PART ONE

Question: Do you like your hair pulled?

"Hey, gorgeous. Don't be mad at me."

I huffed and shook my head. I told Rick that I needed time to myself to get some schoolwork done. We had agreed to it. And yet here he was outside my apartment trying to play me with puppy dog eyes and a pout.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"I know I said I'd stay away, but…it's Sunday. And it's been, like, two weeks. After I took my mama back home from church, I couldn't stop thinking about you."

I remained silent and continued staring daggers at him.

"I brought you dinner. From the fish camp you like."

I eyed him from head to toe. I would be graduating with my Master's in one month, so in addition to agreeing to keep his distance so I could solely focus on the last of my coursework, Rick had made it a personal mission to show his support by sporting a "graduation beard", promising he would shave the morning of the ceremony. The big brown beard was full and thick; he looked like he had been raised in the mountains with little socialization.

It didn't help that the curls at the nape of his neck had now grown a little past his shoulders. He was wearing a short-sleeved brown T-shirt that showed off his biceps and abs. His blue jeans gave away the muscles in his thighs, which had only been getting thicker the more he had been working out. He was talking in that extra slow country drawl that he only used with me when he wanted "quality time".

He looked like sin, as if he'd been sent by the devil to tempt me. And on a Sunday, too. The right thing to do would be to hold firm to our agreement and send him on his way.

I instead stepped aside giving Rick room to enter.

"I won't let you get away with this without making it up to me."

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Two hours later, the leftovers were on the kitchen counter, Rick had hidden my books and papers, and Vanilla Sky was playing on television in the background.

I was lying on my back on the couch. Rather than the heavy make out session I thought we were moving toward, Rick's body was stretched over half of mine, with his head nuzzled under my chin and our legs intertwined. I was lazily moving my hand through his curls. As the movie progressed, Rick grew quiet to the point of absolute silence. The tiniest hint of a snore followed.

The atmosphere felt so peaceful and relaxing, not at all like I had planned when my day had started hours earlier. For that, I couldn't stay mad at Rick. He was just being a little needy because he was missing me.

With my love for this man growing ever so slightly, I began massaging his scalp. I had a love/hate relationship with the mountain man beard (it was working for me today given his whole look), but I absolutely loved his curly mane. I particularly enjoyed twirling the strands around my fingers or pulling his hair into a man bun, which Rick would only allow me to do in the privacy of either of our apartments.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a moan.

"Do that again, Chonne."

"Do what?"

"That thang you just did with my hair."

I had to recall what I had done. The last thing I remembered was massaging his scalp, anything after that was inadvertent. We lied in silence for a few seconds and then it dawned on me. I think my boyfriend just confessed to having a kink.

"Do you like your hair pulled?" I whispered.

He responded with a "mm hmm" and moved his hand to my thigh.

I gathered a handful of curls and tugged, just enough to get his attention.

"You can keep doing that," he permitted, now moving his lips to my earlobe.

I continued giving Rick what he wanted. The more I pulled, the more Rick's arousal couldn't be denied. He sucked on my earlobe, kissed my neck (while scratching it at the same time with his beard), and caressed my thigh. He wasn't shy with his moaning, either. I won't pretend that I didn't feel empowered having control over his pleasure. I was getting turned on by him getting turned on. Maybe I had just discovered something about myself.

"And here I was thinking you just wanted to cuddle," I breathed.

Rick maneuvered himself to where he was properly between my legs. He put one hand on each of my thighs and wrapped them around his waist. He was now wide awake with a hunger in his eyes and smirk on his lips. If he were sent by the devil, then the beast was fully revealing itself, and I wasn't sure if I were going to be able to walk properly at work tomorrow.

"There's two thangs we gotta take care of," he said as the kisses that started at my neck were now being placed between my breasts and downward toward my navel.

Trying but slowing failing to keep my composure, I questioned, "What are they?"

Rick stopped just above the waistband of my pajama shorts. His blue eyes were laser focused on me.

"First, you said that since I came over when I wasn't supposed to, that I had to make it up to you."

I suddenly became speechless but lifted my hips off the couch to assist him in removing my shorts and panties.

Now his kisses ran along my inner thighs. "And second," he started with a growl, "I wanna see how hard you can pull my hair."

And any control I thought I had over this man was lost, but I didn't mind. He had brought me dinner, so it was only right that I provided the dessert. All was forgiven, and we could restart the whole "keep our distance" arrangement tomorrow.