by Julia Wolf
His frankness took me by surprise, and I honestly didn’t know how to respond. No one had ever said anything so sweet to me. Instead of speaking, I moved my body so I lay on James completely, my legs on his legs, my belly against his. My head rested on his shoulder and my arms snaked around his neck. I lay on him for a while, our breathing becoming synchronized as he stroked my back with his fingertips.
Tipping my head back, I studied his face. His lips were curved up in a slight smile. My hands buried themselves in his beard. It was so snuggly in there, I just couldn’t help it.
“Are you going to stay here with me tonight?” I asked softly.
He closed his eyes and inclined his head slightly.
“Is that a yes?”
James grinned. “Yes.”
I kissed him. Damn, he was cute. I knew he hated when I called him that, but the guy was adorable without even trying.
“Just a warning,” I said, breaking the silence. “I’ll most likely wake you up in the middle of the night to have sex. If that’s not your bag, I’d run away screaming if I were you.”
James pulled my head back down onto his shoulder and whispered into my ear, “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
Seventeen
James was a machine. As it turned out, he hardly let me sleep that night. I guess there was something to be said for dating a younger guy. His recovery time took only minutes instead of hours.
Over the next week anytime we weren’t working, we were in bed. Only my bed, that is, because James still hadn’t asked me to come to his place. I didn’t ask, didn’t push. For some reason he was more comfortable coming to me and I chose not to question it. We were still new, still finding our feet, but what we had so far was good—really good.
I’d been keeping quiet about James to Rachel and Eliza. They had to suspect something since I hadn’t gone to the wine bar when they asked, offering only a flimsy excuse at best. I didn’t know exactly why I held him so close to my vest. Possibly just so I could see how it played out before they went crazy over me having a boyfriend. At least, I thought of him as my boyfriend. In my head we both were ‘all in.’ But that was another thing we hadn’t discussed.
Rachel would probably shake her head at all my unanswered questions. I let things slide because my favorite way of communicating with James was sex, so in that regard we had communication in spades. I let my body tell him he made me happy and comfortable, and that I really, really liked him. And James, for his part, let me be myself. Of course he was the main beneficiary of my form of communication and affection, but I’d had men in the past try to force me to slow down, to have long talks by candlelight, to spill my inner secrets. That had only made me run for the nearest hills.
Laurel had been making herself scarce lately, but when I got home from work that night she finally appeared, standing in her favorite spot in front of the stove.
“Hey, L! I feel like I haven’t seen you in a week!” I said as I walked into the kitchen.
She looked over her shoulder and laughed. “You’ve been locked away in your room with your mountain man, of course you didn’t see me!” she said, stirring a pot. “I actually had to stay late at work and I was there straight through the weekend. Every time I think I’m getting to the bottom of the pile, someone stacks something on top.”
I stood next to her and put my arm around her diminutive shoulder. “Something’s got to give, Laurel. You can’t keep working at this pace.”
She shrugged. “I was home by six-thirty tonight, so I can’t complain.” She smiled brightly, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Anyway, enough of boring work talk. Taste this soup!”
Laurel held a wooden spoon to my lips and I took a taste. “Mmmm…delicious. I’m such a stereotype of a basic girl, but I love anything pumpkin-related in the fall. What else did you make me?”
“I’m going for comfort food tonight. So, I made pumpkin soup and meatloaf muffins. I hope James is coming over because I made way too much as usual.”
I nodded. “He should be here any minute. I texted him earlier.”
Laurel went back to stirring her soup and a few minutes later James knocked on the door. As much as I tried to force myself to play it cool and walk casually to the door, my legs had a mind of their own, running over and flinging the door open.
My beautiful James had a big grin on his face when he saw me. I barely let him walk through the door before I threw myself at him. He stood smiling with his hands on my ass as I kissed all over his face.
He laughed and pointed to his lips. “They’re right here, Frannie!”
I finally kissed his lips and sighed. “I know, but I like the rest of you too. You’re just going to have to put up with me.”
James pulled me tightly against him. “I’m not complaining,” he whispered, kissing down the side of my neck.
“Oh my god, keep doing that and I’ll have to mount you right here in this hallway, which would be a bit awkward since Laurel’s here.”
James stood up straight and laughed. “Did she cook?” he asked eagerly.
“Dinner’s ready!” called Laurel, answering his question.
I was surprised to see she’d put our plates and bowls on the dining room table instead of our usual carpet picnic.
“Are we being fancy tonight, L?” I gestured to the table.
“Super fancy! Like my ball gown?” She pointed to her yoga pants and laughed. “No, I just thought soup was a dish a bit easier to eat at an actual table.”
“Hey, Laurel,” James said, with a soft smile for her.
I swear her cheeks pinkened. “Hello there, I haven’t seen enough of your handsome face lately,” she cooed. The way she naturally went into flirt mode with every man she met outside of work always struck me as hilarious. She had men falling in love with her left and right, and she always had to let some guy down gently. I kept telling her to stop using her sexy voice with men she wasn’t interested in, but I think she honestly had no idea she did it.
Luckily James found her as funny and endearing as I did. As we ate she told us about the latest heart she’d broken.
“It’s just so annoying that I have to find a new coffee shop. I don’t know what led him to believe I wanted to date him, but when he started sobbing I felt awful.”
I patted her hand. “Laurel, honey, did you do ‘the voice’?”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek and shrugged. “You know I’m never aware when I’m doing it. All I know is I just ordered coffee from Cliff for a year and suddenly he thinks we’re meant to be together? I mean, he’s sweet as sugar, but he’s only twenty, lives with his parents, and his last girlfriend broke up with him because he wouldn’t stay committed. We’re definitely not a match.”
James scoffed and both of us turned to him.
“Do you have any insight?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’ve ordered coffee before and I’m lucky if the barista looks me in the eye. I definitely don’t know any personal details.”
Laurel sighed. “So, all those times I asked him to join me for coffee weren’t a good idea, were they?”
I gasped. “Laurel!”
She shook her head. “I know! But I usually go get coffee when I can’t stand to be in my office for one more second. He’s always so friendly and it’s nice to just chat about nothing in the middle of the day, you know?” She thought about it for a minute then groaned. “Poor Cliff,” she concluded.
“Cliff will recover. Be thankful you never cooked for him, then he might not be so easy to get rid of,” James said, which Laurel completely ate up. I loved seeing the two of them get along.
Once we’d moved on from the heartbroken barista, Laurel asked, “So, James, Frannie tells me you do something with computers, but is very vague about it. Can you tell me more?”
James wiped his mouth and nodded. “I’m a software developer. Basically, I sit at my computer writing code all day until my eyes glaze over.”
“Well, now I feel shitt
y. I probably should have asked you exactly what you did, huh?” I didn’t add that even though James had just told me what he did, I still had no real idea what any of it meant.
He smiled at me gently. “I didn’t exactly volunteer either.”
“So, you work from home?” Laurel asked.
James turned his attention back to her. “Yeah, I’m kind of my own boss. I don’t think I’m cut out to work for ‘the man’ in a corporate environment. Just give me my computers and some peace and quiet and I’m happy.”
Laurel smirked. “Yeah, sometimes working for ‘the man’ blows.”
We finished dinner and helped Laurel clean up, then she retreated to her room with another stack of paperwork. Before her door was even closed, I jumped on James and he carried me to my bedroom, my legs clamped firmly around his waist.
After we both came…and came…and came again, we lay sweaty and tangled together in the middle of my bed. I traced my fingers around his chest, outlining his muscles.
“Did you start lifting weights when you were ten or something?” I asked, squeezing his bicep and marveling at the size.
James stroked up and down my back and kissed the top of my head. “Kind of, if you count bales of hay.”
My hand stopped moving and I lifted my head up to see if he was joking. “What?”
He chuckled. “With all the time you spent with Ryan over the years, I just assumed you knew.”
I tugged his beard. “You assumed wrong! All he ever said was that your parents live close by. Explain!” I sat up so I could get a better look at him. He put his arms behind his head and smiled.
“My parents own a small goat farm. They grow pumpkins and in the fall, they give hay rides. It’s not a huge farm and my parents have some employees who do most of the work, but Ryan and I both took care of the goats.”
I stared at him blinking, my mouth agape. Just when I thought I had him figured out he threw me for yet another loop. So, my James was a computer nerd farm boy. Huh.
“How do you take care of goats?” I asked, my mind racing a mile a minute.
“I mentioned the hay. We fed them, kept their enclosure clean, played with them. It wasn’t that hard.”
“I can picture you as a farmer. But Ryan?” I asked incredulously. There was no way I could imagine Ryan growing up on a farm. When he danced he was always perfectly pressed and polished, so the idea of him cleaning a goat enclosure was, well, hilarious.
“Ryan loves those damn goats. He named them. And when he comes home he goes straight to see them instead of coming in the house.”
“And one day you decided to leave the farm for the big city?” I asked, still blinking at him.
James laughed and pulled me down so I was on top of him again. “Frannie, I didn’t grow up in the middle of nowhere. The farm is basically in the suburbs. It’s like a twenty-minute drive from here.”
I shook my head against him. “I can’t believe Ryan never told me! We spent two years dancing together and not one mention of goats.” I smacked his chest lightly. “I want to see these goats.”
“I’ll take you to see the goats.” James held me close against him.
I was quiet for a moment, with images of goats, computers, and goats using computers, pirouetting through my head. Then I smiled up at him. “I like when you tell me about yourself, James.”
“Mmmm,” he vibrated sleepily. “You just have to ask, Frannie. I’ll tell you anything.”
I believed that was true. James had never avoided answering a question I’d asked and everything he told me felt honest. But he also never volunteered anything, so while he may be an open book, I had to know which page to turn to before I could read. Then again, we were still in the early days of our relationship, so I was happy to only learn about him bit by bit. But I wondered had I been more experienced with relationships if I’d see his lack of forthcoming as a red flag.
I didn’t dwell on that thought for very long because James’ fingers had found their way between my legs again, making my brain go haywire, and soon I wasn’t thinking at all.
Eighteen
“James,” I whispered, poking his hard shoulder. I was awake and wet and I wanted him again.
“Mmmm…Frannie.” He growled and reached out to cup my breast. His eyes weren’t even open yet, but he managed to find one. Boob radar.
I laid my body on his and kissed the side of his neck. His arms circled around me and he slowly thrust his hips against my belly. Then he rolled us over so he was on top, my legs wrapping around his waist. He slowly rubbed his shaft up and down between my slick folds.
“Wet,” he growled.
I ran my nails across his shoulders and down his arms. “I’ve been lying here looking at you, getting wetter and wetter.”
James licked across my collarbone and up my neck. “I’m glad you woke me up,” he murmured against my skin. I moved my hips against his hardness until he was in just the right spot.
“Stay right there for a minute.” I moaned as I rubbed my swollen clit against him.
James moved his head down to my tits. With his hand, he pushed my breast into his mouth, sucking on my nipple and swirling his tongue. He switched to the other one and feasted on the puckered tip while I slid my clit up and down his shaft.
I moaned and reached blindly for the condom I’d put on my bedside table. I grabbed it and ripped it open, then handed it to James. He sat back on his knees and I watched as he rolled and rolled and rolled the condom down his long dick.
James opened my legs wide and braced his arms behind my knees, then ever so slowly sank into me, making my legs shake when he reached the end of me. He pumped lazily, moving in and out at an unhurried pace.
I reached down and circled two fingers around my wet clit, my other hand on my breast.
“You have no idea what you took like right now,” James rasped as his eyes roamed my body below him.
I rotated my hips against him and bit my lip. “You like it?”
He just groaned and gripped the back of my legs firmly, spreading them even wider. He started taking longer, deeper, faster thrusts.
I reached up to him. “Come down here!”
James lowered himself on top of me and grabbed my wrists, moving my arms over my head and holding them there. As he plunged into me, he sucked on the side of my neck. Circling my hips against him, my clit ground against his pelvis. James’ heavy body against mine, his hands holding mine down on the mattress, and his cock deep inside me had my whole body shaking. He had me completely at his mercy, almost helpless beneath him and I fucking loved it.
My walls clenched tight around him and James groaned against my neck, panting hot breaths. He slammed into me, hitting me deep, and stayed there as he let out a guttural groan.
James collapsed to the side of me and I rolled with him so I could sprawl on his chest. We breathed together, and I suddenly felt incredibly sleepy.
“I could wake up like that every morning,” he said. Somehow, he was now wide awake, and I was almost asleep.
“Your dick read me a bedtime story and tucked me into bed. I’m gonna go night night now.” I snuggled against his shoulder. James kissed my forehead and chuckled.
“Since you’re going back to dream world, I’m gonna head out so I can get a workout in before I have to start work.” Scooting out from under me, he gently laid my head on the pillow. I waved at him with my eyes closed and I heard him laughing as I drifted off.
I slept for a few more hours, then rolled my sore body out of bed. James was big in every way and I ached all over. We probably should have stopped after the second or third time last night or maybe skipped this morning, but my vagina simply wouldn’t listen to reason.
Thankfully I didn’t have to be at the salon until eleven, so I allowed myself to move at the snail’s pace my muscles needed to recover. After a scalding hot shower and a few stretches, I felt a lot looser. I also had a goofy smile I couldn’t wipe off my face.
Feeling extra sassy,
I dressed in a flirty little skirt, and a pink long-sleeved T-shirt. Before I left for work I pulled on cream over-the-knee socks and brown boots. The image of James flipping my skirt up and taking me from behind flitted across my mind, but when I rubbed my thighs together I quickly remembered how sore I was. Hopefully I’d be recovered soon because there was no way I would be able to keep my body off his for long.
My first client of the day was Jane Sparks. With most of my clients, I only knew them by their first names and if I really racked my brain I’d probably be able to tell you a few of their last names. But Jane Sparks was Jane Sparks, never just Jane or Ms. Sparks.
Her flaming red hair was the kind of red that did not happen in nature. Secretly I hoped she never told anyone who her stylist was because girlfriend had some frankly crazy-ass hair. She was really, really, really sweet, though, so I did what she asked with a smile on my face.
Once I colored, trimmed, and blew her hair dry, the teasing began. Jane Sparks was only in her early fifties, but she requested her hair be big and unmovable. I hair sprayed and backcombed until her hair resembled what could only be described as a spiky fireball. Jane Sparks was thrilled, as usual.
“Frannie, you are the best! I’m going to send my nail lady to you. She’s always asking where I get my hair done.” I bit my lip to stop myself from saying the nail lady probably wanted to know who did Jane Sparks hair so she could avoid them like the plague.
“Thanks, Jane Sparks! Rebekah will make you an appointment for next month. See you then!” I air kissed her cheeks and watched her walk to the front desk. Glancing to my side, I noticed Rachel watching me in her mirror, her client in front of her. I contorted my face in a way that always made her laugh uncontrollably. It amused me to no end to see her try to hold it in, so I made myself even uglier by getting my eyes involved too, and she sputtered with laughter.
Since I had a little time until my next appointment, I went into the break room to grab a drink of water. Eliza followed me back and watched as I took a giant swig.
