Enoch’s fingers were twined in Carlotta’s as they climbed the back steps of his house. The peeper frogs were loud in the trees. Louder than they ever were in South Carolina. The sound was lulling when paired with the soft breeze. As they approached the stairs sexy smirk curved the corner of his mouth, sending a rush of nervousness through her.
Enoch frowned. “What’s wrong?”
She looked at their joined hands and then up at him. “I haven’t done this with anyone since John Paul.”
A surprised look passed over his face, but he disguised it quickly. Leaving the door ajar, he came to stand on the step above her. “You comin’ in here don’t mean we gotta end up in bed, Lotta.”
She nodded, leaned on the porch railing, and let herself take him in. Small individual things at first, like his thick brows and how a few of the hairs curled, refusing to be tamed. The way the back porch light caught in his eyes and that red-brown sheen of his skin and made the light brown highlights in his hair more noticeable. His well-shaped, obscenely lush mouth and the way his top lip dipped to create a perfect little scoop. “What if I want to?”
He smiled, then slid a hand just under her breast and around her rib cage, bringing her closer. “If you want to, we will,” he said before giving her a soft kiss. “But it’s late. The skeetahs is swarming. Let’s get you inside.”
“Okay,” she agreed. Then followed him inside.
They entered through the kitchen. He’d left the light over the stove but flicked on the overhead light as they crossed the threshold.
“You wanna cold drink? I got some ice water. You want some water?”
“Yes, please,” I said with a nod.
“Make yourself at home.”
Carlotta set her bag on his kitchen table and walked into his living room. The place smelled like him. Like wood and that cologne he wore. The floors were hardwood but had been patched several times, but they didn’t look worn. It added to the lived-in feel of the slip-covered couches and wood end tables that looked like he may have made them.
The kitchen table was the old-school laminate type with glittered flecks in it. I smiled at that and wondered who actually bought this table. “Was this your grandmother’s house?” she asked as he turned to hand her a frosty glass of water poured from a jug in the fridge.
“How’d you guess?”
She sat and smoothed her hand over the glitter-flecked surface. “This table. My granny had one just like it.”
A sad little smile twitched at the corner of his mouth as he pulled out a chair and sat next to her. Instead of putting his legs under the table, he stretched them out, bracketing hers. Carlotta’s eyes went to his denim-clad thighs, then higher to his —
She brought the glass of water to her lips and gulped it down.
“When my grandmama passed on, she willed it to my mother. My mama already had a house, so… now it’s mine.” He picked up his water glass and sipped from it with his eyes on her. “But I don’t want to talk about that.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
He leaned forward in his seat. The scent of him, sweat, leather, sandalwood, and bourbon filled her lungs when she drew her next breath.
“How did he…” Enoch paused, brow creasing in thought as if he were searching for the right words. He traced her kneecap with the tips of his fingers, making those butterflies alight in her belly again. “How did he love you?”
It would be a strange ask from anyone else, any other man. But from this man? A man who idolized her husband and may have loved him nearly as hard and deeply as she did? From Enoch, it was a query for connection. A question that stirred her into action.
She leaned in close. Shrinking the place between their mouths to mere inches, millimeters, breaths. Enoch’s lips parted. Want spilled out of him on an exhale, and she licked her lips. Tasting it. Tasting him.
The desire to kiss him again was overwhelming.
“He was sweet but not sweet. Careful but not cautious.”
Enoch’s eyelids dipped low as his mouth curved into a smile. “A riddle?”
She laughed. “Yes, the man did love a good riddle.”
“He made a riddle of you in each song, didn’t he?” Enoch curled a hand around Carlotta’s ankle and pulled it into his lap. She was wearing her favorite gladiator sandals. They were laced up her calves. He tugged at the bow in the middle of her shin. Loosened it. Pulled it off her foot. She flexed her toes happily. Enoch chuckled and freed the other foot. “I’m just wondering if this is a riddle I can solve.”
“I’m no riddle,” she said, breath catching in her throat as he drew the tips of his fingers up her calf to her knee, then smoothed the hot palm of his hand up her thigh. The tips of his fingers caught at the edge of her dress. She was watching his mouth. The tip of his tongue swiped from one corner of his mouth to the other very slowly.
“Just touch me,” she whispered. Then, grabbing the hem of her dress, she pulled it up slowly, exposing her upper thighs and then widening them to give him all the room he needed to give her what she wanted.
Enoch made a sound that echoed what she was feeling, then dragged her forward so that his knees were between her thighs. Carlotta let out a soft gasp and looked up at him. Gaze pinned to hers, he inched his hands up her thighs until the place between his thumb and forefinger met the crease between leg and pussy. The strangest feeling came over her. It had been so long since she was touched so intimately and years since someone other than her husband had their hands on her like this. She wanted it — god, she wanted this touch, but her body was revolting. Trembling violently in a way she couldn’t control.
“I’m so sorry. I—”
“It’s okay,” Enoch whispered before pressing a kiss to her lips. He murmured more soft sweet words to her as he stroked her pussy just as softly through her panties. “That feel good?”
She nodded, tipping her hips forward so that each stroke of his thumb caressed her clit. Making it hard and needy. He kept at it until she was squirming until the crease of her panties was wet. Every breath she took was shaky and shallow. She needed more than these gentle, light touches. Felt like she would come out of her skin if she didn’t have it. She was near to begging for it when he finally pulled her panties to the side. Enoch whispered, “fuck” as he slipped his fingers through her damp curls to find her drenched slit. Carlotta gripped the edge of her chair with her hands, toes pointing as he slid one thick finger inside.
“Oh, please,” she begged.
Enoch covered her mouth with his. Capturing her moans in a deep kiss. Fingering her while he made slow, languid thrusts of his tongue into her mouth that mimicked what he was doing between her legs. Carlotta’s pussy gripped that finger. Heard how wet she was when he stirred that finger inside her. Teeth chattering, a wave of pleasure rushed through her and over the surface of her skin, and an inexplicable sob spilled from her.
“It’s okay. I know,” he whispered. He slipped his finger free of her, making her gasp. “You sure about this?” he asked again.
“Yes,” she whimpered.
He nodded, kissing her and curling his fingers around the edge of the waistband of her panties. She lifted her bottom to help him slide them down. Once he had them off, he tossed them aside, and before they hit the floor, his hand was between her legs again, sliding in two fingers, thumb circling her clit. If she thought she was trembling before, she was practically vibrating now. Her hips were stretched so wide that they were beginning to ache from holding them that way, but he felt so good inside her that she was crying and panting his name.
Enoch scooted to the edge of his seat to get more leverage. His other hand gripped her waist, holding her in place while the other wrung waves of pleasure from her pussy. She hadn’t even come yet and wasn’t in a hurry to get there either. The way he was fucking her with his hand was so good that she rolled her hips with every gesture of those piano fingers he’d wiggled at her at dinner. Her strained thigh muscles tilted her hips to get more of it.
“I know I was going to love making you come,” he whispered, dropping kisses along her jaw and down her neck. “Y’gonna come for me, baby? You’re so close. Y’gonna come on my fingers?”
He twisted his fingers just so, and she cried out. She felt his smile against her skin just before he nipped at her neck, which sent a shocking spike of pleasure to her pussy. “Right there, huh?”
“Yes,” she whispered, and then she did come, her pussy gripping his fingers as luxuriant spasms flooded her body with mind-melting sensations that peaked her nipples, made her toes curl, made her writhe on his hand … made her want more.
Carlotta reached for him, and dug her fingers into his locs to force his mouth to hers. His fingers slipped free of her again, and she felt that emptiness acutely and instantly wanted — no, needed to be filled again.
She crawled into his lap. Heart pounding in her chest and between her legs as she pushed her hands under his clothes. She pulled Enoch’s shirt over his head and he moaned when she touched his bare skin. That sound… she rocked her hips forward, notching her naked pussy against the hard length behind his fly, wanting him inside her. It was as if the orgasm he gave her woke her entire body up. Her sex drive, which had been in hibernation, was wide awake and so achingly hungry that she was half afraid it couldn’t be satisfied.
“I need more room,” he grumbled, then stood and lifted her from the chair. She gasped and clung to him. “Don’t worry. I got you.”
And he did have her. One hand cradled her back. The other gripped her ass like it belonged to him. With her legs wrapped around his waist, he walked her through the living room and crossed the narrow hall that ran down the center of the double shotgun house into a bedroom just to the left of the front door. He closed the door and settled her on the edge of the bed. Gathering her dress in his hands, he pulled it over her head and dropped it to the floor. Carlotta unsnapped her bra, dropped it next to her dress, and then looked up at him. Enoch stared at her with such a look of reverence on his face that heightened all of the emotions at war in her mind. This man was going to fuck her. To be inside of her. A place where no one but John Paul had been for years.
He traced a finger down the center of her chest then drew soft circles around her nipples.“Y’beautiful, Lotta. You’re so damn beautiful.”
Carlotta shook her head and gave him a nervous smile.
“No, I mean it.” He curled a finger under her chin. Brushed his lips across hers. “Lay back for me, beautiful.”
Leaning back, Carlotta kept her knees pressed together as she stretched herself out for him.
Enoch looked exactly the way he had in her dream. Those shoulders looked even broader with his shirt off. His chest and belly were muscled but not too defined. He looked at her like he couldn’t believe she was in his bed.
“What?” she asked.
Enoch laughed and shook his head. “I just randomly wondered what he would have thought of this. You here with me like this.” He stroked his hands down her outer thighs.
“I think he would be delighted that his little plan worked.”
Enoch tipped his head, and his brow creased with confusion. “You think he wanted this to happen?”
“I do.”
He laughed again. “That’s wild, but somehow it seems like something he mighta done.”
Carlotta sat up and reached for him, one hand smoothing up his belly to rest on his chest as she leaned in to kiss him. “I want you,” she whispered, letting her hand slip back down to his waistline. “I haven’t wanted anyone in so long, and I want you. You want me, too?”
He let out a soft moan and quivered under her featherlike touch. “Yes,” he whispered. “You know I’ve wanted to put my mouth on you, to be inside you since the moment I saw you.”
“Then don’t hold back with me.”
“Okay,” he said with a nod.
Still trembling from nerves, her last orgasm, excitement, or all of the above, she spread her legs for him. Reveled in the way her pussy flushed from the way his gaze lingered there as he fumbled with his belt and flies. He didn’t take his pants off, though. He just gave himself room to force one hand in and gripped his dick. Readjusting himself, so the wet tip of him peeked out.
And then he was on her. Wet, open-mouthed kisses on her already wet inner thighs. Then with a groan, he laved his tongue through her flushed pussy lips. Splitting them as he drew his tongue between them to flick her clit.
“Shit…” she moaned.
“God… it feels so wrong to be doing this, but you taste so good,” he whispered, hooking her knee over his shoulder, shoving the other down his pants, as he settled in.
Enoch started slow, and Carlotta was beginning to understand that was just his nature. To do things slowly and carefully. Licking her like she was a delicacy, and he wanted to savor every bit. Each languid lick and suck was taken agonizingly slowly. Like he had all night and the next day to make her come.
Whatever she’d expected from him, it wasn’t this. His kisses between her thighs kept her balanced on the edge of coming. Made her so anxious for it that she rode his face. He made delighted sounds, matching her eagerness. And when he slid his fingers inside her again, she found herself coming again, harder and longer than the first time, while he hummed praise on her sensitive clit. With one last suckling kiss, he stood and stripped off his pants. Carlotta slid a hand down between her legs, watching as he went to the nightstand drawer to retrieve some condoms. Stepping between her legs again, he looked down at her as he tore open the packet and rolled it on. She pushed up on her elbows. She wanted to see him. What she saw made her gasp.
Enoch moved in close and kissed her kneecap. “I’ll take it easy,” he whispered as he grasped his dick and drew it through her drenched and sensitive slit. “Let me know if I’m hurting you.”
She sighed, already lost in the feel of him. Just a pinch of pain when he dipped into her. After that… it was all dizzying bliss. His thrusts were slow and shallow, stretching her to fit his thick length. But it only took a few seconds of that before she was lifting her hips to meet each one to take him deeper. As deep as he could.
“Oh, my god. Oh, Enoch,” she whimpered when he held himself there, letting her pussy melt around him and adjust to his length.
“Shit, baby,” he whispered. He brought his thumb to his mouth, sucked it, and then found her clit. Caressed it as he slowly withdrew, only to thrust into her just as deeply. Her breath caught in her throat every time he bottomed out in her pussy.
“Please, hold me,” she begged, reaching for him.
Enoch fell on her. Catching her knees and pinning them to her shoulders so he could crowd her with his body. The angle reached much deeper. He wrapped his arms around her. Cradled her ass in his hand, holding her close, right where he needed her, right where she wanted to be. He buried his face in her shoulder, pressing his lips to her skin to muffle his moans while pulling helpless cries from her with each thrust. It was almost too much for her. Every moment he was inside of her felt like it may shatter her. And she wanted to be broken if being broken could make her feel like this. This feeling was more than the meeting of their bodies or how her body responded to him, or the way they responded to each other. The way he knew the moment she started to feel the first flutterings of her orgasm. How he talked her through it.
“I feel you,” he whispered. He pulled back so he could see her face. His thumb found her clit again. It felt so good that she began to sob. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Just let it come. Come for me, Lotta.”
The orgasm rolled through her on his cue, arching her back, and making her let out a long, low moan. The force of it would have pushed him out if he hadn’t pinned her legs open and drove into her in hard erratic thrusts as he chased his pleasure.
“Shit…” he hissed as his dick thumped and twitched inside her, triggering another wet gush. He cursed again and collapsed on top of her, panting and grinding his still hard dick inside her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. As they lay in each other's arms and tried to catch their breath, John Paul materialized in her mind’s eye. She imagined him sitting at the end of the bed, smiling that dirty mischievous smile of his while giving them a slow round of applause.
"Good girl, Lotta. You did so good."