Chapter 27
Graham
We fell asleep and I woke an hour later to Lior’s hand on my chest and my body and brain battling it out.
I’d just had incredible sex with a beautiful woman I actually liked. She was funny, kind, sexy as hell… Every inch of her body intertwined with mine felt more right than any other had. Ever.
What had we done?
“Are you freaking out right now?” Her voice was sleepy.
“Not even a little bit.”
“Liar.” She chuckled.
“It’s only a modicum of freaking out. Not a full-fledged meltdown.”
“Is it okay if I have a full-fledged meltdown?” she asked and I looked over to see tears peeking from beneath her lashes.
“Lior?”
“Did we ruin our friendship?” she asked, her voice small, her eyes still closed.
I sighed, relief and something else filling my body.
I was glad she was worried about the bond we seemed to be forming too.
But was that also disappointment I felt?
Was I upset that she hadn’t said she wished we could be more?
Surely we’d crossed a friendship boundary somewhere in between her taking me in her mouth and me burying myself between her legs.
“Actually,” I said. “This is how the ancients, way back in olden times, sealed their friendships. I’ve seen videos of the drawings they did on walls of caves.”
She pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. But it didn’t hold.
“You’re dumb,” she said, hauling herself up so that she was sitting and taking the sheet with her.
I sat beside her and took her hand.
“I think our new friendship is still intact,” I said, unable to meet her eyes. “We just went a little off-track. We veered off-course.”
“Just a little bit.”
“Minor veer. More of a smidge.” She laid her head on my shoulder, her dark hair trailing down my arm, and I tried to stay focused. “I think as long as we’re both okay with it—”
“We can veer off course again?” she asked and I laughed. But just the thought of being inside her again made me hard and she noticed before I was able to sufficiently cover it up.
But this was not to be. While Lior was definitely not a Nadia, she had her own brand of drama swirling around her. And I just couldn’t put myself through that. Not for anyone. It was too hard. Too invasive. Too much.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I said, my dick swearing silently at me. “As badly as I want to... As good as it was— ”
“It was really good,” she said and I smiled.
“You lead a kind of lifestyle too much like one I was part of not that long ago. A lifestyle that brought me a lot of pain and trust issues and anger.”
“And I,” she said. “I can’t see red flags when they’re being waved inches from my face. You seem lovely. Witty and sexy and—” She lifted her head and rested it on the headboard. “But I don’t trust myself to make good decisions. And so here we are.”
“Here we are.”
We were quiet as we sat staring at the rumpled bedding, the depressing thought that not being together was actually the healthy decision hanging between us.
Despite all the signs that we could be really good together.
But if there were ever two people who should not read into signs – it was the two naked people sitting on Lior’s bed.
“So, what now?” she asked.
“I suppose I should put my pants back on and get back home to Bronte,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “Do you still want to meet us for a walk tomorrow?”
“Yes, please.”
I slid from the bed and started to walk to the bathroom where I’d left my clothes nearly two hours ago. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, I turned to look back at Lior who was watching me with something so intense in her eyes I immediately got hard again.
“Graham,” she said, her a whisper.
My name in her mouth was all it took. She let the sheet drop from her breasts and I reached down and yanked it away from her entirely, exposing the length of her body.
A guttural sound I’d never heard before rumbled in my throat as she bent her legs, pulling them up, and then spread them for me.
Friendship could wait another few minutes.
“So,” I said, when we were once again finished and a tangled mess of sweaty limbs. I kissed her bare shoulder and gave her a grin. “Tomorrow morning then? Same corner?”
“You got it, pal.”
“Can’t wait, buddy.”
I threw my sweaty clothes on and then she donned a robe and walked me to the front door, careful to stay out of view from anyone that might be walking by on the sidewalk.
When I awkwardly turned to say goodbye, her hands were covering her face.
“Don’t make it weird,” she said, her voice muffled through her fingers and I laughed but felt relieved. We really were on the same page.
“Have a good night, Lior.”
Her hands slid from her face and I felt my heart give a tug. Dammit.
“You too, Graham. Give B a hug from me.”
I hurried down the front steps and turned to wave.
She waved back and then shut the door. With a long sigh I walked back home to my white-on-white home and my sweet old dog, wondering what the hell we’d just gotten ourselves into.
Because despite what we’d both said, there had been some pretty clear fireworks between us, and I knew, at least for me, it was going to take a lot to forget them.
We met the next day, as agreed. And, after some initial awkwardness, returned to our usual banter as we took a slow, ambling walk followed by a quick coffee at Joe’s, before Lior had to hurry off to get to a job.
But not before crouching down on the pavement beside Bronte and having a private conversation with her.
I watched my old girl’s tail give the sidewalk two resolute thwacks, and then Lior gave her a last kiss on the head, waved goodbye to me and Joe, and walked away.
“I like that one,” Joe said and I eyed him with surprise.
He’d never said that about Nadia. Not even in the beginning when she’d been on her best behavior, tolerating my love for the cozy little coffee shop before slowly removing herself from our mornings here in favor of a slicker cafe a couple blocks over.
“Yeah,” I said, not offering up anything more. But I could feel the old man’s eyes watching me.
“A woman who gets down on your dog’s level is a woman you want to keep around.”
“Don’t think I don’t know it, Joe.”
“What’s the hesitation then?”
“I think I need therapy.”
“Don’t we all.”
“I have a habit of picking a certain kind of woman. I’m worried Lior—”
“She isn’t that type.”
I laughed. “You just think she’s cute.”
“Cute,” he said, waving his hand. “Cute is not a word one uses for women like her.”
I sighed and nodded.
“I know, Joe,” I said. “I know that all too well.”
A group of five entered the cafe and Joe pushed up from his seat.
“Best get back inside. See you tomorrow?”
“That you will.”
Alone again with Bronte, my mind returned to Lior.
To her body pressed to mine. To the sound of her breath when we’d grown still, our voices and bodies quieted.
There was something about her that made me want to take a sledge hammer to my concerns – both my penchant for manipulative women and her lifestyle in the limelight.
I knew she had demons to contend with too though.
And so friends we would be, as long as we didn’t keep veering.
“Timing,” I said to Bronte. “It’s a bitch.”