Chapter 8

Cecilia

“C ecilia!” Ugh, here we went again. Keri had arrived on time to work on Monday, which was almost miraculous. Then she had been on my back all morning. She was on some kind of tear and the focus of her fury was me.

“Are we low on the morning blend?”

“No, there’s more in the back,” I told her.

She tapped her foot. “Bring it out here, then!”

Neveah and I exchanged looks, then dragged out the bags, only for Keri to tell us that there was no room for it behind the counter. Well, duh. She was all over the café, criticizing everything.

“It looks like this has never been mopped! Cecilia!”

“Cecilia, do we usually leave the newspapers scattered all over the tables?”

“What temperature do we keep this milk? I don’t want the customers to get salmonella!” The woman who had been about to pour some 2% into her mug put the carafe down quickly and walked away.

“Why is this stuff between the tiles so grey? Cecilia? Do you not monitor the cleaning crew at all?”

That was supposed to be her job, but yes, I had been checking on the cleaners. But I had an answer for the tile issue. “That’s called the grout, and it’s colored grey. That’s just the way it looks.”

She glared at me. “Didn’t I just have the conversation with you that I was going to have to pull back from here? Why do I have to do everything myself? I’m sorry that you picked the wrong color for your ‘grout,’ but it needs to be clean!”

I didn’t see the point in arguing that I hadn’t been a part of the tile design.

“Come into my office, please.”

I followed her into the closet, closing the door by squeezing myself against the desk. “Keri, you seem really upset with me today,” I said. I tried to follow my mom’s friend Calpurnia’s model and validate Keri’s feelings.

She stared at me. “I’m just trying to run a good business here, Cecilia, and I expect you to keep up.”

I nodded at her. Validation seemed not to have worked, so I prepared for the long haul by wedging myself into the chair facing the desk. Lucky thing I wasn’t one of the bean poles in Alex’s family!

“Harrison was talking this weekend about me working after the wedding.” She frowned. “I totally didn’t think I’d be stuck in this shithole with you guys after we got married. I’ll be so busy, with married stuff! It’s not fair.” Keri pulled out her phone and checked it. “Plus it turns out that lilacs are really expensive to buy in December. I wanted only lilacs in the centerpieces but now I can’t. Stupid growing seasons! Why can’t stuff just grow here all year long? Stupid Michigan. I told Harrison that we should have gotten married in Italy in a villa, or like some kind of castle, but he was all, ‘It’s too hard for my mom, she’s in a wheelchair.’ Like they don’t have wheelchair stuff in Europe! I mean, isn’t it the cradle of civilization? I bet they have lilacs in Tuscany in December.”

I didn’t think I needed to answer.

“How long have you been together with Alex?” she asked, as if it had just sprung to mind.

Oh. “Not too long.” I felt heat rise up in my cheeks thinking about him. He had woken me up that morning in an unusual way that involved my wrists being tied to the headboard.

“Does he ever say anything about me?” she asked, still studying her phone.

“He told me you guys used to date in college,” I said. “And that you visited him, after his accident.”

Keri’s head snapped up. “He remembers that? He was so out of it.” Suddenly her eyes got kind of glassy looking. Wait, what? “He was so beat up,” she continued. “I could barely recognize him.”

“He remembers,” I responded. “That was really nice of you to visit him, Keri.” My heart softened to her. She was teary, thinking about Alex. I had never seen the non-bitchy side to her before! Maybe we were turning over a new leaf.

“We had a good time our freshman year. He’s really, what’s the word? Virile. His dick is huge, right?” She kept talking about Alex and his amazing penis, including her estimates of its girth and weight. Keri held up her hand, stretching out her fingers. “Like, when I wrapped my hand around it, I don’t know if my fingers touched.” She made a circle with her thumb and middle finger and studied it. “What do you think?”

Screw the new leaf! I stood up. “Ok, so if there’s nothing else—”

“And he was so good with his hands,” she interrupted me. “I wish I could get him to tutor Harrison a little. I fake it, like every time with him.”

I was opening the door. “I’ll get back to the register.”

“‘Uh, uh, Harrison, like that.’” She made a disgusted noise. “And he believes it. The man has never met a clit before! And it’s like one, two, done. Alex can go for hours, right? I remember this one night, we went to a club in Windsor, and then after we drove back, he came in through the basement window of my dorm after-hours and he nailed me all night long. On the bed, on the floor, up against the wall. He really liked it from behind. Does he still do that thing with his tongue where he—”

I shut the door. I realized I was grinding my teeth together, and I really couldn’t afford dental problems at the moment.

This place really did look like a shithole. I got out the mop and went to town.

Jason came in and I realized I hadn’t even asked Neveah about the weekend. But the way they were acting with each other, avoiding eye contact, did not bode well! When I finally put down my mop and asked Jason about the show, he just said it was fine. When I asked Neveah if she had gone, she just said yes, and then that she was leaving work early. Doctor’s appointment.

Ok.

Then Keri emerged from her office with a long memo she had typed, and tacked up to the employee bulletin board. It detailed the many ways we had been doing things wrong, but didn’t offer much in the way to fix things. “How are we supposed to make sure we have ‘several kinds of alternative milk?’” Jason asked me. “Doesn’t she do the ordering?” Keri also pulled me aside to continue our discussion of Harrison’s sexual shortcomings (like, short comings), which made me almost puke into my mouth.

I decided that after work I would go for a very long swim. I went back and forth across the pool, trying to wash off the day. The pool felt freezing.

Alex had a huge dick, huh? Good with his hands?

I kicked harder.

I was going to stop at the store on the way home, but Nina gave me a bunch of grief, so I skipped it to get home to Alex. By the time I let myself into the condo I was really hungry. He wasn’t even home yet, which made me even madder. He didn’t even bother to tell me where he was. Go all night, did he? And what the hell was she saying about his tongue? I slammed a pot on the stove.

Alex came in a few minutes later, so damn good looking. “Hi sweetie,” he said, pulling off his coat. “How was your day?”

He leaned in to kiss me, but I leaned back. Probably women were all over him today. I had seen the waitress in the restaurant up north! Probably right at this very moment Keri was reminiscing about his superstar penis. I glared at him. “My day was just wonderful! How about yours?”

His eyebrow went up. Jesus H. Christ, could he be any cuter? It was not right! “Are you ok?” he asked. “What’s the matter?”

“You’re late!” I told him, then spilled some heavy cream onto the counter. Perfect.

“I called here, but you didn’t answer, and you didn’t pick up that cell phone, either. I don’t think it even works.” Now he sounded a little pissed too.

“It works just fine! There’s nothing wrong with my phone. I don’t know why you always have to criticize it!”

“When am I criticizing your phone? What the hell is going on?” Alex sounded totally confused.

I whirled around to face him. “Nothing! Nothing is going on! I had a great day. Neveah and Jason are fighting and won’t tell me what’s happening. Keri put up a list of everything wrong at the coffee shop, 95% percent of which is her fault, yet I’m supposed to fix it. Smokey didn’t come get his bagel, and I’m worried. The pool heater at the Y is on the fritz and I was freezing and I can’t get warm. Nina wouldn’t start and the guy whose car I jumped her from drove off with my jumper cables. And also your ex-girlfriend gave me a detailed description of your penis!”

He took a step back, looking horrified. “What?”

“Your penis is super impressive, did you know that?” I stirred the contents of the pot on the stove, not really clear about what I had put into it. “Lots to say about it! Remember that time you guys went to a club in Windsor, then you nailed her all night? I can give you more details, if you forgot!”

“Cecilia—” he started to say.

“Or that thing you did to her with your tongue? Sorry I didn’t get all the info about that one, but I’m sure she’ll overshare with me tomorrow, so I can let you know!” I stared at the pot, then picked it up and poured it into the sink. “You know what? I don’t feel like cooking tonight.” I started to push past him into the living room, but he grabbed me. “Alex, let me go! Goddamn it, if you’re laughing, I’m going to kill you!”

He was trying to compose myself, and so help me, if I had a weapon in my hands I would have used it. “Ceci, honey, please calm down, ok?”

“Don’t ‘honey’ me! Let me go! I had a shitty day and I blame you!”

“I can tell.” He did not let me go, and in fact was nuzzling my neck. “I’m sorry about your day. I’m sorry Keri said that to you. But all that happened a long time ago. I wasn’t a virgin before you, and I can’t help that, right?”

“I’m not mad that you weren’t a virgin! I don’t care that legions of women have seen your dick and like to talk about how they can’t fit their fingers around it!” His face was on my hair, and I could feel his whole body shaking. “You better be crying and not laughing, Alex Whitaker!” I put both hands on his chest and pushed, and he let me go. Nope, he was laughing. “How would you feel if your boss told you all about having sex with me?”

“Well, my boss is my brother, and if you were sleeping with him, I would probably be apoplectic,” he said reasonably .

“Stop being so calm!” I retorted. Jeez, I felt stupid! “Never mind. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” I went into the living room, and stared out the window at the street. Legions of women, I had said it myself.

“Cecilia, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t remember most of what I did with Keri. I was usually too wasted to remember.”

I tapped my foot. That didn’t really make it better. I wasn’t sure what would.

“And I’m sorry she told you whatever she told you.”

I put my hands over my face. “I had a terrible day!”

“It sounds like it,” Alex said. “Come sit down with me.”

I let him lead me over to the couch, where I sat on his lap stiffly, until he pulled me against his chest. I sighed and hid in his neck.

Alex rubbed up and down my back. “Are you warmer now?” I nodded. “Does Nina need a new battery?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ll get one tomorrow, and new jumper cables for you too, ok?”

“Stop being nice when I was so mean,” I told him.

“You weren’t being mean.” He started to rub my shoulders. “Tell me what happened with Keri.”

“It was awful,” I said into his neck. “She started talking about the two of you doing it, and stuff about your tongue, and I was so mortified.” I gulped. “I was so jealous. ”

“I’m sorry that happened. Keri was always…not so bright. Thoughtless.”

“That’s an understatement!”

“Honey, there’s nothing, no one, for you to be jealous about. I’m not going to have sex with anyone but you. I plan on you being the last woman to ever see my penis.”

I melted a little. He could be pretty romantic, when he wanted to be!

“I just want you to know that I’ll have to kill any other woman who sees it, and then you too. I’m not making empty threats, I have very specific plans!” I told him.

“I would expect nothing less.” Then he kissed me a little, then a little more, and I felt somewhat better.

Alex

Steve still had the box I had given him of the stuff from our dad’s house on the side of his desk. I tapped it with my foot when I went in to say good morning. “If you don’t want this crap, give it away. Get it out of here,” I told him.

“I’m not sure what to do with it. I have some good memories of that house,” he said. I rolled my eyes. “No, I do. Remember when there was that big November snowstorm and we couldn’t leave?”

I shook my head. I had no recollection of that.

“You were really little,” Steve explained. “We were stuck up there with no power, no phone. Dad was calling Uncle George on an old CB radio and then they both cross country skied into town to buy food. I had you wearing about six layers of clothes and kept adding wood to the fire. It was freezing in the house.” He pointed at one of the board games Cecilia and I had taken for him. “I tried to teach you how to play this, and you loved it, but you couldn’t remember the rules. We played for hours, and you cheated the whole time and thought it was hilarious.” Steve smiled at me, and I smiled back. I wished I could have remembered. “What’s happening with putting it on the market?”

“I heard from the contractor, Shannon, and she’s good to start work later this week. Annie is going to supervise, so I’m sorry for Shannon,” I told him. Annie was a whirlwind, to put it mildly.

He was nodding. “Shannon seemed to think the repairs won’t take too long.” So he had spoken to her too. “You did a good job up there.”

“Yeah, but you still had to check, right? What did Luke say about me?”

“I didn’t—ok, I did talk to Luke. He said that you all had a nice dinner. That he and Emily liked Cecilia a lot. And you said something about buying a place up there?”

Thanks, Luke, for holding nothing back. “I’m thinking about it. I’d like to have more space. The condo’s a little small.”

“It’s good for one person.”

I let that go.

“I would think that would be the last place you’d want to buy a house,” Steve said .

“It’s not the place that’s wrong, it was me and how I acted there. And as you said, it wasn’t all bad. We could sail, ski, go to the beach. It’s beautiful.”

“We should probably talk about money, then,” Steve mentioned.

“We should. Not just about me buying a house, though. I’d like to have my own accounts and manage them myself.”

I could tell by the look on his face that his answer was going to be negative. “Steve, before you say no, think about it. Nothing that the doctors have said in the past few years has given you reason to think that I’m not capable, right?” I had a terrible thought. “Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me!”

“No, there’s nothing.” He started to continue, but I interrupted him.

“I’ve been a responsible adult for how many years now? And yet the other night when I bought groceries, you texted me about it, wondering about my spending. Does that seem reasonable? Or fair, to me, or to yourself? Do you really want to be worrying about me all the time?”

“Let me think about it, Alex. It’s not just your checking account, it’s the trust fund, too. It’s a lot of money.”

I swallowed, trying not to be angry. “Baby steps, then. Ok.”

“I’m not saying no, I just have to think about it.”

“Sometimes it’s helpful to think of the worst possible scenario,” I repeated Dr. Mavromatis. “What do you think that would be?”

“You’d spend it all, waste it, be destitute,” he answered promptly. “Use the money for booze and drugs, hurt yourself again.”

Pain pierced through me. I was stunned. I swallowed hard before answering. “Wow. Wow, Steve. I had no idea that’s how little you thought of me. I guess I should have known, though, because your actions say it pretty loudly.” I held up my hands as he started to speak. “No, that’s ok. I deserve it. You’re probably right to think that about me. I deserve it,” I said again.

“Alex—” he started, getting to his feet.

“I’ll be in my office, with my pretend work, and I don’t want to talk to you for a while,” I told him.

That afternoon I went to see Dr. Mavromatis. I was his Tuesday regular now. I looked for the crying girl from before, but she wasn’t there.

“How was your weekend?” the doctor greeted me.

I felt the frown and unhappiness lift from me. “My weekend was amazing.”

“Did you and Cecilia take your trip?”

“Yep. We had a great time.” I happened to think about her naked, and my groin tightened. “A great time.”

Dr. Mavromatis took some notes. “How was it for you, being back at the place where you had your accident?”

“It was a lot different than I expected,” I told him. “Being in the house, that was hard. We had to leave after a while because…it triggered me. I did a lot of stupid shit in that house in the years before I crashed.”

He was nodding. “It sounds like you made a good decision to remove yourself from the situation, then.”

“Cecilia helped me. She makes me think of the future, instead of the past.”

“A future together?”

“Yes, a future together. I’m going to buy a house up north for us.”

“I’m glad to see that you listened to my advice about taking things slowly.”

“Was that another joke? Are psychiatrists supposed to be such smart asses?” I asked him.

“I apologize for that one. You do seem to be moving quickly, though.”

“I guess so. No, I know so. But if you add up the hours we’ve spent together, it’s really the same as if we’d been dating for several months. If she wasn’t staying with me, we’d only go out twice a week, maybe sleep over…” I trailed off. He was just looking at me. “I’ve thought about it a little. But yes, it is fast. It just seemed to work out this way.”

“You’re ok with it being fast.”

I rubbed my temples. “If you had asked me on the morning of March twentieth, ‘Hey, do you think you’ll meet a woman today, fall in love, and want to move in with her?’ then I would have laughed in your face. And thought you were the crazy one. But she’s…Cecilia. It’s just right. Do you think so?”

“It’s more important what you think, rather than what I think, Alex. ”

We were quiet for a moment. “How is your brother reacting to Cecilia now?” he asked me quietly.

“She and Steve have patched it up. Steve and I went to my mom’s last week and it was pretty bad.” I rubbed my temples again. “I didn’t come home right away. I just needed some time alone, but they both got worried. I guess they bonded. It wasn’t very fair of me to do that to them. I wasn’t thinking clearly.” I sighed. “My mom offered me a drink.”

“You’ve been sober for eight years. That must have seemed like a betrayal.”

I shook my head. “No, not a betrayal. Just another sign of how little she really cares. I shouldn’t let it bother me, after all these years. I’m trying not to. Anyway, now Steve and Cecilia are getting along. He asked us to come over to his house tomorrow night.” I stopped. “Shit.” I didn’t want to go.

“What is it?”

“We had words today, as my dad would have said, Steve and I. I told him I wanted to control my money myself, and he hemmed and hawed, so I asked him what the worst possible scenario would be if I were in charge of my finances. He said that he expects me to use again, end up with another TBI.”

“He expects that will happen, or he fears that will happen?”

“It’s the same thing. He doesn’t trust me at all, and I’m trying not to be angry with him, because it’s my own fault. I deserve it.”

“Maybe it’s not important to assign blame about it, but rather try to work with the situation you have,” Dr. Mavromatis noted .

“How can I do that?” I asked him.

“Well, one thing I wonder is how your brother benefits from your current relationship.”

“Benefits? Not at all! He’s stuck taking care of me, the dumbass younger brother with the brain injury.”

“But from what you’ve said, he’s very reluctant to give up that role.”

“Yeah, because he thinks I’m an idiot. I am an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Dr. Mavromatis corrected me. “Sometimes our relationships have unseen benefits that are difficult for us to acknowledge.”

“How could he possibly benefit from being trapped with me?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s something to consider,” he told me.

∞

Steve was in my office when I got back, and my anger flared right up. “Is this a shakedown? Did you find any contraband?”

He was staring at the papers on my desk. “Steve, get the fuck out of here!” I’d said it too loud. We were at the office, for Christ’s sake.

Steve held up a drawing I had done earlier while on the phone. It was how I had left Cecilia that morning, wrapped around a pillow with a curl drifting across her cheek. “Did you draw this?” he asked in amazement.

I snatched it out of his hand. “I’m not wasting my time drawing, I did it while on hold for a client. I emailed what he said about the Oklahoma City project to you earlier, remember? I’m not dicking around.”

He was shaking his head. “Alex, that’s amazing. It’s beautiful, you captured her perfectly!”

I studied the drawing. “No, it’s shit.” It looked too flat. Even in her sleep, Cecilia was so alive.

“I had no idea you had this talent.”

“It’s not talent, I just like to play around. And how did you not know I liked art? I took it all the time, in high school and in college. You got all my grades, transcripts.”

Steve flushed. “I thought you just took art classes to screw around.”

“Those were the only classes I ever got A’s in.”

“I know, I thought they were just fluff. I didn’t understand.” He kept looking at the picture. “Can I see what else you’ve done? Cecilia said you had a portfolio.”

“Sure, sure.” I took the drawing from him and crumpled it up. “Look, if you’re done tossing my office, I’ll get back to work.”

“Alex, I’m not snooping around. I came in to wait for you so I could apologize.” He took a deep breath. “Do you think I treat you like a child?”

“Yes,” I told him.

“How would you like me to treat you?”

“Is this a trick?” I asked skeptically .

“I’m trying to work with you here,” he told me stiffly. “I know I sound like a talk show.”

“Ok, sure.” I thought of how to put it. “I needed your help so much, Steve, after the accident, and I took advantage of you. I made you take over my life.”

“You didn’t take advantage,” he said quickly. “You weren’t capable.”

“Yeah, not at first. But even later, when I was, it was easier for me to just continue the way I had, rolling through everything and letting you make the hard choices. I need to rethink how I’ve been doing most things. I’ve been drifting, not participating. I feel like I woke up, finally.”

“And I’m still treating you like you’re a child.”

“Like I’m your child, and you’re my dad. We have a dad, as absentee as he is. You should be a real dad to someone, Steve. You should get married, and have kids. You’d be good at it. I just want you to be my brother. I’m still going to need you, man. You’re not going to be able to totally get rid of me.”

He actually looked scared. “Listen, Alex, I can try. I’ve been taking care of you for a long time.”

“Believe me, I remember you hiding me in the closet when Mom was going nuts, I remember you making sure I was dressed for school when she gave the nanny time off and forgot to do it herself, I remember all that. Let me try doing it myself.”

He nodded. “I will try. I’ll do my best.” He patted me kind of awkwardly on the shoulder. “Are you guys still coming over tomorrow night? ”

“Yeah, if you still want us.”

“Why don’t we go over some of the financial materials after dinner?”

“That sounds good. But I want to warn you now, it takes me a long time to read and especially to go over numbers. I start getting headaches after a while.”

Steve looked horrified. “That’s what gives you headaches? That’s most of what you do here!”

“I can do it if I break it into chunks and get away from it for a time. That’s why I’m always going to the coffee shop.” Now I patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, it’s a good thing. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met Cecilia.”

And that was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me.

Cecilia

“There!” I told Ms. Eubank. “Isn’t that better?” I leaned the mop against the door frame. The kitchen and living room were looking good!

“Thank you, dear. It looks better than it ever has.”

I didn’t know if I had done that well, but Ms. Eubank’s house was certainly cleaner. “I’m glad to help you. I like hearing your stories, and I enjoy my paycheck. Alex does too.” She gave me a bag of cookies each time I visited and he was a maniac for them.

“Ah, Alex. It seems like I’ve heard his name a lot today.” I looked up and she winked at me .

“I guess I can admit that he’s my boyfriend now,” I told her.

“Is he a nice young man?”

“He’s the nicest! I just…well, I love him! I kind of crazy about him.”

“I’m glad to see you happy,” she told me, patting my cheek. “And I guess I can assume that you’re no longer planning on driving out to California as you told me.”

I started. “No, I have to do that. I have to check on my mom.” I was actually getting a little concerned. I had called Paulo and given him my address at Alex’s, and he had mentioned that one of their friends in San Francisco hadn’t seen my mom in a while. Maybe she had gone down the coast. Or up. She could be anywhere! “She isn’t staying with any of the friends that I know out there.”

“From what you’ve said, you mother is quite adept at making new friends.”

I grinned at her, knowing she was referring to the many friends who could have been my father. “You look like a sweet old lady, but you’re actually a smart as—alec, Ms. Eubank!”

“Come have some tea,” she invited me. I grabbed the bag I had brought over, and carried it into the kitchen with me.

“Here are the DNA kits,” I told her, taking out the boxes I had ordered. “The results take a few weeks to get back, but then we’ll be able to prove that we’re related.”

She looked at the box skeptically. “I’ll do it, Cecilia, but I still think we may find Roger. I haven’t given up hope.”

I wasn’t as confident about locating him. Her “old biddy network” hadn’t turned up anything as to his whereabouts, and it seemed like the investigator that Alex had hired in Florida was looking in other directions, which I didn’t agree with.

“This test will work,” I said confidently. “Then we’ll know for sure.” I was on the right path, I was certain. Everything she told me about the Eubank/Trelles family made me feel like I was a part of it! I tested the name out in my head: Cecilia Amalie Trelles. Trelles was a place in northern Spain, in Asturias, which looked beautiful on Alex’s laptop screen. I probably had more family there, too. For a moment I let myself imagine going to Spain, meeting my forebears. Thank goodness I had learned the language!

I came back to the present with Ms. Eubank staring at me. “Sorry, what?”

“I was telling you that it’s getting on time for you to head home, or Alex will be concerned.”

He would worry, if I was late. It made me feel happy to know that. “Ok, I’ll see you later in the week, probably. I’ll call you.” She handed me my cookie payout and I hit the road.

Alex was already in the kitchen when I got home. “I’m making quinoa,” he called. “Your new car battery and jumper cables are in the garage.”

Oh, lordy. Could anything be sexier than this guy?

“Alex?”

He turned around and dropped the spoon. “Cecilia! Why are you naked?”

“I think we should have sex, right now! ”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

“Thank god I’m only wearing a t-shirt and shorts,” he said, picking me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and his hands groped my ass. “Things would move even faster if both of us went naked, all the time.”

“I’m good with that,” I told him, licking inside his ear. A shiver ran through him and I felt a surge of love and desire. I could make him shiver! I licked his ear again. We fell onto the bed together, and he pulled the shirt off over his head and kissed me, his tongue stroking mine. He pulled off the rest of his clothes, socks, too.

We lay on our sides, hands all over each other. I ran my fingers up and down his cock. He was so big, and so hard, but his skin was so soft. He stroked across my breasts and I pushed them forward, making him laugh softly. “Here?” he asked me, flipping me onto my back and kneading them gently.

“Yes,” I gasped, starting to move my hips. He put his thigh between my legs, and I restlessly rubbed against him.

“You’re ready to go,” Alex murmured, lowering his head to my breasts. “Have you been thinking about me?”

I had, the whole way home in Nina. “Yes,” I stuttered out, as he played with my nipple with his tongue.

“What were you thinking about?” he asked me, blowing cold air across my nipple, then taking it into this mouth again.

“Mostly your mouth,” I panted. His fingers were teasing my other breast, making me bend up from the bed to press against him harder .

“Let’s see how long you can stand to wait,” he told me, letting go of my breast and skating his fingers down, across my stomach, palming my pussy.

“I don’t want to wait,” I told him. “I want you, right now!”

“We have plenty of time,” he disagreed, and gently squeezed his hand where he held me.

“Alex!” He laughed and kissed down my body, then took me by the hips.

“This is going to test your self-control, ok, Cecilia?” He pushed my thighs apart, settling his broad shoulders in between them. Then his tongue…oh, god, oh god. He was licking me, up and down, teasing my clit, then circling my opening. My heart kicked up and I couldn’t help trying to move, but his big hands held my hips still. Again and again he licked, swirling his tongue around my clit, and just as I would get close to my orgasm he would back off, kissing my stomach and inner thighs. Then he would start again, and all I could do was moan his name, over and over and over. I was begging him, please, please. “No,” he told me. “You’re going to come when I’m inside you.”

“Please, inside me!” I panted. “Alex, Alex!”

Finally I felt his hard length enter me, but still slowly, and he held my hips still so I couldn’t thrust against him. “More!” I pleaded, and he gently moved, but I wanted him harder, and faster, and I was telling him so loudly.

“Self-control,” he breathed, but picked up his pace, pushing deep and making me groan in pleasure. He filled me completely. Again he drove deep, and I was shaking. Incoherently I reached for him, pulling him against me, and he pounded deep again and put his thumb on my clit, and I came harder than I ever had, jolting off the bed and hanging onto him. He came too with a deep groan, and I could feel him pulsing deeply.

I was still shaking as he turned us over, still inside me. He rubbed up and down my back, kind of crooning my name, his chest heaving as I lay atop him.

“Alex,” I breathed. “That was…thank you.”

“It was mutual,” he told me, and breathed out hard. “Anytime you want to greet me naked, I’m down with that. Really, really down with that.”

It turned out that overcooked quinoa was really bad. We ordered a pizza.