Friends with Benefits

by Amy Brent

  His mother opened the door with a bright smile. She opened up her arms and hugged us both before inviting us in out of the cold. She led us to the living room where the rest of the family was enjoying pre-dinner cocktails. Steven’s father was in his usual green claw foot chair by the fire. He had a glass of brandy in one hand. Andrew was on the matching sofa with his arm around a beautiful blonde woman.

  Steven and I took our seats on the sofa across from his brother.

  “Well, don’t you two look sharp,” Andrew commented with a smile.

  “Don’t we always?” Steven asked, his eyes flicking to the woman under Andrew’s arm. “And who’s the new face?”

  “This is my girlfriend, Hannah. Hannah this is Steven and Allie.”

  Hannah smiled at both of us, and I smiled back. She was quite beautiful. Her eyes were covered in a shimmering gold shadow, and her high cheekbones were perfectly bronzed. She looked like a beach goddess. She was wearing a flowing silk sheath dress that was a mixture between gray and navy blue.

  “Nice to meet you both,” Hannah said pleasantly. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “Hannah is a florist,” Mrs. Marx chimed in. “She does beautiful arrangements. You should see her work.”

  Hannah waved her hand to blow off the compliment. “Thank you, but it’s really nothing special. I just like working with the flowers.”

  “Well, I think you’re quite talented,” Mrs. Marx insisted. “Being humble is sweet dear, but there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging your gift.”

  I smiled. Mrs. Marx was the same as ever. She loved to give everyone her two cents. She was a ray of positivity for me.

  The conversation shifted from Hannah’s florist shop to how things were going at work for me. I didn’t want to get into how much I hated my boss, so I left that alone and assured them that I was still happy working at the publishing company. Steven talked about his app and the near implosion of everything after it was hacked. Luckily, he had fixed the security breach and had only lost one investor. He was confident that he would be able to replace them in a week or two.

  We made our way into the dining room about an hour after we arrived and tucked in to enjoy a delicious meal. We had honey ham with scalloped potatoes and tons of different vegetables. Food at the Marx home was top notch.

  Dessert was a piping hot chocolate lava cake. I burned my tongue as I ate, but was enjoying it too much to stop. Afterward, we sipped on Irish coffees. Steven refrained so he could drive us home.

  At the end of the night, we walked back to Steven’s car. His family stood in the open doorway of the home and waved goodbye when we pulled away. As we drove, Steven rested his hand on my knee.

  In my heart, I felt like things couldn’t have gone any better. But I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a one-sided feeling. “That was a perfect evening,” I said, shimmying a little lower in the seat to get more comfortable.

  “It was,” Steven agreed.

  “How do you feel about everything?” I asked.

  He looked over at me. He was temporarily illuminated by warm white light as we passed under a streetlight. God, he was beautiful.

  “I feel pretty damn good,” he said, the corners of his mouth curling upward. “I’m completely in love with you, Allie Wright. I need you to know I get why you kept the secret to yourself. I understand now. And, listen, as long as you never keep anything like that from me again, I want to be with you. Not just as friends with benefits. I mean it. For real. I want to make this thing work. I want you. All of you.”

  My stomach did a backflip. My eyes welled with tears. I half-laughed half-sobbed, and Steven looked over at me in horror.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, dabbing at the corners of my eyes and trying not to smear my eyeliner. “These are happy tears. I can’t believe it. You mean it? You and me, a couple?”

  “I mean it. You and me. This is how it was always supposed to be, don’t you think? I don’t know why it took us so long to figure it out. But now that I have you, I don’t plan on letting you go.”

  My heart swelled with joy. I couldn’t believe this was happening. As we stopped at a red light, he shot me a dazzling white smile. He looked as happy as I felt. I leaned over, laughing and crying at the same time, and kissed him. He kissed me back, and we only came apart when the light turned green.

  The rest of the drive back to his place was the best drive of my life.

  We arrived at his home well after midnight. We both kicked our shoes off at the door and went straight to the bathroom. While he brushed his teeth, I took off my makeup. It was such a mundane thing to be doing together, but it felt so good.

  “This is pretty cool,” I said as I dried my face with one of his washcloths. “You and me. Getting ready for bed together. As a couple.”

  Steven grinned and patted my ass as he walked past me to go into the bedroom. “It doesn’t get better.”

  I joined him in bed a few minutes later after applying my face creams and brushing my teeth. He pulled the blankets down for me and then wrapped me up in his arms once I was under the covers. I fit perfectly against him. He nuzzled his chin into my shoulder. I listened to him breathe. I focused on being present in the moment: on Steven Marx’s arms wrapped around me. My boyfriend.

  I smiled into my pillow.

  Steven pulled me up tighter beside him. “This is good.” He breathed in my ear.

  “This is so good.” I giggled.

  “Maybe a little surreal,” he admitted.

  “Isn’t that how the best things feel at first?” I asked, turning my head to try to look at him.

  He planted a kiss on my cheek and pulled my hair off the side of my face. He cupped my cheek and turned me to face him. We kissed, soft and tender, and then he hugged me tighter. “Goodnight, Allie,” he said. “Tomorrow morning I’ll drive you to work. I’ll drive my girlfriend to work,” he added. I could hear his smile in his voice.

  I sighed happily.

  We had made it. Finally.

  All the drama, all the bullshit, was behind us. We were taking our next steps together, and I knew there was nothing that was going to get in our way; not this time. This time things were going to work. He and I both wanted this, and we were the kind of people who would do whatever it took to have what we wanted. I think it just took him a bit longer to figure it all out than it did for me.

  And I was okay with that. Because now he was mine, and he was curled up against my back. His breathing evened out. I listened to him fall asleep. I felt each of his deep breaths in his chest at my back.

  I fell asleep grinning like a fool.

  Chapter 31

  Steven

  When I woke up, I thought I was still dreaming. I was disoriented at first. Probably because it felt like someone was sucking my cock.

  I looked down.

  Allie was there, kneeling between my legs. She had my dick in her mouth, and she was sliding her lips up and down my shaft. Her dark eyes were fixed on me, and one of her hands was fondling my balls.

  I was positive, right then and there, that if there was a Heaven, this is what it would be.

  She pressed her tongue along the bottom of my shaft and took all of me in her mouth. I groaned and pressed my head against the pillow. It was common for me to wake up horny. Having her mouth over me in the morning was sending me into overdrive. I was going to come way too quickly.

  She played with the tip of my dick, tracing her tongue over the most sensitive spots and smiling at me when I flinched. She lightly traced her nails over the inside of my thighs and up my stomach. She worked me over like she never had. When she knew I was about to explode, she stopped and used her hands.

  I sat up and grabbed her wrists. She yelped playfully when I pulled her down on top of me. I propped myself up on my elbows and watched as she grabbed my cock and sat on it. She was so wet and so warm.

  “Fuck,” I breathed, unable to keep my head.

  A
llie smiled at me and rocked gently back and forth. She squeezed her breasts and threw her head back to look at the ceiling as she bucked on top of me. The ends of her hair grazed the top of my thighs in a way that made me want to devour her.

  Soon she was bouncing up and down. Her tits were begging for me to hold them. I reached out and played with her nipples. She moaned.

  I grabbed her hips and held her still. She tried to squirm away from me, shifting from side to side on my cock. I held her tighter, and she fell still. She watched me, her hair falling over her shoulder, as I started to slowly thrust into her, lifting my hips off the mattress. She moaned again. The sound was soft and sweet.

  I fucked her harder. Her hands fell to my chest to steady herself. The tips of her fingers pressed into my flesh as she grew closer and closer to her orgasm.

  She was tightening around me the way she did right before she came. I gritted my teeth, willing myself to hold on and not finish with her. I wasn’t done with her yet. I wanted to fuck her on her back, on her side, on the edge of the bed. To leave her shaking with pleasure.

  I got what I wanted. Allie came as I buried myself in her. She cried out, and her thighs tightened around my hips. She was strong. I loved that about her. I fell still beneath her when her orgasm was done. She was breathless and smiling.

  I rolled over, taking her with me. Her laughter was high pitched and wonderful. I threw her on her back. She lay beneath me and lifted her arms above her head. She wiggled from side to side, her body twisting like a snake. I traced a finger down the line in the middle of her stomach. She bit her bottom lip.

  “You’re out of this world sexy,” I told her as I pushed her legs apart.

  She didn’t answer me. I suspected she was incapable of words at the moment. That told me I was doing a good job.

  I slid my cock into her. Her back arched, and she moaned at the ceiling. I leaned over her and pinned her wrists above her head with one hand. She tried to escape me weakly and then lifted her head up to kiss my throat. She pinched my skin lightly with her teeth and then rained kisses down my chest as I moved inside her.

  She held her legs apart for me. She let her head fall back to the mattress. I tightened my grip on her wrists when I knew she was going to come. Her hips shifted below me as she mounted her orgasm. I knew all the signs.

  Her breathing was more rapid now. Her breasts rose and fell with each breath she took. I watched her, soaking in the sight of her as she closed her eyes. I fucked her as hard as I could. She let out a short scream of ecstasy, and I felt her grow even wetter around my cock. I continued thrusting in and out of her, but I was slow this time. I let her descend back down from her orgasm until I knew she was ready for more.

  Then, I flipped her over on her knees. I grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head back as I entered her. I saw her hands tighten into fists in the sheets. Her back was arched so dramatically that the line of her spine looked two times deeper than normal. The muscles in her shoulders were tight, and the dimples in her back were whispering sweet hellos to me.

  I buried my cock into her. My thighs pressed against the back of hers. I kept myself there for a minute, knowing she was aching for me to keep going. Her pussy pulsed around me.

  “Don’t stop,” she pleaded in a husky voice.

  I obeyed her command. I craned her neck back farther and fucked her hard and fast. She bucked against me when she came. Her thighs quivered and shook as muscle spasms ripped through her. She turned to putty in my hands. I released her hair, and she fell forward and twisted sideways so she could look at me over her shoulder. I was still moving slowly inside her.

  I pulled out of her and stroked my cock. She rolled over and tried to catch her breath. “We’re going to be late for work,” she said. “Come on, fuck me until you come.”

  “I don’t care if we’re late,” I said.

  She closed her eyes and smiled. Her hand fell between her legs, and she began rubbing herself in slow circles. “In that case, get your ass over here. I want your cock, Steven.”

  I watched her fingers move over her swollen pussy. She was bright pink, and her clit was bigger than I had ever seen it. She was so turned on. I stepped up to the edge of the bed and grabbed her beneath her knees. I tugged her to the edge of the bed. She giggled as I rolled her onto her side.

  She looked so hot when she was like that. Her hips were full, and her waist was small, giving her curves that made my head spin. She was looking up at me with heavy eyes and pouty lips. Her knees were pinched together as she lay on her side waiting for me. Her pussy would be so tight like this. I couldn’t bear to wait.

  So I pressed the tip of my cock on her. I teased her a bit, sliding up and down the length of her slit. She grew instantly wetter.

  “Fuck me,” she pleaded, her eyes still fixed on me.

  “You want it?” I asked, slipping the tip of my cock into her.

  She bit her bottom lip and nodded.

  “I can’t hear you,” I said, pulling out. Teasing her was excruciating. All I wanted was to be balls deep in her sweet, tight pussy.

  “I want it,” she said firmly.

  I slid my tip in. I waited a heartbeat before pushing in the rest of the way. She moaned softly. I thrust upward. She let her head fall back. This was a position I hadn’t tried with her before.

  I put my right hand on her hip and used my left to hold her knees down so she couldn’t move away from me with every thrust I gave her. She gasped when I got deeper than before. Her hand grasped my right wrist. Her nails pinched my skin.

  The way she was looking at me was doing all kinds of things to me. I could feel my cock swelling. I was going to blow any second. She knew it too; her lips were curling into a seductive smile. Her eyes fell closed, and she tilted her chin back. A little moan escaped her, and she tightened her grip on my wrist.

  I fucked her, deep and fast. Her cry gave voice to my orgasm as I filled her up. She hung her head and gripped the sheets as I pulled out of her. Then I gave her ass a nice little slap. She flinched and giggled before rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. Her chest rose and fell with every breath, and I watched her until she propped herself up on her elbows.

  “That was—I have no words,” she said between heavy breaths.

  “Good,” I said, crawling on top of her and planting a kiss on her lips. “That’s what I was going for.”

  “It’s going to be hard to get any work done today.” She giggled as I slid off of her and padded into the bathroom to shower. She followed me, pausing to stretch in the doorframe of the bathroom. Her fingers clutched the top of the frame, and she let out a soft little moan of pleasure from the stretch.

  I admired the curve of her waist and the line in the middle of her stomach leading to her navel. Her breasts were perky and full. Her pussy was bare save for a small triangle of short dark hair that pointed to her slit. Her legs were muscular, and her ankles were thin. Her toes were painted red.

  “You’re going to be the death of me,” I said to her as she released the doorframe and joined me outside the shower. I turned on the hot water.

  “Don’t be so dramatic,” she whispered, putting her finger to my lips. “You have no idea how good things are going to get from here on out.”

  “I think I have a bit of an idea.” I smiled.

  “We’ll see,” she said, tugging open the shower door and stepping under the water. She slicked her hair back. Water trickled over her eyebrows and down her face. Some drops clung to her long dark lashes. I watched it trail down her breasts and over her nipples.

  I joined her in the shower and closed the door behind us.

  Her eyes were closed as she held her face under the water and ran her fingers through her hair. I kissed her, pushing her lips apart with my tongue. I explored the inside of her mouth.

  Soon her arms were draped over my shoulders, and I was pushing her back a step so that her shoulder blades were pressed up against the glass shower wall. I slipped a knee bet
ween her legs.

  Then I began stroking her pussy. She smiled into our kiss.

  “We have to get ready for work,” she whispered. “James will throw a fit if I’m not there before his morning meeting. Steven,” her voice had started off firm but trailed off when she whispered my name. She wanted this as much as I did.

  “Fuck James. Let’s just enjoy it right now, alright? I still want more of you. I always want more of you.”

  She spread her legs further apart for me. I slid a finger inside her.

  She blinked water out of her eyes and sighed happily as I fucked her with my fingers. The water was hot on my shoulders. The steam fogged the glass around us.

  Allie turned around and lifted her ass in the air for me. She looked back at me over her shoulders. “If you want more, take it,” she said.

  So I did.

  Chapter 32

  Allie

  I had been extremely lucky to walk into work late that morning to discover that James himself hadn’t yet arrived. There was a message on my desk that he wouldn’t be in that day due to a personal family emergency. I assumed he and his wife were meeting with their lawyers to sign the divorce papers. She was probably the happiest woman alive at this very moment, knowing she was about to be free of him forever.