Leaps & Lies

Chapter Twenty-Three

V ivian wakes up horny.

But it isn’t simply that she wakes up horny. She wakes up with Julian’s fingers parting her lips before sliding over her slit. With the way he’s pressed up behind her, hard cock nestled and rocking between her ass cheeks, it’s no surprise that she’s wet. His fingers dip into her, gathering her moisture before pulling back out. She never managed to get dressed before falling asleep, and she’s never been more thankful for her nudity.

“Open up, Sugar,” Julian says, wet fingers tapping at her bottom lip.

Vivian opens her mouth on instinct, body loose and pliant with sleep.

“What time is it?” she mumbles around the fingers in her mouth. They’re thick and warm. His skin tastes of salt and something distinctly feminine—her flavor.

“You have somewhere to be?” Julian teases, fingers pumping in and out of her mouth. An imitation she’d rather he follow through with somewhere other than her mouth.

“Meeting with Ms. Renee at 9:30,” she chokes out.

Julian sighs into her hair and pulls his hand away, snaking it down her neck to pluck at a taut nipple.

“I know. I didn’t forget. But if you can still remember, I’m not working hard enough.”

“How long have you been working at it now?” Vivian asks, wondering what she may have missed since falling asleep with his fingers curled inside of her and waking up to find them sneaking back in.

How long did he play with her before she woke up? What did he do while she was asleep, warm and compliant?

Her stomach twists at the intersection of unfamiliarity and blazing arousal in a new and truly terrifying way. The thought of him touching her while she slept is more than she’d ever known to ask for but everything she could want. Instead of arrogant and irritating, his presumed comfort with her body is electrifying. As if he heard her complaint of emptiness the night before and managed to hear everything she wasn’t saying.

“Don’t worry, Viv. I saved all the excitement until you woke up.”

Vivian snorts and rolls further onto her stomach, trapping Julian’s hand where it’s dipped into her bellybutton.

“Are you gonna keep teasing me? I’m falling back asleep,” she mumbles, not tired in the least.

“You just go back to sleep then, sweetheart,” Julian teases. He wiggles his hand out from underneath her and uses it to hike her knee up, thighs slipping past each other to bare her to the cool room.

His weight shifts on the bed, there’s a telltale crinkle, and then he’s notching that perfect cock at her slit. Two swipes spread her wetness around until they’re both saturated, and then he’s sliding in without resistance.

Face down on his bed, the angle is vastly different from the night before. Julian’s thrusts are shallow, but they zing something inside her that sends fireworks through her veins. She thought last night was a miracle, but now she knows it was only the beginning.

Vivian moans, light and airy as his hips snap downward, pelvis meeting the cushion of her ass. Sex like this feels lewd. Carnal. Impossibly decadent.

“Oh, you like it like this, Sugar Plum? You like it when I press your face into the pillow and pound your pussy?”

But Vivian’s the one who rolled over onto her stomach, and he has definitely not been trying to suffocate her. Despite his words, she put herself in this position of submission. When she lifts her head to tell him as much, he lands a sharp swat on her ass cheek before she can get out more than a muffled, “You didn’t—”

“Unless you’re saying ‘thank you’ or ‘more,’ I think I’ve had enough of your sass for now,” Julian says. With a delicious rhythm, the head of his cock making tight circles inside her, it’s improbable that he should manage such eloquence.

“Shut up ,” Vivian chokes into the pillow.

“You’re shaking, Viv. That feel good?” he asks, ignoring her words. His deep voice is warm and smug, blatantly teasing.

She shakes. Just a slight tremble across her body, as if her veins are full of Pop Rocks instead of blood.

“Mmhguhhfk,” she chokes out.

With his size advantage, he could press her into the mattress. He could suffocate her and take what he wants. He could crush her, but instead, he’s rambling, crooning dirty words in a husky voice.

Julian chuckles against the back of her neck, large palms braced on either side of her head.

“Whatever you say, Viv,” Julian answers patronizingly.

“Mmhg. Fuuck.”

“Just a little more for me, sweetheart. You can last a little longer, can’t you?”

She can’t. She’s pretty sure she’s already coming. It’s different from her orgasms the night before. Different from the way she trembled and gasped under his tongue. But her bones are melting to liquid, and she’s lost control of her limbs. Lost control of her words.

Everything is hot, liquid bliss. The world all obscure heat and pleasure.

Vivian wakes up in Julian’s arms again.

She blinks through heavy, crusted eyelids to the sound of her name whispered softly from above.

“Come on, Viv. You’ll kill me if you miss your meeting.”

“Huh?”

“You have a 9:30 with Renee, remember?”

That’s enough to have her sitting up, the fluffy duvet falling to her lap. She flinches, prepared to pull it back up to cover herself, only to find that she’s drowning in a deep maroon crewneck she’s admired on Julian before. She does not remember getting dressed.

Vivian’s quick to spring out of his bed, grabbing her overnight bag before hiding in the bathroom. By the time she’s dressed, freshened up, and ready to leave for her meeting, Julian is waiting with a travel mug full of warm coffee in the kitchen. He grabs his car keys from the hook near the garage and ushers her out without a word.

It’s not until they’re idling at the stop sign right beyond his neighborhood that he finally speaks.

“Guessing things got a little intense for you last night?” Julian asks. From his relaxed grip on the steering wheel, he doesn’t appear too worried about her response.

“Uhh, yeah. I—Well, when we were . . . ” she trails off, not sure how to admit that she thinks she fell asleep during sex. Maybe it was technically after her orgasm but yeah. Who does that? Sure, she’s been killing herself at rehearsals lately, but still . . .

“It’s okay. Drink your coffee.”

She eyes him, his deep green fleece and brown ball cap making him appear the ideal lumberjack to fit in the picture-perfect catalog of his townhouse’s neighborhood. Vivian takes a deliberately audible gulp of the coffee he made her. It’s hot and just sweet enough. Once she’s made a show of loudly sipping at the perfect beverage, Julian finally says, “Was it okay for you?”

Vivian snorts. Honest to god snorts, practically choking on the coffee. She’d expected more arrogance and swagger from him rather than this calm concern.

“Yeah, it was ‘okay’ for me,” she answers, teasing him with gentle air quotes. “I think you may have melted my brain though. I didn’t mean to fall asleep right after.”

“It wasn’t too much?” This time, the question comes quickly, as though he’s too eager for an answer to let her finish speaking.

“Uhh—” Vivian clears her throat, staring down at her lap with a prickle of tension. “I feel bad that I fell asleep, and you had to dress me, but aside from that . . . itwasthehottestsexofmylife .” She coughs up the words in a rapid slur, speaking the truth before she can lose her nerve.

Julian doesn’t glance over, doesn’t look away from his careful navigation to Ellapond, but if the smirk tugging at his mouth means anything, he understood her perfectly.

When he drops a large warm palm high up on her leg, fingers curling to rest just too close to her inner thigh—it’s a welcome brand.

“In that case, you’re welcome to fall asleep anytime you want, Viv.”