Chapter 14 Close To Me #2
“What are you waiting for? I want to feel you inside me.”
I swallowed. “Okay, but will you tell me if it’s not—”
“Use your instincts, and remember confidence is sexy. Here, like this.” She reached for my hand and pressed it between her legs, guiding two of my fingers with her own until they dipped inside her.
“That’s it. God, yeah…” She groaned, arching into me and throwing her head back.
I continued to move slowly inside her as she rocked onto my hand.
It was insanely erotic to see her like that, and I was captivated watching her yield to the pleasure I was giving her.
Her eyes were on me again, dark with desire, and something almost feral flickering in them.
“I want you to fuck me like you’ve been starved and I’m your final meal.”
“Sorry, wha—”
“Harder and faster. Show me how much you’ve wanted to do this to me.”
I closed my eyes and did as she asked. I concentrated on rhythm and speed until my forearm ached and my skin was slick with sweat.
I kept going until she tightened around my fingers and her moans reached a crescendo.
She collapsed onto me, breathless and hot.
And for a moment, I lay smiling at the ceiling and glowing with pride.
“Stop looking so pleased with yourself; there’s definitely room for improvement.” Her criticism was laced with gentle teasing, but I rolled into her and buried my face in her hair.
“I’m willing to try again. And again. And as many times as it takes to perfect doing that to you.”
“Good, because I’m not done with you yet.” She smothered my mouth with her hungry lips and trailed her fingers over my bare skin, stirring my arousal again. I wanted to feel her everywhere; every inch of me ached to be claimed and consumed by her.
“I want you to eat me now.” She whispered her desire into my ear and chased it with her tongue; the combination set me alight and rendered me wordlessly compliant, sliding down between her legs, removing her saturated underwear and diving into her like I knew what I was doing.
And by the unholy sounds she made, I’d been a quick study.
Rather than re-dress, I pulled on my very unsexy pyjamas. Francesca wore one of my long baggy T-shirts over a pair of my cotton underwear with white tube socks pulled up her calves. I’d never seen anything sexier.
Neither of us had eaten much of Jane’s party buffet, so we were famished. My stomach somersaulted as we worked alongside each other in the small kitchen. As the tea brewed, I buttered, and she jammed. Tea and toast felt fitting, given that was where it had all started.
“Catherine?” she said, her voice low and serious.
I turned, and after a beat, her face split into a grin, and she smeared a blob of strawberry jam on my nose. As I opened my mouth to protest, she leaned in and licked it off.
“It’s no wild hedgerow, but it tastes good on you.” She trailed the tip of her tongue down to my mouth.
Christ, she was going the right way about getting fucked again right here in the kitchen. And as if reading my thoughts, she levered herself up onto the counter and gripped me between her legs. Her fingers raked through my hair as she kissed me, all tongue and sex and jam.
Dad’s key turned in the lock, and we sprang apart. Francesca hopped down from the counter.
“Alright, girls?” he said, ruddy-faced and glassy-eyed.
“Good thanks, Dad.” I tried to steady my voice despite my racing heart. “Did you have a fun evening?”
“As good as can be. Why did you dash off?”
“I got my monthlies.” Guilt pinched me at how easily the lie came.
“Better now?” he asked.
“Much.” I smiled, my eyes flicking to Francesca.
“Do you mind if I stay over, Mr T.? I’d like to keep Catherine company if that’s okay.”
My chest fluttered as Dad shrugged. “It’s no bother to me. Thanks for taking care of her earlier. I see she was in good hands.”
Good hands alright. My cheeks flamed at the thought.
“Anytime.” She gave him a sweet smile while at the same time squeezing my waist below his line of sight.
“Well, goodnight, girls.” Dad nodded and ducked off to his bedroom, thankfully at the opposite end of the cottage with no adjoining walls. Not that Francesca and I hadn’t already worn each other out.
I stacked some fresh logs on the fire, and we settled under a blanket with our limbs entwined. The fire crackled as it took hold, and Francesca sat staring into the orange glow.
“Do you think Jeremy will be wondering where you are?”
I didn’t want to ask her that, but at the same time I was curious about whether she was thinking about him.
“I think he can figure that much out for himself.”
Her nonchalance made me relax, and my fingers traced lazy lines around her ankles until she leaned back into the cushions and closed her eyes. Soft shadows danced across her face in the firelight, and I’d never felt happier than in that moment.
I woke to Francesca peeling back the duvet and climbing out of bed. I nestled into the warm space she’d left behind, watching as she stripped off my T-shirt and dressed in the thin light.
“Where are you going?” I said through a stretchy yawn.
“Oh, you’re awake!” She spun around. “I need to get back; Jeremy has a trip planned for today.”
The casual way she mentioned his name jolted me. I propped myself on my elbows, squinting without my glasses. “What, just the two of you?”
“I’d have thought so, yes.” Francesca pulled off the cotton knickers I’d given her last night and glanced around as if she were trying to figure out where to put them. I reached my arm out from under the duvet, and she dropped them into my open hand.
“Don’t you think that’s going to give him the wrong idea?”
She tilted her head. “What idea?”
“That he has a chance with you.”
“That’s the wrong idea, is it?”
A heavy weight dropped in my gut. “But we… you and I. We…”
Her lips stretched into a disapproving grimace. “You’re not going to get all jealous and make me feel guilty, are you?”
“I don’t understand.” I flopped back and covered my face with my hands to hide my threatening tears.
Francesca moved over to the bedside and pulled at my wrists, but my hands remained clamped firmly over my eyes, where those tears were making good on their threat.
Francesca’s weight shifted onto the bed as she hitched up her dress and straddled me. With more force and greater leverage, she tugged at my forearms until I released. She stared down at me in bemusement, as if she were having to patiently deal with a massive overreaction.
“You do understand, Catherine.” She cupped a hand around my cheek.
“You and I have something precious and rare. But if we’re to keep on doing this, sharing this special thing, it needs to remain just between us.
” She spoke in a slow, syrupy voice, pouring out words that should have sounded sweet to me — precious, rare, special — but they didn’t.
I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached.
“So, what you’re saying is, you want to keep us a secret. And you’re going to date Jeremy too?”
Francesca rolled her eyes. “Let’s not do this. Let’s not ruin what was a magical night.” She bent down to kiss me, and despite my better judgement, I let her. If I kissed her for long enough, if I could make her feel what I was feeling through this kiss, then she might not pop this perfect bubble.
When she pulled away, I tried to hold on to her even though it felt desperate and needy. She peeled back my fingers and climbed off me before tucking me in under the duvet.
“Why don’t you get some rest? It was a big night.”
“I don’t want to share you with Jeremy,” I blurted.
The muscle in Francesca’s jaw twitched, and I knew I was pushing too hard.
She sharply inhaled. “Now you’re making me feel bad. Come on, I don’t want to think of you like this.” She curled her lip as if repulsed by a bitter aftertaste.
I nodded, scared to say anything else because I didn’t trust my brain to come up with the right combination of words, and even if it did, my voice would only say them all wrong. I wanted to rewind the tape of this morning, because now that it had unravelled, I wasn’t sure I could fix it.
Her features softened, and she bent and kissed my forehead. “Stop worrying. I’ll see you later, maybe?”
Then she was gone, leaving me alone in bed to sort through my tangled thoughts, like an impossible pile of laundry, separating light from dark.