She jumped into my arms so unexpectedly that I stumbled back. She kissed every inch of my face. “I love it. I love it. I love it.”
The tension flowed out of me with her touch.
“This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Thank you, Ethan.”
I wasn’t expecting that. I was losing control as I often did when she touched me.
“I can’t wait to get started. It’s been so long since I’ve painted and—”
I covered her mouth with mine and enveloped her lips in a long kiss. When we broke apart, she was breathing hard, staring at me with that lusty look I loved. “You’re gonna have to wait,” I said.
She nodded, tightening her embrace. I cupped her ass and lifted her. She wrapped those long, sleek legs around my waist, and this time I did carry her over the threshold. The threshold to our bedroom. I sat us down on the bed, with her still in my lap.
“I love this bed,” she murmured in a whisper against my neck.
“Our bed.”
She started unbuttoning my shirt. I wanted to throw it over my head, but Meena had a look of stern concentration that was too cute. Her fingers shook a little with each button, but she finally got the last one open. I took off my shirt and then hers, running my fingers over the curves of her lacy pink bra. I removed her hair band, liberating those long, silky curls.
She pushed against my chest, not enough to move me, but I lay down anyway, expecting her to lie on top of me. She surprised me again by moving down my body, flicking her tongue against my chest and torso. She removed my belt with more confidence, unbuttoned my shorts, and unzipped them. Then she slid them down along with my boxers.
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“Pleasuring you,” she answered sexily.
I took her arm to stop her. I didn’t want us to start off with a bad experience. In my estimation, no blowjob was better than a bad blowjob. Plus, I really didn’t like the idea of her forcing herself to do something for my benefit.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You don’t want me to give you pleasure?” she asked, pouting.
“You do in other ways. I know you don’t like it.”
“You like it.”
I couldn’t believe we were verging on a potential argument about this. “I don’t need it. Besides, you’re really bad at it.” I chuckled, but she just narrowed her eyes at me, and I cursed myself, hoping I hadn’t blown my chances.
“I’ll have you know I’ve been practicing.”
I pulled her up so we were face-to-face. The intensity of my jealousy was like a vice grip tightening every muscle. “With who?” I wasn’t hurting her, but there was no doubt I was demanding an immediate answer.
Meena just smiled and patted my chest, calming me with her soothing touch. “Not who, but what. Cucumbers.”
“Cucumbers?” I asked with amused curiosity.
“Yes. Now shut up, and let me do this.” She slid back down, repeating the trail of kisses. I propped up on my elbows and watched her path. She slid her tongue up and down my shaft several times. I was already hard before we started, but her tongue was doing some amazing things to me. I moved her hair so I could watch her face, but it was too much. I laid my head down on the bed, and started relaxing. Then she covered the head of my dick with her mouth, sucking me. I spoke her name in some sort of incoherent grunt. Her advance became more feverish until she took more of me in her mouth. Then all of me.
I choked back a gasp as she moved with the perfect balance of wetness and pressure. The heat of her mouth, the swirling of her tongue, the hold of her luscious lips—well, it was pure ecstasy. I wasn’t conceited, but I could say with certainty, which only experience could bring, that very few girls could take all of me. Meena had, and somehow her gag reflex was gone. I felt the vibration of her moan in the back of her throat, and I almost lost it. I was actually clutching the bed sheets, battling the desire to watch her as she performed this intimate act, but knowing it would make me lose what little control I had.
“Stop. Now,” I gasped, barely recognizing my own voice.
“You’re not done,” she said, pausing for just a moment.
“I will…that’s…the problem.” The lusty anguish that caused my words to sound gruff and strangled would have been funny, but I didn’t want her freaking out about the eventual outcome of what she was doing to me.
“I hope so,” she said simply.
“Fuck yeah,” I said in a sort of gasping, choked cheer.
It only took a few more minutes. I came hard and fast. She didn’t gag or gasp as I’d expected. Instead, she swallowed. I stared down at her, running my hand through her hair. She wiped her mouth seductively, smiling widely, obviously pleased with herself, but definitely not as pleased as I was. She crawled back up my body and laid her head on my chest. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead as my breathing returned to normal.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, trailing her finger across my chest.
I grinned, staring into her eyes. “I love cucumbers. They’re my new favorite food of all time.”
We laughed so hard, the sound must have echoed through the sunny streets of Palo Alto.
Chapter 18
WE’D BEEN LIVING TOGETHER for several weeks now. I didn’t know how she made me laugh, think so much, or get so hard. In general she just made me feel more than anyone else I’d been with.
I was surprised when she set up a small temple in our bedroom, but I respected it. She prayed every morning, and I did my best to leave her alone at that time. She did little things to make my life easier too. As simple as setting up the coffee maker the night before, or sewing the missing buttons on one of my shirts. Buttons she had ripped off in the heat of the moment.
I entered the apartment with two sacks of groceries. Meena was a great cook and made some pretty fancy meals. I compromised by buying groceries and doing the dishes, but she always helped. She brought up the rent thing a lot, feeling guilty she wasn’t contributing, but I did my best to put her at ease with humor, which usually worked. I told her she could make it up to me by sharing showers, so we could save money.
“Hey there,” she said when I entered. Rachael was over, and I waved at them, making my way to the kitchen. Both girls came in to help me unload.
“Jesus, how many cucumbers do you guys eat?” Rachael asked staring at the large plastic bag.
Meena and I both looked at each other. I expected her to blush or bite that luscious lower lip, but instead, she burst out laughing—that magical contagious laugh that left me with no choice but to join in.
“You guys are so weird,” Rachael stated, placing the bag in the fridge. “I’m going to go.”
“You don’t have to go, Rachael. I was going to see what Alex was up to tonight anyway.”
Rachael and Meena missed each other, and I didn’t want to be that asshole boyfriend that took her away from her friends.
“That’s why I have to go, Ethan. Alex and I have plans. He’s picking me up. I’m going to watch his basketball game, and then we’re going to the movies.”
I wasn’t exactly happy Rachael and Alex were still going out. I’d expected the relationship to fizzle out by now, but it just seemed to be getting stronger. Rachael was a heartbreaker, and Alex was my friend. I’d been there when a girl dumped him. He didn’t handle it well.
I put away the rest of the groceries while they said their goodbyes. No, I didn’t like the idea of our friends dating at all. It complicated things, and Meena and I were already complicated enough.
She came into the kitchen and stood so close to me that I couldn’t help but pick her up. Okay, I could have helped it, but whatever. I sat her on the countertop, leaning into her. She was quiet, but she didn’t push me away, so I naturally took it as sign that I should kiss her neck. It was one of her favorite places to be kissed. I could feel her body react to my touch, and I loved that I had that effect on her.
“Are you okay with
Rachael dating Alex?”
Shit, she could always read me. “Not really.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t rebound well.”
“You’re not talking about basketball.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I understand, but she’s different with him. She’s also one of the sweetest people I know.”
“I know.”
Meena stared at me suspiciously, since I hardly knew Rachael.
I bent down toward her ear, whispering the words. “She has to be if she’s friends with you. Let’s not fight.”
“Is that what we’re doing?” she asked, pulling me back to her. “I thought we were discussing.”
“Discussions like this can get out of hand. If you want to fight, though, I’m game.”
“You want to fight with me?”
“No, Sunshine, I want to have make-up sex with you. The fight is just a prerequisite.”
She laughed. “Before you make me forget, you got a big package today.”
I took her hand and placed it on my groin. “I have a big package for you.”
She giggled and squirmed away. “Stop it.” She put her hands on my shoulder, silently telling me to pay attention to her. “Come on, you have to open it. Rachael and I have been guessing what it is all day.”
“Curious much?”
“Yes, that’s me. Don’t keep me in suspense. It’s personal, and it’s from a girl, so I think I deserve to know.” It was funny that she was jealous, although she had no reason to be. How does she not get that I only have eyes for her?
I turned around so my back was to her. I took her long legs and wrapped them around my waist. “Where is it?”
She immediately put her arms around my shoulders, preparing for a piggyback ride. “In the bedroom.”
“You put it in the bedroom?”
“Rachael kept threatening to open it, so I thought it was best if the temptation was out of sight.”
I laughed and carried her to the bedroom. Our bedroom. I dropped her on the bed next to the large box. She fidgeted impatiently as I tried to open the package. Finally, she sighed and ran out of the room, returning with a knife. I went to grab it from her, but she backed away suddenly, placing it carefully on the bed next to the box. Her odd reaction surprised me.
“I know it’s weird. It’s just a superstition. If I hand you the knife, it’s bad luck,” she explained, biting her lower lip.
“I’ve never heard that one.”
“It’s an Indian thing.”
I nodded, used to this explanation from Meena. Whenever she did things that were strange to me, she’d explain it away with that sentence. I picked up the knife and opened the package. “This is from my mom. She sends me care packages once in a while.”
Meena put her hand over her heart. Her face reflected a mixture of guilt and relief. “That’s really sweet.”
I shrugged. “It is. She’s a great mom.”
“What did you get?”
I opened the box and started removing the contents. “She baked me cookies like she always does,” I said, dropping the decorative tin on Meena’s lap. She opened it and took one.
“That’s so nice.”
“You should reserve judgment until you try one.”
She took one and bit into it. I laughed watching her try to chew it. Meena was doing her best not to look disgusted.
“It’s okay. You can be honest.”
She choked down the small bite she had taken. “I think she forgot to use butter…or sugar.”
“Let me try.” I brought Meena’s hand with the cookie to my mouth. I took the smallest bite possible. “Nope, that’s just about right.”
“Why does she make them for you if you don’t like them?”
“I’ve never told her. She likes making them, so I pretend to like eating them.”
Meena stared at me for a moment. Then she stood up and combed through my hair. “You’re a very good boy, Ethan.”
I shrugged, embarrassed by her compliment. “The rest of this is just the typical stuff. School supplies, socks, jelly beans, epoxy resin.” Her face scrunched with curiosity as I handed her the tube. “For my surfboard.” I continued to dig deeper. “More shirts. My mom thinks I don’t own any clothes.”
I threw the folded shirts on my bed, where they landed with a heavy thud. Meena unfolded them, revealing the small hard-cover book hidden inside. I snatched it out of her hand.
“Let me see it,” she said, trying to reach around my back.
“No way.”
“Ethan, let me see it.” She tried to grab it from me.
I held her back, but she stood up on her tiptoes, putting her arms around my neck. She nibbled on my ear and ran her tongue down my neck. Her hair was down today, and it brushed softly along my arm while her breasts crushed against my chest, and her delicious mouth continued to make me forget what we were doing. I was defenseless. When she backed away, she grinned with triumph, holding the book in her hand. I hadn’t even realized I’d relinquished it to her.
“Very sneaky,” I muttered.
“Sex Acts for the Modern Couple?” That was the title, but she was definitely asking a question. When I didn’t respond, she asked, “Your mother sent you a sex manual?”
“Yeah, she did,” I replied, concerned about Meena’s reaction.
Meena looked at it, turning it in her hands. Then she looked at the postmark on the package. “Shit, your mother is Dr. Rosemary Love? The world’s premier sexologist? Oh my god. She wrote this book.”
I moved the stuff from the edge of the bed and sat down, suddenly wishing I’d never opened the stupid box. “I take it you know who she is?”
“I think everyone knows who she is. She’s written, like, ten books.”
I laughed because she said it like I didn’t know that. “Twelve. She’s written twelve books including this one. It’s her newest one. She always sends them to me, but I never read them. She wrote a few chapters of the book Raj was reading too. That’s why I knew what it was about.”
Meena slid into my lap. I put my arms around her.
“It must be so cool to have a famous mom.”
I didn’t expect her to be so excited about my mother’s identity. “It wasn’t that cool.”
“What do you mean?”
“My mom’s always been open about sex.” She stared at me curiously, and I quickly added, “Not in an inappropriate way or anything. She just always explained everything. Even things that didn’t need to be. You have no idea what it was like.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad, Ethan.”
“I love my mom, she’s the best, but you didn’t have to deal with your mom telling you it’s okay to masturbate when you’re twelve, or demonstrating how to properly put on a condom using a carrot. I still can’t eat carrots. Or worse, explaining the importance of pleasing your partner before yourself. Shit, let’s stop talking about this.”
She laughed, tightening her grip on me. “Well, it worked. You definitely know how to please a woman.”
“You have no comparison.”
“Ethan,” she said sharply as if I’d insulted her. “I know what my body feels without needing a comparator. I know you please me in a way that’s not typical or common.”
“Thank you,” I said simply. “You please me too, Sunshine.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You talk about your mother a lot, but I just thought she was a normal therapist.”
“I wasn’t exactly keeping it from you. No one knows except Darren, and he only knows because he practically lived at my house in high school. He says my mom’s the ultimate MILF.”
“MILF?”
“Mother I’d Like to Fuck. Everyone thinks she’s some kind of nymphomaniac, but she’s not. At least, I doubt she is. I don’t know…I don’t like thinking about it too much.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable,” she said.
“It’s fine. After all, didn’t
your ancestors write the original sex text?”
She giggled. “You’re taking about the Kama Sutra? Yep, we wrote the book and then closed it forever. Sex is a taboo topic for us.”
“Well, then, your mad skills are even more impressive.” I cupped her ass and kissed her neck, hoping we were done talking.
“You know what’s strange? Almost kismet in a way?” she asked between moans.
“What, Sunshine?”
Her lips curved in a bright but mischievous smile. “The cucumber thing. I learned about that from—”
“Don’t say it!” I didn’t mean to scream it, but I did.
“But, I wanted to tell—”
I moved my hand over her mouth, but she still seemed determined to tell me the exact words I had no desire to hear.
“Meena, do not finish that sentence.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say,” she replied with an irritated pout.
“I do. I don’t want to hear you tell me that you learned to give me the best blowjob in the history of blowjobs from one of my mother’s books.”
“Oh,” she said with obvious surprise. “It was the best one, really?”
“Yes, the best one ever, and unlike you, I have a point of comparison. But you’ll ruin it for me, so please do me a favor and don’t mention it again.”
“Okay, I promise.” She nodded, wearing a huge smile. “You know, it’s so ironic.”
“What is?” I cringed, hoping she wouldn’t belabor this topic of conversation.
“Your mother talked to you about sex too much, and my mother never talked about it, yet we both managed.”
I laughed at her correlation, feeling less tense about revealing my mother’s profession. “I think some things just come naturally. The human body was designed to fit together, after all.”
She tightened her grip on me, kissing my cheek, whispering, “I think our bodies fit better than most.”
I had to agree with her on that one. She was a smart girl, a beautiful girl, and she was mine.
Chapter 19
I SAT FACING RACHAEL and Raj in a corner booth of an Irish pub, sipping on what Ethan called a “girly” drink. Ethan and I had made a deal that we would hang out apart from each other at least once a week. Neither one of us wanted to be complicit in ignoring our friends.
Variables of Love Page 17
