Ian
“That was sure a nice party,” Gloria said as we left Ben’s place. She was being polite; Ben’s party had been dead. “Where are we going next?”
“Mason and Abby’s place. It’s out in the west end.” Should I bother giving her the DL on all my friends? Nah, it would be a big enough crowd that we didn’t have to talk to...everyone.
“It’s such a shame that all the parties are on New Year’s Eve. We could spread them out and go to a party every night,” she said.
I sighed. First dates should never be on big holidays. “Yup. That would be better.”
Ordinarily it was no big deal to go someplace stag, even on New Year’s Eve. But to avoid watching Em kissing that knob Thomas at midnight, I’d needed a date of my own. I ran into Gloria, who was a friend of a friend, and she’d hinted pretty hard that she was free on New Year’s Eve, so two birds. Gloria was fine. She looked good and she seemed nice. But I missed the spark and unpredictability of Em.
Em had messaged me a few times. If she wanted to thank me for paving the way for her real boyfriend, I could do without all that crap.
There were way more cars at Mason’s place. Gloria held onto my arm as we made our way down the icy sidewalk. I didn’t even bother ringing the doorbell because of all the noise inside. Besides, this was like my second home.
“Reeder! Now, the party can start,” said Carl. He and Smitty from hockey were in the front hallway.
Mason pushed through the crowd. “Ian! I missed you. I haven’t even seen you since we got back.”
Yeah, another drawback of avoiding Em was not dropping in on Mason. We slapped hands, and I introduced Gloria.
“Your home is lovely,” she said, even though we’d only seen the front door and coat closet so far. “Is there someplace I could freshen up?”
Mason guided her to the bathroom. She’d done this at Ben’s place too, disappeared for ten minutes while she did God only knew what. Maybe made her Pomeranian hair even more fluffy.
“Ian!” Em flung herself at me. I smelled her floral perfume, felt the softness of her body against mine, and I wanted her bad. Fuck, this was exactly why I needed to avoid her.
I didn’t return her hug, and she finally stepped back. “Why haven’t you texted me back? I have something important to discuss with you.”
Really? Leafs season tickets would not be enough for me to pretend to be her boyfriend again.
“Can I at least get a drink before you start harassing me?” I asked.
Her eyes widened. “I’m not harassing you.”
She followed me through the crowd into the kitchen. Typical Em. She could not take a hint.
“Why don’t you get your boyfriend to do whatever it is you want?” I got a beer out of the fridge.
“What boyfriend?” she asked. She was wearing a dark purple dress that looked pretty spectacular. I’d never seen Em displaying that much cleavage before, even at the wedding.
“Better get that memory checked, princess. Thomas. Is he not here?”
“Oh, Thomas. I broke up with him, of course. Well, it wasn’t really breaking up since we weren’t even going out to begin with,” she said.
This was news. I drank some beer. “Why’d you dump him?”
She waved a hand in the air. “Oh, you know. Well, actually it has to do with what I wanted to ask you.” She leaned closer, and it was tough to keep from staring right down her dress. “Ian, would you consider dating me if it was just for fun?”
I squinted at her. What scheme had Em cooked up now?
“You remember.” She lowered her voice, “You wouldn’t—you know—because you said I was too fixated on getting married. But I’ve decided I need to relax and have fun. So, maybe we could have fun together?”
She asked this question with the innocence of a ten-year-old. A ten-year-old with a tremendous rack.
Was this some kind of trick? Em’s expression was innocent and eager, and I already knew what a shit liar she was. So not a trick. I kept throwing up roadblocks to getting involved with Em, and the universe kept knocking them down. Would I like to date Em—with no relationship expectations? Fuck yeah.
“Did you get me a drink too?” asked a perky voice from behind me.
“Oh hey. Gloria, this is Em,” I said.
“You brought a date to this party?” Em asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
Em’s eyes narrowed, and I could almost see a tiny plume of smoke coming out of her nose. I was regretting my life choices right now.
“Hi, Em,” Gloria said. “How do you guys know each other?”
Em fluttered her eyelashes. “We have a transactional relationship. I buy Ian expensive gifts, and he pretends to be my boyfriend.”
Then she turned and walked away.
Gloria tilted her head at me. “Oh, sorry. Was that your ex?”
I sighed. “Believe it or not, I have never dated her. Can I get you a drink?”
Once I parked Gloria with a drink and the company of Carl and Smitty, I excused myself and went looking for Em. She didn’t seem to be anywhere downstairs, but I found Abby.
“Where’s Em?” I asked.
“What happened to ‘welcome home and good to see you, Abby?’” she asked.
“It’s an emergency. If I don’t find Em before she finds a weapon, I’m a dead man.”
Abby giggled. “I’m not sure if you two together are a good idea, but it’s going to be fun to watch.” She motioned towards the stairs. “I think she’s in the guest bedroom.”
I took the stairs two at a time and knocked on the bedroom door.
“Who is it?” Em called out.
I was pretty sure that my name wasn’t going to be the magic word, so I kept knocking until she cracked the door a little.
She scowled at me. “What do you want? Go take care of Gloria.”
“Em, c’mon. It’s not like you and me were going out. I can bring a date to the party.”
“I didn’t,” she said.
“Well, I didn’t know that, did I? Last time I saw you, you were headed for your apartment with Thomas.”
She peered at me. “Did that bother you?”
I stalled. “Let me in. I don’t want to keep talking like this.”
She moved away from the doorway. I came in and shut the door. Em was wearing a sweater and jeans now.
“What happened to the purple dress?” I asked.
“I got changed. I’m going home now.”
I stepped closer, close enough to smell her sweet scent. I reached out and twisted a bit of her soft hair around my finger. “Did you wear that dress for me, Em?”
She nodded, but her expression was sulky.
“I like your dress.” I leaned in until I could feel her warm breath on my skin. “I’d like you to put it on again, so I can take it off you.”
Em put her hands on my chest and pushed me away. “No. You don’t get to waltz in here and be all seductive when you’ve got a date waiting downstairs.”
“I brought Gloria because I thought you’d be here with Thomas. How am I supposed to know what craziness is going on in your head?”
“If you returned even one of my messages, I would have told you,” she said.
“Oh, right,” I admitted. “Look, Em. Can we start again?”
“Start where?” she asked.
“Let’s start with that question you asked me downstairs.” I rested my hands on her hips and pulled her to me. “Ask me again.”
“Would you like to go out with me, for fun?”
My thumbs were drawing circles on her waist. “Yeah, I would. And by fun, you mean fun and games, right?”
She nodded. “Not just sex, though. I want to go out and do things too. I’ve been taking dating too seriously, and I want to relax.”
“Okay, but you have to say yes more,” I said.
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“If you want to have more fun, you should try stuff I suggest.” I already knew a lot about Em and her routines. If she wanted to shake things up, she needed to bust out.
“Do you mean bizarre sex acts?” A pretty blush painted Em’s cheeks. Did her whole body flush like that? I’d be finding out soon.
“Define bizarre,” I said.
“I don’t know. Something illegal or perverted that could get me fired.”
“Em. Relax. I just wanna push your limits, not get you jailed.” But judging from her rapid breathing, a little kinky sex was exactly what she wanted.
“Okay. I’ll say yes more.” She wriggled out of my grasp. “But first, we need to establish the rules.”
Fuck. Things with Em could not be this good without strings.
She pulled an index card out of her purse—because of course. “One. While we’re having sex, we’re not having sex with anyone else.”
I nodded. That was the way I rolled anyway, one woman at a time.
Em looked up at me. “Two. Honesty. We have to communicate honestly about our relationship.”
This might be a deal breaker. “What does that mean? I’m not into all that personal sharing crap.”
“I just mean telling each other what is going on. Like returning my messages instead of assuming I’m out with another guy.” She followed this up with a little glare that turned me on. Took me back to my fantasy of banging an angry Em. A pretend hate-fuck wouldn’t qualify as bizarre, would it?
“I can do that,” I said.
“And three, when we break up, it can’t affect our relationship with Abby and Mason. We have to try to be civil, so we don’t lose our best friends.”
“Sure,” I said. “Seems like that would be easier for me than you.”
“Why would you say that?”
“I’m not the one bringing out voodoo dolls every time Lucas Yan steps onto the ice.”
“I can be friends with my exes,” she said. I could see her searching her memory for examples and coming up empty.
“How does this thing...” I motioned between my chest and hers. “How does it end anyway?”
She hesitated. There was something the great planner hadn’t planned. “I guess it ends when we want it to. When we find someone better suited to us.”
Well, that made sense. It wasn’t like she was ever going to think I was good enough for her. And most of my relationships ended around the three-month mark anyway.
She looked away from me. “We know what we’re getting into. It’s what we both want, right?”
I nodded slowly. If the universe wanted me to fuck the living daylights out of the one woman I never thought I’d get a crack at—why not? Em was too smart for me to ever figure out where her head was really at.
“Okay, deal,” I said.
Em stuck out her hand and we shook. Her hand was soft, and her fingers were short and plump. I imagined them stroking my cock to hardness.
“You staying at the party now?” I asked her.
“I guess. I don’t have to watch you making out with Gloria at midnight, do I?”
I shrugged. How could I avoid kissing my date? “Well, I can’t just dump her. How ’bout I take her home after midnight and then come by your place?”
“Oh. Tonight?” Em’s eyes were wide and liquid as she nodded. An absolute rush of anticipation blew through my body as I fantasized about unlocking Em’s secret desires. But why wait?
“Then you should get back into that dress,” I said.
“I will. As soon as you leave.” Her prissy voice was back now that I’d agreed to her deal. Someday I was going to spank that right out of her.
I sat down on the bed. “I’d like to watch. Get a preview of what I’ll be getting... later tonight.”
“Ian!” Em sounded shocked. But when she bit her bottom lip, I knew she was turned on too.
She walked over to the closet and pulled out the purple dress. On the hanger—without Em’s smoking body inside—it looked boring. She draped the dress over a chair, then stood uncertainly in the middle of the room.
“Start with the jeans,” I suggested.
She unzipped them, then pulled them down, struggling a little around her hips. She was still wearing her sheer tights, but I could see the lacy black-and-white panties underneath. And of course, Em herself: her soft thighs, narrow calves, and even her pink painted toenails.
“I’m wearing these because I had a dress on before,” she explained nervously as my eyes went up and down her body.
“It’s all good,” I said. “Now, the sweater.”
She pulled the sweater off, the motion of her arms thrusting out her chest. Those amazing tits, encased in a matching lacy bra. So fucking hot. Would her nipples be the same colour as her pale lips?
For a long moment, Em stood defiantly before me. Her spirit was the hottest part of her. “Happy now?” she asked.
I nodded. If I spoke my hoarse voice would give away how much she affected me. I clamped my hands on the sides of the bed to prevent myself from jumping her right now. This was some reverse Cinderella shit where my dreams couldn’t come true until after midnight.
Em wriggled into the dress. As she struggled with the back zipper, I rose and put my hand over hers. “Let me help.”
She lifted her hair and looked back at me. “What a gentleman.”
“You’ll be eating those words later.” Nobody had ever called me a gentleman, especially someone I wanted to fuck.
I eased the zipper up, letting my thumb trace the bumps of her spine, the elastic of her bra, and the base of her neck. But nothing more...yet. Waiting could be sweet.
“I don’t know about you,” I whispered into her ear. “But I’m already having fun.”