Chapter 5

Another slap stung my cheek. The roughness of her actions turned me on. The pain turned me on. The following soft caress of her hand over my sensitive cheek turned me on. My whole body was on sensory overload.

I likened the stinging heat on my face to eating spice — an initial stab of pain, then a lingering sensation of flames licking at the area — as if something was crawling within the tissue.

My hips bucked up, making the edges of my lips touch her ass cheeks, which in turn made me gyrate harder, looking for friction.

“Stop!” The hardest slap came. My head swam in arousal.

“Please. I beg of you. I need you. Please. Please.”

She caressed my cheek a while longer, then dragged her palm down my front to fingerfuck me again.

“Good girl. You earned it, baby.”

She dug her fingers in again. My pussy was on a hair trigger and clutched at her three fingers harshly. She licked at the flushed, sore surface of my cheek over and over again as she worked me up.

My nails clawed into her shoulders.

Her free hand rolled a nipple between her fingers. I exploded with the hardest bucking I could remember ever not being in control of. She rode my lap as best she could to keep us connected. I sagged heavily against the cold wall.

She worked me down while I mumbled a string of slurred nonsense — something about celestial ecstasy, blinding white fiery light, unadulterated power, etcetera, etcetera.

She chuckled as she took her fingers out to paint a stripe of my own arousal down my sternum, wiping the last of it right before my landing strip started.

I felt her weight float off me, then she half-carried me to help me lay down properly.

My cheek still stung, my pussy throbbed in post-climax, and little tingles still flooded the rest of my nervous system.

“Well, it seems like it was a success.”

I mumbled something that hopefully sounded similar to assent. She licked my cheek one last time, then laid down, hugging her warm body to my side. She whispered sweet nothings to me as she caressed my front. I didn’t understand what she was saying, but the tone of her voice was low and loving.

I slowly came back to my body, and realized I was clutching her fiercely.

“Oh, sorry!” I loosened my insane grip on her.

“Didn’t hurt. It was sweet.” She ran her index finger down the almost completely dried come on my front.

“Scale of 1 – 10?” she questioned.

“It was hot…” I hedged.

“It wasn’t my favorite — like a 3 out of 10. I think I’d like for you to wait for me to ask for it again before you do it, please.”

“All right. No problem.” Her eyes always looked at me as if she understood everything I felt before I’d even told her.

“Did you like it?” I asked her.

She hummed softly. “I don’t think it was my favorite either, but I love watching you lose control.”

“That’s a kink, too.”

“Yeah, maybe!” We held hands, and ran a calf over the other’s skin, playing softly.

I slowly slipped out of the mindset I’d taken on to get worked up at her slaps.

“Come on, get up.” She slapped my belly lightly, then extricated herself from me.

“Don’t wanna.” I turned on my side to hug a pillow.

“Mor, up! Everything is wet and sticky, and we both need showers.”

“No!” I turned over further to rest on my belly, then pulled the pillow completely over the back of my head.

She dug her fingers in to tickle my sides, making me yelp.

“Ah! Okay! Jesus!” I got up, then helped her strip and redress the bed.

We took a shower, not trying anything funny because we were both exhausted — just some kissing because I couldn’t help but taste her under the sweet stream of water. Her lips were fresh and slippery.

We finally collapsed in the fresh bed in the dark, and I felt the breeze that came in from the window caress my slightly sensitive cheek.

“God! You’re so hot, Suz!”

She yawned. “You too. Earlier. Love sex. Love us. Love you, babe.”

I grinned in the dark. “Ditto. Ditto. And double ditto.”

She chuckled, recognizing her favorite word.

As we dozed, I thought about my plans to go visit Jesse that upcoming Saturday morning to tell him I wanted to propose to Suzie. He was going to have a conniption.

The faint noise of the odd car zooming far below our floor sounded here and there, lulling us to sleep.

We looked down at the thing resting on the table in front of us.

My best friend, Jesse, was cradling a tiny mug of espresso, and I sat opposite him. “Whoa.”

A velvet box with my engagement ring for Suzie was open towards him as he gaped at it.

I sipped at the strong coffee his girlfriend had made me. It was delicious.

“So you’re going to…” he finally started.

“Huh. Well, I mean… I knew it was going to happen eventually — but, fuck.”

“I was thinking of doing it on our anniversary. Invite some people to the apartment, surprise her with the proposal, and give her the ring.”

“That sounds great. I’m your best man, right?” He smiled at me warmly, his eyes shining.

“Duh.” I smiled back at him. “What do you think about singing her a song right before?”

We planned the party. We started to get more excited as we drew out the finer points for the proposal.

The day of our anniversary party came faster than I expected.

We dressed before Jesse, his girlfriend, and Stacey got there.

“Mor, we don’t match.”

I bit my tongue as I put on a belt. It wasn’t the day to argue with her, but I had an idea of what I wanted to look like in my head when I proposed to her. I looked at her beautiful wine-red dress. It was one-shouldered, fitted, and had a small ruffly side train that flowed out.

“Okay. My oxblood trousers then?”

“Yes! That would be adorable.”

She sidled up behind me as I put on a new shirt to match my trousers. She slipped her warm hands over my skin to rest on my stomach.

“I’m wearing something later that I think will make you happy, too.”

“I’ll wear whatever you want, then!”

She chuckled, and scratched at my skin as she kissed my neck. “Good girl.”

The skin on my neck crawled and sent flames down my body to pull at my groin. I turned around in her arms. She buttoned me up; I looked at her face while she did so. Her face made me so happy. She was beautiful, of course, but it was my affection for her that made my heart want to explode that much harder.

“Happy anniversary,” I whispered.

She made eye contact, and smiled. “Happy anniversary.”

She stretched to kiss me, slipping her palm over the bend of my neck before we forcibly separated from each other to finish getting ready.

As soon as I finished dressing and slicking back my hair, the door clicked open around the corner, at the entrance to our condo.

I recognized Jesse’s voice.

“Yo!” I called back.

I went to greet him and his girlfriend, “Hi Jess! Awesome! You were able to get the big helium tank! Hi, Camila, te ves hermosa.” I told her how lovely she looked in Spanish.

“Gracias, Moriah. Estamos emocionados de ser parte del aniversario de vosotros.” She said she was excited to be part of our anniversary. Her lilting Spanish accent was adorable, stressing the “s” sounds to sound like “th” and speaking in that lovely unique cadence.

Jesse had met Camila during his benefit tour in Europe he’d taken a couple of years hence. They’d kept visiting each other, and speaking extensively over the phone and video chat. She decided to move to this part of the world to be with him and moved in with him.

I helped them lug in the bins of decorations. While we were working, Stacey barged in and whooped in excitement, in her usual boisterous way.

“Stacey!” Suzie shrieked and went to hug her as they jumped up and down.

“Gurl! The party is here!” She posed a little, and we all chuckled at her antics.

We finished setting up the decorations, then Jesse helped usher in the food. Guests started to trickle in while I started to get more and more nervous. I’d practiced my speech a million times, but I was still worried I’d mess up horribly.

“Hi Amy. How are you?” I greeted Suzie’s best friend at the door.

“Good, Mor. Thank you. I feel like a whale, but Kev has been so sweet — even when I want pickles and fries in the middle of the night.” She rubbed her huge belly.

“That’s adorable. When is baby Hazel due?”

“Beginning of September. I’m already dying and I can’t imagine what the final month is going to be like.”

“Let us know if you ever need anything. Substitute Lamaze buddy or a girl’s night in or something.”

“I will. Thank you!”

The few caterers glided amongst the guests offering hor d’oeuvres and drinks. Jesse was helping me coordinate and put out fires, so Suzie was free to enjoy the night with our friends.

I looked over to see Suzie speaking to Wesley and his boyfriend.

Wesley was my old bartender manager, and had bought the bar just recently. His boyfriend Shawn was the exact opposite from Wesley’s gruff demeanor; he’d quickly become one of Suzie’s close friends and had even been inducted into the Sex and the City Sunday Brunch Bunch. Hell, not even I was allowed to attend those brunches.

I’d already seen my anniversary present from Wesley; it was a bright red box with a bottle of Louis XIII inside of it. I was so looking forward to it. I wasn’t the type to wait for “a special occasion.” I’d keep the bottle and maybe even refill it with a less expensive Remy Martin, but the fuck if I was going to pass up an opportunity to taste the golden nectar of the gods as soon as I could.

Shawn came in with his own gift for Suzie and she shrieked when she saw the orange Hermes gift bag. They were both so sweet.

Seven p.m. rolled around, and everyone took a spot at the dining table we’d set up.

Jesse really was so much smarter than me when it came to gastronomy. Maybe it was the artist in him — something about painting and sculpting that translated into building the perfect menu.

Due to my mixology background, I made sure aperitifs and digestifs were served before and after the four courses. As we sipped on our aperitifs, Wesley called out from my right.

“Mor, where the fuck you get Amer Picon from?”

I chuckled. “Imported, but whenever we travel, I try to bring back what I can.”

“She dumps all her clothes or ships them, and fills her suitcase with booze.” Suzie interjected.

There were a few chuckles.

“I have an extra bottle of Picon and Biere if you’d like, Wes.”

“Hell, yeah! Thanks!”

“Sure thing! Thank you! I’m so excited for that Louis later!” I toasted my tiny glass at him. He toasted me back, then curled his mustache, presumably thinking of the cocktails he could make with the Amer bottles.

We went through the expertly constructed courses Jesse had built. All the while, I looked at Suzie. Her eyes were shining as she spoke to our friends. The night was full of warm fuzzies due to what we were celebrating, our warm home, and our motley crew of friends that we’d grown to love for one reason or another.

As dinner wound down, we were all feeling exceptionally full, but then the caterers came around with dessert: a small plate with chocolate mousse and banana creme cheesecake. It was accompanied by a choice of a small glass of port or coffee.

Suzie looked in my eyes hotly as she took a bite of her cheesecake. It was her favorite, and I knew her look was her way of thanking me for thinking of her. I grew hot under my collar, because being a sweetheart to her was oftentimes rewarded by wearing new lingerie or by her fucking me with the strap.

I gulped and sipped at my port glass, giving her a little coy smile in return.

After everyone had had a chance to enjoy the final course, I started to look for a lull in conversation so we could move on to the performance. I seized my opportunity when the table quieted for a moment, standing up and tapping a fork against my port glass.

“Hi everyone! Thank you so much for coming to celebrate our six-year anniversary!” I looked at Suzie to see her smiling with round, pink cheeks. There was a smattering of claps. “Each of you are so special to us, and we are so grateful to have beautiful friends like yourselves to share the good parts of our lives. Before the night is out, we’d like to show you something Jesse and I have been working on, so if you could all make your way over to the living room and find a spot facing the balcony, please. We’ll get everything set up.”