When Friday came, Lex and I were a little more organized than the last time. I'd met him in the morning in the parking lot to leave my weekend bag in his car. Then, we had both worked late, so the building would be almost empty by the time we needed to meet in the parking lot.
Although I'd been impatient for the weekend to come, a certain languor quickly settled between us. We had what seemed like all the time in the world, so we didn't have to rush things. It still didn't prevent us from having tender and impatient gestures toward each other during the car ride or on the way up to his apartment.
When we entered his place, I was delighted to be greeted by Mary again. So much so that I turned around to show Lex my appreciation with a generous but short kiss.
"I need to put my bag in your room and then a quick stop by your bathroom," I told him, moving away from his lips.
"Of course. I have a bottle of French wine for tonight unless you'd rather have a beer?"
"Wine sounds great. Be right back," I promised after one last peck, retreating to his room.
I shut the door behind me and went to put my bag on the armchair. Once it was open, I hesitated for a second. After a quick intimate wash, I'd originally planned on wearing the pink ensemble Lex had liked so much, but I didn't know if I should change the rest of my clothes. I hadn't brought many things with me, but I had the little black dress I'd worn during our first evening out, when we had celebrated the sale of my app. It meant I wouldn't be able to wear the lovely bra, but I doubted Lex would mind, given that the alternative was no bra at all.
Impulsively, I snatched the garment along with a pair of very pretty cheeky panties that made my ass look fantastic. I also grabbed my toiletries and headed to his bathroom.
In seconds, my body was stripped bare, and I managed to find a washing mitt. In a record-breaking celerity, I freshened up and slipped on my panties, twisting to look at my backside in the mirror. If even I could appreciate how my butt seemed to be the bomb in it, it was certain Lex would lose his mind over it. Remembering that he was waiting, I quickly grabbed the dress, not wanting him to start imagining why I was taking so long in here.
Horror struck me as an unexpected truth dawned on me. I would be here for at least 48 hours. It was physically impossible that I wouldn't need to go number two. Shit, I'd need to poop at some point. And he would be around. I'd have to make sure he didn't come into the bathroom right after. Yes, I would need to strategically plan my bathroom visit. That was nerve-racking. How did people handle it normally? How did I handle it with the few guys I'd dated?
The pressure of it all being too much, I whimpered and slid my dress on before tying the knot on my neck. Twisting myself in every possible angle to look at myself, at the skirt, the naked back, I prayed Lex would like my small consideration. Moving closer to the mirror, I took out a few things from my cosmetics bag and quickly corrected my end-of-the-day makeup. When the time came to pick my shoes, I hesitated, wanting to look feminine rather than my laid-back self. There weren't any feminine shoes in my bag, though. I looked at the floor and swiped my foot on it, feeling how clean and immaculate it was. Well, barefooted it is.
I took one last look at my reflection, fluffing up my hair and adjusting my bangs, hoping I looked good enough. With my things in hand, I exited the bathroom to drop them in my bag. As I exited Lex's room to make my way back to him, the silence felt oppressive and I had an easy way to remedy that.
"Mary, could you put a sexy chill playlist on, please?" I asked. I wasn't sure how she was programmed exactly, but I was certain Lex was smart enough to make Mary this clever. The sweet, languid, and amazing sounds of Redbone slowly rose into the ambient air, and I would have kissed the AI had there been something physical to press my lips on.
When I arrived in the living area, I spotted Lex sitting on the couch, pouring wine in a glass over the coffee table. There was already one glass filled, and he had laid out a few plates with various snacks. There were olives, potato chips, some dips, and an assortment of veggie sticks. I understood I'd taken just the right amount of time to arrive.
He saw me arrive in the corner of his eyes and turned to me. His sharp gaze locked on my dress, making me worry a little. His jaw clenched uncontrollably, and I could tell he was remembering the garment.
"I hope this one's mine," I joked, pointing at the now very well-filled glass. He abruptly returned his attention to his task and straightened the bottle up. He'd gotten a bit distracted there.
With his hurried gestures, he'd managed to pour some wine over his hand, and he grabbed a hand towel to dry it away, as well as the few drops that had made it to the table. "Sorry, I was having the most intense deja vu," he explained.
Acting innocent, I shrugged my shoulders and raised my brows, before sitting down next to him, tucking a leg under me. I reached for the glasses, and carefully poured the excess wine from one to the other, to even them out. A smile was on my lips when I handed him his, and he thanked me with a nod. A drop of wine was making its way down mine, so I mindlessly licked it up before it got too low and dropped somewhere. When I met Lex's intense stare, I understood my innocent gesture hadn't been that innocent after all.
"Well, to a productive week," I said, tapping my glass to his.
"And to an even more productive weekend," he toasted back as I was bringing the glass to my lips. An irresistible grin bent my mouth, and I sipped on my wine. Dear Lord, it was delicious. I bent to grab the bottle and examined it as if I knew anything about French wine. The name was familiar, even though I had no idea what a Château Margaux was.
"So, I didn't even ask you how was your sister's visit in town," I asked, bending to settle the bottle back on the table and take an olive. I ate it and turned to him, catching his slight grimace.
"It was all right, I guess. Lucy can be very bossy and doesn't seem to have realized I'm a grown man yet." His annoyance amused me because it hit way too close to home. Tyler often forgot I was an adult woman, too.
"Lucy is the eldest, right? Why was she here?"
"She is, yes. And she was here for a seminar. She's a pediatrician, head of her pediatric department, actually. She's incredibly good at her job, so she is invited to speak at conventions all over the country. She rarely goes, but since this one was home, she accepted."
"Where does she live?"
"She moved back to Denver when she finished her doctorate."
"Moved back? Are you Colemans originally from Colorado?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
"I was born there, yes. But then we moved to Seattle when I was around ten. I'm the only one still living here now. Emila moved to New York, and Juliet followed Lucy to Denver a couple of years after she had left. My parents are always moving around, my father especially. Miriam is mostly in Denver, but she comes to Seattle a few months per year."
"Miriam?"
"My mother."
"You call your mom by her name?"
"Mmhm... She doesn't have a maternal bone in her body, so I stopped calling her 'mom' a long time ago."
Oh, damn... He'd spoken in a very detached manner, but I could somehow sense the pain and resentment behind his words. I loved my mom with all my heart, and she was a very maternal person. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like to grow up with a woman emotionally indifferent. Was it why Lex seemed so cold and distant at first glance? It had taken a while for me to see he was so many things underneath, cold and distant, not being any of them.
I wanted to learn more, to hear about his childhood with his sisters, how it was coming up with a woman he couldn't even call mom... But the topic was clearly touchy, and I didn't want him to feel forced to talk about it. With time, I was sure he would open up on his own.
Thinking the subject should be dropped, I decided to slightly change its course, despite my burning curiosity. "Why did you guys move here?"
"My father needed to get closer to Alaska for work, and my mother refused to live there. Seattle was the best compromise they found. It was that or a divorce. Although, with time, my sisters and I have come to realize a divorce would have been a preferable outcome."
"They didn't get along?"
"It was even worse than that. They ignored each other. They both lived separate lives together and didn't even try to keep up with the appearances. My father had his mistresses, and my mother had her occupations. The more he'd indulge in extramarital affairs, the more she'd spend on charities. The Colemans are renowned for their generosity when it comes to donations. Truly it's just Miriam getting back at her husband by hitting him where it hurts the most."
There was a moment of silence, and Lex took a long sip of his wine, pensive. Damn, I wouldn't have imagined him to have had a childhood like this. Although, growing up with people like his parents might have played a part in the way he was. I could still remember how he'd told me he didn't do relationships, and I could understand why. His main reference regarding married couples was a disastrous one.
"Now, before my fucked up family history completely ruins the mood, let's switch to a much more interesting subject," he suggested, angling himself to face me better. "How did you become such a dork?"
An incredulous snort sprung out of me as I moved away slightly. "I'm not a dork!"
"Oh, please. I saw how you schooled Dakota when she thought Darth Vader and Kylo Ren were the same person."
"It doesn't make me a dork, but rather passionate."
"A passionate dork, then."
He was teasing me, his eyes lighting up with humor. Just like him, I was enjoying this little banter greatly, loving how comfortable we were. In someone else's mind, 'dork' could be negative, but nothing in Lex's attitude led me to believe it was a bad thing for me to be one. He seemed to like this idea, even. Well, he was kind of right. I did get dorky at times.
Giving up, I shook my head with a smile and drank a bit of wine before turning to face him better. I sat more comfortably, tucking my other leg under me.
"Well, just like programming, it came from my dad. He was an absolute geek before geeks even existed. He was a hardcore Star Trek fan, he had a computer as soon as he could afford one, he spent his time on video games... He was the one who passed it all on me. Tyler was never really interested in movies because he always felt like, being deaf, he was missing so much of it. He was always more spiritual and artistic. Ty has always been outdoorsy while I'm indoorsy. He loved books, however, and that was something he took from my mom's side. So, when my dad realized he had a second chance with me, he bathed me in all that culture early on," I explained.
"He used to take me to this old-school arcade place, almost every weekend, or when I came home with good grades. I loved it so much I became a straight A's student. He'd buy twenty dollars worth of tokens for the both of us, and we'd stay there until we ran out of coins. I was crushed when they closed the place, about ten years ago. He also gave me my passion for movies, and our tastes are very much the same. Except that I love watching those terrible Hallmark Christmas movies, like my mom and abuela, and he loathes them. When I was a kid, he'd take me with him to see every nerdy movie that came out. I got to see each of the episodes from the Star Wars prequels in the first screening of the theater we used to go to. He also set me up with a state-of-the-art gaming computer when I was around nine, I think, and he introduced me to the video game world too. I remember that my first favorite game was Tomb Raider II. I used to lock the annoying butler in the fridge," I recalled with amusement. "And by the time I was twelve, he opened the gates of online gaming to me. I was very good at Call of Duty.
"Then I slowly drifted away from him, sometime in middle school. We were still close, but it wasn't the same. I was gradually becoming a woman, and all of my interests were boys' activities. I was still an absolute geek, but I tried not to show it so much. Then, in my junior year of high school, I grew past my insecurities and just decided to embrace my passion for nerdy stuff."
While recalling all of this, I'd been distractedly looking at my wine, slight melancholia taking over me. I really missed my dad. I would have to go back to Portland soon to spend some time with my parents. When I met Lex's eyes, I saw he was staring at me with a strange expression, and I realized I'd been rambling.
I was about to apologize for getting carried away when Lex spoke. "Your father seems like a great person," he noted, something almost longing in his tone. Ah, damn... I'd had the best dad ever, and although I wasn't sure about Lex's father, something told me their relationship hadn't been even nearly as good.
"He really is. He was always so loving and affectionate. I really love my mom with everything I have, but I've always felt closer to my dad. He's made me into the person I am now, and I could never be too grateful for it. I think you're going to—"
The words died as soon as I understood the implications of what I was about to say. I think you're going to really get along...
Okay, I needed to slow my horses down. First, we should become something official, and then we'd consider meeting each other's parents and such. But regardless of that, Lex would like my dad, and dad would love Lex. Both of them were highly compatible, despite their differences in character. Well, maybe the humor would be an issue because Michael Walker always came up with the worst dad jokes ever. I liked them most of the time, but I was biased. I could only hope Lex's no-nonsense attitude wouldn't make my dad's attempts at humor too awkward.
"He must be proud of you," Lex said.
"He is. He originally wanted me to end up working for big firms, like Google, Facebook, Avoss..." I grimaced as I said the last one, feeling lucky I hadn't ended up working for Hugh. "But when he learned I was applying for Kelex, he was ecstatic. We all knew your company thanks to Tyler who used several of your apps."
We talked for a moment, drinking over half the bottle, eating some of the food. We naturally moved closer to one another, my knees over Lex's thigh, one of his large hands settled on my bare skin. He had his arm on the couch's backrest behind me, and he was drawing mindless patterns with the tip of his finger on my shoulder. This moment of casual chatter and comfortable proximity was everything.
I learned a few more things about Lex, like the fact that he'd known Kevin since middle school, and they'd been inseparable ever since. I told him about my mom and her teaching job, and he told me about his sisters, who were all having incredible careers. Besides Lucy, the renowned pediatrician. Emilia worked for the New York branch of the Coleman empire, but her passion was the art gallery she managed on the side. The youngest, Juliet, also worked for the family's company, but in Denver.
Somehow, we ended up talking about Star Wars again, which was the geeks' Godwin point. Mostly, we argued about the quality of the trilogies. I agreed that the original one was the best, but I refused to admit that episodes one, two, and three were that terrible. I'd discovered them as a naïve child and had learned to love them the way they were. When we understood we wouldn't change each other's minds, we agreed on a truce.
"I can't believe you so desperately tried to pretend you weren't a dork," Lex declared.
"Well, I know I am, but I don't want you to see me like that."
"Why?"
"Because... I don't know. I want you to see me as something sexy or cute, not as nerdy and geeky dork," I explained, a little offended.
A sensuous smile stretched Lex's lips, and I braced myself for whatever this meant. He put his glass down on the table before reaching for my hip to rest his hand there. Bending forward, he kissed the side of my neck with sensuality. An energizing shiver ran through me, and I bit my lower lip as I closed my eyes, savoring his gesture.
"I can assure you that I find you very sexy and cute," he said, his hot breath caressing the sensitive skin of my throat. I couldn't help myself, and I tilted my head to the side to give him better access. "But as attractive and gorgeous as I find you, the image wouldn't be complete if you weren't a nerdy and geeky dork."
His libertine mouth lazily made its way on my throat, making me shiver every time his wet tongue would dart out to taste the skin. His hand on my hip was adamantly pulling me closer, and I complied by pressing myself against him, as closely as I could. I whimpered when he took the lobe of my ear between his lips and gently sucked on it.
"I would never have guessed you to be into nerds," I breathed out.
"I didn't really know it myself. As it turns out, I'm into you. Into everything you have to offer."
My heart was about to explode, its rhythm getting ridiculously fast. He was into me. He liked all of me.
I felt myself slowly drift into the numbing state of lust he always coaxed me into. My head was slightly spinning, from the wine as much as the sensual atmosphere. My chest swelled up to the point where it ached, a sensation that was now becoming familiar where he was concerned. I was still holding my nearly empty glass, so Lex pulled away from me to take it and settle it on the table himself, before returning to his task.
With a precise gesture, he tugged at the ties on the back of my neck and pulled down the upper part of my dress to reveal my bare chest. After a lustful glance at my hardened tips, he lowered his hungry mouth onto one of them, gently nipping on the soft flesh around it, rolling his skilled tongue on the puckered surface.
Tonight, I was in the mood to take, not to give. I wanted to experience his ministrations, to let him cherish and adore me... It always wrecked me when I felt as if he was making love to me, and tonight, I wanted him to give me everything. I wanted him to ruin any other man for me, to imprint his mark on my soul forever. Regardless of how things may evolve, good or bad, I would remember him for the rest of my life. Alexander Coleman was a part of my history from now on. A part of me.
His hand on my hip found its way under the hem of my dress, and I moaned when the back of his knuckles reached the front of my panties, barely grazing my engorged clit. He pressed a little harder, right on it, and I shivered, need overtaking me. His fingers moved down to where the lace was already soaked, and I felt him tense. He groaned, the low tunes reverberating on my sensitive nipple, and he let go of it to look up at my flushed face.
"You're always so wet, it's making me insane," he revealed. He moved the lace of my underwear to the side and slid a finger up my swollen folds. "Sometimes when you're not around, my mind drifts to you, and I often get hard at the thought of your wet and tight pussy." He abruptly pushed two fingers inside of me, taking me by surprise, and I jumped a little with a soft plaint. "I want you all the time. I want to be with you, around you, inside of you. I want to hear you laugh, talk, moan, and cry. I'm always longing to see you, the way you furrow your brows when you're confused, how you bite your lip when you're trying not to laugh, how you twist your hands when you're embarrassed..."
He was moving his fingers in and out of me as he spoke, and the pleasure it brought was almost as great as the one his words unleashed. He was as obsessed with me as I was with him. This wasn't just me. It was real. We had a connection, a strong bond tying us together, and he could sense it too. It went over lust, over desire. It was raw, pure, and unaltered.
"I don't know what you're doing to me, Andrea. It's like both hell and heaven when I'm with you. I finally get to touch you, to kiss you, to hold you, but I know I'll never get enough of you, and the thought is slowly killing me."
"Lex, I'm not going anywhere," I replied with a small voice, the shattering passion making it hard to have coherent thoughts. His words were affecting me deeply. His frustration, his torment, his desires... those were things I could understand all too well.
He pulled his hand away from my core and easily handled me so I was straddling him, my face inches from his. The longing and the need in his eyes undid me. I pressed my hands on the sides of his face, gorging on the sight of this incredible man.
"Say that again," he demanded. "Say you're mine."
My heart was seconds away from exploding, my emotions so overwhelming I could barely breathe. I couldn't even imagine anyone else making me feel the way he did. It was impossible. There couldn't be a single person on this planet as important as Lex. He was everything. He meant the world.
"Say it, Andrea."
Because it was the truth, but also because I wanted to comply, to let him know. I was his. I had been for a while now, whether or not I admitted it. It sounded like a dangerous thing, to belong to someone, but I didn't care. Nothing else mattered at this moment. I was intoxicated with wine, him, and an endless flood of feelings that prevented me from thinking rationally.
"I'm yours, Alexander," I whispered, claiming his lips tenderly. He groaned his approval, kissing me back with maddening intensity.
His hands reached for my back to hold me close as he pulled himself up. I tightened my hold on him while he carried me away from the couch, heading in the direction of his room.
I was undoubtedly, absolutely, and utterly his. My body, soul, and heart belonged to this man.
The very man I so desperately loved.