“That’s enough out of you, young lady!” Sabin jokes. “My sister is not to be thinking anything indecent about boys. Not until you’re forty, Estelle.”
“Fine, fine. Blythe, have you enjoyed any new and exciting physical activities we should know about since we last saw you?”
I’m never going to make it through this dinner.
“Yes, tell us.” Chris jumps in. “Any new hobbies you’ve added to your repertoire?”
I clear my throat. “I think that I’ve got all I can handle as it is.”
“Yeah, so how’s the running going?” Eric asks.
He and I talk together for a bit, and he tries to entice me to enter one of the spring races in Madison. “You could totally do it! A five-K? Ten-K?”
“A ten-K!” I nearly shriek. “I can’t do that, Eric.”
“We’ll see,” he says.
Dinner is nonstop conversation and delicious food. I eat ceviche out of a martini glass and devour my scallop entrée, which comes with so many components I can hardly identify what I’m eating. But everything is outstanding. Eric feeds me a forkful of his polenta with basil and cream, and I can’t help groaning over how good it is. I also can’t help noticing with satisfaction that Chris shifts in his seat when I do so.
When they ask me about my trip home, I’m surprised to find myself giving more details than I would have expected. I even tell them about going to the Christmas Eve party at Lani’s and Tim’s and talking to Nichole about applying for an internship.
“Are you definitely going back to Massachusetts after graduation?” Estelle asks. “We’ll miss the fuck out of you if you do.”
Sabin throws his arm over my shoulder. “We would miss you, but this sounds like it could be cool. Besides, if it’s a magazine, maybe they have travel features, and you’d actually, you know, travel. To Hawaii! And need an assistant to carry your suitcases!”
“I’m sure you know just the person for the job.” It hits me that I only have four months left at Matthews before graduation. “I don’t know. A lot can happen in a few months.”
“A lot can happen in a few hours,” Chris adds all too casually. He takes the olive from his martini and winks at me as he pops it in his mouth. Relentless. He is relentless.
I cock my head and glare at him. “Are we getting dessert? I love dessert. Sabe, want to share something with me? I think I saw a cranberry torte thing that looked good. And coffee. Espresso, maybe.”
“Yeah,” Chris says under his breath, “Blythe’s definitely going to need an espresso.”
I clear my throat. “So, the torte?”
“Oh, I’m in! I love me some torte,” Sabin says as he rubs his belly. “What is a torte exactly? Why isn’t it a tart? Is a torte a subcategory of tarts? Why don’t all tarts taste tart?”
“Can we still order it even if we can’t classify it?” I ask.
“Definitely. Hey, B., do you want to come to the show we’re seeing tonight? I can probably get you a ticket still.”
“No. No, she can’t,” Chris says all too quickly.
Sabin frowns.
“I mean, Blythe was saying on the way here that she’s exhausted from her trip. You know, holiday nonsense and all.”
“Oh hell,” Sabin says under his breath. “No way. No, no, no.”
I glare at Chris again. He smiles at me and shrugs.
Estelle and Eric are busy scrolling through pictures on their phones and deciding which ones of Eric are the best to send to Zach, and they don’t notice anything.
When the bill comes, Chris refuses to take any money, which irritates me, but I’m not surprised. He does enjoy caretaking.
Sabin claps his hands together. “All right, little siblings. We have to run if we’re going to make the show. And Chris and Blythe need to get to the hotel so that they can get back to fucking each other to all hell.”
“Oh Jesus, Sabin!” Chris tosses up his hands.
“What in the world is going on?” Eric says. He and Estelle have finally looked up from his phone.
I can’t even look at Estelle because she’s got the most satisfied grin on her face. “Well, fuckin’ finally, am I right?”
This is humiliating.
Sabin wraps his arms around my head, covering my face so that I can’t even see and fakes a soft sob. “My innocent little friend has been violated! Sullied!” He tickles me, and I nearly crash into Eric laughing.
When we all say good night, Eric lets our hug linger for a moment. I realize that he had very little visible reaction to Sabin’s outburst, and I wonder if he disapproves. I brush it off for now.
After we say good-bye to the three in the parking lot, Chris and I climb back in his truck. After just a few minutes of watching him drive, I can’t take it anymore. Just looking at his hands on the steering wheel is turning me on. God, I love his hands. The way he moves, the way his fingers find every spot on my body that gets me hot, the way he intuitively knows when to be gentle and slow … and when to push harder against me, to be strong and firm. Those hands do incredible things to me, and they’ve made me greedy.
I run my fingers through his dark hair and scratch my nails down the back of his neck. I can’t go another second without Chris touching me. I lift up slightly, hike up my dress, and slip my nylons down. I put one foot up on the dashboard. I lean back and open my legs before I take his hand in mine. I push my underwear to the side and set his hand on me.
“Put your fingers inside me,” I say. “Please.” I can barely talk.
“Like this?” he asks teasingly.
Very slowly, he eases one finger in. I close my eyes and put my hands up to my head. I can feel how ridiculously wet I am already, and he’s not even moving his hand. He’s just holding his finger inside me.
“Christopher, please,” I beg.
“Oh, you mean like this?” He briefly takes away his hand and then pushes hard against me, shoving two fingers deep inside. I moan, and he starts moving in and out, slowly and firmly. I have no idea how he can do this and drive, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the road.
“Is that what you wanted?” he asks.
I nod.
“And what about this?” I feel his fingers pull out and run over me a few times before he settles on my clit. “Did you want this, too?”
I moan as he starts to brush a finger over me. He presses a little harder, and I start gasping. The truck stops, but he leaves it running. Thank God we’re back at the hotel in the dark underground parking lot. Chris leans over to kiss me and switch hands, this time yanking my underwear down hard before rubbing me again. His tongue is in my mouth, and I think about how incredible it will feel later when he goes down on me.
I can’t believe that I’m going to come already, but his fingers are on just the right place.
However, I still plan on giving him crap for earlier.
I pull my lips away. “I’m still pissed at you,” I whisper.
He smiles at me and pushes his fingers back inside me. “I can tell.”
I whimper and start breathing harder, and my hands are gripping the back of the seat. He’s moving steadily inside and against me, and I come hard. If it didn’t feel so fucking good, I might be embarrassed at how loud I am. As it is, I couldn’t care less. My whole body shudders under his touch.
“I’m going to take you up to my room now and continue apologizing for not fucking you before dinner.”
“Yeah?”
“You good with that idea?” he murmurs while he kisses my neck.
“Mmmhmmm. And you can also apologize for baiting Sabin the way you did.”
His tongue is slick on my skin and the throbbing between my legs is relentless. “I did nothing of the sort.”
Now I can’t help laughing. “Yes, you did. You were like a dog pissing on a tree, marking your territory.”
“You don’t look anything like a tree.”
“I’m flattered. But that was not nice what you did. And it was unnecessary.” I push him up so that he’ll pay attention for a second. “Sabin is my friend; that’s it.”