Morning light woke me. I rolled over and stretched, working out the kinks. Lisa lay on her back beside me, fast asleep. She had an arm flung over her face, covering her eyes. With her there, everything was right with my world. But also, everything was on show. She'd kicked off the sheet sometime during the night. So the morning wood thing was true. There you go. Rosé had been right on that count.
Waking up beside her with my wedding ring back on my finger had me grinning like a loon. Of course waking up beside a bare-naked Lisa would have made just about anybody smile. Between my legs felt a little sore from last night's efforts, but nothing too bad. Nothing sufficient to distract me from the view that was my wife.
I shuffled down the bed a bit, checking her out at my leisure for once. She didn't have much of a belly button. It was basically a small indent leading down across her flat stomach directly to it. And it was hard, thick, and long.
It being her penis, of course.
Gah. No, that didn't sound right.
Her cock. Yeah, much better.
We'd sat in the warm bath for a while last night at her insistence, soaking. We'd just talked. It had been lovely. There'd been no mention of the woman who'd obviously cheated on her and/or left her at some time in her past. But I'd felt the woman presence lurking. Time would kick her out the back door, I was sure of it.
Lisa smelled faintly of soap, a little musky, perhaps. Warm wasn't something I'd ever registered as having a smell before, but that's what Lisa smelled of. Warmth, like she was liquid sunshine or something. Heat and comfort and home.
I quickly checked her face. Her eyes were still closed beneath the length of her arm, thank goodness. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. I really didn't need her catching me sniffing at her crotch, no matter how poetic my thoughts. That would be embarrassment on a scale I'd prefer not to experience.
The skin looked super smooth despite the veins and the head stood out distinctly. She was uncut. Curiosity got the better of me, or maybe it already had. With all of her front half at my disposal, look where I'd wound up. I gently laid the palm of my hand atop her. The skin was soft and warm. Carefully, I wrapped my fingers around her. Her cock twitched and I jerked back, startled.
Lisa burst out laughing, loud and long.
Bastard.
Embarrassment was a dam that had burst wide open inside of me. Heat flashed up my neck.
"I'm sorry," she said, reaching for me with her hand. "But you should have seen your face."
"It's not funny."
"Baby, you wouldn't believe how fucking funny it was." She wrapped her fingers around my wrist, dragging me up and onto her. "Come here. Aw, the tips of your ears are all pink."
"No they're not," I mumbled, lying across her chest.
She stroked my back, still sniggering. "Don't let this scar you for life though, hey? I like you touching me."
I huffed noncommittally.
"You know, if you play with my dick things will always happen. I guarantee it."
"I know that." The crook of her neck was handy for burying my hot face in, so I took full advantage. "I just got a surprise."
"You sure did." She squeezed me tight then slid a hand down to cup my bottom. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay."
"Yeah?"
"A little sore," I admitted. "A lot happy. Though that was before you callously mocked me."
"Poor baby. Let me see," she said, rolling me over onto the mattress until she was on top.
"What?"
She sat up between my legs with a hand holding my knees open. With a practiced eye she checked me over. "You don't look too swollen. Probably just a bit sore inside, yeah?"
"Probably." I tried to pull my legs up, to close them. Because I heartily doubted having her look at me there in that way helped the color of my ear tips.
"I have to be more careful with you."
"I'm fine. Not that breakable, honestly."
"Mm."
"Takes more than a round of rough sex on the hardwood floor to worry me."
"That so? Stay still for me," she said, shuffling back to lie down at the end of the mattress.
This situated her distinctly between my legs, face to face with my girl bits, guaranteeing I wouldn't be going anywhere. I'd heard good things about this, things that made my embarrassment levels redundant. Plus, I was curious.
She brushed her lips against my sex, the warmth of her breath making me shiver. My stomach muscles spasmed in anticipation.
Her gaze met mine over the top of my torso. "Okay?"
I gave her a jerky nod, impatient.
"Put the other pillow behind your head too," she instructed. "I want you to be able to watch."
My wife had the best ideas. I did as asked, settling in to watch though my legs were aquiver. She kissed the inside of my thighs, first one, then the other. Everything in me focused on the sensations emanating from there. My world was a small perfect place. Nothing existed outside our bed.
Her eyes closed but mine stayed open. She kissed her way over the lips of my sex and then traced the divide with the tip of her tongue. That worked. Warmth suffused me inside. Hands wrapped around the underneath of my thighs, fingers rubbing small circles into my skin. Her lips never left my sex. It was exactly as if she was kissing me there. Mouth open wide and tongue stroking, making me writhe. The grip on my thighs tightened, holding me to her. Even the brush of her hair against me were thrilling things. I don't know when I stopped watching. My eyes shut of their own accord as the pleasure took over. It was amazing. I didn't want it to end. But the pressure inside me built until I couldn't contain it any longer. I came with a shout, my body drawn tight from top to toe. Every part of me tingled. She didn't pull back until I lay perfectly still, concentrating on just breathing.
"Am I forgiven for laughing at you?" she asked, crawling up the bed to plant a kiss on my shoulder.
"Sure."
"How about the rough sex on the hardwood floor? Am I forgiven for that too?"
"Mmhmm."
The mattress shifted beneath me as she hovered above. Her wet mouth lingered over the curve of my breast, the line of my collarbone.
"I really liked that," I said, my voice low and lazy. Gradually I opened my eyes.
"Fuck-drunk suits you, Jennie." A hand smoothed over my hip and she smiled down at me. "I'll eat you out whenever you like. You only have to ask."
I smiled back at her. And the smile may have twitched a little at the edges. Talking about this kind of thing was still new to me.
"Tell me you liked me licking your gorgeous pussy."
"I said I liked it."
"You're embarrassed." Lisa's brows drew together. There was mischief in her eyes. "You can talk rough sex on hardwood floors but not cunnilingus, hey? Say 'pussy'."
I rolled my eyes. "Pussy."
"Again. Not as in 'cat'."
"I'm not saying it as in 'cat'. Pussy. Pussy, pussy, pussy. Pussy not as in 'cat'. Happy?" I laughed, moving a hand to slide down her chest, heading for her groin. "Can I do something for you now?"
She stopped my hand, brought it to her mouth and kissed it. "I'm going to wait till tonight when we can make love again, if you're feeling okay."
"We're making love tonight, Ms Smooth?"
"Sure." she smirked, climbing off the bed. "We'll make love again and then we'll fuck again. I think we should put some serious time into exploring the differences. It'll be fun."
"Okay," I quickly agreed. I wasn't stupid.
"That's my girl." She held a hand out for me, eyes intent. "You are so damn pretty. You know, I'm never going to be able to wait until tonight."
"No?"
"Nope. Look at you lying all naked on my bed. I've never seen anything I've liked more." She shook her head, mouth rueful as her eyes travelled over my body. My wife was incredibly good for my ego. But she made me feel humble at the same time, grateful. "I was a fucking idiot to suggest waiting," she said, taking a step back and crooking her finger at me. "And you know how I hate being away from you. Come help me in the shower? It'll give you some good hands-on experience."
I crawled off the bed after her. "That so?"
"Oh, yeah. And you know how seriously I take you and your education."
"You suck," said Rosé, her voice echoing down the line. Pam had warned me some parts of the coast could be iffy with cell coverage.
"I'm not saying I don't still love you," she said. "But, you know …"
"I know. I'm sorry," I said, settling into the corner of the lounge. The menfolk were busy downstairs making music. Pam had gone running errands in town. I had calls to make. Boxes to unpack. Dreams of blissful wedlock to work up to insane, impossible proportions inside my head.
"Never mind. Update me," she demanded.
"Well, we're still married. In a good way this time."
Rosé screamed in my ear. It took her a good couple of minutes to calm down. "Oh my God, I was hoping something would work out. She's so fucking hot."
"Yes, indeed she is. But she's more than that. She's wonderful."
"Keep going."
"I mean, really wonderful."
She huffed out a laugh. "You already used 'wonderful'. Try a new word, Cinderella. Give my inner fangirl something to work with here."
"Don't crush on my wife. That's not cool."
"You're six years too late with that warning. I was crushing on Lisa Manoban long before you put a ring on her in Vegas."
"Actually, she doesn't have a ring."
"No? You should fix that."
"Hmm." I stared out the window at the ocean. Out in the distance a bird drifted in lazy circles high up in the sky. "We're at her place in Monterey. It's beautiful here."
"You left LA?"
"LA was not so great. What with the groupies and lawyers and business managers and everything, it was pretty shitty."
"Details, babe. Gimme."
I drew my knees up to my chest and fidgeted with the seam of my jeans, feeling conflicted. Discussing our personal details behind Lisa's back didn't sit well with me. Not even with Rosé. Things had changed. Most noticeably, our marriage had changed. But there were still some things I could share. "The people there were like something from another planet. I did not fit in. Though you would have liked seeing the parties they threw. All the glamorous people packed into this mansion. It was impressive."
"You're making me insanely jealous. Who was there?"
I gave her a couple of names as she oohed and aahed.
"But I don't miss LA. Things are so good now, out here, Rosé. We've put the annulment on hold. We're going to see how things go."
"That's so romantic. Tell me you've jumped that fine-looking woman's bones, please. Don't make me cry."
"Rosé," I sighed.
"Yes or no?"
I hesitated and she got screamy at me, rather predictably.
"YES OR NO?"
"Yes. Alright? Yes."
This time, her shriek definitely did my eardrums permanent damage. All I could hear was ringing. When it ended, someone was mumbling in the background. Someone male.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"No one. Just a friend."
"A friend-friend or a friend?"
"Just a friend. Hang on, changing rooms. And we were talking about you, partner of Lisa Manoban, world famous lead guitarist for BlackJack."
"A friend that I know?" I asked, curiosity now fully aroused.
"You are aware of the picture of your ass making the rounds, aren't you?"
Cue the squirming. "Uh, yeah. I am."
"Bummer. Haha! But seriously, you look good. Mine wouldn't have looked half as nice. Bet you're glad you walked to campus last semester instead of driving all the time like lazy ol' me. That sure was some night you had in Vegas, missy."
"Let's talk about your friend instead of my butt. Or Vegas."
"Or we could talk about your sex life. Because we've been talking about mine for a couple of years now but we haven't much been able to talk about yours, girlfriend," she said in a glee-filled singsong voice.
"Jenney! Want a soda?" Jack shouted as he sailed past on his way to the kitchen, having emerged from below.
"Yes, please."
"Who is that?" asked Rosé.
"The drummer. They're doing some work in the studio downstairs."
Rosé gasped. "The whole band is there?"
"No, just Jack and another friend of Lisa's."
"Jackson is there? He's really hot, but a total man slut," she supplied helpfully. "You should see the number of women he gets photographed with."
"Here you go, child bride." Jack passed me an icy-cold bottle, the top already removed.
"Thanks, Jack," I said.
He winked and wandered off again.
"None of my business," I told Rosé.
She clucked her tongue. "You haven't been on the internet to find anything out about them, have you? You're flying totally blind in this situation."
"It feels wrong checking up on them behind their backs."
"Naivety is only sexy up to a point, chica."
"It's not naivety, chica. It's respecting their personal lives."
"Which you're now a part of."
"Privacy matters. Why should they trust me if I'm stalking them on-line?"
"You and your excuses," Rosé sighed. "So you don't know that the band started touring when Lisa was only sixteen? They got a gig supporting a band through Asia and have pretty much stayed on the road or in the recording studio from then onward. Hell of a life, huh?"
"Yeah. She said she's ready to slow down."
"I'm not surprised. Rumors about the band breaking up are everywhere. Do try and stop that from happening if you can, please. And get your wifo to get her shit into gear and hurry up and write a new album. I'm counting on you."
"No problem," I said, not sharing that Lisa was writing me songs. That was private. For now at least. The list of things I didn't feel I could share with Rosé was growing exponentially.
"I wanted you to crush that girl's heart so we could have another album like Square Up. But I can tell you're going to be difficult about that."
"Your powers of perception are uncanny."
She chuckled. "You know there's a song about the Monterey house on that album?"
"There is?"
"Oh yeah. That's the famous 'House of Sand'. Epic love song. Lisa's high school sweetheart cheated on her while she was touring in Europe at age twenty-one. She'd bought that house for them to live in."
"Stop, Rosé. This is … shit, this is personal." My heart and mind raced. "This house?"
"Yeah. They'd been together for years. Lisa was gutted. Then some bitch Lisa slept with sold her story to the tabloids. Also, her mother left when she was twelve. Expect there to be some issues all round where women are concerned."
"No, Rosé, stop. I'm serious," I said, nearly strangling the phone. "She'll tell me things like that when she's ready. This doesn't feel right."
"It's just being prepared. I don't see what the problem is."
"Rosé."
"Okay. No more. You did need to know those tidbits though, seriously. Events like that leave a permanent scar."
She had a point. The information did explain her accusations regarding my leaving and the strength of her reactions to that. Two of the most important women in her world had deserted her. Though finding out this way about her history still felt wrong. When she trusted me enough to tell me, she would. But I hadn't had enough of a chance yet to earn that sort of trust from her. Personal information didn't just roll off the tongue at the first meeting. How horrible to have it all set out there on the internet just waiting for people to look it up and mull it over for their entertainment. So much for privacy. Little wonder she'd been worried about my talking to the press.
I took a sip of the soda then rested the cold bottle against my cheek. "I really want this to work."
"I know you do. I can hear it in your voice when you talk about her—you're in love with her."
My spine snapped to attention. "What? No. That's crazy talk. Not yet, at least. It's only been a couple of days. Do I sound in love? Really?"
"Time is irrelevant where the heart is concerned."
"Maybe," I said, concerned.
"Listen, Jimmy has been dating Liv Andrews. If you meet her, I definitely want an autograph. Loved her last film."
"Jimmy is not the greatest. That could get uncomfortable."
She huffed. "Fine. But you are in love."
"Hush now."
"What? I think it's nice."
Mutterings from Rosé's mysterious friend interrupted my rising fear.
"I've got to go," she said. "Keep in touch, okay? Call me."
"I will."
"Bye."
I said "bye", but she was already gone.