Rebound (16 page)

That was a nice way of putting it, much nicer than, “I’m rich and it kicks ass.”

“I think that makes sense. It must have been hard for you. We were lucky. Our parents were supportive and easy going. There really wasn’t any pressure to be a success, they just wanted us to be good people. I couldn’t imagine losing my mom. I know Teddy would be more than devastated if something happened to me.” She missed him so much it made her want to cry. 

“I have heard you mention him many times. Will you tell me more about him?”

“Oh, that’s okay, I don’t want to bore you.” She secretly hoped he really did want to know about him.

“Really, I want to know. Please tell me about him.” Xander was either really interested or very eager to change the subject. Either way, she saw her opportunity and pounced.

“Well, where do I start? First off, he is the most amazing and handsome 10 year old on the planet! Just so we are clear about that. He turns 11 in November. He goes to private school and will start sixth grade this year. He is so kind, and intelligent. He is very mature for his age. I always say he has an old soul. He loves sports, movies and hanging out with his friends. He is hilarious. And he loves his mom, of course.” She could have gushed for hours so she decided to cut herself off. Seeing her obvious devotion to her son made him happy, but a little nostalgic as well.

“Wow. I will put Teddy on the very top of the things that make you smile list! I know you must be an amazing mom.” He said it with such sincerity that it made Katrine get misty eyed. 

“Oh no, please don’t be sad.” He gently cupped her cheek and rubbed away an escaped tear with his thumb. 

“Sorry, I just miss him so much. I haven’t seen him in weeks and it is very hard for me. I’m used to seeing him every day. He’s been very brave about the divorce. I hope we haven’t scarred him for life...Divorced with a 10 year old, talk about baggage, huh?” She was only partly joking.

“I might have thought so ten years ago, but not now. Yes, you have a son and yes, you are divorced, but it isn’t baggage. You obviously adore your son and if you weren’t divorced, I wouldn’t have the privilege of sitting with you right now. And can I say, that your ex must be the most moronic man in the history of men. It is unfathomable to me to let someone like you go. I just don’t get it. I think you are an amazing woman.”

She smiled, “Xander, that is really sweet. You know you can be pretty adorable too sometimes.  And thank you. I think he’s a moron as well. But one man’s treasure is another man’s, ‘been there done that, and don’t want it anymore.’” She smiled at him to let him know she was ok.

 “Mother’s dying of cancer, divorce, it’s all bringing me down! Change of subject! So how did you like the dinner? And would you like dessert?”

“The dinner was absolutely delicious, as you can see by my barren plate. As far as dessert, I will pass, but I would love another glass of wine. I prefer my empty calories in grape form.”

He smiled and grabbed the plates. “Red or white?” he called from the kitchen.

“Red please, if you have it.”

“Katrine, I have everything.”

Yes, you do...

Chapter 20

They moved into the living room. They continued to talk and drink wine, her nerves forgotten.  

“How old are you anyway?  I need to know if I’m unintentionally being a large mountain feline here?”

He laughed. “I just turned 34 actually, so you’re safe.”

She was relieved to hear that, not that age difference should matter when it was just a short affair. But, it mattered a little to Katrine. Now she wouldn’t feel as self-conscious about the whole body without clothes thing. Even with a nice body it was nerve wracking to get naked in front of someone new. She would
not
think about all the models he had seen naked. 

Ok, too late...

 When she tuned back into the conversation at hand, Xander was telling her about his first job in college. “Of course I didn’t have to work, but I thought it would be a fun way to meet girls and get free drinks. But I didn’t and they didn’t let us drink. So it was a bust and very short lived. Three weeks to be exact. My boss was such an asshole. I know, I know you don’t have to say it. I wonder if you could have made it three weeks with me acting like a prick? I bet you would have. You seemed pretty good at tuning me out.” He laughed.

Speaking of tuning him out. She was usually a really good listener, but she had a hard time focusing when he was around. She started to wonder what he looked like under that shirt and how it would feel to slowly take it off of him. Her face must have betrayed these thoughts because Xander grabbed Katrine’s wine glass and set it on the table. He had
that
look on his face and she was pretty sure she had a similar look on hers.

They both stood slowly and Xander took her hand into his and they walked back to the bedroom. The light was dim, but she could tell that the room was massive and so was the king-sized bed. Her heart was starting to pound and her nerves started to resurface. She tried to take calming breaths. Xander knew Katrine was nervous and much to his surprise, he was a little nervous too. Sex never made him nervous, he must have been picking up on her energy. When they reached the foot of the bed, Xander turned toward Katrine and slowly, extremely slowly, ran his hands from her shoulders, down the length of her arms. 

“God, you have the softest skin,” he said. Then he removed her necklace and put his mouth on the skin where her neck met her shoulder, kissing it gently. Every inch of Katrine’s body was starting to tingle. Every touch, every kiss had a direct line to the place warming between her legs. He turned Katrine around so that she was standing with her back to his chest. Her shoes were off, so he had to bend down a little to reach the spot he was after. He continued to kiss the side of her neck and she could feel his light breath against her ear, as he gently grazed the soft lobe with his teeth. 

He slowly unzipped the back of her top, revealing her black lace strapless bra. He let her shirt fall to the floor. She turned to face him and as he gazed at the swell of her chest, she slowly unbuttoned his shirt, eagerly anticipating what was underneath. 

She was not disappointed.

His chest was nicely sculpted and she let her eyes wander down his very toned stomach. The sight made her bite her lip. She ran her hands slowly down his chest and stomach, stopping at the button of his pants. She started to undo his pants until they fell to the floor. He grasped her shoulders and pulled her into his body. He drug his fingers down to her lower back and made his way down to her shorts, which had a zipper on the back as well. 

As he was unzipping, he lowered his head and began a deep kiss. 

Things began to escalate quickly from the moment their tongues entered each other’s mouths. It was more desperate, her need to have him was almost too much to bear.

He was just as desperate. His hands were shaking a little as he removed her remaining pieces of clothing. He did take a minute to gaze at her now naked body, and to her surprise she was not nervous or shy. She stood there and let him enjoy the view. 

Screw it! You get what you get buddy...

He kissed her neck and lightly touched her breasts with both hands. He lowered his head and took one nipple into his mouth. First he slowly licked the tip and then he gently bit, taking his time and savoring the sensation of her soft skin in his mouth. He did the same to the other, slowly sucking until she was quivering. 

Xander still had his boxers on, that was a problem.

She slowly inched her hand inside the soft cloth. She drug her hands lazily down the curve of his back side, enjoying the feeling of the firm flesh under her fingers. Katrine then slowly moved her hands around to the front and freed him of his now constrictive boxers. It was her turn to enjoy the view, and what a view it was. He had an amazing body. And as far as his equipment, it looked just right, and she could not wait to have it inside her. Katrine gripped him and slid her hand up and down his tender skin with slow silky strokes. She lowered her mouth to his chest licked all the way up the his neck. He smelled so good. 

A moan spilled from his lips and then the tempo changed almost immediately. They crashed into each other with a heated ferocity that propelled them onto the bed. 

Then it was all hands, and mouths, and tongues, and fingers. Nothing but sensation and heat. His mouth was everywhere, her lips, then her neck, then her breast and nipples. Katrine was starting to shake. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could wait. 

At some point Xander had grabbed something off of the night stand. Katrine grabbed the slippery circle and she slowly rolled it down the length of him, all the while looking up into his eyes.  It was so hot. She had not used one of those in a while... but it all came back to her.

Xander gently lowered Katrine down onto the bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised her open mouth to meet his. She let her legs fall open so he could lay between them. The kiss intensified and she could feel him pressing into her. He pulled his face away and looked down at her. Then he closed his eyes and his head fell back slightly. She sighed as she savored the exquisite pressure and pleasure when he first slid inside. They continued to kiss deeply as their bodies moved in unison. Xander broke the kiss, placing his arms beside Katrine’s head so he could get as deep as possible.

It wasn’t very long before she could feel it building. The tingling heat slowly started to pick up speed, until she knew it was just around the corner. Once, twice, he drove himself into her, then she wrapped her legs around his outer thighs and raised her hips to intensify the feeling. A few more and Katrine threw her head back. As the orgasm flowed over every inch of her body, she cried out. Xander  was right behind her. His eyes were closed as he bellowed a throaty and very masculine moan. She watched him as he finished. The look on his face was satisfying on many levels. He collapsed onto the bed and pulled her into his shoulder.

“That was fucking amazing,” he said, half out of breath.

“I second that.” She was equally breathless.

They both just laid there, limbs entwined, enjoying the after math of the incredible sex they’d just experienced. Her body was still tingling and her heart was beating furiously.

Oh yeah, totally lived up to the hype.

Xander you may officially join my smile list.

She didn’t compare him to David, like she thought she would. In fact, he was the furthest thing from her mind...

Katrine finally got up to go to the restroom and he did the same after she was finished. She was feeling a little shy now that they had actually had sex. Was it going to be awkward now? She wasn’t sure how to act. It had been way too long. She realized she wasn’t very worldly when it came to this type of thing. Katrine decided she could have second thoughts and overanalyze later. Right now she was just going to enjoy the moment and go with her gut. And her gut, was telling her that she wanted this really badly. She put on a tank top and her yoga pants and walked back into the living room where Xander was lounging on the couch. She watched him for a moment. He looked so relaxed, and he was only wearing pajama bottoms.

Yum.

She walked over, but did not make a move to sit down.

“Are you sure you want me to stay over? If you have a no stay over rule with your conquests, just let me know.” She was kind of kidding, but she had a feeling it wasn’t too far off the mark.

“Why? Do you want to go home?” He sat up and seemed slightly insulted by the prospect.  

“No, it’s not that. I’m just in new territory. Does this no strings attached thing mean we have sleep overs? Is there spooning involved? Can I borrow your toothbrush? I’m at a loss here.” 

“You are such a smart-ass sometimes.” He smiled and came over to where she was standing, then gave her a soft kiss on the mouth.

“I want you to stay, if that’s ok?” He rubbed is thumb gently across her cheek, then began to slowly twist a lock of her hair.

“Then I want to stay.”

“Good. No strings attached thing huh? Is that what we’re calling it?” He furrowed his brows.

“I wasn’t sure what to call it.”

“How about we don’t call it anything and just enjoy each other’s company, no rules or preconceived notions.” 

“Wow, that sounded very wise. Or well thought out, like you have a lot of experience at this type of thing.” She frowned at that thought. 

“No, none of that. I won’t have any frowning. I intend to stay on your smile list. And for your information, I don’t do this often and I certainly don’t have frequent ‘sleep overs’. Spooning is negotiable. And hands off of my tooth brush!”

“Sorry, none of my business anyway. I just like the idea of the road less travelled is all. It is more romantic than riding the wake of countless others.”

He chuckled, “I love how you look at things. You really are something else Katrine. You are definitely on my smile list.” 

She grinned at his compliment. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

“Now, it isn’t too late for that ride, if you’re still interested?” 

Didn’t we just do that?

“I meant on my bike.” He smiled, somehow knowing what she was thinking. She really needed to work on that.

“Oh. OH! Could we? I brought my sneaks and a long sleeve shirt just in case. Yes, please!” She was about to have a geek-out moment. She could feel it.

“How could I say no to that face?” he said sweetly and kissed her on the forehead.

They were both changed and down in the garage in 20 minutes. Her heart was thumping in her chest. She was so excited. She wanted to jump up and down, or dance a jig, or do the moon walk.

“You should see the look on your face. You are so adorable,” he said, shaking his head.

He was having a hard time keeping his hands to himself. He always had this urge to touch her.

“You’ve mentioned that...and I can’t help it, I get excited about things.”