by Ash Harlow
He takes his other arm around me and holds my head against his chest. I can hear the thump of his heart.
“I’m sorry you have all this burden.”
“It’s not a burden when I love Granddad, and Ahunui. Once Granddad passes, though, I don’t know what will happen. I’ll have to get serious about selling it, which will break my heart. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Anyway, enough about me. I want to know about the man who just gave me several earth-shattering orgasms.”
His hand slides down between my legs. “I can give you another one right now. I know what makes you tick, cracker.”
“You’re avoiding my question.” I shouldn’t push, I know that. I imagine revealing his name to me was probably a large enough act, but I want him to know he can trust me.
He sighs, his head tilting back to the wall.
“I guess I carry immense disappointment in my heart. Dad played bass in a mediocre rock band. He didn’t make a lot of money, and our life was nomadic. Mom was an addict, and she eventually overdosed. It didn’t kill her, not the first time, not the second time, either. That time she had a decent quantity of heroin on her and they booked her for dealing. Child services stepped in and I was placed in the foster system.”
A small sound escapes me at the thought of Reuben being sent to live with strangers. At least I had my grandparents. “I’m sorry,” I say, kissing the place on his chest that shields his heart.
“It wasn’t bad, no horror stories. The family had three daughters, who were fun, and the parents were kind. In all honestly, it probably saved me. It was stable, and I was well cared for. But you always feel apart, in some sense. Like you’re there on borrowed time.”
He’s stroking my hair as he speaks.
“I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was fifteen. By that time, Dad had passed. He had a heart attack. Probably because of all the drugs he’d consumed. Anyway, I liked the guitar. I was a natural. I started busking, playing my own songs. I got small gigs with a band, and one night some guy comes to a club where we’re playing. I was doing a solo, one of my own songs, and the guy found me after the set finished, and signed me.
“I wasn’t an overnight sensation, that’s for sure. I made one album, and it did okay, but not well enough for the label to want a follow-up, so I went indie with my second album. That took off. I got a new agent, and she got me signed to another label for album number three, which is still in the charts. World tour. Exhaustion. Here I am.”
“A superstar.”
“I hope not. You go all those years wanting success, then when you get it, you discover they want your soul as well as your songs. I didn’t realise I’d signed that away.”
“So, who knows you’re here?”
“You do.”
Reuben pulls my head back and leans in to kiss me. It’s a long, slow, lazy kiss. Our tongues entwine, and we share breaths and stay locked together. The thunderstorm seems to have passed us, but the rain and wind are just as crazy. If only we could stay like this forever.
9 ~ REUBEN
I carried her back to bed when we were done talking. Stella was soon asleep in my arms, but I remained awake, watching her, listening to the little snuffling sound she made when she buried her face too deep into the pillow.
I’ve told her more than I’ve told anyone, and as the magnitude of that hits me, I begin to worry. Can I honestly trust her? Will she get onto social media and tell the world that Reuben Creed fucked her and told her stuff about his life?
This way of thinking is like a nugget of poison melting in my veins, slowly dispersing so that it invades every nook and cranny of my body.
My palm is flat on her chest above her heart. The gentle rhythmic beat fires the need in me to protect her. Protect Stella, not myself. Her heartbeat acts like a pump, driving away my apprehension until I relax.
I have a lot to thank Stella for. She’s inspired me to pick up my guitar again. Not only that, to write a new song that I know people are going to love. You know that immediately. The effortless ones that fall out of you are always the best. They need little crafting or interference in the studio. They just exist, perfect in their simplicity.
Finally, I sleep, and awaken to find my hard cock nestled within the folds of Stella’s wet pussy. She’s awake, doing this lazy slide, back and forth, the head of my cock nudging against her plump clit. Gliding my hand across her breast and under her chin, I pull her head back against me.
“Do you want to fuck, Stella?” I whisper in her ear.
“Good morning, Reuben.” She squeezes her legs together, trapping my dick in such a way I almost blow my load. Her voice is all scratchy, and she’s soft in my arms.
I bite her earlobe. “Naughty girl, you’ll make me come doing that.”
She releases me, and we go back to the slow slide, dragging the juice that seeps from her along the length of my cock. Her breath is rasping, becoming faster.
“Do you want me to bury my cock in you, fuck you and fill your tight cunt with my cum?”
“Yes, oh, god, I’m so close.” She adjusts the angle of her hips on the next slide, and my dick is right there, nestled against her slippery entrance. One little nudge and I’m in. I want to go bare inside of her, I know I’m clean, but it’s too risky, unless…
“Are you on birth control, Stella?”
“No, I’m not! Hell, what was I thinking?”
“Shh, relax. I’ll fix it.” I grab a condom from the drawer and get myself covered in record time. I’m back there now, easing myself into her, and we rock slowly, taking our time, enjoying a lazy wake-up fuck.
We sleep again, and it’s around ten when I wake for the second time. Stella’s still asleep, and I should be concerned about the way she makes me careless. I almost fucked her without protection. Yet here I am, excited about the idea of Stella carrying my child.
It must be the half-sleep I’m in that makes me think something like that, because I’ve never before considered having children.
Closing my eyes, I can easily picture her, standing on the beach, raven hair ruffled in the wind, her hand clasping that of a child at her side, her belly swollen with our next baby.
I recall the moment when I wondered if she was a witch, the way she glanced at the sky and predicted the weather. Now I think it’s true. In the best possible way, Stella has bewitched me.
***
“Meat-free pancakes for breakfast,” I announce. “I hope there’s maple syrup in the pantry.”
Stella laughs. “That’s so American.”
“Maple syrup comes from Canada,” I inform her.
“And is poured over pancakes in every American state.”
I wave a bottle at her from the pantry. “New Zealand, too, it would seem.”
“That means nothing. Our guests are international, so we try to cater to every whim.”
“You’re full of it, you know that? Come here so I can touch you while I cook.”
She joins me in the kitchen, snuggling against my body, rubbing her face on my chest like a cat. “I love the way you smell. But I have to say the pancakes smell even better right now. Sorry, but I’m so hungry.”
“I’ll forgive you this once for choosing pancakes over me. Post-sex hunger is the best.” I grab her wrist as she tries to steal a pancake. “Wait until you’re served.”
“Just a taste?”
I can’t resist her, can’t deny her, so I cut a piece off one, dip it in syrup and feed it to her.
Chew, swallow, grin. Always, that grin.
“That’s not bad,” she says. “You should give up making music and get a job as a short-order cook.”
“And you should give up taking photographs. You can be my waitress, and we can fuck in the broom closet on breaks.” When I kiss her, there’s a lingering taste of syrup. “You know, your kisses are the sweetest I’ve ever tasted, but that maple syrup? Mmm-mmm, baby, that feeds my hunger.”
Stella whacks me on the chest. “Well I’m just going to
take my sweet lips over here, and pout,” she says, doing a Scarlett O’Hara imitation. She turns on her heel and sashays out of the kitchen.
“Good, more for me,” I call to her sexy ass.
Stella runs back and snatches a pancake before I can stop her. We finish up wrestling for it, though I’m careful not to hurt her. I never want to hurt Stella, but I’d love to spank her ass.
I win the pancake wrestle, pull her hands behind her back and hold her still. “You’re at my mercy now, you little devil. Here, put your tongue out.” I tease her with a piece of pancake, dropping it onto her tongue. “No biting,” I warn, a fraction too late.
She closes her mouth, clamps her teeth onto my finger and sucks. Her tongue tickles, then folds around my finger, and all the time she’s sucking, sucking. Fuck. My cock jumps straight and strong as a lightning rod.
“Christ, Stella,” I curse. Her hands are still captured behind her back, and when I push them to her ass, it moves her against my erection. Her mouth opens when she feels it, and I slide my finger out. “Feel what you do to me?”
She answers with a saucy smile, and rubs against my dick.
“We were about to have brunch, cracker, but now I’m going to have to deal with this pressing problem in my pants.”
“But I’m hungry.”
It’s my turn to grin. I look at my dick and back to Stella, who’s chewing her lip. “You choose,” I tell her, releasing her hands and raising my arms in surrender.
“A girl’s gotta eat,” she says, and lowers herself to her knees. She drags my sweatpants down, freeing my cock. “And this girl’s hungry.”
Except, this girl is too short to reach me when I’m standing and she’s kneeling. I pull her to her feet, walking backwards, leading her with me, and hoist myself onto the counter, parting my legs.
She takes hold of the base of my cock, her touch light. Her face is flushed when she looks at me.
“I haven’t done this before, but I really want to now. I want to taste you so much. I think your cock is beautiful…Reuben…” She pauses, glancing at my dick that is leaking at the thought of her sucking me. “I want you to come in my mouth.”
“That shouldn’t be difficult,” I manage to say on a shaky breath.
“You’re going to have to tell me what to do.”
“Baby, just knowing you want to, and that I’m your first, makes me so fucking hard. If you keep staring at my cock with that hungry look in your eyes, I’m going to nut right now without anything more than that hand you’ve got at the base of my dick. Okay?”
She nods and licks her fucking lips, and that almost does it for me.
“Other than that, just go with what feels right for you. Have a taste, experiment, don’t try to take too much at once.” I run my hand through her hair. Pre-cum leaks down my shaft, covering her hand.
Stella drops her head, and I pull her hair out of the way so that I can watch. My cock throbs at the first touch of her tongue. Jesus, maintaining control is going to take maximum effort.
Then her lips envelop the head, taking it into her mouth. I squeeze my eyes shut. Oh, fuck, this is heaven. The warm, wet heat when she takes me into her mouth for the first time makes my balls ache. I groan, and Stella responds with this sound that ripples over my dick.
Her tongue wraps around me, stroking and tickling the same way she did when I had my finger trapped in her mouth. She lowers her head to take more of me, and I hit the back of her throat. Stella coughs and lifts her head, her mouth stretched in what I believe is a smile around my dick.
She pulls away, releasing me.
“Your mouth is amazing. I love what you’re doing with it,” I tell her gently.
“I need more practice,” she says, and dives back for my cock. I’ve gathered all of her hair in my hand, and the things she’s doing now, with more confidence, mean she’s taking me deeper.
It’s all I can do to keep my hips still and stop myself thrusting into her mouth. I tap her cheek, and she looks up at me. Our eyes lock, and she continues sucking and licking, always maintaining eye contact. I cover her hand at the base of my cock with mine, showing her how I like to be stroked. I’m so fucking close, and when she feathers her tongue along the underside of my dick, it seems to double in size. She groans again, her head bobbing up and down, her hand working my shaft.
“Keep doing that and I’m going to come soon, Stella,” I warn.
She gives a little nod, her cheeks hollowing as she sucks harder. With that, I feel my balls draw up, ready to dump my load. I warn her again, and she takes me deep as the tingling at the base of my spine detonates.
I yell her name, filling her mouth with my cum. She swallows, coughs a little and swallows again, still keenly sucking until there’s nothing left in me.
She lifts off me when I’m done. “You taste delicious,” she says, wiping her mouth.
“That, Stella, was fucking exquisite. I saw stars.” My chest is still heaving, it was that fast and that intense.
She screws up her nose at me. “I’m still hungry.”
“All the pancakes are yours,” I tell her. “You deserve them.”
Stella glances at my cock. “How long until I can suck the life out of your cock again?”
“Anytime you want. It’s yours. All yours. Nobody else gets near it.” Fuck, I’m still not making sense. Again, I hope this storm rages into the next century. This time here with Stella is so simple yet so perfect, I never want it to end.
We take the pancakes, the syrup Stella pretends not to like, and a couple of napkins over to the window seat. It’s fast becoming our favourite place in the house. I stretch out on it, with Stella between my legs, and we feed each other pancakes using our fingers.
Stella checks her phone briefly and drops it on the floor. “Storm’s knocked out the Wi-Fi, and I’m not getting a cell signal, either. I know it’s spotty in the house, but there should be something showing. We rely on the tower over on the mainland. I’m thinking that’s been knocked out, too.”
“Aw, shame,” I tease.
“I can live without my phone.” She shoves me in the shoulder.
“Then why were you checking it?”
“Granddad. I need to be able to get hold of him, and the care facility needs to be able to contact me if anything untoward crops up.”
Now I feel like a prick. “I’m sorry, Stella. I didn’t think of that. Is there anything we can do?”
“Not with the weather still thrashing us the way it is. Once it eases, though, I’ll take the boat over to Waitapu and phone him from there. We’ll probably need to stock up with supplies by then, too. I’d hate to run out of condoms.”
I don’t want to go over to town, but there’s no way I’m letting Stella take the boat by herself. The fact that she turned up here alone in the very same boat is fucking immaterial as far as I’m concerned. “I don’t like the sound of that, Stella. Can’t you get that guy to drop supplies over?”
“Ox? I could, but there’s no phone signal, silly.”
“That sea’s too dangerous for that little boat of yours.”
“First, don’t insult the boat. That boat’s been taking Granddad back and forth from Ahunui to Waitapu for about fifty years and is totally seaworthy—”
“Unlike Granddad’s cottage.”
“Well, you may have a point there. Granddad mightn’t have much of a cottage once this storm has passed. The boat is fine. Handles like a dream, and I won’t head off until the sea is calm.”
I mumble back at her that it will happen over my dead body, and ignore her request for me to speak up.
10 ~ STELLA
“The rain’s finally stopped, Reuben.” I’m stupidly excited because if there’s one thing that’s even more amazing on Ahunui than a massive storm, it’s when it stops and I get to go beachcombing.
I pull out my favourite camera and give it a once-over, checking the lens and battery packs. The light outside is amazing. There’s still a lot of dark cloud, and th
e sun’s on its way to the western horizon, but there are small splits in the cloud layer, and the filtered light is perfect for some stunning shots.
I’ve been planning a series called Aftermath, and this storm has played right into my hands. I have my ‘before’ shots already, and I intend to photograph the same pieces of landscape now that Mother Nature has moved her ‘game pieces’ around.
“What are you doing?” Reuben’s voice is serious and low.
“It’s photo time, Reuben. I don’t expect you to come with me, seeing as I’m carrying the evil cameras of doom, but I have a lot of pictures to take. I’d love it if you came along, though. So long as you stay out of my way, you won’t appear in any of the photos. That’s my promise.”
He grabs me and hugs the breath right out of my lungs. Reuben terrifies me with his passion and the things he’s able to do to my heart after such a short space of time.
I never believed in insta-love. Never.
Love at first sight. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
To me it sounded like an excuse for two people to have sex before any sort of commitment. A way to deflect any morning-after remorse or hook-up guilt.
Now I see how arrogant and sanctimonious that view is. I’m insta-loving all over the ground Reuben walks on. It’s difficult to contain myself when I’m shut up in the house with him and his mega-energy.
I want to be on him, in him, hearing his voice and his music. I never want to sleep. My normal has vanished, and I don’t want it back.
He kisses the top of my head. “I’m coming with you.”
My heart soars. Honestly. It feels as though it’s going to fly right out of my chest. “Grab a coat. It’s probably not cold, but it might rain again.”
“Yes, Mom,” he calls.
We wrap up together. I tie my hair in a braid, which Reuben tries to help me with, then cover my head with a thin beanie. I hate the wind in my ears.
We head down to the beach first, and it’s everything I wanted. There’s a ton of driftwood washed up, suitably draped in seaweed and other ocean flotsam, an old fishing buoy, part of a net encrusted in barnacles. I frame shot after shot, the light constantly improving as the sun lowers. The sea itself is insane. Massive rollers crashing up the shore, excavating the dunes and dragging the sand back with it.
