Escorted (32 page)

She flopped
down next to me. “You have no one to blame but yourself.” But she gave him a
sideways glance, drinking in the sight of his relaxed face and his tanned skin
from hours in the Mediterranean sun. He’d apparently had a really good trip,
the field project sealing his determination to go into archeology. She was so
glad he’d found something that might help him feel fulfilled, despite the gaping
hole he’d left in her life during his absence.

She sighed,
trapped between poignancy and joy. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

Ander laughed
again, but he put his arm around her to give her a squeeze. “Me too.”

They watched
the movie. Lori managed to basically enjoy the fluffy, implausible sap, despite
a snide running commentary from Ander. She didn’t complain, since she’d told
him he was allowed to mock. But she took vengeance by snuggling up against him.

He wasn’t
normally a touchy-feely person. Since they’d canceled their business
arrangement, Ander rarely initiated anything more than brief, casual touches.
But he was the one who put his arm around her, so she figured she could
consider that the first move.

She leaned
against him happily as she watched and let herself enjoy the simple pleasure of
being close to him.

They’d reached
the final scene of the movie—the blissful reconciliation in a swell of romantic
feeling without the slightest hint at realism or basic human truths. Lori tried
to get into the fantasy-spirit, but Ander’s ironic snorting kept getting in the
way.

Pressed against
his side, her legs curled up on the sofa, Lori peered up at him. “Didn’t you
have fun?”

Ander tried to
give her a look of cool disapproval, but his adorably twitching mouth revealed
his true mood.

“You know what
I was thinking?” Lori asked, straightening up although she couldn’t bring
herself to draw away from his cozy side.

Ander didn’t
pull his arm away. “That you’d like to run off with Richard Gere?”

She stifled a
snicker. “No. I was thinking about how the first thing we did together was
watch a movie.”

“Actually, the
first thing we did together was get coffee and walk over to the park.”

Lori huffed.
“I’m making a point here.”

“I see. And
little details like accuracy keep getting in the way. Very annoying.”

She knew him
well enough to know he was in high-spirits tonight. He didn’t reveal a rush of giddiness
like Lori always did, but his irrepressible banter and warm eyes gave him away.
She felt another urge to hug him but managed to repress it this time. “Do you
want to hear my point or not?”

“Yes,” he said.
“Actually I do. What is it?”

Lori paused.
Then huffed again. “Now I’ve forgotten it.”

“It had
something to do with watching a movie together. Fond memories of that erotic
film?”

“It was good,”
she said honestly. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.” Then she remembered her
point and she added almost bashfully, “What did you think of me back then? I
mean, at first.”

When Ander
didn’t answer, she darted her eyes up to his face. He wasn’t looking at her,
and his face had sobered into thoughtfulness.

“You don’t have
to tell me if you don’t want,” she said after a minute, with what she thought
was remarkable generosity given her desperate desire to know.

“You terrified
me.”

“What?”

Ander met her
gaze. “You terrified me,” he repeated mildly. “I’d never been with a virgin
before. I could tell from the beginning that you were smart, generous and
compassionate, and obviously I knew you were beautiful. I was stressed that
whole week about ruining your first experience with sex.”

“You were not!”
Lori stared at him breathlessly. “You were as cool as a cucumber.”

“You know by
now I’m a good actor. I’m not sure why it mattered so much to me, since I’d
never put much significance in sex before. But something about it being your
first time—your entrusting me with that kind of responsibility—really hit me.
It got to me.”

“Oh.”

They looked at
each other for a minute. Then Lori said in close to a whisper, “I’m glad my
first time was with you.”

Her only times
were with Ander. He was the only man she’d ever had sex with. At present, she
had no desire to have sex with anyone but him.

She tried not
to think much about it, since she wasn’t sure what to do with that knowledge.
Things would change eventually, in one way or another, and she was trying to
just let them play out without obsessing. It was the only way she could handle
the turmoil of her emotions.

Then Ander
surprised her, since he wasn’t often given to confessions of this kind. He
said, “Me too.”

A wave of
emotion rose up in her chest, so powerfully she couldn’t contain it. It flooded
her, consumed her, overwhelmed her.

And she did the
only thing she could think of to do.

Stretching up
and leaning forward, she pressed her lips against Ander’s mouth. After a
moment, his softened, then opened beneath hers. Her tongue slipped out to trace
along the line of his lips softly, sending tiny pulses of pleasure all the way
to her fingertips.

She pulled
back, flushing warmly and panting a little.

“What’s going
on?” Ander asked thickly, suddenly frozen on the sofa beside her.

“I don’t know,”
she admitted, squirming a little in both embarrassment and lingering pleasure.
“I just wanted to kiss you. Sorry.”

Ander didn’t
answer with words. He just stared at her for a moment until she saw something
hot ignite in his eyes. Then he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Lori whimpered
in surprise and rising feeling. As Ander’s lips and tongue waged a passionate
assault, her arms twined around his neck and her entire body pulsed with
sensation.

One of Ander’s
hands curved around the back of her head and the other slid down to stroke
along her spine. Shivers followed in the wake of his touch. She whimpered again
and brushed her fingers along the smooth curve of his scalp, adjusting on the
sofa so she could press her body against him more fully.

She was hot and
breathless when she finally pulled out of the embrace. Ander looked flushed
too, and his chest rose and fell rapidly with his breathing.

“Wow,” she
gasped. “That was...that was good.”

Ander let out
of huff of dazed laughter. “Yeah.” Then he turned always observant eyes to scan
her face. “Do you think you might want to do it again?”

She knew what
he was asking. What he’d wanted to ask for the last three months. He’d just
been waiting for the right time.

Lori couldn’t
tell him anything but the truth. “Yeah. Definitely.” A thrill of joy ran
through her when she saw the brief blaze of relief in his eyes. “I mean, it
would be a shame not to. We’re really good at that.”

Ander reached
out again to cup her face. “There are other things we’re good at,” he said,
just a little diffidently.

Lori gulped.
There were other things they were good at. Things they were good at together.
So many other things they could look forward to in the days and weeks to come,
fading off like a fuzzy trail into the future.

But things
didn’t always have to be complicated, and not everything had to happen at once.

So she smiled
up him, reaching out to pull him down into another kiss. “Yeah. That’s true.
But let’s just stick with kissing...for now.”

Lori’s head was already
spinning, and she hadn’t done anything more than kiss Ander.

They’d gone to
dinner and the symphony earlier that evening, and she’d offered Ander a drink
when he’d walked her up to her apartment.

They ended up
making out on her couch, and already Lori was so turned on she wanted to
explode.

To begin with, Ander’s
hands had only been in safe positions—on her back, in her hair, cupping her
face—but now his caresses were becoming more presumptuous. As his tongue
plunged between her lips to play along the roof of her mouth, one of his hands
slid down to palm her bottom.

Lori moaned
against his mouth and clutched at the back of his shirt. She adjusted until she
was practically in his lap, pressing her breasts against his chest and trying
to get some friction on her groin.

Still deep in
the kiss, Ander slipped his hand beneath the hem of her dress and stroked up
her bare thigh. She shivered at the intimate contact and tore her lips away
from his so she could gasp.

Ander used the
opportunity to mouth his way down her jaw to her throat. He lingered over her
pulse point until Lori whimpered in pleasure.

Her arousal
hot, wet, and throbbing now, she shifted again, moving one of her legs over
both of his thighs so she could straddle his lap. She needed pressure against
her clit and she needed it now.

He held her
hips with both of his hands to brace her as his lips moved even lower. He took
one breast in his mouth through the silk of her slinky cocktail dress and
suckled at her nipple so skillfully Lori’s hips started to work shamelessly
against his.

Ander was hard
now. She could feel the bulge of his erection in his trousers. She rubbed her
arousal urgently against his and felt pulses of pleasure spiral out from the
contact.

Her skirt was
bunched up around her waist, and Ander’s hands slid down to hold and squeeze
the soft flesh of her ass. She wore a thong because the silk of her dress was
so thin, and the strip of fabric across her wet pussy was exquisite torment.

“Ander!” she
gasped, as one of his hands slipped between her thighs to press against the
place she was most hot and wet. Her back arched as she tried to ride his hand
with embarrassing abandon.

Ander raised
his face to stare at her for a moment, his eyes hot, hungry and almost
primitive. Then he groaned and leaned forward to mouth her throat.

Without
warning, he bit down hard.

Lori came
against his hand with a choked cry.

She was
conscious of Ander straightening up so he could watch as she rode out the
spasms of pleasure. When they faded, she slumped against his chest, gasping and
pressing sloppy kisses against his cheek and the side of his head.

Ander held her
tightly for a few minutes, until she started to move against him again. She
rubbed against his groin, felt a thrill at how hard and tense he was.

She knew he
wanted her. And she wasn’t even close to sated.

“Ander,” she
murmured, stroking his smooth head and kissing all over his face. “Do y—”

“Fuck, baby,”
he rasped, his hands suddenly strong her shoulders as he maneuvered her body
off of his. “I better go.”

“Oh,” she said,
staring as he stood up stiffly, still kind of dazed from her orgasm. “Do you
have to?”

He gave a huff
of ironic laughter. He was sweating a little, and he held himself so tightly he
could barely move. “I’m sorry, Lori. I definitely have to go.”

“But—”

“I have that
early class in the morning. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He leaned down to give her
a quick kiss on the mouth, and then he left before she could get another word
out.

Lori collapsed
back on the couch with a little whimper. Her body felt chilled and she was
brutally disappointed. Not really surprised, though. He’d done this to her
before.

She and Ander
had been dating now for a month. They went out, talked every day, did a lot of
kissing, and sometimes went even further like tonight, but Ander always called
an end to it before they got to sex. Lori truly appreciated the way he’d been
willing to take it slow. Moving from friendship to something deeper was obviously
what both of them wanted, but she’d been worried about moving too fast because
of the way their relationship had begun.

She thought
she’d made it clear that she was more than ready for sex now, however, but Ander
still wouldn’t take the final step.

If he wasn’t
yet ready, she would be patient. He’d been more than patient with her.

But she knew he
wanted it. Knew he wanted
her
. It didn’t take much for Ander to get
aroused around her, and men didn’t have the advantage of being able to hide
their arousal very well.

It wasn’t a
physical issue. She knew that. But she didn’t know what else he might be
waiting for.

She thought
they were both in the same place emotionally. They’d both been in too deep when
Lori was still his client. They’d taken a step back to being friends for three
months so they could come to terms with what they wanted and set the groundwork
for a more healthy attachment. And for the last month they’d been pursuing a
romantic relationship. They hadn’t spoken words of love, but she knew how much Ander
cared about her. She knew how important she was to him. And she knew how much
he desired her.

So why didn’t
he want to have sex with her?

*
* *

“Whee!” Lori exclaimed in pure
glee, sliding over to Ander on the ice. “Did you see me? I didn’t fall once!
I’m so much better this time.”

Ander laughed
and drew her smoothly beside him. “Much better. I told you you’d be good at ice
skating if you’d just relaxed a little.”

Lori gave him a
little frown, although inside she was brimming with happiness. “Just once, I’d
like to see you be wrong about something.”

“Oh, I’ve been
wrong about plenty of things,” Ander murmured, pulling her toward him and
draping both arms around her waist. “I just don’t like to advertise the fact.”

With a sniff, Lori
said, “You don’t like to advertise much of anything.” She still wasn’t adept at
keeping her balance on her skates while standing still, so she clung to Ander’s
shoulders.

Ander’s
blue-gray eyes softened, a familiar look igniting as he gazed down on her. “I
believe I’ve advertised how incredibly gorgeous you are.”