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‘Okay. Fine. So does it have something to do with you having to be so responsible when you were so young? Having to be a carer for your parents?’ I ask, this time infusing my voice with sympathy. I really want to know what makes him tick. It would make being around him so much easier.

But this change in tone doesn’t seem to help either.

‘Which part of butt out of my business do you not understand?’ he says, springing up off the sofa. ‘I’m going for another swim. I’ve got way too much energy to sit around right now.’

‘That’ll be all the sexual tension,’ I point out.

But he doesn’t respond, just walks out of the room without a backwards glance.

I sigh and move to sit in the seat he’s just vacated, feeling the residual warmth of him flush my skin, my body humming with an overabundance of sexual tension of my own.

I wish he’d stop being so defensive. It’s incredibly challenging to be around him when he’s like this.

Hot, but challenging.

To my surprise, he comes storming back into the room a few minutes later.

‘The bloody door to the pool isn’t opening. Nico must have locked it.’

‘Who’s Nico again?’ I ask, to see if I can get him to reference the scene we witnessed in the laundry and make him blush again.

‘The guy with the chinos. The one who was… you know…’ He waves his hand about, clearly unable to finish that sentence.

Win!

‘Go and ask him to open it then,’ I say, suppressing my grin at his adorable awkwardness.

‘No way. I’m not going back there right now. Who knows what I’ll see if I do.’

I let out a laugh. ‘God, Jem, don’t be such a prude!’

He gives me the raised eyebrow. ‘Sod off. I’m not a prude.’

We glare at each other again, but with more playfulness than anger.

Our accelerated breathing is the only sound in the room.

There’s that heavy tension between us again.

My heart is racing now and I’m so turned on, my whole body is pulsing with sexual energy.

‘For God’s sake, just come here and sit down,’ I tell him. I feel like there’s only one way to get us past this maddening stand-off and I doubt he’s going to be the one to suggest it. Not after what he said earlier.

‘I don’t want to sit. I’m too jittery.’

‘Just bloody sit down, will you!’ I snap, pointing at the sofa.

There’s a tense moment where he frowns at me, his eyes dark with an emotion I can’t read. Then he starts to pace for a few moments, as if he’s thinking about walking out again, but can’t quite bring himself to.

‘Jesus. Okay. Fine!’ he says crossly.

Then, to my amazement, he sits down.

‘Good,’ I say. ‘Lean back. Relax.’

He raises one brow. ‘Why? What are you going to do?’

‘Just chill. You’ll like it, I promise. If you want me to stop at any point, just say so.’

‘Stop what, Dee?’ There’s a shake in his voice now. It sounds like excitement rather than fear, though.

I get off the sofa and kneel on the floor in front of him, putting my hands onto his knees. He watches me warily for a second but when he doesn’t say anything more, I slowly run my fingertips up his thighs, feeling his muscles tense beneath my hands.

I hear his breath catch in his throat, but still, he doesn’t say anything.

When I reach the top of his thighs, I pause for a second, looking into his face, checking he’s really okay for me to go ahead with this.

He stares back at me, his eyes hooded, as if he’s gone into a bit of a trance.

‘Okay?’ I ask, just to make sure.

He visibly swallows, then says, ‘Okay,’ in a rough voice.

The sound of it gives me happy shivers.

Convinced he’s into this now, I undo the button on his shorts, slide down the zip, then tug on the waistband of them, along with his boxers, until his cock springs free of its confines.

Jem sucks in a sharp breath and rocks his head back against the sofa cushions, his gaze now trained on the ceiling. A muscle jumps in his jaw.

I take this as a positive sign and grip the base of his erection with one hand, then slowly lower my mouth to the head, letting out a gentle breath against it, before using my tongue to explore the shape of him.

He lets out a low, growly moan and his fingers grip the sofa cushions on either side of him. The muscles in his legs are tense beneath my arms, but he still doesn’t stop me or make any kind of move at all. He’s letting me do what I want.

The very idea of that excites me.

This is all very new for him, so go slow , I remind myself, finding immense satisfaction in the fact I’m the first person to ever do this to him.

I start to move my mouth and tongue over him, feeling him quiver and buck a little as I tentatively increase the pressure and speed of the movements.

His breathing is fast now and he’s letting out more and more groans of pleasure as I continue to suck and lick him, enjoying the salty taste of him on my tongue.

I feel heady with the power of giving him this pleasure, which is a new experience for me. I’ve had a handful of sexual partners, but they’ve always been more experienced than me, so I’ve never got to do anything new for them.

‘Dee,’ Jem pants, and I raise my head to look at him. His eyes are wide and his pupils blown. ‘I’m really close,’ he says on a long breath.

‘Good,’ I tell him, ‘Come whenever you want.’

He just nods at me, then rocks his head back again.

So I get back to work, keeping my movements regular and firm, using my tongue and fingers to add pressure to the underside and head of his cock, enjoying the rhythmic build-up and the way he’s responding to my attention to detail, until he finally lets out a raspy, breathless groan from deep within his chest, slaps his hands against the sofa cushions and comes.

I continue to hold him through his orgasm, feeling him twitch and shudder under my touch and loving the way I’ve practically brought him to his knees. That I’ve given him so much pleasure and relief.

I swallow, then release my hold on him and move up his body to press my cheek to his stomach, waiting until he starts to relax.

‘Oh my God,’ I hear him say above me. ‘That was incredible.’

‘Excellent,’ I say with a smile. Elation ripples through me, giving me more happy chills. ‘I loved it too.’

‘Really?’ he asks.

I look up to see him gazing down at me, his brow furrowed.

‘Yeah. I really enjoyed seeing you come apart.’ I grin at him and to my relief, he grins back.

‘It definitely felt like I was coming to pieces there for a second,’ he murmurs.

There’s a slightly awkward pause where we just look at each other. It’s weird, being that intimate with him, then going back to just being hang-out buddies. But I don’t think either of us think there’s anything real in this. We’re just passing the time here together in the most fun of ways.

I flick away a niggle of dissent in my mind.

It would be pointless thinking it could be anything else. He’s made it pretty clear he doesn’t see me as the sort of person he could have a serious relationship with. And that’s okay. There are all kinds of ways to connect with someone, and this thing with Jem will be sex only.

That’s fine with me.

Totally fine.

Totally.