“So, I met Noah today. He came out to show me around before practice.”
Jaya didn’t answer right away and seemed to take a noticeable swallow, as if uncharacteristically censoring what she was going to say. “You don’t have to do that,” she finally muttered.
“Do what?”
“Tell me about him. Or even think about him. Focus on your game, Sebastian. Don’t let him get in your head.”
“He seemed nice enough.”
“Yeah, well. Leave it at that, alright?”
“Jaya? What number did this guy do on you?”
“It’s in the past. Can we stop talking about him? It doesn’t matter. Tell me about the facilities. And the coaches. What are you eating tonight?”
That’s how she got Sebastian talking about his day and the people he met. She helped him choose food for an early dinner, which he ordered through an app.
After going over his day, Jaya gave him an update on the fundraising campaign, which had slowed slightly but was still on target for its quarterly goals. Finally, after his prompting, Jaya cautiously expressed some optimism about her new project. She found community partners to help her complete a grant. One step closer to creating a program that empowered healthy choices and consensual relationships.
“That sounds exhausting, Jaya. Even someone as brilliant and amazing as you needs to relax sometimes. Do you have a break coming up at all? We have a string of home games next month. How about a long weekend here?”
He watched her nibble on her plump lower lip. Sebastian was struck, once again, by how stunning she was. Jaya nodded, her smile brightening her face even more. “You sure? You’re not too busy?”
“Now, that’s a stupid question from a brilliant woman.”
“Shut up. I mean…you’re just now starting and I don’t want to disrupt anything.” Jaya’s phone was shaky since she was walking home, but he didn’t miss the eagerness in her eyes.
“Jaya, do I need to send a dick pic to motivate you? Because, honestly, you just have to ask…”
“OK, stop!” she interrupted, barely holding back a laugh. His heart skipped for a second because she seemed to have lost her footing.
“Are you OK?” How can someone with so much grace be this clumsy, he would never know.
“I’m good!” she exclaimed. “Just didn’t see the curb lifted.”
“Jaya, you’re going to kill me. How’s your ankle?”
“Fine, fine. What were we talking about?”
“You not falling and you coming here,” he answered affectionately.
“I’ll look at putting in vacation days. I haven’t had any since I started so, yeah, it might work out.”
“Yeah?”
“Um-hm,” she said, just as she opened her front door and let herself in. “I should let you go,” she said. “I need to wash up and figure out my own dinner.”
“Remember what I told you that first night, sweetheart? I don’t want you to let me go,” his voice was light but if she looked closely, the intensity of his expression was hard to avoid.
She rolled her eyes back and shook her head, feigning frustration. “What am I supposed to do? Take you into the shower with me?”
He might have growled. “Now you’re talking.”
She maintained a bland expression and retorted, “Don’t you have dinner coming soon?”
“I’m not the one washing up, sweetheart. And I can’t imagine better dinner entertainment than watching you in the shower.”
“You’re terrible.” She gave an exasperated look though didn’t make any effort to stop the video call.
“You love it,” he piped just as he opened his door and tipped the delivery person. Sebastian settled on his dining table and propped his phone upright. He pulled out the salad and enchiladas, digging in.
Jaya was mostly ignoring him now, although she did carry her phone around her bedroom while grabbing clothes and wiping off her make-up. It was strangely comforting and easy, to be this far from each other and yet share bits and pieces of their routines.
“How’s the food?” she asked, getting her hair out of its bun and brushing its length out.
“Not bad. Needs cilantro and they didn’t add any limes to squeeze over, but it’ll do.”
“I bet you make amazing Mexican food,” she commented affectionately.
“Of course I do. You would love my enchiladas.”
She lifted the phone so her face was up close. “As much as I love your burrito?” she asked sweetly and winked.
He did not bother suppressing his rumbling moan. Sebastian wiped his mouth and leaned back. Just hearing that shift in her tone gave him a boner. “You about ready for that shower, sweetheart?” he asked and palmed his groin in anticipation.
She took a deep breath and nodded, eyes gleaming. She walked to the bathroom and must have propped her phone on the counter. She glanced at the phone and then stood back, looking ahead as if she was watching herself in the bathroom mirror.
Sebastian was living a major bad boy fantasy, waiting for Jaya to undress. Her body moved like a living wet dream as she unbuttoned her shirt. But then she stiffened and something like self-consciousness washed over her face.
“Sweetheart, hey, listen. Don’t be shy. Pretend I’m not here,” he comforted, though his voice was hoarse with need.
Jaya raised a brow and ran her tongue sexily across her teeth. “I’m not shy Sebastian. It’s just that I realized something. I need to get a little dirtier before I get into the shower.”
Realization hit him. He shot out of his chair quickly. “Wait, I’m gonna wash up. Wait, Jaya, just…” he put the phone down, scrubbed his hands, pulled off his pants, and lay on the bed. “Ready. What were you saying? About getting dirty?” he let the words hang heavy between them, not giving a crap about how desperately he wanted this. His cock was thick and hot in his fist.
She held back a cackle and carried her phone to her bedroom where the lights were dimmer but luminous enough to show every curve, every expression, every bit of her beauty.
Placing the phone against what must have been her bedside lamp, she pulled up a chair from her dining room. And then she straddled it so her back was to him. “Oh yeah, Jaya. Fuck that’s hot,” he moaned as she continued unbuttoning her shirt and shrugged it off so he saw her long hair cascade past shapely shoulders and down a smooth back. His fingers tingled and his stomach tightened at the memory of her satin skin.
Jaya began to move her hips in circles as if her nakedness on top stirred something lower. With her legs straddled and back arched, her backside pressed upward, begging to be grabbed. Then she unhooked her bra and let it drop. Looking backward, she shook her hair playfully. He saw the curve of one large breast from the side and something lodged in his throat. With her head tilted back and looking over her shoulder, one of her hands palmed the heavy breast to give him more of a view. Throbbing. His dick was throbbing.
“Turn around, sweetheart. Do it,” the demand in his voice was harsh and hard.
“Look who turned bossy all of a sudden.”
“You like it,” he rumbled.
“You’re right. I do. I really like it,” she uttered hotly, still looking over her shoulder. She stood slowly, leaning over the back of the chair so her ass was propped up. Jaya straightened up and with her back still to him, slowly lowered her leggings to expose satin black bikini panties that perfectly accentuated her round, grabbable bottom. Sebastian almost cracked a molar, grinding his teeth in an attempt to control a snarl of animal hunger.
She turned around. His cock twitched as she stood before him, hair wild, eyes sparkling, ample breasts perfectly pushed up with her grasping hands.
“Pinch your nipples, Jaya. And think of my hot mouth on you. Sucking and licking those gorgeous breasts.” Her head tilted back and she did as she was told. Jaya whined and arched, her breath coming in uneven pants. “Touch yourself. Touch yourself where you want my mouth. I want to eat you so bad. Show me where you want me.�
�� He wasn’t sure how he managed to speak past the choking force of his desire.
She released her breasts and they jiggled and swayed so fucking beautifully, he had a phantom sensation of them under him. Soft, grabbable perfection. He squeezed his eyes shut to hang on to the phantom sensation.
Then he snapped them open, not wanting to miss a second of her hands moving down her torso.
Satin black panties in place, her hand trailed under, moans increasingly loud. “Like that, Jaya. That’s it. Think of my mouth on you, sweetheart. My tongue. You taste so good. Your pussy tastes so fucking good.” Sebastian was in agony, squeezing his dick so hard like he was going to break it off. “Now. Take it off now. I want to see that pretty pussy.”
She leveled her eyes at him, and she shouldn’t have done that because fuck, the flash of those dark eyes was his undoing. Sebastian bit his lower lip, keeping his explosion under control.
When her panties were off, she sat down and opened her legs. He couldn’t breathe. Sebastian squeezed his dick even harder while biting at the skin inside his mouth. He tasted the metallic tinge of blood.
Two fingers moved up and down her seam. “Open yourself for me, sweetheart,” he murmured. She gently placed both hands and opened her deep pink depths while placing a thumb on her clit. The thought of his thumb on that tight, engorged nub and the memory of his hand soaked with her juices filled him with so much yearning, his back arched.
“I’m close, Jaya. How about you?” His words were garbled and strained.
This whole time, his face was by the camera to look at his phone as close as possible. To see as much of Jaya as possible. “I want to see your body, Sebastian.”
“You want to see what you do to me? Is that it? How fucking hard I am for you. How much I need to be inside you?” his voice was low and gravelly.
Her moans turned frantic. Her thumb moved more erratically while her other hand shifted to push two fingers in and out of her pink, glistening apex. Sebastian was sure nothing he watched, nothing he would ever watch, would come close to how fucking sexy Jaya looked, head back and thighs open, touching herself and thinking of him.
Sebastian did as he was told, tilting his phone away from his face to provide a view of his squeezing, pumping fist.
Her eyes popped open and her mouth went to a perfect “O.” “You’re so big, so sexy. I want you in my mouth,” Jaya whined.
Her tongue jutted out, the motion sending a rush of filthy, erotic thoughts into Sebastian’s muddled brain. Lava pooled to his lower back. “I can’t stop, Jaya.”
And then she gasped. A lewd sound followed. Her long, desperate moan turned into a suppressed scream and ended with the most erotic sigh. That’s when he blew.
A deep, manly roar surged through his lungs. Sebastian’s mind blanked. When his volcanic orgasm left him sticky, soaked, and spent, he realized he had dropped his phone. In a panic, he patted around him, and they were both breathing hard when their faces finally came to view.
They were grinning like two satisfied fools. “I want to kiss you,” he said helplessly.
“That’s all I can think about. You kissing me.”
“Everywhere.”
“Everywhere,” she mumbled, her face at peace and her eyes half-lidded.
“Wanna shower together?” he asked as he stood from the bed and tried to keep his mess contained.
“Sure,” she giggled. “I think we’re both dirty enough.”
“Sweetheart,” he couldn’t help saying. “When it comes to you and me, there’s no such thing as enough.”
CHAPTER 15
Jaya was convinced that if she brought a comprehensive proposal to her bosses, she could help develop the kind of body awareness and consent education that all teenagers needed today.
It had been over four weeks of scouring programming materials collected from national organizations. A month of calling or emailing non-profit organizations all over the country to ask about cost, data, and overall best practices. Weeks of compiling statistics on the benefits of sex education that went beyond talk of abstinence or condom application. And countless hours planning her presentation on the kind of program that trained teenagers to respect choices, set boundaries, and think ahead.
The more she delved into the project, the more she realized that what teenagers needed was a fundamental shift away from isolating the body as the topic of education and instead integrating the whole person—mental state, social readiness, communication skills, power dynamics between partners, and so much more.
“We need to account for the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class when facilitating discussions of young people’s sexual awareness of themselves and of others,” she explained while walking Mrs. Chen and Mr. Watson through her printouts.
Jaya felt Mr. Watson’s discomfort at talk of online sexual bullying and the specific vulnerabilities of transgender kids. But he offered tight-lipped nods and vague agreements with as much regularity as Mrs. Chen. Despite the tepid reception, Jaya powered on. This information was too important to gloss over.
“We just aren’t set up for this kind of intervention,” Mrs. Chen argued. “And with the early response from parents of our students here at the community center, it seems like many will think this is verging on the territory of personal, familial matters. An intrusion, if you will.” Jaya knew it was the administrator’s job to consider everyone’s point of view and maintain a reputation of neutral wholesomeness.
But as Jaya watched the teenagers she worked with struggle with harassment, confusion, and misinformation, what was the cost of this so-called wholesomeness? Who was it really protecting?
She tried another tactic. “Even if we don’t have the money or the public will to support a full workshop on the complexities of mature behaviors and relationships, can we at least develop sessions on sexual risk assessments? There’s a program out of Washington, DC that I’ve been in contact with. They specifically help caregivers and guardians assess risk.” She talked while pulling out the pamphlets relevant to her request.
“I’m afraid the administration would have a problem with that. When a member of the board brought up the possibility of awareness on, I think she called it, the sexuality spectrum, it did not go over well.”
“Who?” Jaya asked quickly. “Who brought that up?”
“Dr. Glynnis Sanditon, a highly respected sports psychologist. She runs an empowerment program for youth hockey. She saw a lot of benefits in bringing this discussion into her annual hockey camp for girls. I’m surprised you haven’t come across her path.”
“I’ve heard of her, of course. She’s a big name in youth hockey development. But no, I haven’t had the privilege of meeting her. But you said she brought up this concept? With the board?” She made a note to research the doctor the second she got out of here. She sounded like an ally. Maybe Sebastian knew her? After all, Dr. Sanditon had a lot of connections with the Thrashers hockey team.
“Let’s just say she got shot down pretty quickly. Not by me, of course. I’m always willing to hear about helpful, progressive youth programs. But I’m with Mrs. Chen here. This could prove too controversial because it’s about sex.”
“See, that’s it! It isn’t actually about sex,” Jaya tried to explain. “It’s…it’s about boys and girls learning self-awareness and communication. It’s about…honestly, it’s about respect and consent.” She started to feel like her work and dedication were no match for the overall prejudice against the taboo of an honest, engaged conversation about intimacy. A taboo that delivered young children straight to uninformed and unhealthy choices. She experienced a surge of irritation on the brink of anger.
Her bosses looked at each other and suddenly Jaya felt like she was in front of her parents who were once again disappointed by her lack of judgment but too tactful to say so. In front of two disapproving authority figures, she had to tamp down her insecurities.
Jaya steadied herself. She didn’t have doubts about the importance o
f this work. She would keep trying. She could say more. She could always say more.
“Let’s look at the facts. The hard evidence across different demographics,” she said. “A 2015 study published in Applied Developmental Psychology found that communication and emotional management reduced name-calling, homophobic behavior, and sexual harassment in schools.”
She paused as her supervisors looked at the desk instead of at her. Were they writing this down? Jaya thought they should be writing this down.
“A more recent study in 2018 tracked sexual assaults in colleges. Students were given tools to communicate how to say no to unwanted sex. Can you imagine? That’s it. Just teach them how to advocate for their own needs and to handle rejection in a respectful way. If all young adults are given this education, they don’t just learn to talk, they learn to listen to their potential partner’s reservations and concerns. With that alone, students were far less likely to experience sexual assaults once they got to college. I’m not saying this avoids all violent perpetrators, but the findings are clear. There are long-term benefits to cultivating self-respect, communication skills, and a broader understanding of consent. It matters when they’re teenagers and it matters for the rest of their lives.”
Her voice was at the brink of shrill. She cleared her throat and reset her eagerness to a more manageable volume. But the truth was, she believed this kind of programming could change lives. Increasingly, she found the initiative to be far more crucial than another basketball court or more computers.
As a youth coordinator, she was constantly dragged in multiple directions. Orientation of volunteers one day and social media management most days. She had to navigate event planning for outreach efforts or annual picnics, while also overseeing online registration and tutoring schedules. So on and so on. She never minded the range of responsibilities because she saw it as part of contributing to a young person’s overall growth.
However, she no longer wanted to diversify her efforts or spread herself thin. She wanted to focus. On this. She wanted to create peer groups and strategy sessions that employed the most effective applied psychology research on sex education. Jaya was eager to expand her network to include people like Dr. Sanditon who welcomed discussions about spectrums of sexual identity that kids were exploring. If Jaya had her way, she would be able to reach as many teenagers as possible, conveying how consent and accountability were priorities that outweighed peer pressure. She wanted to empower.
The Love Campaign (Romantic Revelations Series Book 1) Page 17
