LAUREN

 

 

I woke entangled in Gabe’s embrace. I stirred and found him watching me, his eyes dark and burning. Gently, I ran my finger over the swell of his chest, tracing each ridge of his stomach and along the line of his boxers. Gabe sucked in his breath as I explored before letting it out with a low groan.

His groans were glorious. I had never heard such a delightful sound. And, when I ran my hands over the tops of his thighs, he moaned so quietly I strained to hear it. Pulling the covers back, I marvelled at his body. It was so tight, so firm, but at the same time so soft and smooth. I wanted to touch every inch.

Lifting myself off the bed, I rose and hooked my leg over him until I was sitting above him, feeling the pressure of him rise against the nakedness beneath my shirt. He locked eyes with me, his gaze scorched with desire, and I bent down to kiss him. He rose to meet me, urgent to embrace, but I pushed him back down onto the bed. I wanted to relish the moment, take time discovering his body. It was too new, too foreign not to explore.

I kissed him fully and he responded passionately and deeply, straining against where I had his hands pinned against his sides. Placing a trail of kisses across his skin from his jaw line down his neck and over his chest, he leaned his head back into the pillow and sighed loudly. I kissed each nipple and he rose up on his elbows to watch. But I pushed him back down and continued to kiss him, ignoring his desperate groans of frustration. They turned more urgent when I kissed the soft flesh between the band of his boxers and his belly button. Slowly, I ran my tongue all the way up his torso, to the little dip between his collarbone. He reached up and gripped my arms, digging his fingers into my flesh.

“Want me to stop?” I asked.

“No.” It came out a guttural whimper.

I pressed my breasts, hidden beneath the thin material of my shirt, to the naked flesh of his chest and kissed him fully on the mouth again. Cupping my face, he kissed me fervently, and clung to me as I pulled away.

“My god, let me have you,” he hissed between breaths.

I shook my head and grinned seductively as I kissed my way down his chest and over the ridges of his hard stomach. His skin quivered when I slid lower down and kissed the line of the muscle that led to his pelvis and dipped under his boxers. Lifting his head off the pillow, he propped himself up on his elbows, eyes burning with hunger as he watched. I tugged on his boxers and pulled them down until they popped over his erection. As I kissed the soft flesh of his inner thigh, drawing closer and closer but never satisfying, he closed his eyes and rolled his head back, letting out a tortured and ragged breath.

When I took the tip of him in my mouth he tensed. I pushed deeper, feeling bold and daring, something I hadn’t felt in years.

“Careful,” he said. “I won’t be able to handle that and I need to be inside you.”

I climbed my way back up his body and couldn’t help smiling at the way he watched me. His pupils were wide, his expression dark. His desire was extremely obvious. And I drowned in it.

“Let me get a rubber.” Frantically, he searched through the pockets of his jeans lying on the floor and slipped on the protection. I sunk onto him and he let out something guttural, almost animalistic. He grabbed for the hem of my shirt but I shook my head and held his wrists in place so he couldn’t lift my top.

“I want to see you,” he groaned.

I moved slowly, distracting him by grinding back and forth and feeling every inch of him inside me. His hands moved up and over my hips until they found the soft flesh of my breasts. He started to take control of our movements, his hands falling to my hips as he dug in his fingers. I held onto his shoulders as he rolled us over and hovered over me.

“God, you’re sexy,” he breathed.

Then he was inside me again. Slower this time, rocking back and forth, sucking on my neck and nuzzling into my breasts under the shirt. We came together and he slumped over me.

“Wow,” he breathed in my ear. He stayed pressed heavily on me until I nudged him with my shoulder. “Sorry,” he rolled over onto his back. “Wow,” he said again.

I climbed out from beneath the covers and walked into the ensuite. When I came back Gabe had rolled onto his stomach, his arms spread wide over the bed. He looked glorious. He grinned and lifted the covers back, patting the space beside him. Once I climbed in, he snuggled against me, sighing deeply.

I looked over at the clock. It was late and I was due in at work in a couple of hours. I sighed. Work seemed like another world from where I was.

“What’s the matter?” he mumbled, his words slurred with relaxation.

“Work.”

“Do you have to go in soon?”

“Yeah.”

Gabe untangled himself from me and hopped out of the bed. “Guess that’s my cue.”

“You don’t have to leave now. You can stay a little longer if you like.”

Gabe shook his head as he pulled on his jeans. I watched him from the cover of the bed, once again marvelling at the design of him. He smiled but there was something awkward about it.

“You coming into work later?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous and pulling the covers close to my chest.

Gabe shook his head as he pulled on his t-shirt. “Day off.” He bent over the bed and placed a chaste kiss on my cheek. “Thanks for last night.”

I smiled. What was I supposed to say? ‘You’re welcome?’ ‘Thank you, too?’

“And this morning,” Gabe added. He hovered at the door. “Catch you later?”

“Later,” I replied and then he was gone.

* * *

I didn’t hear from Gabe for the rest of the day. That was normal though, wasn’t it? I considered calling him but I didn’t want to seem needy or desperate or too keen.

When Peta said he called in sick for his shift the following day, I began to worry. I had that dread in the pit of my stomach again. I began to replay our time together over and over in my head but each time I did, it seemed less and less romantic and more like I was too eager. I could just imagine him retelling the tale to his friends, laughing and making fun. ‘You should have seen her. She was all over me.’

I barely slept, not being able to get rid of the weight on my chest and the sickness in the pit of my stomach. I felt so foolish, so dumb. Again. Everything I had worried about had come true.

Peta noticed something was wrong at work but I just lied and said I was coming down with something. “Perhaps it’s the same thing Gabe has,” I offered.   

She shook her head. “Something strange is going on with him. He came in this morning and said he needed a couple of days off to, ‘sort some shit’, as he put it. And then he asked for an advance on his pay. Strange boy.”

I swallowed the lump at the back of my throat. He was avoiding me, plain and simple. I guess he was hoping that if he gave me enough space, I would see our time for what it was. Nothing but a tumble in the sheets. Nothing more than one of the many. Nothing more than an amusement.

He was a challenge which I had failed miserably.