Played (23 page)

With his hand again on one breast, Drew
dipped his head and took the other nipple into his lips gently, flicking with
his tongue and alternately sucking delicately. I would have been happy for this
to go on for hours, but wave after wave of sensation made me understand that
there was so much more pleasure on the way. I wanted to share what I was
feeling with Drew.

I pushed him back and started to unsnap his
Western-style shirt, worn no doubt in honor of being on a ranch. I laughed with
delight as I realized I could use both hands to rip it open without harm, and
promptly did so, causing Drew to chuckle and ask if I was sure I wanted this. I
nipped his bare chest and licked one flat disc, which shriveled in response,
though the little nipple turned hard.

Drew shrugged out of his shirt and returned
to his task, holding me flat on my back with both hands above my head, captured
by his. I was bucking against him and gasping with need before he let me go and
pulled my dress the rest of the way down my body, baring the thong that I'd
saved for a rainy day after all. I still thought they were tortuous, but the
sight of it inflamed Drew, who bent immediately to kiss my lower belly right
above it.

I pushed at him, wanting his jeans off,
too, and whatever underwear might be under them. All I could think of was
grasping his manhood, feeling its weight in my hand once again. Both of us
fought for the upper hand for a minute, before I, succumbing to his superior
strength, fell back with a groan of frustration, only to gasp as his lips blew
hot breath onto my most sensitive area through the lace of the thong. With his
fingers, he pulled it to one side and left the way clear for his tongue to
explore.

"Omigod," I muttered, lost in
sensation so pleasurable that I thought I'd convulse right then. I pushed my
mound into his face, seeking contact between his tongue and the button that
would set off the explosion.

Drew pulled away to slow us down. Kissing
along my inner thigh to my knee, he started up the other side, with me
shrieking my need into a pillow to muffle the sound of our passion. When his
lips arrived again at the junction of my legs and body, he seized the thong
with both hands and, kneeling over me, pulled it down savagely, before burying
his tongue full length inside me. I was clutching at the sheets to keep myself
from shooting straight up into the headboard when he pulled his tongue out and
lashed it against my clit, once, twice, and then held it there while I
dissolved under him.

"Oh," I gasped, "oh, oh,
omigod." If I'd ever had a stronger orgasm, I didn't remember it. It was
as if I'd orbited the moon and crashed into a warm ocean to drown. I clutched
Drew to me, surprised that he'd somehow slithered up my body to cover me in
kisses while I struggled to breathe. Slowly, my shaking and twitching subsided
and I heaved a sigh of contentment.

"Was that enough cuddling?" Drew
asked. Suddenly I was laughing, wriggling to be free, consumed with the need to
kiss every inch of him, maybe bite, and definitely to suck. With all my
strength, not much of which was left, I pushed him off me and pounced on him,
unsnapping his jeans, pulling down the zipper, and then yanking them downward
as he lifted his hips to help me.

"Something I can help you with?"
he asked with a smirk. I leaned forward and bit his shoulder.

"Ow!"

Without another word, I pulled at the
waistband of his briefs, and he again cooperated by lifting his hips. When his
cock sprang free, I swallowed hard. Had he always been this beautiful? This
delectable? A glistening bead of pre-cum at the tip invited me to partake, and
I flicked out my tongue to accept. Drew made a sound, and without further
teasing, I engulfed him, taking his full length into my mouth with a groan that
matched his.

Luxuriously, I sucked hard as I dragged my
lips back toward the corona, making him gasp. I swirled my tongue around the
head, and then slowly moved my lips back down toward the root, but Drew
couldn't hold back. His hand fell on my head and he pushed, thrusting upward at
the same time to bury himself deeply into my throat. Then he pulled away
abruptly.

"Drew?" I said, wondering what
I'd done wrong.

"I can't…wait just a minute."
While I wondered what was happening, he turned over and took something from the
nightstand. Turning back, he handed me the condom and asked me with his eyes to
put it on. I ripped the foil, took out the latex disc, and placed it at the top
of his straining manhood. Unrolling the condom over his throbbing cock was a
turn-on in itself, and I was panting by the time I'd finished it. I grasped his
latex-wrapped shaft in my hand and squeezed.

"God!" he responded. I could wait
no longer. I swung my leg over his and positioned myself with the head at my
opening, and then plunged downward to bury him inside me. Both of us cried out,
and I collapsed onto his chest, which had the unintended effect of pulling him
halfway out of me. He pushed me back up to sit upright, burying himself to the
hilt again. The sensation of being filled to overflowing resonated through my
core, which pulsed in response.

Drew's face was screwed up into an intense
grimace, and if I hadn't known better, I'd have thought he was in pain. But, I
was sure mine matched. Each time he thrust his hips upward, his pubic bone
ground into my clit, causing a responding spasm in my internal muscles, to
which his cock responded by swelling in a quick pulse inside me. We could
probably have stayed in that reciprocal loop of pleasure for a long time, but I
felt something building that demanded more. Drew must have felt it too, because
he reached his long arms around me and, in a deft move, flipped us so that I
was now lying on my back, and he was above me, with my knees up and legs
wrapped around his waist.

His face took on a rapt look, gazing at me
with eyes wide open, capturing mine. He began to pump his hips, thrusting more
and more deeply, until with a cry of release, I shattered again in his arms.
Dimly, I realized that he had found his release as well, as he murmured again
and again, "I love you."

Those fatal words. I love you. The reason
I'd broken his heart in February. This time I swallowed my fear. There was no
one else between us now, and I genuinely cared for him. Would I be able to love
him? I hoped so. I felt something for him. I was glad to have him with me, and
my god! The sex was incredible. Nevertheless, I was still only nineteen years
old, and I didn't have the confidence that I knew what love was, really. I
couldn't say it back, but this time I wouldn't drive him away. I'd let him stay
until either he'd taught me to love him or I knew for sure I couldn't.

~~~

I slept most of the night curled in Drew's
arms, though there were times when we both woke and drowsily made love again,
with less urgency and more sweetness. By early morning, I was drunk with lack
of sleep and Drew's kisses, but I knew I needed to go back to my own room
before Grace woke up. I kissed Drew and reluctantly left, happy in a way I
didn't recall ever being before. Even my delight in my daughter didn't have the
same quality as this. I felt invincible, as if everything from now on would go
my way. Was this love? I didn't know.

I managed to shower and make myself
presentable before Gracie started stirring, trying not to wake up. Eventually
she gave up and opened her eyes. "Hi, mommy."

"Hi, sweetheart. It's morning. Do you
want to get up and have breakfast?"

"Can I have breakfast with Drew?"

I was in trouble and I knew it. My daughter
had lost her heart to the gentle giant, and if I didn't lose mine, we were in
for heartbreak. Fortunately, I intended to try to love him, whatever that
meant.

"We'll see, sweetie. If he's up, he'll
probably want to eat breakfast with us." That was all the prompting she
needed to get out of bed and get dressed, though we had to go through most of
her outfits before we found one that met with her approval. Before we had her
shoes on, Katy appeared and demanded that we hurry up.

Except for Ethan, Katy was the youngest of
the kids, but somehow she had a sense of her own importance as Russ’s and Charity's
daughter. Though I never saw them teaching her to be a little princess, the
fact remained that she was one. Grace usually went along with being bossed
around by her, but this morning she balked.

"I'm going to eat with Drew," she
declared.

"Who's Drew?" Katy asked, though
she'd met him the day before.

"That would be me," came his deep
voice from the hall, causing Katy to shriek in alarm and Gracie to clap her
hands.

Drew came in then, scooping Gracie up for a
hug and a tickle with his morning stubble. By the time he set her back down,
Katy was demanding the same treatment. He looked at me questioningly and I
nodded, indicating it would be fine. It seemed my boyfriend had at least
captured all the children's hearts. I smiled inwardly at the thought. My
boyfriend. I had a boyfriend.

At breakfast, Russ asked Drew if he could
stay the weekend.

"I can stay today, but I'll have to
leave tomorrow afternoon," he answered. "I've got work Monday
morning."

It was the first time he'd mentioned work,
but of course, he would have had a summer job. His college expenses were paid,
but there was nothing extra for spending money, and he couldn't have a job
during the school year because of his athletic obligations. Russ, though, was
interested in what he was doing.

"It's nothing. My dad owns a little
handyman business, and I help in the summers. He doesn't have to pay me as much
as he pays other employees, so it gives him a break. I've got five younger
brothers and sisters," he said, as if it explained everything.

"I see," said Russ. I thought he
was disappointed in Drew's prospects, so I mentioned that he was hoping to be
drafted by the NBA at the end of his senior year.

Russ smiled broadly at him. "Good
luck, then," he said. "I'll even let you guys beat my Cowboys for
that."

"Thanks," was the reply, Drew's
voice dripping with irony.

Amber had been literally fidgeting in her
seat, and I looked at her then, wondering if she had to go to the bathroom or
something. She looked about to burst. I raised my eyebrow at her, and she took
it for permission to speak, as if she needed that.

"Janey, I have something to tell
you."

I looked around, curious that she'd chosen
the breakfast table with all the family and hands looking on to tell me
something. Why hadn't she waited for a more private moment? I waited
expectantly.

"I'm going to UofU in September,"
she squealed. "Isn't that cool?"

My first reaction was dismay. Who would
take care of Gracie…then I remembered I wasn't going back myself. I could take
care of Grace and Ethan while Amber took her turn on campus. I smiled back at
her, almost as happy for her as she was for herself.

"That
is
cool! Now I can pay
you back for taking such good care of Gracie. I'll be happy to watch Ethan for
you while you're gone."

Amber's eyes sparkled, and her grin turned
mischievous. "Oh, Ethan's going with me. Grace, too." What?

Before I could protest, she bounced again
and rushed to tell me the rest of her news. "We're both going to school,
Janey. We can fix our schedules so someone's with the kids all the time."

I opened my mouth to protest that you
couldn't have kids in a dorm when Russ intervened.

"Amber asked if it would be good
business for me to buy a duplex for you girls to live in while you're going to
college," he explained. "And it was a very astute question. I've arranged
to pick up a foreclosure, a duplex with one three-bed unit and one two-bed. You
girls will stay in the small side, and I'll be able to rent the other side to
three boys. Even giving them a discount to help keep the lawn up, shovel snow
for you and take care of any maintenance needs, it will more than make the
payment. I predict that Amber may go into real estate."

I was thunderstruck. Here was a solution I
never would have thought of, but Amber, who I thought of as the baby, had not
only thought of it, but successfully pitched it to Russ. Without breathing a
word of it to me. From the grin on Drew's face, I had the notion that maybe
he'd been in on it, too.

When I finally got the whole story, it
turned out that Russ had immediately decided to hire Drew's dad to renovate the
duplex before time for us to move in. How he'd conveyed that to Drew without my
knowledge while we were all sitting at the breakfast table was beyond my
understanding, or maybe that whole discussion was an act for my benefit. I
didn't know. What I knew was that it was a perfect solution, for Amber, for me
and for my future with Drew. He was even talking about renting one of the rooms
if the school would allow it under the terms of his room and board agreement.

~~~

The only thing left to do was to ask Drew
if my idea of having him talk business with Russ was a good one. He'd beaten me
to it, though. Somehow, Drew had already learned that Russ was an investor, and
had asked him to give some pointers for what to do with an NBA salary besides
squander it like other players, assuming he was drafted.