13. Ellery

Ellery

I awoke warmer than normal. The smell of pomegranate permeated my nose. It was all rather pleasant in a way I rarely experience.

When I opened my eyes I realized it was Juniper, now wrapped around my body. Her breath was still even, telling me she was asleep. I almost never slept with someone. The only time I had, I woke up and left before they could notice, or I was so drunk, the hangover was all I could pay attention to before I left.

But this was how relationships were. There was no slipping out or just leaving after the fact. It was strange. My last actual girlfriend was in college, and she stayed in her sorority house normally.

I also needed to remind myself this wasn’t dating, not really. This was a ruse. I was paying her to be here. There was no way a relationship built on a transaction could work. And I didn’t want it to, anyway. The entire point of this was to avoid a relationship. I wanted a carefree, easy going life, not to be tied down to someone.

Though, as I thought that, I took another deep breath and pulled her a bit closer.

In a moment I could only describe as poor judgement, I pressed my lips to the top of her head. I imagined once again what it might be like to kiss her. She was very adamant about not kissing. I wasn’t sure what the big deal was. People kissed all the time. And I kissed a lot. I enjoyed kissing. Her avoiding it made it feel like a bigger deal than it would be. And made me want it more.

I wasn’t sure how long I laid like that, but Juniper eventually started moving. At first she sunk into me deeper, still in a haze. It was nice when slightly uninhibited, she seemed to lean into me for comfort.

Eventually, she woke fully, looking up at me with bleary eyes.

“Good morning, moon,” I said.

I didn’t know when I started calling her that, or really why, but it had a habit of slipping out on its own.

She sat up slightly and looked around confused. It was a bit funny to watch. Every other day she’d been up before me, so seeing her this disheveled was a special treat of its own.

After a few minutes, it seemed the sleep cleared and she was more alert. And aware of my nearness.

“Morning,” she said, a flush coming to her cheeks. “I need to go to the bathroom.” She said it too quickly, as if she just needed an escape plan, but slipped off the bed and padded to the bathroom before I could say anything. Her hair was in a frizzy bun and her sleep shorts had rode up, showing off the bottom curve of her behind.

My cock roared to life again. Something about this woman had me keyed up seemingly all the time. I tried to calm down before she came out, and got pretty close, but as soon as she came out, wrapped in only a towel, showing off her thighs and squeezing her tits together to hold it up on the top, I was done for once again.

I waited for her to make her way to her suitcase before I slipped out of bed and into the bathroom. I knew we’d decided that his arrangement could be physical, but I didn’t want her thinking it was all I ever thought about.

I stripped off my clothes, getting ready for the shower and realized Juniper left her dirty clothes on the floor. I looked around for a moment as if I weren’t alone in the bathroom before reaching down and picking up her panties. They were bright pink and cheeky, made of a silky material.

I brought them to my nose, her scent still lingering on them, reminding me of her taste. I gripped my cock with my other hand, needing some relief. My mind was taken back to the night before. The way she contracted around my tongue, the way her tight pussy felt wrapped around my cock. The way her body tensed as she came.

I’d had a lot of sex, but nothing felt as intense and overwhelming as being with her. Every moan she released, every drip of wetness from her pussy had me craving more.

I brought the panties to my cock and wrapped them around it, feeling as if part of it was her. I positioned the center over my tip, so there was pressure at the end as I pushed in, imagining Juniper on her knees for me. Her soft mouth wrapped around me once again. I would hold my hand in her hair and fuck her the same way I did her pussy. I could imagine tears streaming her face, her normally perfect makeup smudging down her cheeks.

I pumped a few more times before holding it taught, like I was in the back of her throat and came hard into the fabric. I took a deep breath and steadied myself on the wall beside me. When I pulled the now sticky fabric away post-nut clarity hit, and realized I might have gone a bit too far.

I shoved the underwear in the trash, hoping the cleaner would come in and take it before she noticed, and stepped into the shower.

Once we were both ready and dressed for the day, we hit the slopes once more. Today instructor Ken was nowhere to be found, so I was able to teach her myself.

He’d taught her the absolute basics, so now it was just learning how to execute. I explained to her why she probably fell yesterday and we practiced leaning forward instead of back. It seemed Arthur wasn’t out this morning, but my mom did pop by to say hi before going towards the black diamond.

My mother was the real expert skier in the family, even compared to Arthur.

Once she got the hang of it, we decided to try the bunny hill, but as we got there, they had to close the lifts for maintenance. Though it was irritating, I was just glad we didn’t get stuck on it like with the elevator. Juniper suggested we go to the hot chocolate stand at the bottom while we waited.

I ordered a coffee with a single sugar and she got a pumpkin spiced latte.

“Do you think that a single sugar packet does something?” she asked.

“What?” I laughed.

“I’m just wondering. I can’t imagine a single sugar does anything to the taste.”

“Actually, sugar staves off the bitter flavor. And when there’s only one, there’s no sugar flavor, leaving less bitter black.”

She blinked at me, as if she didn’t expect me to have a good answer. “Seems like placebo effect to me,” she mumbled.

I laughed. “Maybe, but I like it. And I didn’t judge you for ordering the most basic drink you could.”

She shrugged, sipping on said drink. “Say what you will, but a PSL cannot be topped on a cold day.”

I laughed and we lulled into silence as we walked to one of the nearby benches. We set our skis along the back then huddled a bit close on the bench.

“The mountains are really pretty here,” she said, gazing out at the vista. This area was in a valley surrounded by white tipped mountains, covered with winter ferns.

“It is. We’ve been coming here so long, I think I forget.”

“How long?” she asked.

“Since I can remember. The only time I didn’t was when I was modeling.”

She laughed. “I still can’t believe it. You. A model.”

I rose my brow. “Do I not look like a model to you?”

“Of course you do,” she said. I felt the eye roll even if it was covered with her goggles. “But I don’t know, models always seemed so serious to me, and you’re so… not serious.”

My brow furrowed. “I can be serious,” I said.

“I’m sure you can, but it’s not your personality really. You also always tell the truth, even if it’s offensive. I couldn’t imagine that doing well in a modeling career.”

She had hit the nail on the head with that one. There were a lot of agents who wouldn’t work with me because I’d never been good at the just smiling and nodding thing. It was part of the reason I quit. That and I hoped it would get everyone out of my business. It seemed that hadn’t worked out either.

I was more taken aback by what she said. Most people just thought I was an asshole, and in truth, I sort of was. I wouldn’t have described my opinions as blatant honesty, or my personality as goofy. Carefree maybe. But she seemed to see me in a different light than I did, and I didn’t hate it.

“What about you?” I asked.

She quirked a brow. “What about me?”

I shrugged. “You just don’t seem like a software engineer,” I said.

“Oh, I’m not,” she confirmed. “Well, not really. I know a bit.”

“Then how are you developing an app?” I asked.

“My roommate Casey and I have been working on it since college,” she said. “We just haven’t been able to quit our jobs and invest enough to actually launch.”

“So what do you do?”

“The ideas girl,” she said with a smirk. “And project management. And networking expert I suppose.”

“That’s a lot,” I said.

“It is, but Casey is the real genius. She found a way to merge her code and ma—” she stuttered. “AI to make it be able to keep track of things right from your email or phone calls.”

“That is impressive, but you can’t discount your contributions. Even though she created the product, that’s only half the battle. Then there’s getting investors, keeping it running, hiring, managing, networking. A lot needs to go into a business, and it seems you’re shouldering the brunt of that.”

Her eyes got a bit damp. I thought I said something wrong but she nodded. “You’re right. Thank you. I guess it just feels like because without her we wouldn’t have anything. But without me, Casey wouldn’t have done this by herself. She’s amazing, but she’s a bit unorganized at her best.”

I smiled. “I get that. I’m always told I’m unorganized.” And late. And distracted. But I didn’t add all of that.

“Everyone has strengths,” she said. “I’m really good at being on time and staying organized, but I am horrid at multi-tasking. I have no idea how anyone juggles more than one thing at a time.”

“I’m alright at that. Sometimes I would need to fly out to a shoot while in college, so there was a lot of watching lectures on set.” Everyone used to think I was magic, being able to listen to a lecture and read shoot notes at the same time, and be able to absorb them both, but my brain has always allowed me to do things like that.”

“It does sound magical,” she said.

There was a hint of humor in her tone I didn’t quite understand. But what she said was right. We did have different things that we were good at, but it didn’t make one right or wrong. Just different.

“My drink is already cold,” I commented absently, swirling it around.

“Here,” she said, reaching her hands out. “I have warm hands.”

I handed the cup to her, and I could have sworn she mumbled something, but I didn’t catch it.

After a few minutes she handed it back. “Should be a bit better now.”

I took it back and with a sip I was surprised. It wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t chilled either. “Wow, you really are warm.”

“It’s a special talent.” Her eyes wandered past me. “Hey, I think the lift is going again,” she said, pointing to the now moving lift.

“Should we get out there?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’m going to destroy you on the slopes,” she said confidently.

I laughed. “We’ll see.”