Chapter 18

Ella

 

What was I doing? I had invited Drayer over with the intention of telling him why I was so messed up and untrusting, and now I was making out with him on my couch.

But it was as thrilling as I remembered it. Fire licked along my body, and I felt my heart rate speed up, fueled by our passion for each other.

But the sudden whiplash was a bit intense, and I had to pull away after a moment. Snuggling closer, I made myself right at home, nuzzling his neck while pressing my body against his chest. Drayer was so incredibly warm and kind and just all around perfect. How could I not feel comfortable by his side?

Like we had been built for each other, my head fit exactly into the crook of his shoulder, and I closed my eyes against the world.

It was quiet in his embrace. Peaceful. I listened to the soothing rhythm of his heart, steadily thump-thumping away with excitement. I wondered if I could fall asleep to it, but clearly, Drayer had other ideas in mind.

“Am I that comfy?” he questioned, gently caressing up my thigh, then my waist, and finally running through my hair. It left warmth and desire in its wake, stirring me from the sleepiness and content that had been filling my body.

“Yes, you are,” I said, rubbing my face into his skin and letting his scent fill my nose. What cologne was that? I didn’t know, but it was fantastic and was starting to drive me wild. “This is very nice.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

We stayed there for a bit longer, absorbing the experience and the lack of tension that was so hard to get elsewhere in our lives. This was a kind of solace that I didn’t think either of us had in very large supply, considering both of us were caught up in the school-work-bill cycle.

But the longer we sat together and the cozier I became, the more I felt a very welcome sort of tension build up in my middle. While I was perfectly content to curl into Drayer’s side forever, another part of me wanted something more.

It started innocently enough with a single one of my fingers tentatively playing with the button hidden in the white strip of fur at the center of his jacket. I danced around it for nearly a minute, my digit tracing circles along it, flicking it this way and that, until finally his hand caught mine, and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

“What are you doing?” His voice was already raspy, and the tone was so sinful that my body couldn’t help but respond.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Well, if I wasn’t mistaken, I would say you’re trying to de-Santa me.”

“Maybe, but can you blame a girl for wanting to see what’s under that big, red suit?”

He lifted his eyebrow and smiled so salaciously, I was surprised my panties didn’t melt right then and there. “Who am I to deny you what so many women want?”

Slowly, never breaking eye contact, he leaned forward. The angle forced me off his lap a little, but I just clamped on with my thighs to make sure I didn’t fall off.

Bit by bit, Drayer slowly flicked the first button open, clearly copying his striptease routine from the last time.

But there was only so much teasing a girl could take, so I reached forward and hungrily unfastened each of them in rapid succession and then slid it off of his shoulders until his upper half was bare before me.

Yes.

He was as alluring as I remembered or maybe even better. It seemed my memory hadn’t been accurate enough compared to the sheer sex appeal of the real thing.

I immediately went on the move. Curling into him once more, I trailed the very tip of my nail along all the striations and dips in his well-cut body.

God, he was hot, almost too much for me to bear. My finger began its journey at his taught belly button before sliding it along as I slowly explored all the way up his body. I didn’t neglect a single spot, making sure my nail or finger pad touched each and every inch of him.

He was like a study in anatomy, like the most intimate figure drawing course I had ever had. Everything about him seemed so deliberate, so perfect. How could I not treat him like a work of art?

Then, after a long, long journey, I eventually reached his throat. My finger went to the bit of elastic holding his fake, bushy beard in place, and I slowly pulled it over his head. The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally lose my grip and snap him in the face with the taut band. That would definitely break the mood.

There, the beard was off. Now, it was on to the wig.

I couldn’t imagine how hot it was being so layered every day, and I meant in the temperature way, not the sexy way. My fingers slid under the white, snowy hair atop his head and gently worked loose the bobby pins that held it to his thick hair.

It took several seconds, but my progress was halted as his hands came up to cup my breasts, which were right in his face. I hesitated for a second but kept going.

I underestimated how hard it would be to finagle the little fastening devices while his fingers encircled my nipples, but I quickly found out. It took me much longer than it normally would to get them all, but after a handful of minutes, I managed, and his wig joined his beard.

There. That was better.

Returning my attention to his stubble-covered skin, I leaned forward. For a moment, I hovered a breath away, watching his pulse race through the arteries at the side of his neck, but after a few beats, I gave in and kissed the base of his throat, just below his Adam’s apple.

Drayer stiffened, his breath hitching, and that was all the encouragement I needed. Completely emboldened, I carefully grazed my bottom teeth along the flesh there. Like bands of steel, his arms encircled me, and I was being pulled even further toward him. My legs eagerly parted for him as I enthusiastically straddled his still fully-clothed lap.

The extra boost of height allowed me to look him right in the eyes, and the expression he was sending my way made me lose my breath. I didn’t think anyone had ever looked at me that way, and it simultaneously terrified me and made me feel like the most powerful woman in existence. An impossible mix, that was for sure, but that was exactly where I was.

Then, his large hands took a hold of my ass, grasping each of my cheeks none too gently. But I just hissed and leaned into it as he kneaded my soft, pliable flesh.

I was only wearing a simple peasant dress and leggings, but even that seemed to be too much between our bodies. I wanted to feel all of him, to have the entire landscape of his body burned into my memory so clearly, I would see it even in my dreams.

Our mouths crashed together again, emotions overwhelming me. I could only hope Drayer felt half as intensely as I did. Otherwise, I might seem mad in the ardency of my kiss.

I poured everything I could through the connection between us, my hope, my doubt, my fear, and my burning desire. It was enough to make my mind spin in a dizzy sort of dance that kept coming back to how much I wanted him.

But for once, I didn’t fight it. I didn’t try to be strong or to withdraw into my protective walls. I felt everything that came to me in the moment, letting all of it crescendo into an orchestra of emotion.

I held onto his broad, muscled shoulders for dear life, as if pulling him close enough would fuse us into one person instead of two. Then, I wouldn’t have to worry about being cheated on or being scrubbed out of someone’s life like I didn’t matter.

But Drayer seemed to be done with letting me run the whole show. His hands traveled to the bottom of my dress, pulling it over my head in one smooth motion.

Of course, that motion broke our kiss, and when I looked at him, he was smiling triumphantly. Because of course he was. At least no one could argue that he wasn’t earnest in his intent and reactions.

He winked at me again, and just like before, my whole body jolted with electricity. How could one little eyelid make my body respond so adamantly? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to ask questions.

With a bit of a flourish, Drayer tossed my dress over his shoulder to land on top of his Santa jacket.

“Shall we take this to someplace a little more comfortable?” he asked, raising one of his thick eyebrows. “Or at least easier to launder if we make a mess?”

I giggled and nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

His grinned at that, and his hands returned to my backside. Like I didn’t weigh anything at all, the man stood up, taking me with him.

Once more, I was much higher off the ground than I was used to. And like before, it was particularly thrilling. I began to wonder if this would be a tradition between us, having unplanned romps and him carrying me across my studio apartment to my bed.

This time, he set me down gently, his eyes smoldering as they looked me over. I tried to sit up to take off his stupid red pants, but he gently stopped me and pushed me down.

I didn’t fight it and leaned back, propping myself up on my elbows so I could watch whatever he was intending to do.

Apparently, that was to undress me.

There was something incredibly sexy about the way he knelt down on the bed, his large hands going first to my little footie socks. Once that was done, he found the top of my leggings and slowly, achingly slowly, pulled them down.

Inch by inch he went, never hurrying, taking his time when all I wanted to do was rush through all of this until we were so intimately tangled together, we didn’t know where one of us started and the other ended.

But his careful progression came with a perk. For every single bit of skin he exposed, he paused to caress, kiss, or lick it with unchecked affection. Nothing escaped his keen eye, and he thoroughly worshiped everything from my hip where the red line in my skin sat from the top of my leggings, down the outside of my thigh, over the top of my knee to the inside of my calf, and ending just above my foot.

I never knew I could feel so erotic while I was still fully in my underwear. But the way Drayer treated me, the way he looked at me, made me feel as if I was a princess. I had to be careful, or I could get addicted to such a feeling.

But then, finally, his hands went to my underwear, and he pulled them down none too gently. I didn’t mind, though. The bit of pinch and burn made the pleasure and excitement in me burn that much higher.

I thought his hands might go to my bra next, but instead, he stood. I frowned at the distance between us before I realized he was finally taking off the last bit of his Santa outfit.

Thank god.

I watched, thoroughly interested, as he stripped for me. It was strange, seeing him go from portly on the waist down to the muscled young man I knew, but the humor of it didn’t break the mood, thankfully.

And then, just like that, he was completely bare. He must have taken his boxers off along with his pants, and I was momentarily impressed at his coordination. But that thought quickly floated away as I saw how ready his body was for me. He was standing at complete attention, his tip aching almost purple with its desire for me, drops of his want pooling, almost ready to drip onto my hardwood floors.

Then, after what seemed like an age, he lowered himself onto my worn mattress. But instead of climbing over me, or taking off my bra as I expected, he nestled between my legs while his hands went under my bottom again.

I didn’t know what he was doing, but I let him tilt my hips upward, putting my feet flat on the bed to help him support me.

And then, after a breath where nothing seemed to happen, his lips dipped toward my hips. But his mouth didn’t immediately go right to my center. He started at the curve of my hip bone, nipping and kissing as he traveled lower, taking his sweet ass time once again and driving me absolutely batty.

I couldn’t say how long it went on, but I might have been certifiable after he kept circling, crisscrossing, and covering my entire lower half with affection. It wasn’t until I was a sweating, panting mess that he finally set me back down on the mattress.

This was it. I could feel it down in my very core. I tensed with borderline painful anticipation, so when his mouth did finally reach my center, I practically shot off into the stratosphere of pleasure.

I gasped, and my legs tried to snap shut, but he held me fast until I relaxed enough to stop trying to clamp his head between my thighs.

When he sensed the change, one of his hands moved to gently part my pussy, allowing him entrance. I let out a wanton moan, but it quickly turned to a shout when his tongue slid out and touched me intimately.

I had no idea how he was so good at it, but I didn’t question it. Instead, I let myself sit back and enjoy it as he parted me with his expert skills. Every muscle in my body went taught, and I felt like I could snap at any moment.

He drove me higher and higher, his tongue long and skilled as it worked me over. I could hardly breathe, hardly think, but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t even sure I had a mind. What little semblance of thought I had was quickly banished as his expert tongue circled around and then finally flicked over that throbbing cluster of nerves while inserting a finger into me.

Forget moans, I was actually crying out in abandon. Volume unchecked, I alternated between crying out to Drayer, to Santa, and to God himself. I was being pushed beyond what I thought was my absolute brink of pleasure, winding me higher and higher and higher in a breathless spiral.

But all that tension eventually had to find a release, and I felt my climax descending on me like a full-on tidal wave, set on drowning me in my own pleasure.

And when it crashed over my head, I saw stars. I felt like I left my body, but at the same time, I had never felt so thoroughly and completely me. The sheer force of it made me rise from the bed, my back arching almost painfully. Drayer didn’t take that as a sign to stop, however, and he continued to work me over through the entire climax, curling his fingers this way and that while his tongue went into overdrive, making my climax last that much longer.

I might have broken a personal record on how long I stayed locked in my ecstasy, but I didn’t have enough cognitive sense left afterward to figure it out. When I finally collapsed onto the bed in utter bliss, I felt more like jelly than human.

“That …” I gasped, chest heaving and sweat dripping down my brow. My face was probably red, too, but I was still so high on my own arrival that I didn’t care if I looked like a tomato.

“Feel free to leave a five-star review on Yelp,” Drayer shot back. How he had enough brain cells about him to banter, I didn’t know, but I didn’t have any sort of witty response for him.

He wiped his lips on the back of his hand, climbing up my frame, and my body already started to rev itself back up again. Something about Drayer was so inherently sexy to me. From his face to his smell to how he seemed to know how to handle my body like no one else I had ever met. It was like he had been made for me, even though I knew that was impossible.

I was so lost in thought, I didn’t realize he was positioning himself at my entrance until his swollen head started to push through. Thinking surprisingly quick considering how doped up I was on my own body’s chemicals, I gripped his waist and rolled, nearly knocking into the wall but succeeding in flipping him over so I was on top.

“I think it’s my turn,” I said, voice low and raspy, before my tongue slid out to greet the tip of his aching shaft.

“Fair is fair,” he gasped as his whole body shuddered.

The sounds he made as I got to work pleased me, and I let go of anything that was holding me back. With utter abandon, I laved along his cock. Feeling a bit vindictive, I took my time, drawing out the pleasure just short of being cruel. I liked the way he moaned, the way he twitched within my mouth, the way his breath picked up in speed until it was coming in short, desperate pants.

There was a sort of science to what I was doing. First, I made sure he was properly lubricated from base to tip. Then, once I finished that task, I took him fully into my mouth, allowing him to glide his cock along all the individual ridges of my mouth.

Drayer continued to make appreciative noises, which only encouraged me to go further. Even as my jaw started to ache from all the strenuous work, I didn’t let up. I wanted him to come completely undone like I had for him. Maybe then he would understand how strongly I felt for him and why I went against everything that was logical just to be by his side.

God, I really was crazy, wasn’t I? Hadn’t I spent close to three weeks denying the man below me could be anything more than a one-night stand? Yet here I was, enthusiastically bedding him again with dreams of the future running through my head.

Drayer’s hips rose from the bed, his cock trying to find its way down my throat so he could be fully sheathed within me. It was a stretch, but I managed to relax enough not to choke before he quickly pulled back.

“It’s all right,” I gasped, releasing him from my mouth long enough to let those words out.

“You sure?” It sounded like even speaking was difficult for him, so I just nodded. That gave him all the permission he needed, and he started to thrust up into my mouth with abandon.

He didn’t last much longer than that, and I felt him throb wildly on my tongue. He came hard, and I drank him down in long, strong pulls.

Drayer fell back to the bed, panting, red-faced, and sweating. He looked like he had finished the world’s most intense workout, which I guessed he kind of had.

It certainly made me feel confident about my abilities, and I scooted up the mattress to lie down beside him. Like earlier, I curled into his side, feeling content.

“Thank you,” he wheezed after a few minutes, still clearly blissed out and weary.

“You’re welcome,” I answered a bit cheekily. But hey, I had earned it.

We lay together, our breathing syncopating as we cuddled. Drayer’s arm curled around me, gently stroking and massaging my skin while we basked in our afterglow.

Or at least, it started that way. It had obviously been a way for us to keep in contact, a means of comfort as the soreness of our bodies slowly set in. But as the minutes passed, the arm grew more and more brisk in its movements, as if it was trying to ramp me up for another round.

Well, I certainly didn’t mind.

I pressed into Drayer harder, and his hand cupped one of my breasts in response. My nipple pinched gently between his thumb and finger, he rolled it just hard enough to draw out a hiss of pleasure.

As I began to throb for him, he leaned down and placed a single, loving kiss on my forehead.

I returned the action, of course, and that throb in me turned into an urgent thrum. Once again, impatience rose in me, until finally, I was tugging at his shoulder, trying to pull him down to me.

“Please,” I begged. “I want you now.”

“Whatever you wish,” he answered before rising to his knees.

I moved so he could lower himself onto me, but instead, his hands went under me and flipped me over before I knew what he was doing. I sputtered slightly, but he kept going, pulling my hips upward and coaxing my thighs farther apart from each other.

And then, I finally felt him press up against me. God, yes! That was exactly what I needed. He could have stayed there forever, teasing me into eternity, but then he was sliding himself fully into me.

I gasped as I stretched to fit him, crying out and not caring that I sounded like I was in some adult film. My whole body was lost to the pleasure, and my mind was going blank.

The way he pounded into me was perfect, driving me higher and higher into my euphoria again. How one man could have the energy to drive me mad twice in one night, I didn’t know, but I was going to enjoy it for all it was worth.

He thrust into me, again and again, his teeth biting into the soft skin of my shoulder as he pumped into me.

I let out a breathless laugh, and my arms gave out so both my shoulders and chest were pressed down into my bed, leaving my backside that much more open for Drayer to drive into.

We both whipped ourselves into a frenzy, utterly lost to our lust. Unlike the rest of the times, only a few minutes passed before I felt that titillating end rushing toward me once again.

“Drayer! I’m almost there!”

“Good,” was all he could say, his face flushed while his thrusts became shorter and wilder.

And then his hand moved around my middle, traveling downward in time with his thrusts until he reached that sensitive bundle of nerves at my apex.

“Drayer!” I screeched, nearly blowing out my voice as my lower half clamped down onto his dick.

Somehow, my orgasm was even stronger than the first one. My breath all but stopped, and I was drawn tighter than a slingshot. I let out a series of words I didn’t even know were English or not, and to add the cherry on the top of the cake, I felt Drayer release inside me.

Time had no meaning while we came, floating on cloud nine. When we finally returned to reality, we melted into each other, holding each other on my mattress like we were the other’s lifeline.

And for all intents and purposes, we were.

I had been alone for so long, I knew there would be an adjustment period to what we now had, but I was more than happy to go through it. My life was changing, but for once, I was excited about it.

Maybe, against all the odds, it would be a very Merry Christmas indeed. I certainly hoped so.

I looked one last time at Drayer’s face before snuggling into his side. Feeling exhaustion roll through me, I fell asleep, much more content than I could remember being in years.