Cool With Her (5 page)

Paul was quiet, intently watching Amber spin this story. His hands were absent-mindedly rubbing Beth’s feet, but he seemed more focused on Amber’s story than my wife.

“It didn’t take long for guys to start approaching me. Most of them were pretty ridiculous. Kind of the reason I never got into that scene.
Apart from being sexy, what else do you do?
That kind of stuff.” Amber had a great laugh, especially when she was recalling something she really thought was funny. “Then Andrew came over. And he was hot.” She locked eyes with Paul. “Since we were at the pool bar and everyone was in their bathing suits, it didn’t leave much to the imagination. Dark hair. Broad shoulders. A little bit of a rough look to him. And best of all, he wasn’t trying too hard. No pick-up lines, no obvious glances down my bikini. We ended up talking through several drinks.”

The air in the room felt heavy. The darkness closed in as the fire began to die. If the lights went out, we’d be crushed in the velvety black.

“We flirted more as the minutes passed and the drinks were consumed. I lost track of time. When he excused himself to go to the restroom, I realized that I hadn’t seen Paul yet. And I’d been out there for nearly an hour.”

I glanced at Paul. His face was stony.

Amber continued. “Then I saw him. Sitting in a lounger at the other end of the pool, watching me over his book. I had no clue how long he’d been there, but I thought it was weird that he hadn’t joined me, you know? But before I could go over and say anything, Andrew came back. Paul didn’t seem to do a thing, so I went back to flirting.” She took a sip of her mulled wine, now cold, and shook her head. “It was so fucking hot. Before I saw Paul, I was just passing the time, you know? But after that...after that I had an audience.” She rolled her eyes and rubbed her thighs together. “God...”

“What happened?” Beth asked. Her voice barely carried over the popping fire.

“Not much. We flirted some more; Andrew told me that he had one more night at the resort and asked if I wanted to have dinner with him. You know, looking back, I know now that I actually did. But I was there with Paul, and I had no fucking clue what was going on in his head. We’d never talked about…others, you know? So I turned him down.” She bit her lip. “Right after that, Paul took me back to the room and we had some of the best sex since I’ve ever had.”

My breath came slow and heavy while my heart raced. The other three in her audience seemed similarly distant.

“So my fantasy is that I’d hooked up with Andrew in Cancun.” She shook her head. “For the first time in my life, I wanted a one-night stand.”

Beth was the first person to regain her speech. “Wow...”

“Yeah, I know, right? I still don’t know what came over me that night. It just seemed so...so fucking illicit. With Paul right there, and this other guy running his hands up my knee.”

I looked at the way her leg brushed up against me, slim and shapely through her tight jeans. Feeling a little alcohol-fueled bravado, I placed my fingers inside her knee. Her skin was hot beneath the thin denim. “Like this?”

Amber looked at me. “Yeah. Only a little...a little higher...”

She parted her thighs as I slowly glided my fingers up the inside of her leg. Her muscles rippled beneath my palm. “How high?”

“Higher,” she whispered.

“Were you wearing a skirt?”

Amber bit her lip and nodded.

“Stockings?”

Again, a nod. “And garters. I don’t like pantyhose.”

Jesus
, my brain rattled. “Did your Andrew find out?”

“Mmm hmm. My skirt was pretty short.”

“I bet he liked that.” My light caress stopped just at the inside of her tight thighs, where the lacy tops of her stockings would have been.

“You think?” Her laugh was soft. “Do you?”

Our eyes met again. I saw her the way I’d first seen her back in college: a nerdy kid’s wet dream. I saw her the way I had when we’d dated so briefly. I’d been suppressing it ever since. She had wet, glossy lips and white, even teeth. I remembered how aggressive a kisser she was, and—

“You two need a room?” Beth asked.

The fire at our backs was almost gone, but I felt like I was burning up. Our audience watched from the shadows. Beth had an arm around Paul’s shoulder and was whispering something into his ear.

Jealousy shot through me before I realized how absurd that was.

Paul nodded at whatever she said and together they stood.

“I think we should all head to bed. It’s late...”

I couldn’t read her expression. Was she mad? Was she hurt? Upset?

“Right. Bed,” I said, rising with them.

Beth held up her hand. “Give me five minutes to get your
birthday present
ready. Then join me.”

When she was gone, Amber sidled over to Paul and whispered, “Bet you wish you were Jason about now.”

Casey shot me a knowing smile. “Good night, guys. I’m fucking envious of you all. I’m definitely not happy to be alone tonight.”

The obvious joke was for me or Paul to invite her to join one of us, but the three of us had been platonic for so many years that neither of us went there, despite all the revelations of the evening.

“Night, Case,” I said.

Paul added, “See you in the morning.”

Left with just Amber and Paul—and more pointedly, very little of my buzz—things got awkward quickly. “Well...”

“Well...” Paul said back.

“Think it’s been five minutes?” I asked.

“Close enough.”

And I stumbled upstairs.

Chapter 5:

The Birthday Present

The bedroom lights were low when I entered. The Gypsy Kings played quietly—a sure sign that sex was imminent. Beth was lying in the center of the bed, stripped down to a red g-string and a wispy red baby doll. With that lustrous dark hair, long pale limbs, and yoga-toned body, I had to pinch myself. We’d been together five years, married one, and I still looked at her and wondered why she was with me.

And then I saw the item in her hand. Saw her drag it across the creamy expanse of her chest and down into her cleavage, where the baby doll was tied in a loopy bow.

“Hello, Mr. Voyeur,” she said. “Nice of you to join us.”

I didn’t recognize the dildo, a clear shaft with a red and white helix swirling through the core.

“So your present to me is actually a new present for you, I see.”

“What’s yours is mine, right?” Beth spread her legs as she traced the dildo across her stomach. The g-string was thin enough that I could see the dark shadow of the landing strip perched above her pussy.

Beth gasped as she slipped the glass rod over her panties, her eyes fluttering shut. “I just pulled it out of the fridge. It’s so...cold...”

I shut the door behind me. Then remembered to breathe.

“I’ve been thinking of this all night long, baby.” She looked at me, heavy-lidded, and bit her lip as she pulled her panties to the side. Even in the dark, I could tell how wet the shaved lips of her pussy were. “I’ve been horny all night.”

Beth gasped as she ran the cold tip of the dildo along her slit, careful to avoid her clit.

I leaned back against the door, mesmerized. I considered unzipping my pants, but didn’t want to interrupt this scene. I shifted into voyeur mode.

Beth moaned as she grazed the chilled glass across her engorged button. “Mmm, after this, I’m going to be ready for a nice, warm cock.”

Lifting her ass up off the mattress, she pulled off her g-string before going back to playing with herself. She circled her clit with her left hand—harder than I would ever feel comfortable doing to her—teasing herself with the icy phallus. Each time she did, a sharp moan punctuated her heavy breathing, and that urge to touch myself—to go to her—grew.

“You’re so hot,” I said.

She looked down at the seat of my pants. “Show me.”

I peeled myself away from the door at last, crossing to the foot of the bed. Beth’s stare never left me. Her fingers slowed to a languid play, but didn’t stop.

Standing just a couple of feet away, the scent of her arousal was unmistakable. Closer, I could see her nipples through the flirty baby doll, perfect discs of pale caramel.

At last, I freed myself, all painfully confined seven inches of me.

Beth licked her lips. “That’s going to feel so good.”

I watched her zig-zag the chilled dildo down her bare lips one last time before pushing it inside her. “Uh, God!”

Ditto
, I thought.

Beth drew in a quivering breath. She was close. I wrapped my hand around my cock, stroking it gingerly as I watched Beth withdraw the glass dildo. This close, I noticed the ridges spiraling up the shaft and the sculpted head like the cap of a real cock. When she stroked herself again, she didn’t insert it. Instead, she rubbed the textured surface along her slit. She was so wet. So engorged. I was hypnotized as she picked up speed.

“Yes...yes…” She tried to stay quiet—tried to hold herself together. I loved that she couldn’t. I loved the vixen that emerged. Her breath came in short bursts. Her nostrils flared. Her beautiful face tightened into a grimace as her orgasm blossomed.

And then she plunged the glass cock deep once again, angling those ridges hard against her clit. She bucked and bit down, but it was too late. She couldn’t contain it any longer.

“Oh...oh yes!” Her climax tore through her. She rammed the dildo as far as it would go, arched her back up, and lost herself in the moment.

Her body eventually returned to bed—to Earth—settling into the soft mattress with a hefty sigh. The room materialized—the low light, the snow gathering in the window panes, the Spanish guitar on Beth’s iPhone.

As I pulled off the rest of my clothes, I thought—not for the first time—about how hard it was to reconcile this wanton scene with the sweet version of Beth that I’d fallen in love with.

Despite the long legs, the large eyes, and flowing hair, Beth always felt real to me. Her beauty wasn’t going to get in the way of being a truly down-to-earth person. She was a pre-med student not because she wanted the career or the money, but because she genuinely wanted to help people. She didn’t volunteer at the nursing home just to put it on her resume, or organize fundraisers because she had to. That was all Beth, and it was one of the things that made me realize that she could be the real deal.

Yet beneath that, I discovered—am still discovering—this raw sexuality in her. The girl-next-door was far from a facade, but mixed in there was the kind of girl who enjoyed playing with herself in front of an audience, or made out with other women.

Or wanted a threesome with two guys.

Strangely, I didn’t taste the acidic bite of jealousy that I was expecting. If anything, it made me hotter for the woman I loved. She had a nasty side, and that was awesome.

“You’re so sexy,” I whispered as I climbed onto her. She still hadn’t fully recovered from her orgasm, but was lucid enough to wrap her arms around me when I kissed her.

“Happy birthday,” she said weakly.

I rubbed my shaft along her slick pussy, just as I’d watched her do with her glass toy. She was cool on the outside, yet I could feel her heat radiating. I lined myself up, seeking that warmth.

“It’s definitely been a
happy
birthday.”

“Uh!” We groaned in unison as I filled her.

“Fuck, your cock feels like fire.” Beth released a throaty laugh, waving the dildo between us. “We’re going to have to use this thing again. Soon.”

“How about now? You wanted a threesome.”

She paused a moment, studying me carefully. I could practically read her thoughts, so I preempted them.

“I’m not upset. Or jealous. Just surprised. You never told me.”

“You never asked,” she said. She didn’t sound defensive or argumentative—she was merely stating fact.

I thought about how much different this conversation would have gone for Amber and Paul.

I fucked her slowly, adding my heat to hers as the Spanish guitars harmonized around us.

“Fair enough,” I said at last. “We never talked much about our pasts.”

Beth rested her hand on the back of my neck and pulled me close enough to kiss. “Because they are our
pasts
.”

And that was Beth in a nutshell: light-hearted, unabashed, and honest. And then there was a hint of that vixen when she added, “But if you want to know something, just ask. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

“Of your lovers, were they all guys?” I didn’t know why I latched onto that question, but based on the way my cock surged inside Beth, I was okay with it.

“No.” She tried to keep a straight face, but her smile bled through.

My heart skipped a beat. “How many were girls?”

“Mmm...” She rolled her eyes to the ceiling in thought. “Three. And yes, they were all hot.”

Jesus. How was I learning this for the first time in five years?

“Was one of them Amber?”

Beth’s smile was as mysterious as one of Casey’s. “Are you asking me if I’ve kissed Amber before today? Of course. She was my Tri Delt big sis.”

“Did you do more?”

“Are you asking if you’re not the only Warner to fuck Amber?” She squeezed me with her legs. “God, you’re hard.”

“Did you?”

“Sorry to say, but no. We came close, but no, she’s not one of the three.” She drew me against her shoulder, bringing her lips against my ears. “You like that idea? Of me and my best friend getting all sweaty under the sheets?”

I nearly lost it. It took all concentration to stave off orgasm.

“Yes, you like that idea.” She laughed.

“I’m afraid I can’t lie. Not in this position.”

“Oh?” She sank back into the pillow and looked up at me. “Can’t lie, huh?”

Uh oh.

“Do you ever think about Amber when you’re with me?”

“No.” It was a knee jerk answer, but an honest one. Mostly.

She put pressure on my lower back with her heel, pushing me into her. “Really? Never? She’s a sexy blonde.”

“I love you, honey.”

She laughed. “We’re not talking about love, baby.”

“You ever think about Paul?” I thought I was being clever. Instead...