by Wendy Silk
Amanda looked at her friend, wondering about her sudden interest in a bar they’d never visited before. It would be nice to pretend she was back in Ireland for an evening, though.
“Sure, that sounds great,” she replied. As they strolled, she was electrically aware of Billy’s hand touching the back of her neck. He was undaunted by her prickliness about their social differences. Rather than being put off by her pettiness, he reacted by reassuring her that his interest in her was serious.
Half an hour later, Amanda realized why Hailey had suggested the Irish pub. Right after they were seated and ordered a round of drinks, Sam appeared, winding his way toward them from the front door. He smiled broadly at Hailey and easily slipped into a seat next to her, sitting so closely that their bodies touched at almost every possible point along their sides.
“Are you guys officially together now?” Amanda saw no reason why she shouldn’t just ask the question aloud. It was pretty obvious that they wanted her to know.
Amanda leaned back as the server came with their drinks, and as she leaned, her thigh brushed Billy’s. She thought she might die of desire there in the pub before she could get him to a quiet spot and work his jeans off him again. If only she could reach up and run her hand along the side of his tanned cheek right now, stopping to kiss the tiny laugh lines around his mouth. The thought of his tongue touching hers, darting along her lower lip, made her tingle. Without looking up, she could feel his eyes on her, as he watched her with a mixture of amusement and shared heat. There was something about touching him, about being watched by him.
Hailey’s voice brought her back to reality. “Amanda, seriously.” Hailey looked her in the eye with a happy smile. “Didn’t you know Sam and I were a couple?” She reached under the table to hold Sam’s hand. He sheepishly saluted Amanda with his beer.
“Huh,” Amanda said. “I mean, it’s not a complete surprise.” She was teasing her best friend--how could anybody object to a date with somebody as wholesome as studious Sam? But she caught a glance from Hailey that told her there wasn’t much more room for poking fun at their new relationship unless she wanted to start talking about her own. And she knew she didn’t. Just as she was about to agree to lay off the two of them, her seat was jolted by Billy rising from his chair.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Billy lunged across the space between their table and the next. Without warning, he grabbed the arm of the man sitting alone with a beer and his phone. “That is not ok, man.”
Billy looked bigger and stronger than Amanda had ever seen him before. His face was like a thundercloud as he confronted the slim, nondescript man who was sitting alone. Billy leaned into his face with a menacing stare. “Get out of here, before I throw you out,” he snarled in a low tone. “And you’ll stay away from us in the future. I’ll be looking for you.” Something about Billy’s voice was so quietly threatening that the other man immediately rose to his feet and practically scurried away. At that, Billy returned to their table, where the other three sat gaping at his inexplicable actions.
“Billy, what on earth?” Amanda stared at him.
“You didn’t see,” he answered. “That guy was taking photos of us, Amanda. Not of anybody else here, just you and me, over and over again.”
Amanda felt a chill. She had wondered if Michael would send out his tentacles to watch her. Here she was, thinking that she could live a tiny slice of freedom in another city, but she had been fooling herself. She was so taken aback that it was a small grief that settled on her heart like a loss.
To cover for herself, she turned on Billy. “Well, I don’t know who he was, or why he would do that. And now we never will, since you scared him away. You could have talked to him, not intimidated him with your brawn. Things don’t always have to be physical, you know.”
Billy snorted with laughter at that. “Amanda, you’re the last person who should say that! Aren’t you a little too fond of things getting physical?” His eyes smoldered at her, reminding her of how much she enjoyed joining her body to his.
She subsided into a blush, knowing he was right. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hailey wondering what Billy had meant by that. Hoping to prevent her friend wondering any further, Amanda lifted her drink and jokingly proposed a toast to the new couple across the table from her.
The rest of the night was uneventful, with no further appearances from the man who had been surreptitiously photographing Amanda. Billy regained his easy manner the moment the subject was closed. Although he had been quick to anger when he perceived a threat from the other man, he was also willing to let it go once he had sorted it out. As they walked back to Amanda’s dorm, she replayed that moment in her mind. She was sure the man was Michael’s spy. How had he known where to find her? He might have followed them, but then again she was sure he had been in his seat when they arrived. She and Hailey had never been to that pub before.
The only person who had known ahead of time where they were going was Hailey. She’d been willing to go wherever Hailey suggested. Was this the work of her oldest friend? It might not even be the first time, Amanda mused. As they drew close to Amanda’s dorm, the two couples separated. Amanda tried hard to keep the worry from her voice as she said goodnight to the people she had believed were her friends.
Chapter 15: Connection
Waving their goodbyes to Hailey and Sam, Amanda and Billy turned the last corner in their approach to the lawn behind her private dormitory. The night was warm and the air buzzed with the last of the summer insects. Darkness pooled around them, so still that it felt like they might be the only people outside for miles.
“Where is everybody?” Amanda felt a little nervous being so alone with Billy. It was silly, to think that she had begun the evening wondering if he could fit into a public place as her date, and now here she was feeling trepidation at the thought of nobody else being near. What could possibly happen? It couldn’t be that she was worried he was going to ravish her without discussion--she had already done that to him.
“Oh, I’d say it’s just that time of night when everybody is still closing down the bars before bedtime. Or, you know, they’ve already gone to bed together.” Billy mock winked at her, pretending to check out her cleavage. Caught by his own joke, however, he began actually lingering his gaze over her breasts. He looked simultaneously abashed and irrepressibly aroused.
Billy leaned against the stucco wall of the building and pulled her against him. Now that they had left the garden lights, she couldn’t see his face. She could feel his strong hands on her skin, however, pressing against the small of her back, bringing her hips to his. His lips made their way down her neck to her throat, stopping there to lick the damp hollow between her collarbones. Firmly. Billy turned them both around so that the wall was at her back and he was pressing his hips into hers. His arms framed her, as he rested them against the wall on either side of her.
Her response was more passionate than ever. She felt that she would never be able to do anything other than this again. Her lips met his with all the passion she had ever felt in her life, sliding together with an urgency that surprised both of them. She tugged at his clothes, anywhere, just wanting to get them off him. Her desire was greater than any care she might take about where they were or whether anybody might be watching them.
Billy lifted his face, straightening his body with reluctance. His eyes sought hers unsuccessfully in the shadows.
“Amanda,” he murmured. “Tell me what you’re running from.”
She became still. How could he be so attuned to her thoughts? She had never known somebody so observant.
“Billy, I don’t know what you mean,” she tried to brush off the seriousness of his words. “I’m not running from anything. If anything, I’m running toward--well, toward you. I can’t help it.” She drew herself up to her fullest height and ran the tip of her tongue along his lower lip. Despite his effort to stop their passion, he parted his lips in response. Amanda took his lower lip i
n her mouth, sucking it. She needed to distract them both from this line of questioning.
“Is there somewhere out here where we could go?” she asked him throatily. “You know, so we don’t have to go in through the lobby? A garden shed, maybe? Where do they keep all those rakes and wheelbarrows?” She didn’t know why she had said “they” rather than “you.”
Without speaking, Billy turned down the pathway, gently pulling her along with him. They walked in silence for a few minutes, taking a turn to the left, away from the light and the buildings.
“Let’s stop here for a minute,” Billy said hoarsely. His breath was coming faster than she would have expected. The light walk had been easy enough, especially for somebody as fit as he was. Amanda realized that he was out of breath because he was so intensely turned on by even holding her hand. As her eyes adjusted to the dark in this quiet, wooded section of land behind the buildings, she spotted a small, falling down shed. It was not much more than a couple of old, weather beaten walls meeting at rickety angles, but it would give them a small amount of privacy.
As they stopped, Billy pulled her against him again, leaning her back against the weathered wood. His hard, workman’s arms encircled her, and his lips moved hungrily against her cheek. Before they had even spoken again, he was fondling her ass, working his way under her skirt, reaching for her panties. She hardly knew what to think, but she knew that she wouldn’t let this moment get away. She might not be able to admit to him that she was running from something. Now, though, she knew she had somewhere to be; in his arms. She would let him take her, again and again. If she could find a way to make it last forever, she would.
“I’ve been dreaming of this, Amanda,” Billy whispered. “Of you. I can’t get you out of my head. All this evening, I wondered when we could leave so I could hold you again.”
His voice was soft and caressing, but his hands were insistent and everywhere at once. His thick thumb had found its way inside her panties and was circling her slippery cunt. Without another word, he pushed his thumb into her, making her gasp with pleasure. Just as he had done twice already with his cock, he thrust his thumb in and out of her, finding the motion that made her feel as if there was no air to breathe anywhere in the deserted woods.
Billy’s other hand ran down her left side. He bent down and used both hands to gently slide her panties along her legs to the dirt floor of the abandoned shed. She leaned against the boards of the wall, not even noticing that they were splintered and dirty. Her only thoughts were of Billy and where his hands would touch her next.
It wasn’t his hands that had her attention next, however; it was his tongue. Kneeling before her, he had hiked her skirt to her waist and was kissing the inside of her thigh. His tongue began to lap gently at her soft, secret spot. She tensed, afraid to move in case he stopped, but also incapable of holding still as pleasure coursed through her. Billy’s hands and his mouth were everywhere on her, insistently finding the nerve endings that would bring her to complete collapse. She stifled a scream as she came for the first time ever from the touch of a man’s tongue. Her limbs felt helpless as she leaned back against the shed wall.
“Billy,” she mumbled. “How are we doing this?”
He stood easily and leaned into her, nuzzling her neck. As she regained her strength, she knew what she would do next. She reached to his waist and unbuttoned his jeans. She moved the zipper slowly, knowing she’d be freeing his massive erection. She pushed the fabric of his blue jeans down by cupping his ass with her fingers. When his jeans were at his ankles, she came back up along the path of his strong legs, reaching his crotch again. He wore plain white boxer briefs, which she tugged down to settle with his jeans on the dirt floor of their makeshift love shack.
Billy was trying to take this in his stride, just as he had done on their first time, when Amanda had offered herself to him, ready for fucking with no questions asked. He managed to be almost nonchalant about it, but his eagerness showed in his bright cheeks and his quivering cock that pointed skyward. He didn’t try to speak, though, allowing himself to surrender to the moment.
Amanda raised herself up again from the ground, gently brushing her face along the hair of his thighs as she found her balance on her knees. She lapped the skin of his belly in broad strokes as if she were devouring an ice cream cone. His washboard abs felt even firmer to her tongue than they had when they were pressed against her through the fabric of their clothes. When she reached his pubic hair, she tasted it too, savoring the salt of a young man at the end of a hot day. She was already so aroused again that she wasn’t sure she could bring him off without stopping to put him inside her. Yet she knew she wanted to give him this private gift.
Amanda reached Billy’s throbbing cock, curving its shiny tip upwards. She licked it with gentle lapping tastes. As he let a low sound escape his throat, she knew that they were the same in that their desire for each other increased every time they were together. She opened her pink lips a little more, and took him fully into her mouth. She rocked her wet mouth back and forth on him easily, with her lips wrapped around his impressive girth and her right hand at the base of his cock. Billy’s hands were drawn into her hair by his irresistible impulse to hold her head close to him. His fingers wound into her long blonde locks, pulling as she sucked him off skillfully. When he came, she opened her throat to swallow it all. Her blue eyes lifted upwards, meeting his in a startling affirmation of their emotional closeness.
Amanda had been shy with other men when she had been with them in this way, but she felt remarkably open with Billy, no matter what they were doing together. Meeting his eyes while still holding his cock in her mouth felt sweet to her. She had never been able to surrender to a moment like this before. It was true; she was running toward him in every way, despite the danger that her choice posed to her family. Something about this man was working on her like a drug and she was powerless to stop it.
Dazed from the explosive release that each had given the other with their lips, Billy and Amanda were quiet on their walk back to the bustling parts of campus. They held hands with their fingers interlaced so tightly that there was no possibility they might be split apart. When they reached her dorm, Amanda turned to Billy and sweetly kissed him once on the lips. Even that brief contact sent a frisson of excitement down her spine. Until next time, she thought.
Chapter 16: Absence
On Monday, Amanda went to her seminars with so light a step that she almost skipped instead of walked. Around every corner, she looked eagerly for Billy and his cart of landscaping tools. The corners of her mouth were permanently turned upward. It was hard to keep her mind on her work as memories of Billy’s firm body kept intruding on her concentration. Finally, she had finished her commitments for the day and she began her walk home.
For weeks now, she had counted on seeing Billy each afternoon. He would be bending at the waist to rake the first of the fall leaves, or kneeling in a freshly mulched garden bed to pull weeds. In any position, his blue jeans would catch her eye. She had never seen him with another worker, which seemed unusual. Everything about him was out of the ordinary.
Today, he was nowhere to be seen. The next day, she felt the same keen disappointment as her searching eyes failed to spot him. By the end of the week, Amanda’s excited smile had faded entirely, replaced by a sense of impending disaster. He could be sick--there could be any number of explanations. But he hadn’t called her or sought her out at all. Was it possible that it was over just as quickly as it had begun?
On Friday evening, Amanda met Hailey for an early happy hour. They sat across from each other on a concrete patio with only the faintest of breezes. The crickets chirped incessantly, giving the evening a tropical feeling. Amanda had resolved to keep her worry to herself, but she found that she couldn’t stop herself from mentioning Billy’s absence
“Hailey, you know I’m still interested in Billy, right?” Amanda felt a little crazy as she pronounced this understatement.
H
er best friend looked at her, obviously trying not to laugh out loud. “Yeah, I noticed that you two were just a little bit into each other when were at the pub. And every time I try to get you to talk about it, you clam up. You always tell me everything, but if you won’t talk about this, then it’s got to be good. Are you going to tell me all about it now?”
Amanda tried to be cool, but she couldn’t stop herself from beaming as she talked about Billy. “Yes! We have a really strong connection,” she heard herself prevaricating. “I’m, well, I’m really attracted to him.”
Hailey smiled knowingly. “That was obvious last week. A blind person would have known that. But is it just physical attraction, or something more? I know you have a way of jumping into your crushes. Or do I mean jumping onto them?” She grinned as Amanda halfheartedly kicked her. “You know that sometimes you act too quickly. Are you sure this is a good idea? How much do you really know about him?”
“Hailey, how do you always do that? It’s like you’re reading my mind. Yes, I may have rushed into something here. I was so sure it felt right. But here’s the thing: I haven’t seen him all week. He hasn’t been working anywhere on campus. I’ve looked absolutely everywhere. Have you seen him?”
Hailey shook her head. “Nope. But I’d probably walk right past him. Okay, maybe I’d stop for a second to check out his butt. You’re the one who was stalking him, though. If you can’t find him anywhere, then he must not be there. Why don’t you just call him or text him?” She looked quizzically at her best friend. “You’re worried he quit his job without telling you, aren’t you. You’re thinking he would do that to get away from seeing you again. That sounds a little drastic. Usually when people are trying to get out of a hookup, they can just avoid each other and that’s enough.”
