31. CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 31
ETHAN
P ulling up the driveway and into the garage, I don’t see Fonz’s car. “Looks like he’s still out.” I give Ari’s hand a squeeze. The moment we got into the Jeep, I reached over and took it, and haven’t let it go since.
Once inside the house, she starts walking along the island through the kitchen. I drop her bag on the floor, and fish my keys, wallet, and phone out of my pockets and set them on the counter. “You need anything?” I look up to see Ari standing at the threshold to the dining room, her back to me. “Water? Seltzer?” I trail off as I take in the exposed peachy skin of her back, and strawberry red hair cascading down the center of it. Her long, lean legs stretch out from under that flirty skirt. She’s barefoot, having kicked off her shoes midway through the kitchen.
I take slow steps, bringing myself closer, as she turns to face me. Ari places her hands on my biceps. When she speaks, it comes out in a rush. “I was going to try and be all sexy and lead you to your bedroom, but then I got to the edge of the kitchen and realized I can’t make it all the way without falling over, so now I just have to resort to telling you that I want you to take me to your bedroom and do filthy things to me, which is much less sexy.”
Bringing one hand up and cupping her face, I kiss her softly as I kick off my shoes. “Here”—I nudge my toes into hers on the carpet while kissing the corner of her mouth—“step on my feet.” I kiss her cheek, her jaw, her neck.
“What?” Her breathing picks up.
I place an open mouthed kiss on her collarbone. “I said stand on my feet.” Wrapping an arm around her waist, I lift her up just enough to position her feet on top of mine, holding her close.
“Oh.” She blushes.
Slowly, I walk her backwards, locking my mouth over hers as I go. She holds onto my arms as we move, until we are passing through the doorway to my bedroom. I stop us once we’re in the center of it, and she pulls away slightly, looking at my upper lip and smiling. She comes in and licks my scar, pulling my lip between hers and giving it a little tug. “That may be one of my favorite things about you.”
“Oh, yeah?” I trail my fingertips along her hairline. “Why’s that?”
“I remember what it felt like all those years ago when we danced and kissed in your backyard, and I always wondered if I was remembering correctly how it felt against my lips.”
“And how did it feel?” I run my fingertips down her spaghetti straps.
“Like a little tickle.”
“Yeah?” I kiss a trail across her upper chest. She tips her head back, giving me better access.
One at a time, the buttons of my shirt come undone, and it slides off my shoulders and onto the floor. I reach behind my head and pull off my undershirt, disposing of that too. Ari’s open fingers crawl down my sides, tickling my ribs as they slowly cascade over them.
As I circle my arms behind her, Ari turns her head and sees my bed. “You got new sheets?”
“Mmhmm,” I hum into her skin while unzipping her dress. “And I change them every other night now so they don’t stink anymore.” Slipping my hands under the straps on her shoulders, I push them down her arms, causing the top of her dress to fold over at the waist.
Dipping down, I slide my hands over her skirt, then up and under the material until I grab the cheeky flesh of her ass in both hands.
Fuck’s sake, she’s wearing a thong.
“Jesus, you’re trying to kill me.” I hoist her up and sit on the edge of the bed with her straddling me, kissing down her jaw, neck, sternum, chest, until I get to one of her breasts and wrap my mouth around it.
“Ahhhh,” Ari shrieks as she quivers and throws her head back, arching into me as goosebumps erupt on her skin.
I suck some more, then release that breast and kiss and lick my way to the other. I’m gentler with this one, slowly and delicately circling her nipple with my tongue, then grazing it with my top teeth, and I feel her tremble in my arms. Ari tries to grab my hair in her hands, but it’s too short, so she grips my head and tips it back so she can take my lips in a kiss that leaves me gasping for air, all the while grinding on top of me.
When I almost can’t take it any longer, I stand quickly and spin, guiding Ari back onto the bed before crawling off, pulling her dress down her legs, and discarding it. Standing next to the bed, looking up and down her nearly naked body, I unfasten my belt and zipper and let my pants drop to the floor.
Ari looks goddamn angelic, with red hair splayed out around my gray sheets, one hand fanned over her stomach, legs bent.
While palming my erection over my boxers, seeking a little relief, I step over to the nightstand and take a few condoms out of the top drawer, leaving all but one on the countertop. I drop the last one onto the bed beside her before grabbing the waistband of my boxers, tugging them down my legs, and kicking them to the side. Ari’s eyes trail down my body and land on my cock, then dart up to mine.
I grin.
Yeah, baby, I’m all grown up.
ARI
Well, at least it’ll be a good way to go. Death by dicking . I hope Sophie has the sense to have that etched into my gravestone.
Ethan grabs his massive length and adjusts it with a little tug, as if it’s painful. He has the awareness to look almost apologetic as he crawls up the bed toward me, dipping down and kissing my lips while running a hand over my small hip bone … which is attached to a petite pelvis that is never going to fit that massive thing bobbing between his legs. He must feel my trepidation because he is gentle and soft while massaging my lips with his.
“Relax, Red.” Ethan begins to worship me, sliding his hand up my ribcage to my breast, kneading it, then turning his hand over and trailing his knuckles down my stomach and around to my ass, massaging that too. “I will never hurt you. I’m going to make sure you are ready for me.” He kisses my throat and laps his tongue against it. “You understand?”
When I don’t answer, he brings his face back to mine as his hand cups my cheek. “Ari, do you trust me?” His eyes dart between mine.
I nod.
“Say it,” he whispers. Another kiss, and he closes his eyes as if in pain. “Please, say it.”
I bring my hand up and grip his wrist. His eyes open. “I trust you.”
Relief floods his face. “Good.” With our faces still only millimeters apart, he drops his eyes down to roam over our bodies and slowly reaches down to palm my sex, groping it with just enough pressure to make me want to press into him. “You’re warm.” His breath tickles my face.
With his dick jabbing into my side, he slides his fingers under the silk of my underwear until his fingertips dance over me. I shudder, and he swallows. Using two fingers, he slides them down my center, parting me as he does. When he slides them back up, he circles around my most sensitive spot.
I can’t help it, I moan, and my eyes roll back.
And that’s Ethan’s cue to slide a finger inside. “You’re wet,” he rasps out. Slowly, he pumps his finger in and out before adding another. On their own accord, my hips rise up to meet the intrusion, and I clench. “Fuck,” Ethan hisses, and then he’s descending down my body, kissing and licking and sucking his way past my breasts, down my stomach, darting his tongue into my navel and nipping each hip bone. He curls his fingertips under the waistband of my thong, pulls it down my pelvis and over my legs, tossing it aside.
He gently presses my knees apart while kneeling between them, and I lay completely exposed as his eyes drop to my core, before his head dips down and his mouth ghosts over my upper thigh, my pelvis, and then …
There’s a moment of stillness before I feel the tickle of his breath—and his scruff—on my core as he kisses me there the same way he kisses my mouth. First a few pecks, before he adds pressure and moves my lips with his, opening me up to him and taking what he wants from me. And then, just like when he kisses my mouth, he sweeps his tongue inside, and I buck my hips with a groan.
Ethan chuckles. “You like that?”
“No,” I bite out, arching my back to chase the pleasure. “It feels terrible.”
He chuckles again, wraps his hands around the backs of my thighs, and tugs me against his face, keeping me in place as I try to pull away from his onslaught. He drags his fat tongue all the way up and flicks before pulling my skin gently between his teeth and sucking on it.
“Ethan,” I pant. “I can’t.”
“You can’t what?” His mouth moves against me as he continues to lick and suck and lap at me.
“I can’t … I don’t know …”
I can actually feel him grin against me. “You don’t know?”
“Mmmm.” Another wave of pleasure hits me.
Ethan continues to devour me as he slides a finger inside, gliding it in and out as he eases up his hold on my hips so I can move against him. “That’s it, Ari. I need you to melt for me.”
Breathing erratically, I grip the sheet in my hands and rock my hips to the push and pull. Groaning and making noises that are not at all feminine, I am too lost to even care. It’s all his fault anyway.
“Oh, God!” He nips me with his teeth one last time and I explode with an orgasm, feeling the wetness rush to my groin. Ethan continues to palm my crotch gently but firmly as I ride it out, trembling and shaking, before he pulls himself up to his knees and sits back on his heels, reaching over to grab the condom off the side of the bed.
“No. Let me.” I sit up and take it from his hands.
Grabbing his erection at the base and slowly sliding my hand up, I increase the pressure slightly as I get to the tip. Ethan throws his head back and thrusts his hips so his dick slides into my closed palm some more.
“Ari,” he rasps out, “I have to get inside you while you’re still loosened up, and I have to do it before I blow.”
“OK, big guy.” I position the condom and roll it down before laying back on the bed, and he comes down over top of me. Ethan positions himself at my entrance and slides his tip back and forth over my opening before pushing in slightly.
I suck in a breath.
“I never left you, Red,” he says against my mouth, pushing in a little farther, rocking in and out as he works his way in. “I took you with me everywhere I went.”
“Ahhhh.” I arch my back and gasp as he invades me, pressing in further and further and further. Ethan slides one arm behind my head, gripping my hair and pulling it back just enough so he can suck on my neck. His other hand gropes my ass and plumps it as he grinds his hips this way and that, still working his way in.
“Shit, Ari, you have no idea how good this feels.”
I wrap one arm around his shoulder and back, and grip his bicep with the other, feeling him tremble. “I have some idea.”
Ethan is laser focused, like he’s concentrating too hard on not hurting me. “It’s OK,” I whisper to him.
“Is it?” He gives me shallow pumps. “Are you OK?”
“Yes, Ethan, just … Go all the way. I want you all the way in.”
With that consent, Ethan grabs my leg around the thigh and pulls me open further as he presses his hips all the way into mine and hits me deep inside. “Gahhhh …” I gasp at the same time Ethan drops his head and curses.
He gently drapes himself back over me and brings his lips to mine. “Baby, I need to move. I have to grind. Are you OK?”
“Yes.” Our lips move together. “Do it. I need you to move, too.”
Without hesitation, Ethan starts to roll his hips. I can tell he’s trying to take it easy at first, but the more he moves, the more he loses his composure. He widens his knees and pumps his hips, and I slide my hands down his neck and chest, then around his sides and caress his back, reaching around to grab his ass and—yep, just as expected—he has the tightest round globes I’ve ever felt. They flex and dip as he thrusts harder, faster, with more urgency.
Ethan must feel me tightening around him because he reaches down and pulls my legs tight around his waist as he quickens his pace even more, burying his face in my neck as he starts to go rabid, grunting, cursing, and panting as he thrusts with abandon. We are covered in sweat as our bodies noisily slide and slap against one another.
“Oh, God!” Everything starts to throb inside me. “Shit, Ethan …”
“I know, Red,” he spits through clenched teeth. “I’m right here with you. Just let go. I need you to come. Please, baby. You need to come.”
He’s destroying me. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally. With each thrust I know I will never be the same again. Convulsing around him, I lurch up and then back, squeezing my legs around him before trying to pull away, unsure if I want to chase the lightning through my body or run from it.
“ Fuuuuck ,” Ethan moans into my neck as I tremble around him. He continues to go buck wild and suddenly heaves his body over mine and stills, letting out a guttural noise. Giving several more long, slow pumps, this way and that, his cock twitches out the last of his release. His breathing matches mine—choppy, uneven, in need of an oxygen mask—and his body weight presses onto mine.
We lay like that for a few moments before, finally, Ethan shifts his body as he tries to ease his weight off me. “Shit, I must be crushing you.”
I grunt in protest, and he silences me by running his thumb over my bottom lip as his eyes dart between mine. “I have to pull out before my boys swim out of this thing.”
Ethan gently pulls out of me and rids himself of the condom before coming back to bed. I feel it dip as he gets in behind me, then it shakes as he shimmies his way closer. His arm snakes around my middle and his big hand curls around my stomach as he gives a tug and I am pulled backward—flush against him as he tucks me into his body, curling over me and around me. His legs are bent right up behind mine as we spoon, and his face is nuzzled into the back of my neck.
He sighs like he’s never been more content.
I’ve never been more uncomfortable in my entire life.
We are both naked and still sweaty from sex, so our bare skin is sticky. I can feel his semi-limp dick against my butt, and he’s giving off heat like an oven. I roll my shoulders, trying to get more comfortable, and Ethan tightens his hold on my stomach. I arch my back, then relax it, and Ethan sighs, blowing a puff of hot breath against my face.
Unable to take this torture anymore, I huff out my own breath. “Ethan?”
“Mmmm yeah, baby. What’s up?”
“You’re like a goddamn wooly mammoth.” I feel Ethan laugh before I hear it. “Why are you so freaking hot?” I flap my arm to throw his off of me. “You’re emitting heat like the freaking sun.” His laughter picks up. “And when and how did you get so huge?!” I finally pull out of his grip and roll onto my back, throwing the sheet back so it’s doubled up on him and leaving myself exposed.
Ethan also rolls onto his back, and holds his stomach as he continues to laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“It just … figures,” he says around his laughter. “You must be the only chick on the planet who doesn’t want to cuddle after sex.”
“I can cuddle.” I roll in his direction. “I can cuddle with the best of em, just not under these suffocating conditions!”
“OK, OK,” Ethan says as I tuck the blanket around his body and crawl closer to him while he stretches his one arm out toward me. “You come to me, then.”
With the sheet covering his entire body, I curl up against his side, resting my head on his shoulder as his arm comes around and his hand lands on the back of my head. I sling an arm and leg around him, and with the sheet acting as a buffer, we are no longer sticking to each other.
“Better?”
“Much.”
We are both quiet for a minute, but I know Ethan is still awake because I can feel the palm he has on my hair occasionally curl and expand. “Ari?”
“Yeah.”
“Did it feel the way you remembered?”
“What’s that?”
His palm curls and expands again. “My lip. My scar.”
I smile into his chest. “No.” He tenses under me. “It felt better.”
Ethan lets out a breath, and a moment later I hear him again. “Ari?”
“Mmmm?”
“I got an answer tonight to something I’ve always wondered, too.”
My curiosity is piqued. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
He kisses my head. “I learned that the carpet does match the drapes.”
A second passes as I take in what he said, then I reach up and tweak his nipple hard. “You are such an asshole!”
“Ouch!” Chuckling, Ethan kisses my head again and shimmies under me as he settles in, pulling me closer to him. “Goodnight, Red.”
A strange warmth washes over me as I’m reminded of the nights we used to text each other goodnight from our neighboring houses.
“Goodnight, Ethan.”