Say You Love Me

by J. S. Cooper

  “Finish your drink,” Cody said aggressively as he came closer to me.

  “What?” I frowned up at him, not sure why he was acting so funky.

  “Finish your drink,” he said again, staring down at me with alert eyes. “Then we’ll dance.”

  “Dance?” I said, surprised. “You want to dance?”

  “We’ll dance and then we’ll leave.” He shrugged.

  “Leave and go where?”

  “We’ll see.” He continued to watch my face. “Wherever we want.”

  “I guess.” I sipped my drink quicker this time. My heart was racing and I wasn’t sure what was going on. As soon as I finished my drink, Cody took the glass out of my hand and placed it on the table next to me.

  “Come,” he said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the dance floor. “Let’s dance.”

  “Okay,” I said, following behind him quickly. He pushed us through the throngs of people and then stopped and pulled me into his arms and started moving back and forth. “This isn’t a slow song,” I said as I moved with him as best as I could in time to the music.

  “So?” He grinned, holding me close to him. I could feel his warm body pressed up against mine closely and it felt like heaven. I decided to just go with it and I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder as we moved. Something felt different between us and I wasn’t sure what it was. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to overanalyze. Part of me wondered if he’d been jealous of Tom, but then I didn’t want to think that too strongly. I didn’t want to think that maybe he did have feelings for me after all. That could only lead to more heartache. But as he held me in his arms and we moved back and forth, our bodies pressed together, I couldn’t stop the feeling of hope and excitement spreading through me.

  * * *

  “Let’s go to my place,” Cody said as we left the bar a few hours and five drinks later. We were both buzzed to a point of almost being drunk and we’d been holding hands all night.

  “Are you sure?” I said, my words nearly slurring as I looked up at his handsome face.

  “Yes.” He nodded and then it happened. The moment I’d been waiting on for what seemed like most of my life. Cody pulled me into his arms, leaned his head down and I felt his lips pressing down on mine, softly at first and then with more pressure. I felt his hands in my hair, pulling my tresses, as he deepened the kiss and I felt my knees trembling as his tongue pried its way into my mouth. He tasted of beer and apples and I kissed him back passionately, my tongue entering his mouth smoothly. Immediately, he began to suck on my tongue and I felt him pushing his body closer to mine. I reached my hands up around his neck and played with his hair, reaching into his scalp and taking in his entire essence. I writhed against him as I felt his right hand sliding against my side and then reaching towards my breast. I moaned as his fingers rubbed against me and we both pulled back slightly, breathing deeply.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said, his voice deep and husky.

  “Okay.” I nodded, not knowing if I was in a dream or not and not even caring.

  “My place?”

  “Sure.” I nodded, knowing what he was asking and not even sure how we’d gotten to this place. I could feel my entire body shaking in sweet anticipation and the hope in me that had been starting to fade erupted into huge flames once again, and I thought to myself that my moment had finally come.

  Chapter 9

  Cody

  Sally’s hands were on my naked back and her nails were digging sharply into my skin, just like I liked it. Her body felt warm against mine and I ran my hands down to her stomach eagerly and played around in her belly button. I knew that was an erogenous zone and Sally’s writhing against me let me know that I hadn’t lost my touch. I kissed her lips softly and then moved my tongue down her silky neck and to her collarbone. Her black bra-straps interrupted my movement and my hands automatically moved up to bring them down, but I stopped myself. As much as I wanted her braless, I didn’t want to rush it. Our clothes had come off pretty quickly, but we still had on our underwear. I felt extremely hard in my briefs and I knew she could feel my erection next to her. She was wearing a lacey black bra and panties and it took everything I could do to not rip them off of her.

  “Oh, Cody.” She moaned as my hand moved to the top of her panties and she stilled on my bed.

  “Yes, Sally.” I groaned as my fingers slipped inside her panties and then withdrew quickly as she gasped out loud. I wanted to touch all of her. I wanted to feel her wetness. I wanted to slip my fingers inside of her and bring her to orgasm before I fucked her hard.

  “Cody,” she moaned as she ran her fingers down my chest and over my boxer shorts. She wasn’t as hesitant as I was and I felt her squeezing my hardness between her fingers before she slipped her hands into my boxers and ran her fingers up and down, squeezing the tip gently. I groaned as her fingers worked their magic on me and before I knew it I was taking my briefs off and throwing them to the ground. I looked up into Sally’s eyes and they were full of lust and pleasure. I couldn’t stop myself anymore and I found myself unhooking the back of her bra and peeling it off. I stared at her beautiful breasts for a few seconds before lowering my mouth to her right nipple and sucking on it. She moaned loudly as she continued to pleasure me with her hands and I found my teeth tugging and pulling on her nipple as my fingers played with her other breast. I then found myself kissing down her stomach towards her panties. I wanted to make her come. I wanted to hear her screaming my name.

  I felt her body stilling as I reached her panties and I grinned to myself. My teeth grabbed the top of her panties and I pulled them down slowly, enjoying her scent as I worked my way down her legs. Once her panties were off, I kissed back up her legs and parted her thighs. I looked up at her face, and her mouth was slightly parted as she waited for me to continue. I leaned down and placed my face in her wetness, my tongue working its magic on her as she trembled beneath me. I felt heady with power as I brought her to the brink of orgasm and I could feel her hands in my hair as she shook beneath me. I knew she was close to orgasm and so I paused and kissed my way back up to her lips before lowering myself onto her. I positioned my hardness between her legs and just rubbed it there as I kissed her. She groaned as her arms went around my back, and she spread her legs wider, wanting that release, needing me to enter her as badly as I wanted to enter her. She was wet against my hardness and I positioned myself at her entrance, ready to bring us both the release we both craved and needed. Her breasts were crushed against my chest and I kissed her hard, my tongue devouring her mouth as her fingers squeezed my butt-cheeks.

  I slipped the tip of my cock inside of her and then looked down at her face. My whole body was on fire and all I craved was bringing her to orgasm. I wanted to hear her screaming my name. I wanted to fuck her slowly and then quickly. I wanted to flip her over and take her from the back. I wanted her on her knees, sucking me off and then begging me to fuck her again.

  It was then that I froze. I could feel her legs squeezing together, forcing me farther inside of her, and as much as I wanted to take her, I knew it was a mistake. Not like this. Not with Sally. I couldn’t just fuck her and expect to go on like normal the next day. And I knew she was drunk. And I was drunk. And I knew she might regret it. She might resent me. Hate me, even. She might think I was taking advantage of her. Or she might make it more complicated than it had to be. I rolled over and lay next to her on the bed and she looked at me in confusion.

  “What’s going on?” she purred, her eyes hazy as she gazed at me.

  “I think we’re making a mistake,” I said, too harshly, my eyes on her heaving breasts, my hand on her stomach.

  “Huh?” She looked confused and I felt her hand reaching down to touch my hardness again. I groaned as her fingers worked their magic. I knew that if she continued, I was going to blow, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  “I just don’t think...” I paused as her fingers tightened their
grip. “Sally.” I groaned and closed my eyes as my body shuddered. My fingers worked their way down to her wetness and I ran them across her quivering bud. I felt her whole body trembling as I played with her. “Sally,” I said again as I slipped a finger inside of her. I felt her contract as I slid another finger inside. “We can’t do this.”

  “Why?” she said sexily as her fingers left my cock and reached down on top of my hand. “We can.”

  “Sally.” I felt her fingers pushing my hand down harder, so that my fingers were going deeper inside of her.

  “I want to feel you inside of me.” She moaned as she guided my hand faster. I grew harder at her actions, knowing just how badly she wanted me.

  “I want to be inside of you,” I muttered under my breath, but I withdrew my fingers from her and turned to face her. “I don’t want us to ruin our friendship,” I said, feeling like a fraud as I looked at the hurt on her face. “I don’t want this to complicate anything.”

  “What?” She blinked up at me.

  “I just don’t think this is the right thing for us to do,” I said again, my hardness and everything in me disagreeing with the words coming out of my mouth. “I don’t want to lose what we have. Our friendship means the world to me.”

  “I see,” she said, and I watched as she pulled the sheet up over her naked body.

  “Do you?” I said, looking at her, already regretting my decision.

  “Sure.” She nodded and then yawned widely. “I’m drunk and tired, so I should probably just go to sleep now.”

  “Sally, I...” I started and paused as she closed her eyes. “Okay,” I said finally and lay back next to her. I so badly wanted to pull her on top of me and let her ride me until the sun came up, but I knew that I had to go with my gut and my gut was telling me that if we had sex, everything would change, and I wasn’t sure I could deal with the expectations she might have of me, if that were to happen.

  Chapter 10

  Sally

  “So, what do you want to do tonight?” Mila asked me eagerly, her eyes alert as she gazed at me. I knew she was concerned about my wellbeing after my not quite hookup with Cody. She had been calling me for the last couple of days and had finally convinced me to meet up with her. I hadn’t wanted to, but she’d said she’d send the police over to my house for a wellness check if I didn’t.

  “Tonight?” I responded slowly. I didn’t want to do anything but go home and sleep in my bed.

  “Yeah, tonight, as in a few hours.” Mila rolled her eyes at me. “You know what they call the time when the sun goes down.”

  “I didn’t know you wanted to do anything tonight,” I continued slowly again. “Don’t you and TJ have plans?”

  “No, we don’t have plans. That’s why I’m asking you what you want to do. In fact, I told TJ I didn’t want to go to the movies with him because I wanted to hang out with you.”

  “Why did you do that?” I said softly, wanting to scream and shout I don’t want to hang out tonight. I just want to cry away my sorrows at the fact that Cody doesn’t love me. And didn’t even find me sexy enough to make love to me. That part still stung the most, especially considering how close we’d come. My body was still tingling thinking about him and his moves. A part of me wished that I had just pushed him down on the bed and sat on him and taken everything into my own hands, but that would have made everything even more awkward.

  “Because I’m not going to let you go home and cry away your sorrows.” Mila gave me a look. “Or think about what an idiot Cody is for not just sealing the deal.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “What?” My face turned red as I looked at her, dumbfounded. “Can you read my mind?”

  “No, of course I can’t read your mind.” She laughed. “But I have been where you are.” She made a face. “I know Cody hurt your feelings.”

  “I don’t care about Cody.” I made a face back at her and then grimaced. “Okay, obviously that’s a lie, but what can I say?”

  “That he’s a dumb fool.”

  “I just don’t understand,” I whined. “We were this close to having sex. I thought we were both into it. He was practically inside of me.” I made a face at her. “Sorry for TMI.”

  “Ha-ha, can we ever have TMI?” She grinned. “But yeah, he’s an idiot and he probably ended up with blue balls.”

  “Shit, I ended up with blue balls.” I groaned. “I’m just so embarrassed.”

  “Don’t be embarrassed.”

  “I’m embarrassed and hurt.” My voice lowered. “Am I that grotesque and ugly?”

  “Of course not.” Mila frowned at me. “You know that, right?”

  “I know nothing.” I shook my head. “And then for him to randomly text me yesterday and tell me he was going on a date. Like, how could he? Is he trying to stab me in the back?”

  “I think that he’s just trying to make sure everything is cool with you guys.” Mila sighed. “He is a guy and he seems to be a bigger idiot than most of them.”

  “Yeah, I guess he wanted to let me know ‘Hey, the other night meant nothing and I’m moving onto bigger and better’. He’s going to end up with some hottie that he does want to sleep with and marry. Unlike me, who turned him off.”

  “It’s just a date, Sally, it doesn’t mean anything.” Mila touched my arm. “He’s not moving on to anything. He probably didn’t even realize how hurtful he was being. I’m sure his call meant nothing. The date means nothing. Trust me.”

  “It means a lot.” I gave a big sigh. “Did you see her photos? And did you hear how he talked about her and how much he showed us of her profile? He’s really into her. Like he thinks she is his perfect mate or something. I’ve never received so many texts and screenshots from him in my life.”

  “He’s a guy and he’s just into the fact that she said she takes dance classes. He’s probably hoping she’s a stripper or something.” Mila made a face.

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.” I groaned.

  “Yeah, but let’s be real, she’s probably a ballet dancer or tap or something lame.” She offered up an awkward smile.

  “So that means she’s flexible.” I made a face. “Still not making me feel better.”

  “Oh, Sally. You really don’t know who she is. What if her photos are like five years old or, even worse, ten years old?”

  “I bet they’re not.” I looked into her wide brown eyes. “But thanks for trying to make me feel better.”

  “It’s just a first date. Not like they’re getting married.”

  “Yeah, but he’s going on first dates and telling me about them. A few days after we nearly had sex.” I looked down to try and stop the tears from coming. “That means he couldn’t care less about me.”

  “No, it means he trusts you to tell you about his dates,” Mila said softly.

  “I don’t think that that means much.” I half-laughed as I looked back up. “I don’t think Cody is shy about talking about going on dates.”

  “Yeah, but he also asked your advice on where he should take her and what he should wear and if he should take her a first-date present.”

  “Mila…” I looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Do you think that that’s some sort of consolation prize? Me telling him where I think he should take her? Honestly, I wanted to rip my heart out and throw it on the floor when he started asking me what I thought.”

  “Oh, Sally, you’re so melodramatic.” Mila looked at me in concern. “We need to make lemonade out of lemons.”

  “It’s a little hard when we have limes.” I glared at her. “Actually, scratch that, we don’t even have limes, we have grapefruit. Big, stinky, sour grapefruit. No amount of sugar can make them as sweet as lemonade.”

  “Oh, Sally.” Mila giggled.

  “My misery is making you laugh?” I gave her a quick smile. “Really?”

  “I’m sorry, I suck as a friend.” She giggled some more and I couldn’t stop myself from joining in.

  “It’s fine. I am bei
ng melodramatic. It’s not like they’re getting married.” I paused. “But if that fool comes to me and asks me how he should propose, I will kill him.”

  “Nope.” Mila shook her head. “If he’s dumb enough to do something like that, I will kill him for you.”

  “We can kill him together.” I winked at her and she burst out laughing.

  “Sounds like a plan.” She paused. “So what’s the plan for tonight?

  “You still want to go out?”

  “I’m not letting you go home by yourself to just think about Cody on his date.”

  “Why not? It sounds like a delightfully dreadful night.” I bit down on my lower lip. “I can imagine what they’re eating. If they’re holding hands. If he gives her a goodnight kiss. Wait, she might be forward, so maybe she’ll go for the goodnight kiss. Maybe she’ll invite him up for a nightcap. Then maybe he’ll go. And one thing will lead to another and next thing you know, its nine months later and there’s a baby Cody and I’m asked to be the godmother. And then I can just kill myself.”

  “Oh, Sally.” Mila looked like she wanted to start laughing again. “I thought I had an overactive imagination.”

  “Is it imagination if it’s likely to be true? Especially if he still has blue balls.”

  “Shall we go to a club?” Mila suggested, trying to change the subject. “We can dance and maybe flirt it up with some hotties.”

  “What would TJ think of that?”

  “He wouldn’t care.” She shrugged. “Plus, this is for you.”

  “I don’t know about going to a club. I wouldn’t mind dancing, but I do not want to go home and get dressed up. I’m not in a sexy or slutty mood.” I made a face. “And I don’t feel like shaving my legs.” I laughed at the expression on Mila’s face. “Hey, it’s been a few days.”

  “No judgment here.” She laughed. “I haven’t shaved above the knee this week.”

  “TJ doesn’t mind?”