36. Octavia
OCTAVIA
Octavia was halfway through her tenth episode of Dawson’s Creek that day when her phone lit up with Nathan’s morning face. She’d taken it one morning at the cottage before he’d had a chance to reach for her.
“Hey, handsome,” she cooed, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them.
“Fuck, how did people do long trips before FaceTime?” Nathan grumbled.
“I think that’s why everyone carried a picture of their sweetheart in their wallet,” she told him, smiling at how unruly his post-game hair was.
He would have showered, but he never did his hair if he wasn’t having to deal with the press.
And chances were he’d been wearing a toque.
The video was nice, but she still wanted to be able to touch his hair in moments like this.
Maybe that’s why people kept locks of their lovers’ hair with them in a time long before phones.
“I’d happily carry a picture of you in my wallet.” He grinned before falling back onto his bed, his body bouncing just enough to show he’d landed somewhere soft. “I’d tattoo your face on the back of my eyelids if it meant I could see you with my eyes closed.”
She scrunched her nose at the visual. “I’m not sure that would feel all that nice.”
“It would probably feel better than all this time apart,” he complained.
“Two days.”
A month ago, this conversation would have started with a direction for Octavia to take off her clothes.
There would have been nothing but need and desperation to get each other off.
But that was when neither knew if it would be their last time.
It was before they felt stable, when the emotional distance felt impossible to overcome.
Now they sat quietly, Nathan staring up at his screen from where he was sprawled on the bed, Octavia surrounded by pillows, knees up, back against the headboard in her own bed, just breathing together.
A moment of gentle calm before Nathan inevitably needed to work off some of that post-game adrenaline he always had copious amounts of.
Nathan sat up and started undoing his tie. Signalling to Octavia what was about to happen.
“Will you meet my family next week?” he asked, throwing her off by both the desperation in his tone and the nervous expression he was wearing.
It really was about time they got the meeting stuff over with. She’d introduced past boyfriends to her mom and sister way faster than this. But she had never dated a professional athlete before, so she had been weighing the consequences of that.
“Of course,” she said, hoping the nerves weren’t overly present in her tone. “Will you meet my family next week too?”
“God yes, I’d love to,” he breathed, ripping the tie from below his shirt and throwing it somewhere off camera. “Would it be nuts to have dinner with everyone at the condo? Just get it over with?”
Flora and her son, Tyler, along with her mother in a room with not just Nathan, but his family, who she hadn’t even met yet. Flora was good with people. Tyler was shy but he’d come around, and her mother was the type who could talk to a cement block and find it interesting.
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
His responding smile was brilliant, and she wanted nothing more than to pull him to her and get lost in his kiss.
“Are you nervous?” he asked, leaning his phone against something as he started unbuttoning his shirt.
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Liar.” He grinned as his shirt fell open and she suddenly didn’t care about family. She only had one thing on her mind.
“Can we talk about how I’m feeling about this later?”
There was a dull clank as his belt hit the floor and she waited for Nathan to tell her what to do.
“Take your shirt off, baby,” he ordered, picking his phone back up and walking to the bed. “Did you open the box?”
After her shirt had been discarded, Octavia reached for the box that had arrived that morning and took out the toy.
“Turn it on,” he said.
She flipped the switch at the base and a small green light flashed to life. Nothing else happened. Octavia turned it over in her hands, looking for the controls. She was about to bring up the lack of buttons when the toy came to life in her hand, gently vibrating and moving in a slow wave.
“Holy shit, how is it doing that?” She looked from the toy to her phone and saw Nathan waving a cylindrical object. “Is that a fl—”
“A fleshlight? Sort of.” He chuckled. “They work in tandem. I already synced them up with an app.”
“So it’s like…well, like we’re together?”
“Exactly. Right now, I have control so how I move this will influence how the vibrator moves. When I’m home we can sync your phone up so we can switch who has the upper hand.”
What Octavia liked most about these phone dates was that she just got to feel good without making any of the decisions. With this new technology in play she really didn’t have to do much aside from consent to participate.
The toy stopped moving and she looked up at her screen.
Nathan sat against the headboard of his hotel bed smirking at her.
“This view is one of my favourite views in the world. Even though it’s better in person.”
Octavia licked her lips, taking him in. The view was one of her favourites too. The calm before the sexual storm. He always looked at her like he was starving, right before they did anything. Like he hadn’t been satiated in months, even if they’d just fucked.
She read stories about this kind of desire but hadn’t experienced it until Nathan.
A barely audible whimper slipped from her, thinking about his hands on her. Where was the tech for that? She wanted that smirk pressed against her skin, those fingers he had gripped around the toy digging into her thigh.
“Ready, baby?” His voice sounded like it was being dragged through a gravel pit which in turn felt like his teeth scraping along her collarbone, causing goosebumps to pebble her skin.
She hummed and waited for his next instruction.
The front door opened and closed well after midnight, followed by the sound of someone trying not to make too much noise. There was a bang, followed by a soft curse and Octavia laughed into her pillow.
Nathan’s entrance was followed by the sound of a cabinet being opened and closed and then the kitchen faucet turning on. When the sound of his feet softly padding up the stairs reached her ears, Octavia settled into bed, resting her cheek on her hands.
“Shit, I didn’t wake you did I?” he whispered when he saw her looking at him, pulling his shirt off as he walked further into the room.
“No, I couldn’t sleep. Too excited to see you apparently.
” She smiled serenely up at him, still shocked she was saying such a thing.
Nothing in her life had changed this quickly.
She never committed to things as fast as she committed to this relationship.
A relationship she hadn’t even wanted to explore.
Nathan dropped to his knees beside the bed and leaned in to kiss her. When she tried to coax him into bed, he retreated, shaking his head.
“I smell like plane air and bro energy. I’m going to have a quick shower so I can smell like you again.”
“Want company?” she asked, beginning to stand up only to have him stop her gently.
“Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely want company.
But I’m gassed and I desperately want to make this fast.” He brushed escaped locks of hair back from her face.
“If you’re in there with me after not having you in days…
” He groaned, his eyes rolling back. “We’ll never get into bed. May fall asleep in there fucking you.”
Octavia laughed as he dropped a peck to her nose and backed away, turning at the last minute to disappear into her en-suite.
She sat up, leaning against her headboard and reached for her phone.
Flora
I was able to switch my shift.
Excellent! Are you also able to pick Mom up?
Octavia opened her notes app and read through menu ideas for the dinner she and Nathan were hosting at his place in a couple of weeks. After discussing it further, they realized that next week was going to be way too quick to expect everyone to be available.
Nathan had sent a list of no-gos for members of his family and she’d narrowed it down to a roast chicken or a beef Wellington with all the trimmings. She’d never made beef Wellington, but it was turning into the year of trying things she’d never done before so why the hell not.
“What are you focused so intensely on?” Octavia dropped her phone, looking up to see Nathan standing in the doorway, a towel slung low on his hips, hair damp, beads of water still dotting his skin.
“Fuck, you’re so hot. Did you know that? Like, are you aware of this fact?”
A blush spread all the way to Nathan’s chest as he stood there clearly trying not to smirk too hard.
He pushed off the frame, clearing his throat as he walked to her. “I wasn’t aware, tell me,” he said, reaching the bed in two strides and crawling onto the mattress until he was balanced over her body. “What should I know?”
Octavia remained still as Nathan kissed her neck, sucked on her collarbone, trailed his hand down her body, and hummed his approval when she let her legs fall open.
“Your eyes are perfectly symmetrical.”
“Go on,” he whispered, moving lower.
“I don’t know.” She panted when he slipped his hand into her pyjama bottoms. “Your whole…everything…” She moaned when he pressed two fingers into her and she slipped further down the bed.
“Everything, eh?” He nipped the swell of her breast before sucking her nipple through the fabric of the thin nightshirt. “Do you know how hot you are?” he asked, moving to her other breast and repeating his movements.
“No, tell me,” she challenged, curling her fingers into his hair and holding him in place, rocking her hips against his hand.
He chuckled against her skin, remaining right where she was holding him until she eased up.
“Your brain.” His eyes rolled back and he moaned. “Fuck, Octavia, do you know how sexy your brain is?”
“Is that what drew you to me at the bar?” she asked, trailing her thumb across his bottom lip, slipping it into his mouth when his lips parted.
He hummed around her until she pulled it free.
“Your hair,” he said, eyes flicking to where her hair was piled atop her head. “Then your fucking legs. Fuck, your legs. All I wanted was to have them wrapped around me.”
“Around your neck?” she teased.
“Neck, hips, shoulders, chest. I didn’t care. Then you opened your mouth and that sass.” He groaned against her lips, kissing her and pulling his hand from between her legs before shifting down the bed.
She watched, holding her breath as he curled his fingers into the top of her shorts and dragged them slowly down her legs.
Once her shorts were off, all his attention narrowed to where his fingers had just been.
“Then there’s this stunning pussy,” he murmured.
Octavia snorted. “Stunning?”
“Perfect.” He dipped low and ran his tongue through her most intimate part. “Delicious.” He pushed her thighs wider. “Mine.”