Intimate Knowledge (6 page)

The hot, unpleasant feeling of being watched came over her again. Wrapping her arms protectively around her waist, Jennifer looked up and down the street, trying to see if anyone paid particular attention to her. Paranoia, she discovered, felt like a million tiny insect feet treading all over her skin.

Despite the street lights, much of the road was indiscernible in the evening darkness. A few lights shone in Saul’s neighbours’ windows, and a slow trickle of cars moved down the street—presumably people coming home after working late or heading out for dinner.

No one stood and stared at her. No one loitered casually smoking against a gate or post. Indeed, Jennifer couldn’t spot a single soul. That almost scared her more than should someone be standing in plain sight, following her.

Footsteps sounded in front of her. Jennifer snapped her head around, only to see Saul coming down the hall, his grin infectious.

“It’s fine, babe. Hey, are you all right?”

Saul wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she let herself be drawn flush against his body. Relaxing into him, she breathed in his clean, fresh scent and closed her eyes.

“I seem to just be freaking myself out,” she confessed.

Jennifer breathed deeply and moved, putting a small amount of space between herself and Saul. A teasing comment sat on the tip of her tongue, something to try to lighten the moment and poke fun at herself, but she noticed Saul scanning his dark eyes up and down the street.

Professionalism was etched into his stony countenance, his body rigid with awareness. Doubt crept into her mind once again and she turned, letting her own gaze track around to see if anything struck her as odd or wrong.

“Looks like my condition is contagious,” Saul said, a teasing lilt in his voice.

Jennifer frowned but didn’t move her head. She felt the need to keep looking about her, making certain there was no danger. She didn’t resist, however, when Saul gently used his arm across her shoulders to guide her inside.

“Wow, you must be worried,” he continued. “You didn’t use the chance to mock my paranoia and over-sensitive imagination. These men really have you scared, don’t they?”

“I might be a little slow to start off,” Jennifer replied. “But when I do get the message I can catch up quickly. Why did you let me tease you all these years? To a casual observation you might be a bit focused on people coming after you, but that’s only because they have been tracking you. Your work is infinitely more dangerous than you’d led me to believe. Saul, I’m sorry.”

He guided her through into the main living room. Jennifer dropped her satchel onto the couch, removed her beanie and scarf and started to unbutton her thick coat.

“Your teasing always reminded me that you were unconscious of any danger and completely innocent,” Saul replied after a moment’s careful thought. “You never mocked me or made me feel like a freak. Indeed, your acceptance and embracing of my perceived foibles, the gentle manner with which you teased me, it all added up to part of your charm, the thrall you held me in. There’s no need, ever, for you to apologise for being who you are. If anyone should do that it’s me. I never wanted to drag you into the seedy underbelly and infinite greyness of my world.”

Jennifer shrugged out of her coat. Since she couldn’t see a coat stand she let it drape over the back of the couch. With a warmth in her heart, she closed the distance between herself and Saul. Standing on tiptoes she pressed her body against his.

“Saul, no. You didn’t drag me into anything. You’ve always been my rock, a solid, comforting presence in my life. Who else could I have possibly turned to when I needed help?”

“I don’t want or need your gratitude, Jenn.”

“I’m not offering gratitude, Saul,” she countered with a wicked smile. Tilting her face up, she kept their lips a bare inch apart. “I’m offering me. All of me. In exchange for all of you. No secrets. No holding back. Everything.”

Saul groaned but didn’t say a word. He lowered his head and they kissed passionately. When he gasped she thrust her tongue between his lips, tasting him intimately. They twined their tongues and played together in an erotic game of parry-and-thrust. He closed his lips around her tongue, sucking. Jennifer melted into him. She moaned, heat pooling in her pussy as she grew slick, damp with need.

He chuckled, releasing her mouth again.

“Cheating,” she panted. Catching his gaze with hers, she saw laughter in his dark depths.

He didn’t respond to that, there was no need. Instead, Saul reached out and started to tug her woollen jumper up over her head. Eager, Jennifer let him and moved to start unknotting his tie and unbuttoning his work shirt. The sound of their laboured breathing filled the room.

Saul stole random kisses as parts of her body were exposed. An area of her belly peeked between the waistband of her trousers and the bottom of her linen top. With a speed and dexterity she sometimes forgot her friend held, he bent down, licked a slow swipe of his tongue over her naked skin, then pressed his lips to her hotly.

When she removed his shirt—the silky material flowing into a heap on the floor—Jennifer reached her hand out. She stroked the tips of her fingers over his warm, smooth muscles. Touching above his heart, she could feel the thumping of it. Such a strong, solid beat took her breath away.

Leaning close, she bent her head and kissed directly over the fast-pumping organ. Her imagination took flight, and she believed she could feel the rhythm, the beat of his life echo and reverberate through her lips. Saul stroked his hands over her skin as they slowly undressed each other. Jennifer felt almost as if she were captured in this perfect, beautiful moment in time.

Everything inside the room, inside her friend’s whole house, appeared the same but completely different. Nothing had physically changed since she’d last been inside this very room, not more than a few weeks ago. The curtains, the rich, thick Oriental rug, the couch, the gorgeous landscape paintings hanging on the wall—everything was the same, but she perceived it all with new, different eyes.

Indeed, the only thing that had changed was Saul now stood before her bare-arsed naked, as she did for him.

His body was breathtaking, all hard, smooth planes, chiselled muscles and steely strength. She gazed at him, amazed this glorious man was about to be hers in every way. It wasn’t just his physical beauty, she knew him so much deeper than that. He had the moral strength of a dozen men, a compassion she’d never been able to overlook or forget, and a fierce, almost primeval desire to protect those who needed it. That urge, as simple and instinctive as his name or skin colour, had been present from the day they’d first met. It was an integral part of his person, and one of the many reasons she had come to love him dearly.

In all their years together, she’d never seen his cock. Thick and long, standing proudly as it jutted out from his scrotum, it was a thing of beauty. She’d had a few lovers, none of whom she thought were as well endowed. Eager anticipation shot through her, her pussy wet with need and lust for this man’s possession.

“Hell, babe, you’re beautiful.”

She smiled, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and—as she had craved to do in the park—jumped up and crossed her legs around his waist, rubbing herself along the length of his hard shaft. He carried her with ease, as if she were the lightest thing ever. It made her feel special.

“I was thinking the exact same thing about you, Saul.”

They kissed again, eagerly exploring naked, warm skin. Saul palmed his hands around her arse, cupping her and stroking her flesh until she writhed with need, her lips slick from her own juices. Panting hard, Jennifer wanted this moment to last forever, but she needed to feel Saul inside her with a fiery intensity.

“Saul,” she moaned. “Please. I need you.”

She groaned as he moved a hand from her arse to dip into the pockets of his trousers where they’d been cast over the back of the couch. Trying to find coherent speech, Jennifer heard the crinkle of foil, answering her unspoken question.

She fluttered her eyes shut as Saul kissed her yet again. It took her a moment to realise he’d walked them both across the room. With the small square held between his fingers and both palms supporting her, he knelt on the thick rug. Carefully, as if she would break, he lowered her onto her back, his body settling comfortably above hers.

When the world tilted on its axis, Jennifer realised everything had changed, not just between the two of them, but in her universe. Nothing would ever be the same again. And surprisingly, she didn’t care at all—she welcomed this change, the deepening intimacy between herself and Saul. She craved it.

She took the packet from him, ripped it open with her teeth and smoothed the latex over his shaft. He grew more in her hands, a slight thrust of his hips urging her to fist him, stroke him. Eagerly she followed his lead. Up and down she stroked his cock, loving the feel of him, the warmth emanating from his body.

Lifting her head she watched Saul, faintly disconcerted to find him staring at her, his gaze locked on her face. She smiled a little self-consciously.

“What?”

“You look like you’re discovering a treasure, or maybe a secret.”

She grinned, his words accurate. Stroking him further with one hand, she used the other to reach out and draw his head down to hers.

“I’m learning a whole host of new things. You’re now my favourite subject to learn about.”

They kissed again. Long, slow, drugging kisses that had heat seeping through her body, her moves becoming languid. His hands branded her skin, touching her, spiking her desire higher until she arched her back away from the floor. She pressed closer to his skin. Jennifer wished she could crawl up into him, become one with him.

A part of her craved to take her time, to explore his body with all his hidden, secret sweet spots, but the fire in her belly raged, her pussy clenching with the need to be filled, possessed.

“Last chance,” Saul groaned hoarsely.

Jennifer shook her head, shifted on the rug so she could spread her legs wide open for him, splaying herself for anything he wished.

“This time we won’t stop,” she panted. “Not for anything.”

Saul kissed her hard, his frame pressed down onto hers. They touched everywhere, stroking their fingers over deliciously naked skin, moving their lips over one another and tasting with their tongues. He lifted her thigh higher, the tips of his fingers sending thrills of pleasure across her skin. Jennifer loved the way Saul touched her. Reaching between their bodies she circled her fingers around the base of his cock, her thumb and forefinger barely able to circumnavigate his girth.

“Please,” she pleaded. Guiding him to her pussy, Jennifer canted her hips. She looked up at him, watched as his eyes burned with hunger, drinking in the sight of her helping him reach her entrance.

He paused for a moment, his gaze flicking up to meet hers.

“I love you,” he whispered.

The house around them was silent, the words seeming to reverberate between them. Jennifer gasped, the power and heartfelt meaning behind those three simple words cutting through her every defence and leaving her feeling raw, exposed.

He didn’t give her a chance to reply. With a hard thrust Saul pushed the heated tip of his erection inside her. Jennifer’s walls stretched, her pussy widen to swallow him whole. Slowly, but in a smooth motion, he breached her passage, pushing deeper and farther inside her.

“Oh,” she moaned, the welling emotions rising with her, seeking an outlet.

Jennifer lifted her hands to clasp either side of Saul’s waist. He took this as an invitation and pressed fully into her, his balls slapping lightly against her skin as he lodged into her as far as possible.

They both held still for a moment, locked their eyes together. Jennifer reached a hand out and stroked the pads of her fingers over Saul’s smooth scalp. His eyes were black as pitch but filled with a wealth of emotion she couldn’t begin to guess at. Despite the fact they remained quiet, breathing hard, she could still hear his words echoing around them, in her ears and seared permanently across her heart.

‘I love you’, he’d said, so simply, his emotions so bare and raw. There was no hiding here. No omissions or obfuscating the truth with a well-crafted story. The words were stark and potent, and had gripped her heart like a vice.

“I love you, too, Saul,” she panted, her face flushed with heat, desire and an urgency she couldn’t place. The words tumbled from her lips, inelegant compared to his admission, but just as heartfelt. “Always. Forever. I love you.”

As if her admission had broken something inside him, Saul’s eyes fluttered shut and he groaned deeply. For a moment she feared it had been the wrong thing to say, that something horrible had happened within him.

Then he clasped his hands over her hips, lifted her arse up and tilted her body for his possession. Pulling out of her, he then thrust back in one smooth motion, hard. Somehow it felt like he hit every nerve inside her passage with his thick cock, shooting sparks of current outwards and jolting her.

Her body came alive. Pleasure raced everywhere at once.

She gasped, unable to breathe from the overwhelming sensations.

In and out of her clenching pussy he plunged, gathering speed as sweat dotted his face. Jennifer clutched her hands at his back, seeking purchase she arched her spine up. The need to feel him closer, to push herself into him, grew inside her belly. Their skin became slick from perspiration as they came together faster and harder, their bodies slapped together as need overrode everything else.

“Saul,” she panted, unable to articulate the blossoming emotions, the hard, near painful desire as it built swiftly and steadily.

“Jenn,” he replied.

His gaze was serious, his face set in what she at first mistook for grim determination, but then realised he was exerting a mammoth control over himself.

“Take me,” she panted. “Let it go, I can handle it.”

Jennifer wasn’t certain she could express herself even in the perfect circumstances, let alone half wild with lust as she was now. Saul seemed to guess or understand what she meant. They’d been friends forever, and now were far more than that. She didn’t want or need him to pretend, to hold onto his control, to hide from her. She loved him. Accepted everything about him. She could take anything and everything he dished out and hoped to return it to him tenfold.