24. Sacrifice Of Your Comfort

24

SACRIFICE OF YOUR COMFORT

" H i," Aster said when he opened the door. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Thank you so much for the flowers. I'm not sure what was sweeter. Receiving the flowers or the note telling me to share them with the kids."

"You're welcome. I thought the kids would get a kick out of it."

"They loved it," she said. "They couldn't get in line fast enough to pick out their flower. It was the talk of the classroom and who they were going to give it to. Most were giving it to their mother, some to their grandmothers. One little girl said she was giving it to her father because he was a better cook than her mother."

"I wouldn't want to be in that household tonight," he said.

"I thought it was funny too, but I've met the parents and there are role reversals there. Stephanie's father is a stay-at-home dad and is the one I meet with more."

"He doesn't work at all?" he asked.

"I think he works from home. Stephanie has an older sister, but the father is the one bringing and picking them up. Going on field trips and the one I deal with for anything. I'm not sure what Stephanie's mother does, but I've heard she travels a lot."

"People make things work for them," he said.

"They do," she said. "And I was the talk of the school once those flowers showed up."

He lifted his eyebrow and took the box out of her hand. It was a bakery box and normally she baked so he had no idea what was in it.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

She was slipping her boots off and hung up her jacket. "No," she said. "But I hadn't told anyone I was dating you so once they found out it was Fireman Allen things got a little loud."

He wasn't sure why she hadn't told anyone. Nothing was a secret.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Nope," she said. "I'll leave all the silly girl comments out of it. And I can tell by your face you're confused why no one knew."

"It's your choice," he said. "I hadn't thought much of it and maybe you would have preferred that I didn't send flowers there."

"It's not anything bad. The truth is that I don't say too much about my personal life. Then when things don't work out I end up having to explain and don't like to. Or I get a lot of questions on the next step. It's like once you hit a certain age, everyone expects you to move fast or something."

He never thought of that either.

"We can move at any rate we want," he said. "And sorry if I put you in an awkward position."

"Nope," she said. "You didn't. But I want you to."

"Want me to what?" he asked. "Does this have to go in the fridge or not?"

"Yes. It's a cannoli cake. I know you like cannoli and I don't know how to make one. I thought it was easier to pick one up."

"I can't wait to have it," he said.

"It's going to have to wait," she said. She took the box out of his hand and put it in the fridge and then turned to lean against the door. "I want you to put me in an awkward position."

He lifted one eyebrow at her. "You're going to have to be more specific."

He saw the blush fill her face. He hadn't seen this side of her before.

"Do you have to do anything with dinner right now?"

"No," he said. "I haven't started it yet."

"Good," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his room. When she got to the doorway, she stopped and stared. "Oh my God, more flowers."

"It's stupid, I know."

She turned and lifted her eyes to him. They were filling with tears and he was having a panic moment that maybe being cliché today was stupid on his part.

But he was trying to be this guy that maybe she always saw herself with. The fun activities that she came up with and he wanted to do something for her.

Hence the flowers at work and the rose petals on the bed. He had candles next to it too and wondered if it was overkill.

"It's beautiful," she said. "So romantic. You did this for me?"

"I did," he said. "I heard you say before that it was one of those childish things you dreamed of."

"I was young and silly," she said.

"It's not silly if it's something you wanted."

She started to laugh and he wasn't sure what was causing it.

"Well," she said. "It's funny considering what I have planned."

"What's that?" he asked.

"Go light the candles, please."

He moved past her and picked up the lighter and lit the candles. One on the nightstand next to the bed and one on the dresser.

She moved over and shut the lights off, but he could see her clearly enough by the candlelight.

"What are you doing?"

She flipped the light back on. "I went to a lot of trouble to buy this. I want you to see it before I flip the lights off again."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Are you going to strip for me?"

"You won't laugh at me if I do it, will you?"

"Never," he said.

She hesitated for a minute. "I can't do it," she said. "Not without music. I'll feel silly. Maybe another time if I've had something to drink. But...I am going to undress for you to see your gift."

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall to get comfortable. "By all means," he said.

"I wish you could see your face right now. The grin you've got going."

"Really?" he asked. He felt the grin in place now that she pointed it out.

She pulled her phone out of her back pocket. "Don't move." She snapped the picture and then looked at it. "Oh man. Yeah. This is a keeper. Do you have any idea of how sexy you are?"

No one had ever said that to him. "Guys don't admit it even if they think it, which I don't by the way."

"Doesn't matter," she said. "I think it and you're my man. This is just turning me on."

" That I do like to hear."

She lifted her sweater over her head and he noticed a black lace bra with red trim around the edges. "It's a matching set."

"Very nice," he said. "That's what I call sexy."

She undid her jeans and pushed them down and there was a very tiny piece of black fabric covering her lady parts. Once her jeans were off, she turned and wiggled her hips to give him a good look at the G-string with a little red heart at the top where the strings met.

"All for you," she said.

He pushed away from the wall. In his mind, he wanted this night to be soft and tender and there was no way it was going to happen.

Not with her telling him to put her in an awkward position and now this.

He backed her up until her legs hit the bed. In this small room that didn't take a lot.

His fist went into her hair and wrapped around it, holding her head in place.

His mouth dropped down and crushed hers.

She reached up for his shirt and started to tug it up and over his head, forcing him to break the kiss.

She was removing his clothes at a speed that he was feeling.

Rather than put her on the bed, he thought of what she wanted and spun her around so that her back was to him.

"Put your hands on the bed," he said.

"Like this?" she asked.

He ran his hands down her back over the strap of her bra, letting her keep that on. If she went to the trouble to buy this outfit, she could wear it.

He wouldn't even have to remove her G-string, just shift it out of the way.

The only problem was she was so short he'd have to almost squat down.

But he let his hands run over her ass cheeks, pump them up and then massage them more.

"Get on your hands and knees on the bed," he said.

She crawled up and did as he'd asked, then turned to look at him over her shoulder. Her hair was half covering her face and she looked like a little vixen and nothing at all like an innocent schoolteacher.

Now he understood what she'd been trying to say all along.

What they had was between them and she wanted something like this.

He moved to the wall and hit the light. Now it was just the flickering flames from the candles in the room.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"To give us a little of both of what we had planned," he said.

He undid his jeans and dropped them down. He went to get a condom and she stopped him. "We are good to go on the pill now if you want."

He couldn't even think clearly enough to answer her and walked back to the bed, slid his fingers down between her cheeks, found her wet heat, then grabbed her hips and yanked her close to him.

The G-string was moved out of the way, he found her opening and thrust in deep, the two of them moaning at once.

There was no time to wonder if she was close or worked up. For once he found he was being a selfish lover, but he had just enough control to make sure he didn't finish before her.

He reached around her, found her swollen bud, and started to flick and pinch at it with one hand. His other hand found a perky nipple and did the same thing through her bra.

There were noises coming out of her mouth like he'd never heard before. Might be some of them were his too.

"How close are you?" he asked.

"I'm right there," she said.

She wasn't lying because the next thing he knew he felt her coming and squeezing his dick tight. He'd never felt something so intense before and was thrusting in harder, almost pushing her away, so he grabbed her hips to hold her in place while he finished off and then collapsed on her back.

His heart was pounding and he'd worked up one hell of a sweat.

He rolled and had her on his chest, the two of them still connected, but she shifted and then turned and flopped.

"Are you okay?"

"Wow," she said. "That was everything I hoped for and more."

He let out a laugh and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Good," he said. "What was that about?"

"Well, I wasn't trying to make you lose control, but the fact you did was even better. Maybe I just wanted to do something fun today."

"Like an activity of sorts? Because that was more like an adventure even though time-wise it didn't last long."

She laughed. "That's funny. Cute, but funny. And pretty accurate. I hope dinner is packed full of protein. I'm going to need it and I brought the sugar."

"I am pretty hungry," he said.

She slid off of him and then stood up to walk to the bathroom. "I'll help with dinner," she shouted. He could hear her since the bathroom was next door. "Can you get my bag, please? I need it."

He got off the bed and pulled on his underwear and jeans, then got her bag off the couch and walked to the bathroom door and rapped his knuckles on it.

"Everything okay?"

"Yep," she said, opening the door. She was still in her sexy outfit. "I need more comfortable underwear. I'm lucky I lasted this long with them on to drive here."

He laughed and kissed her on the lips; she grabbed her bag and then shut the door on him.

He returned to his room to get his shirt and turned when she came out in black cotton panties that she normally wore. Just little bikinis.

"I appreciate the sacrifice of your comfort."

"Any time," she said. She was wiggling into her jeans as she yanked them up. "That was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. The position and the underwear. I might need to get more of it. I did find a rose petal stuck to me inside of it though. I don't even want to know how that happened."

The thought made him grin.

"I won't be a wuss again like that. I don't want to say it backfired, but it didn't turn out the way I planned."

"Sometimes life is better that way," she said and slapped his ass, then shook her hand. Oh yeah, he wasn't sure why he thought she was so sweet and pure when he found he loved this side of her they had when they were alone.