Afterparty: The Complete Series: Open Relationships Aren't For Everyone... (5 page)

The warmth of the covers and the smell of his sleepy body made her feel safe, comfortable, while she pleased him with her mouth.

"Olivia," he sighed. 

That safe, comfortable feeling vanished, and with it, any desire for him to touch her.

Catelyn didn't change her pace or pull away. He was close. A moment after moaning another woman's name, he came on her tongue. Catelyn swallowed quickly, waited until his hips relaxed and his thighs loosened, then pushed the covers back.

Aaron looked down on her with sleep-lidded eyes.

When he saw her face, any trace of sleepiness vanished.

"I thought I was dreaming," he whispered, and the horror in his voice was all the apology she needed. "It's OK," she said, moving up his body. She wrapped her arms around him, and he hugged her hard.

"I was dreaming about her this morning," he murmured into Catelyn's hair. "I'm sorry. I thought I was still in the dream..."

"It's OK," she repeated, but this time it was a lie.

Aaron left for the studio at 9. The two of them rarely ate breakfast, preferring to just have lunch and dinner and to take an extra half hour to sleep.

Catelyn had thrown in a load of laundry, which didn't seem to make much of a dent in the disaster that was their bedroom.

She booted her computer and Aaron pecked her cheek on his way out the door. "See you at supper." She didn't watch him go.

Catelyn loaded the still photos she'd taken during the shoot, did a backup of the raw files, then started processing. She wanted do one sweep through, culling anything out of focus or otherwise unusable, then start going through brightening and color correction on her second sweep. She also wanted to be finished with the photos before the end of the week.

She was logged into gmail in one window. After she'd been working for a few minutes, she glanced at her list of available chat partners.

William was showing as available.

Catelyn stared at his name for a minute, then shook her head and turned her gaze back to her photos. She flipped through a couple, deleted one, flipped through a few more, hemmed and hawed, deleted another.

She looked at her chat client, at William's name.

Flipped through five more photos.

Looked at the chat client again.

Sighed. "Dammit."

She opened a chat window with William. 

Catelyn -
Hi William.

She waited a moment. He might not answer right away. He probably wouldn't. Maybe he was regretting the previous night already...

She jumped a little when the computer chimed that she had a new message. 

William -
Good morning Catelyn. I trust you slept well?

She laughed a little. 

Catelyn -
Yes, thanks. You?

William -
Are you free today at lunch?

She swallowed. He didn't mess around, did he? She squared her shoulders. Fine. If he wanted to be direct, she could be the same.

Catelyn -
Yes.

William -
Come to my place. 11:30. 

She swallowed again, touched her hair, realized that she hadn't showered or put on any makeup since getting up, and she was wearing a faded tank top and old yoga pants... then remembered that William had seen her on set nearly every day with no makeup and her hair tied back in a messy ponytail. 

It hadn't mattered then, but it certainly seemed to matter now. 

Catelyn -
I'll be there.

Then she hopped out of her chair and headed for the shower.

She got to William's house at 11:25 and sat in her car for a minute, tapping the steering wheel and feeling unaccountably nervous. She'd found the cleanest pair of jeans and cleanest t shirt and hooded jacket she had. She'd showered. She checked her face in the rear-view mirror. 

Then she rolled her shoulders down and took a deep breath. This was stupid; she'd thankfully showered just before the party at Barnaby and Janet's last night, but she hadn't taken any special care with her appearance, just as she hadn't while working. If you weren't appearing on camera, there wasn't much point to it.

She got out of the car and crossed the street, feeling ridiculously surreptitious. It wasn't as though the neighbors could possibly know why she was there. She could be a friend dropping by for coffee. A work acquaintance. A friend of Olivia's. And anyway, it was none of their business.

She felt as though there were eyes on her every step of the way to William's front door.

There was an autumn wreath hanging on the door. She wondered how Olivia found time to decorate. There were a dozen things wrong with her house and she couldn't find time to fix them, let alone put up seasonal decorations.

Catelyn rang the bell, then thought about rummaging in her bag for gum. She decided she didn't want to look like a cow chewing cud. Then she decided fresh breath was more important than looking like a chewing cow, even though she'd brushed her teeth just before heading out the door and her breath was fine. She was about to unzip her purse and rummage when William opened the door.

William was dressed in one of his usual baggy maroon sweaters and loose jeans. His brown hair curled at the nape of his neck and looked a little wet, as though he'd just showered. He smelled of soap and shampoo. 

Catelyn could smell something else: oregano and rosemary and the fragrance of simmering ground beef drifted through the door. She leant forward a little and sniffed. 

"That smells good," she said, and her stomach grumbled a bit, much to her embarrassment. 

William grinned. "Did you skip breakfast?"

"I almost always do."

"That's not good for you."He gestured for her to come in.

She had a little trouble removing her left boot and nearly fell over while hopping on her right to pull it off, and William let out a belly laugh. Catelyn looked at him, a little hurt. She managed to get the left boot off. 

"What?"

"You are so cute." He took her hand and helped her balance while she removed her right boot. His hand was warm and calloused and while she'd grabbed it many times over the course of working together during the previous three months, touching him now felt very different.

He released her and she shrugged out of her jacket, head ducked to hide her blush.

"Do you have any other shoes?" He nodded at the dusty, well-worn leather boots.

"These are my favorite."

"I imagine you'd look great in high heels."

She smiled. "Not really a practical choice on the set."

"You're not on set today," William said. 

He walked toward her, closing in. She instinctively backed up as he invaded her personal space, then let out a tiny squeak of surprise when her butt hit the wall behind her.

William planted his hands on the wall on either side of her and stared down at her, looming over her, letting her feel his size, his considerable physical advantage. 

Catelyn whispered, "I've been thinking about you. All night. All this morning. I think I dreamed about you."

He smiled, not betraying his pleasure in her words. "Is that so?"

She nodded, dark eyes staring up at him. He drew closer, saw her lips part for a kiss. He lightly bit her earlobe instead and she let out a tiny whimper of surprised pleasure.

"I dreamed about you too," William murmured. "Only I couldn't touch you. I intend to fix that..."

He drew closer.

"Excited?" he murmured in her ear.

She could only nod. 

He slid his hands down to her shoulders, moved his hands up to cup her face. "You should be."

She shivered and looked at him expectantly.

He crushed her lips with a rough kiss and she squeaked into his mouth with surprise. His hands slid quickly down her arms to her wrists. He grasped them and kept her pinned to the wall while he devoured her mouth. She started squirming against him, her movements very similar to struggling, but he could feel her pressing herself into him, making no effort to get away. 

He brought her hands up over her head and clasped her wrists with his left hand, then used his right to  push up her sweater and t shirt, unfasten her bra. She wriggled and arched up under his hand.

He broke away from her mouth for a breath and she sighed, "You don't have to hold me down, I'm not going to try to stop you..."

"But you like being held down," he said. It was not a question.

"Yes I do," she breathed. 

"I like holding you down," he murmured, running his thumb over her lip. 

She darted her head forward and caught his thumb lightly between her teeth, then sucked it hard into her mouth, and he swallowed at the sensation of her tongue swirling around the pad of his thumb, the hard-edged scrape of her teeth against his knuckle...

She squirmed a little and he let go of her wrists. She dropped her hands to his jeans, fumbling with the button, yanking impatiently at the zip.

William reluctantly drew his thumb from between her lips and slid his hands down to the hem of her shirts.

She raised her arms so he could draw her sweater and t shirt off in one pull. She yanked off her bra and grabbed his sweater and tugged. He raised his arms and let her pull it off. 

Catelyn ran her trembling hands over his bare skin and William reveled in the roughness of her palms. Her hands were nearly as calloused as his, such a contrast to Olivia's soft touch. 

William leaned in for another kiss.

"Take off your pants," he ordered, words forming against her mouth. She quickly shoved her jeans down and stepped out of them. Then her hands went back to his jeans, managing the button and zip this time, sliding inside, wrapping her fingers around his cock. He liked those hard, nearly bony little hands on him.

William put his hands on her ass and lifted her, pushing her against the wall. He positioned himself, found her slit with his tip, drove his cock into her in one smooth thrust. 

She gasped and wrapped her legs around his waist, arms around his shoulders. He felt her panting, felt the hard wall of her cervix, felt her trying to accommodate him, and he didn't give her any time to adjust.

He pounded her brutally against the wall. 

"You have been thinking about us," he grunted, hips thrusting. "You're so wet. I barely touched you..."

She tucked her head into his neck and keened against his shoulder. Her hands wrapped around the back of his head. "Please..."

"You know I will."

She cried out and he muttered, "Shut up," and caught her mouth in another kiss. She moaned into his mouth and thrust her hips back up against his and her ankles were digging into his back, her arms tight around his neck, her cunt soft but tight and getting tighter...

He quickened his pace, his hips slapping against hers, squeezing her firm round ass with his hands. He turned, still supporting her, walked her partway up the stairs to the landing, set her ass on the top step, then slipped a hand between them to press her clit. 

She went off like a rocket, warm wetness gushing over him. She sank her teeth into his neck and tried to muffle her cries. He kept thrusting into her, the stairs probably digging into her legs a little, but he suspected she didn't notice. She throbbed around him, her walls pulsing as she came, and he struggled to keep his own orgasm back. 

As she came down he slipped free of her and she gave a little moan of disappointment. He came up a few steps, lining his cock up with her face.

Then he grasped the back of her head and firmly pushed her mouth down on him. She gagged and choked the first few times he pushed his cock into her throat, and he liked the sound of it.

"Use your hands," William said, finally giving her mercy, and she brought her hands up to massage the base of his length and give her throat a little break. She sucked him hard and it only took a few more thrusts.

William gasped as he filled her mouth with come, shaking a little as he watched her swallow it all.

He drew away and she followed him, tongue darting out to lick the last few pearly drops away.

She sat on the steps for a minute, naked, panting a little.

"Would you like something to eat?"

Catelyn burst out laughing. "Yes. I'm starving."

He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled a little and he steadied her with his hands on her waist. She sighed a little and pushed up against him. He put his arms around her and she shivered.

"It is a little cold in here," he said.

"It's not that, it's..." She looked at the stairs. 

William stroked her hair, comforting her even as his own pulse picked up. Something was wrong...

"Aaron and I have been fighting," she said at last. 

William stared at her. "Oh."

"He's barely touched me for more than a month." She was still looking at the stairs. "I've... I've made advances on him, blown him, but afterward he just... rolls over and goes to sleep."

William was silent. 

"He won't even hug me. And I miss... I miss being hugged."

William hugged her hard, dropped a kiss on her hair, and tried to quell the panic rising in his chest.

"Come on, let's have something to eat and we can talk about it."

"I don't know if I want to talk about it," Catelyn whispered. "I just want you to keep hugging me."

He led her into the guest bedroom, to the neatly-made bed. She raised her eyes. "I'm not sure if I can go again just yet..."

William laughed. "No, no, no." He pushed back the covers. "Get in."

She meekly obeyed.

"Now you stay here. I'll be right back."

William threw on a t-shirt and flannel pants and headed down to the kitchen, to the stove. He'd made a straightforward bolognese, and all that was left to be done was to drop the spaghetti into the waiting pot of boiling water. He fixed two plates and was back upstairs within nine minutes.

Catelyn was curled up in the bed, staring at the ceiling.

She had pulled on one of his striped dress shirts and he felt warmth curl in his belly as he saw it, mostly-buttoned but just open enough to show the alluring curve of her breast.