The Things No One Else Sees

She had no idea when he’d be back in town. Sometime late Tuesday night or maybe on Wednesday morning. Hockey was a mystery, especially the inner workings. She knew the basics--skate around and get the puck behind the goalie and into the net. But how everything was coordinated behind the scenes and all the rules of the game were above and beyond anything she’d ever cared to know.

But now she really wished she knew his schedule. Lucy couldn’t ask because then he’d tease her for being so eager after denying him for so long. And he’d be right; she was more eager than she’d ever been because she already knew how good his body felt against hers.

She broke down and watched the game against Pittsburgh before slipping into an oversized black T-shirt and crawling into bed. Maybe he’d call her after work. Maybe they’d have dinner tomorrow night and spend a romantic evening together. Maybe he’d fall asleep in her bed without any clothes on. After she’d had her way with him, of course.

There were reruns of old sit-coms on. She watched a couple and then flipped to the twenty-four hours news channel. When it got old, she moved on to late-night programing and trashy reality TV. It was late and she couldn’t sleep.

“This is so weird,” she mumbled, flipping over onto her stomach and wedging a hand underneath her body to slide inside her panties. She’d hated him a few months ago, thought he was a douche who wasn’t worth two minutes of her time. And now look what had happened.

Lucy was wet at just thought of him in her bed without clothes on. Or maybe him completely naked standing in front of her fridge with the door open, drinking directly out of the cartoon of orange juice. She could go for some hot sex on the kitchen table. Flipping again and settling onto her back, she bent her knees and started working herself more aggressively. Maybe she just need to get off so she could relax and fall asleep.

Her phone started ringing and vibrating across the night stand. She grabbed it and answered because there was no doubt it was him.

“Joffrey Lupul,” she said softly.

“I think that guy is at your door.”

Lucy pulled her hand out of her panties. “What?”

“Knock, knock.” She heard the corresponding thuds on her front door.

Without thinking, she hung up on him and jumped out of bed. She skidded to a stop in front of the door and jerked it open.

“I’m home,” he said, giving her a shy smile.

“You’re lucky I was awake.”

He stepped inside, looking more closely at her attire. Lucy glanced down and realized she was just in an old T-shirt and panties. “I’m lucky I caught you in not a lot of clothes.”

“Perv,” she accused, taking two steps back.

He kicked his bag over to the side and shut the door behind himself. “Did you decide if I’m using my mouth or my hands to take off your panties?”

It felt like a low current of electricity flashed through her sex. "How was your flight?"

"Long," he replied, stepping toward her as she backed up.

"It's not that far. A little over an hour, right?"

He reached out and grabbed her hands, pulling them up so he could kiss them softly. "An hour is a long time." He kissed her left hand and then her right hand. Lucy watched him freeze and then lift his eyes to look at her face. "What have you been doing this evening?"

"Watching TV," she replied.

Lupul grinned. "What were you doing just now?"

"Watching TV."

"Lucy, don't lie."

She looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not lying."

He opened his mouth, but instead of talking, he guided the middle finger of her hand into his mouth. She gasped, her heart galloping in her chest, as he swirled his tongue around it and then sucked so he could pull his mouth off with a pop. "I can smell you on your fingers."

She felt the blush rise in her face. "Fuck," Lucy muttered under her breath.

One of his arms went around her body as he pulled her in close and flicked his tongue out to lick the top of her index finger. "Did you come yet, Lucy?"

"No, I just started."

He looked like a little boy who'd just walked into a candy store with twenty dollars in his pocket. "I'm just in time, then."

Her back hit the wall by the door. "You look nice in your suit," she whispered, eyes wide.

His shrugged off the jacket and let it fall in the floor. She was caged in, unable to move away from the wall and into the living room without rubbing against him. So she stayed where she was, watching him loosen his tie and unbutton the top buttons on his dress shirt. "We're not going to make it to the bedroom," he nearly growled, stepping into her body and dipping his head down.

Lucy parted her lips, eyes closed, and waited for him to kiss her. When he didn't, she opened her eyes and saw that he was only a few centimeters from doing so. His eyes were open and his gentle breath was caressing her face and neck. "What are you waiting for?"

"Shhh, I'm just thinking."

"It's not really a thinking time."

He flicked his tongue out to wet his lips. "I'm enjoying the moment."

She roughly curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. "Joff," Lucy whispered.

That got his attention. Before she could say anything else, he devoured her mouth. Lips and tongue and teeth. She couldn't breathe, but that was fine. Suffocating while he was kissing her like this was the best way to die. One hand cupped the base of her skull, while the other was on her body. She wasn't able to comprehend where because he kept moving it and the kiss was distracting. All her energy focused was on the way he moved his tongue and how good he tasted. Like coffee and mint and sex.

Thick fingers pushed aside the crotch of her panties and stroked her.

"Oh my god," she gasped, grabbing for his shoulders.

"I'm going to last less than sixty seconds inside you," he admitted, pushing two fingers into her. "So, you need to come right now. Right now or I'm going to die."

Lucy lifted one leg up slightly so he had a better angle to fuck her with his hand. His upper body pressing her into the wall held her up when her legs started trembling.

"You're so wet," he marveled, removing his hand and sliding the two fingers into his mouth. "Mmm, and you taste so good."

Her body was buzzing and her brain was stumbling all over the place because there were too many sensations. His other hand was on her ass. He sucked on his fingers again. They were wet with his saliva when he pulled them out. His eyes were shining with desire and playfulness and love. The fabric of his shirt was slick like the richest, most expensive ones were. His belt buckle was cold against the strip of skin on her stomach that had been exposed. Too many things for her to concentrate on and take in, especially when he slipped his fingers back inside her, curling them up and hitting that spot inside, right behind her clit. The spot that made her have the best full-body orgasms ever. How the fuck did he know how to find it so easy?

"Do it now. Come all over my hand. Now." His lips were moving against her neck as he glided the pads of her fingers over that spot before gently thumbing her clit.

"Joff, I'm...."

"Yesssss," he hissed, repeating the movement of his hand. His instincts were right. Twice more and she clutched at him as she came so hard she could only make incoherent, keening noises.

Before she could recover and compose herself, he had his pants unzipped and his hands on her ass. Two quick moves had her back against the wall and her legs wrapped around his waist. One hand on her ass and one of his cock, he pushed aside her panties and easily slid into her wet heat.

He cupped her ass with both hands as he kissed her. "Lucy," he whispered to her when he pulled back.

Either he was bigger than she was used to or sex in this position provided an amazing angle. "You're bigger than I thought," she gasped as he thrust into her.

Lupul let out a breathy chuckle. "You don't need to stroke my ego now." Two more thrusts and he continued with, "You're just so fucking tight. I'm not going to last."

Lucy grabbed the sides of his face with both her hands and pulled him closer to kiss her. "Give it to me," she whispered before slipping her tongue between his lips.

"Say my name," he pleaded when they ended the kiss.

"Lupul," she said.

"My first name, Lucy. Who's fucking you right now?"

"Joffrey," she cried out as he slammed into her hard, bumping up against her cervix and giving her that strange, intense pleasure that was part pain. And then he shoved his face in the dip where her neck turned out into her shoulder, his body jerking as he spilled himself inside of her.

Maybe it was the intensity of his orgasm or maybe it was how big he was, but she felt his cock jump inside her as he came.

"Fuck, Lucy. Why didn't we do this months ago?"

"I have no clue," she replied, running her hands over his back.

Gently, he pulled out of her and helped her lower her feet to the floor. She wobbled and he caught her arm to steady her. "I wasn't that good. You should still be able to stand," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, I don't know. That's going on the hottest sex of my life highlight reel."

He turned her to face the living room and wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her back against his hard chest. "Give me a few minutes and I'll blow your mind. Because I can do way better than a minute up against the wall."

"I am not opposed to a minute up against the wall," she replied, letting him push her toward the couch. "Just putting that out there in case there is ever a question about it."

He chuckled as they both collapsed onto the cushions. Lucy was almost in his lap and he didn't seem to mind. "You started it. I had this romantic little thing all planned out. And then I show up and you've been... Wait, let's talk about details of what you were doing while I was standing outside your house trying to prepare myself for this amazing feat of seduction."

Lucy covered her eyes, laughing. "I'm not giving you details. You know the mechanics of it."

"So, just your hands or were you using a toy or..."

"Joffrey Lupul, you're a pig."

"Hold on, let me go look in your nightstand drawer." He made a move like he was going to get up. She squealed and pushed him down on the couch again, scooting over so she was fully on his lap. No way he was going to get up and take a peek now.

When their soft laughter ebbed away, he lifted his chin up and used a hand behind her head to guide her down for a sweet kiss. Unlike the one against the wall by the door, this one was slow and lazy, but no less sexually charged. She started thinking about how much it sucked that she had to work in the morning because she'd rather spend the next twenty-four hours in bed with him.

"You have no idea how happy I am right now," he said when he pulled away.

"Disgustingly happy?"

"Disgustingly. Never been happier."

She swooned. If these were lines, then she was just going to go on believing them because it felt so good to curl up in his arms and listen to him tell her how he wanted to be nowhere but with her. "Hey, I totally watched your game tonight," she told him, laying her head on his shoulder. He smelled so good.

"Wow, Lucy. Did you die of boredom?"

Lucy looked up at his grinning face. "Almost. But you were pretty hot in your little uniform."

He snorted to suppress laughter. "My little uniform? Am I six years old or something?"

Her hand trailed down his chest and stomach to skim over the crotch of his pants. He'd tucked himself back in, but he was still unzipped. "Nope. I think you're grown. But it's still a cute little uniform."

He shook his head and kissed her. "Remind me to never take you to a game until we have a talk about terminology and what shit is called."

Wiggling to get more comfortable, she said, "So, what was this grand plan to seduce me tonight?"

"I was thinking a little music, a little dancing....”

She laughed and put her head back down on his shoulder. “A little dancing?”

“What? You don’t think I can dance?”

“I’m sure you can. How well is up for debate.”

“Always busting my balls. You’d think you’d have gotten over that.”

She arched her body into him as he pulled her closer. “It’s too much fun to stop now,” Lucy replied. She squeaked as he pushed her over and dumped her body onto the couch. He jumped up, easily evading her reaching hands as she tried to pull him back down.

The living room was dark, the only illumination was the small recessed light right in front of the door. He walked over to where she kept her laptop on the bookcase and opened the lid.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for a song,” he replied without turning around.

“If you play Bootylicious and dance around to it, I’ll do anything you want.”

He looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Bootylicious?”

Shrugging Lucy said, “You’ve got the ass for it.”

“Checking out my ass, eh?”

“Always,” she said, tugging the hem of the shirt down to cover more of her thighs.

The soft, ambient sounds of a song came out of her speakers. He turned around to look at her right as she recognized the track.

“This isn’t Bootylicious.”

“Come here,” he said, holding his hand out.

Lucy smiled at him. He looked gorgeous in his black slacks and white shirt with the light blue tie hanging loose around his neck. “Your fly is still open,” she replied as she stood up and walked over to meet him in the middle of the floor.

“Easy access. Never know when you’ll need my services.”

She stepped into him, shaking her head at his ridiculous jokes. Lupul’s arms went around her waist, pulling her lower body close. Her arms instinctively looped around his strong neck as the vocals started. It was a song by The Antlers. By all accounts it sounded like a mournful tune; the vocalist’s voice had a tenderness to it, almost like he was weeping.

But it was perfect as she swayed with him, eventually dropping her forehead to rest on his collarbone. It spoke about airing grievances and moving on to reconcile. Forgiving, but not forgetting. Learning to trust again and making peace with the fact that sometimes you’re just meant to be.

The warmth of his strong arms around her and the memories of all they’d been through with each other in the past few months made her heart swell. Maybe the missteps and the friendship were needed in order for them to be able to finally accept what was between them as something real and important.

“This song has one of my favorite lines ever,” she whispered, looking up at him, a few moments before Peter Silberman sang them.

Lupul smiled softly down at her. “Kicking?” His voice was soft, barely heard over the music.

She nodded. Of course he knew what line she was talking about. Why did she ever think he wasn’t worth her time? The line was a plea: you can’t keep running out, kicking yourself off the bed, kicking yourself in the head, because you’re kicking me too.

“I love that. It says so much with so few words.”

“Hey, Lucy,” he said, pulling her a little closer.

“Hey, Joffrey,” she replied, looking up at him through her lashes. He was gorgeous. It felt strange to have him in her house like this after spending so long playing games back and forth, wanting but denying.

“I love you.”

Her heart almost exploded. It’s been a long time since she’d been in a relationship where things had gotten to that point. And she couldn’t think of anyone else she’d rather hear those words from than the man standing in front of her.

“You been waiting to say that for the past week?” she teased.

The corners of his mouth lifted up. “I’ve been waiting to say that all my life.”

I might pass out, she thought. I might just melt into a puddle on the floor and lose consciousness because my heart cannot handle this level of intimacy and love. Instead she cupped the back of his head in her right hand and pulled him down for a kiss. Just before their lips touched, she whispered, “I love you, too.”

His reaction was was strong, but tender as he pressed her tightly against him and opened his mouth to give her a deep kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth and claiming her as they swayed slowly to the music.

Notes