Chapter Fourteen
Grace
The clanging of pans in the kitchen roused Lana. She opened the door a crack. “Anyone else here?” she asked.
“No, just us.”
With the confirmation that we were alone, she opened the door fully and exited her bedroom. Her hair was matted to one side of her head and last night’s mascara was smudged in big half circles under her eyes. She grunted a hello.
“Nice look, Sullivan,” I teased. “The smoky eye look is really taking over, huh?”
She flipped me off and sat down in the chair. “Why are you so cheery this morning? And where’s Noah?”
“Don’t know,” I handed her a water bottle and she drank it three quarters of the way before returning the bottle to the table.
“Did he kick Jack out?” she wondered. I shrugged again. I had only the note and some vague memories of trying to lure Noah into bed with me. I had a minor pang of embarrassment, but I took comfort in his note.
“Pancakes?” I offered. After drinking the tall glass of water and taking the two aspirins Noah had left for me, I started feeling human again. He had undressed me for the most part and must have even washed my face. When I went into the bathroom, there was a washcloth draped on a towel rack and my face looked surprisingly clean.
He had taken good care of me and, from the indentation in the pillow next to mine, slept next to me as well. I rolled around a bit in the cool hollow left by his body and sniffed the pillow for a good five minutes, trying to capture the faint scent he left behind.
Pancakes, I had decided, would be a great way to soak up any excess alcohol, and I had just started making them when Lana poked her head out.
“Yes, two,” she muttered. I served Lana two and myself two and set the rest aside to put in our freezer.
“Can you help me sort through my pictures this morning?” I asked Lana. Her head shot up in surprise.
“Are you finally going to submit to the art department?” she asked, barely swallowing her food before she spoke.
“I am,” I could feel my grin stretching my face. I had gone online this morning and looked at Dr. Rossum’s office hours. “I sent an email requesting a meeting.”
Lana clapped her hands and reached for me. “I’m so proud of you, Gracie.”
“In other good news, Noah left me a note that they’re having a party at The Woodlands tonight.” Everything seemed to be going perfectly.
“Yeah? That sounds like fun.” Her enthusiasm was subdued, but she still seemed happy.
“The note also mentioned that I shouldn’t drink much because he wanted me to take advantage of him.”
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Lana smirked.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling too wide. “Yes, or at least I hope so.”
This motivated Lana into action. She hopped up and came around the table. “We need to go shopping!”
“For what?”
“Clothes! Lingerie!” I laughed at Lana’s enthusiasm.
“Why not?” I was a little lightheaded with the idea of having sex with Noah. A little anxiety had driven me into overindulging last night, but today, somehow, I felt excited and empowered. Likely because I had acted a little foolish last night, and Noah wasn’t deterred at all.
***
“Where do you see this going with Noah?” Lana asked me as we rifled through bras and panties and other scraps of lace and faux satin at the lingerie store.
“Don’t know,” I lied. I had elaborate visions of where this was going with Noah, but I wanted to focus on tonight. “How about this?” I held up a pair of lacy white boy shorts. It seemed sexy and something that I wouldn’t constantly have the urge to readjust.
“Nice, but maybe you should go all out.” Lana offered a red one piece full of lace. Pushing one corner of my mouth up in a grimace, I shook my head.
“You have to unsnap it at the crotch to pee. It can’t be comfortable.”
“This isn’t for comfort,” Lana said. “It’s for sex.”
“Please, can you say it louder? Why not just put a dick on my back?”
“It’s sex,” Lana said more quietly. “You need to remember that.”
“What does that mean?”
Lana laid down the red garment and turned to look at me. Her face was very serious and I thought I saw a glimpse of pain in her eyes. “When you have sex for the very first time, you can ascribe a lot of emotional feelings to that one guy. Sometimes it is really hard to set those aside.” She put her hand on my arm as if she really wanted me to pay attention. “Noah hurt you and your relationship wasn’t even physical. Now he is going to be your first. When he leaves you, it is going to be a million times worse.”
When he leaves you. Those were the only words that really penetrated. I suddenly felt so cold. “God, why is the air conditioning so high here?” I asked with false cheerfulness. I looked down at the red concoction of lace and ribbons. In my little fantasies, I hadn’t gotten to the part where Noah left me. My heart stuttered a little.
Putting an arm across my back, Lana said, “Enjoy your time with him. He’s a great guy, and he’s perfect as your first. But be careful. He’s hurt you once. He has a bad track record of stringing you along and then backing out once he’s got you. Maybe he just likes the conquest.”
“Just sex then?” I picked up the red number. I didn’t know if I could do that and still guard my heart from him. But maybe the uncomfortable scratchy lace would be a reminder that this wasn’t about being comfortable and safe but about trying new and different things. Just this once.
***
Noah came and got me before the party started. He told Lana that he’d pay for a cab for her, but she declined. She was going to play designated driver for Amy and a group of the sorority girls. Noah left Lana with six wristbands. “Give them to whomever you want. Just show them at the gate to get in.”
Noah, Finn, and I went to a warehouse store to pick up plastic cups, napkins, chips, bottled beer and liquor. The other guys were in charge of obtaining the keg.
When we returned to the house, Noah went upstairs to lock all the doors. “The locks are pretty flimsy,” he explained. “But having a barrier prevents most people from trying to use our rooms.” Finn pulled out some yellow crime tape and draped it across the stairs.
“Do you really think that tape is going to prevent anyone from going upstairs?” I asked.
“No,” admitted Finn, “but it might deter some, and that’s worthwhile.”
Their video game consoles and laptop computers were all toted out to Finn’s car and placed in his trunk. He and Mal drove away and returned about twenty minutes later in Mal’s sports car.
“What is that car that Mal drives?” I asked as I saw it pull into the driveway next to the kitchen door.
“A McLaren. You like it?” Noah asked, coming up behind me and putting his chin on my head. It was a really gorgeous car. Silver, sexy and low slung. I didn’t really know much about cars. Uncle Louis drove a big Bentley, and Lana had a zippy BMW. I didn’t have a car because I didn’t like to drive. I could count on having Lana or Josh drive me most places I needed to go.
“It’s pretty neat.”
“It also cost more than hundred grand,” Noah said flatly.
“Really?” I guess I knew that there were cars like that but it seemed crazy. “And Mal owns it?”
Noah spun me around. “Yeah. You want a ride?”
I shook my head vigorously. “No. I’d be too afraid I’d accidentally scratch the interior with my finger or something.”
He looked at me, his hands on my upper arms. He started to say something and then stopped and kissed me hard. Thoughts of the car dropped away and all I could think of was how much I didn’t want to party with anyone tonight. Instead, I wanted to go up to Noah’s bedroom and lie down and show him this red teddy, as the saleslady had called it, and see what his response would be.
Instead, Noah stopped kissing me like he had a hundred times before. One of these days, he wouldn’t stop, but instead we would kiss and touch and love each other until the sun rose. Maybe even tonight.
Noah lifted me onto the corner counter in the kitchen. The stove sat just to the right of my legs, but I guess that no one would be cooking tonight. The keg was positioned outside on the patio.
The long sectional sofa that usually sat in front of the fireplace and big screen had been carted upstairs. All that was really left was their ten-foot long table and a multitude of chairs surrounding it. The house looked even more cavernous. Even the flat screen had been removed from above the fireplace.
“Three parties ago, the TV suffered a near-miss,” Finn explained when I asked him about it.
“Do you guys have nicknames for everyone?” I asked after Finn referred to Mal as“ Charles.” Charles was short for Charles in Charge, an old show that featured a manny, I was told. Mal had four younger sisters and had taken care of them since he was 14 until his mother married“ dickhead” last year and Mal finally moved out of the house.
“Yes, and for everything,” came Finn’s no-nonsense reply.
“It’s part of the guy code,” Noah explained, leaning around me to rearrange a tray of freshly poured shots of Patrón. “And since you’ve been privy to some of our secrets, we’re not going to let you leave.”
“Oooh, threats,” I teased.
Noah looked at me with a serious expression. “Nope, not a threat. A promise.”
My laughter kind of died in my throat. I wasn’t sure what he was saying to me. I know what I wanted it to mean. I spoke, but my voice was raspy. “I was just joking.”
“I know,” he replied. “I wasn’t.”
Finn coughed to remind us he was still present. I changed the subject.
“Do you guys charge for the party?”
“No, charging is for douchebags. If you want to host a party, pay for it,” Finn said, throwing a couple chips in his mouth. “Though maybe we shouldn’t have gone for the Patrón this time.”
“These parties get a little wild,” Noah agreed. “Open up,” he said and pushed a Jell-O shot in my mouth when I complied.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“No, but I figured one Jell-O shot early in the night wouldn’t hurt either of us.”
“Our parties are a goddamned debauchery,” Finn added, clapping his hand on Noah’s shoulder.
“Where’s her bracelet?” Finn asked, looking at my bare wrists.
“Don’t have any,” Noah said. “You and Adam went over to campus. I gave mine to Lana.”
“Oh man, I gave them all out at campus. I wasn’t even thinking. I tagged about two dozen hotties. I’m going to be morose when you and Bo graduate. No more college-—”
“Language,” Noah interrupted.
“Ladies,” Finn substituted. “Maybe I’ll have to audit some classes.”
I shook my head. Finn talked a big, dirty game, but I hadn’t seen him with anyone.
He went over to the patio doors and asked Adam whether he had any spares left. Finn turned and shook his head at us. “Negative, buddy.”
“Are you handing out jewelry to coeds? No wonder your parties are so popular,” I said. I pushed lightly against the counter, making a motion to get up. Noah absently pushed me back. He obviously wanted me to stay. He looked down at me, contemplatively, and I quirked an eyebrow up in question.
Then his hands went to his neck and pulled his dog tags off his chest and over his head. He strung the chain over my head. My hand came up to clutch at the metal, warm from his body.
“She’s wearing his dog tags,” Finn yelled back to the patio. Two heads—Adam and Mal’s—poked in the doorway.
I blushed but said, “You guys are worse than sorority sisters having a postmortem after a mixer.”
“Is she calling us pussies?” Mal asked.
“She’s calling you a p-ssy, jackhole,” Adam said and pushed Mal in the back of the head.
I shook my head. “I take that back. I think you guys haven’t graduated from kindergarten yet.” But I hadn’t removed my hand from the dog tags, and Noah noticed.
***
“We need Grace,” Lana yelled, running over to my corner where I sat, virtually unmoving, since Noah had set me here hours ago. I hadn’t needed to move. One or more of the Woodland boys were always with me, filling my cup and making sure I was entertained. Finn and I engaged in thumb wars. Fortunately, Adam was doing my Jell-O shots when I lost, because I lost a lot. Adam was well on his way to being trashed—if he hadn’t already arrived at his destination.
He had gotten his cast off and was weaving a path from the kitchen to the great room, alternately singing, dancing, and drinking feverishly. I could see why he was in a band. He was a natural performer. His ease with having every eye on him and his charisma that spread like a netting over the room were apparent forty feet away. I could easily envision him on stage in front of a stadium full of screaming fans.
Mal was completely different, more like Noah. They were both quiet and watchful. Finn was the clown, and I wondered, the more time I spent with him, if his funny man routine wasn’t a little too forced. Bo was even joking with me, even if he kept a cautious eye out for Noah. But I liked them all. These five thoughtful, handsome guys who all took turns taking care of me, making sure I was having a good time.
Lana was out of breath when she reached me, as if she had been running a mile rather than the space of a room. “Come on and do the Single Ladies dance with us. We need another body.” Lana had learned a number of dance routines at her camp. Dancing, she was told, was a good way to keep her body in shape in a healthy way. She forced these routines on me after she returned home. I hadn’t the heart to resist her, and frankly they came in handy when we killed at Dance, Dance Revolution, which was about the only video game either of us were adept at. But I didn’t want to dance in front of the crowd here.
I shook my head no. “Oh no, not tonight. I’m tipsy and it’s been forever since I did that routine with you.” I wasn’t tipsy at all. I had stayed carefully sober so that Noah wouldn’t have an excuse to deny me, but that still didn’t mean I wanted to shake my booty in front of this crowd.
Mal was my drinking partner at the moment and looked on with interest. “Routine? Dance? I wanna see.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can describe for you what it will look like. One awkward girl who can barely remember any steps stumbling into nine drunken girls. We’ll be like dominoes.”
“Your description only makes us want to see it more,” Noah said, turning up behind Lana. I could see I wasn’t going to get out of this without making a big scene. A crowd had gathered. I weighed being the party downer or making a fool of myself and decided for the latter. If there is ever a time to make a fool of oneself it’s while everyone is half-baked and unlikely to remember in the morning.
I allowed Lana to pull me down off my perch. I made a face at Mal and Noah. “I expect repayment in the form of sober embarrassment from both of you tomorrow.”
Mal gave me a flimsy salute, and Noah pushed him in the side. But the two followed Lana and me as we approached the great room. Adam was over at the music console, spinning up the song. I almost groaned when it started. Lana took her place in the middle and I attached myself at the end. I didn’t remember the moves very well and found myself turning the wrong way a couple of times. Still, by the chorus, muscle memory had kicked in.
Noah watched from the front row, his dark eyes unwavering. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt sexier in my life. When I shook my hair or dipped low, I kept my eyes trained on his. It felt like we were exchanging secret messages I hadn’t yet figured out how to decode. My thoughts were jumbled, but I gave over and let the music take me and move me. I danced as if Noah and I were the only ones in the room.
When the song was over, there was a big cheer and clamors for more. Out of the side of my eyes, I could see the other girls preening, but Noah was walking purposefully toward me. He grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd to the police-taped stairs. He unhooked the tape from one side, pulled me through and leaned back to reattach it. Then he moved upstairs, pulling me gently but insistently behind him.
Bo appeared at the top of the stairs and gave us a knowing half smile. I flushed with embarrassment and anticipation. Noah’s room was dark and somewhat quiet. The pulsating music from downstairs, was deadened a bit by the space and the walls of the bedrooms. He paused and looked down at me. “You okay?”
I was okay, and I was ready.
Noah
I walked her into the room. Shutting the door behind us, I locked it and stuck my desk chair underneath it. I didn’t want any drunken fools to interrupt us. The room was dark. I had drawn the blinds earlier and, with the door to the hallway closed it was hard to even make out the bed.
I didn’t want to flip on the light, though, feeling that might make Grace uncomfortable. Instead, I crossed to the bathroom, flicked the switch and left the door ajar. The light spilled out and threw shadows over the bed.
I looked back at Grace. She appeared adorably awkward, folding and unfolding her arms as if she didn’t know what she could touch. Everything, I said silently. I would show her instead.
Crossing over to her in two strides, I swung her up in my arms. She gave a squeak and patted my chest. “Nice,” she smiled.
“That’s not the only thing you’ll be saying about me tonight.” I told her with a cocky smile.
“Do you prefer the religious exclamations like ‘oh God,’ or do you have a bedroom nickname?” she sassed. I liked her when she was teasing me. Placing her on the bed, I knelt down next to her.
“I think you’ll be too incoherent to form full words,” I taunted.
“Big talk, no action,” she countered.
“I’ll give you action.” I leaned over, kissing her neck and stroking my hand on either side of her throat, down her chest and over the plump rise of her breasts.
I felt the thrum of her heart speed up against the press of my lips against her throat. I opened my mouth and sucked gently at the pulse point. I pushed her shirt upward but instead of encountering bare flesh, I felt the uneven pattern, like the lace of the panties she wore last night.
I pushed up on one arm and raised the shirt higher. “What’s this?” It looked like a very sexy undergarment made of lace, a shiny fabric and a ribbon that held the two together. Her fairly demure outfit of T-shirt and white denim skirt hid a very naughty secret.
I urged her to sit up, and I swept the shirt off her body. I barely restrained myself tearing the entire thing off. Surely that was what they were made for. I took a moment to admire the picture she made. The red lace cupped her breasts and the dark of her nipples could be seen through the fabric.
I bent down and drew one nipple into my mouth. Her hands crept into my hair. Encouraged, I brought one hand up to cup the neglected nipple. I rolled one nipple with my tongue and lips, and plucked and tugged the other with my fingers.
The other hand I placed on her bare, silky thigh. No signs of resistance met me; instead, her legs opened slightly. I accepted the silent invitation to move upward, pushing the denim skirt as I moved to expose more of her tender flesh. The lace fabric between her thighs was wet and the metal snaps gave way to my questing fingers. I rubbed her gently, petting her until she raised up to meet my hand to force a harder pressure. I slipped one finger inside of her.
So very tight. I groaned against her breast. Carefully, I pushed the other finger inside of her. I kissed her then, my tongue invading her mouth with the same rhythm my fingers pumped into her. I curled my fingers upward, feeling for that soft spongy flesh of her G spot.
I knew I found it when her body tensed against mine. When she made to move away from the unfamiliar sensation, I blocked her with my thighs, settling my cock against the back of my hand, rubbing against myself as I stroked her. I teased and caressed her with every skill I had ever possessed. I kissed her with every ounce of energy inside me. I felt her body tense; her thighs closed hard around my hand. Her fingernails dug into my shoulders, and I reveled in the pain.
I could come this way, but I didn’t want to. I thought of marching in the desert. Of my finance exam. Of cleaning up after the rager downstairs. I kept stroking her until I felt her release rush down my fingers onto my palm and heard the sweet, soft cries of her orgasm ring in the night air.
“I promise to admire this later, but this thing has to come off,” I told her. She nodded mutely at me but didn’t move. Her eyes were filled with wonder. Not just a virgin, I thought with fierce pleasure, but no one had ever made her come. Or at least not that hard.
I wrestled her skirt off and tried to remove the laces. Eventually she helped me push the lace and ribbon concoction off. Her body was flushed from passion. I stroked my hands all over, touching her throat, molding her breasts into peaks for my voracious mouth. I tongued, sucked, and licked one and then the other.
Moving lower until my head rested between her legs, I kissed her and then spread her wide. She made a weak sound of protest that I ignored. I had to taste her. Her lower lips were plump and wet. Remnants of her orgasm glinted in the faint bathroom light. I laid the broad flat of my tongue against her and gave one long, languorous lick. Delicious. I could eat her all night, and some day I would. But tonight I wanted to make her come, just one more time. My hard cock was so ready for her that I feared I would break in two before I could sink it inside of her.
I held her thighs apart and ate at her. Her musky scent filled my nose and her taste on my tongue made me want to spill. I slipped two fingers inside her again, working her with my fingers and tongue until I felt her convulse again. Now she was ready.
Grace
I felt like my mind had splintered into a thousand pieces, like I had become a collection dust mites, just a hundred particles floating in the air.
Noah shifted, and I heard the crinkle of a wrapper. His fingers slid back down between my legs, circling and pressing until my breath hitched, and I cried out softly in desire. His gaze was wicked now, and he made no effort to quiet me even though there were nearly a hundred people downstairs. As he slid one and then two fingers inside me, I turned my head to the side and bit into the fleshy part of my hand. He laughed and crouched over me. “Afraid someone might hear you?” he whispered in my ear. The hot wash of his breath made me shiver. His fingers kept stroking me and in the quiet I could hear how wet he was making me. He was learning me with each stroke. What turned me on, what made me weak with want.
He pulled my fist away from my face and laced our fingers together, holding them flat against the bed. His other hand was still thrusting and rubbing between my legs. I began to sob softly, wanting so desperately another release. “I don’t care who f*cking hears you when I make you come,” he said. With his words, I did, and a cry escaped me. Noah’s lips were sucking on my earlobe, then my neck, biting into my shoulder as I came again. He cupped me until my breath evened out.
He slid his fingers from me, and I could see they were wet, slick with my desire. He rubbed his sheathed cock with his fingers and then dipped inside for more lubrication. His long fingers curved around his girth, pulling hard at his length.
In the dim light, I could see the skin of Noah’s cheeks pulled taut. I pleaded with him, not sure if I wanted to be the one stroking him or just wanted him inside me. “Please, Noah, please,” I moaned. He was out of reach for me, sitting almost perpendicular to my body in repose.
“Just getting ready for you,” he said and then scooted back to position himself between my legs. I opened my legs wider to accommodate Noah’s frame. He pushed in slowly, slicked by my release. He placed both hands at my inner thighs, widening me even farther, opening and exposing me to his gaze and to the push of his cock inside me.
“You feel so big,” I said, gasping at the sensation. He groaned out loud at this.
“You okay?” he panted, bracing himself above me.
I pulled him toward me and said, “Yes.”
Slowly he pumped shallowly against me, waiting for me to fully accept him. With each movement, I became slicker and wetter until he had slid home completely. He rested there, allowing me to accustom myself to his thickness, and then, when I lifted my hips, he began thrusting faster. His moans and grunts mingled with my cries and the noise we were making, the wet slapping sounds as he pushed into me echoed loud in the room, mixed with the deep bass the reverberated from the party downstairs.
Right then, there was only Noah and me and a pinpoint sensation at my center that was flooding outward into every extremity until I was one mass of feeling, shaking from the inside out. My toes curled and my head flung back, I allowed that wave of feeling to overtake me like the warm tide and I felt Noah push hard into me twice and then shudder and collapse. I raised my arms and felt the sweat like a fine mist all over Noah’s back. I licked at the saltiness of his skin and he buried his face into the side of my neck.
Noah
I laid on top of her, breathing heavily. This was what I had fought for. Like Odysseus I had strung my bow and carried my love to the bed that I made her, the living olive tree at its base.
I slipped out of bed to dispose of the condom and pulled down the covers. I slid us both underneath, and she curled around me.
I ran my finger down her back, tracing the slight slope of the valley formed around her spine. I felt the sharp shape of her shoulder blades and marked the spot mentally. I would want to travel the path with my tongue.
Maybe other guys could give her nicer cars or more money, but no one would ever want her like I would. And no one would work to give her the same pleasure.