cal, I don’t want to get his hopes up, or cause him more pain. We’ve both been throu
gh enough in the last few weeks.”

  Sasha nodded and patted my hand thoughtfully. “So, ‘great sex,’ huh?”

  I giggled at her and said, “Yeah, right there on my new kitchen counter.”

  “What happened on your kitchen counter?” Gaby asked as she slid in next to me. “Coffee, please,” she said to the cute waiter who eyed her appreciatively.

  “Shelly and Cal had mind-altering sex on it,” Sasha explained.

  Gaby’s mouth dropped open and she turned slowly to look at me.

  “What? When? How?” she sputtered slowly.

  I waited for the waiter to serve Gaby’s coffee before answering her.

  “We went zip-lining for our fourth date. It was terrifying, and amazing, and totally exhilarating. I don’t know, maybe our adrenaline was pumping in overdrive, or maybe I was just horny, but I invited him inside when we got back to my place, and I’d barely given him his beer before he had me up against the counter.”

  “Oh my,” Sasha said, fanning herself dramatically.

  “Go on …” Gaby encouraged.

  “He gave me the opportunity to stop it, but I didn’t want to. I wanted him so much I could barely stand it. Once we were done, reality sunk back in, and he asked me to let him stay.”

  “Did you?” Gaby asked.

  I shook my head.

  “No, I couldn’t. I know that Cal wants our relationship to be the way it was, and I knew that if I allowed him to stay, I’d just hurt him more in the long run.”

  “So, you still plan on going through with the divorce?” Sasha asked, her voice tinged with sadness.

  “I can’t forget what he did, Sash. And as much as I miss him, I can’t give him false hope. I still plan to go through with the divorce. Maybe I should put a stop to this eight weeks thing. I don’t know if either of us can handle another month of dates.”

  We all sat quietly at the table, lost in thought, until the waiter came back and asked us if we were ready to order.

  Once our order was in, I sighed deeply and asked, “Please, can we talk about something else? I need one of you to tell me something that is going to get my mind off of everything that I have going on in my life.”

  “Hmmm … I slept with a hot guy I was showing a house to … in the house I was showing him,” Sasha said with a saucy wink, causing me to laugh.

  “That’s not news,” I teased her. “That’s a regular day in your world.”

  “True,” Sasha conceded.

  We both turned to Gaby, who looked at us nervously.

  “Wow, you look like you really have something on your mind,” I said to her. “Is everything okay?”

  “Scott and I had sex,” Gaby said, shocking me to the core.

  “What?” Sasha and I yelled at the same time.

  “Shhh,” Gaby said, looking pointedly around the restaurant. “I don’t mean now … I mean in the past. We had sex on prom night.”

  “What?” I asked again, totally confused.

  “You’re saying that the two of you had sex in high school, and you never said anything?” Sasha asked.

  Gaby nodded.

  “You didn’t tell us, and there is no way he told Cal or TJ, or we would all know,” I said, working it out. “But why would you keep it a secret? Was it only that one night?”

  “You guys had different dates to the prom,” Sasha stated.

  “Yes, we did,” Gaby agreed. “And, yes, it was just the one night. We kept it a secret because we didn’t want to mess up our friendship, or our group dynamics.”

  “But, how did it happen?” I asked.

  The waiter chose that moment to come back to the table with our food. Gaby looked up at him and said, “Can I have a mimosa please?”

  “Make that mimosas all around,” Sasha added. When he walked away, Sasha turned back and waved her hand at Gaby, encouraging her to continue.

  “I had a crush on Scott from the moment we met the guys junior year. He was my total opposite … The way he was raised, and his plans for his future, but I thought he was the greatest guy I’d ever met. And hot, totally, totally hot,” Gaby explained with a blush.

  “You did?” I asked. “How come you never told us?”

  “I don’t know,” Gaby admitted. “I guess I thought he was out of my league, and then we started hanging out all of the time because of you and Cal. Then, after a while, we were all inseparable, and he was one of my best friends, I was afraid to ruin it. Plus, when he wasn’t hanging out with us, he was always with some girl. Scott was never lonely, and I didn’t feel like I could compete.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Sasha said angrily. “You’re amazing! Any guy who comes into a five-foot radius of you is ready to fall at your feet. Scott isn’t out of your league. Don’t sell yourself short.”

  “How did you guys end up hooking up?” I asked, eager to learn this secret that two of my best friends had managed to keep from us for the last six years.

  “Well, you know we all hung out at the prom together, but what you don’t know is that after you guys left to go to your hotel rooms, I realized that Tom was not the guy that I wanted to lose my virginity too. I tried to explain that I wasn’t going to go with him to the hotel, and let him down easy, but he didn’t take it well. Scott was walking by with his date, and saw Tom grab my arm. Before I knew it, he had Tom up against the wall and had his hand around Tom’s throat.”

  “What?” Sasha asked, shocked. “You never told us any of this.”

  Gaby nodded and continued, “I calmed Scott down enough to get him to let Tom go, but I was pretty shaken up. Scott left his date to take me to his room so that I could calm down. Boy, was she pissed,” Gaby said with a laugh. She had a small smile on her face as her memories took her back to that night.

  “It started out innocently enough. We talked and had a few drinks, and I thanked him for helping me out … Apologized for ruining his night. He said I hadn’t, and after a few of those drinks, I began to feel bold. I told him that I’d had a crush on him, and he said that he felt the same. We started kissing, and one thing led to another.”

  “Oh my God!” I exclaimed, bringing my hand to my lips, my heart filled with emotion. “You lost your virginity to Scott …”

  “We both did,” Gaby said, that smile still on her lips. “It was his first time too.”

  “What?” Sasha asked. “Scott didn’t have sex until prom? What about all of those girls throughout high school?”

  “He said he never went all the way with them. He wanted it to mean something,” Gaby explained.

  “That’s so beautiful,” I said softly, my eyes tearing.

  “What are you getting so emotional about?” Gaby asked with a laugh.

  “The two of you. Two of my best friends. What a beautiful story. I can’t believe you guys kept this from us this whole time. Why didn’t you pursue a relationship after that?” I asked.

  “Like I said, we didn’t want to ruin our relationship, or mess up the group. Plus, I was going to culinary school, and he was going away to study business … The timing wasn’t right. Then, it seemed like one of us was always dating someone, so it never worked out.”

  “Did you want it to?” Sasha asked.

  “Yes,” Gaby admitted sadly. “I never stopped wanting him. That’s why I’m telling you guys this now. I don’t know what to do … Scott is about to make a big mistake and marry that horrible woman.”

  Sasha and I nodded in agreement; none of us had an ounce of love for Victoria.

  “What do you want to do?” Sasha asked.

  “I want to stop him,” Gaby responded.

  Chapter 23 – Cal

  “I had sex with Shelly,” I said quietly, so only Scott and TJ could hear me. We were in the bleachers at the high school, waiting for Craig’s opening game to start. We’d gotten there early to get good seats, but people were starting to fill in around us, and I didn’t want anyone to overhear my words, least of all my mother, who was sitting in the bleachers above us.

>   “That’s great, man,” TJ said with a grin as he took a bite of his loaded hot dog.

  Scott made a face at TJ, then turned to me seriously and asked, “How’d that go?”

  “It was rough,” I admitted softly. “I mean, the sex was fantastic, but afterwards …”

  “What happened?” TJ asked around a mouth full of food.

  Scott hit him in the arm and asked, “What happened?”

  “Ow,” TJ protested, then took another bite.

  “It turned awkward,” I replied. “I wanted to stay, you know … Talk stuff out and sleep over, but she didn’t want me to. She said she couldn’t handle it.”

  “What are you complaining about?” TJ asked. “Sex without having to cuddle afterwards … That’s the best.”

  Scott hit him again.

  “Do that one more time, bro, and I’m hitting back.”

  “This is my wife, TJ, not some one-night stand. I’m not looking for a quick lay, I’m trying to get my marriage back.” My voice began to rise as I finished my sentence, and my mom cleared her throat behind us, indicating that she could hear us. “Just forget about it,” I spat out.

  “Cal, I’m sorry, man, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” TJ replied. “You and Shelly are gonna work it out.”

  Scott nodded and clapped me on the back. “You’re gonna get her back.”

  The game was starting, so we turned to the field.

  I stood up and clapped, shouting as Craig rounded the bases after hitting a triple.

  “He’s so good,” Scott said with a grin as he put his fingers to his lips and let out a shrill whistle.

  “Yeah, he’s going to go far,” I said with pride. “He’s not destined to be a grease monkey, I can tell you that.”

  “Hey,” TJ responded. “Nothing wrong with turning a wrench.”

  “Shit, I know that, but it’s not the most dependable way to earn a living,” I said wryly. TJ made a face and took a pull of his root beer.

  Our shop was in a bit of a slump. We weren’t getting as many appointments as usual, and walk-in business hadn’t been good. It looked like we were about to get fewer hours, which wasn’t good news for TJ or myself.