Hannah

 

When I wake up, I'm lying in Kieran's arms, and it has gone dark outside.

“Hey, baby,” he says. “Did you fall asleep too? I think we missed dinner.”

He sits up and takes his phone from his pocket and looks at the time. “Yep, it's eleven.”

I run my finger down his hard abs. So irresistible. “I can't believe we slept so long.” I feel sated, limp. I don't want to move from the bed. And dinner is the last thing on my mind.

“There's some food left from lunch that I didn't even get around to putting on a plate, if you want it,” he says. “I'll bring a tray.”

He comes back with all kinds of things to nibble and a couple of glasses of wine and suddenly now that the food is there, I find I’m hungry after all.

We pick at the food and sip our drinks. He feeds me morsels he thinks I'd like—mini pizza bites, spicy sausage, tortilla chips and tiny fruit tarts piped with cream until I have to say, “No more.”

And then he sets the tray aside on the nightstand. The sheet is wrapped around me, tucked under my arms. I'm strangely shy with him now.

“You're doing that covering up thing again,” he says, and pulls the sheet down gently, leaving me naked above my waist. “I forgot how much I love your tits.”

“How forgetful of you. But it is hours since you saw them.”

“We'll just have to get reacquainted.” He puts down the wine glass that he just picked up and licks at my nipple. Then he takes the whole tip of my breast into his mouth and sucks.

I shut my eyes and gasp at the sensation. Though my ass is still smarting and I feel sensitive and swollen from earlier, none of that matters. I’m wet and ready for him.

I reach for his cock and he lets my breast go as I position myself over him, my intention obvious. I can't wait another second.

“Here,” he says, handing me a condom from the drawer beside the bed, and then he helps me roll it on the hard length of him.

I hold him steady and push down, impaling myself on him, crying out as I stretch wide to take him in fully, the pleasure intensifying as each inch disappears inside me.

When he’s fully inside me, he takes my breast back into his mouth, sucks hard and then bites gently on the tip, before releasing my nipple, wet and swollen from his mouth. I groan as he repeats on the other side, my insides clenching him hard at the sensation in my nipples.

He spreads his hands over my sore ass, controlling the speed and range of my movement as I begin to slide up and down on his shaft, my legs straddling his hips, but then he relaxes his hold and I am free to move, swiveling and snaking my hips, back and forth, enjoying the feel of him massaging me inside.

“Turn around,” he says. “I want to watch you from behind.”

“Like this?” I reposition myself with my back to him, and I know he can see everything. There’s nothing left to hide as I take him in deep again. Yet I'm shameless. I want him to see everything.

“Oh, God,” he says. “I could come just from watching you do that. My cock is all yours to ride, baby.”

And I do. I hear him moan and feel him tremble beneath me, and a surge of unexpected pride runs through me because of the effect I'm obviously having on him, but I don't dwell on that. I ride him for all I'm worth, until we both can't take any more, and his body goes rigid as he shoots into me and I call out his name as the steadily growing wave of my orgasm crashes over me.

*

Twice more that night, Kieran reaches for me and fucks me as if he can’t bear us to be apart, and it's more than good. Finally, we fall asleep again in each other’s arms. When we wake, it's to the alarm this time—Kieran has to go to work.

He takes me back home on his way to the station and I slide into the student residence, doing the walk of shame I only ever imagined, happy and a little sore, but it's a good feeling.

I need a nap before I get right on with my project.

When I wake up a couple of hours later, I already have a message from Kieran saying he's thinking of me and misses me.

I text him back that I miss him, too, and I smile and take out my notebook to draw up a plan. I’ll have to work hard this week if I'm going to impress the powers that be at Alistair & Co., and I get started right away, sketching out ideas for cartoon-style posters and leaflets matching the animal costumes.

Amy comes over later to examine the costumes. She doesn't think the damage is too bad. She says she can mend the stitching on the cat and give Mr. Crocodile a couple of replacement spikes in brown felt.

“But look at you,” she says, smiling. “There's something you're not telling me. I thought you said your date didn't go well?” Of course, Amy was first to know about that.

“I had another date yesterday. On his roof.”

“On his roof? Is that some kinky expression I don't understand?”

“He has a roof garden. We had a picnic.”

“Tell me more.”

“We got together. It was good. That's all I'm saying.”

“Hannah Palmer, you're blushing. I'll have to get you drunk and get the details out of you. But good on you. He must be good to make you smile like that.” She laughs.

“My lips are sealed.”

“At least the rest of you is not sealed like a Vestal virgin now. I'll have to check him out at the school fair, if not before.”

“I thought you could be Teddy for the day,” I tease.

“You want me to be Teddy when there are hot firemen milling around? What kind of friend are you?”

I laugh. “I'll just have to wear the costume myself, then. It's more fun than you think. You really should try it some time.”

After she leaves, I take the panda costume for dry cleaning, as the white parts of the fur are gray and grubby looking. The costume makes the woman behind the counter smile.

“Do you need it back for any particular occasion?” she asks.

I tell her about the the road safety campaign and she says that I'm welcome to put up posters on the bulletin board there. That's a good sign I'll be able to get other places to display them. I make a list of potential places to contact for when they are ready.

Kieran calls me when he finishes work. “I have to do something for Vanessa tonight,” he says, “but I'll see you tomorrow if you're free. I wish you were in my bed tonight.”

I want to say that I don't care even if I can only see him a short time, I want to see him anyway, but I know if we get together, we will hardly get any sleep. And both of us have work to do. A night of catching up on rest will do us good.

So all I say is, “I wish I was there, too.”

“I kept thinking about you today every time we were sitting around waiting for a call.”

“I'd better not ask what you were thinking.”

“No,” he says. “You'd better not. But it was all good. I'd rather have the real thing, though.”

We talk about the costumes. He says he'll make sure I can get more appointments with schools if I need them. But it's too soon for that. I’m busy preparing some poster and leaflet mockups before I show them to the kids. I hope they go over well.

The next day, he has to work an extra half shift because of an emergency on the other side of town and I don't see him again, but it's just as well. I'm ultra-busy with my posters and writing the press releases for my campaign. And Paul, my manager at the company, calls to ask me how I'm doing. I arrange to see him for half an hour the next day, so I work late into the night to prepare a presentation for him.

The meeting goes well. Paul has a few suggestions, but he loves what I've done so far. I can't wait to tell Kieran about my day. But more than anything, I want to feel his arms around me. It's only been a few days. Even so, it feels like forever.

I’m so disappointed when Kieran says he can't see me again. He doesn't even call. He sends me a text:

“Sorry, I can't make it tonight. Something came up. Tomorrow?”

But when tomorrow comes, I don't see him. I get another text instead.

It’s strange that he isn't really saying why he can't see me. I had too many messages like that from Simon not to be concerned by this, even though it's only a couple of texts. And when another message comes in next day, more or less the same thing, the doubt grows in my mind, my thoughts churning.

I talk to Amy about it.

“It could be anything. Why not just ask him?”

“I shouldn't have to ask. If he wanted me to know, he would have told me. So that means there's something he doesn't want me to know.”

“Maybe he just doesn't like writing long texts and you'll hear all about it when you see him.”

“I don't need him to write much. A few words would do, but he's told me nothing. I feel like he's keeping me on hold.”

“Maybe he's just busy and not thinking. Honestly, Hannah, you're reading too much into this. How many times have you slept with him?”

“Just once.” Then I correct that to, “Just one night.”

Amy raises her eyebrows and smiles. “So maybe he has other things going on. Maybe he has to tie up some loose ends. Has he mentioned being exclusive?”

“No.” I have to admit to myself and to Amy that he hasn't. Much as I want that to be true, he's never said anything about that.

I try to keep myself busy with the project. I have a lot to do. I press some of my friends into wearing the costumes. Most of them are up for it, at least the ones who have no plans for that Saturday. Anything for a laugh.

I redesign the safety notices based on the props we used on the school visit, only bigger, and with brighter colors. The guys at Alistair & Co. help me with production and the proofs look great. I write press releases and ads and arrange to see Peter Beale, who is delighted with my progress. The project is all coming together but I feel like otherwise, I'm falling apart.

After another three days with radio silence—I guess there are only so many ways to make excuses—I get another text from Kieran. “Sorry. I’m a bit tied up right now. Are you free Saturday afternoon? We could go for lunch.”

That text makes me mad. He hasn't seen me for days, and this is all I get. A lunch date for the weekend. I text back. “It's okay. Don't bother.”

He calls me right away. “I want to see you,” he says. “I want to see you a lot. It's just been difficult with work and everything.”

If I've heard that kind of excuse once, I've heard it a thousand times.

“I told you I don't play games. I'm done with that. So just go play in another playground. Whatever you're busy with, I suggest you keep on with it.”

It’s only later I wonder if I did the right thing.