Chapter 18 #2
“I can. And you’re going to listen.” I watch her throat work as she swallows. “Because you want to know if I can actually do this. If I can prove those other guys wrong.”
We stare at each other. I can see her working through it—the challenge, the control, the implied promise that I can give her something she’s never had.
“Okay,” she says finally, voice small.
“Okay what?”
“Okay. Teach me.”
“Lesson one starts now.” I sit on the edge of her bed and look up at her. “Shirt off. Then come here.”
She pulls the t-shirt over her head slowly, revealing a simple black bra. Nothing fancy, but the sight of her half-undressed in this hotel room makes my mouth go dry.
“Shorts too.”
She hesitates, then pushes the sleep shorts down. Black underwear, practical, but revealing the long lines of her legs.
She moves to stand between my knees and I run my hands up the outside of her thighs, feeling her shiver.
“Do you trust me?” I ask.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Honest. I like that.” My hands slide higher, thumbs brushing the edge of her underwear. “But you’re here. You let me undress you. So some part of you trusts me.”
“Some part of me is curious.”
“That works too.” I lean forward, press a kiss to her stomach and feel the muscles jump. “Lie down.”
She moves to the bed, lies back on the pillows, and I follow. Settle beside her so I can see her face.
“First lesson,” I say, running my hand down her side. “Stop thinking.”
“That’s not really—”
“Stop thinking,” I repeat. “I’m not asking you to come. I’m not trying to get you off. Right now, I’m just learning you.” My hand slides across her stomach, following the curve of her waist down to her hip. “So stop performing. Stop analyzing. Just feel.”
I watch her face as I touch her—the flutter of her eyelashes, the part of her lips, the way her breathing changes when my hand slides up her ribs.
I’m learning her reactions, cataloging what makes her breath catch versus what makes her relax.
When I cup her breast through the bra, she arches slightly. Responsive. Good.
“Can I take this off?” I ask, fingers on the bra clasp.
“Yes.”
I unhook it with one hand, slide it off, and take a moment to just look.
“You’re staring,” she says.
“You’re worth staring at.”
I lean down, take her nipple in my mouth, and feel her whole body tighten.
I work her slowly—mouth on her breasts, hand sliding down her stomach, learning the geography of her body.
When I slip my hand inside her underwear, she gasps.
“Okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. Yes. Okay.”
She’s wet. I find her clit and circle it gently. Her hips jerk.
“That work?” I ask.
“Yes—god, yes—”
I maintain the pressure, the rhythm, watching her face. She’s close already—I can see it in how her thighs tense, how her breathing gets shallow.
“Holy shit,” she breathes.
“I know.” I feel her get wetter. “Let it build. Don’t think. Just feel it.”
She’s right there. Right on the edge. Her nails dig into my forearm, her back arches, her whole body is trembling—
I stop.
Pull my hand away completely.
“What—” She opens her eyes, trying to focus. “Why did you—”
“Lesson one.” I sit up, putting physical distance between us. “You need to learn the feeling without the release. Your body needs to remember what it’s like to be right there.”
“But I was—I could have—”
“I know.” I stand. “That’s the point.”
She sits up, still looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You’re just going to stop?”
“I told you I was going to.” I head for the door. “Go to bed, Marnie. Don’t touch yourself.”
I turn back. She’s sitting up now, flushed and frustrated and so beautiful it actually hurts. “This is bullshit.”
“This is lesson one,” I say. “Learning to sit with the want. To feel it without chasing it.” I open the door. “Tomorrow we’ll do it again. And the day after. However many times it takes until your body learns to trust mine.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“It will.” I meet her eyes. “You know why? Because I pay attention. Those other guys? They didn’t.
But I’m going to learn every single thing that makes you gasp.
Every spot that makes you shake. Every sound you make when you’re close.
” I lean against the doorframe. “And then I’m going to use all of it to teach you exactly how good it can be when someone actually gives a shit. ”
I leave before she can respond, closing the door softly behind me.
Back in my room, I’m so hard it’s painful. I take the coldest shower of my life and it barely helps.
But lying in bed afterward, thinking about how she looked right on the edge, how her body responded even though her mind tried to fight it—I know I made the right call.
She needs to learn to trust this. To trust her own body. To trust me.
And I’m going to teach her how.
Three more days on this road trip. Three more days of lessons.
By the time we get back to Seattle, she’s going to be desperate.
And I’m going to make her come so hard she forgets every guy who came before me.
My phone buzzes.
Marnie
I hate you.
No you don’t.
Marnie
You’re evil.
You like it.
Marnie
...Maybe.
I’m grinning as I set my phone down.
Three more days.
I can do this.
Maybe.