Chapter Fifty Two.
The day passed quickly, both Joey and Lauren choosing to ignore their earlier disagreement until later. Oscar had a whale of a time, flitting between the three of them throughout the day. Not long after their lunch they'd returned to the house and then spent the remainder of the afternoon playing board games and laughing together. He had gone to bed early that night, tired out after his fun-filled day.
Tanya had plans for the evening, taking advantage of her free babysitters and meeting up with a new man she was kind of seeing. Lauren wasn't sure how she felt about that but she eventually decided that it was her mum's life and she just wanted her to be happy. After her mother's departure for the evening, it was just Joey and Lauren and they lay on the sofa watching TV together. "I'm sorry about earlier…" Lauren whispered.
"Which bit?" he asked.
"All of it… I didn't mean to make you feel cheap…"
"Can you tell me why you feel that way?" Joey asked her softly.
"I just keep thinking that one day you'll leave me…" she admitted.
Joey reached for the remote control, turning off the TV that neither of them was really watching. "Look at me…" Joey whispered. She rolled onto her back and turned her head towards him. "I'm never going to leave you, babe…" he told her softly. "I've tried it more than once and each time it was the worst thing I ever did… I'm certainly not going to do it again now I've got you back in my life. I know you've felt vulnerable since the fire… but you really don't need to… You're the only girl I could ever want…" he said.
"But…" she whispered, biting her lip and stopping from saying anything more.
"Tell me…" he breathed.
"We don't ever do anything…" she breathed.
"You mean we don't have sex?" he asked and she nodded. "We've talked about this before, babe… You're not ready… when you are, we'll try…"
"What about if I said I was ready now?" she whispered.
Joey stared at her, trying to ascertain how truthful she was being, "Are you sure?"
"I think so…" she murmured.
"But you don't know?" he said.
Lauren shook her head, "I'd just like us to try…" she said.
Joey stared at her face for a couple of minutes. "Okay…" he breathed.
"Really?" she said, her face lighting up. He nodded. "We should go upstairs…" she said, her hand lifting and cupping the side of his face.
Joey smirked, "We could always do it here…?" he suggested.
"Much as I love that idea, I don't relish the thought of mum walking in on us defiling her sofa… or even worse, Oscar coming downstairs and finding us…"
"They're both very good points…" he said. He pushed himself up and then clambered off the sofa, holding his hand out towards her and pulling her to her feet. "Let's call it a night then…" he said softly, lowering his head and kissing her. He lifted her off her feet, hearing her giggle as he carried her up to their room.
*JL*JL*
He placed her feet gently on the floor and stood before her. She started to take her cardigan off but Joey stopped her, "I think you should leave them on…" he said.
Lauren frowned, "Why?"
"I don't want you to hurt yourself…"
"And taking my clothes off will do that?" Lauren asked, puzzled.
"I just…"
"Okay, I'll leave them on…" she whispered but he could see from her face that wasn't what she wanted.
"What have I done wrong?" he asked.
"Is it because of the scars?" she asked.
"Yes…" he murmured and she looked at him aghast and his eyes widened as he realised how she had taken his comment, "I don't mean like that… God, babe… no, never did I mean that… I just don't want you to hurt your still healing skin…" he said gently, "It would kill me for you to be hurt when I make love to you…"
"Okay… I understand…" she breathed, "I'm still going to take my cardigan off…" she said.
"Alright…" he said. He watched as her cardigan slid down her arms and then fell on the floor.
"And I guess I should take off my underwear…" she said, winking at him.
"That'll make things easier…" he said, watching as she bent down, reaching under her dress and pushing down her knickers.
She stood back up again, holding her knickers in the air between them and then dropping them unceremoniously onto the floor. "All done." She said, giggling softly. "I believe it's now your turn?" she whispered.
"Maybe you'd like to help…" he said.
"Another time, maybe… We're running short of time and I don't want us to miss out on this…"
"You're full of good ideas today." He said. He turned and began to strip off his clothes, aware that he had a very attentive audience. Once he was naked he turned back to her, seeing the desire on her face. "Satisfactory?" he asked.
"More than…" she whispered, her arms winding around his waist and pulling him against her. "Kiss me." She asked him softly.
"That I can definitely do…" he whispered before his lips descended on hers. Lauren moaned into his mouth as he kissed her almost aggressively. He walked her backwards, aware enough to stop just before they reached the bed. He pulled his mouth from hers, "Get on the bed," he growled and Lauren felt herself getting wet from the sound of his voice alone. She did as he asked, scrambling back to the top of the bed, staring at the dark look on his face. She couldn't tear his eyes away from his but if she'd been looking she would've seen that his cock was ready and waiting for her. "Touch yourself…" he breathed.
"I'd rather you did it…" she whispered.
"You start… and I'll finish…" He bartered.
"Deal." Lauren said. She pulled the skirt of her dress slowly up, her hand slipping beneath so she could touch herself.
"Let me see…" Joey breathed, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Lauren sighed but did as he asked, pulling her skirt a little higher, exposing herself to him. She could feel him staring at her, her fingers brushing over her core. She could feel the emotions climbing within her and she wondered how long it would be before Joey helped her finish. If he wasn't quick it would all be over. She closed her eyes, taking in how it felt as she pushed two fingers inside. "Oh…" she moaned breathily, her thumb settling on her clit, pressing on it gently. She inhaled when he pulled her hand free and then his mouth was on her, licking the length of her core and she very nearly came there and then. "Joe…" she moaned.
He pulled away from her, "Relax, babe…"
"Kinda difficult with your face between my legs…" she whimpered.
"You know you love it…" he breathed, lowering his mouth to her once more. After a couple more minutes he pulled away from her again. He kissed up her body, Lauren regretting that she was still wearing her dress once more. "Fuck…" he suddenly said and she opened her eyes, watching as he pulled away from her. She took his rejection hard, rolling away from him, feeling the bed shift as he stood back up and walked away from the bed. She curled up into a little ball, her skirt bunched up around her. "Have you changed your mind?" he asked, his voice carrying across the room.
"You're the one who changed their mind… not me…" Lauren accused him. She tensed as the bed shifted again.
"I didn't change my mind…" he breathed in her ear, his arm wrapping around her waist. "I simply needed to sort out some protection…" he added, "I had to get a condom out of my wallet…"
"So you still want to do this?" she whispered.
"Always, babe…" he whispered back. "Now where were we?"
"You were kissing up my body…" Lauren murmured.
"I was?" he said, smiling as she rolled over to look at him. He kissed her softly, his tongue swirling around hers as he deepened the kiss. He took her hand in his, squeezing it as he laced their fingers together. "Touch me…" he murmured against her lips. She nodded her head, her eyes widening as he wrapped their fingers around his cock.
"This'll be the first time we've done this when I've been sober…" she whispered as her hand stroked him slowly.
"I hope it's as good as you thought it was when you were drunk…" he murmured, kissing down her neck, teasing her skin with his mouth. Her hand on his length was like a branding iron, burning him with each stroke she made. He groaned as she twisted her hand on him and he moved his hand, covering hers and stopping her from moving. "This'll be over really quick if you keep that up…" he told her gently.
She pulled her hand away quickly, "Oh, okay…" she whispered. "So…" she added, not quite knowing how to start it off.
He moved forward, leaning over her, his hand sweeping her dress back up to her waist. She squirmed uncomfortably as he looked her over, "Relax babe…" he breathed, "You are so beautiful…" he murmured. He looked up at her face, "Every single inch of you is perfect…"
"I know that's a lie…" she whispered, "but it's nice to hear it nonetheless…" she added.
"It's not a lie… I love you… all of you…" he breathed. He pulled away from her briefly and she watched as he rolled the condom onto his cock before moving back towards her, lowering his body onto hers, both of them moaning as their skin brushed against each other. The world seemed to stand still as he reached for his cock, placing the tip at her entrance. "Are you ready?" he asked her softly.
"Always…" she breathed, echoing back his earlier words to him.
He pushed forward slowly, holding his breath as he entered her for the first time in more than two years. "Oh God…" he breathed, resting his forehead on her shoulder once he was fully sheathed inside her.
"Every single inch of you is perfect too, Joe…" Lauren murmured and Joey laughed, kissing her deeply. He moved within her and they both moaned. "Make love to me, Joe…"
"My pleasure, babe…" he breathed in her ear, "Well, mine and yours…"
*JL*JL*
"Well, that was enjoyable…" Lauren said, her head resting on Joey's chest.
"Just enjoyable?" he asked.
"Okay… much more than enjoyable." She admitted. "Best sex I've ever had."
"That ain't nothing, babe… once you're fully recovered, it'll be even more memorable…"
Lauren smiled, "Well, that's something to look forward to…" she said, "If that doesn't motivate me to get better, nothing will…"
Joey kissed her forehead, "If I'd known this was what would finally get through to you, I'd have done this months ago…"
Lauren smacked his chest, "I wasn't ready then, was I?" she said.
"No," he said, his voice suddenly serious, "At one stage I didn't think you ever would be… And I'd have been happy anyway, even if you hadn't ever been… I just want to be with you… Always have done, really…"
"We wasted so much time, Joe…" Lauren whispered.
"Well, then we're just going to have to make up for it now, aren't we?" he said with a smile.
A/N: So that's the story over… just the epilogue to go… I think Lauren believes him at last… believes that he loves her. Send me a review and let me know what you thought. Back tomorrow…
