by JA Low
“I know. My nanny would kill me for serving this to you, but I like it.”
“It smells delicious.” The herbs and garlic aromas filter through my nose making my hunger pangs spike. “Plus, I’ve worked up an appetite.” My heated words make Lilly stop mid-fork full, her cheeks turn a light shade of pink at my innuendo.
“Saluti.” I hold up my beer.
Lilly places her fork back down in her bowl and holds up her beer bottle.
“Saluti.” She cheers me back, then we both dig in.
“This is delicious,” I say between mouthfuls.
“That means a lot coming from an Italian.”
“Now, if you can find me some proper coffee, I might have to think about marrying you.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen around here. So, you better call off the priest now.” We both laugh at the silly joke.
The conversation flows between us easily. She tells me about her childhood nanny and the crazy things they got up to, she also tells me about her nan and the fun times she had sitting in this cottage. This is a far cry from the privileged upbringing I had.
“Wanna play a game?” Lilly asks.
My brows rise. She’s kinky as well? This girl is full of surprises.
“Get your head out of the gutter, Luke. I was meaning a board game.”
I don’t remember the last time I played a board game, or even if I have. “Um… sure.”
“Don’t look so scared. I promise to go easy on you.” Lilly winks at me as she excitedly jumps up from the kitchen table and rustles in the hallway closet. She walks back with a dusty box and places it down on the table.
“Monopoly. What’s that?”
“What?” she gasps. “You have never played Monopoly?” Lilly looks at me as if I’m some rare breed of alien.
“No. We didn’t play board games in my family.”
“Oh, my… I feel sorry for you. What kind of childhood did you have that there was no Monopoly?” she says it jokingly, but little does she know how rigid a life I grew up in. “It’s one of the greatest games on earth. I thought you being a businessman and all that this would be right up your alley.”
“Be warned, I’m a ruthless businessman, and I’ll be an even more ruthless opponent,” I tell her, taking my seat back at the table.
“Game on, then.” She glares at me over the table.
“What? No! What do you mean I have to pay you rent? I don’t have any money left,” I exclaim, looking at the board.
“You have to sell everything. Pay or declare bankruptcy, and I win.”
How on earth did this woman beat me at a game of real estate?
“Take pity on me, woman. This is my first time,” I tease her.
“Hell, no. I’m one of the most competitive women you’ll ever know. There’s nothing you can offer me that will make me change my mind.”
Challenge accepted.
I stand and walk around to her side, then start kissing her neck.
“Wh… what are you doing?” Her voice is shaky.
“You said there was nothing in the world that would make you forfeit the game, and I’m testing this theory.” My lips trail all over her skin while tiny goosebumps prickle under my lips.
“This is cheating, you know…” her words trail away as my lips continue their assault.
“Or, I’m switching to a new game, one we both can win at.”
She laughs. “That seems like a valid suggestion.”
I walk around the chair and ask for her hand, which she gives me willingly. I pull her up and out of the chair, then throw her over my shoulder.
“Luke, Luke,” she screams with delight, thumping my back.
Luckily, the cottage is small as I rush toward my room, kicking the door open and throwing her on the bed.
“You’re crazy.”
“I guess your crazy is rubbing off on me.” I give her a wide smirk. I open the bedside table and pull out a condom and throw it onto the bed, her eyes widen at the action.
“Guessing the game is getting serious.” Her eyes darken to an almost sapphire as she starts to undress, the timidness that she’d shown before now gone as she feels more comfortable in my company. Good.
I follow her lead and strip off my T-shirt and track pants. She throws her leggings at me, which makes me laugh. I settle myself over Lilly, hovering enough that I don’t squash her.
“You were a pleasant surprise.”
She smiles up at me. “So were you.”
The moment settles between us, both of us surprised at the ease we find ourselves in, seeing as we’re very much strangers, but at this moment in time, I feel like I can be myself and not the person my family wants me to be.
No responsibility.
No pressure.
No pretending.
Just me.
Slowly, I nudge at her entrance, her legs falling wider for me. I let the head of my dick slide between her wet folds, teasing her, making sure she’s ready for me. Looking down at her beautiful face, I’m in awe that of all the cottages, she ended up in mine.
“You’re so beautiful, Lilly.” I let my hand caress her face.
“You don’t have to woo me, Luke. I’m a sure thing.”
A tiny frown falls across my face. “Can I not give you compliments?”
“I don’t think what this is needs compliments.”
Her words sting a little. “No matter how temporary this is…” I state while rubbing my thumb across her cheek. “It doesn’t mean you deserve less.”
“I’m not used to compliments,” she confesses.
Jesus, her ex really was a dick to her.
“Maybe I need to make you get used to them.”
Her cheeks flush in embarrassment.
How does she not know how special she is?
“I don’t want us to confuse what this is. I think… compliments will.”
I disagree, but I can see that my words are making her uncomfortable. “So, if I said… I can’t wait to sink inside of you, that would be okay?” Lilly bites her bottom lip and nods. “So, my dirty words are acceptable?” I nudge myself against her.
“Yes.” Her eyes roll back as I slowly edge inside of her.
“If I tell you your pussy feels so fucking tight around me, that would be okay?”
“Yes,” she answers on a moan as I sink fully inside her.
“That I can feel how wet you are. How much you want me.”
“Yes. Yes.” Her fingers grip my hips as I begin to move.
“Do you want me to tell you all the ways I have envisioned fucking you?”
“God, yes.”
As I angle myself deeper, making sure I’m hitting that special bundle of nerves deep inside of her, I flip myself over, so I’m on my back, and she’s on top of me.
“Ride me, Lilly. Show me how much you want to fuck me.”
She hesitates for a moment as those bright blue eyes look down at me.
“Scopami, Fuck me, Lilly,” I order, and that’s the only reassurance she needs because in the next moment, she arches her back, angling herself against me, and begins to do exactly that—fuck me, riding me like some champion rodeo queen.
Her gorgeous tits bounce, mesmerizing me with their dance. My dick must find the right spot because she hisses and becomes wetter with each thrust inside her.
“Harder,” she tells me as I increase my thrusting.
My hand moves between us, my thumb rubs against her clit, feeding the ache between her legs. “Si, continua, non fermarti, Yes, go on, don’t stop,” I tell her as she rubs herself against me.
“Yes. Yes. Oh God, yes.” Lilly arches again as I feel her tightening around me. “More, more,” she begs, and I give her what she wants until she screams. Then I flip her over, and it’s my turn to be in charge.
“Si, ti senti così bene. Yes, you feel so good.” I continue to fuck her while her fingers dig into me as my thrusts become harder and faster until I just can’t hang on anymore. No matter h
ow hard I try, her pussy is just too much.
It takes a couple of moments for us to catch our breath.
“Wow.” Lilly looks up at me, her bright blue eyes sparkling, and her cheeks are flushed.
I feel invincible in this moment. Leaning down, I capture her lips against mine and kiss her. Hard. She wraps her arms around me and pulls me tighter against her, my dick twitches as he thinks round two is about to start.
“Now, that’s my kind of compliment.” Lilly’s comment makes us both laugh.
8
Lilly
“Have you slept with him yet?” Lauren asks as soon as she picks up the phone. I haven’t spoken to her in a couple of days and, well, a lot has happened since that first call. Luke and I have spent the past forty-eight hours snuggled in bed and, of course, doing other things. I don’t think anyone has screwed my brains out like he has. I should’ve messed around with an Italian earlier. The rumors are true that they are great lovers and not selfish at all. He spends way more time satisfying me than himself, so much so I’m in a continual state of bliss.
“Lolly!”
“You’re still there, so I can only assume things are going well?”
“There’s a major snowstorm, it’s too dangerous to leave.” Even I know it’s a weak excuse.
“Baloney,” my sister calls me out.
“Fine.” Lowering my voice, I say, “I’ve spent the past couple of days in bed…” silence falls between us as Lauren waits for me to finish, “… not alone.” I pull the phone away from my ear as Lauren screams, deafening me.
“Fate. I told you fate has her hands in this.”
“Luke has his hands in it,” I joke.
“Who the hell is this person? The sister I know doesn’t joke about sex,” Lauren teases.
“So many orgasms.” I’m giggling. I didn’t think there was such a thing, but there most definitely is.
“Oh my God, Lil. You seem like your old self. I haven’t seen her in years.” My sister’s words catch me off guard.
Had being with Rob really changed me that much?
“Really?”
“Yeah. You seem a lot more carefree. I mean the old sister I knew wouldn’t be hooking up with some hottie stranger. She’d have hightailed it out of there so fast. I know you would’ve stayed in a hotel in the village.”
“I wasn’t that wound up, was I?”
Lauren’s voice softens. “Not in a bad way…” Which translates to ‘hell yeah, you were wound up like a spring.’ “Now that I know what you were going through over here, I get it.” Tears begin to well in my eyes. “You hid so much emotionally about what was happening with Rob that I think it came out as being tightly wound.”
Shit, she’s right.
“I’m sorry.”
“Babe, you have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who’s sorry I had no idea what was going on. I could’ve helped. I could have kicked his ass earlier or sent mercenaries in to kidnap you and bring you home.”
“I should’ve told you what was going on. I just …” The tears fall. “I knew you would try and save me.”
“Only because I love you,” my sister adds.
“I know. I just felt like you’re always the one looking out for me. This time I wanted to work it out myself and in my own way.” Silent understanding falls between us for a couple of moments.
“Enough about pin-dick Rob. I need more about the Italian Stallion.”
“It’s just some fun.”
“And?” she pushes.
“There’s an expiration date. One month. That’s all.”
“What happens if you fall in love with him?”
“What! No. No one falls in love after a month.”
“I did with my Alistair,” she reminds me.
“That’s because you guys are soulmates.”
“Don’t you think you and the Italian could be soulmates? I mean it’s a pretty awesome story to tell your kids.”
“Lauren,” I groan her name. My sister believes in fairy tales and unicorns, but the real world isn’t like that.
“Fine.” I know she ‘ rolling her eyes at me. “Just don’t close yourself off.”
“I need to work on me. That’s my main focus.”
“Okay, fine, I can handle that. Send us a picture of him. I want to see the stallion.”
“I can’t just snap a picture of him.”
“Yes, you can… a sneaky selfie. Tell him I need to have it as security in case something happens to you, so I know who to blame.”
“Lolly, you sound like me.”
“Oh, how the tables have turned.” She laughs.
“So… what have you guys been up to?” She changes the subject.
“Lilly, this place is magical. When the sun sets over the national park, the golds and reds are incredible. Then you see an elephant walk past or a giraffe, and I think I’m dreaming.” I chuckle at her experiences. It’s the same awe she’s expressing that I felt arriving in that faraway place. It was completely magical. The landscape has this unbelievable light that hits it just right, and everywhere you look, it’s like you’re in the middle of a National Geographic magazine. Each time I went on safari, David Attenborough’s voice echoed in my head.
“Now, see that gazelle striding through the open spaces… what she doesn’t know is danger lurks just under the surface.”
“We went to the Maasai Mara village, too. The colors, the people, they are all so beautiful.” I can tell Lauren has fallen in love with the country as much as I did.
“How’s Alistair doing?” The poor guy, he’s lived a sheltered life in Glencoe, and going down to London is as overseas as he gets.
“He’s blown away. I don’t think he ever dreamed there were such things outside of his village. Like, he was happy there, but now? Now he is like… I want to see more. Let’s do this. Let’s do that. He’s turned into some kind of adventurer.” My heart fills with happiness. Even though we aren’t together, I’m glad that they are experiencing the world.
“I’m so happy that something good has come out of our miscommunication.”
She giggles. “Speaking of miscommunication, have you heard from pin dick?”
“Yes, I received a very pathetic email.”
“What a turd face. What did it say? Read it to me.”
I open my laptop and pull up my emails.
“Dearest Lilly, it starts.”
“Seriously, after all those years, that’s how he starts an email like you’re some kind of stranger or his nan. This isn’t the nineteenth century, ye bastard,” Lauren’s a little fired up.
“Anyway…” I continue.
“I’m grieved to find out that you left Africa without telling me. I thought as your fiancé you should’ve discussed this before one leaves.”
“This man is a total douche. What? You need his permission to go away? Hell, no. You dodged a bullet there, sister.”
I continue, “I was very upset to hear from your sister the reasons why you had left. This is in no way my fault, especially with your lack of communication. How would I know that you were upset? You understand that a man has needs, and if his future wife isn’t performing them, he has a right to seek help elsewhere.”
“What the actual fuck,” Lauren screams down the phone. “No. He didn’t just say that, did he? Does he have some sort of serious stupidity deficiency? He has to have.”
“I’m afraid he’s serious. It gets worse.”
“I believe that living away in the African desert can be quite trying for a woman, and so I’ll give you time back home to recuperate before I expect you back by my side. I do not want to have to tell our parents about this oversight in our relationship. They will both be so displeased.”
“Lilly, I don’t think I hit him hard enough because this isn’t right. How dare he speak to you like that.”
“I know. I ignored it because I was so busy… we worked different shifts at the hospital, and we didn’t live together, so we only saw ea
ch other for dates, and they were infrequent due to being on call. So, I never saw this side of him.”
“Seriously, babe, he thinks he’s some Lord from the eighteenth century. His values are so archaic.”
“I’m just realizing now what my life would’ve been like if we had married.”
“You know Mum and Dad are going to be displeased because nothing we do pleases them, anyway. So really, that’s not a true threat, is it?” Lauren states.
“Exactly, and honestly, Luke has opened my eyes to how I should’ve been treated. That I deserve to be happy in my work and my love life.”
“Preach it, sister, good sex will do that every time. My Ali is amazing, the things that farmer boy can do to me, it’s like he’s been repressed all his life and then boom, I’ve brought out his inner sex god.”
“La, la, la, la… I don’t need to know any of this.” My stomach is turning as the crazy visuals hurtle through my mind.
“Fine. Just know your sister is very satisfied by a man who many would see as a boring farmer.”
“Hey, I’m not boring,” I hear Alistair call out in the background.
“You most certainly are not.” Lauren giggles flirtatiously.
“Okay, I’m going to go because this has turned weird. Have fun and enjoy the sights.”
“We will. Relish in your hot Italian Stallion, and remember, I want pictures.”
I roll my eyes. “Love you, Lolly.”
“Love you, Lilly.”
I place the phone down on my bed, and a tiny tear falls down my cheek. I miss her so much, but I’m glad she’s having fun because she deserves it. I close my laptop and try and forget about Rob’s letter. I’m so thankful he cheated on me. Otherwise, I’d have been blind to his true personality.
Would he have made me stop practicing medicine to have children?
Would he have cheated through our entire marriage?
Would I be some glorified stay-at-home mother who had to make sure his dinner was on the table when he came home?
That’s not at all what I want from my life. Yes, I want kids, but I also still want to practice medicine even if it’s part-time. Why can’t I do both?
