Chapter Six
“I just don’t understand why it isn’t cold, Scotty!” I say to the old man, cringing at the flat beer in front of me, the one next to it not much better. Sidney isn’t here yet, but I was early and since the beer is warm and flat anyway, I figured I’d order her one ahead of time.
“You do an awful lot of complaining for someone who comes in here four times a week.” He grumbles.
“I’m attached,” I huff back.
“Oh, we all know it,” he clucks his tongue against his teeth, “Where is your better half, anyway?”
Better half. Ain’t that the truth.
I check my watch and frown; she’s ten minutes late.
Now, Sidney isn’t known for being on time.
I often have to tell her to be somewhere an hour early just so she is on time, but she rarely goes without texting me to let me know she’s running behind.
And it makes me nervous when she goes silent on me.
I’m just about to call her when she comes hurrying into the bar, cringing when she spots my frown.
“Sorry,” she picks up her beer and downs half of it in one go without a single wince. One glance at Scotty and I know he’s judging me for complaining so hard about the beer.
“Are you good?” I return my focus back to Sidney and scan the side of her pretty face.
She flicks her eyes to me, sighs, and then puts her beer down, turning to face me fully.
Nerves rattle through me, picking up on her restless energy, and I begin to tug at the collar of my shirt. I came straight from a meeting, so I’m still in my suit minus the jacket and tie.
“Sid, you’re making me nervous.”
“Shit, sorry,” she reaches for my hand and swallows hard. “I was just thinking…”
“About?”
“Your offer.”
Oh.
“We’ve known each other a really long time,” she fidgets, “You’re the only person in this whole world I trust.”
Oh shit.
“And I want to say yes.”
I think my heart stops beating. Someone call an ambulance; I might actually be having a heart attack. I can feel it pumping furiously inside my chest, the vein in my throat throbbing along with it. I rub at my sternum as if that can somehow stop my heart from over-fucking-reacting.
“But I’m terrified of losing you for starters,” she blows out a breath, “And what if we’re not, you know… compatible.”
I can’t help it; a loud burst of laughter erupts from me. “We’re compatible.”
“Ugh,” she throws her head back with a groan, “How are you always so sure about everything!? Aren’t you scared we could fuck this up!?”
“No,” yes. “We won’t fuck this up.” I would never survive if we did.
“What if we do it,” She widens her eyes, dropping her voice as if the bar is crowded and people are listening to every word we’re saying to each other. “And it gets weird between us?”
“Then we'll go to couples therapy.”
“Noah,” she laughs, “I don’t think they have couples therapy for friends.”
“Sure, they do.” I don’t actually know if that’s a thing, but I will make it a thing if I need to. I’m sure I can pay someone to do it.
She shakes her head, “There’s still a possibility that this won’t work.” She points between us.
“Why not try it out?” I suggest cooly, my exterior not at all matching the interior. Inside, I am dying. Crashing out. Spiraling so hard, I’m not sure I’ll make it out of the hole I am digging for myself.
“Try it out?” She quirks a brow, “What do you mean?”
“Why don’t we, you know,” I hint, “with no pressure involved. And if it works, great.”
“Just like that?”
“We’re both adults here, Sid.” I should really win an award for not freaking the fuck out right now.
She gnaws on her lip and glances around the bar before she settles her eyes back on me, “Okay.”
Double fuck.
“Okay.” I squeak and then clear my throat. Get it together, man. Be fucking cool.
“Now?” If she notices my crash out, she doesn’t comment on it.
I hadn’t thought this far ahead, which in hindsight is a real bitch. In my defense, I figured she’d spend a few days thinking about the offer, not come back to me a day later.
“Why not?” I swallow thickly, a sweat breaking out on the nape of my neck.
“Alright,” she gathers her purse and finishes off her beer, “See you later, Scotty!”
“Going already?” He frowns at the two of us. “Noah hasn’t even finished his beer.”
“Gotta go see a man about a bone—wait, no!” Sidney’s face flames red. “A dog. We need to see a man about a dog, not a bone. No one’s boning here.”
“Jesus Christ,” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
Grasping her hand, I pull her out of the bar and toward my Mercedes parked across the street, bundling her into the passenger seat while she still glows red.
“Do you think they know?” Her eyes are wide, lit up by the glowing lights on my dash. “Oh god, they all know we’re about to fuck.”
I choke on my tongue, hands tightening on the steering wheel. “They don’t know.” I grind out.
“Right,” she wrings her hands, “But what if they suspect!? What if they ask!?”
“Sidney, who the fuck is going to ask you?”
She opens her mouth and then closes it again.
“Exactly, now please calm down,” I try to laugh to ease the tension between us, but it comes out strained and tight. “One step at a time.”
“Right,” she nods once, hard. “Got it.”
At my apartment building, I guide her inside, briefly greeting the doorman before we bundle into the elevator and I input the code for the penthouse. Sidney dances foot to foot the entire ride up, her bottom lip going red from all the biting she’s doing to it.
Once inside my apartment, I close and lock the door, taking a steady breath before I turn back to the only woman I have ever loved.
“Breathe, Sidney.”
She nods quickly and matches her breathing to mine, keeping those deep, soulful eyes on me as she steadies herself. “Where do we start?”
“The couch?” I suggest.
“Okay,” She whispers, turning and heading that way stiffly to lower onto the cushions. I fix us a couple of glasses of wine and then join her, folding myself down onto the cushion beside her.
It should not be this fucking awkward.
I allow my eyes to trace her face, taking in the features I have committed to memory. The freckles on her nose, the little scar on her brow, the plump lips and silky hair. I watch her delicate throat swallow; her pulse fluttering wildly.
“Do we just…” She leans forward, and I swear my heart stops, but then she throws herself away, shaking her head. “We’re not compatible!”
“Fuck it.” I growl, my hand grasping the back of her neck to bring her to me. I meet her in the middle, crashing my lips against hers.
For a few seconds, she remains stiff until I part her lips with my tongue, requesting access, and she loosens, opening for me to sweep inside. Her hands slide up the front of my shirt, fingers curling in at the chest to hold me to her as I explore her mouth, fingers threading into her hair.
Kissing Sidney is far more than I ever expected. I’ve dreamed of this moment, of tasting her lips. I’ve fantasized about their softness, how they would feel against mine, and it’s perfect. More than perfect.
She’s perfect.
I shouldn’t be surprised; I’ve always known there is no one in this world better for me than Sidney.
I angle her head to deepen the kiss, feeling her melt beneath me, a tiny little whimper escaping her as she takes what I give and gives just as much back. My cock is already rock hard behind the zipper of my pants, leaking into my boxers at just the mere taste of her.
There’s no way I’ll last.
Dragging my mouth away from her lips, I trail down her jaw, to the fluttering pulse in her throat, scraping my teeth along it.
She moans loudly, tipping her head back to give me access, skin pebbling the further I drag my mouth down.
First to her collarbones, grazing my teeth over the sharp edges of them and then down further, to the V of her sweater.
“This is all on you, Cricket,” I rasp, sliding my hands up the insides of her sweater, her heat burning against my palms as I trace her curves until my fingers bump into the strap of her bra, “You want me to stop, I will stop, okay?”
She nods.
“Give me your words,” I demand. “Say it.”
“Okay,” her voice trembles, lids hooded as she watches me pull on her sweater, bringing it up and over her head so she’s just left in her lacy pink bra.
I lean back to get a good look at her and bring my fist to my mouth, biting down to control my damn self.
So fucking pretty. The swells of her breasts rise and fall with her heavy breathing, her skin creamy and soft.
There’s a little birthmark beneath her right breast, a patch of skin slightly darker than the rest of her, and a mole above her navel.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She breathes, wetting her lips.
My eyes bounce back up to hers. “What do you want me to do?”
“Take off your shirt,” she whispers.
I unclasp a few more buttons and then reach behind me so I can drag the material over my head, throwing it down onto the floor to join her sweater.
“Now what?”
Her lashes flutter, “Kiss me again.”
I don’t need to be asked twice. Crawling over her, I press her down onto the couch, falling into the cradle of her thighs as I find her mouth again, grinding my hips forward.
Her thighs tighten on either side of me, nails scraping over my shoulders as I set a steady rhythm with my hips, pushing the hard length of me over the seam of her pants.
She feels right beneath me, fits against me like the last piece of a puzzle being clicked into place.
“Noah,” she whimpers into my mouth.
“Fuck,” I groan, nipping her bottom lip, grinding harder, faster. Pleasure has every hair on my body standing up, a warning zap shooting down my spine.
“Don’t stop,” she moans, pushing her hips up, riding against me as her lips part.
“Let me see you come,” I practically beg.
Her hands curl around my arms where I support myself, looking down on her. The way she’s rubbing herself against me has my cock jerking. My balls draw up tight, her moans and whimpers like fucking music as she finds her climax against me.
My teeth bite together as my own orgasm rears up, muscles growing tight as my cock jerks inside my boxers, spilling into them while I watch her shatter beneath me.
Not compatible, my ass.
My hips continue to roll, drawing out every last second of her orgasm until she goes limp beneath me.
I bury my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling that sweet, floral scent of hers.
It’s never changed, like the flowers she tends to so lovingly has bled into the very structure of her, the vines and roots a part of her DNA.
Her nails scratch against my scalp as she holds me to her, both of us taking a minute to catch our breath, skin damp.
“What were you saying?” I push back but don’t get off, “About compatibility?”
Her eyes spark, “Well, we can’t really come to a conclusion.”
“How so?” I laugh, “Or did we just experience different things?”
“Well,” she bites her lip, not in nerves, I realize, but something else entirely, “We never actually had sex.”
“Right,” I agree, understanding dawning on me.
“So, we can’t really know how compatible we are.”
“You’re right,” I agree, pushing up to my knees to move my hands to the button of her jeans. “For research, right?”
“Right,” she lifts her hips to allow me to shimmy her pants down her legs, leaving her in just her bra and matching pair of panties. I slide a single finger over the flare of her hip, watching her eyes darken with it. “Research purposes only, of course.”
“Of course,” I shove at my own pants, freeing my already hardening cock. Her eyes drop to it, watching as I smear my come over the tip with my thumb. “Take off your panties, Sidney, and spread your legs for me.”