26. Ari
twenty-six
Ari
When I leave Lucia’s room, she’s passed out on her bed. I pull the blanket over her before grabbing a bottle of water from her mini fridge and setting it beside her on the nightstand so she can hydrate when she wakes up.
I pull my pants and boxers back on, opting to just go shirtless rather than putting on my drenched shirt and tie. I carry them to my room instead, using the staircase to walk up to the fourth floor to avoid running into anyone.
After a quick shower, I flop onto my own bed and practically fall asleep instantly.
Lucia wore me out tonight.
A blow job during the reception.
Fantastic sex in her room after.
And fuck, it still isn’t enough.
I can’t figure out why, but I need more of her. I’m just not going to worry about what that could mean.
The morning comes too quickly, and all of our friends gather to send Harlow and Knox off on their honeymoon, where they’re going to spend a week in sunny Hawaii.
Hope Harlow packs enough sunscreen because I’m pretty sure she’s going to come back as a lobster otherwise.
Lucia and I head back to our place separately and meet up again when we get there.
After I make a quick stop at Urban Grind, that is.
“Thank you,” Lucia says as I hand her the largest peppermint mocha they make. “Why do you keep buying me coffee?”
“Well, I figure you’re exhausted after last night as well,” I smirk, and she rolls her eyes.
“You think too highly of yourself, Casanova.”
I chuckle. “Luc, you were passed out before I even left your room. You can just admit I fucked you better than you’ve ever had.”
She huffs. “You’re so annoying.”
“That’s not a denial.”
“You really need me to stroke your ego, Morgan?”
No, I’d highly prefer you stroke my dick instead.
“Who doesn’t love a good ego boost?” I shrug.
Lucia sighs. “Fine. You wore me out, Ari. Happy?”
I push myself up to sit on the kitchen counter. “Very happy to know the three orgasms I gave you last night were good.”
Lucia pulls herself up on the kitchen island and sits across from me. “So about last night…”
I raise my eyebrow in curiosity. “What about it?”
She takes a breath. “I think we should keep doing it.”
I feel my dick twitch beneath my sweats. It seems to like that idea as much as I do.
“You want to keep having sex with me, Spitfire?”
“Yes,” she admits. “I want to get fucked, and you like to fuck. Let’s just do that together. You can’t deny that we clearly have chemistry in the bedroom.”
“So roommates with benefits then?” I ask.
“Exactly. No feelings, just good sex before we go back to coexisting again after.”
I’ve never done this before, which is obvious when I’ve only done one-night stands.
But the idea of being able to fuck Lucia whenever we want? Fuck, I love the sound of that.
I lick my lips. “Yeah, I’m down.”
Down definitely doesn’t accurately describe my thoughts, though, because if anything, I’m really fucking eager.
“I have one rule,” Lucia states next. “No sleepovers.”
I shrug. “Fine by me. I never stay the night anyway.”
“Perfect. Then I think we’re set.”
Lucia takes a sip of her drink as I slide off the counter and saunter over to her. “So when does this arrangement start?”
“Whenever you want, Ari.” She brings her hands between us, slipping her thumbs under the hem of my shirt and rubbing them over my bare skin. “It could start right now.”
“Now,” I assert. “Right fucking now.”
I scoop her off the counter and start carrying her to the hall.
Lucia laughs hysterically as she holds on to me. “Put me down!”
“I’ll put you down as soon as we get to your bed.”
We just started this, and I can already tell we’re going to have a great fucking time together.
After I pull another three orgasms out of her, Lucia and I both hop into our respective showers, cleaning ourselves up.
Once I finish, I dry myself off, pull on a pair of gray sweatpants, and walk to the living room, plopping down on the plush sofa. I put on an episode of Modern Family and plan to spend the rest of the day relaxing and winding down after an exciting weekend.
Lucia joins me a few minutes later, strutting out in a pair of tight-as-hell black athletic shorts and a black sports bra.
I fight back a groan and will my dick not to get any ideas. “You gonna start walking around in minimal clothing now, Spitfire?”
She smirks at me as she sits down on the opposite end of the sofa. “I could just walk around naked if you prefer.”
Fuck yeah, I prefer.
“Won’t hear any complaints from me,” I chuckle. “Easier access to you.”
She mutters something under her breath in Spanish before she just turns to the TV. We sit in silence for a few minutes before she speaks again. “You know, I was thinking…”
“About?” I ask, eyebrow raised in curiosity.
“About this whole arrangement between us,” she says. “We’ve both said before that we aren’t very ‘vanilla,’ but we seem to be keeping it kinda tame.”
I think I like where this is going.
“You wanna get wild with me, sweetheart?”
Lucia rolls her eyes and breathes a light laugh. “In a sense. None of my past partners ever wanted to get too crazy, so I’ve never gotten to try new things and figure out what I like.”
“I haven’t either,” I admit. “One-night stands don’t really want you to get all kinky on them.”
She rests her head against the back of the sofa and keeps her eyes trained on me. “We could then. If we’re having sex, we might as well have some fun with it.”
“So what are you thinking?”
Lucia mulls it over for a moment. “Let’s make lists. I’ll write down the things I want to try, and you’ll write down what you want to try. We’ll work through them.”
I stand up and stride into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of notebooks and pens from the drawer before coming back to my spot on the sofa.
I hand her one of the notebooks and a pen. “Tell me your fantasies, Torres.”
She grabs the notebook from me while laughing. “As long as you tell me yours, Morgan.”
I smile as I watch her think about what she wants to do before jotting it onto her list, and then I focus on making mine.
As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve had to hold parts of myself back.
I couldn’t be my entire self because I feared judgment once anyone knew.
In all my life, there’s only been one person who knows the real Ari Morgan—Cole. We clicked as soon as we met in Triple-A, and I always knew I could trust him. He knows everything about me, and he doesn’t give a damn about any of it.
But I think I can trust Lucia, too. With some of it, at least.
I won’t open up fully, but I think I can give her more of myself than I give to everyone else.
It’s a big step for me.
We take our time completing our lists, and as soon as Lucia sets her pen down, I get her attention.
“Show me what you got, Luc,” I state, gesturing for her to hand the notebook over.
She bites her lip as she slowly reaches her hand out, and I take the notebook from her. She watches me nervously as I look through what she has, and God, we’re going to have some fun together.
Handcuffs
Choking
Mirror sex
Domination
Spanking
Exhibitionism
Breeding
Double penetration
Fuck, I love her list. She wants me to handcuff her to the bed? Done. She wants to dominate me? Fucking done.
The only one that gives me a slight pause is the breeding kink I never expected from her.
I’ve never considered even wanting kids, and I’m not sure I want to create pretend ones, either.
That’s something we can talk about when we get there.
“So?” Lucia asks, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Gotta say I’m a fan, Luc,” I smile. “We’re gonna have a lot of fucking fun.”
She seems to breathe a sigh of relief. “Can I see yours?”
“Yeah.”
Just like she did with me, I hand my list over nervously, wondering if I should have gotten as honest as I did.
It’s too late now.
I watch as her eyes scan through what I’ve written, and I throw up a silent prayer that this all goes well.
“Some interesting things on here,” she says, looking at me with a heated gaze.
I don’t think she dislikes it at all.
Public sex
Bondage
Exhibitionism
Edge you
Edge me
Submission
Degradation
Pegging
“Figured I should be honest,” I shrug.
“I’m glad you were. I see we have some similarities, and the rest seems fun, if not a little surprising.”
I swallow thickly. “Does it weird you out at all?”
“No,” she answers softly. “Why would any of it weird me out?”
“I feel like some of the things I’m into would be turn-offs for other people.”
“I’m not other people,” Lucia asserts. “We’ll work through both of our lists, Ari. And thank you for trusting me enough to be open about what you want.”
I give her a soft smile in return, but my stomach is doing somersaults.
How deep into that can she read?
What does she know, and what will she figure out?
What will she think after that?
Being open and vulnerable is new to me, but I think I’m safe with Lucia.
I know I can trust her.
And I think she realizes now that she can trust me, too.