How to Tell a Lie (12 page)

“I have such a sense of accomplishment now,” Seth said, chuckling against her back as he leaned over her. After a few seconds he climbed onto the bed and pulled her up after him to rest along his side. “Are you okay though?”

Allison nodded. She felt limp but, at the same time, could think of nothing but how good it would feel to have Seth slip his cock inside her and further his research. She plucked weakly at his shirt buttons, and was relieved when he quickly took the faded blue button-down off himself, sitting up to look around for a good place to toss it. Allison was pleased to discover that his athletic-looking build looked even better out of clothes. He was lean and toned, with naturally broad shoulders and a tapered waist she thought had the lines of a classical statue.

“You’re gorgeous,” she murmured, and Seth looked back over his shoulder at her. He flung his shirt on the floor and flopped back down to the bed, landing on his side, propped up on one elbow facing Allison.

“No, you are. Your body is absolutely perfect. I had no idea, actually. What a nice bonus.” He stroked her from shoulder to hip, his admiration of her shape evident from his look.

Allison wondered vaguely when he had taken his glasses off. She couldn’t remember him doing it, but they were nowhere to be seen. His eyes looked darker than she had recalled them being, and she noticed for the first time that his lashes, which were several shades darker than his tawny hair, were surprisingly long and thick. Bedroom eyes, she thought, and smiled at him. He smiled back, looking amused.

“I’m just going to take my pants off now, okay, princess?”

“Pants. Right.” She gave him a thumbs-up then stretched languorously as he rolled to his back and took off his faded weekend jeans and underwear in one bundle. Allison couldn’t tell what style his underwear was, and she made a mental note to find out later. She heard a jingle of change and keys as the jeans and underwear landed on the floor with his shirt. His socks had disappeared too, and Allison assumed they came off with the jeans, but she was too distracted to pay attention to further clothing details. She was busy running first her eyes, then her hands over each line and curve of Seth’s body.

She restricted herself to a quick peek at his erection, which was darkened with need and stretching out at almost a right angle from his hips. A longer look would have to wait, as Seth entwined one leg between Allison’s and kissed her and her arousal started to mount again. It flared when Seth slipped his hand between her legs and cupped her pussy, dipping just one finger into her slit and teasing the opening, spreading the new surge of moisture over her lower lips.

“I want you so much,” he murmured between kisses.

“Then why aren’t you having sex with me yet?” Allison asked with an attempt at a smirk.

“Because I left the condom in my jeans pocket and it’s all the way down on the floor,” he admitted. But when he tried to sit up to retrieve it she teased him for a moment, keeping her legs wrapped around one of his to restrain him. Finally, giggling, she released him and watched as he flipped over to hang his arm down over the edge of the bed. His butt, she decided, was extremely watchable. Narrow hips and firm, toned, nicely rounded ass leading to thighs that looked like he spent some time bicycling. A crinkle of plastic distracted her from her ogling and announced the introduction of a condom to the proceedings. Seth brought it back up and tossed it to Allison, who snatched up the packet and ripped it open to pull out the condom.

He clambered to lie next to her again, this time on his back, a pose that left his straining member standing straight up. Grinning, Allison sat up and ran her hand over his length a few times, watching his face and enjoying the reactions she saw. She was tempted to take him in her mouth, but decided he might not withstand much of that. Perhaps another time. She rolled the condom down over his shaft slowly, teasing as she went, then started to swing a leg over his hips to straddle him.

Seth stopped her, grabbing her hips and lowering her back to the bed, toppling her gently and turning to lie on top of her. He braced himself on his elbows and placed teasing kisses near her mouth. Allison wrapped her legs over Seth’s and arched her back, trying to get closer. His cock was pressed firmly against her aching pussy and she was consumed with the need to feel him inside her, satisfying whatever urge he seemed to have triggered. She had to have him, and she whimpered in complaint at his leisurely pace.

“Greedy,” he whispered, but didn’t seem particularly upset about it.

“I want you inside me,” she said, aware she sounded whiny and not really caring. “Please?” She reached between their bodies, wrapping her hand around him and bringing him to her entrance, angling her hips and guiding him in. To her frustration, he stopped with just the tip of his cock inside her swollen pussy.

“Patience,” he admonished. Little by little, he worked his length into her, taking his sweet time to get to know her. He was clearly enjoying every new fraction of progress. “God, you feel good.”

He covered her mouth with his, preventing any further response with an open, plundering kiss. Allison could feel every inch of him filling her, and she faced the delightfully torturous quandary of wanting him to stay just as he was while at the same time desperately needing him to move. A hot stab of arousal throbbed in her clit and she met Seth’s kiss with ravenous hunger.

When he finally did start to move, with slow, measured thrusts at first, Allison uttered a long groan of pleasure. Almost instantly, to her surprise, she felt the first flickering thrills of an imminent orgasm. She held him tightly with her legs, working her hips as much as the position allowed. Each time he reached the depth of her, his pelvis brushed against her clit and the maddening pressure increased when she arched into his thrusts. But soon his admirable calm gave way to a mounting tension and he started pumping faster, hitting deeper with each stroke, and the change in pace was all it took to bring Allison’s orgasm tumbling along to knock her over the top of herself, drown her in sensation.

She cried out and then tried to muffle herself against Seth’s shoulder. She ended up biting him, she would discover later to her chagrin. He was slamming into her by then, fucking her hard, and she met every thrust with her hips, bucking wildly as her climax lit every nerve ending on fire. He had his arms under her shoulders so he could touch her face, and as she came down he watched her with a look of wonderment at odds with the ferocity of their lovemaking.

“Damn, so good,” Seth said roughly, slowing his efforts just a little. His eyes were a study in intensity. “I want to make it last longer but I don’t think I can.”

From the expression on his face, he had already made it last longer than Allison would have though possible.

“I want to feel you come,” Allison said as she floated gently back down to earth, feeling blissfully relaxed despite the fact that she was still being taken forcefully. She felt keenly open, as if she had melted down the middle to invite him deeper. Every move of Seth’s sent a thrill through her, an echo of her climax. She thought if they did go on long enough, she would probably come again, a complete novelty in her experience.

Seth looked into her eyes and watched her face, never shifting his gaze as he began to move faster again. His jaw tightened and his eyes closed just before he came with an almost silent, reverent gasp. His long, dark lashes looked boyish, angelic, against his fair skin. And then his eyes blinked open again and he smiled incredulously as the last of his climax spent itself inside her. Allison knew his expression was only a mirror of her own. They shuddered to a halt together and Seth’s head dropped over her shoulder, and the room fell silent except for their breathing and his whispered praises, telling her she was amazing, telling her how good it had felt.

Allison didn’t know how they would ever separate themselves again. She had never felt that connected to another human being, that completely in sync. She was mortified to feel a tear sliding down her cheek. She wiped it quickly away before it could trickle into her ear, and then turned her head to press kisses over the part of Seth’s face she could reach. She needed something to distract herself from her own reaction to what had just happened. Instead, the thought came unbidden of something else Lindy had said, and Allison cursed her cousin for being so insightful. Lindy had told her that sex with James had never been very good because Allison hadn’t loved him. What was this, then?

She told herself firmly that love was not a prerequisite to good sex, or that at the very least, good sex was not necessarily an indicator of love. She wasn’t willing to put a name yet to just what it did indicate. She just knew it wasn’t over. It was something just starting between her and Seth, something entirely new, and something scary and miraculous enough to make her cry.

* * * * *

They had recovered and talked, and made love again and taken a shower together. Seth had washed her hair, taking his time, meticulously ensuring all the soap and conditioner were rinsed free. Then he washed the rest of her, against her teasing protests, insisting that she was the princess and needed to be taken care of. Then he dried her off carefully and carried her back to bed, where he tucked her in under the red velvet coverlet.

“I like this blanket,” he commented. “It’s like something from a bordello.”

Allison snickered. “I just like the way it feels. And the color makes me feel warm and cozy.”

“Me too. Like being in a giant womb.”

She groaned, but couldn’t help laughing as well.

“So why aren’t you all tucked in here with me?” She didn’t want to admit to feeling insecure. She had known he would have to leave sometime, she just hadn’t wanted that time to come quite so soon.

“Because,” Seth said as if she should have known, “somebody has to go order the Chinese food.”

“Oh.”

“Your laptop is in the living room, right? Laughing Panda has an online menu.”

Allison nodded. “And the phone is on the kitchen counter, I think.” She grinned and snuggled down farther into the covers, feeling more safe and happy than she could remember feeling since her childhood. Seth gave her a peck on the forehead and wandered out of the room. To her delight, he was still naked, allowing her yet another chance to scope his ass.

She liked it more than she cared to admit. Not just his ass, although that was certainly a nice feature. It was the whole thing, the way Seth treated her, the way she responded to him. Now he came back into the bedroom—another very nice angle from which to view him naked, she decided—with her laptop and the phone. After plugging the computer in, he climbed up next to her on the bed to flip it open and turn it on, leaning down to kiss her while they waited for it to boot up. A few minutes later, he was kissing her while they waited for the Chinese food they had ordered.

An hour later, they were using the coffee table as a dining table and arguing companionably over who got to use the remote control. It turned out to be a moot point as they both wanted to watch the same thing, a somewhat goofy science fiction show that had become an unexpected critical success.

And later that night, they woke up on the couch where they had fallen asleep together, curled up under Allison’s red blanket, in the middle of a marathon of classic monster films. They moved by mutual consent to the bed and fell back to sleep almost immediately.

Chapter Six

Unfortunately, Allison taught a ten o’clock basic psychology class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as well as an upper-level course at two-thirty on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Seth’s schedule was almost completely incompatible with hers, and she was more than a little envious of it. He had no classes to teach on Mondays and Fridays, two sections of the same class on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and then a graduate seminar that met once a week on Wednesday evenings.

As a result, when they woke up Monday at nearly nine, Allison had to rush around getting ready for work and they had little time to process the change that had taken place overnight in their relationship. And as a result of that, Allison had the opportunity to think too much about the situation away from Seth. Instead, as soon as she had muddled through her class, no doubt causing a certain amount of concern among her students as she felt barely coherent due to distraction, she did what she usually did when she was having relationship concerns. She called Tess to come and have lunch with her.

Tess, glad to get out of her apartment where she was struggling to organize enough to get together an outline for her latest novel, met her at their usual place and sat patiently through all the lurid details Allison felt compelled to share.

She had less to say than usual, or so it seemed to Allison.

“Well, I think it’s about fucking time,” was her first remark.

“About time for what?”

“About time you met somebody you can have some fun with? It sounds like this guy is going to be a lot more interesting to hear about than James ever was, Ally. Good for you.” She calmly took a bite of her club sandwich as Allison stared in disbelief.

“Tess, that’s not the point. The point is, what the hell am I going to do? Before we left my place this morning he asked me over for dinner tonight. Over to his house. He wants to make me dinner. Because he didn’t get a chance to make breakfast for me this morning. I said I would go!”

“You mean he cooks too? Jesus, Allison, why are you even here eating lunch with me? Why aren’t you waiting for this guy in his office to give him a blowjob or something?”

“What. The. Hell.”

“Well, it would certainly endear you to him. Although it sounds like you’ve already done a pretty good job of that. Why all the panic?”

Allison growled, tugging at her hair with her fingers in exasperation.

“I can’t think straight when I’m around him. Even just on the phone or even in chat, I end up doing and saying things that are just so dumb, it just gets me in deeper. I can’t do this right now, Tess. I’m not in a good place for this. This can’t happen now.”