Xavier

I woke, stretching my arms up over my head. The sunlight came into the room through a gap in the curtains, and for a moment, I forgot where I was.

Then I looked over.

She was still here, curled onto her side, back to me. Her naked, pink, rosy back, the back that I’d kissed from top to bottom more than once last night. The curve of it fascinated me, and I ran my hand softly down her spine, thrilled that I could.

I’d never woken with another woman like this before. Not ever.

Usually, I was looking for my ride, or a ride for her, or some kind of way out. Now? I didn’t even want her to wake up. I wanted to look at her, and wonder what the hell I’d done to get so lucky as to meet up with her.

Lucky…I was supposed to meet her. Wasn’t I? Something lingered on the edge of my brain, thought, something I was supposed to remember…something about Olivia?

I hated it when I couldn’t catch the thought I wanted. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was usually something like this. Something big.

I stopped my fingers at the base of her spine, loving the little dip I could feel. She stirred, and I didn’t move. I wanted a little more time to think about this, about her. I was missing something, there was something just out of reach of conscious thought.

This was big. I was always an all-in kind of guy. When I got involved with someone, I was involved. It was why when I was done, I was really done. I’d never gone halfway with my relationships.

And even with that, this thing with Olivia was even bigger, more. If I didn’t watch out, I could fall in love with this woman. She was funny and witty. That had come through in all the time we spent texting. She was strong, and she wasn’t looking for me to be a knight and rescue her, not in any way. She had her own business, her own life.

But would she fit into mine? Would I fit into hers? Would her mom like me? The woman sounded scary as hell. Would Tibby like Olivia?

Yes.

I knew that without even having to think about it. Olivia was a lot like Tibby, although thankfully I didn’t think about her like a sister like I did with Tib.

Olivia stirred, and from the floor, I heard my cell ringing. I wanted to ignore it, but when I did that, people got nervous. I sighed, and got up, hoping I would just miss the call.

No such luck. It was Tibby, and she’d just call me again until I answered. I hit the green button, and walked out into the living room, closing the door behind me.

“Hey,” I said.

“Where are you?”

She was at work. She had that voice on.

“Still in San Francisco. What’s up?”

“What the hell did you say to your manager?”

“My ex-manager? Well,” I sat down, thinking about it. “That he was not my mother, thank God, and that giving me hell for hanging out with my friends was not his business, particularly as the people I was with were family, not friends. And why the hell did he have a problem with me being in a gay bar? His answers were kind of fucked, Tib. He’s a serious homophobe. Probably a gay basher in his free time.” That wasn’t entirely fair, but his ranting had started to give me the creeps, and it was why I told him to take his bullshit and piss off, and that my attorney would be in touch. “Why’d you call him?”

“He called me.”

“Oh, well, hell. Guess he’s pissed?”

“Yes. He’s carrying on about you breaking contact, and all sorts of shit that is going to be nothing more than a giant pain in my ass,” Tibby sighed dramatically.

Making sure I knew what a pain in the ass I was for making her deal with this.

I looked up to see Olivia come out, wearing only her PJ top, and I grinned at her. She smiled back, still sleepy, and I felt a rush of—I didn’t even know what it was—happiness? Come over me.

She made me happy. When was the last time that had happened?

She headed for the bar, bending over to give me a fantastic view while she looked in the fridge for a drink. As she pulled out a bottle of water, she shot a flirty look over her shoulder.

It made me hard instantly. As I wasn’t wearing anything, it was pretty noticeable. Olivia’s cat-like smile turned into a big grin, and she waltzed over to stand behind the couch and lean down to the ear not attached to the phone.

“Come back in when you’re done,” she said, swiping the cool bottle across my chest.

And without a backward glance, she walked back into her room, and partially shut the door.

Holy.

Shit.

“What?” I said, aware that Tibby’s voice had risen in my ear.

“You’re not even listening, are you?”

Great. Tibby was pissed, and all I could do was think about the fact that I thought my dick might get up and walk away, so badly did I want to follow Olivia.

“I got…uh…distracted for a minute. Keep your hair on. Tell me again, and I am listening.”

She was so used to me she didn’t even keep up the yelling.

“How do you want to handle him when he files a breach of contract suit?”

“Tell him that I have our conversation on tape, and while I know I can’t legally use it, I can let everyone know the way he talked about the gay community, which will certainly hit him in his professional side. And that me letting his bigot ass go quietly is a fucking favor, and should he not wish to see it that way, and keep bitching, I’ll do a nice interview with HuffPo or something like that, to let them know how disappointed I am in my former manager.”

Silence on the other end, and then Tibby burst out laughing. “I love you, X. You’re a bigger bitch than I am.”

“You know it, sister,” I said, grinning at her through the phone. “Anything else?”

“What, you have a hot date or something?”

“Something like that.”

“And you took my call? Hang up and stop being a jerk.”

“Later, Tib.” I hit the red button and dropped the phone. There was no one else I needed to talk to just this instant so they could leave a message.

I hurried to the room door and kicked it open. “You better be…” my voice trailed away.

Olivia lay on the bed, the top unbuttoned so that I could see the valley between her breasts, and only one button done where the bottom of the shirt hit her thighs. That was inched up so I could also see the shadow of her legs together, and she was kind of curled on the bed the way women do when they are feeling sexy.

Holy shit did it work on her. She wasn’t the usual “type” of woman I always seemed to go for – she was petite and dark-haired, but she was without a doubt the sexiest woman I had ever seen. Ever.

She was drinking from the water bottle as my eyes met hers. Then after she swallowed, which made my heart beat in my ears, she moved the bottle away from her lips and dribbled the water down her chest.

“Oops,” she said. “I think I spilled on myself. You’d better come over here and help me clean it up.”

Olivia

I’m not sure whether or not his feet touched the ground in the millisecond it took for him to join me on the bed. He snatched the bottle out of my hand and pulled me lower on the bed. Then he straddled me, holding the water bottle over me.

Then he sat there, letting me see him in all his glory, and took a long drink of water himself.

“Well, now, Ms, Livvie, I can’t drink this all, now can I?”

“Can you?”

“Nope. Because I need to take care of this,” he leaned forward and moved the top so that my breasts were exposed. Then he tilted the bottle and poured water on them.

The cold water made them hard, and damn it, made me jump.

Two could play this game.

I rubbed my hand across my breasts, tweaking the nipples as I did so, not taking my eyes from him. Using both hands, I placed mine on his chest, and let them drag down, small drops of water racing towards his waist.

I only stopped once my hands reached his Mr. Happy, and then, I slowly dragged my wet fingers from the base to the tip.

Xavier groaned.

I have never heard such a sexy sound in my entire life.

“That’s it. No more Mr. Nice Guy,” he said, leaning down to kiss me.

I wrapped my arms around him, falling into him the way I wanted to, ignoring everything but him.

He leans over and reaches off the bed and then before I have time to complain that the water still on me is getting cold, he’s on top of me again, warming me, enveloping me.

When we’re done, when we’ve both fallen over that incredible cliff again, and together, he leans his forehead against mine.

“You are one amazing woman, you know that?”

I smile, and kiss him, gently, no teeth this time.

“You’re pretty amazing yourself.”

He doesn’t answer, but I’m not just doing that parrot thing that people seem to do when they’re first getting to know each other. He really is amazing. He’s been nothing but kind to me, nothing but decent—which you might not expect, given who he is, what he does. It’s not the image he puts out.

But with me—and I find that I’m on the lookout for—what? Insult? Assumptions? He’s nothing but the kind of guy you want to bring home to your mom.

As Xavier moves off of me and goes into the bathroom, I lay still, stunned.

Am I really considering taking him home to Momma? Like, maybe after I’m divorced? Because I am technically still married.

And can I trust him? He’s doing great now, but just like the parrot thing, people are usually on their best behavior when they first get together. I don’t have a lot of experience with that, as I married my college boyfriend, but that’s what I notice with some of my friends. And all the romance books I read.

Probably not the best place to be taking advice from, I laugh a little at my own silliness.

Xavier returns from the bathroom, and crawls back into the bed, pulling the blankets up and snuggling next to me.

“I think you’re trying to kill me, Livvie.”

I wrap my arm around him, wanting to feel him close to me. “Oh, quit whining. There are worse ways to go.”

He laughs next to my chest, and I can feel it reverberate through me. Dear lord. He’s everywhere. Normally, this would make me feel claustrophobic, but with Xavier, it just feels…good.

A little later, he stirs and looks up at me. “You want to go out and eat? We’re going to need to do that sometime.”

“Can we order food and just stay in?” I find that I don’t want to go out, because that would mean I needed to be on, be his date, or friend, or whatever. And probably put on clothes, which I don’t have any desire to do either.

“Perfect answer.”

I sit up. “I’ll get the menu.” I find that while I wasn’t thinking about it before, the mention of food makes me feel like I’m starving.

Xavier

I watch her get out of bed and pad to the other room in search of the menu. I like watching her walk. I like watching her do almost anything. Well, everything so far. She seems really comfortable with me in spite of the fact we just met, and neither of us has any clothes.

This is all new to me.

I know that sounds insane, given all the relationships that are littered throughout my past, but they all follow a certain pattern if you will. She’s a fan, I like her, we hook up, I’m sort of comfortable, she loves being on my arm, then we’re in love, and then it ends.

The whole reason I married Marcia was that she and I could actually have fun together. Generally, I have a distance in my relationships. I don’t really like that idea now that I’m looking at it, but it’s the truth.

Olivia is both awesome and scary because I’ve never been with someone like her, someone so normal. Someone who is not a groupie, I hear Tibby’s voice in my head.

Another sad truth.

Although there’s nothing wrong with fans, even if they get a bit excited. I wouldn’t be shit without my fans. I know that, and I never forget it.

But maybe I shouldn’t consider them the dating pool?

If I do this right, if I don’t mess it up—even thinking about that is weird. I never worry about this kind of shit.

But if I don’t, maybe I won’t need to look at my fans for a dating pool. This feels real.

Really real. It’s why I took so long to call her.

Now we’re having sex.

That’s not completely out of the ordinary for me, but I know it is for her.

And she’s dealing with divorce. I haven’t even thought about that, and maybe I should.

Olivia returns reading the menu and then slides back onto the bed next to me.

“I wasn’t hungry before, but I am now.”

I grin. “That’s a good thing. Burning off a lot of energy. You’d better eat well. I think you’re going to need more energy.”

She laughs. “I hope so. Stop so that I can focus, and let’s get some food going.”

We order the food, laughing at each other as we do so.

When it comes, we sit in bed, still naked—which I really like—and alternate between watching TV and feeding one another bits of food.

It’s the most erotic thing I’ve ever done.

It scares the hell out of me.

What if I mess this up?

What if she’s not really this amazing?

What if she doesn’t feel the same?

But after we eat, and the trays are moved out into the other room, we fall back into one another’s arms, and have sex all throughout the night.

I fall asleep with her, and then we wake up reaching for one another again.

Too soon, it’s morning.

The worries of the night fade as the sun comes up, although I know they’re still there.

But now it’s time to go home.