Winter Jacket: New Beginnings (20 page)

The scissors reappeared. Their metal flashed against the extinguishing sun streaming in from outside. “Is this really necessary?” I was already out a new dress; I really liked this bra, too.

“Sorry.” Nothing in the way her mouth formed that word sounded like an apology. Using the tip of the scissors, she pushed the lace material across my sensitive bud and we watched together as my nipple slowly became more visible with every touch of the blades.

I tensed when the cold blades slide across my skin. The scissors were sharp and with a few loud snips, my bra was separated from my body.

Hunter wet her painted lips and slowly sank into the newly exposed flesh. She took my right nipple into her mouth and let her tongue lash back and forth against the pink skin. I felt my reserve continue to melt away and couldn’t help releasing another quiet sigh when Hunter tenderly enveloped the left bud as well, bathing the skin with attention and with her tongue.

She left my breasts shortly to place light kisses on my bare stomach.
She continued to pull my dress down until it bunched at my waist. Her lips waltzed down the skin as though we’d spent a lifetime practicing for this moment. She paused briefly to dip her talented tongue into my shallow belly button, and despite her stern exterior, she allowed herself a small smile when she heard my sharp intake of air.

She lightly skimmed the tips of her fingers down my bare legs and up the insides of my sensitive thighs. Despite the bindings at my wrists, I leaned my weight on my elbows, slightly sinking into the soft mattress beneath me to prop myself up. Hunter’s mouth was parted slightly and she swabbed her tongue across her full bottom lip. My breath caught in my throat
as I watched her slowly inch the skirt of my dress up.

With deliberate and painfully slow movements, Hunter inched the material up my legs, increasing both of our anticipation. The soft cotton material brushed against the increasingly sensitive skin of my inner thighs. My eyes fluttered of their own accord.

Hunter continued pushing the soft material up, bunching the cotton skirt at my hips. She inched her fingertips closer to her goal. She ran two fingers down my panty-covered slit, pausing to gently rub my swollen clit through the material of the cotton barrier. I gasped when I felt her teasing touch and I rolled my hips, silently pleading for more.

Hunter crawled on her knees, bringing her face just inches from my covered sex. Her breath was warm against my inner thighs.
I could feel the heat of my sex burning like a warm campfire, and she’d hardly touched me. I tried to not wiggle around too much, but I kept thinking about how good her mouth would feel when it made contact with my most sensitive skin.

“Please,” I whispered almost inaudibly.

She wet her lips and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, contemplating. My inner thighs quivered around her ears as I watched her lean forward to brush her thick tongue against my panty-covered clit. She slowly tongued my aching sex through the thin material of the undergarment. She sucked on the material, rubbing it lightly against me. I cried out in frustration when I felt her tongue push into me as far as it could go with the panty barrier still in place.

Hunter took her time. She wasn’t rushed or desperate; she didn’t act tentative or unsure; it was as if she intended to use all the time in the world to torture me this way. That she would make a talented Top shouldn’t have surprised me.
She was much better at taking bold risks and putting herself out there than me. She had been the one to come uninvited to the end of the school year party, she’d approached me at Peggy’s and offered to buy me a drink, and she had shown up on my front porch in the middle of a rainstorm to declare her attraction to me. She’d been the gutsy one all along, the aggressor, and I simply the lucky recipient of her forwardness.

“Hunter,” I sighed.

She looked up at me from between my thighs. “Yes, Ellio?”

“Thank you.”

Her head cocked to the side. She wasn’t in my head; she couldn’t know what I’d been thinking about. “For what?”

I bit my lower lip. “For putting up with me.”

“Is this a trick?” She rested her chin against my stomach. “Are you still trying to get me to untie you?”

My lips curled and I shook my bound hands for affect. “Do your worst.”

Her wide mouth curved up. “Gladly.”

With renewed vigor, s
he hooked her thumbs along the elastic waistband and slowly slid my underwear off; the damp material slightly stuck to my most intimate places. She paused to contemplate the skirt still lewdly gathered at my waist, but she appeared content to leave me in a state of disheveled half-dress.

Returning to her previous position, Hunter breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of my arousal. She stretched out her tongue, and I hissed at the first touch. Her tongue, but just the very end
, ghosted along my shaved sex. It felt good, and kind of tickled, but it wasn’t the pressure I needed to get off. But I knew I would have to be patient. This wasn’t about my immediate pleasure. This was about control. This was about power.

Hunter gently lapped at my shaved sex, the flat of her tongue dancing over the sensitive skin. She ran the tip of her tongue along the insides of my folds and her nose bumped softly into my enflamed clit. I softly sighed and entangled my fingers around the bindings that held my arms in place.

She seemed determined to make me climax without ever penetrating me. She flattened her tongue and continued to lick along my wet channel, greedily drinking in all that I had to offer. I squirmed and struggled beneath her tight grip, intent on finding a quick release.

She looked up at me, our eyes meeting, and I almost lost it. God, I loved this girl.

“Lick my pussy, Hunter,” I groaned. “Yes, baby,” I urged, hoping my words would push her to more activity. “Fuck. Just like that.” I gasped and moaned loudly as she continued her maddeningly gentle assault.

She sucked my swollen clit into her mouth and lightly nibbled on the bundle of sensitive nerves. When she flicked the bud back and forth with the tip her tongue, I couldn’t tell if the bursts of light that flashed behind my pupils were from lightning
outside or from my girlfriend’s very talented tongue.

I thrust my hips up to garner more friction, grinding my naked pussy into her beautiful face. Hunter responded by pushing down hard on my pelvic bone and holding me still, licking my pussy into submission.
I felt the explosion quickly creeping up. After all of her deliberate teasing, I knew it wouldn’t take much more for me to crash over the edge.

I groaned in disappointment when she released her hold on my clit and moved instead to my inner thigh where my left leg connected to my tortured sex. Wordlessly, Hunter clamped her mouth onto the sensitive skin there and began sucking hard, alternately sinking her teeth into the flesh. My eyes flashed wide and my entire body shook and twitched from the new sensation.

Although Hunter had remained uncharacteristically quiet throughout our intimate exchange, I could now hear her soft growls. Her hold was unforgiving, unrelenting, as she branded the inside of my thigh with her mark. I wanted to grab onto her corn-silk soft hair and twist the strands around my fingers to encourage her, but the ties around my wrists held. With a final brutal bite, Hunter released her lock on my flesh and quickly returned her attentions to my aching sex. She sucked my inflamed clit back into her mouth and I bucked my hips.

I felt myself falling over the edge, closer and closer to my impending orgasm. I needed to grab onto the back of her head and pull he
r face impossibly closer, but for now it was my tortured fate to remain tied to my bed frame. Hunter licked and sucked at my tender nub again, now ready to give me the pleasure I desired. When I felt her fingers finally enter me, my body went rigid and I howled at my release, letting the orgasm that began as gentle waves lapping on a shoreline, escalade into a tidal wave from which I might never resurface.

I gasped, sucking in air in deep breaths while I rattled my wrists in their confinement. “That was…that was,” I panted, finally finding my voice again.
“Wow.” Even without the use of my hands I could feel how hot and damp my skin had become in my exertions.

A silent smile slowly stretched across the expanse of Hunter’s mouth as she stared up at me from between my still quivering thighs. Thick, bruising lips curled up playfully and deep, perfect dimples carved into her cheeks. She crawled up to eye-level with me, never breaking that wide smile. Briefly, I thought she might not be done with me, but then she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

I jerked at the ties on my wrists again, but they seemed to hold me tighter than before. “Ready to untie me now?”

Her reply was immediate. “Not even close.”

+++++

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

I was having
lunch downtown with my mom at the little sandwich shop where I usually went to celebrate the end of another semester. The celebratory lunch was later than usual in the month and normally it was Nikole and Troian who sat across the table from me, but this was one more tradition I’d been forced to alter because of their move. It was mid-May, but it officially felt like summer even if I’d yet to see Hunter in a bikini. The sun was bright and hot today and the breeze seemed to perpetually smell like charcoal. It was practically as mouth-watering as the mental imagine of my girlfriend in a two-piece.

“Work still going well?”
I asked my mom. We didn’t see much of each other now that were weren’t sharing a roof, but I was determined to maintain this relationship we’d been able to repair since her unexpected arrival.

My mom nodded and dabb
ed at her mouth with a napkin. “My hours were cut back because school’s done for the summer, but they’re still keeping me on. I’m thinking about getting a second part-time job just for the summer.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I approved.

I didn’t want to derail her progress and good mood by asking her about her plans beyond the summer. How long did she see herself working for Circulation at the library? Had she thought about where she might live once Troian and Nikole’s townhouse inevitably sold? Did she ever think about moving back to my hometown? All were questions that I desired answers to, but it wouldn’t be fair of me to ask.

She was slowly, dollar by painstaking dollar, pulling herself out of debt.
I was proud of her, but the words never came to my mouth. It seemed like an unnatural thing to say to a parent, even if said parent acted more like a child. Maybe that’s where I got my irresponsible streak from.

“
Do you and Hunter have big plans for the summer?” she asked. “Any fun…vacations?” She audibly faltered on the word. It was like ordering a beer in front of someone trying to get sober.

“No. No vacation plans,” I said quickly. “
But I am going to California at the end of the week to visit Troi and Nik.”

“Just you?”

I nodded. “Hunter’s got to work at the hospital. Since she just started, she can’t really take a week off to go with me.”

“Oh, that’s right,” my mom said, bobbing her head. “
Her graduation was the other day, wasn’t it?”

“Uh huh.” I self-consciously looked down to my wrists. I wore a thick-banded watch on one arm and a leather bracelet on the other to hide the rope burn. Hunter hadn’t untied me for a very long time that night.

My mom pointed a fork at me. “I hope you got her
flowers.”

“Nope
,” I said around a mouthful of salad. “Just a severed head.”

“You are
such
a romantic.” She rolled her eyes at me.

I snorted.
That word in no way described me. “Speaking of romantic,” I said, stabbing my salad, “Troi and Nik are getting married. That’s actually why I’m going to see them.”

“Oh, that’s
exciting.” My mother practically clapped. “When are you and Hunter going to tie the knot?”

“
Mom
!” I nearly choked on my food. “We haven’t even been dating a year.”

“You’re not getting any younger, Elle,” she clucked in a very Mom-like way. “And even if you’re gay, I’m still expecting grandbabies.”

I rubbed at my forehead with my fist. “I thought Lauren getting pregnant would get you off my back about that.”

“I’m expecting grandchildren from both of my daughters,” she asserted. “Oh!
I just had a brilliant idea – you and Hunter could get pregnant
at the same time
. You could experience the miracle of childbirth
together
.” She looked particularly proud of herself.

I blinked.
“That has got to be
the worst
idea I have ever heard, in the history of ideas. It’s bad enough when we’re both on our period at the same time.”

“It’s just a suggestion,” my mom hummed.

“It’s not happening,” I said flatly.

“You’r
e determined to break my heart.” My mother was overly dramatic, but that was just part of personality. “I’m sure Hunter’s parents are waiting for grandchildren, too. By the way, when do I get to meet them?”

“How about never?”

“Are you embarrassed of me?”

“No, Mom,” I sighed
and balled up my napkin. “I just…I don’t really get along with Hunter’s family.”

“Then they must be idiots,” she decided. “You’re fantastic.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

I was sure that my disappearance on graduation day hadn’t helped things with her family. I hadn’t asked, but I was sure Hunter had probably made up some excuse on the spot to save face as to why I hadn’t been there. Now having had more time to think about my decision to run away that afternoon,
I was embarrassed and ashamed. No matter how annoyed I’d been because of Dean Merlot, Hunter deserved more from me. I should have brushed off my irritation and anger and salvaged the day.

I needed to do something to ma
ke it up to Hunter, but I didn’t know what. I wasn’t very good at romantic, grand gestures. Flowers were a generic, ‘I’m sorry,’ and I’d already done that once before when we’d nearly broken up over what other people thought – namely Hunter’s mother, but also my own insecurities – about our age difference. In all of her lunacy, my mom was right about one thing though – Hunter needed a better present than just getting to tie me up.

+++++

The days leading up to my California adventure passed with no further drama. I was looking forward to the trip and I thought Hunter might have been, too. With no work and no deadlines to meet, I’d been spending my days shuffling around the house in my pajamas or visiting Nikole’s greenhouse and playing in the dirt. I’d offered to visit Hunter at the hospital, but she’d asked me to wait on that. She’d just gotten the job and still needed to find her niche among the staff. She’d given me permission to surprise her with pre-packaged sandwiches once she’d taken on a more structured schedule.

I honestly didn’
t know how I was going to occupy myself all summer. Even though I didn’t have to be on campus again until August because I had no summer courses to teach, I usually still had work to do. Typically I had a course syllabus to tweak or new assignments to design or a conference paper to research and write, but my second book proposal was stalled and Dean Merlot had rejected both new proposals for courses that would have kept me busy every day of summer break. I knew if I just took out the lesbian fiction from the syllabi the Dean would accept the courses, but I was annoyed and being stubborn. It set a dangerous precedent if I bent to the Dean’s will. All of my interactions with the Dean, indirect and direct, had soured me from going above and beyond the university’s expectations.

“Need a sous-
chef?”

It was the night before
my flight, and Hunter was making dinner at my house. She was spending the night and would drive me to the airport in the morning since I’d basically given my mom my car to use so she could get to and from work.