Several back-to-back nights of mind-blowing sex, and what do I have to show for it?

Grayson glared at his sad boner. The first night alone in his Toronto hotel room, and he had absolutely zero desire to jerk off.

Sure, Annie had suggested a night apart for them to catch up on sleep, but, hell, he wanted her.

Calling her up, she did answer on the first ring. “Miss me?”

“What do you think?” he said.

“Aww, are you angry?”

Her cheeky purr was infuriating. And alluring, damn it.

Grayson sighed, “I don’t know. Maybe angry. Definitely horny.”

“Oh.”

Grayson grinned. That was an interested ‘oh’ if he ever heard one.

“Lucky for you, I’m not asleep yet,” Annie continued.

“Maybe,” Grayson reclined back on his bed, eyeing his semi-hard on. “So you’re in your pyjamas, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Which ones?”

“Why?” That was definitely interest he was hearing.

“Just wondering.”

“You haven’t seen this one. It’s a silk slip.”

“Mmm...” Taking out his dick, he ran his hand down it.

A pause, then, “You’re stroking yourself, aren’t you?”

“And if I am?”

“Then I’d think you were selfish. Maybe I want to join, too.”

His dick bobbed eagerly at that one. “Oh yeah?” he said and licked his lips. He could almost see it now. Annie, her brownish-red waves spilling everywhere, her back arched, her legs spread. “Touching your smooth little pussy?”

Her muffled groans, “Maybe.”

“Tell me.”

“No.” 

“Why not, baby? Stroke your pussy for me.”

More moans.

Wow, and he’d thought he was going out on a limb here, talking this dirty to Annie over the phone.

“You’re doing it,” he realized, “and rubbing your clit too, aren’t you?”

“... yes.”

“And you?” she asked a few seconds later, her voice throaty and hurried.

Well, now he sure was. And damn, did it feel hella good.

As her moans intensified, Grayson decided to go one step further. “You gonna cum for me, baby?”

Her breath hitched, "I’m close.”

As his hand glided up and down his hardness, Grayson was closer than close.

“I’m there,” he growled. “Now cum for me, baby. Cum for Grayson.”

Now, his dick was pulsing spastically, and very soon his liquid joy flowed out as she groaned her ecstasy, too. “Oh, yess...”

Afterwards, Grayson flopped back on the bed, still breathing deeply.

“That was good,” he said.

“Fuck, was it ever,” she said.

He laughed.

“What?” she asked in a peeved voice.

“Just...” he grinned. “Don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before.”

A pause, then, “Well then you better fucking get used to it. I’m fucking full of surprises.”

Grayson looked at his dick, which was stiffening just at the sound of her voice. He smiled. “That you are. That you definitely are.”

—

AFTER HANGING UP, GRAYSON immediately regretted it. While he’d gotten his sexual fix, there was no conversation to follow after. Sure, it wasn’t like there weren’t the engineers he employed to talk to at work, but still. Talking with Annie was, well, different.

“It’s me again,” he said when she picked up.

“Why are you calling me back? Can’t get enough?” she asked, sounding not entirely displeased.

“Round two,” he said. “Kidding. Am I not allowed to ask you how your day went?”

“I guess if you’re ok with being a bit bored. I’m still getting used to the day shift, but Pat is really nice and funny. She has this little bear beanie baby she keeps on our trolley. I think it’s the Irish one. She says it’s in honor of me, since I’m part Irish.”

“You’re part Irish?”

“Yeah, like one-sixteenth, I think,” she chuckled. “Why, what are you?”

“A hundred percent Chinese.”

“Seriously.”

“German, English, and American. Don’t ask me the percentages because I have no clue.”

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” she said. “The more I talk to you, the more I realize how much I don’t know about you.”

“And want to know,” he said. “Like if you’d come visit me in Vancouver when I go back.”

She paused, “Whoa, where did that come from?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “You’re not afraid of flying, are you?”

“I’m afraid of a lot of things,” she said quietly. “Planes not being one of them.”

“Oh yeah?” he said.

She sighed, “Do you really want to get into a conversation about what we’re afraid of. Because it’d have to go both ways, then.”

“Sure,” he said, happily. “I’m afraid of malfunctioning elevators and ticks. You?”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

In the silence, her question dug at him further. When he spoke, it was in a low voice for some reason.

“Fine, I guess I’m afraid of becoming like my mom and dad; trapped in a life and relationship I hate.”

“Ok,” she said in a whisper.

“Thanks,” he said, “But now it’s your turn.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“No?”

“You can’t just...” she exhaled forcefully, “...force someone into revealing things.”

“So you’re afraid of telling me what you’re afraid of,” Grayson quipped.

Her giggle was sad. “Guess so. That and having my fear keep me from achieving the best life possible.”

Her sudden revelation was so unexpected that Grayson paused, letting it sink in.

“You know, I didn’t even realize it until you said it. But I’m afraid of that too.”

—

THE NEXT MORNING, GRAYSON still had Annie on his mind. The conversation had all but petered out after their disclosures. And now, only hours later, he missed her. He had half a mind to show up at her work, surprise her so she couldn’t say no to the next few dates he had planned – a movie tonight, and then, sometime later, a weekend in Niagara Falls. Last night hadn’t satisfied his appetite for her, only whetted it.

Even as he strolled around work, showing a colleague the state of the building, all he could do was wonder what kind of panties he’d find her in tonight. “Yeah, so you see this beam?” But he was thinking of that black mesh, crazy sexy thong she had worn that one time. Maybe she would go for something more practical, like ass-hugging panties? “It could fall at any min–”

“Oh shit,” he said, as the beam collapsed on his arm and everything went black.

—

HE WOKE UP IN THE HOSPITAL with an angel by his bedside. She was wearing blue baggy clothes and had Annie’s face.

“What...”

“You were injured at work,” she said. “But you have to rest now. So, rest now.”

And so, Grayson listened to the Annie-faced angel and let everything return to black.

—

THE NEXT TIME HE OPENED his eyes, he was back in his hotel bed. This time, there was no angel by his bedside, just Annie.

“You’re up,” she said.

He eyed her, blankly, “How did I get here?”

She scowled, “Told them it was too soon to discharge you. I helped you back here, but you don’t even remember, do you?”

“Yeah... no.”

Maybe she wasn’t an angel, but she sure looked pretty blurry, now that he thought about it.

“Why is...”

“Probably the meds they gave you for the pain,” she explained. “They’re pretty strong.”

“So, I’m high,” Grayson grinned. “Maybe this is the drugs asking, but would you be willing to take one for the team and do the one thing that would make me feel a crazy amount of better?”

Annie’s headshake was firm, “No.”

“But–”

“The doctors said bed rest. Ok? I’m taking time off as it is, but I’m not gonna take the slightest chance of impeding your healing in any way. Even if it would be...” she bit her lip. “... sexually satisfying.”

“It wouldn’t impede–” Grayson protested, his dick already hardening. “I mean, it’s up here and my dick is down there.”

Annie shook her head. “All it would take is some slip for either of us and the bone could shatter completely. I’m not taking that risk.”

Grayson sighed loudly.

“Do I look like this is open to discussion?” Annie said.

Grayson sighed, “Ok, Nurse Hitler.”

She smiled, grimly, “I’ve been called worse.”

Grayson looked down at his arm. Trying to move it slashed pain up into his shoulder.

He rose his gaze to Annie, “So how bad is it?”

Her lips knit together. “Well, your arm is broken in several places. But, with proper bed rest and a cast, it should heal. You should probably take it easy for the rest of today, at least. You’ll be given a prescription for pain medication before you’re discharged.”

“Alright.” That’s all he’d needed to know. He’d always been afraid of some un-repairable damage, both health-wise and... in other things, too. But he’d heard it from the nurse’s lips himself; his arm should heal without any issues.

“So then, I guess I can just go back to the way things were in another day or so,” he said.

“I guess,” she said quietly.

But that wasn’t it, and they both knew it.

“About what you said at the bar when we met up the first time...” he said.

“I don’t know if now’s the time,” Annie said quickly, turning so he couldn’t see her face.

“It’s never the time,” he said. “You do know that, right? It’s never comfortable being vulnerable.”

She turned to smile sadly at him. “You really are a whole lot more than I expected.”

He cracked a grin. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

But his words had alighted something in her, and her gaze grew curious. “So, you’ve really never had a serious relationship in your entire life?”

“No,” Grayson said, simply.

There were alarm bells going off in his head, but not for the usual reason.

“I’d like to think I’ve never met the right person,” he said. “But I think that’s only partially it. If you saw my parents, then you’d lose all hope for the human race, let alone appreciating relationships between men and women.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Even the day of the wedding, when they only had an hour to piss each other off, they still managed to fight so much that they didn’t come. Even leaving to stay at a hotel, Mom made a point of calling me up to tell me every single last horrible thing Dad did since I left.” He shook his head, “Guess I’d hoped that, as a teen, I’d been too hard on them.”

Annie’s hand went to his, “I’m sorry.”

He nodded, letting his fingertips skate across her knuckles. “Everyone has their shit.”

Her hand grew stiff and he looked up. “There’s a reason, other than your busyness, that you were a virgin. Wasn’t there?”

She let out a trapped breath, “Yes.”

Her face looked so startled and overwrought that Grayson lifted her hand to his lips for a kiss before giving it back to her.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to tell me about it if you’re not comfortable.”

As she smiled gratefully, he silently added to himself, “Although, one day, I hope you will be comfortable enough to tell me.”

Later, while Annie was taking a shower, he did a quick Skype session with Kyle.

“Geez, you leave me for a week and you get injured,” Kyle shook his head, morosely. “Clearly, you need me.”

Grayson shifted his position, wincing. “Clearly, I need more meds. Shouldn’t you be on your honeymoon in Costa Rica, anyway?”

Kyle shrugged. “It’s tomorrow.” He paused, as if listening. “Is that water I hear? Do you have a woman in there?” He made a face of mock outrage. “Grayson Malone, you dog you. Another one of your flings, huh?”

His question jabbed Grayson and hung in the air.

“Uh, sure,” he said. “Got to go, though. Have fun on your honeymoon.”

Kyle saluted, “Have fun with your honey.”

A minute or so later, Annie came out of the bathroom.

“Enrolling people to sign your cast already?” She was smiling and, with her hair glistening and smelling like cherries, he ached to kiss her.

“Completely. Already have the Pope and the Queen of England on board.”

“Why stop at that?” Annie shot him a quizzical look. “When Mother Teresa and Gandhi are up for grabs?”

“You have a time machine?” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

They laughed.

“Actually, it was just Kyle,” he admitted.

“Makes more sense,” she said, still smiling.

He was supposed to say something then, but found that he couldn’t. Instead, his mind was revolving around what Kyle had said; the innocuous question – Another one of your flings, huh?

Maybe it was the blurriness in his thoughts as well as his line of sight, but the more the question revolved, the more he realized something important.

What was going on with Annie now wasn’t just ‘another one’ of anything. That this, whatever-this-was with Annie; late nights of sex and laughing, even just talking for hours, just for the sake of it; the sheer pleasure of talking to her was utterly unprecedented.

From an uptight bitch to a fling to... now. What was she now to him?

“Kyle asked me if it was another one of my flings,” he said.

“And you laughed and said yes?” she said lightly, fiddling with her wet hair.

“Yeah,” he said, frowning. “But I don’t think that’s right.”

The tangled piece of hair dropped out of her hands. This silence was not waiting, but it was tense with inferences.

“And?” she asked, quietly.

“And I don’t think you do, either,” he said, growing angry now. “I think we’re both realizing it.”

She stared at him, speechless, and he wondered when she was going to say something.