by Natalie Ann
“Bite your tongue,” he said. “Though I do have everything charging.”
“Smart man. I’ll plug my phone in if you don’t mind too.” He didn’t seem to be having too much anxiety over the storm they were getting. Not like she thought he would.
That was part of the reason she was here. She wanted to see how he reacted to it. Wanted to see if she could gauge his mood and if he was ready to run.
So far she couldn’t put her finger on anything other than he looked thrilled to see her.
“Well, I’m hungry. I’ve worked up quite an appetite today cleaning the snow out of the driveway.”
“Grab some plates and all the makings for subs are right here. Help yourself,” she said.
“You’re not going to have it all set up for me? That’s the only thing missing. That and a picnic basket.”
She grinned. She’d almost...almost... grabbed it out of the closet. But she didn’t want him to know she still had it. Or that she was trying to recreate things from their past.
“We’re adults now and maybe you don’t eat your sandwiches the same way as you used to.”
He laughed. “I’ll eat anything you make for me. I’ve never been picky. I will tell you now though, I don’t like yellow mustard.”
“Really? You used to eat my bologna and cheese sandwiches with yellow mustard all the time. I thought it was your favorite.”
“I lied,” he said, cutting open a roll and grabbing the ham she’d removed from the package. “I like mustard, but spicy mustard.”
She shook her head. “Did you even like bologna?”
“I did. I haven’t had it since you made it for me last. I think it’s a kid thing. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t care to eat it again.”
“At least you didn’t lie about that.”
He looked up and squinted one eye at her. “Eating what your girlfriend brings you and smiling about it isn’t lying. It’s being a good boyfriend.”
That was debatable in her eyes, but she didn’t say that. They weren’t kids anymore and she had opinions back then she didn’t share now.
“Well, now I want you to tell me if you don’t like something I make or buy. I’m going to second guess everything. Did you still like chicken lo mein from the other night?”
He ran his finger down her nose. “Yes. There wasn’t much I didn’t like. I’ve never been a fussy eater and I’m not lying. I just don’t like yellow mustard. That’s the only thing that is coming to my mind. Everything else was fine. Is fine, even what you bought tonight.”
“That’s a relief.”
“You’re humoring me, aren’t you?”
At least he was buying it. “Yep. Do you have dry wood in the house in case we need to light the fireplace?”
“I do,” he said. “There was some in the garage and I took a chance it might be damp so I brought it in a few days ago.”
“Good to know you’ve retained a few things.”
He snickered at her. “I’m going to light the fireplace for you so you know I can do it. I think you don’t believe I can.”
She never knew if he could or not. It wouldn’t prove anything, but it would give them some heat and atmosphere.
“How about this? You go start the fire. Just a small one and I’ll finish up assembling our dinner and then clean up the kitchen. We can share the chores.”
He pulled her in and kissed her softly on the lips. Tenderness again that he always wanted to show and she wanted to fight.
Only this time she wasn’t fighting it, but rather letting him have his way.
***
Matt was in the living room stacking the wood and adding the kindling. He’d hated learning how to do this as a kid. Or more like he hated that Bob was the one who lectured him on being able to do it. That if he was ever working and the power went out, that Matt needed to be able to keep the house warm.
He didn’t need Bob to tell him how to take care of his mother back then, but there was no use voicing that. It would have just started a pissing war that Matt never seemed to win.
He and Bob didn’t fight often, but it was enough. He had to keep reminding himself that his mother was happy and that was all that mattered.
No one cared if he was miserable. He was just a teen.
He was a man now and he knew how to take care of his woman.
His woman. That made him snort.
Dena was no man’s woman. He knew that now.
He should have known it back then.
“Okay. I’m impressed.”
He turned to look at Dena as she carried two plates in her hands full of sandwiches and cookies, with a bag of chips under her arm.
“Because I stacked the wood properly?” he asked. “It hasn’t been lit yet, so don’t get too impressed.”
“I love that you can acknowledge that and don’t need a pat on the back.”
He’d never admit he needed them. He never had in the past and sure the hell wouldn’t now.
“Here goes nothing,” he said, grabbing the lighter and setting a piece of newspaper on fire and sticking it against other paper and kindling. He watched and held his breath and it seemed to catch.
“Very good,” she said. “Now I get to feed the manly man of the house for providing me with warmth.”
He wanted desperately to tell her how much he missed this with her. Would she shrink away or welcome him?
Only one way to find out. “I miss this.”
“What?” she said, stopping the sandwich from reaching her lips.
“The way we joke back and forth. The way we seem at ease with each other.”
“I do too.” He knew his smile was brighter than the flames taking off in the hearth right now. “Don’t get cocky on me.”
She read right through his smile. “I’ll try not to. But if I remember correctly, you used to like that about me.”
“I did. I’m not that kid anymore.”
“Come on,” he said, reaching for his sandwich. “I thought all women like cocky men.”
“In the bedroom, sure. Not always in everyday life.”
He knew that. He wasn’t so sure he liked being around cocky men any more than women did. He’d never considered himself much of a cocky man in his life though.
Sure, he was confident most of the time, but that was completely different. And sometimes it was just a front too. Something to cover up for the kid that no one seemed to want around.
“Well then, I’ll make sure you get it in the bedroom.”
“Or we can do it right here in front of the fireplace.”
“We can do that too,” he agreed.
They were both eating their quick meal quietly. The silence wasn’t getting on his nerves and he didn’t think it was hers either. But then she said, “I used to have all these fantasies of us when I was younger.”
“In bed?” he asked.
She laughed at him. “Of course.”
He was hoping she’d say of life in general but figured he’d keep it on the sex side. She seemed warmer when he did anyway.
“So tell me some of those fantasies.”
“I was kind of hoping to show you tonight. One of them had to do with being in front of a fireplace.”
“Then it’s a damn good thing I was able to get that sucker lit.”
“You know what,” she said, putting her sandwich down. She reached for his and put it back on the plate. “I’m not that hungry for food right now. Sandwiches keep and we can finish them in a bit.”
“We can do that,” he said. “What do you have in mind?”
She pulled him up and got on her knees in front of the fire, then unzipped his pants. Oh man, he was going to get really lucky.
“Something we didn’t do much of back then. I want to now.”
“I want you to do what you want,” he said. He wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to speak soon though. Not when her hand had already freed him and shoved his jeans down his hips.
She leaned forward and slid
her tongue up and down the length of him. A tease of sorts. One that had him on edge waiting for the next move.
He wanted that next move desperately.
She didn’t keep him guessing long. One hand wrapped around him, her mouth going right to his tip and bringing it in her mouth. Nothing more than the tip though.
She was sucking on it like a tootsie pop trying to get to the center. Trying to get him to lose control.
He wanted to. He knew he would at some point. But damn, he wanted this to last longer.
“Are you trying to kill me?” he asked as her tongue came out to lick around, her hand stroking up and down.
“I wouldn’t want to do that,” she said, then dipped her head back down for some more.
He was pretty sure his eyes rolled back in his head just now. Or he was going blind. Either way, he was feeling shots of pleasure he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt before.
Maybe the first time she’d done this for him. She’d never finished all the way and she didn’t really need to.
It was just the fact that as a teen she had her mouth on him. That she was sucking him and stroking him.
That she was giving him his first and sending him into an orbit of pleasure that all teenagers just dream about.
He was a man now with a woman on her knees in front of him. In front of a fire that was crackling behind her.
Her hand was wet and slick and moving up and down, then suddenly her mouth was trying to catch it.
Covering him completely, staying there, sucking, then releasing and moving back, her hand covering where her mouth was.
It was like a rhythm she had set up. Nothing he’d ever seen before from her and was hoping maybe he was the only one to ever experience it.
Those thoughts didn’t belong in his head at this time. Not when the love of his life was sucking him off.
Not when she was making him hang on to the little control he had.
Not even when he tried to warn her he was going to come.
“I want you to,” she said.
There was nothing more he could say. Nothing more that he could do other than give into what she was doing to him.
She sped up and pushed him right over the edge of sanity that he was barely holding onto. His fingers were itching to go to her hair and hold her in place, but he didn’t want to do that.
He wanted her to be there because she wanted it, not because he was holding her steady.
A minute or so later, he was shocked he was still standing. Maybe it was only a few seconds, but it felt like years.
His legs were shaking, his body was weak and he knew he was on the verge of collapsing.
He glanced down at her and saw the smile on her face. “You’re welcome.”
“Hot damn, I love your fantasies,” he said, lowering to the ground to pull her into his arms while he still had the ability to control his body.
Comfort Zone
Dena had never done that before. She’d always wanted to but never had the nerve.
As an adult there wasn’t anyone that instilled that in her. The need to give more of herself than she wanted.
But there was something about her time spent with Matt lately that just made her do things she always wanted and was so uncertain of.
A test of sorts. Pushing the boundaries on her comfort zone.
He’d always been the man to make her feel good about herself.
To make her feel like she could do anything.
She’d like to think they’d brought the best out in each other. Then she remembered they’d probably brought the worst out in each other at times too.
That fine line between love and hate again.
Love wasn’t on her mind right now, but hate wasn’t either. Maybe her mind was just full of confusion.
What was on her mind was that she had another first with Matt. She wouldn’t tell him that though. Saying it might make him want to share. To say he’d had it before, which she was assuming he had.
“I’m going to have to pay this back,” he said.
“Only if you want to.”
“Please. What guy doesn’t want to get his mouth on a woman’s most treasured spot?”
“That’s my most treasured spot?” she asked, grinning.
He didn’t answer her though. Rather he pulled her shirt over her head and tossed her bra somewhere in the room next to it.
She attacked her jeans and pushed the rest of her clothes off, which he stripped off too.
The two of them were naked in front of a roaring fireplace during a snowstorm like she’d always imagined in her mind.
The minute she was on her back, he was crawling over the top of her and putting his mouth on her neck.
Feather-like kisses everywhere he could reach. He’d always been one to do that. To kiss and mark her body for long periods of time.
She’d always been the impatient one, he’d want to savor the moment. Funny how some things never seemed to change.
For once she wasn’t going to rush him. She wasn’t going to push him to move faster or tell him to not be tender.
She was going to let him do what he wanted, just like he let her do what she did.
His hands were roaming over her breasts, his mouth doing the same. Then she started to realize he wasn’t moving at all. What the heck?
No, his mouth was on one spot and it wasn’t a spot that was any erogenous zone.
That spot was above her left breast. Not her nipple. Not her breast as a whole.
But the skin over her heart.
“What are you doing, Matt?” she asked, needing to know. She knew the answer, but wanted to see if he’d say it. If he’d push the envelope. If he’d push her to say words she wasn’t ready to say. Wasn’t ready even if she knew at this point.
“Showing you where I think your most treasured spot is.”
Yeah. He went there, but he did it in a way that didn’t put the pressure on her and she could appreciate that.
“That’s all nice and dandy, but there is another part of my body that wants a bit of love.”
“This spot right here?” he asked, latching onto a breast like a starving newborn needing nourishment.
“That’s one spot,” she said, her voice rising a touch higher than normal.
His hand found the other nipple and brought it between his thumb and finger, pinching and squeezing, making her squirm on the carpet. She’d have some burns, she was thinking, tomorrow. But the memory of that heat on another day would be well worth it.
“I think I found another,” he mumbled and then went right back to what he was doing.
“Hmmm.” There really wasn’t much more she could say. Brain cells were now burning up in the fireplace and her body was just reacting to what was being done to it.
Probably because what was being done was something so magical that no one in their right mind would be able to focus on anything else other than the pleasure points to be found.
He didn’t leave her waiting long—not as long as she feared he would—before he moved down her waist, over her hips and then between her legs.
“You haven’t let me taste this yet and I’ve been starving for it.”
She realized that now. That all they’d done was have sex when they were together. Lots of it, but just sex. Different positions even, but nothing deeper than that.
“Then maybe you need to make up for it.”
“I’m going to gorge myself silly. Starting right now.”
Her back arched and her head hit the floor when he slid one finger inside of her, then put his mouth to her swollen bud.
Just like with her nipple, he pulled it in, he sucked on it, and then his teeth came out to graze. To nip. To even bite.
“Geez, Matt. You’re killing me.”
“Now you know how I felt.”
“I made you feel good.”
“And I’m doing the same for you,” he said.
He was and she would have agreed to it, but she couldn’t because he’d
pulled his finger out and his tongue was now lapping her up like a kitten going after every ounce of milk it might have spilled on the floor in its eagerness to quench its thirst.
Her hands came down and put him where she wanted him to go. Where she needed relief the most.
That spot he’d been nibbling on earlier. Yeah. That’s the spot that was ready to burst. The one that needed his fantastic mouth around it.
“Right like that,” she said. “Keep doing it like that.”
He shifted his hand and slid two fingers in this time. It wasn’t tight, but it was deep. Deep enough that he had her wanting to inch back, but keep him right where he was at the same time.
“Oh God.”
There was nothing but the sound of the fireplace and her heavy breathing as Matt worked overtime to send her to a place she’d love to call her own.
A place that she’d like to think she’d just let him visit first.
And when he curled his fingers just right, then bit down on her harder than normal, she felt herself letting go, spiraling out of control and visiting the long lost island that she’d always hoped the two of them could be stranded on together.
***
“A naked picnic in front of a fire,” Matt said, reaching for his sandwich again once they were both sitting up. “Has that been something on your fantasy list?”
“No. I can’t say that it has been,” she said back.
Looking at her, that relaxed expression on her face and knowing he put it there was giving him hope. The problem was, he wasn’t sure what kind of hope.
They’d always had a great sex life and it looked to be they still did.
But sex wasn’t all he wanted.
“And now that you experienced it?” he asked.
“Now I know it’s something I wouldn’t mind doing again as long as I was sure no one interrupted us.”
“I doubt anyone is going to come knocking on the door tonight,” he said.
The wind was howling out there pretty loudly, but inside he was filled with heat from the fire and warmth from Dena’s loving.
“That’s a good thing. And a good thing no one can see through the windows here or we would have given one hell of a show to the neighbors.”
