Friends With Partial Benefits (26 page)

Jillian got onto the bed. They both knelt on either side of the tray and began to eat. After taking a bite, he nodded to her with a smile. "And Brice, I mean, me... I’m, like, amazing in bed. I can evidently go all night."

"Remember, it’s just a novel." Jillian gave him a smile.

"But it
is
based on the truth."

"Loosely," she joked.

He looked at her with a curious expression. "I’m in Chapter Twenty, and Anastasia’s having what some people call... "backdoor" with Brice, and it’s really hot stuff. Is only Anastasia into that or are... you, as well?"

"Oh, that’s just her." Jillian replied matter-of-factly, and she took another bite of pancake.

"You might want to reconsider. I’ve had a lot of requests for that lately. Evidently, a number of women think it’s an area of my expertise, so—"

He gave her a mock-smug look. Scoffing, she then looked at him like he must be joking. "How many women are we talking about?"

"I don’t want to brag or anything, but that would be a total of three in just the last week."

"Really?"

He looked to the ceiling, thinking, then glanced back at her. "No, I lied..."

"I thought so." She nodded while holding back a laugh.

"It’s been about ten days."

After looking away with her mouth wide open, she returned to him. "So you’re saying... you’re like an anal-sex magnet?" She gazed at him, awaiting his response.

He finished a mouthful of pancake while holding a finger up and nodding. "I don’t want to necessarily paint myself with that brush, but you could call me that."

Covering her mouth with her hand, she looked away, grinning, before settling her eyes back on him, her curiosity piqued. "Okay, I’ve got to know... who are the three?"

He sat up straight, lifted his hand to count them off, and began, "First, there was Laura." He touched his thumb.

"Rob’s girlfriend?" Putting down her fork, Jillian leaned back against the footboard.
This is getting interesting! s
he thought.

"Yeah. They were fighting. She wanted to use me for
that
to get back at him." He gave her a defensive look. "But it still counts."

"Then there was Victoria when I picked up the key." He touched his second finger.

"She asked you for it... really?" Crossing her arms, she shook her head.

"Victoria said when I returned the key, she would take me
around the world.
I didn’t even know what the hell that meant until I Googled it. She’s a bad girl but fun."

She nodded casually. "So, that’s definitely number two. And, uh, three?"

After glancing at the ceiling while trying to decide the best way to share the story, he gave her a hesitant look. "Have you ever heard of a 'technical virgin'?"

She gave him a confused look. "No, what’s that?"

"Let me finish one last bite before I tell you." He devoured a forkful before sitting back against the headboard. "It’s a woman who remains a virgin by never having vaginal sex and only having the other kinds, including the frisky Anastasia’s favorite act."

He raised his eyebrows as she returned a sour look. "That’s makes no sense."

"It doesn’t, but evidently, it still counts. Natalie considers herself still a virgin, even though four guys—and counting—have had intimate experiences with her... um, backside."

Looking at him like she smelled something foul, she widened her eyes. "Wow, she
is
nuts."

"So, I’m just saying… I’ve had requests. I guess you could say there’s a waiting list of sorts. I could add your name now... but if not, I can’t guarantee your spot." Brian held his head high and proud while somehow maintaining a straight face. "The list could grow."

"I’ll take my chances." Jillian rolled her eyes. "What makes you such an expert in this area anyway? I mean how many times have you done it?"

"Never. But the women must see something in me." She held back a laugh as he continued, "How about this: in case you change your mind in the future, let me check you out down there, just to make sure you qualify."

Getting out of bed, he stood in front of her feet.

"Qualify?" She stared up at him, perplexed.

He moved the tray to the floor and grabbed her feet. "Turn over." She looked at him suspiciously, and he added, "It’s okay. I’m a doctor."

After lying back against the bed, she flipped over. He dropped down onto the bed between her legs. "It’s really more of a trade school certification than a Ph.D." He grabbed the bottom of her robe and flipped it up out of the way, exposing her gorgeous, naked ass. "Wow, weren’t you getting a draft this morning?"

"Not really." She shook her head with a grin.

Studying her from that angle, he smiled. "Have you ever considered doing any ass modeling?" Jillian scoffed, and he continued, "Or stunt ass work for, like, an A-list movie star."

"No," she giggled.

"Because your ass is spectacular. Let’s say they wanted Sandra Bullock to do a shower scene, and she had a thing about showing her ass; you could totally fill in for her."

"I hear she does her own ass work."

"Well, if she ever stops..."

Resting her head on the mattress, she smiled widely, enjoying his attention.

He shook his head in admiration. "It’s really breathtaking... But wait—that’s interesting."

"What’s that?" she asked.

"I’m not 100 percent sure, but your parts look like they might be a little too close together. Has you primary care doctor or gynecologist ever mentioned anything about—"

"No!" she screamed.

"Well, maybe you should have that checked out next time you’re, uh—"

"Are you done yet?" she interrupted.

"Not even close. Has anyone ever spent any real quality time getting to know you back here?"

"No. No one has." She struggled to avoid laughing out loud.

"So you really don’t know if incorporating any of this type of...
play
into your activities in bed is something that you might be interested in at all."

"I already know that it’s not something that I’d be—"

The second his lips touched the back of her knee, she stopped talking. After placing a gentle kiss there, he pulled up. "You smell amazing. What is that?"

"It’s a body wash called Moonlight Path. I took a shower this morning while you were still unconscious."

Drinking in her scent, he crawled up her body, kissing along the back of her thigh. "That’s a great name, since that just happens to be the path I’m on next."

She picked her head up from the mattress, thinking. Once she finally got his moon reference, she smiled and lay her head back down.

He leaned in and gently kissed her right ass cheek near her hip, and a bolt of electricity shot through her body. She shuddered a bit. "That tickles."

He said slowly, "Have you..." then gently kissed her left cheek, "ever wondered..." then back to the right, a little closer to her cleft, "what it might be..." then left again, still closer, "…like to have..." then right, still closer to her sensitive crease.

Jillian closed her eyes, opened her mouth in pure ecstasy as she gripped the comforter with both hands, and lifted her hips off the bed toward him.

He kissed her more gently just on the inside of her cheek. "…someone kiss you..." He moved to the other side, and his lips barely touched her as he finished with, "…here?"

She exhaled deeply with her ass raised up slightly more off the bed. Lifting his head, he could see that she was enjoying this so much that her eyes were closed, her mouth was open, and her grip on the comforter was intense. He smiled. "Have you?"

She said slowly in the sexiest voice ever, "No, that’s... not, uh... Should you really be doing that?"

His eyes traveled down her body, stopping at her hips, which still held her position, seemingly begging for his kiss. "I could literally stare at you for hours like this."

She replied softly and like she didn’t believe it at all, "Then there’s something wrong with you."

He moved his head back to her. Jillian’s pulse quickened as he kissed her again on either side of her sensitive bottom. The tingles flowed all over her body with each gentle brushing of his lips.

Tilting his chin up, he whispered, "If you don’t like this, maybe I should stop."

"Don’t you dare."

Brian spent the next twenty minutes pampering Jillian and giving her an experience she would use later to expand chapter nineteen. After that, they attempted to move onto activities they had just discussed, specifically Natalie's favorite act, and it didn't go well at all. Inexperience, nervousness, incorrect angling, and quite possibly improper preparation all led to a mini-disaster. Following the failed endeavor, they bathed together, then returned to the bedroom and activities that were a little more in their comfort zone. As they relaxed in bed, glowing in postcoital ecstasy, both were thinking,
Sometimes
you just gotta stick with what works
.

They didn’t hit a single tennis ball that weekend, but Brian did read the first draft of the unfinished novel. Jillian had written just up to the point where Brice left to return to college at the end of Spring Break.

Early on Sunday, Jillian walked Brian to his car. He wore the same outfit as when he arrived. They stood together by his open door, him not wanting to leave and her not wanting to let him go. He frowned. "I probably should have brought my books; then I could have stayed a little later... Some clothes would have been nice, too. A toothbrush, even... Anything, really."

She smiled. "I was thinking of coming to Atlanta the first week of April."

"I've got exams coming up, but I can drive down some weekend." He added slowly with his eyes bugged out, "It's. Only. Nine. Hours."

They shared a chuckle. Widening his eyes, he gave her a suggestive look. "Maybe when I come back, we can
not
play tennis again. This is so much more fun."

For the next two months, Jillian and Brian saw each other only four times. Twice he flew into Miami, and twice she made her way to Atlanta, where they spent the weekend at a hotel ordering room service, playing a little tennis, and spending a lot of time in bed. Falling for him, she thought a lot about what might happen after he graduated. She thought about how they should probably stop seeing each other soon, since with the age difference, the Rob issue, and the fact that Brian had a job a thousand miles away from her, they would be forced to end it, anyway, at some point. But the more time she spent with him, the harder it became to talk to him about it all. She decided she would see him once more after graduation, and that would be the end of their relationship.

Reflecting on her failed marriage to George, Jillian considered all the things she might have done differently. During one quiet evening, she called her ex-husband for the first time since the divorce was finalized. She told him that she didn’t hold him completely responsible for their breakup, admitting that part of it was her fault, saying that back then, she knew they were growing apart, and yet she did nothing to try to stop it. She told him she still thought he was an ass for cheating on her at the house, but she just wanted him to know that she shared some of the blame.

Two weeks before graduation, she had a surprise for Brian. She instructed him to go to the Atlanta airport on Friday morning and pick up a ticket for a flight. She would fly out from Miami and meet him at their destination airport. After informing him that he would return on a flight Sunday afternoon, she provided no other details.

Jillian’s plane landed in Phoenix an hour late, so Brian met her at the gate. She had arranged that a driver from a car service would be waiting to take them to Scottsdale in a black town car. As they approached the resort, Brian recognized it from an article he’d read on tennis resort vacations.

Staring out at the hotel, he beamed. "No way, we’re staying at the Phoenician?"

"I booked the Center Court Tennis Package."

"They have that Wimbledon Championship grass court. I read about it. I always wanted to play on grass."

The car dropped them off, and as they rushed to the front desk with their carry-on bags she said, "I could only get the court today at four. It was booked up the rest of the weekend."

Brian checked the time on his phone. "We’ve got ten minutes. If we change quickly, we can make it."