Asher: So what's the deal? What brought this on? Shit. I've got to get this, it's Aura. Hey, angel. That sounds good. Mm, seven? Great. Nightgown. The frilly whatever. No, on, not in. Yep, see you. Ah. What were we-hey, you off?
Charis: Yeah, I didn't realize how late it was. Sorry, I have to get going. Later, dude.
Asher: Later, dude.
Asher
I FROZE. "I CHANGED THE BED."
"I know, but-"
"No, Sloane, I changed the bed. It's a new bed as of this afternoon. Mattress, box spring, frame, all new. You don't have to worry. We'll inoculate it together with our own cooties."
Now she'd gone still, too. "O-kay. Wow. All right. But the bedroom. You didn't change the bedroom."
"You're kidding me."
"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know!"
"I cleaned the house today. Everything of Aura's is boxed up. No stray toothbrushes or earrings anywhere. Satisfied?"
"I … don't know."
"Do I have to get my brain zapped and wipe all memories of prior females?" I stiffened like a zombie. "I am a blank slate. I must fuck this adorable woman standing before me. I must make her scream with pleasure because she's overthinking things again! Pus-sy! Pus-sy! Must have delicious, hot … "
While she was still staring at me like I'd gone loco, which I may have done, I picked her up again and carried her into my bedroom. The way her hands flew around my neck, I had no choice but to kiss her tempting mouth.
Oh, sweet fuck, her taste. That warm, eager mouth, those lips that hardly knew how to kiss but were so enthusiastic. She wasn't hesitating to taste me with her tongue anymore. My cock swelled with joy.
I kicked open the door, kicked it back shut, tossed her onto the bed. Then I started stripping down, resuming my zombie persona.
Trying not to laugh.
And damn. If I'd had any idea banging a woman could be this fun, my life would be very different by now.
I shrugged out of my shirt and she subsided. Her eyes swept broadly over my chest and arms. I'd caught her eying me appreciatively before, but never so openly.
I was moved to know she approved of my dude parts.
When I lowered my fly, she went motionless. It was extremely cute, like she was preparing for the unveiling of a national treasure.
I shucked my jeans and briefs and rolled them up to pitch them into the laundry bin.
"Oh, boyoboy."
Forget national treasure. The way she was looking at me, I was nothing less than a pepperoni pizza with olives and mushrooms.
"You saw me before," I couldn't resist teasing her.
"Not like this. Oh, my God." She gulped.
"Still see me as a kid?"
"N-o. That would be a no. And no. Can I touch you?" Her teeth captured her bottom lip. "Please, can I just eat you?"
"Depends which part." I grinned, climbing onto the bed.
"Every part." She fluttered her hand at me to indicate the whole pizza.
"Do anything you want. I told you before, you have my permission to make free with my body."
Not even remotely trying to hide her admiration, she ran her fingers through my chest hair and lightly over my pecs, brushing a nipple. I hissed in a breath and she did it again.
"You do realize this is why I never stick around to play games in the pool on Independence Day," she said dreamily. "No guy should look like you do. It's unfair."
Her voice had gone husky. It stroked me, stroked my cock. My eyes soaked her up. Charis half naked was an incredibly lewd sight. I couldn't look away from those long, luscious berry-nipples playing peek-a-boo with her shirt. Yeah, I drooled.
Literally. I swallowed back the saliva. "And here I was thinking you had no holiday spirit. Lift up for me … "
Attending to me as she was, she didn't seem to notice when I peeled off her clothes-north of the border, anyway. When I slid her bottoms down over her feet, though, she lost her relaxation, going as rigid as a board. Her hands came down to fist at her sides.
I was too preoccupied eye-fucking every inch of her to much pay attention.
For except for two pink footies, my bestie was finally, utterly naked.
I slipped those off, taking a second to caress her sweet little toe with its gold ring.
Then leaned back.
"You are … ." I cleared my clogged throat. "Shit. This skin." I traced the bone of her hip. "A twelve-year-old boy you are not. You're gorgeous as all fuck. Why the hell do you cover yourself up all the time?"
I watched the flush rise up from her breasts to her cheeks. "Hey, I wear shorts and t-shirts."
"Loose and bulky ones. You must be trying to hide just how pretty you are." I propped myself up on my arms to drop a kiss on each nipple.
She was exquisite, like a sleek thoroughbred. I'd always gone for blatantly hourglass figures. Now, seeing the whole of her, I couldn't imagine anything hotter than the subtlety of her curves outlining the raw sexuality of her tits and pussy.
"You're seriously enchanting to me."
"Enchanting. Come on."
"Don't laugh." I stretched out alongside her, wedging a leg between hers and nudging her thighs apart. "Would you rather I say hot? Eminently fuckable? Christ, I can smell how sexy you are."
My eyes went straight to her pussy, followed by my fingers.
"You're always turned on," I whispered. "That's the hottest thing of all. Is your clit like this all the time, Sloane? Do you ache for cock all the time underneath your preppy clothes?"
"Asher … " Her voice broke. "I can't think when you talk like that. When you touch me like that."
"You don't need to think with your brain right now. Your pussy can do all your thinking for you."
Her laughter turned into a moan. "That is such a corny line. Do you use it with all-oh, God!"
I growled. "Are you insulting my lines? Are you? Are you?"
I'm fairly certain I'd never tickled a woman and worked up her clit at the same time. Yeah, Charis was definitely the first. She writhed to get away, but her giggling and moaning egged me on. That and her silky skin, which I wanted to go on touching forever.
Trapping her, I began licking her taut belly, loving the way she tried to clasp me with her legs. Every once in a while I poked her ribs, though. It was fun.
Finally I allowed her the upper hand, letting her invert us, so I was on my back and she was on top. Then it was her poking me in fiendish retaliation.
Throughout it, I was laughing … until her thigh brushed my cock. I groaned then. And suddenly nothing was funny, and everything was urgent.
"Rubber." I rolled over and groped for the drawer at my bedside table. "Now."
"Yes, hurry. Do you have it?"
I not only had it, I'd perfected the art of opening and assembly. Unfortunately, as I put it on, I experienced a brain fart-an Aura-related one.
The simple act of unrolling the rubber made me freeze. Aura's face appeared before me like a ghost.
Shit. Oh, great, not this, not now.
What was this, the Fuck of Doom?
"What's wrong?"
I shut my eyes, opened them again.
"If I tell you, you can't have a cow," I warned.
Charis's hand flew to her chest. "No cow having here." She really did sound solemn, too.
"It's crass to talk about," I hedged.
"Dammit, Asher! Aren't we a little beyond concerns of etiquette?" Charis was no dummy. "It's about Aura, isn't it?"
I nodded. "It's like this, Sloane. She wasn't on the pill, she didn't get along with hormones, so we used condoms. We fucked like bunnies, though. The very idea of getting her pregnant made me quiver with fear. So Karl taught me this method to help me not screw up."
"I'm listening."
She sounded wary, but not like she was about to jump out of my bed.
"I classically conditioned myself to think chlorine right before I started to penetrate her."
"Chlorine."
"Don't ask. It worked. I'd say it mentally each time, and it made me think of condom through association, thus assuring I would never forget to protect myself."
"Did it work?"
"Every fucking time. No matter what orifice. Even when she went down on me, I'd find myself thinking it. Hey, Karl said overkill is better than the alternative."
She giggled, and her giggle turned into somewhat hysterical laughter.
I expelled a relieved breath. "Not funny, woman. Now I have to think of my ex every time I fuck for the rest of my fucking life."
"I think you're fucked," she said and went into peels of laughter again. By now my cock was a pale shade of its former self and I unrolled the condom disgustedly off. "Wait! Wait! No. I have an idea. You can recondition yourself out of the habit. Every time you're on the verge of penetration, you should think of … um … squirrels."
"Squirrels."
"Or burglar alarms. Or fiber arts." She stroked my abdomen almost absently with all ten of her fingertips.