Absolute Beginners(14)

It’s past midnight and people are calling her?

“Sophia,” she greeted. “What’s up? No, I can’t come out and play.” There was a pause. “Because I’ve got company,” she said. “No, it’s no one you know. I’m not telling, you nosy cow.” She laughed. “Good-bye!” Another pause, and I watched as she grinned. “Yes, you go have great sex too. I’ll see you tomorrow. OK, say hi to Megan. Yeah, ’bye.”

I stared at her and tried to make sense of the conversation I’d just heard.

“Have great sex, too”? Do they really talk to each other like that? And what did she mean, “too”? Does she still want to have sex with me, even though I fell asleep? I find that hard to believe.

“Sorry about that,” she said, putting down the phone. “Apparently my friends went to another bar after we split up and they want me to come join them.”

“That’s OK,” I said quickly, rising to my feet. “You can go and I’ll head home.”

I put my mug on the desk and looked around for my clothes.

“Stephen, don’t be silly,” she said, walking over to me. “I invited you up here because I want to spend the night with you.”

“But your friends—” I started.

“—are probably hooking up as we speak. Why would I go all the way downtown when I’ve already got a good-looking, half-naked man in my bedroom?” she asked, glancing up at me.

How do you answer a question like that?

“I don’t know.”

She stood up on her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Pick me up,” she said with a smile. “You’re almost too tall to reach.”

“Oh, OK. Sorry,” I said like the bumbling idiot I had turned into. I reached down and lifted her gently so that she could wrap her legs around my waist. I was surprised she was so light.

“How much do you weigh?” I blurted out. I realized my faux pas and my face grew hot from sheer mortification.

She threw her head back with peals of laughter. “Oh, Stephen,” she chuckled. “Don’t you know anything about women?”

“No,” I admitted, because I really didn’t. I started to put her down, figuring that I had spoiled the mood with my asinine question.

She tightened her hold on me. “I’m not going to kick you out because you asked me how much I weigh,” she said.

“Oh, that’s good, I guess.”

She leaned in and pressed her lips against mine softly. First she kissed my bottom lip, then the top, and then licked them, which made me open my mouth to her. I felt less apprehensive this time and kissed her back tentatively when our tongues met.

“Mmm, that’s nice,” she hummed against my lips. “You do know some things about women.”

“Not many,” I said quietly, not wanting her to get her expectations up.

“Carry me to the bed,” she whispered, kissing me lightly.

My heart pounded in my chest. She wanted to sleep with me, and I still had no idea how to proceed with this confident and experienced woman. But I also had the very distinct feeling that Ms. Wi—Julia—was about to educate me in the matter.





Chapter 4


I stumbled over to her monstrosity of a bed and lowered her onto it. She stretched herself out and gave me an expectant look. I stood there contemplating my next move, my mind running in two completely different directions. The logical, levelheaded part of me knew that I should put my clothes on, leave immediately, and hope that she would never mention this ever again. The other part of me—the part that I hardly ever listened to—remembered that I was a man with physical needs who’d been deprived of female company for years, and was now screaming at me to jump on top of her and finish what we’d started before I fell asleep.

My brother’s words came back to me: You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t love to fuck the hell out of that naughty student of yours and show her who’s boss!

Well, that certainly wouldn’t happen. I had a feeling that Ms. Wilde was the boss here and no amount of…me doing that would change that fact. Besides, I wouldn’t even know how to effectively perform such a task. I found myself wishing that I had more experience so that I really could show her that I was, if not exactly the boss of her, at least her equal.

I looked at her, lying there waiting for me, her pretty hair fanned out over the tacky purple bedspread. Her red lips had felt so good on my body. Would the rest of her feel even better? As much as I disliked her behavior in my classroom and her usual attire, I knew I wanted to be inside her more than anything. Could it be possible that she wanted me just as badly? After all, she had been drinking earlier, and although she seemed very experienced, I didn’t want to take advantage of her inebriated state.