I observe her. Her delicate fingers, and arched lips. Her beautifully-drawn collarbones.

  “Is it okay?” I ask, taking my phone from her hand.

  “I guess,” she says, still experiencing the calmness of the aftermath.

  I bring my hand to her face and brush a few strands away before I take another picture.

  “I said no face.”

  “It’s only your face baby... No tits,” I say, grinning.

  She asks to see it.

  I turn my phone to her before I send the pictures to her cell. Her phone beeps inside her purse.

  She slides off me and crashes at my side.

  I capture one last snapshot of hers as she sits sprawled on the bench, her arm lifted, her hand covering her face.

  I send her that picture too.

  She turns to me and peeks through her fingers.

  “I want your picture too,” she says.

  “Sure.”

  I hand her my phone.

  She picks it up from my hand, looking at me incredulously. I tip my chin, motioning to her and encouraging her to tap the screen.

  She raises her arm and positions my phone.

  The moment she touches the screen to take a photograph, I snake my arm around her body, pull her into me and start to kiss her.

  Her laugh vibrates in her chest.

  “That’s not fair,” she says, grinning when I release her lips.

  “You took my picture,” I say, flipping the phone to see the snapshot.

  It captured us locked–– portraying a part of her face and the back of my hair.

  I slide my finger onto the screen, send the photo to her cell, and slip my phone into my pocket.

  My hand goes up my dick as I begin to harden again. Her palm slides on top of mine as I start to tuck it in and close my fly.

  “Not yet...” she says with a quiet voice, giving me a come hither look.

  I slowly arch an eyebrow.

  She moves closer, one leg folded under her, her fingers threaded through my hair, while her hand touches my shaft.

  I harden even more.

  Drops of cum cling to her touch, while my flesh wants her again.

  A content smile tugs at her lips. She looks down, beaming with a feeling that makes her grin.

  I bet this is new to her.

  Quenching her hunger, only to feel it grow even more. Satisfying her appetite, only to find herself asking for seconds.

  Indulging in it, and forgetting about everything else.

  Tenderly, she slides her fist up and down, spreading along my shaft the cum that dripped from me moments ago.

  Fascinated, she watches the motion of her hand, and my erection growing, hardening–– even more, and pulsing against her hand.

  It takes mere seconds before the warmth of her touch and her caressing motion along with the expression etched on her face make me want to have her again.

  Or even better...

  She tips her gaze up at me as if she’s heard my last thought.

  Her eyes turn foggy as she looks at me, set to make me happy.

  She pushes her other leg beneath her rear and shifts her position at my side, pushing up and sliding on all fours, her head going down, her butt up as her spine begins to arch.

  “Oh, fuck...” I mutter hoarsely.

  Propped on her arm, she cuffs my dick and positions it against her mouth. At first, I feel her hot breath spreading over my crown and then her lips and tongue at the root of my erection.

  She starts rubbing the tip with her fist while she swirls her tongue up the underside of my cock, starting at the root.

  Tingles rush across my dick, shooting up my spine.

  I rest my hand on her back.

  Her skin has cooled a little, so I start to stroke her back, spurring heat as I go.

  The mane of hair splits against her back, falling over her face. I grab it and pull it all into my fist to see her face. Her hand goes up, sweeping my shaft as she starts to lick and clean me.

  The throbbing of my dick echoes deep inside my groin. Warm under her touch, my first release begins to trickle down only to be captured by her hungry lips.

  My back crashes against the bench as I try to relax and hold myself back as much as I can to enjoy her mouth on me a little longer.

  She drags the cushion of her tongue up onto my underside, teasing my tip with her thumb.

  I find myself guiding her head, but she has a mind of her own and does as she pleases, making it almost impossible for me to retain control.

  Somehow, I manage to restrain myself only because I want more of her.

  Her lips glue to my flesh, her tongue swirling against my hardness. She finally licks the last drops of cum before she opens her mouth and takes me in. By now, her mouth breathes out wet fire.

  I spread my legs even more while I use my grip on her hair to take over her rhythm.

  Her head goes up and down. My teeth go into my bottom lip.

  I roll my hips, hitting the back of her throat a few times.

  She starts to moan.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice her butt rolling.

  A knowing grin creases my lips.

  “You’re good,” I say, my words prompting her to tip her head and raise her eyes.

  Gently, I push her back down. She smiles around my cock.

  “Good girl.”

  Smoothly, I stretch my arm, reach behind her butt, curl my middle finger, and slide it into her.

  A jolt falls through her body, rippling to her mouth, making her suck me even harder.

  “Don’t stop,” she mumbles around my girth.

  “I have no intention to,” I say, pushing my finger deeper, feeling her warm wet walls against my touch.

  She starts to clench, and I’m about to shoot my load.

  I slacken my hand on her head, trying to prolong the moment, and delay my climax while I keep finger fucking her.

  She arches and rolls her hips, groaning with her mouth full.

  “I know, baby,” I say teasingly as I watch her revving up.

  When I least expect it, her hand goes to my belt. Without stopping from sucking me, she unfastens my belt and untucks my shirt before she rides the hemline up, revealing my abs.

  I push a second finger into her as I watch her licking my cock and then stroking me with her hand as her mouth starts journeying up on my abs, leaving a trail of kisses on me.

  She pushes my shirt higher as she reaches my chest with her mouth. She seems completely gone as she covers me in kisses, swirls her tongue across my pecs, teases my nipples with her teeth.

  She keeps stroking me with her hand as she lifts her mouth to me and I fix her lips against mine, capturing her hungry touch, getting a taste of my arousal on her tongue.

  She moves faster against my hand as I kiss her harder, swept by that impossible to stop tide that makes her go wild on me.

  As she starts to clutch my cock with all her strength, I suck on her little tongue and bite her lip before I tear her mouth away from mine and bring her head to my crotch.

  She slides her lips down on me in one long move. Filling her mouth, she gives me that final push, and for a few good moments, I go with her on a crazy ride. Shaking my hips against her mouth, fucking her pussy with my fingers, sensing the wetness dripping on my touch and her eager body, frantically chasing that perfect moment.

  It’s late evening and cold outside, the car engine still purring, warming up the air as it navigates the streets, when her head crashes onto my lap.

  Panting and heaving, she slowly kneads my abs as her body slackens on the back bench next to me.

  8

  Eve

  The irritating, loud sound makes me flick my eyes open and jerk up to my elbows. The drapes are pulled closed, the light as much as it filters through the fabric barely streaming through.

  And that’s a good thing.

  My brain is still foggy as I swing my arm and sweep the surface of my nightstand with my hand.

  I grab my phone and answer the call.

  Rain’s voice dances in my ear as I crash back into the pillow, my eyes closed.

  “Are you still sleeping?”

  “Am I?” I murmur, my eyes shut, the covers pulled up to my chin.

  “I can’t see a damn thing,” she complains.

  “That’s because I have my phone glued to my ear. I can’t do video calls right now.

  “All right. Do you want me to call you back?”

  “No. It’s fine. What time is it anyway?”

  “Three o’clock.”

  I jolt upright again, the sudden motion dizzying me for a moment.

  “What? In the afternoon?”

  “Yeah. What else, smarty pants?”

  She is in a great mood.

  I would probably be too if it weren’t for the dull pain that sweeps every part of my body as I move.

  It’s good pain too–– I muse, as the memory of last night comes back to me.

  “Shit. I slept too much,” I say, swinging my legs out of my bed, and tapping the bed, looking for my robe.

  I spot it on a chair.

  “What did you do?”

  “The question is, what didn’t I do?”

  I push up to my feet and shuffle to the chair.

  On my way over, I find my slippers. I slide my feet into them and put my robe on.

  “Bear with me until I make myself a coffee. I’m shot.”

  I hear her giggling at the other end, and then a snippet of dialogue as she talks to other people.

  “Whatcha doing?” I ask, dragging my feet to the kitchen.

  “I’m getting ready for next week.”

  “Oh... Next week...” I mutter to myself, too quiet for her to hear.

  “Did you say something?”

  “I just remembered that I have to call my mom and tell her that I’m not coming.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah...”

  “Are you spending Thanksgiving with your man?”

  Although my muscles are sore and every move hurts like hell, I start to laugh.

  “He’s not my man,” I rasp, my throat dry. “And I don’t know. I take it day by day, so I don’t know what his plans are for next week.”

  “Is he there with you?”

  “No,” I say as I set my espresso machine for a fresh cup of coffee.

  “Where is he?”

  Exhausted by the effort, I pull out a chair at the table and slump into it.

  “He’s um... He had something to do this morning.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “He’s into sports.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Yeah, it is. I thought I was into sports too. Turns out, not so much,” I say humorously, my muscles hurting with every little motion.

  “What happened?” she asks, a smile seeping into her voice.

  “We met for dinner last night,” I say as the coffee starts dripping into the cup, filling the kitchen with a delicious aroma. “And then we went to the Opera,” I add with a mellow voice. “And then he fucked me in the limo.”

  I hear nothing but silence for a moment before her laugh echoes in my ear.

  Grinning, I slowly push out of my chair and make the trip to the counter where I turn off the espresso machine and grab my cup of coffee.

  “Yup. I did the kind of thing that I never thought I’d do in a car.”

  “Good for you.”

  “And now my body hurts like hell.”

  “Was it fun?”

  Leaning against the kitchen counter, I lift the small cup of espresso to my lips and take a whiff.

  It smells so good. I take a sip too.

  “Fun doesn’t even start to describe it. It wasn’t anything like the sex I’ve had before.”

  “Perhaps, it was more than sex,” she suggests as I drink more coffee.

  “Perhaps...” I say, distracted.

  I set the cup down and go to the fridge.

  I pull out a bottle of orange juice before I scoop out a glass from the cupboard.

  She talks to someone else in the background, while I fill my glass with juice. I take my cup of coffee and the glass of juice and stroll to the table.

  The few moments of silence bring flashbacks from last night to me. The pain in my body a testament to the intense moments that we had. The longing in my heart attesting to the growing affection I begin to have for him. The angst flowing through my blood suggesting that I’m definitely on shaky ground.

  “Sorry,” she says. “I have people working in my house.”

  “No problem.”

  “So things are good...” she says, summing it up.

  “Overall, yes.”

  “Well, I have some good news too. That’s why I called you actually.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Thea and Ed are expecting the twins tonight. She’s in the hospital.”

  “No way,” I say, animated.

  “Oh, yes. Ed just called us. I am so excited.”

  Her glee makes me smile. She sounds so happy. And I am happy too.

  I tilt the glass of juice against my lips, the cold drink filling my mouth with flavor.

  I set the glass down.

  “I can’t believe that I am so late with this thing.”

  “What thing?”

  “This. Men, kids... Stuff. Sometimes I feel younger than everybody else, including Thea, although she’s a few years my junior. And I thought I had an early start.”

  She giggles at the other end.

  “You did have an early start.”

  “With the wrong man.”

  “With the best man who could’ve taken you to the right man.”

  “Aren’t you a poetess?” I say, chuckling.

  “I am, aren’t I?”

  My smile starts to fade away.

  “It’s too early to say if Christian is the right man for me or not. We are so far away from that, yet in a way, he is everything I wanted in a man. Alas, I’m still eons away from where you and Thea are. I’m barely discovering the real woman in me.”

  “Mmm... That sounds sultry and enigmatic. And I bet the mysterious stranger has something to do with it.”

  “He does.”

  “Did you get a picture of him?”

  “Uh... I took a picture of him last night.”

  “Jeez, Eve... Why only one? I want to see him. Is he camera shy or something?”

  “He was busy taking pictures of me.”

  “Naughty pictures?”

  “How do you know?”

  “It’s not hard to figure it out.”

  “Yeah, they are naughty.”

  “Good. I want to see his picture. You made me curious.”

  “All right. Give me a second...”

  I start sifting through the photos. I finally find the one with him and me in the same frame.

  I send it to her.

  “Got it?”

  “Not yet... Hold on a second. Yes, I got it. Let me pull it up.”

  “It’s not much of him.”

  “Neither of you,” she says.

  “I was naked for fuck’s sake.”

  A male voice interjects into the conversation.

  “Who was naked?”

  “Oh, my God,” I burst out. “Who was that? Please tell me it wasn’t James.”

  Her chuckle travels to my ear.

  “There’s nothing to see anyway,” Rain says to me reassuringly.

  “Is that her friend?” James asks.

  “Yes,” Rain says.

  For a few moments, they don’t say a word.

  “Hello?” I blurt out. “Why is everybody quiet?”

  “It’s only me. He got a phone call and went into the other room.”

  “What’s gotten into you?” I scold her. “I’m naked with that man. And he’s kissing me.”

  “You can’t tell that you’re naked in the picture, and I can only see his back. Chill, woman. It doesn’t show much. I thought that you’d get a picture of his face.”

  “I wanted to.”

  Actually, no. Not really.

  “He’s hot,” she says.

  I laugh.

  “How can you possibly know?”

  “I can tell... The way he holds you. He’s also fit and well built.”

  “Yes, he is...” I say softly, my mind drifting away as I relive the memories I have with him.

  Silence grows between us.

  “You shouldn’t think about it,” she says after a moment.

  “Thinking about what?”

  I hear the click-clacking of her heels as she moves away from the noisy room and enters a quiet space.

  “I know where you are. I’ve been there. You’re walking on clouds and then you’re sinking and you never know which way things go. You like him, but you fear that things might not work out. You’re afraid to think about something long-term because it’s too stressful and in the meantime, nothing is in your control and you feel as if you’re free falling. And it’s confusing and nerve-racking to think that you can mess it up if you say something or do something wrong, but it’s normal to feel that way. And the best thing that you can do is not to think about it. You want him, and all is well, and then you fear that something might happen and everything goes to hell. But even if that’s the case, and you lose him for a while, if he’s yours, he’s yours. He’ll come back. Look at James and me...”

  She pauses while I muse over her words.

  There’s truth in them. But then again, maybe she was simply lucky.

  9

  Eve

  It’s almost eleven o’clock on Sunday evening when I hear a knock on the door.

  I pull off the covers, turn down the TV, and walk to the door.

  “Who is it?” I ask before I look through the peephole.

  “It’s me.”

  I unlock the door and slide it open.

  “Christian?”

  “Hey,” he says, smiling. “May I come in?”

  He wears a winter jacket, jeans, and boots. Specks of snow sparkle in his hair. His cheeks are flushed, his eyes warm.

  “Sure. Is something wrong?”

  He walks in.

  “No.”

  He takes off his jacket and kicks off his boots. A soft fitted long sleeve top hugs his chest. A discreet necklace glints around his neck.

  His gaze dips to my pajamas.