Page 22 of Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About

Twelve

J osh shot out of bed. Those toys that had somehow become camouflaged to him every time he’d reached for a towel leaped out like predators once Sadie mentioned them.

Sure, he’d been using some of the lube from that shopping spree.

Some was on his hand right now, in fact, because he’d been in the middle of something when she called.

He’d finished before picking up the phone, because he had manners.

Sadie was so sexy to him before they’d kissed, and now that he’d touched her, tasted her, he’d never know peace.

He didn’t want to know peace. He just wanted her.

And it was this embarrassing collection of sex toys that tipped the scales in his favor?

His inability to ever dial things back had failed him how many times?

His longing for connection, contorted into overreaching helpfulness, made him feel pathetic how often?

But here was Sadie, reaching out. She was the one who couldn’t keep her cool this time. She’d been through a lot recently, and he couldn’t make too much of anything, but he was going to do it right this time. “I mean, sure,” he answered. “Door’s open.”

Her pause was molasses thick.

“You should watch.”

His mouth went dry. He tried to croak out a reply but nothing came. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Yes.”

“Whatever this is,” she said. “It’s just fun. I want to be clear.”

How absolutely mortifying, that he’d laid himself so bare, that she had to temper his expectations. “Fun,” he repeated.

“I don’t do long-distance relationships,” she said, then after a pause, “I don’t really do relationships.”

“Understood,” he said.

He didn’t believe her. She had a relationship history; she’d shared some highlights and lowlights.

What she was masking with that line was that she didn’t want a relationship with him .

That he could believe. He was an overeager puppy and she was an aloof cat, and he was bound to get his nose swiped at once or twice.

In the meantime, he’d take whatever scraps of attention she offered, even if it was this unexpected step into a sexy and voyeuristic encounter.

The screen door at the back of the house snapped shut.

The fan in the downstairs bathroom whirred to life when she turned on the light.

Josh imagined Sadie opening boxes and inspecting objects.

Imagined her weighing the potential pleasure in each candy-colored toy.

In his mind she was wearing a short black nightgown, with lace edging, that barely covered her round ass. Her feet were bare, dampened by dew.

Soon enough he would know for sure.

“Josh,” she whispered loudly.

“Up here,” he called, seeing no need for quiet when it was only the two of them for a quarter mile in any direction.

“Hardwood floors?” she asked.

“Yes?” he replied as a question.

She came up the stairs, holding a little bindle fashioned from one of his hand towels.

He’d been hoping for lace, but instead he was treated to history’s rattiest T-shirt and a black pair of hipster underwear.

The shirt had holes at the neckline, splotched from stray bleach, and he could tell the original black of the shirt had faded to a murky dark gray even in the dim light of his bedside lamp.

Not the lacy confection he’d imagined, but it awakened something in him nonetheless.

The desire to poke his fingers into the holes to get at her skin, to pull that stretched neckline over her shoulder and nip at the exposed flesh.

He kept still, propped up on his elbows.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” she said, slipping out of the underwear. “Remember. Onetime show.”

“Okay,” he said, swinging his legs over the bed so he was sitting on the edge facing her, which seemed less strange than lying down.

She set the towel down on the floor and the toys spilled out. A dildo with a suction end—for the hardwood floor. Plus a sleek but powerful vibrator that could nestle into the palm of a hand. And a bottle of lube.

She wasted no time. Down on her knees, she stuck the dildo onto the floor and spread lube over it with her hand.

Watching her slick up the toy made Josh hard all over again.

He’d admired her sure hands before, in the garden, and this context created another opportunity for close study.

Her hand dipped quickly between her thighs to spread the leftover lube.

Sadie lifted her shirt over her head and Josh’s breath hitched.

Her breasts were small compared to her hips; she was the ripest pear.

Intricate tattoos filled the triangular area between and spread underneath her cleavage.

Here was the lace he’d wanted to see. He wanted so badly to tell her how beautiful it was, but he wouldn’t speak. He simply wouldn’t ruin this moment.

When his eyes flicked to her face and held her gaze, he knew she’d caught him studying her.

The barest curve of her lips indicated she liked it.

Then she rose up onto her knees, moved to center herself over the dildo, and slowly sank onto it.

She let out a long sigh. Her eyes were closed, leaving Josh free to watch.

He was certain his heartbeat was audible, with the intense force of the blood pumping through his veins.

His cock strained against his underwear.

She settled into a rhythm she liked, bouncing on the dildo, taking as much of its length as she could.

She pinched a nipple between two fingers and exhaled sharply.

Josh studied her in hopes that someday he could replicate what she liked.

She’d said a “onetime show,” but a guy could dream.

Deeply but not too fast. Attention on her nipples.

He watched her breasts attentively, so mesmerized by the bounce of them that the little whump of something landing next to him on the duvet startled him.

It was the bottle of lube. She beheld him—her eyes hazy, his probably frantic with questions, with surprise. She simply nodded.

He stood and stepped out of his underwear, his cock slapping against his stomach.

This time she was studying him, and he hoped she liked what she saw.

He sat back down and squeezed some lube into his hand.

He began stroking to match her own rhythm, imagining his hand as her hand, her mouth, her pussy, gripping him tight and slick with her need.

Soon all of his thoughts swept clear from his mind, and his awareness centered on the cock in his fist and matching Sadie’s rhythm.

She picked up the vibrator, turned it on, and brought it toward her clit.

Then she stopped her movements for a moment to nestle it into place, so he stopped, too.

She looked at him, one eyebrow ticking upward.

Did she like having this power over him?

He gathered so, as she continued fucking the dildo. Slowly, in strokes so long his breath stuttered with each one. When he could pry his eyes from her body, his gaze met hers, and she took control again.

He was bewitched, drawn to match her stroke for stroke.

She sped up, fucking herself harder and harder.

He couldn’t last much longer, but he didn’t want to stop.

He wanted to give her this control over him.

He could come at any moment. In fact he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t, until she gave him another nod.

That was what he’d needed, and the orgasm rocketed through him. He finally broke eye contact, looking down to see the come streaming between his fingers.

When he looked up again, Sadie’s face was pinched in a beautiful pleasure-pain expression, and she took deep sips of air as she came.

She let out the first noise she’d made since those initial sighs, a punchy “oh” that pierced the thick air.

He wanted to kiss her so badly. More than that, he wanted to wring that pleasure out of her himself.

She bent forward, the dildo still inside her, quiet for a few moments.

Then she got up and walked into his en suite bathroom, closing the pocket door behind her.

When she emerged, she put her clothes back on and lay down on top of his bedding behind where he sat.

Josh cleaned himself up and lay down next to her. She had a dreamy, thoughtful look.

“Why on earth did you pick Pea Blossom, Indiana?”

Despite the inherent judgment in that question, it felt thrilling that she was curious about him.

“My heart wasn’t in it anymore with video games.”

“I mean, how can you top Pinchy Boi ? There’s nowhere to go but down.”

What a joy that her love for that game matched his pride in it.

“And I was drifting apart from my friend-slash-business-partner Logan. He was starting to get really into venture capital stuff, and I played along for a while until I realized it was not my scene at all. My love life was dead in the water, partially because I was working all the time and partially because I wasn’t making good progress breaking bad habits. ”

“What kind of bad habits?” Sadie asked.

“Precisely the kind of habits that lead to me having a closet full of sex toys. In trying to get closer to people I scare them away.”

“Ah yes. So you wanted a change of scenery.”

“More than that,” Josh said. “I wanted a new purpose. Then this property came up on one of those social media accounts for cheap houses, and I took a chance. I figured the worst that could happen is that I hated it and I’d have to pull some strings to get back into the game industry.”

“Do you feel like you have purpose?”

Josh thought about Squash 2.0. Could he leave a legacy on the horticultural world that had more of an impact than Pinchy Boi did on the video game landscape?

Then he wouldn’t feel like he’d wasted his working life.

“I have ambitions. I don’t know that they’ve risen to the level of purpose yet.

Farming is kind of weird, you know. Do you think Stu finds purpose in it? ”