by Alice Raine
At the sight of his unease, I felt my own eyebrows pull together nervously. ‘What’s up?’
His blue eyes narrowed for a second before Sean guided me into a sitting position and pulled himself up to join me, his shoulders still bunched and his jaw continuing to work endlessly. ‘How old are you?’
Oh, was that it? I’d been expecting some horrible statement or strange confession or another heart-wrenching tale perhaps, but all he wanted was my age. ‘Twenty-six. Twenty-seven in July.’
Nodding his head, I saw him briefly flinch and draw in a long breath. ‘I’d guessed as much, but I was secretly hoping you might be a bit older.’ My eyebrows went from furrowed to rising significantly. Was I too young for him to have a casual fling with? Or did he just prefer his women more mature?
‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you,’ I muttered petulantly, folding my arms and well aware that I sounded just as immature as he had made me feel.
Running a hand though his hair, Sean shook his head. ‘I didn’t mean it like that, Allie. Christ, what man wouldn’t want you? You’re a beautiful, intelligent, funny, twenty-six year old. And gorgeous to boot. I just meant that I’d hoped you might be slightly closer to my age so you weren’t concerned by the age gap.’
Oh. Age gap? I knew he was older than me, I suspected late thirties, but it didn’t bother me in the slightest – I’d always had a thing for older men. There was just something about their calm maturity and experience which I found a huge turn on. And physically speaking, Sean was in better shape than any man I’d ever dated, and probably would ever date, so I didn’t understand why he was worried. Especially seeing as this thing between us didn’t ever really stand a chance of progressing beyond his house. As soon as the snow had melted I’d be going back to school and he would be going back to his star-studded life of glamour and movies. I couldn’t see why he was getting so worked up about it.
‘It doesn’t bother me,’ I said simply, telling the compete truth, but he looked decidedly sceptical.
‘I am significantly older than you, Allie. It matters,’ he whispered, leaning in to trace his thumb down my jawline. The intensity of our connection once again had me breathless, and as I tried to draw in some air I found myself desperately wishing that he really did want something more long-term between us.
‘Not to me, it doesn’t.’
Sighing heavily, he smiled at me thinly while shaking his head. ‘You are so fucking sweet.’ Another sigh had his shoulders rising and falling harshly before he pinned me with an intense gaze. ‘How old do you think I am?’
Ah, he was deflecting it, was he? I was fairly sure thirty-eight was the correct answer, but not definite in that knowledge. I hadn’t specifically googled his age in my searches because it really hadn’t bothered me enough to do so, but he’d said he had ‘just turned twenty-five’ at the time of Elena’s death, and I think the article on the accident had been dated from 2001, which would make him thirty-eight now if my maths was correct. Which it frequently wasn’t. Or was the article dated 2005? Shit. I couldn’t remember. Bugger. I didn’t want to make a faux pas and increase his paranoia if I said he was older than he was, so I erred on the side of caution. ‘Thirty-four?’ I guessed.
Watching his reaction carefully, I saw immediately that underestimation was the wrong thing to do, because his face now looked even more stressed as he winced and shifted himself across the sofa away from me and crossed his arms. ‘Thirty-eight?’ I asked, hoping for the life of me that I wasn’t wrong again.
Flashing me a wary glance Sean nodded slowly, scrutinising my reaction the entire time. A twelve year gap. It was hardly the end of the world. This reaction in him was all very bizarre, and my mind kept returning to the faint possibility that he might want more from me than just a casual fling. Could it be possible? It would certainly explain his behaviour, but it just seemed so unlikely that I pushed it away before my fantastical imagination could go into overdrive. Again.
Rolling my eyes at not only my stupid thoughts but his defensive posture and withdrawn expression, I decided to try and lighten the mood. This thing between us might only last until the thaw, but we may as well enjoy it while we could.
Crawling across the gap he had created between us, I straddled him, bringing my hands up to rest on his shoulders so we were eye to eye. ‘Sean. I. Don’t. Care.’ I emphasised each word slowly and clearly. I wanted to say that we were perfect for each other, and that his age didn’t matter because the way he made me feel was so incredible. But I didn’t. It was way too soon to be throwing those types of thoughts on the table.
‘Christmas is my favourite time of the year and you’re starting to spoil it with your tantrum. Can we go back to our film and snuggle like we were before?’ Blinking at me several times, Sean cocked his head and examined me quizzically, before finally seeming to believe me as he smiled tentatively, his posture relaxing and eyes beginning to twinkle again. Phew. Disaster averted.
‘Your wish is my command, gorgeous girl.’ Then, wrapping his arms around my waist he manoeuvred us so we were laid out full length on the sofa again, and pressed play on the remote so that Bruce Willis could get back to saving Christmas Day.
The film had ended a while ago, the credits long since finished, leaving the TV screen blank and the room quiet. Below me, Sean snored softly, so I decided to leave him to catch up on his sleep and go to burn off my Christmas dinner.
Now that I no longer had to hide away in his house I was quite looking forward to using the home gym, and jogged up to my room energetically to see if I had any suitable clothing for a work out. Narrowing my eyes, I looked at my pitifully pathetic options – I had trainers at least, because I’d been wearing them the day I arrived, but as far as suitable gym wear went, that was about it.
Dressing in the only outfit really available to me, I stood and appraised myself in the long mirror in my bedroom. The sight had me doubling over in near hysterical laughter until I was wiping away tears with the back of my hand – I was wearing trainers and socks, nothing on my legs, and one of Sean’s gigantic T-shirts; that was all.
In short, I looked ridiculous.
In addition to the gargantuan T-shirt, I was also wearing my normal bra, which wasn’t ideal but was relatively supportive and so would have to do. As long as I avoided anything overly bouncy like star jumps, I’d be fine. I could always wash it afterwards and dry it off on the radiator. Besides, I was sure my new, happy Sean wouldn’t be complaining if I went braless for a few hours, I thought with a smirk.
Fingering the gigantic T-shirt I realised it was probably quite dangerous to attempt a run in a garment that was so oversized, so I pulled the belt from my jeans and tied it around the middle before pursing my lips and glancing in the mirror again. OK, so now I looked even stupider, but at least I wouldn’t catch my arms and end up falling over.
Pushing aside my concerns about my appearance I made my way to the gym. Looking around properly for the first time I saw it was small, but perfectly formed, containing just a treadmill, rowing machine, weights bench, stack of towels, and an iPod dock complete with metallic blue iPod. Picking it up I scrolled through Sean’s music as I stretched for a few minutes to warm up, and found it positively stuffed with choice – he had everything from classical to rock, pop, and right through to some seriously heavy metal on here.
Opting for something I often ran to at home I selected one of my current favourites from Imagine Dragons, set it playing, and stepped onto the treadmill.
Considering I’d had several days off my usually strict regime, I was pleasantly surprised by how well I was managing. The display on my treadmill now read thirty-two minutes, and although I was sweating, I was running pretty fast and still relatively in control of my breathing, so all in all, this wasn’t a bad effort at all. Mind you, with all of the super sexing Sean had been throwing my way in the last few days, he’d probably been a major contributor to helping maintain my fitness levels.
This thought had me grinnin
g broadly as I ran, but the next second the door to the gym surged open so suddenly that it bounced off the wall with a thunderous crash, causing me to yelp in shock and stumble. Bloody hell! I’d nearly fallen off the sodding treadmill. Stabilising my wobbly legs I managed to continue my run, but watched in the mirror and saw Sean burst in, his eyes frantically flickering all over the place before they settled on me and softened in apparent relief.
‘There you are,’ he exhaled, long and low, and bent forwards onto his knees briefly as if recovering from some horrific shock. But to be honest, I was the one recovering from a horrific shock – the banging of the door had nearly made me pee myself in terror, and I was completely amazed that I was still managing to run. What the heck was wrong with him?
Standing up again, he appeared to make a visible effort to regain control of himself, as he loosened off his shoulders with a roll and came to the side of my treadmill where I could look at the beauty of the real Sean, and not the reflection in the mirror. Staring at me for a few seconds he blinked, and then sighed. ‘I woke up and you were gone.’
Right. OK. That was pretty weird. Seeing as we were still snowed in I couldn’t see exactly what he was panicked about, but clearly from the strained expression on his face he was, so I tried to think of a suitable reply.
‘Usually on Christmas Day we go for a long walk in the afternoon,’ I began, slipping my words in between my quickened breathing. ‘But seeing how thick the snow was, I thought I’d go for a run. You were sleeping, so I didn’t want to disturb you.’
Nodding slowly, Sean digested my words, then glanced at the read-out on my machine and startled me by reaching over and pressing the red stop button. Before the roller had even come to a standstill he was scooping my shrieking body up into his arms so my legs were wrapped around his waist with his hands under my bum to support my weight. ‘Run’s over. I need to be inside you.’
What? He sounded almost agitated, but the passion with which he seemed to crave me had me instantly melting into his arms and looping my hands behind his neck. Stuff the treadmill, sex with Sean would be much more fun.
Striding from the room he began to trot up the few stairs towards the bedrooms, all the while supporting my body as if I weighed nothing. ‘I can walk, you know,’ I informed him on a quiet giggle, relaxing my head onto his shoulder and giving in to his caveman demonstration.
‘I know you can. But I want to do it,’ he replied, using the same phrase as he had when I’d told him I was perfectly capable of washing my privates after sex. So this carrying must be another of his ways to take care of me then, and a further example of his regret for treating me so badly.
I was actually becoming rather fond of Sean’s slightly controlling, caring ways. It was definitely something I was going to miss terribly when all of this came to an end.
My wayward, sad thoughts were stopped when Sean made it to his bedroom and approached the bed, making me tense and squeak in his arms. ‘At least let me grab a quick shower first,’ I yelped, mortified that he would be peeling off my clothes any minute now and discover the sweat-laden body beneath. I’d run for over half an hour – there was definite rinsing required.
‘Fussy woman,’ Sean tutted irritably, but did eventually divert his path by taking us into the en-suite and, to my surprise, walked us both straight into the shower area before finally placing me down on my own two feet.
‘Is this the newest statement in running gear?’ he asked in amusement as he stepped back and checked out my outfit. Giggling, I looked down at myself and burst out into a full belly laugh. ‘No, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.’
‘You should approach Nike, I’m sure they’d like this design,’ he added on a smirk, before nodding and beginning to undo my belt, humming to himself as he did so, apparently simply happy to have me here. ‘Once again, may I say just how fucking sexy you look in my shirt,’ he murmured as he tossed my belt aside and dropped to his knees to remove my knickers, trainers, and socks. Clearly I wasn’t going to be allowed to shower on my own then. But that was fine; as long as I could rinse away the sweat before he started anything naughty, I’d feel fine about it all.
‘Arms up, gorgeous girl,’ he whispered, dropping a hot, open mouthed kiss on my temple. Obeying him immediately, I raised my arms as he peeled the T-shirt up my body until my head popped free, but instead of removing it fully from my arms, he chuckled a low, dark laugh and reached up to loop the head hole over the protruding shower head.
What the hell? I was now stood damp with sweat, dressed in only my bra, with my arms tangled in the T-shirt and stretched above my head. Tugging them, I found I was well and truly trapped, an outcome that had Sean standing back and looking mighty pleased with himself.
‘Be still, my gorgeous girl, or I’ll make you explain the broken shower to my plumber if you pull it from the wall,’ he whispered. To my surprise, he looked and sounded completely serious, so his threat stopped me instantly, and I stilled and looked at his mischievous face. I couldn’t believe him. Well, I sort of could. I mean, it was Sean, and he’d proven himself to be a bit kinky already, but still, tying me to the shower?
Collecting all of my clothes, Sean stepped out of the large shower cubicle, placed them on a chair, and swiftly undressed himself. As he pulled off his jeans I saw he was predictably hard, the image of me trussed up in his shower apparently rather a turn on.
‘I’ve changed my mind about being inside of you. I think I want a taste of your body instead …’ he murmured as he stepped back towards me and flicked a glance down towards my groin.
Oh God. He couldn’t seriously want to go down there after I’d run for thirty minutes and not showered! We barely knew each other! I really wasn’t at that level of intimacy yet. I wasn’t sure I would ever be at that level of intimacy. ‘But I’m all sweaty! I need to wash!’ I whined desperately, pinning my legs together as firmly as I could.
Sliding a hand though my hair, Sean gripped softly and slammed his lips down onto mine in a brutal kiss, his tongue instantly sending me to orbit with its skilled twists and turns as his other hand lowered to my bra. He didn’t even bother to undo it, just yanked both cups down until my breasts popped free, my nipples already hard and seeking his touch.
God, his wild behaviour was such a turn on that I could feel my core start to convulse. ‘I’m aware of that, and, quite frankly …’ he whispered against my lips, before leaning down and licking one sweaty nipple with a full, flat tongued swipe, ‘… I don’t give a fuck.’ Shifting to my other breast he repeated the same move, before groaning in pleasure and running a swipe up the valley at the centre of my breasts. ‘You taste fucking fantastic.’
Well, when he put it like that, who needs a shower? The way he spoke and practically worshipped me with his hands and mouth, allowed my self-consciousness to fully slip away and be replaced by an almost frantic coiling at my core, my channel clenching and desperate to be filled.
I didn’t care about the sweat any more. What sweat? All I wanted was him, desperately.
Dropping to his knees, Sean gripped my thighs and spread them so wide that I nearly lost my footing on the slippery tiles. Then he bent my left leg and looped it over his shoulder before lunging forwards and immediately pulling my clit into his mouth. A distorted cry left my lips and I jerked so hard from the surprise that my back hit the shower control behind me, causing the jets to spring to life above us. Yelping in shock at the cool water pouring over me, I quickly calmed again as Sean glanced up and grinned, his hair now plastered to his face from the spray and his eyes twinkling happily.
‘I’m that good, huh?’ he asked in amusement, before getting back to his task and exploring me with his tongue. Arrogant bugger. But I couldn’t really say anything, because he really was that good.
The water began to warm up and my head rolled back under the spray as his mouth continued to lick, suck, and nibble on my quivering flesh, his tongue disappearing inside me on several occasions and making me je
rk in surprise every time. ‘Are you sore from all our activities?’ he asked softly, his tongue still lashing at my clitoris while two of his fingers began to gently explore.
‘A little,’ I admitted, but not sore enough that I couldn’t go again.
‘We’ll just stick to two or three fingers then,’ he conceded, pressing one long digit right up inside me as he spoke, curling it so it immediately zeroed in on my G-spot. It was heavenly and my eyes fluttered shut only to snap open again as my mind went back to his words … we’ll just stick to two or three fingers … how many would he have used if I’d said I wasn’t sore? Four? His entire hand? There was no way I would fit that in, his hands were like spades. Thank goodness I’d told the truth.
I felt his second finger enter me and he began circling the two digits in a delicious rhythm that he accompanied with licks and flicks of his tongue. Soon I was levering myself on my one standing leg so I could increase the speed and pressure of his thrusts against me. I was close. Really close. It wouldn’t take too much more to send me over the edge.
‘Can you take another?’ he asked gruffly from between my legs. He wanted to put another finger in. He’d managed three once before, but it had been a bit of a tight squeeze.
I swallowed hard. To be honest, I had no idea if I could take another. I was hugely turned on, and the two thick fingers already inside me were certainly moving with enough ease. ‘Um, I have no idea,’ I replied honestly. ‘You can try if you’d like.’
‘Oh, I would very much like to,’ he muttered thickly before beginning to press with a third finger. It took him a bit of manoeuvring and pushing, but then I heard Sean give a hiss of appreciation and I suddenly felt my body give as his fingers slid inside. My eyes rolled shut at the sensation of fullness and I let out a low, lusty moan. I was full, but not sore, so that was just fine by me.
