Chapter 6

I stood behind her in the lift, pressing into her body as I wrapped my arms around her stomach. I rested my lips on the pulsing blood vessel on her neck. There were three other people in the lift with us, none seemed aware of the energy that we were throwing off.

Jess had her hands up my shirt by the time we got to our room door. I fumbled for the room key as her lips found mine, which made activating the key card much more difficult than it had to be. Finally, the door yielded and I pushed us into the room. Jess grabbed my tie and pulled me towards the bed.

I unbuckled my trousers and eased my boxers off. I reached under Jess’s dress and pulled off her underwear, which was damp with her arousal. She gasped with anticipation. I tightened my strap-on and pushed her onto the bed.

Jess stretched her legs out and lifted her dress. I positioned myself on top and guided the strap-on into her dripping opening.

“YES! OH AH AH AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Jess shrieked as I started fucking her.

Jess panted, pulling her knees higher towards her shoulders.

I quickly adjusted so I could push the cock deeper inside her. I love how she swallowed me up as I thrusted into her. I felt a quickening in my clit — the result of the alchemy between the visual and physical stimulation assaulting my senses.

“Come on, baby,” I grunted, “come for me…”

I reached between us and started rubbing her clit.

“Unh. UNH. MMMM. FUCK! Alex, I’m close, baby, oh shit!” Jess shouted. I kept thrusting, feeling beads of sweat bloom on my chest. I felt her clit swell and pulse and I started gently pinching it with my thumb and forefinger.

I stroked in and out several more times and we managed to come together.

“Alex, my darling, oh…” Jess mumbled as I fell onto the bed next to her.

“That was worth waiting for…”

“I don’t know if I can keep up with you, Ms. Mak,” she teased, running her hand under my shirt.

I kissed her, “This is what you get, dating a younger woman,” I teased back.

“Oh, you cheeky monkey,” Jess exclaimed, nipping me on the shoulder with her teeth.

I laughed, “You really need to stop this habit of biting me, sweetheart. I’ll have to go around with scarves and shit to hide the evidence.”

“You know you love it, darling,” Jess nipped me again, this time on my neck.

I chuckled, “Yes, you’re right. I do love it. I love all of it. All of you.”

–Chapter 5: End of Summer–

I heard the gentle clinking of plates and glasses from the kitchen downstairs as I woke up in my parents’ house. Alex was wrapped around me, all smooth and warm.

We’d spent a wonderful six days in the Lakes with my family and planned to leave later that afternoon for London. Two more nights before I would have to wake up alone. I didn’t like that thought one bit.

I couldn’t believe our two months together were coming to an end. The rest of our time in the US was free from drama, and Alex and I fell into an easy rhythm of living together. It scared me how effortless it was: living with James had been a study in compromise — he left dirty dishes and mugs all over the place, I didn’t; he played a narrow set of music repeatedly, I had a broader playlist; he used every pot and pan in the kitchen just to cook pasta, I didn’t; I left my bras everywhere, which drove him bonkers.

When he left, the absence of his messes helped mitigate the pain. With Alex, I could well imagine that there would just be an abyss with no redeeming factor if I lost her for any reason.

I watched her sleep, envious that she did not share my sporadic episodes of uncertainty about our relationship. Not trusting myself to keep those demons at bay, I left her sleeping and plodded downstairs to the kitchen for some distraction.

“Morning,” I said to no-one in particular.

My mother placed a mug of hot coffee on the table for me, “Hello poppet. Did you sleep well?”

My brother snickered. I kicked him as I sat down.

“Shut it, Nick.” I hissed at him.

He giggled maddeningly. “Sis, all I can say is, you guys have stamina.”

I stared at him, horrified.

“Don’t worry, I put my headphones on when it was clear you guys were going in for the long haul. Didn’t hear a thing after that.”

“Hear what, darling?” My mother asked, sitting down with her breakfast.

I glared at Nick, who was clearly enjoying this much more than he should.

Nick almost choked on his cereal as he quickly said, “House. Really…. uh… creaky.”

“We didn’t notice anything in the master bedroom down here Nick. Maybe it’s just your room,” my mother earnestly responded, causing Nick to dissolve into a fit of laughter.

She shook her head, “there’s always something funny for you, Nicholas. Finish your breakfast darling, Dad needs you to help out in the back when you are done.”

Nick downed the rest of his cereal and loped off to the backyard.

“Now Jess,” she said, turning to me, “What time will you and Alex be setting off?”

I shrugged, “Probably sometime after tea.”

“Why don’t you stay longer, dear? Drive back on Sunday?”

“Alex’s flight is on Sunday afternoon, we want to have some time in London before she leaves.”

My mother sighed, “What a pity — it’s been so nice having you both here.”

“It means a lot that you invited her to be here with us,” I said sincerely. It was true: my parents had unreservedly welcomed Alex as a member of the family.

My mother patted my hand, “It is just so good to see you so happy. When will you see each other next?”

“She’ll be back a couple of times in September for meetings. I’ll fly over for half term in October, and then we’ll be here for Christmas for a little bit, but we might want to go somewhere warm as well — we haven’t quite decided.”

“You must stop by and spend some time with us over Christmas. What about Alex’s family? Will you be seeing them?”

I shook my head, “Her siblings stop by New York every so often, but her parents have stated that she can’t bring me with her if she visits, I’m afraid, so she’s not going to see them.”

My mother frowned, “That is just such nonsense, Jessica. Why would they choose to be so narrow-minded?”

“It’s not an easy thing to accept mum. I’m just so grateful that you and dad have been so amazing.” I gave her squeeze.

“Now I feel very cross for you, and especially for Alex. Tom, did you know that Alex won’t be seeing her family for Christmas because they don’t want to see her and Jess together?” My mother glared at my dad as he tramped in from the back yard.

“Morning Jess,” my father said as he ruffled my hair. “What is it, Maggie?”

My mother sighed, “Alex’s parents. They don’t accept the relationship.”

“Hm. Their loss, I suppose.” My father started in on the newspaper. “Where is Alex?”

“She’s still sleeping. Why?”

“Oh, I promised I would take her round Grasmere today before you two left — I said she couldn’t leave without seeing it.”

I gave him a huge hug.

“What was that for?” He asked, hugging me back.

“For being you, dad,” I said, “I’ll go see if I can rouse Alex. She’d sleep half the day away if she could.”

I felt Jess’s weight on the bed and then her hand on my thigh.

“Hiya,” I mumbled. I stretched happily.

“Come down for breakfast — Dad’s raring to go — something about taking you to see Grasmere.” Jess bent down and kissed me.

I nodded and grabbed her by her shirt. “Come snuggle for a little bit.”

Jess fell on top of me, laughing, “no darling. Dad’s waiting, and they know I came up here to get you. Nick heard us last night, by the way. Mortifying.”

Jess nodded, “I’m going to be very happy for us to be back in my place tonight. Come on love, off you go.”

I quickly pulled on some clothes and stopped by the bathroom before trooping downstairs. Maggie and Tom were in the kitchen, finishing up breakfast. Nick was carelessly attacking the backyard with a rake.

“Hello sleepy head,” Maggie said, “what’ll it be?”

“Uh, some tea and toast?” I lowered myself into a chair.

Tom put his paper down, “Alex, we should get going if we want to avoid the crowds — starts getting noisy around 11.”

I nodded, quickly finishing up what Maggie put in front of me.

All four Wainwrights and I piled into the car and headed off.

“Welcome to ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found,'” Tom said as we approached the lake. We’d parked in the village and strolled to the lake.

It really was a breath-taking vista.

Tom and I had worked our way a little ahead of the others.

“Alex, where do you think this relationship with Jessica is going?”

I stopped and looked him, surprised by the bluntness of his question. Tom’s eyes were gentle, but I heard the concern in his voice.

“It’s only going to go where Jess wants it to go,” I said.

Tom sighed, “She’s told you about James, I suppose?”

“I still don’t really understand what happened,” Tom continued, “afterwards she didn’t bring anyone home, didn’t seem to really want to find anyone after that. Then you came along and it all changed.”

“I don’t know where this is going, but I know that I don’t want it to end,” I looked into his eyes, which were exact replicas of Jess’s. “I still feel like I’m dreaming sometimes when I wake up next to her.”

Tom chuckled, “I didn’t need that mental image. No offense.”

I laughed, “Sorry. Tom, I –“

“Ech,” Tom said as he clapped me on the back, “Forgive a father for overstepping. You are adults. You don’t need me barging in like this. Jess is as happy as I’ve ever seen her, and that’s good enough for me.”

Not long after, Jess caught up with me, “What were you talking about with my dad just now?”

“He asked if I knew what happened between you and James,” I said. “I said yes, and he wanted to know what my intentions were…”

Jess rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe he cornered you like that. Honey, I’m sorry.”

“No — don’t be. He wasn’t being obnoxious. He just — he was just being a good dad.” I said.

She took my hand as we strolled, “So what did you say your intentions were?”

“Oh, that I wanted to corrupt you with my deviant ways… something like that,” I said glibly.

She smacked me on the chest. “Seriously, Alex! What did you say?”

I chuckled, “That I love you, and that this all seems like a dream sometimes it’s so perfect. He backed off pretty quickly.”

“Oh,” she said, and was silent for a few moments.

I squeezed her hand gently, “For what it’s worth, I think he pretty much gave us his blessing.”

Jess looked surprised, “He’s quite keen on you then! You must have been doing something right. He’s been prickly about people I’ve dated.”

“I think you’ve been prickly about people you dated,” I ventured, “all the better for me… I might not have had a chance with you otherwise.”

Jess fell silent for a while, then said, “‘It seems right now that all I’ve ever done in my life is making my way here to you…'”

“Clint Eastwood. ‘The Bridges of Madison County.'”

“I think we’ve been making our way to each other. I’m glad we did.” I gathered her in my arms.

“Me too,” she held me close. I leaned forward and kissed her.

Jess broke away, “NICHOLAS. Stop being such an ARSE.”

“It’s a really nice photo Jess. Thought you guys would like something from this trip,” Nick was smiling openly. “Come on, mum and dad headed back to the car the moment you guys started getting all gooey with each other.”

“I can’t wait until we’re back down south by ourselves,” Jess grimaced.

Nick laughed, “Me too, Jess… me too…”

I shook my head, “Sorry Nick, we really tried to be quiet.”

“You were. I didn’t hear anything last night — I just like taking the piss out of her…” Nick ducked as Jess tried to take a swipe at him.

“What are you still doing on your laptop? Come to bed,” I called out, as I finished the last bits of unpacking from the Lake District.

“Just taking a look at the photo your brother sent. It really is quite nice,” Alex replied, “you shouldn’t give him such a hard time.”

I plodded out to the living room and stood behind Alex and peeked at her laptop screen. She was right, it was a beautiful picture of us.

“Alright, fine,” I allowed, “it’s a nice photo.”

Alex leaned her head back against my body as she looked up at me, “Tell him! He would love to hear that from you.”

I shrugged non-committedly.

“Well, if you won’t, I will,” said Alex, “You guys obviously love and support each other — why neither of you can say so outright is beyond me. But I’m not one to talk, my siblings and I fall in and out of touch as the seasons change.”

I kissed her on her head and snaked my hand under her shirt. I felt her heartbeat quicken as my hand slid lower.

“Can you compliment my brother’s photography later, darling? I’ve been waiting a whole week to have some really loud sex with you.”

“How loud, Jess?” Alex teased.

I gave her breast a squeeze, “That all depends on you…”

“You are going to give me performance anxiety,” Alex protested mockingly, “but I do have some tricks up my sleeve…”

She stood up and threw me over her shoulder. I screamed in surprise.

“Put me down this instant, Alexandra!”

“Oh bite me,” she grunted, “You know you want to.”

Alex marched us into the bedroom and lowered me onto the bed.

I felt a now familiar rush of anticipation as Alex and I disrobed each other. Her arms, so strong and deft, enveloped me with authority. My legs were wrapped around her hips almost immediately, claiming her body as mine.

“I can’t believe I have to leave Sunday,” Alex murmured into my hair.

“That’s just about forty eight whole hours of time for us to spend together. Alone. In private.” I raised my eyebrows suggestively.