“Now I want you to put your hand in your panties. Rub yourself like you did before.” His tone gave me no room to deny or to question. He wasn’t demanding or even coaxing. He simply held the command, and I wanted to do what he said.

I slid my hand down where he wanted it. Immediately, he covered mine with his, and together we massaged my clit, circling and pressing until my entire nervous system was on fire.

“Yes, that feels good, doesn’t it? Can you let me know how good it feels? You don’t have to use words this time. Just let me hear your moans.”

The sound fell out of my mouth without any thought, followed by another. Sounds that were part groan, part sigh, part gasp. As each one left my body, I felt like a weight had fallen from my back. It was like crying—cathartic and releasing.

“Yes, like that,” JC encouraged me. “Keep rubbing yourself like that. Keep letting me hear you.”

JC’s hand left mine, but I kept stroking my nub as he’d instructed while he sat back on his knees and tucked his fingers around the elastic band of my underwear. When he gestured for me to lift my hips, I did, and he pulled my panties down my legs and tossed them behind him.

I was naked now. Completely revealed. My instinct was to curl in—hide my most private parts from his gaze. But I fought against inclination and kept one hand caressing my breast, the other rubbing my clit, my knees parted so his view wasn’t obscured.

He inhaled appreciatively at the sight of me exposed. Before our encounter the other morning, I’d neglected things down south. There wasn’t much need to trim and shape. Then—after—I decided to tidy up. I pretended it was simply time, but in all honesty, it was because I’d wanted to be ready in case of a moment like this one.

I hadn’t gone completely bare. Close though.

JC pushed my hand away so he could see me better. “This is nice, Gwen.” He ran a finger over the small patch of hair I had left, sending a jolt down my spine, even as he danced around the spot that yearned for his returned attention. “I have to say, I didn’t mind before, but this is even sweeter. I can see you better. I can see your clit right now, and it’s so swollen and pink. I can’t wait until I suck you off there.”

Please, I begged inside my head. I’d lost my voice again, too paralyzed by his stare, and all my invocations remained silent. I could almost feel his lips on my skin, just from the way he looked at me. Could tell how he’d go down on me. Could imagine it so vividly that I was already writhing from the pleasure.

Despite his words, he didn’t move to take me in his mouth. Instead, he shook his head. “Not right now, though. And not because you won’t ask for it, but because I have other things in mind.” He took one of my legs and raised it so my ankle was on the back of the couch. Then he nudged my other farther apart so that my foot touched the floor, spreading me wide. “And also because you won’t ask for it. If you want me to lick you there, Gwen, you’ll have to learn how to tell me.”

He sat back on his knees and swept his eyes over every part of me. “Jesus, you’re gorgeous. Don’t stop touching yourself, Gwen.”

He slid a finger down my slit and circled the rim of my hole. He repeated his circle one more time before plunging it inside me. I was wet. Embarrassingly wet, but JC didn’t seem to mind in the least. He dragged some of my moisture up to help me swirl against my clit and then dipped back down, adding two fingers this time. He finger-fucked me like that, bending his stroke just so that it hit me in exactly the right place.

I could feel my orgasm on the horizon. Like how the sun casts a glow around the land before it hits with his full rays. I had that glow. But I couldn’t quite get the rays.

JC continued to work me. And as he worked me, his other hand undid his pants and released his cock. It was thick and hard as steel. A bead of pre-cum lay on the tip. I watched him as he took his hand from inside me and rubbed my juices down the length of his shaft. Then he returned to probing me while at the same time he began to pump his cock with long strokes.

It was so hot, so intense, so unbelievably erotic. Watching him pleasure himself as I pleasured myself. Knowing that the thing getting him off was the sight of me. Knowing that I wouldn’t be dangling on the edge like this if it weren’t for him.

Still, I couldn’t fall off the cliff. Couldn’t let my orgasm overtake me. It stayed at bay no matter how hot the scenario was. As JC started to pump himself in earnest, I started to fear he’d get there before me.

But, as always, he guessed my thoughts. He met my eyes full on. “You can’t imagine how hard it is for me to keep control of myself. But I’m going to do it. So you don’t have to. I’m going to hold all the control so that you can let go. Let go, Gwen. Let me hear you. Let me see you. Let everything go for me.”

Then, there it was. It came on so easily, as if it hadn’t been hiding at all, streaking through my limbs until I was white-hot and shaking. Every cell, every fiber of my body glowed and shone, my every molecule quivered with the brilliance of my orgasm.

I was only somewhat aware of JC coming with me. He groaned and twitched, his knees knocking against my thighs as his cum shot onto my lower belly and trailed down to where my fingers still shook against my clit. I felt him fall sideways against the sofa, and I briefly wondered if he was as devastated as I was before my mind drifted into the oblivion of my climax.

I kept my eyes closed as I recovered, unable to look any longer at the man who’d brought me to such a state of wreckage. He was magnificent—was that the climax talking?—and the stars that shot across my closed lids seemed fitting after staring at someone so bright. Someone so penetrating that he could see right through me, right into me. See what I needed, what I so desperately wanted to be feeling.

He didn’t even know my full name. Yet, he knew me. A part of me, anyway. A part that no one had bothered to try to know for quite a while.

When I settled, I lay limp and boneless, a smile tickling my swollen lips. He’d done it. He’d relaxed me. He’d taken away the tension and eased the constant knot that resided in my stomach.

JC had unwound me so completely, in fact, that I didn’t even let it bother me that he stirred other emotions in me too. Emotions that I hadn’t bargained for. He made me feel beautiful. He made me feel wanted. He made me feel something other than boring.

He made me feel. Period.

Chapter Eight

Three days later, I was still thinking about my morning with JC. The memory clung to me like expensive cologne that loses its scent until a breeze stirs it up again. I’d forget that it happened. Then something would trigger me. An image or a phrase would float into my mind and suddenly I was hit with vivid flashbacks. The touch of his skin against mine. The effort written on his face as he held my control. The bold words he’d used. With every recollection¸ I became flushed again and dizzy. Even with the club to keep me occupied, I found myself counting the minutes until Wednesday when I’d see him again.