Attractions of the Heart

by Cheri Crystal

  “We’ll take it,” I said, pushing Joy out of the way with my hip. I took our keys while her stare bored through my head. “We’re adults. Surely, we can manage to share a bed without touching.”

  Joy looked as skeptical as I felt, but she silently agreed, and we went to get settled.

  “You’d better keep to your side, Cate.” Joy dumped her duffle bag on the bed, choosing the right. “And no parading around here in your underwear or naked. Deal?”

  “Sure thing, boss.” I flashed a toothy grin. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah. No eating in bed.”

  “I guess sex is out then, too.”

  She threw a ball of socks and hit me squarely on the jaw. I cracked up and beat her to the bathroom. We took turns changing into swimsuits and headed out for fun in the sun. Joy complained about lathering sunscreen on my back, but her massage affected me to the tips of my toes in a sweet torture that collected in my clit.

  The hotel pool had waterslides, underwater bars, and even an aquarium. As I watched Joy swim laps, I fell deeper in love. We spent the day parasailing and alternating between snorkeling in the surf and swimming in the pool.

  That night, we retired to our room and undressed for bed. Joy wore sweats and I thought she’d die of heat frustration. I didn’t sleep a wink with her near enough for me to tell she couldn’t sleep either. Counting her breaths didn’t help lull me. I fought the urge to tackle her as she lay at the very edge of the mattress. Less than an inch and she’d be on the floor.

  “Well, goodnight then.” Her voice was thick and huskier than usual.

  “Night, Joy. Sleep tight.”

  My body ached. I wanted to kiss every part of her. But I knew what her response would be. Best friends, especially business partners, don’t fuck. It was the longest night of my life. I soaked my shorts and had to change them twice. If she caught a whiff of my arousal or heard me when I got up, she didn’t comment.

  We both looked awful in the morning. Joy had bags under her eyes and still managed to melt me. Her flaxen locks fell seductively over one eye, past her nose, broken a few times from rough housing, and ended at her strong jaw. Whenever she tossed her head or blew errant strands off her face, I ached with an indescribable crush that coursed through my belly and ended in my crotch. The early morning run along the beach as the sun rose over sparkling blue water was lovely, but it didn’t help my angst one bit.

  By the third day, I was so horny I thought I’d need an emergency room for third degree longing. We hit the pool for a change of pace from swimming in the ocean. I worked out hard all day to keep my mind off my need. It was getting late and Joy moved at a fast and ferocious pace. Her lean body pounded through the moon-and-torch-lit water. Her tiny bikini bottoms and sports bra did little to hide sensuous sculpted muscles beneath smooth round curves. I moved closer for a better look. Too close.

  A sudden case of goose bumps made me weak. I shivered and yet felt as if I had a fever. I had to have Joy and it had to be tonight. I managed to stop her in mid-stroke and got the wind knocked out of me with her powerful kick. She wrapped her arms around my waist while I coughed up mouthfuls of chlorinated water. Maybe I milked it, but I couldn’t stop trembling in her embrace.

  “Careful there. You okay?”

  I nodded. She put me down and smoothed a handful of slick hair off her face. The effort rippled the muscles in her arms, but my attention was riveted to her breasts. A wet yellow suit left little to the imagination, even in the dark. See-through fabric combined with rigid nipples made it impossible to look anywhere else.

  “I’m going back to our room.” My throat tightened and I rasped, “You coming?”

  “Nah, I’ll catch you later. Goodnight.”

  If she’d bothered to look back, she’d have seen my pout. I went to our room and showered. The king-sized bed was huge and empty. I slipped into a worn oversized t-shirt and shorts, turned down the covers, and climbed in. The sheets felt like silk.

  Sleep wouldn’t come. I needed serious help. My pocket rocket would be just the sleeping pill I needed. I located the pouch that concealed my toy, inserted a brand new battery, and covered the plastic white tip with the clear pink stimu-sleeve. Making wild and passionate love with my mini-massager was the next best thing. Those fluttering clit-teasers and the nubs for deep satisfaction made it my trusted favorite.

  I spread my legs and brushed the inside of my thighs, abs, and breasts. I could come right away, but what was the rush? A few seconds later, I placed some lube on the bright pink tip and began to rub it slowly over my labia, circling the entire area in and out of each slick fold, avoiding that one ultra-sensitive spot. I turned Buddy on and the vibration in my hands did its magic on my mind. My thoughts cleared with only a faint hum for company. No distractions. Just me, my clit and I. Joy can have her own party. Oh, God, no. I tossed out the dreadful thought determined to get my mind back on my toy. Each movement of Buddy emphasized my point. I was going to come with or without Joy.

  “Ohhh, yeah, this is sweet.”

  I ditched the covers and straightened my legs, my muscles taut and unyielding as I eased up the pressure on my clit, until the tip barely registered contact. The vibrations shook me to my heated unrequited core until I was close to exploding. I moved the tip lower. The blood rushed in as exquisite sensations threatened to overtake me.

  I had trouble catching my breath, but I kept at it. My body jerked and I put my knees up, lifting my butt off the mattress. I parted my pussy lips with my free hand, exposing tender flesh. I imagined Joy watching over me with her brilliant blue eyes, wanting me, and taking me. I wanted to be her girl more than anything in the world. How could she be so stubborn? Focus, Cate. Come on. Lights flashed before my eyes. So close. Yeah. God! I was so fucking close and yet so far. Come on. Coming wasn’t usually this frustrating.

  “Damn it, Buddy, do your thing!” My hips picked up a familiar rhythm. I threw open my eyes and looked up at the heavens only to be disappointed by a stucco ceiling.

  A beam of light shone from a slit in the closet door. I’d left it open so that Joy wouldn’t trip in the dark. I could smell the lingering scent of her perfume, and pretended she was taking me all the way. The fire again started in my pelvis. With a vivid image of Joy before me, my clit responded. Almost there and this time, I was going all the way. I wanted my cake and, “Ahhh, god…mygod, oh,” and eat it too. The buzz of the vibrator sounded loud at first, but as I neared my climax, the strong beat of my heart muffled the sound. I gently ran the cool silicone tip down to my wet and waiting cunt and thrust it inside. The tiny pink antennas and nubs on the shaft of the sheath teased at my engorged clit, which threatened to burst. I wanted fingers, fists, hell, I wanted it all. I couldn’t take it a second longer.

  I circled my clit and felt waves of heat begin the meltdown. God only knows how I moved away from the spot long enough to cool off just a bit, only to follow it up with more heat. Buddy could have been Joy’s tongue, her lips, her...“Oh, Joy, I…” The orgasm was imminent, but I prolonged it. I pushed my head into the pillow, my eyes held tightly shut, and I lifted my knees, only to lower them again. My hips raised off the sheets now soaked with sweat.

  “Ohgodohjoyoh…” I came until I couldn’t come anymore. Every nerve ending was contented except the ones in my brain. I lay on the bed, until I realized I had company. The lingering scent of beer and perfume wasn’t lingering at all. Oh shit, it was real.

  “Damn, that’s hot.”

  “What?” I sat up and pushed my shirt down. “Oh, fuck. How long?”

  “Long enough.”

  I flopped down and tried to suffocate myself with a pillow.

  “You could give lessons.”

  “I could die.”

  “No, baby, I’d miss you.” She sat on the bed. “You called my name. Several times.”

  I rolled to face her and placed my hand on her thigh. She was trembling.

  “I’d love to make you come—”

  “Kiss
me.”

  “But, we shouldn’t.”

  “Please,” I begged.

  Joy moved closer and covered me with her body. Her lips were tender and yet determined when they met mine. She lifted my hands above my head and kissed me with a fierceness that edged on possessive. I wanted her to take me. I needed her to be mine as much as I longed to be hers. She removed my t-shirt and let it fall. I shivered in anticipation.

  When she sat up, her knees on either side of my hips, I started to protest, but I relaxed when I realized that she would only be gone long enough to remove her shirt and bra. I reached for her fly, but she kissed me before I could unzip it. She had a gleam in her eye.

  “What’s your hurry?”

  Her tongue began the luxurious journey from my nose to my navel. She parted my legs and if I weren’t on my back, then I would have fallen for sure.

  “You’re amazing,” she murmured and then buried her face past my soft dark curls until I could feel her breath and tongue so near my clit that I grabbed her head. I vocalized in time to every lick and held my breath with every suck. I was about to reach my crescendo and she stopped. Just like that.

  “Where’s your toy?” she asked.

  I handed Buddy over. I moaned when she slipped it into me while thumbing my clit, nice and slow. Then she leaned over me, and I took her nipple in my mouth and sucked it to a hard point. I repeated my actions with the other one. The muscles in her stomach rippled as she pumped her pussy along my thigh. Her moisture trail fueled my desire. I was the reason she was wet. She wanted me. With surprising strength, I topped Joy, flipped her over, and pinned her to the bed. I took Buddy from her grasp.

  I inhaled her musky sex scent and memorized the sight of her moist cunt. Her clit was lovely, red, and hard. I spread her wider and she pleaded, “Fuck me, please sweet Jesus.”

  I ran Buddy along the shaft of her clit and within seconds, when I was sure she’d come, I moved it away and thrust a finger into her pussy, so warm and welcoming. I pumped in two more fingers. She opened for me. I managed to enjoy four fingers in her hot, swollen cunt and her muscles massaged my hand in an erotic embrace. I was close to coming just watching how excited I made her. Her eyes grew darker with desire. She moaned my name. I fucked her hard, purposely avoiding her clit, until I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Please, Cate, I have to come.”

  I loved the sound of her begging almost as much as how hard and dark her clit got. I pounded her pussy and circled her throbbing clit with my thumb. Joy’s entire body jolted. Her spasms gripped my hand. My own climax was right on the tip of my clit. I merely moved my pussy on her thigh and in one enormous volcanic eruption, it was as if a paradise island swallowed us up and deposited us into eternal utopia. Joy and I came so hard it was a wonder we were able to hold each other up. The spasms crashed into us like the surf outside our window. The blanket was like the hot sand beneath us and the sunshine in my heart was brighter than the one outdoors. A last shudder and I collapsed on Joy, and she held me the way I always wished she would.

  After an eternity of lying together naked, with a gentle breeze from the open window caressing our sated bodies, arousal gripped me once more. I tried for an encore, but Joy said, “Not so fast.”

  The only thing keeping me from diving in between her thighs and lapping up her fragrant lust again were her fingers, which found their way into my pussy.

  She tasted my juices off her fingers and dipped them back in for seconds.

  “Best friends don’t fuck,” I reminded her as I teased her nipple nearest my lips.

  “Maybe not…” she said, lifting my face until our gazes securely locked and then she kissed the tip of my nose, “…but best friends who happen to be lovers do.”

  TAKING CHANCES

  Sometimes, the only way to fulfill dreams is to take a chance without holding anything back. Jordan and Melanie will have to conquer their greatest fears if their future together includes more than friendship. Will they make it to the top?

  Maybe I was whining, but didn’t desperation count for anything? What about melodrama? My specialty.

  I spun Melanie around. “What if I sign an affidavit that proclaims you will not be liable for my heart if it doesn’t work out?” I only realized that I had her arms in a vice grip when I saw welts start to form.

  “Jordan, give it a rest.” She half-heartedly shook off my hands.

  My face grew hot and I stepped back, but I didn’t give up easily. “Come on. We both want this. What are you so afraid of?”

  She turned around and walked off, leaving me flat. I don’t know how long I stood there with my mouth down to my tits, but there it was.

  Rejection.

  And from the last person on earth I ever expected it from. My oldest, nearest, and dearest friend. We were fiercely different, yet inseparable, and connected by a long list of events, which coincidentally paralleled for most of our thirty-eight years. I ran to catch up and we walked the rest of the way home from the kosher deli in silence. When I couldn’t stand it a moment longer, I repeated, “What are you so goddamned afraid of? I’m a big girl, and I know what I want.” I didn’t need to search too deep to know what was in her heart. I knew it with every part of me because I felt it too. I couldn’t imagine life without her and I desperately wanted more.

  Melanie was a stubborn woman of very few words, as if she paid for each syllable. “No. It’s more than that and you know it.”

  Always the drama queen, I put my hands on my hips like I meant business. Stamping my foot was a waste of time, too. This wasn’t exactly a new topic for us. When she ignored me, I gave her a playful shove. “Why? Aren’t we entitled to a loving relationship even if our parents might not approve? I think they’d be happy for us.”

  “Then you obviously don’t remember the time we got caught playing doctor behind the bushes…you know the rest.” Melanie turned ten shades of scarlet, and I was two shades behind her remembering our sensual explorations for girls barely over the precipice of puberty.

  “Okay, so we got carried away.”

  Melanie shot me one of her signature smirks—an arched eyebrow, and a curled upper lip. “We were practically naked.”

  “And you were grounded for a week. Oh, man, your mom gave us an awful earful. But we’re adults now.”

  “Drop it!”

  I didn’t blame Melanie for not wanting to relive that day. I could still hear her mother’s sharp slap across her face and envision how hard Melanie fought tears. “I’d never seen your mom that mad. I was so close to crapping in my pants.” I shivered. “She didn’t let me leave until we swore we’d never do it again. She said we were too old for such foolish games. I think that’s how she put it.”

  Melanie shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. I had no idea what happened after I left, and Melanie had her pride, so I didn’t push. I had to lighten the mood that descended upon us like the first autumn frost. We walked past a row of split-level homes distinguished only by the vinyl siding and what was planted in the flower beds beneath the picture windows. Fall was rapidly approaching. I didn’t want to end up like a frozen begonia. I was more like New Guinea impatiens anyway. I wanted Melanie, and I wanted her now. I smiled at my own joke, but Melanie looked way too serious.

  “Aw, come on.” I pointed at my cheek. “Let me have it, right here.” I was all prepared to turn my face so she’d catch my lips instead, but she didn’t bite. Tickling had no effect on her, either. Melanie had the control of a steel drum.

  I set my jaw, but the corners of my mouth curved upwards anyway. “What do I do if I need kisses to keep my lonely lips from drying up and falling off?” I pleaded, treading lightly as we took turns kicking a rock that had to be righted each time it ended up on a lawn. It seemed there were always obstacles to overcome in this life.

  Melanie glared, but kept walking.

  “I know!” I skipped with my brilliant idea. “You can do a breast exam. You wouldn’t want me to miss a lump?”


  “Shit, Jordan.” She stopped walking so abruptly that I plowed into her. “Don’t you dare get sick.” Our moms both had battled breast cancer—her mother’s had returned. The guilt of seeing pain in her eyes, no matter how fleeting, killed me.

  “Sorry, bad example. My breasts are fine. Want to see?” I started to lift my shirt, but stopped when a look of horror crossed her even features. When I was with her, I often forgot we were in public.

  “How about as research for when I do find the girl of my dreams?” As if I hadn’t already.

  “Give it a rest.” She let out a long suffering sigh. How she held that much air in her lungs, I hadn’t a clue.

  I shut up, but I didn’t give up. I was going to get my way if I had to tickle, beg, bribe or torment her to make it happen. That’s when I saw the sign stapled to a telephone pole:

  County Fair Saturday and Sunday

  Noon to Midnight

  Excellent.

  “Okay, I know how much you love to win. Here’s the deal.”

  She didn’t speak, but I could smell the burning wood. Did I know my friend or what? She could never pass up a contest—pissing or otherwise.

  “We go to the fair and pick a game. Any game. If I win, I get my way. If you win, I don’t.”

  The color rose in her freckled complexion and reached beyond her clear blue eyes. I knew I had her attention when the red hue ran into and under her wind-blown copper bangs.

  “You must not want this as badly as you say,” Melanie said.

  “Oh yeah?” I jabbed her in the ribs with my elbow and met with muscle. Damn. I’d kill for her tight abs, but forget sit-ups. I didn’t do exercise as a steady diet. “We’ll see about that.” I sounded quite confident despite how I felt and was satisfied for the moment.

  Dressed to drive me wild, Melanie showed up in tight black jeans and a tank that said, You have been a bad girl, now get to MY room. She wore her hair slicked back except for the strands that danced across her forehead. The confident grin and tough stance would knock anyone for a loop, but I’d known her most my life and could just ignore it. Unfortunately, my body had its own agenda.