by Serena Grey
My head fell back as I came, and I bit into his shoulder. He kept thrusting, his teeth nipping at my neck, my chin, my bottom lip. Tears filled my eyes. I was dying of pleasure and I didn’t want him to stop.
“Daphne.” His voice was rough, and my name sounded like a prayer on his lips, an erotic incantation. “Daphne, Daphne, Daphne.”
I could only moan in reply. I wasn’t myself. All I knew was him, his touch, his cock inside me, the pleasure he was giving me.
I came again, and this time, my eyes locked with his. His stormy grey depths were cloudy with desire, lust, and heat. I cried out and my body shuddered again and again. His arms tightened around me as he thrust deep inside, gripping me feverishly as he came.
He fell back on a chair, and I ended up on his lap, straddling him. He cupped my face in his hands. “What are you?” he said, wonder in his voice.
I couldn’t reply. I buried my face in his neck and breathed in his scent. I knew what he was.
He was a god of pleasure.
* * *
I had to send Amy another message to let her know not to expect me back home for a while. Then I spent the rest of the day in bed with Jason. It was decadent. Food and sex, then food again and more sex, then exhausted sleep.
I woke up in the early hours of the morning and found myself alone on the bed. I was naked, so I went to the walk-in closet and found myself another one of Jason’s comfy t-shirts. Then I went to find him.
I hadn’t noticed before how large the apartment was. The hallway had a high curved ceiling and a thickly carpeted floor. A few doors led to other rooms I itched to explore, but I made my way to the end of the hallway where one archway led toward the kitchen and one into the quiet living room.
The living room was well decorated in muted grey and white tones, and it had windows that faced the park. For the first time, I wondered just how successful Jason was. I skirted the room and the attached dining area, circling back in the direction of the hallway and the kitchen, then I saw the open doorway that led into a den.
There was a large TV spanning almost the full width and height of one wall, and facing it on a wide leather couch, Jason was holding a gaming controller, engrossed as the colors from the screen splashed reflections all over his body.
He stopped when I entered the room, pulling off his noise-canceling earphones as I went to sit beside him. He slid his hand around my waist and dropped a kiss on my exposed shoulder where my t-shirt had slipped off.
“My little bird,” he said softly, trailing a kiss to my neck.
I smiled. “My wild sex god.”
His eyebrow quirked. “What?”
“You started it with the last-name nicknames.”
“Yours is definitely sweeter though, you have to admit. Daphne Bird.” He nuzzled my lower lip. “Little bird.”
I rolled my eyes though I was smiling. “What are you playing?”
He told me the name of the game. “I’m investing in the company. Hopefully, this is going to be big. Do you want to play?”
I shook my head; I was no gamer, but sometimes I liked to watch. “I can watch and cheer you on.”
“Okay.” He picked up the controller and un-paused the game then disconnected the earphones and let the soundtrack fill the room as he played.
It was an engrossing game, and I cheered him on and lamented the near misses. When he passed a difficult stage, we both whooped and high-fived. It was fun. After a while, he paused the game and put the console aside, and we switched to binge-watching a comedy series. By the time we both fell asleep on the couch, it was already light outside.
I woke up a few hours later, lying on his lap. One hand had stopped mid-stroke in my hair. I got up, careful not to wake him. I curled my legs beneath me on the couch, facing him, watching his face as he slept.
He was handsome. Sometimes when I looked at him, I was swept off my feet all over again by how good he looked. Now, without the charming smiles, without the haze of sex and physical attraction, he looked innocent, sweet and boyish even, and something in his face tugged at my heart.
I could love this guy.
Immediately, I pushed the thought away. I didn’t even know him well enough to be thinking like that. I had to be careful to make sure I didn’t allow sex, however good it was, to cloud my senses.
He stirred, and with one hand, he searched, stopping when he touched my knee, squeezing it but not opening his eyes. I smiled, strangely overwhelmed by how sweet it was that he was reaching for me even while he was asleep.
I slid off the couch. He made a sound of protest and opened his eyes. “Don’t go,” he said sleepily.
“I’m not going,” I whispered, kneeling in front of him. The sleepy haze slowly left his eyes as I slid my fingers over the tops of his thighs. His muscles tensed under my fingers and I looked up at him, meeting and holding his gaze as I reached for the bulge of his cock and stroked him through his sweatpants.
His throat worked as he swallowed. I tugged at his waistband and he lifted his hips to help me as I pulled it down to free his hardening cock.
I’d touched him, stroked him, but only in the heated rush before we had sex. Now, I wanted to savor him the way he’d done me countless times already. I wrapped my fingers around him and moved my fingers up and down his hard length. He was beautiful, like hard steel encased in warm velvet. I stroked him until he closed his eyes and his head fell back, and then I took him between my lips.
He was perfection. I licked every inch of him then sucked him deep into my mouth. He moaned softly, and my senses reveled in having him under my power. I released him slowly, swirling my tongue around the head of his cock, his hips flexed, and he let out a heavy, helpless sound.
I kept going, sucking, tasting, feeling him harden even more. His chest rose and fell, his hips tensed. I wanted him like this, conscious of nothing but the pleasure I could give him.
I cupped his balls in my palm, massaging them lightly. His hands threaded in my hair then he was trying to pull me up, but I didn’t budge. This was my turn. I sucked him deep to the back of my throat then licked his shaft and the tip of his cock before sucking him deep again. His hand fisted in my hair and he started to guide my movements, pumping his hips into my mouth as he moved my head.
“Open your mouth.” His voice was hoarse.
I opened wider, and I felt his cock touch the back of my throat.
“Fuck, I love your mouth.” The words were a dirty whisper.
“Mmm,” I moaned, tightening my lips around him.
He groaned and his fingers tightened in my hair. His hips flexed harder, thrusting. “Suck me hard.” I clenched my lips and he groaned. “Fuck.” He said it over and over again, thrusting into my mouth. I was dripping wet, aroused, but I wasn’t going to stop until he gave me everything.
I rolled his balls in my hand and surrendered my mouth to him. He moaned, the muscles of his chest tightened, and then with a broken cry, he came in a hot rush, hitting the back of my throat.
I swallowed, licking him as he slid out of my mouth, his whole body shuddering.
“Fuck,” he said again. I got to my feet and he pulled me down to straddle him on the couch. “You’re going to kill me,” he said, “and even then, I still won’t have had enough.”
I laughed. “You sound like you’ve never gotten a blowjob before.”
He kissed me, deep and hard, then smiled wryly. “Not that kind of blowjob.”
“So, I get an A plus?”
“Are we grading each other now?” He didn’t wait for me to reply. “If we are then I’d have to grade you as the best I’ve ever had.”
I chuckled, not sure how I felt. On one hand, it was a compliment, but on the other, it reminded me of how active his sex life was, how many he’d ‘had’ before me…and how many there would be after me.
We took turns showering and then ate the early lunch he ordered from a delivery service. I knew I had to leave at some point, but I didn’t want to. I’d never felt th
e kind of hesitation I was feeling, the desire to keep the chapter open, to get some sort of commitment that our weekend encounter would not be the end.
I wondered what he was thinking, but I couldn’t ask him. I couldn’t ask anything. Would we see each other again? Was that even what I wanted?
He was still a player.
He was still my roommate’s brother.
I was still the same person who’d been trying to spend some time on my own, without the haze of sex or hookups, so I could evaluate what I wanted from my romantic life.
I was confused.
We finished eating and I helped him clear the plates. “I should head home,” I said softly.
He sighed. “It’s unreasonable how much I’ve been dreading the moment you’d say that.”
I felt so much relief that he was feeling the same hesitation I was feeling, and it was almost pathetic. “I had a great time.”
“But…”
“But nothing. The weekend is over. I have to go home at some point.”
“You’re right.” He tapped his fingers on the table in a short staccato rhythm. “I’ll take you as soon as you’re ready,” he said. “And…I asked Leonard to do some shopping for you.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“A change of clothes.”
“Oh.” For a moment I’d been afraid he was going to give me a token gift because we’d had sex, which would have been insulting.
He followed me back to his room and I saw the shopping bags beside the nightstand. Inside, there were two options, a dress in a soft jersey fabric with ballerina flats, and a plain top with jeans and sneakers—and, of course, underwear.
I looked at Jason. “Leonard got the sizes right.”
Jason grinned. “I got the sizes right.”
I nodded. “Seems you’re very familiar with the female body.”
He gave me a quizzical look but didn’t say anything.
I started to change. Why had I said that? Why did I suddenly care about his experience with women? Why did I care that the experience was so vast he could guess my sizes on the first try? Why did I have the insane desire to hold on to his t-shirt, the one I’d been wearing that still smelled like him? What was wrong with me?
He went into the walk-in closet, and rather than wait for him, I went out to wait in the living room. He joined me a few minutes later wearing a grey Henley and jeans that accentuated his long legs. I tried not to stare.
He fiddled with his keys. “You ready?”
“Mhmm.”
He nodded then we took the elevator down to the basement parking garage. He was driving the same car from Friday night, a sleek silver sports car with the pouncing jaguar gleaming on the hood. He opened the door for me with a tight smile then joined me inside and started driving.
I waited for him to say something. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted him to say; I just knew I didn’t want this silence hanging between us.
He parked down the street from my apartment building and turned off the ignition before turning to me.
“We’re here,” he said.
“Yeah.” I felt awkward. I didn’t want to leave, didn’t want our weekend to end, but of course it couldn’t last forever. I felt strangely teary. “I had a great time.”
He took my hand and played with my fingers. “Daphne…” he said slowly. Then he smiled wryly. “Me too.”
I pulled my hand from his abruptly; I just couldn’t bear the intimacy anymore. “I guess I’ll see you around,” I said.
“Yeah.”
I opened the door and jumped out of the car. I was wearing the clothes he’d bought me and carrying my dress and shoes in the shopping bag. I turned just long enough to wave and then I was hurrying through the entrance of my building and up the stairs, leaving behind what had been, without question, the best weekend of my life.
Chapter Seven
“I thought I heard you come in.” Amy was standing at the door to my room. I’d taken off my shoes and was lying across my bed with my feet dangling close to the floor. I was still trying to unpack how I felt about the weekend, about Jason, and about what I wanted going forward, and I wasn’t making any headway.
“Yeah.” I smiled at her. “Came in a couple of minutes ago.”
She raised a brow in a gesture that reminded me of Jason. “Nice dress,” she said with an admiring glance at the outfit her brother had bought me. “Nice glow too. So…how was it?”
I chuckled. “Wild.”
“Looks like it. You just disappeared from the club. He must have been something.” She gave me a playful wink.
I drew in a breath, my mind going back to Jason and that moment on the dance floor when I’d known I wanted nothing more than to take every pleasure his body could offer mine.
“He was…really something.”
“I can see that from your face,” Amy said. “Anybody I know?”
I shook my head and hoped she wouldn’t see the lie in my eyes.
“Bummer,” she said. “Anyway, Jason came to the table right after you went down to the dance floor and said he had to get back to the office. So, it was just me and Colin, and we had fun—free drinks, great music, and then we came back here and made good use of your absence.”
“You horny girl,” I said, laughing.
She grinned. “Look who’s talking.”
I was glad she hadn’t made the connection with me and Jason both leaving the club. I hadn’t missed the part where Jason had told them he was leaving even before he’d joined me on the dance floor. Had he known even then that we’d be leaving together?
“Sorry I didn’t let you know I was leaving, though in my defense, I didn’t think you’d miss me with Colin around.”
Amy shook her head. “Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you had fun for a change.” She paused. “I think I’m in love with Colin,” she mused. “It’s not too soon to know, is it?”
I thought about it for a moment while images of Jason’s face danced in my head. “I wouldn’t know,” I said softly, “but if you’re happy, I’m happy for you.”
“I am. I’ve never felt this way before,” she said. “Maybe your hookup will turn into something serious too, and we can both get happily-ever-afters.”
I forced a laugh, trying not to think about how tempting the prospect was. “That’s very unlikely.”
“Oh well.” She shrugged. “I’m ordering tacos. You want?”
“Yeah.” I watched her leave and close the door behind her. I felt awful for lying to her, but Jason and I would probably never hook up again, so there wasn’t really any point in telling her something had happened between us.
I spent the rest of the day in bed catching up on my reading. Every weekend, I read either a new bestseller or an old classic, and they were real, physical books, too—I didn’t do electronic reading devices when I read for pleasure. I loved the smell of real paper novels.
Usually, when I was reading, the whole world around me faded to nothing, but today, even as I reread one of my favorite classics, I kept thinking of Jason.
I thought about the sharp slash of his upper lip, the curve of his lower lip, the way he sighed when I bit his nipple, the way the storm in his eyes raged and rolled. I thought of the hardness of his body and how it felt to touch him.
I thought about texting him, but what would I say? There was nothing left to be said, and I knew deep down it would be foolish to indulge my desire to reach out to him just for the sake of keeping our connection open.
I read until late in the night and when I finally slept, I dreamed about him, and then I woke up wishing he were there in bed with me.
The rest of the week, I buried myself in my work, going through manuscripts like my life depended on it. I stayed behind in the office till late and still brought work home with me. I did everything to make sure my mind was continuously busy, because as soon I had a spare idle moment, I was enveloped by thoughts of Jason Wild.
I was obsessed, and it confused me,
because I’d never felt that way about any man before. It’s the sex, I told myself. Good sex could have such an effect. I refused to consider that it could be more than that. How could it be? I barely even knew the guy.
Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
“You’re working again.”
Amy was standing over me with her hands on her hips. She was dressed to go out, but even with her small frame, she looked almost motherly as she hovered above me.
I covered the screen of my iPad. “How do you know?”
“You read real books when you’re reading on your own time.”
“Okay, you caught me.” I chuckled. “I didn’t think you’d noticed.”
She shrugged. “You’ve been working a whole lot. Maybe you should take some time off, call up the guy from last weekend. Have some fun, let off some steam…”
“I don’t think I’m working too hard, and the guy…he’s old news.”
“Then someone else,” she said. “Really, you’re so wound up I can feel it from across the room.”
I laughed. “It’s just stress from work. I’m fine.” I was lying—the stress was from keeping myself from reaching for my phone to call her brother every minute of every day.
“If you say so,” she said. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.” Her phone buzzed. “Colin’s here—gotta go.”
“Give him a kiss for me,” I said as she hurried out to meet him.
After she had gone, I stared at the words on my screen, but I couldn’t make sense of them.
As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.
Only, I wasn’t happy. I was miserable, and the fact that I was feeling that way over a man was alien to me. I didn’t know how to deal with it.
I forced myself to focus on the manuscript. It was a young adult fantasy and some of the concepts were dated, but on the whole, the story had some originality. I read one more chapter then my phone rang.
It was Jason.
My heart kicked in my chest and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe. I stared at his name flashing on the screen, almost certain I had imagined it.
