Friday Night: Threesome

"No really, K....  She’s not like the others.  She’s just... she’s so in tune with me.  She says she can even tell when I'm ovulating just by the taste..."

Terry's hand froze on the door, his keys still in the lock as the round tones of Elizabeth's voice floated out from the kitchen.  He winced at the graphic content and at the owner of the sultry over-sharing voice.  Both put him off.  He contemplated slipping back out and spending the night at his place.  How long had it been since he'd spent a night in his own bed? Two months?  Three?  He'd had a long day and the prospect of suffering a longer evening of Liz's obnoxious company was giving the thought of spending the night at his place - alone - more appeal than it might have otherwise had.   

"Ash says she’s ready for a child.... but I'm not sure..."

Thank Christ for that.  Liz should be the last woman contemplating motherhood.  Well, that wasn't entirely fair, though Terry wasn't feeling very charitable at present.  He personally knew a few women who would make worse mothers.  Still, if there was a motherhood queue, he rather hoped Liz was somewhere in the back of it.  Ah, her back.  He mused on the subject, lips pursed slightly.  What he wouldn't give to see the back of her tonight. 

He bloody hated coming home to find her there, chatting chirpily away with Karina as if she had as much right to be there as he did.  She made him uncomfortable.  In his mind, she was firmly in the category of women he thought of as 'firecrackers' - one good bang and it's over.  He didn't care to be reminded of that night they all spent together.  He didn't want to remember the things he'd done to her.  He didn't want to remember the things the girls had done to each other... and he really didn't want to think about Dino with Karina at all.  It had taken a long time for that image to fade and Liz's presence always stirred those old ghosts.

More to the point, he didn't like the ambiguity of her relationship with Karina.  He wasn't sure what Liz was to her now, and therein laid the problem.  They had gone round and round about Liz and nothing ever seemed to be resolved.  They had been lovers once.  If Liz had been a man it would be simple, if a bit heavy-handed.  He could just put his foot down and say he didn't want Karina's ex sniffing round her when he was out.  Who could argue with that?  Warning her off a 'friend' was another animal entirely.  He wasn’t suggesting she cut all ties – even if that was what he really wanted – but he didn’t much care for the idea of them chatting cozily away over a bottle or two of red while he was off out; a recipe for disaster if there ever was one.  Karina was impulsive and unpredictable at best, and he didn’t trust Liz as far as he could throw her.  Now there was a pleasant idea.  He allowed himself the small pleasure of that fantasy.  How he’d love to toss her out on her arse.

He hated the thought of Liz confiding such intimacies with Karina.  The idea of Karina opening up about such private topics in return made something churn unpleasantly deep in the pit of his stomach.  He was not one for sharing the private details of his romantic life, especially with someone like her.  More to the point, it was hard enough getting Karina to be open and forthcoming with him.  The thought she might still have that sort of relationship with Liz tripped a landslide of little red flags in his head, and it was that niggling thought that kept him from slipping out as silently as he'd entered.  He'd rather have all the details, however distasteful, than bury his head in the sand and pretend it wasn't happening.

He moved silently through the apartment, secure in the knowledge the two women would remain quite unaware of his presence until he chose to reveal himself.  It made him feel a bit uncomfortable to eavesdrop on someone he was supposed to trust; she hadn't done anything wrong - that he was aware of - but the fact she still welcomed Liz with open arms, despite knowing how he felt about her, made him angry enough that the head of steam he'd worked up overrode any lingering sense of guilt.

"You seem to be saying all the right things - and by that I mean more tactfully than usual, but I get the feeling your mind is made up.  Are you sure your life is really ready for a child, Liz?  That is a huge game-changer."

To his ears, Karina's voice sounded amused and slightly exasperated.  He knew her well enough by now to read the smallest inflections.  Liz was almost as stubborn as Karina herself and though the bond of their friendship ran deep, it was fraught with the kind of heated emotional bickering that drove him demented.  Liz always sought Karina's advice but rarely took it.  This annoyed Karina, who in turn annoyed him when she inevitably wanted to vent.  He didn’t give two shits about Liz and her overly dramatized problems. 

He could hear a knife on a chopping board and the clinking of glasses.  Flaming perfect, they were having wine.  No chance of getting her out early then.  He steeled himself for a long, unpleasant evening.

"No, but is anyone ever really ready?  Tick tock, you know?  We won't be thirtyish forever, honey."

He did not like the turn the conversation was taking, though his ears did perk up at the thought of Karina's reply.  They hadn't much discussed children beyond preventing them.  It annoyed him that Liz might know more than he did about her feelings on the matter.

"You might not be....  I, however, am the Queen of the Damned.  Surely all the blood I've drunk over the years has to have had some rejuvenating effect..." 

That was his girl.  Her acerbic reply made him smile.  

"Come on, now.  You can't say you haven't been even the least bit tempted by that Neanderthal in your bed.  You two have been attached at the groin for months!  Frankly, knowing your... appetite... I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.  If there was ever a man who could get the job done..." 

Hey!  Hard to fault her logic, though.  He did feel rather like a caveman at present, wanting to drag one woman out by her hair if necessary and drag the other to his bed.  Her bed.  Whatever.  Fucking semantics.  That's what he got for living with a lawyer...

"Hey, about the baby... we've been discussing our options....  you think Terry would..."

Was she fucking nuts?!   

He chose that moment to attack, swanning through the kitchen as he loosened his tie and ripped it off.  "Think Terry would what?"  He slipped his arms around Karina and kissed her a bit longer than necessary, but not so long that she would needle him for it later.

"Go for another threesome... or foursome... whichever," Liz lied smoothly.  "How is Dino, by the way?"  She dangled her overpriced black Ferragamo pump from her toe, jiggling her foot as she looked him up and down as if he was intruding in his own kitchen.  She was deeply ensconced in the chair and her easy repose annoyed him almost as much as the backhanded insult she'd just casually tossed his way.

"I wouldn't know." Terry waved off the glass of wine Karina offered and poured himself a generous measure of scotch instead.  "Ask him yourself, honey....  or is he not returning your calls?"  The barb was delivered with a smile, but it only served to remind Karina how neatly Terry could eviscerate someone in the right mood.  It made her feel wary, but not enough to defend Liz.  She was baiting him and deserved what she got.  Besides, Liz was a tough girl and could fight her own battles... and deep down, something in her was enjoying watching them rip at each other.

“Maybe it’s not my call he’s waiting for?”  Liz made a bit of a show of looking pointedly at Karina but stopped just short of reminding him how into each other Dino and Karina had appeared that night.  She might be ruthless, but she was not stupid.  She knew she could only push him so far.  Still, the thought of what Karina would do to Terry if she made him mad enough to throw her out was tempting.  If it had been any other man she would have tried it on, but Karina was different with Terry, and for the first time since she and Karina had been at school together, she wondered if Karina would side with her if she forced her to make a choice.  Perhaps that was at the root of why she disliked Terry so intensely.  She didn’t want to lose the only real friend she'd had in years.

Terry’s blood boiled but he only smiled coldly.  He was not about to play into her hands even if her words made insidious images flicker behind his eyes.  In the beginning, it had taken months before he could look at Karina and not see her fellating his best friend in his mind’s eye.  He did not intend to go back to that place.  They had come too far to let something so petty, something that he had consciously, even willingly taken part in, drive a wedge between them now. 

“Hmm.... Touched a nerve, have I, Lizzie?” He smiled darkly so she couldn’t miss that he was fully aware of what she was trying to do and that he was having none of it.  “Maybe you’d find things a bit more pleasant if you had a few less balls in the air?”

“Honey, there haven’t been balls on my radar for the last decade.” 

Terry pulled a face at her rude comment.  Karina hid a smile.  Terry could be crude enough when the spirit moved him though he didn’t much care for it from women, at least not in that context; another of his charming double standards.   “So naturally, that being the case, your first thought was to inquire about a threesome?  Or was it a foursome?”  He had her and he knew it.

“God, K!  How do you live with him?”

“Quite happily, actually.”  

Terry gloated. 

Liz sulked prettily.  

“Now if you two are quite finished, dinner is ready.  Maybe with your mouths full, you can find a way to coexist without all the bloodletting?”

Terry’s expression said: Don’t bet on it, babes.

Liz’s eyes sparkled mischievously.  “Well, I don’t know about you, Terrence... but I always find a full mouth improves my mood...”

Terry rolled his eyes, groaning inwardly at her ability to sexualize any comment.  It was not a quality he found attractive in a woman; at least not that particular woman.   

“Retract your fangs and play nice, Liz, or I won’t be held responsible for any blood that is shed...”

As if she ever did where Elizabeth was concerned?  He took a deep cleansing breath.  

“I will if he will.”  Liz extended her hand, daring him to take it.

“A gentleman’s agreement?”  He looked her up and down.  “How apt,” he said drolly, with a wicked grin of his own.  He wondered what Karina would do to him if he bought Liz a flannel shirt as peace offering. 

“Terry...”  It wasn’t exactly a chastisement.  Liz got on her tits, too.  Karina stood, arms laden with dishes and headed for the table.  “Liz: behave!  Terry: sit and eat.... and for fuck’s sake, shut up the both of you.  I hear enough men and women scratching at each other all day long to want to listen it to at home as well.” Even if she did find a macabre flicker of satisfaction in it.

Wasn’t that the truth?

“Then you’re in the wrong place, K.” Liz looked over at Terry pointedly and then mimed zipping her lips when Karina glared at her.

“Look.  I get it.  You don’t like him.  He has a penis and sleeps in my bed.  Get over it.”  She ignored Liz’s round-eyed look at her brutal honesty and kept right on going.  “He doesn’t much like you either... you don’t have a penis and used to sleep in my bed... and never mind the night we all spent in the same bed.  He has to live  with that and so do we.  I, however, like you both... and while I am not suggesting in any way that we all play happy families – because I quite enjoy the clever way you two square off – I do not intend to be the referee.  From here on out, each of you are on your own... so the sooner you make peace with that, the better.” 

Her dining companions were both surprised by the long speech.  Liz wasn’t at all used to Karina not unequivocally siding with her, and Terry’s experiences with Karina being so freely forthcoming were limited to say the least.  Both were taken a bit aback, but Terry was the first to recover.  He looked over at Liz.

“Bloody hell.  She always been this bossy?”

“No.”  Liz sniggered into her wine.  “She’s actually mellowed some in her old age.  We used to call her Miss BossyBritches at uni.”

“It’s better than what we used to call you....‘Beth ‘Beth....”

“Carpet breath!” they roared together.  Even Terry laughed.

He was actually enjoying dinner despite himself.  Karina’s eyes were sparkling and there was an endearing blush on her cheeks.  He smiled and shoveled in a bite before the pair of lionesses at the table tried to pry his old collage nickname out of him...

Friday Night, Late: Payback

It was hours before they were finally alone.  As the door closed behind Liz, Terry was amazed at how open and peaceful their space felt without her manic energy filling up every corner.

"Is it over?  Somebody pinch me..."  Terry groaned and rubbed his face.  "Christ.  Forget about waterboarding... an evening with her would break anybody."  Karina punched his arm.  "I should let some of my Pentagon contacts know... might very well change their foreign policy forever..."

"That isn't even the slightest bit funny."

"Why you grinning then?  You know I'm right.  It's a good job I've had special forces training, you know?  A lesser man might have tucked tail and run...  Fucking hell!  Thanks for the warning.  Cell?  SMS?  Text?  Email?  Fucking Twitter?  A little warning would have been nice, babes..."

"Why? So you could suddenly have a late meeting to attend?"

"Nah... So I could've come armed." 

"Don't you always?" she cupped his groin in passing.  

He chuckled, following her into the bedroom.  "A stick to bite on at the very least.  Just for the worst bits, mind... I'm a trained professional after all..."  He showered quickly and sat heavily on the bed, watching while she finished her nighttime routine before she stripped off and stepped under the spray.  "Still, dessert and coffee was a bit like that Op where they drop you off with nothing but a knife and the clothes on your back and you have to make your way through all the worst shit they can think to throw at you whilst keeping your bollocks intact..."

"Given to hyperbole much?"

He ignored her.  "Could've done with the knife, though..."  He mimed slitting his throat and fell over backwards on the bed.  

"Would you please shut up!"    

"Why?"  He sat up, his eyes suddenly intent on her.  "You got something else in mind for my mouth, counselor?  Thought you liked a man who knew how to use it?  My mistake."  He rolled over and feigned sleep.

Karina turned, looking over her shoulder at him while the water rained down her svelte form.  She was amazed how just the husky timbre in his voice when it dropped like that could make her shudder intensely enough to raise gooseflesh and make her nipples hard.

“Maybe you should be less concerned with what your mouth can do and more interested in what I can do with mine?”  

His back was still to her.  He shuddered visibly at the mental image her words conjured but didn't rise to the bait.  Interesting.  Clearly she was going to be made to work for her transgressions tonight.  It amused her as much as annoyed her.  Stepping out, she turned off the taps and considered her options. 

Aware there was a real window of time between Terry feigning sleep while he waited for her attempt to appease him for inflicting Liz on him tonight - and him actually falling asleep after a long day's work, Karina opted for simple and direct; hair down, shining loosely around her shoulders and a sweet pastel pink baby-doll negligee.  It was iridescent and sheer, hardly more than a handful of gossamer threads.  No makeup, no stockings, no panties, no artifice and no games.

She knelt on the foot of the bed, charmed by the strangled catch in his breathing when he rolled to his back and got a look at her.  She looked sweet and innocent and so very young... her slender form and small pert breasts only added to the disturbingly arousing imagery.  The blood rushed away from his brain at an alarming rate.  It was impossible to miss where it rushed to. 

“Jesus, you look all of sixteen in that....” His eyes were soft and he was rubbing a lock of her hair between his fingers.  “I feel like I should be arrested just for looking...”  His tongue peeped out.  “But thankfully I'm a very dirty bastard at heart and intend to do far more than that...”

“Never been one for following the rules, have you?”

“Not anymore...”

“How lucky for me.” though she wondered what he had been like back then before he'd been so jaded.  To be honest, she probably wouldn't have liked him much.  Doe-eyed innocence had never held much appeal to her, nor had following the rules, which was ironic given her choice of profession.

She was staying just out of his reach and it was making his brain buzz with anticipation.  “Now be a good girl and come to Daddy...” 

“I am going to pretend that you didn't just say that...”  but she moved closer all the same.

“Hell, you can pretend it didn't just light your fire, too, for all I care.  As long as you cop to inciting such a comment with that get-up, you can do whatever the fuck you like, sweetheart.”

She leaned in and traced the word “BUSTED” on the sensitive skin of his stomach.  They both laughed.  “Happy now, your honor?”

“Getting there.... I love this, you know?”  He fingered the lace at her breast, her dark nipples were clearly visible through the gauzy fabric.  “This bra says: 'put my tits in your mouth... they're delicious'...”

“I thought it said: 'jail-bait'.”  Her laugh was genuine.  

“That, too.” He didn't much want to examine why that was rocking his boat - but it was - and he was in the mood to indulge himself... and her -  even if it wasn't the smartest thing to do.... but then nothing in his relationship with her had ever been the smart choice.  Why start now?

“Besides, I figured the whole Catholic schoolgirl thing might have been a bit much tonight...”

“Only if you were trying to give me a heart attack.”

“Oh, I wouldn't rule that out just yet, lover....”  She crawled up the bed, settling herself on his thighs, his nude body displayed like a lazy lion on a summer day.  Her own body was on display too, her sinewy thighs were spread over his powerful hips showing him the smooth, newly hairless skin between.  He hadn't stopped touching her, though he had yet to touch her in an overtly sexual way.  It was making her a bit crazy.  She wriggled in his lap, lightly rubbing her naked vulva against the soft bulge of his scrotum.  “Mmm....”

He shivered as she slowly kissed her way down his body.  Her mouth was hot.  Her hair tickled.  She got to his groin with a little shudder of delight.  Somehow along the way, her natural desire for him had completely overtaken any attempt she had made at atonement.  Her eyes feasted on him.  Her mouth watered.  She felt hot, needy; filled with a heavy gluttonous desire to feed on him, to lap and lick and suckle...

She bit her lip, glancing up to catch his eyes; they were stormy and hooded.  Desire was etched in the lines of his face, but there was something else there, too. 

“I want you.”  She was all but purring, rubbing herself against him wantonly.  

“I know.”  He was smug.  He had the upper hand now... and they both knew it.  “What if I said I don't want to?”

She eyed the impressive erection on display before her rising up proudly from the nest of dark hair.  “Then I'd say the decision definitely wasn't unanimous.”  That earned her a short bark of laughter.  Her fingers rubbed into the soft fluff of curls at his base and a thick droplet of moisture appeared at the tip of his cock.  Her tongue peeped out on her lip; she was already anticipating tasting him.  He saw it and grinned, casually wiping away the drip and chucking when she protested. 

“Well then, what if I said you can't have me right now?”

She pouted prettily, slumping down on the bed next to him with a pained sigh.  

“That's just cruel.”

“No more than the evening I just spent dodging Lizzy Borden and the hatchet she has to grind.”   He laughed at the expression on her face.  “Come on, babes... don't give me that look.  That's not half as bad as your clever little names for all my friends.”

“I don't want to talk about our friends.”

His eyes twinkled.  “Me, either.”  

“I want this.”  She reached for his cock but he caught her hand easily.

“Ah-AH-Ah!  Naughty girl.  You don't get to make all the rules tonight, love.  You are on the no fly list until further notice.”

Not to be outmaneuvered, she lifted one knee and stroked her bare flesh lustily.  “I could always just do it myself.”

“You could...”  he nodded sagely.  “But we both know that's not what you really want.”

She screeched at him, a purely feminine sound of frustration that delighted him to no end.  “You are such a bastard.”

“That I am...”  He dropped his hand to his groin and stroked his thick length lazily, enjoying the way her greedy eyes watched his every move.  “But I'm not completely without a heart.... what if I offer a suitable alternative?”

“Such as?”

“To be determined....”

“Why?”

He shrugged.  “Because I can?”

She thumped him with a pillow and then groaned when the movement inflamed the slippery aching flesh between her legs.  It was freshly bare and all the more sensitive to every little jostling touch.  “Terry...” it was about as close to begging as he'd ever heard her come.

“Ready to talk terms yet?”

“I'm ready for you.  If that's what it takes to have you, then yes.”

“Right.  So here are the terms... you last ten more minutes without us,” he gestured to the showy erection bobbing gently with each beat of his heart, “and you can have whatever you want of me.  Fair enough?”

“No, but I'll take it if that's all that's on offer.”

“Not very magnanimous of you, but I will take what I can get.”  He clapped his hands.  “Okie dokie, then.”  He rose and sauntered over to the black lacquered cabinet by the bed.  “Let's just see what we find in here, hey?  Something tells me I won't be disappointed.... you either....”  He hadn't yet looked inside and now he was glad he'd waited; he enjoyed unraveling the mystery of each other bit by bit.  During their first wild fling, they'd had every kind of crazy sex imaginable, but since they'd reconciled, it had been pretty vanilla.  Maybe it was time to change things up a bit.

He whistled softly at the view as the doors opened.  “Boy, you have enough in here to keep a sex shop in business.”

“An upscale sex shop, thank you very much.”

Terry didn't answer.  He was looking through the cabinet at all the different satin lined shelves and drawers.  An assortment of fragrant oils, unguents and creams sat beside a small smattering of more exotic substances.  There were pockets for all manner of things, handcuffs, floggers, leather restraints, paddles, and feathers.  A series of small drawers held heavy balls and eggs of semi-precious stone in varying sizes, assorted cock rings, nipple clamps, a long, fine gold chain with little bells.  One shelf held a collection of erotic works of literature, another a varied collection of DVD's; quality stuff, covering vanilla to chocolate and most flavors in between.  There were rows of phallic objects; dildos of all shapes and sizes, some made of iridescent glass, one or two that looked to be carved of ivory.  There were even some things he'd never seen before. 

The larger shelves below held bigger items, positioning pillows, yards and yards of white silk; presumably for some sort of bondage play, harnesses of different size and construction, large pillar candles, a few bejeweled masks and an assortment of other erotic accoutrements.  Curiouser and curiouser....  

“That's quite the flash collection you have there.”

“It is.  Bit of a hobby of mine.  I've been collecting for years.  Mostly private auctions, that kind of thing.”  

“I can see that.”  He held up one curious object.  “What the hell is this?”

“I haven't the faintest idea.  Some early Norse sex object, I think.  I bought it at Sotheby's years ago.  Never did figure out what to do with it.  Why, you game?”

“You bet... just not right now...”  He pulled out an orange silk blindfold, considered it and then shook his head, stuffing it back into place.  “No, for what I have in mind tonight, I want to see your beautiful face....”

Karina shuddered.  He was purposefully drawing this out just to torment her.  “Time's wasting.”

He actually wagged his finger at her.  “I don't think so, sweetheart.  Time starts when I find just the right--”  His words died abruptly.  “What the fuck?”  He pulled out a heavy black silicone dildo as big as his arm.  “Jesus Christ!”

“Good grief, Terry!  Nobody actually uses dildos that big!  His name is Eric.  Liz's idea of a joke.  Whenever I had a big breakup or a spectacular crash and burn of the romantic variety, she'd always buy me one.”

His lips pursed thoughtfully.  “There's always a bigger dick, hey?”

“Got it in one.”

“I will never understand women!”  He looked at the impressive collection.  There were more than a few rows of dildos, lined up like beautiful little soldiers on a bed of immaculate black satin.  “Did she buy all of these?”  He was already running a mental head count.  Jesus!

“No!  That would imply quite a few more failed relationships than even an unemployed nymphomaniac could manage, never mind an overworked lawyer fresh out of school!  Liz just bought a handful of the stranger ones.”

“That is not reassuring coming from a woman with unknown Scandinavian sex toys.”

“The rest I bought myself.... I like pretty, unusual things...”  

He looked again and this time the standouts were easier to see.  It was a collection of exquisite sex objects chosen by a wealthy woman of some discernment.  Most were erotic but also beautiful; fine antiquities or examples of expert craftsmanship.  He selected another dildo; this one was heavy titanium and looked somehow both attractive and menacing.  “Do I even want to know?”  It practically screamed Logan.

“I don't know...  Do you?”  She was already walking a fine line here, aware of she pushed him much more he might just decide to end their little game altogether and then where would she be?  It was annoying to have to choose between winning a war of words and getting what she really wanted.

An uncomfortable thought suddenly occurred to him.  “I don't suppose...”

“No, there's no 'Terry' in there, if that's what you're wondering.”  She'd never actually told Liz about her past with Terry; not about their first one night stand, and not about that first wild fling they'd had after, either.  Liz knew she'd been seeing someone, of course, Karina just hadn't supplied any details.  Liz thought they'd met that night at Dino's and she'd never said otherwise, though she would bet her collection of vintage handbags that Liz had already chosen a 'Terry' for her collection and was just waiting for them to break up.  It was probably wrapped and ready to go, if she knew Liz.  She giggled, rolling luxuriously on the bed.  Her frustration was beginning to build unpleasantly as she looked from Terry to the open cabinet.  “It's an army without a general, it seems.”

For some reason unknown to her, that struck him as absurdly funny.  “Let's hope it stays that way, hey?”  He saw the question in her glance.  “I'll tell you later....”  He was glad not to be a part of her collection, but armies and generals was a conversation best left for another night.   

“I guess that makes you the biggest dick, after all.”  She sat up, the strap falling charmingly off her shoulder in a way that made him very aware of the task at hand.  Her eyes were glued to his naked groin, still tumescent but not yet painfully aroused.  It was unfair when she wanted him with such desperation.  “You certainly get my vote...”

He chucked, fingering a pretty, red velvet box at the bottom of the cabinet.  “And this?”  

“A gag gift from a dear old friend; the daughter of one of my first clients.  You'd love Pam!  She's one-of-a-kind, even if she is practically ancient....”  Terry extracted the pale, glittery, flesh-colored jelly dildo from the box.  From the fine packaging, he'd expected something a bit less... tacky.

“She blind as well?  This is...” He turned it.  It sparkled in the light.  “Fuck me!”

“No, fuck me!  Can't we just forget this game and go to bed?”

He shook his head.  The dildo jiggled ominously.  “Oh, no.  You are not getting off that easily.”

“Not with that, anyway....” she grumbled.

“I think we have a winner, babes.  Me and.... who is this chap, by the way?  Liberace?”

“Edward.”

“Like the king?”

“Like the vampire.”

“Now you've completely lost me.”

“Popular culture?  Ever heard of it?  Twilight?  Ring any bells, Skipper?  That movie franchise all the tweens are mad for?  Sparkly vampire and his unconsummated love for the virginal brunette?”  His look was still blank.  “You are totally hopeless.”

“But not as hopeless as Mr. Ed here, it seems....”  he crawled back on the bed and flopped down beside her.  She moaned slightly as the jostling scattered the butterflies that had settled in her insides.  “At least I've got a real live girl in my bed... and I know that while biting her might be fun, that alone won't get the job done....”

She knocked his hand away.  “I don't want that!  I want you....”  He kissed her deeply.  She melted under him but quickly rose up, pressing herself against him, trying to entice him into changing his mind by rubbing the smooth wet petals of her sex against his heavy cock.  He pulled away with a laugh; he had her right where he wanted.

“None of that now... Just count your blessings I didn't toss Eddie here into the freezer first for that authentic Nosferatu experience...”  He pressed the dildo into her hand and waited expectantly.

“You're a real bastard, you know?”

“The biggest dick around, or so I've been reliably informed.”  He cocked his head.  “Hey, you can stop at any time.  Nobody's making you.... but think of how good it will be if you do what I want...”  He stroked himself for her, watching her eyes glow, before catching the drop that he'd milked out and bringing it to his lips.  “You can quit now and get nothing.... or you can use that, tell me how it feels and get exactly what your heart desires...”

“Your head on a platter sounds like a fine place to start at the moment...”

“Which one?”  His grin was wicked.  “So what's it to be, babes?  Retreat or charge on with Mr. Ed here...?”

She said nothing, merely parted her legs in answer.  

His hand covered hers, nudging the glittering tip into place.  He teased her, stroking her slick, slightly swollen flesh.  “So pretty like that, all naked and smooth... makes me want to  taste...” but he didn't.  “I like hair... but there is just something about a fresh shave that really raises the tempo...”

“Among other things...”

“It makes me want to....” his voice trailed off, distracted by the prurient tableau he'd created.  

“To what?”

“Do very bad things to you, baby,” he growled.  He helped her nudge the toy in a bit further, until she was stretched deliciously on the crown.  “How does that feel, hmmm....?”

“Like plastic.  Cold.  Smooth....  Thick.... Dead.”  Interesting choice of adjectives.  She was more annoyed than he'd first imagined, but while her words showed displeasure, he noted she hadn't told him to stop.

“Help me, now...”

Together they pushed it slowly inside.  He watched the slow egress, feeling a prickling heat beginning to gather in the small of his back and coalesce between his legs.  Her eyes were closed now, a flush pinking her dusky skin.

“More...”

“Greedy...” but he did as she asked, pushing deeper.  “Can you feel it?” 

“Yes...”

He withdrew the toy quickly and she gasped, shuddering when he pushed it back again.  “And now?” She didn't answer so he did it again.  And again.  And again.  “And now...?”

“Not so cold now... but still not as good as you.”  her eyes were closed, her breath beginning to come faster now.

“You're wet,” he observed as he withdrew the toy and fisted the tip, now warmed by her body.  “But you are not wrong....” She wanted a hard thrust and he gave her one, pressing the toy deep; a prelude of things to come.  “I can smell you everywhere.... It's making me so fucking hot!  You can't tell me you don't like it....”

Her eyes opened, dark and stormy.  “It's just a lump of plastic.  I can't feel your heart beating inside me.  I don't--”

He resumed thrusting, ramping her up and up until she was twisting on the bed.  “Careful now, love... I'm going to take my hand away now... Don't let it slip out...”  He was aware for all her disdain, she was quick to secure a grip. He smiled, enjoying her torment while he made her wait for real flesh and blood. 

Watching her made his skin burn.  She seemed to be holding back her orgasm, not to prolong the pleasure but to spite him.  Her own little show of defiance, despite the agony it clearly cost her.  How like Karina.  It exasperated him even as it made him smile.  Playing these games with a partner who could actually challenge him on this particular battlefield was a rare treat, and one he intended to savor.

“I—I won't.... I just... oh!  Ohhh..... ”  Her rhythm was faltering now.  

“Yes... that's it, love... Fuck it!  Fuck it and think of me and imagine what I am going to do to you with this...”  he was openly stroking himself now as he watched her writhe. “...with my mouth and tongue, too.... or maybe old Eddie has it right?”  Without warning he bit her sharply, suckling the stinging wheal.

“God!  Terry....”  her head was tossing and the warm scent of a woman's deep arousal filled his senses, tugging at his own control. 

“That's the way now, darlin'.... push it all in.  Hard!  Just like I'm going to do to you...   You're so ready for me now... wet and open...”  He couldn't take his eyes off the hand working the toy between her spread thighs; the crude sight of her smooth pink lips stretched wide around the thick glittering shaft almost drove him over the edge.  “Are you thinking about how my cock is going to feel in you while you're fucking that?”

“Yessss......”

“That's it... jerk on it... hoh fuck!  You look so pretty twisting like that.... that's a good little girl....  come on... feel your walls squeeze down tight on it... make yourself come for me.... I want to see...” The deep burr of his voice was like another touch inflaming her weeping sex.

“Ohhhh....”

“Come!”

“Oh, god....” she bit her lip as her orgasm swelled and crested.

“No, don’t!  I want to hear!  Let me hear you, sweet girl...”  Her soft cries were quiet and intense as her body juddered and shook in his arms.  She tried to squeeze her legs together.  He held them open and covered her hand with his, feeling her rock on the thick length he held deep inside her.  “That's it... that's it... Shhh.... my sweet baby girl...”

He tenderly kissed her upturned mouth, her cheeks and eyelids, smiling down into her face when her eyes fluttered open.  His eyes were clear and bright, but she could tell he was on the edge.  It wouldn't be long now.  She tried to remove the toy.  He knocked her hand away.

“No!  Keep it there.... I want to pull it out...” he rose up, crouching over her, stroking himself roughly now, “...and follow it in with this.”  Even mired in the thick heat of deep arousal, he cocked his head and gave her a lopsided grin that was so Terry.  “...I just wanted to enjoy the view, first....”

She knew what she must look like to him, a disheveled young girl, flushed and loose with arousal, ready to be taken easily now, however he wanted.  How attractive that must be to a man; it was little wonder it seemed to be hitting all his buttons.  She had dressed to entice and inflame, but had imagined a different sort of game; perhaps some role-play where the shy virgin is tenderly taken by a man of experience.  She had even allowed herself to see it in her mind's eye; she would be shy, a blend of curious and demure while she explored him.  He would be patient and tender, kissing her softly and whispering that it would only hurt for a moment....

Instead, he had maneuvered things so that he got the best of both worlds, she still looked the disheveled innocent, but he had prepared her physically and emotionally to bear the full brunt of his unchecked desire. 

He chucked, pulling the toy from her silkily. “Well, that's Edward's cherry popped, then.  Hope it was good for you, mate...” he unceremoniously tossed the toy aside.  His eyes were dark and wild now.  “My turn...”

Without preamble, he fell on her, tugging one leg over his shoulder leaving her the other to wrap round his waist as he rammed in to the base.  She gasped; it only drove him on.  It was wild an unrestrained; taking her breath away and reducing his to guttural grunts as he pounded her into the mattress.  She urged him on, calling for him to fuck her and bite her and give her everything he had.  He rose to the challenge, proving himself to them both.  Sweating and heaving, their bodies drug and pushed each other to the final death; him first, in one violent cathartic burst of agonizing pleasure.  She followed in the aftermath, whimpering and contracting around the man who'd invaded every last part of her, body and spirit.

Long minutes passed where they said nothing, his head cradled to her breast while she stroked his hair, smoothing back the wet strands and gentling him with soft touches as he came back to himself.  Their legs were entwined sinuously, their fingers threaded.  The world seemed very far away.

“I'm always a little surprised when it's like that,” he finally offered, touching her tattoo lazily.  “That it can be so... intense...” he breathed in slowly, held it and let out out heavily, with a touch of censure, “... that I can be so...”

She touched a finger to his lips.  “Life is messy; we're made to struggle and fight, to best ourselves and break ourselves for even the chance to reach for what we want.  This is no different.... perhaps in this above all.  It's the act of giving of life, Terry.  It shouldn't be an easy thing, should it?” 

Her words rocked him back.  

Every time he thought he had her figured out, she threw him for another loop.  Scarier still, he was becoming addicted to the ride.  

He didn't answer her.  Pulling his finger from that crack in the dam would have unleashed something neither of them were prepared to weather tonight.   He pulled her close instead, tucking her into him with a care for her pleasure-bruised flesh.

“Come here, sweet girl.....”

“I like that,” she murmured sleepily.

“My best girl,” he whispered into her hair, “My sweet little girl...” a stream of post-coital consciousness followed; mostly murmurs and sighs, little things that if overheard would make then both blush and yet are so vital. 

The real glue that holds the cracks together.

Sunday Afternoon: The Holy Trinity

Karina was sitting on the lounge, knitting in the late afternoon sun when the phone rang.  Liz again.  She answered it quickly, Terry had fallen asleep in the bedroom while watching sport.  It felt remarkably domestic, and while not in her usual wheelhouse of simple pleasures, it was enjoyable nonetheless.  She put the phone on speaker to free her hands and hoped that Liz would want to talk about something other than getting pregnant.  Thankfully, she wasn't banging that particular drum, but the one she had chosen was nearly as annoying.  Liz was a good friend, but a trying one at times.  She liked to pick at things, and today she was picking at her relationship with Terry.   

“You know, K, all this talk about Terry reminds me of an indie foreign film I caught the other night... the girl wasn't much – cute, pert tits, blond highlights.... but you know I go for the swarthier ones-”

Karina sniffed in amusement.

“The guy was sort of hot though, if you're into that... some big Swede by the looks of him.  Kinda reminded me a bit of that boss you had... only... you know... fluffier.”

“Have you got a point anywhere in all of this, Liz?”

“Of course I do!  But you know how pretty things distract me... I bet he was packing!  He so looked like he could be.  There was this shower scene, but the damned curtain got in the way....”

Karina's needles clicked faster in irritation.  Liz could be so infuriating.  “Perve on your own time.  Terry will be awake soon and you know how he can be...”

Terry was already awake and listening, though feigning sleep.  First the ringing of the phone and then Liz's piercing voice had jarred him from sleep, but now the content of their conversation was keeping him awake.  His free hand searched for the remote, lowering the volume of the footy so he could hear a little better from the master bedroom.  The apartment had great acoustics, but Karina was at the far end, knitting in the lounge while she chatted to Liz on the speaker phone.  Interesting. 

“I DO know how he can be.  The words 'heinous anus' spring to mind.”

Terry pulled a face.  

“I swear I am going to hang up if you don't get to the damned point!”

“ANYWAY, it reminded me of you.  Well, you two.  The luuuurve birds.”

Karina was highly skeptical, but Liz had an uncanny ability to sense what was going on under the surface, even if she wasn't exactly aware of it.  It might prove interesting to indulge her.  It also wasn't exactly a taxing topic, and her interest was mainly on her knitting.  Maybe she could just get Liz talking.  “So....?”

“Well, the premise-”

“Briefly!”

“Guy meets girl.  Guy falls for girl.  Worse, girl falls bad for guy.  Problem?  Guy wants a traditional stay-at-home, barefoot and pregnant type and homegirl is up and coming in her field.  Some kind of real estate agent, if memory serves.”

“Relevance?”

“Getting there.  God, you're a bitch today!”

“Takes one to know one.  Next...”

“So brilliant hot sex turns into man punishing woman by withholding sex the higher up the ladder she goes.  Though there was this really hot – and sad – scene where he puts her off her seduction and later she catches him jacking off to some porn – really dodgy porn, at that-”

“Liz!  Focus!”

“....Only she just watched him wank and then slunk away, peeled off the lingerie she'd put on and took her measure in the mirror – where she clearly felt lacking – before going to sleep.  Alone.”

“And this reminded you of us?”  The touch of incredibility in her voice was turning to annoyance.  

“Not you and me- us.  You and him- that us.”

“Still waiting for the relevance here, darling...”

“Keep your fucking hair on!  Though I would like to remind you of your first encounter with Terry?  I mean, I don't remember all that much, but from what I do recall, punishing fits the bill to describe the pair of  you that night.”

Terry's brow furrowed.  The night they shared with Liz and Dino wasn't their first night together.  Their first night had been several weeks before that, and though neither of them had been exactly gentle, it hadn't been punishing, either.  His frown deepened.  No, the punishing had come after.  Damn Liz and her unsolicited (and rather astute) observations.

“You are mental.  That night was your thing.  YOU invited ME.  He was just Dino's friend.  I had never even met him!  Why would he want to punish me?  I might be a bitch, but still... he had turned up for a dirty boys' night in!  He was there to get his knob polished – which you did admirably, by the way – and his rocks, off – with our help.  Hardly a punishable offense, wouldn't you say?”

Terry's eyebrows went up.  So she'd never told Liz about their first meeting?  Curious.  He hadn't expected that.  It warmed his heart almost as much as the way they both spoke so casually about that other night turned his stomach.  Still, she was lying to Liz.  That got his attention. 

“I saw what I saw, K.”

“How you saw anything of note from the vantage point of Dino's flaming crotch, I will never know...”

“So you do remember.  It's not like it was the first--”

“Liz, I am warning you!”

Terry wondered what the hell she'd meant by that.

“Whatever.  So the film....”

“These circular conversations drive me demented.  Get on with it.”  She was trying to count stitches in her knitting and Liz was becoming more of a distraction than she was worth at the moment.

“So, girl starts feeling the distance and begins slipping away.  Guy notices and proposes out of desperation.  Homegirl accepts for the same reason.  The wedding bombs.  Girl has it out with mum cos mum knows Mr. Right is really Mr. Wrong and tears a strip off him.  Then girl gets bombed.  Guy gets pissed and shags her unconscious form afterwards and says he hates her.”

“Right, yes.... because Terry, despoiler of unwilling women and purveyor of dodgy porn, is rushing me to the altar.  Liz, you are cracked!  Terry wouldn't hurt a fly.... and he has quite decent taste in porn, actually.”

“Eww...”

“Oh, please!  You could make Samantha Jones blush so don't even try that on with me.  You're just in poor humor because I'm interjecting a bit of reality when your little walk down fantasy lane goes a bit too far round the bend...”

Liz kept right on going.  “So they divorce-”  

“That the bit that reminded you of me, then?  He had a bloody brilliant lawyer who took 'homegirl' to the cleaners and made a killing for him whilst pocketing a tidy little sum for herself?  I hope she spent her hard earned money on handbags and not shoes...”

Terry smothered a laugh.

“No, it was after.  She was showing a house a year on and he turns up with his new little meatball, heavily pregnant and wearing his ring.  Then like the asshole he was, he told her how fucking great she looked all while flaunting 'what could have been' in her face.  You should have seen her expression, K!”

“Charming film.”

“Hey, it was an indie flick!  What do you expect?  They're always morbid and depressing.”

“A point to this conversation better be coming soon or I really am hanging up....”

“She loved him.  His kind of love hurt her when they were together - and hurt her when they were apart, too.  Love as an expression of pain.  He wanted her to be something she couldn't.  She wanted him to be something he wasn't.  Neither of them were honest about what they wanted or needed- not even to themselves.”

Karina felt a sudden searing pain in her breast.  The story might have been trite, but Liz's haphazard summary resonated in an unpleasantly profound way.  “Gee, thanks.  Tell me what you really think.”

“It just made me feel sad for them....  For you.”  She was more hesitant now.  “I worry about you.  I still care, you know?”

“It's not me rushing to the altar or trying get knocked up, darling.  Have you considered the film – and your reaction – as a reflection of your own life?  Your own problems?”

“Now who's being a bitch?”

Terry sauntered in as Karina snapped her phone shut and chucked it across the lounge.  “Hmmm..... trouble in paradise?”

“You wish!”  Her eyes staked him as he stood there, waiting expectantly for her to continue.  “What is this?  A fucking RICO case?”

He tutted playfully.  “I'm not the one on speaker, babes.  You should know better...”

“I should with you around, you mean...  How much of that did you hear?”

“You know, most women would have inquired if their loud brassy friend had disturbed their partner's sleep and then apologized instead of grilling said partner for intel.”

“You are unbelievable!”  She stuffed her knitting into her bag and tossed a pillow at him.  “I don't even know why I asked. It's not like you'd ever tell me anyway.”

He stiffened initially at the barb, but threw himself down on the couch and pulled her into his arms, ignoring her struggling while she slapped at him ineffectually.  She was wearing one of his white dress shirts and that rarely failed to light his fire.  She was bare underneath save for a pair of shockingly bright fuchsia panties; one of those boy-shorts styles that gave the allusion of being little more than a perfect horizontal stripe slung low across her slender hips.  It was quickly replacing a barely-there thong in his list of favorites.  “I actually like you like this, you know?”

“Practically naked?” her voice dripped sarcasm.  

“All prickly and fired up....” he clarified with a grin.     

She was still peppering his chest and shoulders with light blows, but her bucking had become more of a rhythmic wriggle where her thighs were spread across his hips.  His hands had slipped under the long tails of the shirt to grasp the curve of her arse.  His fingers were digging in.  Wanting.  Something about the moment was exciting them both. 

“You really are fucked, then.”

“Only if I'm lucky...”

She rolled her eyes and blew out a breath.  Knitting heavy wool in the sun, the fight with Liz and then all that struggling had her feeling overheated.

“You look hot,” he observed casually.

“The sun...”  She gestured to the late afternoon sun streaming in over them.  He could feel it on his bare shoulders.  “...then Liz.  You know how she winds me up-”

“No.  I mean you look hot.”

The fight left her in a rush and she laughed.  “Honestly, Terry!  You can't spend every  minute of the weekend trying to get into my pants!”

“I can bloody well try...”

Monday Morning: The Daily Grind

Terry was enjoying the familiar domesticity of their morning routine.  He'd put the coffee on while she showered.  She'd make breakfast while he showered.  They'd meet up in the kitchen for a bite and a brief chat over coffee before going their separate ways.

He was savoring the cup of espresso she'd left for him.  His thumb traced over the red logo on the black mug.  He'd used it a thousand times but had never paid much attention to the cup itself.  Across the table sat her cup.  It read: 'Dances with Wool'.  He fingered the cup in his own hands, wondering what a Fangtasia was.  Probably some weird knitting thing he'd never heard of.  He dismissed it casually and returned his attention to the crisp paper spread out before him, ready to start his day and a bit annoyed at having to wait while she dallied about.

A few minutes later, Karina padded into the kitchen still in her robe, her feet silent on the cork floor.  She took the mug from his hands and took a sip before setting it aside.  Still without saying a word, she slid his phone over and tugged the paper away too; it slipped to the floor with a quiet crumple, forgotten.

In one graceful move, she straddled him and smiled, the table at her back; Terry at her front.  His hand touched her cheek tenderly before settling on her hips, hers brushed the hair back from his eyes.

The metallic sound of his belt being opened echoed loudly in the silence.  He could clearly hear the soft pop of the button as she tugged it free and then the harsh rasp of his fly being unzipped.  His eyebrow lifted, part question- part dare, but he remained silent and still, wondering what she might be up to – besides the obvious.

In such close quarters, she fumbled a bit freeing him from his drawers.  He didn't offer to help; he merely watched... and waited.  She lifted up and his chin came up too; he wanted to keep watching her eyes.  Her arms were around his neck and he could feel the tickle of her naked skin on the tip of his erection, but the angle was wrong.  He couldn't see below, but her cool hand slipped between them to grasp him and she sank down on him in one smooth motion.

He couldn't help himself.  His eyes closed on the downward slide and his breath chuffed out making a soft noise in his throat as he hilted deeply.  Her eyes rolled back and he could feel the warm gasp of her breath against his forehead.  Her fingers were laced at the back of his neck and she held him to her tightly as she began to slowly rise and fall, drawing soft gasps of air from them both. 

Coy at first, her mouth never quite touched his as they moved; their noses bumped, she seemed to be breathing him in.  She kissed him first, and the dam broke.  He kissed her in return with all that he'd been holding back; no longer passive.  The kisses were rough, their breathing ragged.  His hands were fists in her hair and hers were knotted on his shoulders by the end.  It was over in minutes; a breathy gasp from her, a deep guttural grunt from him.  A bloom of warmth where they were joined.  She cleaned him with her mouth after in a way that could only be described as languorous and redressed him carefully as if he were a child, ruffling his hair in a maternal way as she stood.

She put the paper back on the table and handed him his phone and coffee.

He took a sip.  It was still hot.  A long shuddering sigh followed and his sea green eyes caught hers in the quiet aftermath.  His lips twitched.

“Now there's a daily grind even that even the most enthusiastic tea drinker can get behind.”

“Or under.”

He saluted her with the cup and a smile; his pleasure-soaked mind already jumping to the day ahead.  Dino was going to take one look at him and his 'I just got laid' saunter as he strolled in, roll his eyes and make for the hills.  The day was looking better already....

Now if he could only work out what this morning's little diversion had actually been about, he might finally get ahead for once...