Nothing More Beautiful (40 page)

“The amazing thing about the whole
experience is that we only saw two planes in three years,” Skye
said, “and both were too far away to see our distress signal. But
we made it though. We survived.”

Vince smiled. “So what are your plans
now?”

“Well, that’s something Danny and I wanted
to talk to you about tonight,” Skye said, her voice soft and warm.
“You offered to help us get our lives back on track, and we really
appreciate the gesture, but all we want to do is settle down some
place small, and far inland, maybe in Colorado or Wyoming. We
haven’t decided yet.” She locked eyes with Danny. “We want to start
a new life,
together
, away from big cities, and be a part of
a true community. You understand?”

Vince sucked his bottom lip, holding back
the pain. “I understand,” he said calmly.

“We’re leaving on Friday to stay with my
parents until we plan out what we want to do,” she said.

A small part of me was jumping up and down
with glee. Another part was feeling Vince’s pain. I sensed how hard
it would be for him to let her go for a second time. There was an
intense emotional struggle going on in his head. Yet, I couldn’t
see how they could live in the same city and just be friends. There
was too much history, too much emotion behind them, deep down in
them, even if both professed they were moving on.

“That’s not a lot of time to catch up,”
Vince said.

“It’s been four days, Vince, and you’ve
barely left our side,” she noted. “I think all of us here know that
we can’t move on unless we’re apart.” Danny looked at Vince with a
hard, emotionless face, while she gave him one of apology. “It’s
the way it has to be.”

“I know,” he said, his voice low and rough.
“I agree, I just didn’t think—”

“The shorter, the easier,” she cut in.

Vince choked back his words. “Right.”

The night wound down and the couple left
soon after that. It was tough to read what Vince was thinking. He
seemed scarred, but he also wore an ostensibly serene smile, which
made it impossible to judge. “Do you want me to stay with you
tonight?” I asked him.

“I think I’m going to go for a drive, clear
my head, you know?” He put down a couple hundreds for the bill,
standing up. “I’ll call you tomorrow?”

There was no sense talking him out of it.
“Sure,” was all I said, letting him disappear into the night.

WE TALKED LITTLE THE
next
day. I gleamed that Skye and Danny were leaving Friday at 9:30 in
the morning. I half expected him to dash to the airport in some
grand romantic gesture to win her back. After all, I’d had his
heart for only two months; she had had it for four years. Despite
all his reassurances, my insecurities ate at me, doubt wringing my
nerves so tightly, I swore I could feel them stretching, ripping
apart.

The next morning I watched the clock from
five until 9:22 when Vince walked through the front entrance,
holding a bouquet of various chrysanthemums, my favorite flowers.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, utterly shocked by his
appearance. “Why aren’t you saying goodbye at the airport?”

“Because I said my goodbyes a long time
ago,” he said. We headed to the office for privacy. “She’s moved
on. I’ve moved on, too, Maci, even though I know you’ve had your
doubts about that. Despite the difference in length between the
relationships, I was never as close to her as I am with you. I came
here to prove that to you. I also came here to tell you that I love
you and that I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Ready to prove my commitment to you,” he
answered, laying the flowers on the desk. My heart jumped.
Is he
about to ask me to marry him?
“I’m ready to do number twelve on
the list.”

Number twelve?
I had gazed at the
list so many times I had it memorized. “Are you sure? I
thought—”

“That I’d never want to do it,” he
interrupted. “You were right. Just like I know you never want to
have a threesome. But I want to do this, Maci, for you. For us.
Besides, I’ve been reading about it online, and I read the ‘Up Your
Bum’ chapter in
The Guide
. There’s a reason why people do
it: it’s supposed to feel great.”

“But not if you’re not into it,” I
countered.

“I am into it,” he said. “I researched it. I
watched
Bend Over Boyfriend
and the thought turned me on
after a while. Thinking about your breasts slapping my
back . . . I want to do it, Maci. That is, if
you still want to.”

Ever since we wrote out the list, I had
thought about number twelve. Pegging: the reversal where the female
does the man like a man, the thrusting, the penetration, all of it.
It was one of the most arousing things on the list. “I do, but I
don’t want to do it just to prove something. I want to do it for
the same reasons we did all the other fantasies.”

“To build a connection.” He took me in his
arms. “To grow together, to explore each other, to strengthen our
bond and let go of the past. Those are all the same reasons I’m
talking about. I’m just saying that I want to show you my
commitment to you by being open about the idea.” He grabbed my
hands and stepped back a little. “I want to do this, Maci.”

So do I
. “I have to think about it.”
Was I overanalyzing his sentiment? Maybe. But I planned on
analyzing it, then analyzing it again, just to make sure it didn’t
end up in the mistake column later on.

Vince left soon after that. I contemplated
his words and the fantasy. I hadn’t done much research on it, so I
figured I’d start there after work. Reading through the Wikipedia
page on pegging turned me on. The control, the dominance: it was
all so exciting. At the time, it seemed so out there, so dark and
dirty and taboo. Women played the submissive in all the books I’d
read, and the desire for the dominant point of view felt somewhat
wrong, in that I should be more inclined for the submissive role.
The thought of experiencing sex as the penetrator was
overwhelmingly erotic. Not to say that I wanted to take over the
role—I just wanted to try it once.

When I got home, I cracked open
The
Guide
to the “Up the Bum” chapter. I read it twice before I
decided to pay for the instructional video,
Bend Over
Boyfriend
. Lubrication and communication seemed key. The whole
thing was a turn-on, but it was a huge commitment for a man who
never desired anal play before, and that was the point Vince had
tried to make at the office. But just showing up this morning
showed his commitment to our relationship didn’t it?

I sought out the advice of the one person I
knew who had ever used a strap-on before. “Why do you want to know
about strap-ons?” Danielle asked, intrigued.

“I’ve just never thought much about it,” I
lied, “and I wanted to know how it feels.”

“Well, we’ve played around with a few
different ones. The vibrating harness is my favorite,” she said.
“Ashley’s is a double.”

“Double?”

“I can’t believe we’re having this
conversation,” she said.

“Now who’s the uncomfortable one?” I
laughed. “See, you don’t have to be a prude.”

She grinned at me. “A double is two dildos:
one for the wearer, one for the receiver. There, are you
happy?”

“Quite.” I returned her grin. “Thanks.”

“That’s it? That’s all you wanted to
know?”

I nodded on my way back to my room. There
were still so many questions to ask and ramifications to consider,
and I figured talking them through with Vince was the best option
for us both.

“Hey,” he said, opening his door around
seven that night. “After this morning, I didn’t expect to see you
again today.”

“Well, from everything I’ve read, there
needs to be an open line of communication on the subject, and so I
thought we’d research and explore it together.”

We hugged and he kissed me hello. “I was
going to say that this morning, but you looked like you needed time
to think it out on your own.”

“I did,” I agreed. I led him into his office
and woke his main computer, running a search for “pegging,”
scrolling down the list. “The main thing I’m worried about is how
you’ll feel afterward, you know?”

He shook his head.

“Well, I think most people wouldn’t classify
it as a ‘straight’ thing to do,” I voiced my concern. “And since
you’ve never been curious about that stuff before, I don’t
know . . . I just don’t want to lose you
because of this.”

He crossed his arms by the door. “Lose me?
Why would you lose me?”

“I don’t know . . . what
if you feel violated afterwards, or insecure, or emasculated?” I
paused, looking at the links. “Come here and read this.”

He strode up beside me and started reading
the article in
Men’s Confidence Magazine
. When he finished,
he squared up my shoulders so that we faced each other. “Maci, I’m
right there with the author. I’m perfectly secure with my sexuality
and masculinity, and I don’t think you fucking me with a dildo will
rip us apart. In fact, I think it will bring us together. I’m in
this to share your fantasy.”

I leaned up on my toes and kissed him. “I
just needed to be sure.”

“So are you ready to shop for some
toys?”

Excited, I nodded with enthusiasm. “Danielle
said she enjoys the harnesses that vibrate.”

“You told Danielle about this?” he asked,
his tone a bit tart.

“No, I just asked her about strap-ons, about
what she likes—that’s all. I didn’t tell her about us, about
pegging, though I’m sure she wouldn’t say anything to anyone
besides Ashley.”

“For now, let’s just keep it between us,” he
said, slightly warmer. “I guess that’s good to know since you come
more from touching your clit.” He took over the keyboard, better at
searching than I was. We eventually found a strap-on vibrating
harness with a pouch for a bullet vibrator to stimulate the clit
during the act.

“That article said to start small with a
five-inch or six-inch dildo that’s one-inch thick,” I noted. “Since
the area is so sensitive.” After a half hour of searching, we
ordered a five-inch dildo that was only .8-inches thick. We bought
both with next-day delivery.

“All of this talk has my heart pounding,” I
admitted. I stripped off his pants, pushed him into the office
chair, and blew him until I had a mouthful. We ended up in the
bedroom for round two. Tingling, I drifted off minutes after Vince
came, satisfied by his gifted tongue.

VINCE AND I HIKED
through
Forest park the next morning and long into the afternoon. By the
time we returned, both packages had been delivered. Before we began
our night of exploration, we ate dinner downtown, then visited
Spartacus, where Vince bought four bottles of Uranus water-based
lube, since every article, book chapter, and instructional video
made it clear to use a lot of lube. We also bought a spare bullet
vibrator as a backup.

Vince took a shower when we got back to his
place, and I decided to join him for some soapy, wet fun.
Afterwards, we adjusted the harness straps before we continued with
any more foreplay. “You look so hot in this,” Vince said,
tightening the straps around my thighs, squeezing my ass. He
slapped it, and then began kissing my skin, traveling down my leg,
up my other one until he reached my other cheek, where he gently
bit me. He stripped off the harness, leaving me in only a sexy
black corset that pushed up my breasts. “God, you’re so damn sexy,”
he whispered, pushing me onto the bed.

I slowly pulled down the boxer-briefs he’d
put on after the shower. His cock sprung up and I caught it in my
hand, my grip tightening around his girth. I watched the blood rush
to his head before I took it in my mouth.

He pushed me back and climbed onto the bed.
I lay back, swiping all but one of the pillows off the bed, while
he rotated around, his cock in my face. He lifted his hips so that
I could place the pillow under him, positioning his hard-on at the
perfect sucking angle.

Unable to wait, he dove between my legs,
kissing my pussy. Immediately, my nerves exploded, the sensitivity
greater than usual. “I love the way you taste,” he said, licking
from my pussy to my clit in broad strokes. I caressed his cock,
gazing at how his head and balls responded to the movement.

“Do I taste sweet?” I asked, glancing down
at his eyes.

“Sweet like candy,” he said, rubbing his
tongue between my inner lips.

I gasped. Sixty-Nine’s were so hard to do,
yet were so sexy and arousing. I tried focusing on his cock instead
of the glorious sensation, licking his tip with my tongue. Vince
rocked his hips forward in reaction. I rubbed behind his cock, and
touched around his anus, getting him hot for later on. He started
moaning the way he did before he came, so I backed off, and let the
surge in my head take over.

After a few minutes, he rolled me onto my
back, wet his tip with the juices between my lips, then slid in,
electrifying the cravings deep inside me. As he pounded me, I
awaited with palpable excitement for when it would be my turn to do
the thrusting, and the thought pushed me over the edge as he took
my partly exposed nipple in his mouth, sucking hard.

He came halfway through my orgasm, both of
us screaming, cursing, calling each other’s names. When he pulled
out, rolling onto his back, I gazed into his elated eyes, and the
urge to fuck him overwhelmed me. Compelled, I tightened the
strap-on around my thighs and hips, wiggling the washed and
sanitized dildo in front of him.

He looked shocked that I was ready to go so
soon. “Come on, sexy, roll over.”

“I need a few minutes,” he rasped. “I need
some water first.”

“Okay,” I said, grabbing a pillow off the
floor. I sat up in the bed while he headed for the kitchen. “Can
you get me a glass, too?”