Chapter 31

thirty-one

Lily

"Lily, colliding into you didn't just shake us physically, you jump started something I buried away years ago. These are feelings I cannot contain anymore." Rivers' stare is soft but firm.

"You want to play, act bratty? Sounds good to me. I will happily give you my demands: I demand you show up for yourself. Want to be loud or quiet? Whatever. Just be honest with me. No matter how awkward it feels, because the only thing I am going to do tonight is what I can to make this perfect for you. I want to know every inch of this…" He bites his knuckles and mumbles under his breath, "This fucking amazing body. You have to realize I've dreamed about seeing you like this, about feeling you respond to me, for so long. I've dreamed of this perfect pussy, that's already soaking wet for me," he says while running a hand up and down the center of my uncovered body. I undressed myself while he was turned around, growing more impatient with the interruptions.

"I'm going to examine every single cell of skin and find where you are ticklish, where you get turned on, and I'm going to give you the time and attention a fucking masterpiece like you deserves. You are a work of art that deserves to be appreciated."

I'm nodding, I don't think I can speak at this point.

"Anything off limits? Tell me now so I can focus on making you come." He cocks an eyebrow and smirks devilishly. Deliciously .

"About that," I croak, covering my face. "What if I don't?" I am stuck unable to look or move, just praying he takes it in stride.

In some of Nessa's books the man is just so alpha-hole, he grabs the heroine and assures her that he not only can but will make it happen and then he's just perfect at it all. There's no fumbling and there's multiple orgasms, it is magical and she's coming on his fingers, his lips, and his cock.

The men I've met in real life who make those same assurances are the least likely to have succeeded at making me orgasm, and I've only ever had sapphic lovers who accept that it's not the end all be all.

I should have known better than to compare River to those men because he is unfazed before gently moving my hands off my eyes. He looks at me with a softness that shows he knew this isn't the moment to keep the dominant tone.

"If you don't come, but you enjoyed yourself, and now feel good or relaxed, and you tell me you're done, then we are done."

He winks before his eyes harden. There's a deep seriousness that is causing me to become increasingly turned on, and I love that he's noticed.

"Darling, that's really important information you shared. So let me set the records straight: you are not allowed to fake things for my ego. That's not how we do things, no lies. Nothing fake. In fact, if you don't touch me back I'll just… I'll need a few minutes alone in your bathroom, but I'll live."

Shit, that's sexy and I can feel myself turning more flush.

"I'd like to get back to kissing you. I'm going to trail those kisses all over your body until I make you squirm and smile." He presses a soft kiss to my lips and asks, "Got it?"

I nod, and he growls out, "Good, darling. Very good, Now…" He proceeds to trace his lips up my calf to my knee, running his fingers up the outside of my thigh and sliding his hand under me to grab my ass. He stops short of where I'm aching for him, and starts over with the other ankle.

Then he brings his body to hover over me before he kisses my stomach between my ribs, trails down towards my belly button. As he traces his way down my body, he pauses and stares at my ribs where a delicate peacock feather adorns the cage around my heart. Gently tracing the lines with a single finger, he looks longingly.

"The first night I saw you, you were stuck in your sports bra, and I saw a faint hint of this. I've been wondering what it was and afraid to ask. It's beautiful. A peacock feather is surprising to see…"

"Just because I wasn't going to come back home, didn't mean home wasn't in my heart. You know? Sorry, I can share the rest another time. This is what I do, my brain goes in a million directions even when all I really want to do is be here with you." I drop one hand to his cheek and softly stroke his beard.

Sincerity emanates from his eyes, his voice, and his posture. "Lily, we are here together. I was tracing your body art, shared that I'd been curious, now you're giving me the story. Please tell me all your stories, I want nothing more than to be the keeper of them and your secrets again. I want to do that and this," he says, before kissing me soft and sweet.

River always has managed to find the words that I needed. I reach from his cheek to behind his head, and my nails continue to trace lines at the back of his neck. I pull back for a beat to marvel at this moment, to try and capture his handsome and kind ways.

His tongue traces a zigzag line to the lower areas of my stomach before detouring and making slow sucking and nipping stops along the curves of each hip bone. He repeats the action down my bikini line to my inner thigh, where he takes a pull of the skin there into his mouth. He sucks hard, hard enough to leave a mark and causing me to squirm and try to push towards his touch.

Finally he touches me where I am aching for him most, the pads of his fingers move my own lubrication to my clit before making firm circles. My eyes are rolling back and I cannot think. The more he uses the steady pressure, the stronger the pulsing between my legs grows. I can't believe that I am this close, usually the only men who have been able to get me to relax enough into orgasm are run by batteries and USB chargers.

River changes things up and pushes two fingers deep inside me, and while the fullness feels amazing, I lose that near-orgasm feeling I had. I focus on the new sensations, relaxing into them, hoping to find that place of near release again .

River licks a long line against the most sensitive spots of my pussy, and a moan escapes my lips, loud and feral—it doesn't sound like a noise I've ever made. "Good. Keep moaning for me, darling, tell me what you like. Just like that," he murmurs before repeating the motion. Between long, languid, laps over every sensitive inch of skin there are rougher digs of teeth and nails. Nothing is what I would have expected.

Suddenly, I feel something smooth rubbing against me as well and crack open my eyes. "I didn't know you invited someone to the party. River, meet the Ocelot. When I lived in Texas we had these wildcats and with the spots it looked like them, figured it was better than calling her Kitty or Pussy."

"Her?" He looks at the device, multi-colored neon spots and a tiny turn dial. "Never seen a woman that looked like this." He stops mid laugh at his own joke.

"My ex-girlfriend did. I mean, she had a leopard spot heart tattooed…" I wait for his reaction, but he seems to be stuck. While he's lost, I snatch the toy from him and turn it on. "While you are glitching, I'm going to just…" I place the vibrator exactly where I need it: directly over the bundle of nerves that will allow the wave of an orgasm to crest. This does the job, and I can feel the rush of my pulse, muscles tensing and clenching low in my belly. It's not not with him, just, "What the? Whoa…"

A sharp sensation hits my chest, lurching me forward and the vibrator falls from my hand. Stifling a scream, everything hits me all at once. My face lands nose first into River's hair giving me a whiff of his forest scent. It feels like his pheromones were sent to taunt me, telling me that a few days won't be enough but it's probably all I have.

He follows the bite to my nipple with soft kisses, and continues to massage my breast and tweak at my nipples with his hands.

"No need to work, just relax."

"Trust me, I couldn't be much more relaxed if I tried," I gasp.

Pulling him closer to me, we push his sweats off again before I line the throbbing head of his cock against my entrance. He's thick and heavy in my hand. Finally, he pushes in and fills me before our chests repeatedly slam into each other. Like the day we reunited in the square. It feels like we were always supposed to be like this, heart to heart.

It doesn't take long before he is spent, and we slide apart far enough for me to see the flutter of his lashes. His face is soft, almost boyish again. Rolling to lay side by side, it's the sort of peacefulness that demands to not be disturbed. I slink over to grab the towel he abandoned and wipe myself down, then gently drape it over him to let him do the same, whenever he can.

I kick my discarded clothes into the corner. I really need a hamper, I remind myself again, before pulling on his T-shirt. I grab a pair of boyshort underwear out of the drawer and close the bathroom door to pee.

I wash up and am unable to calm myself so I start reheating the takeout that grew cold. River comes up behind me, wearing only his boxers, and wraps me in his arms.

"Sorry," I quickly apologize. "I have too much energy to sit still, so I figured you relax and I'll reheat our dinner. I didn't think to ask if you wanted me to stay and snuggle."

Kissing my temple, River just squeezes me closer. Instead of wading into the anxiety with me, he squeezes again and moves us along in conversation asking, "Ocelots, huh? Have you ever seen the cartoon Archer?"

Twenty minutes later, with our plates in our laps, we sit down to watch this cartoon he says mentions them. Snuggled close and in the easy rhythm of friendship, I drift back to those old love triangles we watched and realize, I hear whispers of did I choose the wrong friend last time?