Ben
“FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
Aida’s shout rings out into the night, quickly followed by a yelp as the fuse of the rocket suddenly catches, sparks flying as it burns quickly. With a laugh, I lean forward, wrapping my arm around her waist and yanking her back against me, my other arm wrapping around her shoulders as I hold her close, her back resting against my chest.
“You seem to be enjoying this,” I tease, my mouth at her ear. “Wouldn’t have picked you for being a little pyro.”
She turns, looking up at me with a smile on her face. “Considering the truckload of fireworks you insisted we bring this year, I’d say that is entirely your fault, Benji.”
Grinning, I close the distance, kissing her softly. “You love it.”
Aida’s hand curls around my neck, holding me close, the two of us forgetting all about the fireworks and the party, even as the yard is filled with people chatting and laughing as they watch the sky explode with color. “I love you,” she whispers.
My arms tighten around her. “Love you too, babe,” I reply. “This is definitely the best party ever.”
She smirks, wriggling her ass against my dick as she says, “Of course it is, you had me helping you this year.”
I let out a loud laugh, my head falling back. Even after a year of dating, we are still super competitive with each other, something I’m not sure we’re ever going to let go of. I hope we don’t, because honestly, I love it and I’m pretty sure Aida does too. It’s basically foreplay for us and it’s definitely led to some really hot sex over the past twelve months.
“Hmmm,” I say, nuzzling against her neck. “Pretty sure I had you last year too,” I whisper. “And now I’m thinking we should recreate the other things that happened that day,” I add, my mind flashing back to how Aida and I left my party to go fuck our brains out next door at the Henderson’s place. It was the first time we were together and even though it was unbelievable, every day since then has only gotten better.
Aida laughs. “Well, considering the Hendersons are home this year and your mom and dad are currently over there, that might be kinda awkward, don’t you think?”
Chuckling, I pinch her side. “Cheeky,” I murmur.
She turns in my arms, looping hers around my neck as she pushes up on her toes, brushing her lips against mine. “But…we could always sneak upstairs to our room,” she whispers. “Feel like trying for another hat trick?”
I smile against her mouth. “You know I’m always up for that,” I whisper, just as we are engulfed in a hug.
“Come on lovebirds, you’re missing the show!”
We pull back to find Jason standing beside us, a huge smile on his face. His fiancée, Annie is with him this year, the two of them enjoying the holiday before their wedding next month.
It’s been great having them both here, just like it’s been great hanging out with them back in New York too. Annie and Aida have become good friends, the four of us regularly doing stuff together.
“Come on, once you’ve seen one firework, you’ve seen them all,” I say, my arm now slung across Aida’s shoulders.
Jason’s jaw drops as his gaze moves from me to Aida and then back to me again. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
I laugh, pulling Aida close and pressing a kiss to her temple. “Like you can talk, mister soon-to-be-married.”
Jason grins, pulling Annie into his arms. “Don’t knock it till you try it,” he says, giving me a wink.
Beside him, Annie giggles, throwing a knowing look in Aida’s direction. I’m not entirely sure what it’s about, because it’s not like I’ve said anything to either of them.
I mean, I don’t think it’s something Aida is expecting right now. But proposing, getting married, spending the rest of my life with her is something I have been thinking about more and more.
Being with Aida has been amazing. I mean she didn’t just give me the best summer ever last year; she’s given me the best year too. And it’s even better now that she has officially moved in with me.
I was all for it happening as soon as we got back to New York, but Aida had already leased an apartment and she wanted to make sure I was sure about us, especially given she was going back to school. I know she worried about how much time she spent studying and that I would get annoyed at how little time we got to spend together, but she didn’t need to worry about it.
I never had a fucking doubt about us and even though it meant we spent the past year splitting our time between our apartments, sometimes only to crawl into bed so we could spend the night sleeping together, I didn’t care. I just wanted to be with her. Always.
“Think it might even be Troy next,” I say, tipping my head to where Troy stands by the pool, his arms wrapped around some blonde who he met last summer and unbeknownst to us, kept in contact with.
“Or you,” Jason teases, giving me and Aida a grin.
I glance down at my girl, who is smiling and doesn’t look the least bit worried about the direction this conversation is going. “Maybe,” I murmur, just as someone sets off another rocket, distracting Annie and Jason. “So, about that whole sneaking upstairs thing,” I whisper, my mouth by Aida’s ear.
Her smile widens and when she turns to me, our faces close, I can’t resist closing the distance and kissing her, my tongue tracing her bottom lip, loving the groan she lets out.
“Also, I got another book.”
Aida pulls back, hitting me with a smirk as her eyes widen with excitement. “Oh?”
Grinning, I slide my hand down to her ass, squeezing it gently as I say, “Uh huh. Came just before we left New York, so I thought we could give it a try.”
She laughs now, shaking her head a little as she says, “Of course you did. So, what’s it about? Are we still in our football era?”
Now it’s me laughing, shaking my head at both her question and the ridiculousness of this whole romance book thing. I mean don’t get me wrong, reading them with Aida has definitely added a new element to our sex life, one we both enjoy an awful lot.
It’s just the constant suggestions and then follow up questions from my grandma that are a bit much. I don’t even know how she found out we were still reading them. Neither Aida nor I told her, and I think it was probably when she came to New York for a visit and somehow saw one lying around in my apartment.
Needless to say though, Grandma has been providing us with a regular reading list thanks to her Pitchers and Porn book club and of course subsequent questions for discussion. She’s even invited us to zoom in to one of their meetings, and while we definitely make use of the reading list, we’ve been ignoring the questions and standing invitation.
“No?” Aida prompts, when I don’t elaborate.
“No,” I repeat. “We are officially leaving our football era.”
“Okay,” she says, drawing out the word. “So where are we heading next? Shifter territory?”
“Fuck no,” I say with a laugh. “I’m not doing that again!”
Aida lets out a laugh, the two of us only managing to read one of those types of books before we had to let it go because there was no way in hell we were recreating those scenes.
“Vampires?” she now asks, lifting a brow.
I growl, leaning in to bite her neck. “No, although we should definitely consider that in the future,” I whisper.
She smiles at that, her arms sliding around my waist. “Okay, I give up, tell me.”
I circle my arms around her shoulders, pulling her close as I lean down so my forehead is resting against hers. She looks up at me, an easy smile on her face. “How do you feel about calling me daddy?” I ask.
“What?” she asks as she bursts out laughing.
“Daddy,” I repeat with a smirk.
“Oh my fucking god,” Aida moans, still laughing. “I legit don’t think I can call you daddy, Ben. Seriously!”
“Oh, come on, babe, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” I tease, my hand snaking down to her ass again and giving it a gentle smack. “You might like it.”
“You really want me to call you daddy?” she asks, still smiling.
I know that if I said yes, she’d totally be up for it, because the longer she and I have been together and exploring this whole romance novel sex thing, the more we’ve both realized that there isn’t anything we won’t try together. The level of trust we share is amazing, and sometimes I still can’t believe that the uptight girl next door who called the cops on me is now the love of my life.
“Nah,” I eventually say with a laugh. “I actually think it’s kinda weird.”
“You think,” she deadpans.
“Oh yeah. I mean I told Grandma that was a hard no for both of us, but she insisted on sending us this book.”
“Oh my god, Ben!” Aida cries. “That explains why Miriam was sending me all those ‘Who’s your Daddy’memes, she was trying to convince me!”
I burst out laughing, remembering all the texts Aida showed me. My grandma has always been someone who overshares and that combined with her love for Aida, means she is constantly sending her tips and suggestions in addition to her romance recommendations.
“Guess so,” I say, dropping a quick kiss on her lips.
“Okay, so if we aren’t doing the daddy thing, what are we doing?” she now asks.
My smile widens, my arms tightening around her as I lean down so my mouth is against her ear and whisper, “Well, I had to get some props,” I say, nuzzling her neck, loving the way Aida shudders against me.
“Props?” she whispers.
I kiss her neck, dragging my lips up to her ear. “Yeah, props,” I tell her. “Because we’re about to enter our cowboy era, babe.”