by Noelle Adams
“Then give me a cliché. I don’t care.”
“You’re like sunshine. After the rain. Bursting into the gray. Reflecting your light onto all the wet surfaces. Remaking the world after the storm.” His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were utterly naked. He’d raised one hand to cup her jaw.
Tears were streaming down her face now, but they didn’t come with sobs. She was smiling up at him. “That’s really what you think?”
“Yes. That’s what I think. And you shouldn’t let your mother or some random guy or anyone in the world ever make you think you’re not exactly that.”
She was so overwhelmed that she buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her again, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
She didn’t mind.
She needed it.
She needed him.
She didn’t want to have to let him go.
WHEN THEY GOT BACK to the apartment, Steve and Michelle were cuddled up together on the couch, watching TV. They greeted them cheerfully and asked about dinner, so Brent and Chloe stood and chatted with them for a few minutes.
Chloe didn’t feel much like socializing though. She was still brimming with intense emotions. So she said she was tired and told her friends good night.
She was happy when Brent came with her. He was still beside her when they reached her bedroom door.
She looked up at him, her heart in her throat, making it ache.
He gazed down at her with that same tenderness she’d seen in his face earlier.
She wanted it so much. She couldn’t hold back the words. “Did you want...?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t even know what I was asking.”
“It doesn’t matter. I want it. Whatever it is. I want it. I want everything. I want you.”
She gulped. “You do?”
He rubbed her cheek with his knuckles. “Yes. I do.”
“All... all the way?”
“All the way.”
“Tonight?”
“Right now. If that’s what you want too.” He was speaking as softly as she was. He’d stepped into her so she could feel the heat from his body. A rising tension. “Is it?”
“It is.”
She pulled him into her bedroom and closed and locked the door behind her. She was shaking and breathing fast when she turned around to face him.
They stared at each other for a moment.
Then he made a rough sound in his throat and pulled her into a kiss.
It was deep, urgent, messy. She opened to him immediately and reached up to grab for his neck. He slid his hand down to her bottom and pressed the length of her body against his.
She wasn’t sure why she felt so completely out of control, but she couldn’t stop herself from clutching him, from rubbing against him, from sucking his tongue into her mouth. They kissed their way over to her bed, tripping on the overflowing laundry basket she’d left in the middle of the floor.
She was giggling as they tumbled clumsily onto the bed, but she didn’t let the mishap distract her. She pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him, leaning down to kiss him again, just as deep and hungry as before.
He rubbed her back up and down until his hands finally ended on her butt. He squeezed her there over her trousers and kept squeezing. It felt intimate. Strangely vulnerable. She moaned into his mouth, unable to hold back the sound.
Brent was already hard in his jeans. She ground herself against the bulge until his body clenched tight and he yanked his mouth out of the kiss. “Fuck, Chloe. You’re going to kill me.”
“Really?”
“If you keep doing that, I’m not going to last more than a minute.”
She laughed again—an overflow of all she was feeling—and adjusted herself on his body so she wasn’t pushing against his groin. “Okay. You’re right. We should slow down a little. See if we can do this right.”
He nodded and took a few deep breaths, obviously working on getting his body under control. “I’ve got condoms in my room.”
“I’ve got some in here.” She climbed off him to reach for the drawer of her nightstand, pulling out a couple of packets from the box she kept there.
He nodded when she showed them to him.
“So...” She suddenly felt a ridiculous surge of nervousness. She had no idea why. “So should we take our clothes off?”
He stared at her from the bed, his eyes hot and his body tense. He nodded again.
She pulled her sweater off over her head, loving the heat and awe in his eyes as he stared at her in her bra.
He loved how she looked. There was absolutely no way to believe anything else. He couldn’t possibly be putting it on.
“Now you,” she said, inclining her head toward him with a teasing smile.
He huffed in amusement and pulled off his flannel shirt and the T-shirt he wore under it.
She stared greedily at his chest for a minute before she took off her shoes and socks and then undid her trousers, pulling them down her legs and then dropping them over the side of the bed to the floor.
His brown eyes raked up and down her body from her feet to her face, lingering on her black bra and panties.
She let him look at her until she felt that rising of nerves again. “Your turn.”
He swallowed audibly and then stood up to strip off his jeans. He wore a pair of cotton boxers beneath it, and she could see the outline of his very prominent erection beneath the fabric.
He stood, looking slightly awkward as she stared at him. Then he tucked his fingers under the waistband of his boxers. “You want me to...”
“Only if you’re comfortable. I can go first if you want me to.”
He met her eyes and surprised her with a glint of dry humor. “If you go first, I’ll probably lose it in a very embarrassing way. You better keep your underwear on until we’re ready to go.”
She giggled, but the sound choked in her throat as he dropped his boxers.
He wasn’t unusually large, but he had nothing to be ashamed of. His erection was firm and thick and bounced slightly as he stepped back to the bed. “Well?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.
She reached out to stroke him, causing him to fall back onto the mattress with a groan. “I like it. I like it a lot.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah.” She reached for a condom packet, tore it open, and rolled it on for him. Then she took off her bra and panties.
Brent stared at her like she was a goddess rising out of the sea. With the same kind of awed adoration—all of it mingled with hot hunger.
She’d never felt so beautiful, so sexy. Not once in all her life.
“You ready for this?” she asked as she straddled his hips, taking his erection in both hands.
He grunted.
She’d been staring at his groin, but at that, her eyes flew to his face. “Brent. I need the words.”
“Yes!” he burst out, louder than she’d expected. “Yes. I’m ready. Fuck, I’m so ready. I don’t think anyone has ever been so ready.”
She laughed at that, but her body was pulsing with need, with want. “Is this position all right? Or would you rather be on top?”
“This is... this is perfect.” He closed his eyes and arched up his neck as she gently fondled his balls. When she’d released him, he added, “Are you... are you ready? We haven’t had much foreplay tonight.”
She grabbed his hand and brought it between her legs so he could feel how wet she was. “We’ve had a couple of weeks of foreplay. I’m definitely ready.”
He smiled, and she smiled back. They held the warm gaze for a minute until her patience ran out. She lifted herself up to position over him.
“Okay. This can be a little tricky. Can you hold yourself steady for me so I don’t miss?”
He grunted out a laugh as he moved his hand to the base of his shaft. After a little maneuvering, she was able to lower herself on top of him, sheathing him with her body.
<
br /> Both of them groaned as he penetrated her. She rolled her hips and arched her back and dropped her head back from the intense sensations.
When she’d caught her breath, she looked down at Brent. He’d closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. His face looked... pained.
“Are you okay?” she asked, suddenly worried. “Does this feel okay to you?”
“Okay? Okay? Fuck.” He rocked up his hips, like he couldn’t hold them still. “Nothing has ever felt better in my life.”
She let out a breath, relieved and rather delighted by this rough admission. She adjusted her weight, reaching up to grab the headboard with one hand to take some of the strain off her thighs. “Oh. That’s okay then. It feels pretty good to me too.”
He was gazing up at her again now, his eyes urgent, nakedly needy. And more than that. “Just tell me what to do.”
“You’re already doing it. Your body knows how it wants to move. Just let it.”
“What if I... hurt you or something?”
“I’ll let you know, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Now. Show me. What do your hips want to do?”
He took a shaky breath and rocked his hips up into her again.
She gasped with the pleasure of the move. “Yes. Yes. Just keep doing that.”
He did, and she experimented until she found a good way to move with him. Then they were moving together. Riding each other. Fast and urgent and a little bit clumsy and so incredibly good.
She loved it. It felt better than anything. She panted and whimpered and made silly grunts as an orgasm tightened at her center.
Brent was grunting too—louder and gruffer than her. He was sweating now, and his face was flushed beneath his beard, and his eyes were ravenous as they moved up and down her strained face and naked body.
“Oh shit,” she gasped. “Oh fuck. I’m gonna... I’m gonna...”
“Yes.” His face contorted, and he bucked up into her faster, harder. “Yes, come, Chloe. I want you to come.”
“Oh Brent! I’m gonna...” She let her head fall back with a loud sob as the orgasm released. She shook and bounced over him as the pleasure washed over her, and it lasted a long time.
She thought Brent might have lost it after her channel clamped down around him from her climax. But he didn’t. He made a lot of strangled sounds, and his body writhed briefly as he struggled for control, but he was still hard inside her as she came down.
She smiled down at him breathlessly, stroking his beard. “You could have come.”
“Yeah. I know. I almost did. But I didn’t want it to be over quite yet. I wanted...” He made a weird little sound in his throat. “I wanted it to last as long as it could.”
She was so touched by the admission that she leaned down to kiss him, and she was so wet that he slipped out of her body as she did. They kissed for a minute, wet and sloppy. Then she pulled off him so she could check the condom.
It was still fine, so she rolled over onto her back. “You want to try it on top?”
His answer was to move on top of her, settling between her legs as she widened them. Both of them were smiling as he used his hand to move his erection into position at her entrance.
“That’s right,” she murmured, bending up her knees. “You’ve got it. Just like that.”
She was tight from her orgasm, so he had to edge himself in slowly. But all of it felt good to her, and obviously it did to him too. He kept groaning uninhibitedly, like he couldn’t hold back the sound.
It made her feel so good. That he was enjoying being with her so much.
When he was fully inside her, she bent her legs up more so they were folded next to his hips.
He leaned down to kiss her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she responded.
Then his hips started to move.
“Yes.” She turned her head from the kiss so she could talk, catch her breath. “Just like that. Let your body do what it wants.”
“This is what it wants.” His breath wafted against her skin. His beard scratched her face deliciously. “This. Exactly this. This is what it’s always wanted.”
“Then take it. Do it.” She adjusted her arms so she could stroke his back and feel her way down to his clenching ass.
His motion sped up, grew more forceful as she started to rock with him. Soon they were pumping so enthusiastically that the bed was shaking; the headboard was bumping against the wall.
A tiny part of her mind realized that Steve and Michelle might be able to hear it, but the rest of her just didn’t care.
This was what mattered. Right here. Right now. With Brent.
Being with him this way.
His grunts were turning into something louder and more out of control. His body was hot as fire and moving in frantic thrusts. He was losing control. He was going to come.
She wanted him to.
“Yes. Yes, Brent. Let go. Just like that. Let go.” She dug her fingernails into his back and tightened her inner muscles around him.
He cried out loudly as he gave a final few jerks of his hips. Then he was coming, shaking, bellowing out a helpless exclamation that sounded a lot like her name.
It was overwhelming. Almost too much.
Chloe’s chest was so full she could barely breathe as she felt him coming with little jerks of his hips and then felt his body softening on top of her.
He panted against the crook of her neck, breathing out, “Chloe,” again and again.
She stroked him for a long time until he’d pulled himself together. Then he finally raised his head. He was smiling.
She smiled back. “So I guess you’d consider that a good first time?”
He huffed and kissed her. “It was the best first time anyone could ever ask for.”
She hugged him tightly, still feeling that ache of emotion in her chest and wondering why it was so strong right now.
She’d just had sex.
She’d had sex many times before.
She’d never felt like this before.
Needing a moment’s reprieve, she said, “Why don’t you roll off me? I’ll take care of the condom.”
He did as she said, carefully removing the full condom. She took it from him and tied it off, climbing out of the bed and hurrying to her attached bathroom.
She threw away the condom and sat down on the toilet to pee and recover her emotional equilibrium.
She could do this.
She wasn’t going to fall apart.
In just a minute, she was going to leave the bathroom and go back out to Brent. She’d get into bed with him and talk to him, and they’d be the way they always were.
Having sex with him hadn’t made her a different person.
There was no reason for her to feel like it had.
Eight
BRENT HAD BEEN FEELING like there was nothing else he could want for in the world, but he started to get worried the longer that Chloe was in the bathroom.
Her room was pretty and messy and feminine, and even her bed smelled like her. He was surrounded by her here. He liked it. He liked how his body felt, and he loved how close he’d felt to Chloe when he’d been moving inside her, against her.
But he was getting strange vibes now—worrisome enough that his sated leisure tightened into unspoken questions. He sat up in bed and waited for her to come out.
It took longer than it should have.
Maybe she hadn’t liked having sex with him. She’d acted like she did. He could have sworn she’d really enjoyed it. But maybe she was just acting for his benefit, trying to salvage his ego.
He didn’t think she would do that though. Surely she’d had a good time. He’d done the best he could—considering it was his first time—and she’d told him he’d done it right. He’d come before he’d wanted to, but he’d been incapable of holding out longer. He couldn’t believe most guys would have lasted much longer than he did their first times. He hadn’t thought she was disappointed in him.
But he
didn’t know where the tense vibes were coming from.
He wanted her to come out of the bathroom so he could see her face, assure himself she was all right.
When the bathroom door opened, his back stiffened.
She came out wearing a little red bathrobe. She was smiling, but she gave him a questioning look as she walked toward the bed. “What are you doing?”
She looked okay. Relaxed and normal. Maybe he’d been worrying for no reason. “Nothing. Waiting for you.”
“Why are you sitting up? I thought you’d be asleep by now.” Her voice was fond and laughing. She climbed onto the bed and reached over to give his beard a little tug.
He returned her smile as he reclined back on the bed. “I’m not that bad.”
“Well, you are kind of bad about falling asleep right afterward. I thought it might be your thing.”
“Maybe it is. But I’ll at least wait until you’re back in the bed with me.” He pulled her toward him and kissed her, relieved when she kissed him back easily.
He’d been imagining the vibes. She was fine—warm and sweet and Chloe-like. She wasn’t disappointed in him or wanting to pull away.
He was so relieved by this fact and so pleased by her response to his kiss that he was suddenly inspired. He eased her onto her back and moved over her, kissing her soundly until she was hot and pliant, and then kissing his way down her neck.
“Why did you put this on?” he asked, tugging on the sash to her robe.
“Because I didn’t want to go around naked.” She was smiling up at him languidly, her eyelids heavy and her mouth deliciously swollen.
“Why not? It sounds like a very good idea to me.” When the tie fell loose, he pulled her robe open to reveal her bare body.
Despite his very satisfying orgasm a few minutes ago, his body pulsed with interest at the sight of her.
“So you think it’s a good idea for you to go around naked?” she asked. She reached down to pull on the waistband of his boxers, which he’d put back on while she was in the bathroom. “If that’s the case, you better take these off.”
He chuckled. “It’s a good idea for you. You’ve got a much better body to look at than I do.”
