Full Circle

by Lynne, Donya

  She quietly opened the glass door, set the Adam on the built-in stone shelf, and glided up behind him, lightly brushing her palms over the back of his shoulders.

  He stilled then glanced over his shoulder, blinking as suds slid past his eyes. The dimple cut into his right cheek as he smiled.

  “Hungry for more?”

  “I’m nowhere near satisfied.” She slicked suds down his back, letting her fingers linger on the tight swells of his ass. He really did have a fine ass.

  And it was time she gave it the attention it deserved.

  * * *

  He could barely breathe as she massaged his butt, pressing the front of her body to his back as she did, rolling her taut nipples against his skin. He couldn’t see her, but the way she was moving reminded him of the way a belly dancer moves, only much slower, and only with her breasts, not her hips. Sexy as hell.

  She was different tonight. More seductive. More in control. The power was in her court, and she wasn’t afraid to wield it.

  He liked that.

  Her fingers slid between his cheeks, and he had to press his hands against the wall in front of him as a wave of arousal rocked him forward.

  Jesus!

  He moaned, dropping his head between his outstretched biceps. Trails of sudsy water rained down from his hair.

  She released him then slithered her hands around to his cock and balls as she pressed her groin against his ass.

  He’d come less than fifteen minutes ago, but damn. He was ready to go again. Growing hard and swollen.

  He watched her delicate hands fist and stroke him. Tiny soap bubbles coated both his cock and her fingers, making the friction slick.

  “Hold out your hand,” he said, picking up his bottle of shower soap. He poured some in her palm then groaned when she gripped him and went back to stroking, harder this time, working the slippery lather between her hands.

  Then her left hand disappeared, reappearing a second later from between his legs. She’d reached under him from behind to cup his balls, but as she did, she rubbed the heel of her hand against his perineum.

  Fuck!

  He saw stars, flexing his arms and legs to keep him upright as his knees quaked.

  The fingers of her left hand slid back. Farther still. Until her middle finger found his anus and began rubbing in small circles.

  Oh God. Holy fuck. He’d dreamed of this, but he’d begun to think it was something she’d never want to do. He didn’t know why she’d waited until tonight to go down this path, but he was grateful she’d finally gone there.

  “Is this what you want?” Her voice was soft yet commanding, and every hair on his body stood on end at the power she had over him in that moment.

  Both legs shuddered as her finger pressed inward.

  He gasped, nodded, licked his lips. “Yes.”

  “What’s it feel like?” She took her time, just as he had with her in Chicago, gently letting just the tip of her finger enter him.

  His hands became claws, his nails scratching the stone tiles. “Good. It feels good.” He could barely talk as he gasped for air, his toes curling and flexing.

  No one had done this to him in a long time. A long damn time. And doing it to himself was like giving himself a massage. It didn’t feel nearly as good as when someone else did it.

  Her right hand continued to stroke as her left pressed between his cheeks.

  “Stop me if I hurt you,” she whispered, letting her finger delve deeper.

  “You’re not . . . you’re not hurting me. Jesus, Karma. I didn’t think . . .” He grunted as a wave of euphoria whipped through him, causing him to weave forward and back. “I didn’t think you wanted this.”

  She pressed her cheek against the back of his shoulder. “I just needed time to figure out what I was doing.”

  Hallelujah for her doing her research!

  “Trust me, you’re doing fine. This is . . .” Another shock of arousal rocketed through him, stealing his voice as her finger stroked home base. “Jesus!” His whole body shuddered, his muscles contracting violently. “Right there. There . . .”

  God bless her daring desire to please him! The tip of her finger hit the spot again. And then again.

  And then he was a goner.

  Everything went dark as his entire body convulsed and he shot his load against the tiled wall.

  Karma cried out behind him, and when he opened his eyes again, he was on all fours, his cock still emptying.

  “Mark! Oh my God, are you okay?” Karma was on her knees beside him, one hand on his back, the other holding his shoulder.

  All he could do was moan and hold his eyes closed as his cock pulsed several more times, his abdomen jerking through each contraction.

  “Mark?”

  He finally sucked in a long, heavy breath, opened his eyes once more, and smiled. “Where did you learn that?”

  “What?” She shook her head as if dispelling brain fog. “Mark, you fell.” She stared at him with wide eyes. “Are you okay?”

  He’d come so hard he’d fallen to the floor. Maybe that was why everything had gone dark for a second. He’d almost passed out.

  “I’m fine.” He took several deep breaths then unsteadily pulled himself to the bench in front of him and leaned his back against the cold, wet wall as he reached for her hand. She took it, and he helped her onto his lap. He needed his arms around her, her body against his. “Where did you learn how to do that?” he said again.

  She bit her lip and smiled, relaxing. “I’ve been reading.”

  He drank in her face. Her beautiful, adorable face. “That must have been some reading.”

  Warm water still rained down over them from the oversized, square showerhead, but he was in no hurry for their shower to end.

  Her cheeks flushed red, and she looked over her shoulder and bobbed her head toward one of the shelves. He could just see the profile of something black and red poised on the edge.

  “I’d intended to use that, but then . . .” She giggled as if at herself. “Then I got a little carried away. That was, uh . . . just wow. I thought I’d be squeamish, but then I saw how you reacted, and it turned me on, and then I couldn’t stop.”

  He kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers. “You have my permission to get carried away like that any time you want, baby.”

  Her shy but proud smile warmed his heart.

  “But . . .” He pushed her to her feet and stood. “Now I’m curious what this is.” He crossed the small space and picked up the black and red object. He’d seen something like this before but had never used one.

  “It’s called the Adam.” Karma took it from him and held it up. “It goes in like this, and this little curly thing . . .” She pointed at one of the slender plastic curls that extended from the base. “This presses against your scrotum. And this presses against your prostate.” She pointed to the other end. “I guess men who’ve used this say it gives them really powerful orgasms. The strongest and longest they’ve ever had. You can even walk around with it in. I guess it can be pretty intense.”

  The longer she talked, the bigger his smile grew, until finally she cocked her head at him and said, “What?”

  “Nothing, Miss Mason. I’m just amused that you seem to have found something you can teach me.”

  “The student becomes the teacher?”

  He pulled her into his arms. “I think I’m going to like being your student.”

  “Will you bring your teacher a shiny red apple?”

  “If that’s what she wants.” He reached around her and shut off the water. “But right now, your student is famished.” He pulled two warm towels off the rack and handed her one. “And for what he has planned for his teacher tonight, he’s going to need a lot of energy.”

  “Is he now?”

  It felt like the remnants of one more crumbling barrier had come crashing down, and even though one still remained firmly in place, he’d take what he could get. And right now, what he wanted to take ove
r and over was Karma.

  “Yes,” he said, slinging his towel around her like a rope and tugging her to him. His gaze tore into her. “Fucking burns a lot of calories. And I plan on fucking you all night, especially if you help me use this.” He pointed to the contraption she referred to as the Adam. “Are you up for that?”

  She grinned and skimmed her palms over his chest. “I’ll just say this. I’ve missed you a lot in the last month.”

  “Then I have a lot to make up for, don’t I?”

  “Mm-hm. And I’ve got more where that came from.” She pointed to the Adam.

  “More?”

  She nodded. “A lot more. You and I have quite a night of experimentation ahead of us, baby.”

  “Then, by all means, let’s hurry up and eat so we can get started.”

  He took her hand and led her from the shower. He was so close to having it all. His future was right in front of him, just outside his reach.

  Just past the lone specter still haunting him.

  Carol.

  Chapter 24

  A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

  -Lao-Tzy

  Mark paused Bride Wars on his office computer, grabbed his phone, and hit Rob’s speed dial.

  He’d run Rob’s advice from the night of his mom’s birthday party over and over in his mind all week. What if Rob was right? Maybe he needed to talk to Carol. In hindsight, they’d never really talked about what happened eight years ago. Like Rob had said, they’d yelled at each other, their emotions too high to think reasonably and truly listen, and then . . . nothing. They’d had virtually no contact beyond the occasional run-in at the annual arts benefit, where they avoided each other like men avoided Medusa.

  But Carol wasn’t attending this year’s benefit, according to the current attendee list he’d coaxed out of his dad. Thank God for small blessings, since he was going with Karma.

  “Hey, man. What’s up?” Rob said.

  “I think you were right,” Mark blurted without offering a greeting.

  “Okay, this sounds serious. What was I right about?”

  “Carol. I think I need to talk to her.”

  “Ooo-kaaay. What brought this on? Don’t tell me it was the immersion therapy.”

  “No. I mean, I don’t think so. It could have been. I mean, I’ve been staying late at the office every night this week watching wedding movies, so you tell me if it’s working.”

  “You’re not serious.”

  “Dead serious. Bride Wars is paused on my computer right now. Karma thinks I’ve been staying to get caught up on work since we’re leaving tomorrow to head up to Chicago for Saturday’s benefit.”

  “You’ve been lying to her?”

  “Not totally. I’ve been working.” He gestured toward the frozen image on his computer as if Rob could see him. “I’ve just been watching movies, too. And it’s working. Somewhat. At least, it feels like it is.” In a lot of ways, he felt more open. “Watching these movies has, at least in some cases, helped me gain perspective. But . . .”

  “But you still can’t talk about setting a date.”

  He rocked forward and planted his feet squarely on the floor beneath his desk. “No. And I think I finally figured out why.”

  “Because I was right and you’ve realized you need to talk to Carol?”

  He snapped his fingers. “Exactly.”

  “I told you so.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Spare me the lecture. I need your help.”

  “Anything. Name it.”

  “I need you to ask Holly to invite Karma to lunch Sunday.”

  “And what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to see Carol. I’m going to resolve this once and for all.”

  “Whoa, man. You sure about this?”

  Mark stood and paced to the window. “Hey, this was your idea. Just like the immersion therapy. So don’t you puss out on me now and tell me you weren’t serious.

  “I was dead serious. I think you need to talk to her, but you sound a little intense.”

  “Maybe because I am. This needs to happen. I need to end this now, so I can move forward with Karma. If I don’t get my head out of my ass, I’ll eventually lose her. She won’t want to stick around forever. I’ve already made her wait long enough.”

  “Okay, okay. Calm down. I’ll talk to Holly. But man, I should warn you that I don’t think it’s a good idea to lie to Karma. Holly and I can work something out to keep her busy so you can handle this, but I think it would be better if you told her the truth.”

  “No. I don’t want to worry her, and I need to do this without worrying what she’s thinking. If she knows I’m going to see Carol, she’ll be upset, and that won’t sit well with me. I’ll be preoccupied, and I don’t want that to happen.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ve got your back. I’ll take care of it.”

  Mark took a relieved breath. “Thanks, Rob. I owe you one.”

  “Like I said before, you don’t owe me anything. Just . . . deal with this shit once and for all and put it behind you.” He paused. “I’ll see you Saturday then, okay?”

  “I’ll be there. Thanks, man.”

  He disconnected, returned to his chair, and pushed play on his computer. Less than five minutes later, his phone chimed with a text from Karma.

  Mom and Dad invited us over for dinner, if you can believe that. Maybe my dad is finally coming around. I told them you were working late but I could go. So, I’m heading to their house. You want me to bring you something?

  He hated missing dinner with her parents, especially if her dad really was starting to come around, but he did have official work to do. Maybe he should shut off the movie and finish up so he could at least get home at a decent hour. But, surprisingly, he was getting a lot out of these damn wedding movies. Maybe not what Rob and Holly had intended, but still. Something was better than nothing.

  No need to bring me anything. Enjoy yourself and tell your parents I send my regards. I’ll be home in a few hours. I love you.

  And he did. He loved her so much. She deserved to have all of him. And by the end of the weekend, that was exactly what she would have. One way or another, Carol’s occupation of his mind, no matter how minimal, would come to an end.

  * * *

  Karma read Mark’s text and smiled.

  I love you, too. See you when you get home. Xoxoxox

  The incredible weekend they’d had four days ago still caused butterflies and flames to flicker in her belly every time she recalled the things she’d done to him, and all the ways he’d thanked her for doing them. For twenty-four hours, there had been no work, no parents, no pending wedding date, no Carol. Just them. Their bedroom had been an oasis they left only to eat and recuperate before starting over again.

  But he’d seemed distracted ever since. Not in the bedroom. That was the one place he remained laser-focused. It was in the mornings when he was getting ready for work, or in the evenings as they watched the news or grabbed a late snack before bed, when his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

  Maybe he was distracted by work, or maybe it was nothing at all. They were still getting acquainted with the idea of living together. Perhaps this was just how Mark was, and as they settled into a routine, things would feel more normal.

  She turned onto the street that led to her parents’ house and nearly came to a stop when she saw Johnny’s car in the driveway. She and Johnny didn’t get along, but Johnny and Dad got along even worse. The last time they’d seen one another was last summer when Brad proposed.

  This could be an interesting dinner depending on whether Johnny could keep his egotistic, pompous attitude in check.

  “Hi, honey,” her mom said, opening the door. “Where’s Mark?”

  “He has to work.”

  “Well, that’s too bad. I was looking forward to visiting with him.” She closed the door behind her.

  “Yeah, well, I’m sure Dad will be pleased.”

  Her mom blew out an abrupt
laugh. “Oh, I don’t know. I think Mark’s starting to grow on your father.”

  “Really?” Hell must have frozen over.

  Her mom stepped closer and said in hushed tones, “It was his idea to invite you two for dinner, so if Mark isn’t growing on him, at least he’s trying.”

  “I guess that’s a start.” She glanced past her mom toward the sound of voices in the living room. “What’s Johnny doing here?”

  Mom smiled in that way that indicated some forces in nature just couldn’t be explained. “I think Johnny’s trying, too.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s been coming around more since you’ve been gone. Spending time with your dad. I can tell he’s trying not to be so argumentative.”

  What the hell had happened since Thanksgiving. Had the rest of her family entered an alternate dimension?

  She followed her mom into the kitchen, where chicken pieces coated with a double layer of buttermilk and seasoned flour sat on a sheet of wax paper next to a large iron skillet.

  Mmm, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The good stuff.

  “Why don’t you go watch the game with your dad and brother while I finish up in here,” her mom said.

  “You sure you don’t need any help.” Part of her dreaded leaving the calm safety of her mom, but she knew she couldn’t avoid her dad and brother all night.

  “I’m fine. Go on.” Her mom waved her toward the family room.

  Practically tip-toeing, she went to the doorway to the living room and peered inside. Johnny and her dad were watching the game together, engrossed in the action.

  Before the Mark Strong Apocalypse, she was the one Dad watched sports with. The two of them had spent at least one day a week catching a football game, basketball game, or whatever sport happened to be on. It had been their thing. Theirs. Not theirs and Johnny’s. Johnny had never figured into what had been special father-daughter time. Now, Dad was sharing that special time with her pain-in-the-ass brother. When had her dad and Johnny gotten so close?

  Johnny threw his arms out in front of him. “Charging! Where’s the call, ref?”