“I’m serious,” she says. “Were we in a relationship?”
Feelings time, I guess. I squirm a little in my stool. “You said you needed some independence.”
“Yeah?”
“Well… I thought you were breaking up with me.”
Her eyes go wide. “Why would you think that?”
“Isn’t that what ‘independence’ means?”
“No. ‘I want to break up’ is just that. ‘Independence’ means I don’t want to rely on you for everything.”
I stare into my wine. “I, uh, I guess I have some abandonment issues,” I mumble.
“Was your mom distant or something?” she asks with a smile. It cuts the tension a little.
I take a deep breath. Here we go. “No… I got walked out on just a few days before I was supposed to head for the altar,” I say.
She nearly spits her wine out. Maybe because she can’t believe I was almost married, not that I got walked out on.
I tell her the Cliff Notes version of my relationship with Tabitha and Eddie’s betrayal. There’s no sense making a whole maudlin tale out of the thing. What’s surprising to me is howeasyit is to share it all with Natalie.
For the most part, my hurt around Tabitha is still all wounds, not scars. But I’m so comfortable with Natalie, it starts to feel like I’m telling a story about someone else. Amazingly, by the time I’ve wrapped up, I actually feelbetter.
So much better, in fact, that as I pour us each another glass of wine, I find myself confessing to her, “Truth is… I may have some feelings for you.”
“Youmay?”
“Don’t tease,” I say. I give her an earnest look. “I have feelings for you. Like, real ones. And it’s a pretty big deal for me.”
Whoa, did I just say that? Well. It’s out in the open now.
I watch her take that in. She doesn’t say anything for a long moment. Finally, she sets her wine glass down and stands up. Is she leaving? My heart sinks a moment –
Then she places a hand on my cheek. Leans in. And kisses me.
It’s soft. Gentle.Affirming. A kiss that tells me everything I need to know.
She feels the same way.
The realization sends a fire through my body. I place my hand softly behind her head and pull her mouth a little harder against mine, kissing her more deeply.
She slides a hand down my chest and to my groin. Checks to see if I’m interested. I am. She pulls herself away from our kiss with a soft nibble of my lower lip. She kneels down.
I slide my hips forward to make it easier for her to undo my belt, unzip my pants. She takes out my straight-as-an-arrow cock. Slowly, she runs her tongue up along the whole length of it, pausing ever so slightly at the top before taking just the head in her mouth.
At first, she just holds me in there, her tongue rolling around the head. When I start to moan, she takes the rest of it. I let out a moan. Going slowly, she slides her mouth up and down one side, then the other. She takes the head in her mouth again, then slides off, then on again, going deeper and deeper each time.
“Oh God, Natalie…” I whisper.
She speeds up and slows down, bringing me close and then backing off again. She starts to get one of her hands involved, first just sliding her fingers along the underside of my prick. Then, she wraps her hand around my wet member, swirling around, and up and down as she continues to suck me off.
My cock gets even harder inside her mouth. I feel myself building up toward an orgasm. She keeps a moderate rhythm. Each motion of her hand, each slide of her mouth up and down my shaft brings me a rush of ever-increasing pleasure.
I grip the sides of the stool as I feel myself cresting the wave.
“Oh, Jesus, I’m gonna come,” I moan.