16. Morning After
Morning After
Q
The sound of a door closing woke Q. It took him a moment to realize the door was out in the hall because he was in an apartment building and not at home.
Not just any apartment building—Sam’s apartment building.
After she’d uncuffed him, he’d taken care of the condom before getting back into bed to cuddle with her.
He’d meant it to be just that, some cuddling before he left, but at some point, when they’d been murmuring to each other, he’d fallen asleep instead.
Now, he was wrapped around a soft, warm woman with one hand on her breast and his cock nestled against her ass, and he was hard as a rock. This was a hell of a lot better than waking up at home alone.
Pressing a kiss to the back of Sam’s neck, he squeezed her breast again, and she murmured sleepily and incoherently. Chuckling, Q gently rubbed his fingers over her hard nipple, and she moaned, pushing her ass back against him and making his cock throb.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” he whispered, dropping more kisses along her shoulder as he fondled her breast. She sucked in a deep breath, her ass rubbing against the length of his cock as she squirmed.
“Well, good morning to you too… ouch.” He’d plucked her nipple, gently but apparently, they were still sore from the clamp’s last night.
Chuckling, Q shifted so he could roll her onto her back, then went up on his knees between her legs.
Sam blinked sleepily up at him. Her blonde hair was spread out across the pillow, and mascara circled under her eyes.
He loved getting to see her like this. There was an intimacy to seeing a woman first thing in the morning, makeup remnants on her face, hair unbrushed…
She was showing him a part of her not everyone got to see. A vulnerable part, at that.
“What are you doing?” she asked, the corners of her lips tipping up with amusement as he spread her knees apart.
“Getting breakfast.”
Q lowered his mouth to her pussy, enjoying her gasp of surprise and pleasure.
This morning, he was feeling decidedly Dominant, and she must have been feeling pretty submissive because she didn’t challenge him as he feasted on her, licking her to her first orgasm, then pinning her wrists beside her head with his hands, holding her in place while he fucked her to her second climax.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t spend the day together. He had things to do around the house, and she had errands to run, but it was one hell of a morning after.
She walked him out to his car, and he claimed one last kiss and a promise they would have another date later in the week. Sure, they had class tomorrow, but he didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
Being home alone all day was enough to make him feel antsy.
He’d gotten used to living with other people and had been okay when they’d moved out, but now, he wished he was spending time with Sam instead of knocking about on his own.
There were also questions bubbling up they hadn’t talked about last night, probably because it was too soon.
Were they dating? They’d gone on a date. Was she seeing anyone else? He hadn’t asked. He wasn’t. He didn’t plan to. Fuck, he hoped she didn’t either, but he needed to talk to her about it before he made assumptions or demands.
Were they even at a point where they could talk exclusivity?
He was getting so up in his head, it was almost a relief when Angel called.
“So, how did it go?” she asked the second he picked up. Q had to laugh and shake his head, which made some of the tension hounding him melt away.
“You don’t even want to try to pretend you’re not nosy?” he teased, putting the phone on speaker, so he could keep chopping vegetables for his dinner while he talked to her.
“I have an almost one year old. I don’t have time for small talk or pretense anymore, so just jump straight to the good stuff.”
Q chuckled.
“A gentleman never kisses and tells.”
“Oh, wow, so you fucked already!”
“Angel!”
“I’m just saying. If nothing happened, you’d tell me.”
That was a hard point to argue. He made a mental note for later consideration. Unless he wanted Angel all up in his business, he would need to find better ways to misdirect or redirect her.
On the other hand, he also wanted to use her.
“How early is too early to ask for an exclusive relationship?” Since they were getting straight to the point, Q went all in, and only got silence in return. “Angel?”
“Do you think it’s too soon?” she asked.
He hated it when she did that.
“I think I don’t want her to think it’s too soon.” That sounded really weak when he said it out loud.
“But you want to be exclusive with her.” It was more of a statement than a question.
He could practically hear her brain working as she processed out loud.
“You two have been dancing around each other for weeks, but last night was your first date, so I can see why you’d be worried it’s too soon.
On the other hand, there’s no such thing as ‘too soon,’ only what you are both comfortable with, and you can’t know that without talking to her. ”
Which was what he’d known she was going to say, yet he’d wanted to hear it out loud, anyway.
“Boo talking,” he replied, making her laugh in turn. “I don’t like talking and feelings. Can’t we just magically turn her into my girlfriend?”
“Aw, Q is going to have a girlfriend. That’s so cute.”
He wrinkled his nose. Somehow, having a girlfriend sounded very high school, but there wasn’t really a better word for it. Though considering the ‘girl’ in question was Sam, maybe it fit better than he wanted it to.
“She liked the trivia night. We won.”
“Of course, you did. I’m glad she liked it.
” There was a smile in Angel’s voice even if he couldn’t see it.
“I bet you two made a spectacular team. Remind me never to play against you. Alright, I have to go. I had five minutes free, and I’ve used them all up.
You’re still coming to Friendsgiving next weekend, right?
Invite Sam. She’s more than welcome to join us. ”
“I will, but I’m not going to push her to come if she’s uncomfortable. She’s not even officially my girlfriend yet,” he warned her. “Friendsgiving would be a lot.”
“What, you don’t want to throw your new girlfriend in the middle of the loudest, most invasive group of people you know?” Angel laughed. “Don’t worry, I know we’re a lot. As long as you come!”
“I’ll be there, and I’ll definitely invite her.”
“Awesome. Talk to you later, hun. Bye!”
“Bye, Angel.” Shaking his head in bemusement, Q hung up the phone and got back to making dinner.
He loved Angel and enjoyed hanging out with her friends, but they were her best friends, whereas they were his friends. Asad, Law, and Connor had become his closest friends in the past few months.
As if the thought of them had summoned the text, his phone buzzed, and he glanced over.
Connor was checking in to see how last night with Sam had gone, and his phone buzzed again twice more as Asad and Law also made their interest known.
Grinning, Q sent off a quick text to let them know it had gone well…
then wondered if Sam was doing the same with her friends.
Sam
Running errands while having a text conversation with her friends made everything take twice as long, but she didn’t care.
She was grinning from ear to ear while she walked around the grocery store, aware of the way her sore nipples pressed against her padded bra, and the delightful ache between her legs.
She’d freaked out a little when she’d gotten a look at herself in the mirror before she and Q had taken a shower together, but he hadn’t seemed to mind her snarled hair and makeup still clinging to her face.
Today she looked much more like herself—hair up in a ponytail with no makeup, and he hadn’t looked at her any differently when she’d walked him out to his car as he had last night when she’d been all dolled up.
Okay, well, he’d admired the effort she’d put forth yesterday, but he didn’t act like how she looked this morning was a disappointment or a turnoff. Going by the early morning sexy times, it might even have been a turn-on.
Her phone buzzed again, and she realized she was standing and staring at a bunch of zucchinis in the produce aisle. Talk about a Freudian slip.
Noelle: We’re getting together before class tomorrow to talk, right?
Sam: Yeah! Looking forward to it.
Morgan: Yay!
She couldn’t blame them for wanting the in-person update. Although she’d told them that the date had gone really well and Q had unexpectedly spent the night, which was why she hadn’t texted until today, she hadn’t felt comfortable putting more detail than that in text messages.
To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure how much detail she’d be comfortable sharing in person, but she knew it would be a little more than she was willing to do by text.
Finishing her errands, she went home… and the whole space felt bigger and lonelier without Q. She liked her ‘me’ time, but she would have liked more time with him.
Don’t be clingy.
With that thought in her head, she got her dinner ready and didn’t allow herself to text him.
That would be too soon, right? Ugh. She hadn’t dated in far too long and was pretty sure some of what was in her head were arbitrary rules made up by movies.
At the same time, she didn’t want him to think she was pushing him or anything like that.
They’d had a really nice night together, and he wanted to see her again. She should be happy with that. She also was afraid to rock the boat. Relationships weren’t something she was good at, whether it was friendship or dating.
It already felt different with Q. Easier. Which was ironic, considering how they’d started out, but it was true.
She didn’t want to rock the boat.
So, when she was sitting down to binge watch HGTV and dream about the kind of house she’d like to have one day, she was pleasantly shocked when her phone started to ring.
She knew it was Q because his was the only ringtone she hadn’t changed after he’d sabotaged her phone by making all her ringtones music from Lord of the Rings.
She’d had pretty mixed feelings when he’d done it.
She loved the music, but she’d hated the reminder of kids calling her Samwise in high school. Even then, she’d known Q hadn’t meant it in a derogatory way the way some of the others did. They called her the fat hobbit.
But Samwise Gamgee was Q’s favorite character.
Part of her had wanted to kick him for bringing up those memories, but she’d already retaliated for the ringtone thing. Angel and Lexie had helped her Post-it note his car. They’d covered it completely.
So, really, it was a wash.
She picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
Until he responded, there was a part of her that thought it was probably a butt dial and not a legitimate call.
“Hey, Sam. I hope I’m not interrupting dinner or anything.”
“Nope, but you are interrupting Married to Real Estate, so make it quick,” she teased. She’d already told him about her home improvement show addiction, though she hadn’t told him why she was so obsessed with the shows.
“Oh, I see where I stand now.” He laughed so she knew he wasn’t insulted. “I just wanted to call and see how the rest of your day went.”
A rush of pleasure surged through her. She’d figured he was calling for a specific reason, not just to talk.
“Good. Ran my errands. Raspberries were on sale at the grocery store.”
Q laughed.
“It’s amazing the things we find exciting as adults, huh?”
“Like naps and spankings?” she quipped, making him laugh again. Snuggling deeper into her love seat, she wished he was there with her but was happy he’d called. Happy that he seemed just as interested in her as she was in him.
“Hey, so I was talking to Angel today, and she reminded me that she’s having Friendsgiving next weekend, and she told me to invite you.”
“She did?” Surprise made Sam reply with complete honesty, which was shock that Angel would invite her. Not that Angel was unfriendly or anything—she was very friendly—but she also had her own group of friends already.
They were, like, friendly acquaintances. Not the kind of friendship that would warrant an invitation to a holiday event.
Then Sam realized that the invitation wasn’t really to her. It was to Q’s…
What?
Girlfriend?
That was the kind of thing that was offered to significant others, right?
Was it too soon?
“She did,” Q confirmed, his voice splintering her thoughts and the insecurities that were bubbling up and threatening to take over. “Angel likes you a lot, you know, and she’s thrilled that we’re… dating.”
There was a slight hesitation before he said ‘dating,’ like he wasn’t exactly sure what to call what they were doing, which made her feel a little better.
They hadn’t talked about their relationship in any firm terms, but if Angel was inviting her to Friendsgiving and Q wasn’t taking anyone else, that seemed like a good sign for her hopeful little heart.
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I told her it might be too soon.” His words were a little rushed, and Sam realized he was nervous, which made her feel better about being anxious. “Plus, it’s next Saturday evening, and you might already have plans.”
She didn’t.
“I can come.” She didn’t want to let him down. Plus, this was what she wanted—a real relationship with someone who was kinky. Someone who got her.
Yeah, it was a little mind boggling that person was Q, her high school nemesis and crush, but the universe worked in mysterious ways. Maybe she was due some good karma.
“Great!” The joy and relief in his voice made her relax even more. He was glad she was going. It hadn’t been a pity invite.
She had new friends, a new guy she was dating who was acting like he wanted to get serious, and she’d had the best sex of her life… twice in twenty-four hours. Things were looking up.
Now, if only she could win the lottery. With the way her luck was running, maybe she should buy a ticket.