Chapter 3

And then it happens—I press my lips to hers. We stand in the center of the dining room, that only moments ago was utter chaos, and it seems to me that we are the only two people in the world. We are hot and sweaty, both still wearing our aprons, and most definitely smelling of onions and grilled meats.

I feel her fingers searching for mine. She takes my hand, tentatively, by the fingertips.

“Shower?” she says. “I mean, you could always take one at home, but—”

“Yes.” I take her face gently in my hands and quickly cover her with fumbling kisses. “Yes.”

We stumble from the dining room, into the kitchen, still locked together at the lips. She guides me to the back, near the emergency exit, the same place where we had that tense conversation that seems like centuries ago. I am shuddering again, but for a very different reason.

Gabriela is urging me through the doorway, but not to the exit this time. She pulls me along, up the stairwell that leads to the apartment above. There is a locked door at the top and we stand just in front of it while Gabriela digs for her key and I wrestle with the butterflies in my stomach.

“It’s a little messy,” she says.

“I’ll close my eyes.”

“Oh, Angel.” She unbolts the door and we tumble in, lips locked together, and sucking breath at a fever pitch.

If there is any mess in her apartment, I don’t see it. I have only one thing on my mind, and that is the warmth and tenderness of this woman I am standing with, the woman whose touch is both exciting and new, and at the same time, familiar and reassuring.

Though there was no mess to start with, we are most certainly making one now. First to go is my apron. I wonder why I didn’t take it off downstairs when I feel it hit the floor. Gabriela’s is next to go. Then, slowly, my t-shirt is lifted up over my head and her mouth is on my shoulder, nipping and sucking at my skin. Her breath on my bare skin causes me to shudder.

Our trail of clothing is leading us to the bathroom. True to her word, Gabriela really did invite me up here for a shower. I’m staring at her feet as she reaches behind to turn on the tap. Underpants are the only things that are not part of the trail on the floor, but they soon join in.

I am intrigued to see that she keeps herself completely bare, and I’m a little embarrassed at my own wispy hairs that she brushes her fingers through while her tongue is gliding over the side of my neck.

I open my mouth to say something, though exactly what it is that’s on my mind escapes me at the moment. Gabriela takes it as an invitation to guide my open mouth to hers and begins exploring me with her tongue. I wrap my arms around her waist and enjoy the moment.

“I was serious about the shower.” Gabriela gently nips my lower lip. “Sweaty girl.”

Gabriela grins, and pulls me by the hand until we’re stuffed inside a shower stall that looks like it was designed for one, maybe one and a half, tops.

“You know, I wouldn’t be sweaty if you didn’t work me so hard.”

“Mmm,” she says. “I can think of so many ways to respond to that.” But instead of a snappy comeback, she straddles my thigh while at the same time cupping my sex in her hand.

My power of speech has left me. All I can think about is the feeling of her smooth mound grinding on my leg and the way she touches me. I feel her finger wiggling, softly pressing against my entrance, parting me. I take two helpings of her marvelous behind in my hands, and she begins to ride my thigh even harder.

“You like that, Angel?”

I get the feeling that Gabriela is either extremely confident tonight, or that I am not the first woman to share her shower. I am not bothered by this. In my mind, an experienced woman who knows what she does and doesn’t like is exactly why I always seem to be lusting for someone who, as Gabriela would say, is old enough to be my mother.

“I want to put my mouth here, Angel,” she presses in with her finger, parting my sex, and filling me quickly. “But it’ll be better if you let me shave you first. Would that be alright?”

“Mmm-mmm,” is all I can seem to construct for a reply. Gabriela’s found a truly magical place down there, and she’s letting me know it.

I nod. It’s the best I can do under the circumstances.

I feel my body begins to sag, my composure leaving me. I grab onto Gabriela’s shoulders to steady myself, while she just grins. She guides me so that my back is pressed against the shower wall and continues grinding on my thigh. The tile wall is colder than the water, and I suck a ragged breath. My blood is hammering in my temples as she works her magic with her finger.

Soon things begin to even out for me, and I bend forward to pull a dusky nipple between my lips. I swirl my tongue and Gabriela moans as her flesh stiffens in my mouth.

“Mmm, Angel,” I hear whispered to me.

Inside my chest, my heart hammers harder. My thighs begin to quiver, and I’m having trouble keeping to my feet again. I lose her nipple from my mouth. This seems to amuse Gabriela somewhat, as she presses me harder into the wall, while still managing to hump my leg and rub me into a nearly rabid frenzy.

“Gabriela.” I suck a great quivering breath. “Oh… my…”

“Oh, fu—” My entire body convulses. There’s a shuddering that starts somewhere deep inside, welling up and traveling down my thighs, to finally manifest itself in my heel pounding uncontrollably on the shower floor.

For a moment, all I can think about is, thank goodness there are no downstairs neighbors to complain. That thought quickly fades as a warmth passes over my entire body and Gabriela steadies me by drawing me into her arms.

I have no capacity for speech.

“Ready for a little grooming?” Gabriela is holding a pink triple-blade disposable razor in her hand and grinning. “I mean, I’ll still do it—lick you that is—but it’s so much better when—”

“Yes.” I touch her wrist and guide her hand downward—the hand with the razor. “Yes, you can do whatever you want with me.”

“Yeah.” I lean my head back and spread my thighs so she can go to work.

“I texted my mom,” I say. “Told her I was staying with a friend. It’s true in a way, I guess.”

We stand at the foot of Gabriela’s bed, both nude, but toweled off to a mild dampness instead of dripping wet. I am feeling a little self-conscious, but mostly at being freshly shaved, I think. It seems like every little stray air current in the room is enough to get my motor racing. Or maybe it’s because I’m standing here with Gabriela, the woman whose image I have held in my dreams for so long, knowing what we are about to do.

“Are you sure about this, Angel?”

“If you ever feel uncomfortable—”

“I know.” I take the fingers of her hand in mine and give them a reassuring squeeze. “I won’t.”

Gabriela holds my face in her hands and presses her lips to mine. The kiss she gives is long, and gentle, and full of warmth. I press in with my tongue and she presses back. We battle for a while until I feel her hands on my shoulders, pressing downward, encouraging me to be seated on the edge of her bed.

From my new vantage point, I have to raise my eyes to meet her gaze. Gabriela smiles down upon me, and when she does, the corners of her eyes crinkle just a bit.

She goes down on her knees, and I sigh as she presses me backward, telling me to lie back and relax, that tonight is all about me. Gabriela presses her tongue to the inside of my thigh, just above my knee. She tells me that she’s going to take care of me, and I believe her. She begins sliding her tongue higher and higher, swirling and meandering as she goes.

I have no choice but to give myself over to her. I seem to be incapacitated, paralyzed, completely under whatever spell she has cast over me tonight. All I can do is watch as she inches ever closer to the patch of skin she laid bare only minutes ago in the shower.

Finally, I manage to move my hand from where it lies at my side, to find the fingers of Gabriela’s hand. I give her a squeeze. She squeezes back and begins weaving her fingers in with mine, all without ever moving her tongue from my thigh and the warm, slippery trail she seems so intent on leaving.

“Mmm,” I moan. Gabriela’s mouth is getting closer, and I clench my ass a few times in anticipation, causing my hips to bounce rhythmically. This elicits a soft snicker and a playful nip of her teeth that almost sends me through the roof.

She’s close now, close enough that I can feel her warm breath on my sex.

I feel her nipple, hard as diamond, brushing against my thigh as she makes her approach. Quivering almost uncontrollably, I gaze down, between my thighs to peer at her face.

Gabriela seems to enjoy this drawn-out tease, and raises her eyes seductively as she shows me her tongue, slowly sliding it over her top lip before extending it further to make contact with my skin. I lurch as she takes a swipe at my sensitive nub, my back arching almost painfully.

I feel her hands now, scooping my buttocks and tilting my hips. And then she starts in with a long, slow lapping at my folds—starting nearly at the crack of my ass, and drawing up over the area where she suggested I let her groom me earlier. All I can think about is that I’m glad I said yes.

There is a constant moaning sound that fills the room now, and it’s not all coming from me. Gabriela seems to really enjoy her work. I know I’m a fan, particularly since she’s got her finger rubbing again at that really nice place she found while we were in the shower.

But just as I feel as if I’m going to start coming apart again, like I did with my little foot pounding dance, she slows the pace. I groan and buck my hips, but it does me no good. I heave a sigh of frustration, and I swear I hear a little tisk-tisk from below, or maybe I hallucinated it—that really wouldn’t surprise me in my current state.

Though after I’m done huffing and begin relaxing instead, Gabriela dials up the intensity a little more. Soon, I am riding a continuous wave of ups and downs, nearly peaking, but not quite.

I’m shuddering almost constantly now, and probably speaking in tongues, as my eyelids go from being clamped shut to fluttering in anticipation and back again. My hips are probably grinding a bare spot into her sheets by now, I’ve been pitching them back and forth for so long—all in an attempt to get this wonderfully maddening woman to take me over the edge.

“Gabriela,” I cry out.

A guttural sound bubbles up from my diaphragm. “Nooow!”

I hear Gabriela snicker, but she grants me my wish. Her finger is… wow! And her tongue is choreographing some magical moves at the same time.

My eyelids begin to flutter and my eyes are rolling back into my skull. I can’t stop the tidal wave. I don’t want to.

“Oh… My… Gabriela-aah!” My head thrashes against the mattress as the heavens open up with a shower of stars just for me.

Gabriela lifts her head and I watch as a big, cheese-eating grin spreads over her lips. She’s apparently very proud of herself. And she should be. I have never felt anything like what I just experienced. Nothing even close.

“Mmm,” I moan, not having the energy to do much else.

Gabriela lays her head on my thigh and hugs my leg in her hands. Somehow, in all of that, she manages to sneak out of bed, get me cleaned up and tucked in under the blankets. I’m still naked as the day I was born. Gabriela is nestled up behind me now, spooning me gently, as her finger traces the length of my arm under the covers.

I shiver despite the warmth.

“Mmm-hmm.” I reach back and pull at her knee so that her thigh is covering mine. “More than okay. Incredible.”

“You’ve got a lot of stamina. I teased you for quite a while.”