Rebound (24 page)

“
Fuck. I’m gonna come so
hard, babe.” With one more hard drive, he moaned his orgasm, bent
over my back with a groan, and rested his head on my spine. He held
me in place, as I felt his penis lose its erection and retreat from
my cut. He dropped to his side, bringing me along with him,
cocooning my body with his larger frame. We lay together, not
moving, regaining our normal breathing pattern. His arm clutched me
closer to his chest. “I’m going to cancel my trip.”

I pulled away to look at him. “What?”
I glanced away from him alarmed. “What are you saying?”

“
I can’t leave you. Not
after this. I can’t be without you for four days.” No hint of jest
in his voice.

“
Matt, don’t be silly.
This was a send-off. You’ll get more of this when you get back.” I
whispered as I wriggled my bottom against his crotch, hoping to
humor him.

His arm once again pulled me close to
his chest. He was quiet as he breathed into my neck. Our breathing
eventually matched as we lay entangled in each other’s arms. Before
I pulled away, I exclaimed, “I have to get ready for work. Want to
shower with me?” I felt him nod in agreement.

I went to stand when he pulled me
back. “Just a minute. You gave me a word, but you didn’t do
anything . . . you know . . . Painful.” He informed
quietly.

“
When I talked about
taking control, pleasure, and pain, how did you feel?”

“
Excited. I expected
something. But I was also enjoying what you were doing.”

“
Did the anticipation
heighten the experience? Make it more pleasurable?”

“
Definitely. I felt on
edge. In a good way.” He held me tight. I could feel his cock
twitch on my behind.

“
I wanted the experience
for you to be heightened. It was for me. So even though I didn’t do
something this time, you’ll continue to expect it. And you’ll never
know when I will, just don’t forget the safe word, Matt.” I turned
around, his arms slackened off my body, and I gave him a lustful
kiss. I pulled away, jumped off the bed, and went into the bathroom
to turn on the shower.

He sidled up behind me, pressing his
groin into my back. “Stop it, babe. I have to get to work. I can’t
be late. I have a tour at 9:30.” We stepped in the large shower
together. I rinsed myself and turned him toward the shower head to
rinse him. I wanted to wash him, and I lathered up his strong
chest. We held each other’s gaze as I continued to wash him. When I
approached his groin, he grinned and bit his lip, so sexy. I kissed
him as I washed his semi erect dick, feeling it pulse under my
touch.

I went down on my knees to scrub his
thighs, to his lower leg, and then his feet. I rose up and turned
him by the hips to scrub his back from the neck down to his
buttocks, already having scrubbed his legs.

“
I love how you take care
of me. I need this.” He said.

“
I know. And I love giving
it to you. I need to do this for you, and I realized that I need
you too.” I said, pulling my hands to start lathering
myself.

“
I’ll take care of you.”
He responded by taking the sponge from my hands and adding more
soap. He slowly washed my body, just like the first time. Once he
was done, Matt turned my body to rinse me off. “Let’s get you to
work.” He offered with a smile. My heart fluttered and ached
simultaneously, knowing that he would be gone today. I forced the
tears to retreat. Once we dried off, we dressed side by side. I
went to the bathroom to fix my hair and put on some light
makeup.

I looked at the time on my watch and
saw the late hour. No breakfast for us today. I walked out to the
open living space. Matt was in the kitchen making a whole lot of
noise.

“
What are you doing,
babe?”

He turned around and looked at me.
“You look beautiful. I’m packing your breakfast to go. You can eat
it at work. Are you ready to go?” He zipped my cooler. On the
counter, he put a travel mug of coffee. I’d been trying really hard
to not compare Matt to my ex-husband Ben, but I couldn’t help but
realize how lucky I am to finally have a loving and attentive
man.

“
Thank you. That’s sweet.”
I walked up to him and gave him a kiss, holding him for a few
seconds, wishing I could hold onto him forever. I pulled away and
walked to the closet that contained our jackets and my purse. I
gave him his jacket. He handed me the mug and I took the cooler. I
felt like we were going in a slow, painful motion. Once he had my
bag in his hand, I opened the front door and walked toward the
elevator to press the button.

“
Do you have everything
you need?” He asked.

I bit my lip before I responded. “Yep.
I’m all set.” I hoped that my voice didn’t quiver from sadness as
much as my body did. My heart ached. I couldn’t fathom being
without him for four days. I can’t remember if I’d ever felt like
this before. I supposed that I did. When I first dated Ben, I had a
bit of separation anxiety and was quickly told by my sister,
Esmeralda, that I was in love. But that came about four months
after we started dating. At that point, Ben and I had already
declared our love for each other.

The elevator arrived and was occupied
by a couple of passengers. He led me inside with his hand on the
small of my back. He opened the car door for me then he went about
loading my bag. And I entered, reminded of the several times I’d
been a passenger. He’s taken exceptional care of me, from my hip to
my shin, and everything in between.

Once we took off toward the gym he
starts to give me instructions on how to reach him. He had me pull
out my cellphone to take his apartment number. He reminded me of
the time difference, so that I would know when he would be busy.
Matt stated that I’m to call him whenever I needed him, but that if
I couldn’t reach him, to leave a message and he would call as soon
as possible. He said that he’d text, as well. When he asked if I
could do video chat, I reminded him that I don’t have any
technology at home. My phone isn’t equipped for it, having a basic
phone for calls and texting.

When we arrived at the gym, he parked
the car in the ramp and walked me to the office. We held hands as
we walked to the entrance of Duration. I retrieved my keys from the
front desk attendant. All I could think about was his leaving and
my being alone for days. Matt placed my bag in the corner by my
desk and I tucked away my purse. He took off my jacket and placed
it on the hook behind the door. I gave him a big smile and hugged
him.

“
I’ll text you when I
arrive in Madrid. I’ll call you after my meetings, if it isn’t too
late here.”

“
I don’t care if it’s late
here, call me as soon as you can, so I can hear your voice.” I
smiled, restraining the tears from seeping through.

“
I will. I’ll be back
sooner than you know it. You have the key, so if you want to stay
at my place, you’re more than welcome. There’s a spare key to the
Rover in my office drawer. Gosh, I don’t know what
else.”

“
Go. You have to get
ready. You said you wanted to go into the office before you leave,
so go. Get ready.” I tiptoed to give him a kiss on the lips, and he
leaned in to kiss me deeper. My arms went around his neck and I
felt my body rising off the ground as he picked me up to be held
tight to his body. The sexual heat enveloped me, and I pulled away
from him and smiled softly. “Go. Before I take off my clothes and
do you on this desk.” He laughed, breaking the tension. He lowered
me down until my feet touch the floor.

“
Hmm. That sounds like a
great idea. Fine, I’ll go. I’ll see you soon.” I
blushed.

I resisted the compulsion to say, “I
love you.” It was right at the tip of my tongue. I felt it. I
wanted to share it with him. I wanted to give him more to
‘anticipate’, but the timing was wrong.

I went through the motions in the
office that morning. I had a couple of tours scheduled. I signed
one of them. I read reports, mail, email, and other office duties.
I answered questions from members. At 12:30 p.m., a knock on the
door snapped me out of my solemn mood.

“
Hey, sweetie.” Chelsea
greeted.

“
Hey, lovey.” I responded
with a half-hearted smile.

“
What’s up? Dashing drop
you off?”

“
Yep. He did.” I didn’t
offer more information. I didn’t want to have a full on cry at
work. I decided that I’d wait till I get home and bawl once, then
move on.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing.”

“
Bullshit, Perla.
Something’s wrong.” She paused to collect her words. “It’s only for
a few days. He’ll be back home soon.”

“
Yep. I know.”

“
I hate when you do that.
You try to be so tough and in control when you’re dying inside. Did
you have a fight? Are you not expecting to see him again when he
returns?”

“
I can’t talk about this
now, Chelz. I’m at work.”

“
Then let’s take a break
and talk. Did you eat lunch?”

“
I didn’t even eat the
breakfast he made me. I’m not hungry.”

“
Seriously? Let’s go.” She
stood up and went to grab my hand when the phone rang.

I picked up the line and I put up my
finger at Chelz to indicate to give me a minute. The call was from
the front desk indicating that I had a delivery.

“
There’s a delivery for me
at the front desk.” I told her with a curious face. I stood up and
walked out of the office with Chelz following. When I arrived at
the service desk, Curtis pointed me out and I was approached by the
messenger.

I signed the form on his clipboard and
he handed me a large brown envelope. I thanked him. Chelz dug in
her pocket and pulled out a few dollars to offer him as a tip. He
declined, claiming it was covered. We thanked him and he went on
his way.

“
Thank you for that Chelz.
I didn’t even think to tip him.”

“
No worries. Who is it
from?”

“
I don’t know. It doesn’t
have any printing. Let’s go to the office and see.”

We walked back to the office and
closed the door. I tore into the envelope and pulled out a box.
When I saw the graphic on the box, I realized it was a brand new
computer tablet; one of the expensive kind with all the bells and
whistles.

“
What the hell?” I
exclaimed. I looked inside the envelope and found a note card with
my name scribbled on the front. I showed the writing to Chelz.
“Does this look like it could be a doctor’s handwriting?” I asked
with a smirk.

“
Oh my God, Perla. He
didn’t.” She exclaimed with her hands at her cheeks. I opened the
card and started to read silently.

Perla,

I want you to have this tablet so we
can video chat while I’m away. I need to see you every day, your
smile, even if it is just for a moment. This tablet has been loaded
with everything you need. The internet service is charged to my
account, so don’t worry about the expense. I’ll try to call at a
convenient time, but can’t guarantee that I’ll be patient to see
you. Expect a video chat whenever my urge strikes, and it will
strike often, so keep it with you..

Missing you.

Matt

I handed the note to Chelz. As she
read it, I just stared at the box laid on the table, reading the
specs without touching. I was nervous to open the box. This felt
like a mistake. I couldn’t accept this. This cost as much as a
month’s worth of rent.

“
Wow. Perla, he has it
bad.”

“
I don’t know if I can
accept this gift.” I whispered.

“
You’ll accept it and get
over any issues you have. He wants you to have it. He will be
contacting you on it. He went to a lot of trouble to buy you a
tablet, get an account started and have it delivered by bike
messenger to your job.”

I put my hands over my eyes and took a
moment to think through what she said. “Fine. But when he gets back
home, I’m giving it back.”

“
Why?”

“
Cause I feel it’s too
much too soon. It’s been ten days since I met him, five days since
I started sleeping with him, and now he bought me a gift that is
over five hundred dollars, so he can keep tabs on me. It’s too
much.”

“
I really don’t know what
the problem is, Perla. Many women would kill to have a successful
doctor, who is gorgeous and wealthy sleep with them every day as
soon as they’ve met him. They would accept a gift that he clearly
said would make him happy because you’ll get to see each other
while he’s half way across the world.”

“
I’m in love with him.” I
confessed. “I’m not ready for it, but I am. And it scares the shit
of me. It’s been a week of being with this man and I’m in love. How
crazy is that?”

“
Sweetie, it isn’t crazy.
You knew a few days ago that you were in love. You’re just now
comfortable with confirming it, and that’s okay. I told you before
and I’ll tell you now, enjoy this. Life is too short not to accept
every little time spent and gift offered. I’m going to leave you to
open it up and get it all ready to use. He said he will call at any
time. You should let him know that you got it.” She came over to me
and gave me a hug and a kiss on my forehead.