The Party

"So, you wanna come in for some coffee?" She asked hesitantly, turning her face to look at him.

***

The inside of the house wasn't much warmer than outside.

"I'm really sorry it's so cold in here. I guess I should watch the weather more often."

"It's all good."

She played with the thermostat. "Well, hopefully it won't take too long to warm up. I'll be right back."

She was just disappearing up the stairs when Colm spotted something. "Leah?"

"Yeah?" She followed her voice back into the room.

"Would you like me to get a fire going? I mean, if your fireplace works and all."

She looked doubtful. "Do you know how to do it without burning my house down?" The moment she said it she worried about how it might have sounded, but to her relief he smiled.

"Absolutely. I was in Boy Scouts." He raised his right hand and gave the 3-fingered Scout salute.

"Then that would be great."

There were a few cords of wood chopped and stacked on the back porch. He brought a few good logs in and stacked them. The wood was cold but it was dry and would catch easily. He looked and found a small stack of newspapers near the fireplace. It was yesterday's paper. He wondered if she had read it yet, and if she hadn't he wondered what section would be safe to use as tinder. He himself would go straight for sports and then business, but then again he never read the paper at all anyway and so no section would come as any loss. He pulled a few pages out that he prayed would be safe, yesterday's incorrect weather report and a slew of celebrity gossip. He twisted the pages up and set them beneath the logs, struck a long fireplace match and lit the paper. The bark caught quickly and two logs were just getting going when Leah came back into the room. She was wearing a terry bathrobe over sweats and her hair was pulled back.

"Sorry, I know this isn't as glamorous as my party dress, but I was freezing."

He nodded. He actually thought she looked prettier this way, more natural, although he did miss sneaking peeks at her legs. "You look great."

She sighed to let him know that she thought he was full of shit. He took it as a good sign. "How's that fire coming?"

"Well, I only burned myself and one chair, so I think we're ok."

"Ha. Good. Well, what can I offer you to drink? There's coffee, and I have some hot cocoa, and water and juice and all that."

"Um, whatever you're having. I'm just glad to get out of the car for a few minutes. That wind was blowing me all over the place."

"Yeah, that actually worried me. I have no idea how much you had to drink."

"Oh, very little. I mean, that last beer was starting to catch up with me, but I was still a few drinks away from party time."

"Well, I'm making some coffee. I made it to party time, but by the time I got there the party had already moved on."

"I know the feeling."

She walked into the kitchen. He pondered the relative merits of staying where he was and waiting for her to come back or following her in. He didn't want to assume that just because she had invited him in that she was going to sleep with him. However, their conversation had been so pleasant, and he had been single long enough, that he was already feeling a sort of ache for her, compounded by his love of cold sheets against cold skin and the fun of warming up...

He cut the thought short and decided to go to the kitchen. She was just kicking the coffee maker on.

"I really like your house."

"Oh, thank you. It's a mess right now."

"It's pristine compared to my place."

"Where do you live?"

"About two miles from Sarah. I almost walked but then I could feel how cold it was getting."

"Oh my God, you really came a long way out of your way. I am so sorry."

"Please, don't be sorry. Driving beautiful women to their country homes is far more entertaining than watching drunk yuppies or playing solitaire with my cat crawling across the keyboard."

She turned to say something. She was wearing tube socks and the linoleum was slick and her feet came out from under her. She caught the counter with her arm and prevented a complete fall, but before she could either fall or pull herself up he was there with one arm around her waist and pulled her to her feet.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I think I'm just having a slapstick night."

***

Embarrassed, she finished gathering up the required utensils for their coffee. She stopped and stared out the window, but since it was dark outside, and the lights were on in the house, all she saw was her reflection. She turned her head away, and stared at the floor. She wondered how much more of an idiot she was going to make herself out to be tonight.

"You okay?" he asked, watching her from around the counter.

She smiled up at him. "Yeah, I'm just wondering whether I'm more tired than I thought, or more drunk than I thought. I cannot believe I nearly fell in here." She shook her head, bemused. "So, you want some cookies, or cake, or something to go with your coffee?" she said, trying to change the subject from her embarrassing moment.

"No, thanks, coffee's good," he said, smiling at her.

He probably thinks I'm a complete idiot, she thought, feeling her cheeks burn. She paid extra careful attention to what she was doing, desperate not to make any more slip ups tonight. She didn't know where this night was going, but at this point, she felt he either had to be really desperate or just totally amused by her to continue to want to stay.

She fixed their coffee, and then gave him the "grand tour" of the house. They were in the kitchen, which was a pretty decent sized square shaped room, with a counter for a bar, and that was all that separated the kitchen from the dining area. There were huge windows behind the dining room table that showed into the back yard. The dining room had an archway that lead into the living room, which wasn't very big; on the right of the doorway was the stairs leading upstairs. On the other side and behind the stairs was the office. Down the hall behind the living room were the bedroom, bathroom, and laundry room. She didn't take him upstairs, which was her bedroom and bathroom, but she did take him out on the back porch, which had a screened in sunroom, complete with hot tub.

"Nice," he said, when he saw the tub. She smiled, and blushed a bit.

"Yeah, it is nice to have. Living out here, all this land, all alone, its nice to do what you want with these great big windows without worrying about neighbors," she answered him.

They finished the tour back where they started, in the kitchen area, sitting at the dining room table. They seemed to be able to pick up their conversation from the car, easily switching subjects, easily finding something to say. She found herself at ease with him, despite her earlier embarrassments, and wondered what he really thought of her. She wondered if he would expect anything out of her tonight, and if he got anything, would that be the end of it?

***

He excused himself to go to the bathroom. She sent him with apologies on the state of the room, but he waved at her worries. As he suspected it was much cleaner than his bathroom, with clean towels and an immaculate shower curtain. As he washed his hands he looked at himself in the mirror: slightly in need of a shave, a tinge of bloodshot in the eyes, the ever-present loose purple flesh beneath his eyes from regular insomnia. He splashed water on his face before he went back.

There were pictures on the walls of the hallway. He only glanced as he passed, seeing what were probably grandparents, parents, siblings or cousins, the photos all mounted in large frames with cutouts for multiple pictures. When he returned she was putting dishes in the dishwasher.

"Can I help?"

"Oh no, no thank you. I just...the only way I keep on top of the mess is to fight it a little bit at a time."

"I should try that. I really like your house. Did I mention that yet?"

"I think you did, but it's nice to hear."

"I've been in apartments for a long time; I'm ready for a house."

He sipped at his coffee. He wanted to think it was the coffee that was making him nervous, but he knew it wasn't. The more he looked at her, the more beautiful he found her. He was worried though about what she thought about him being here, wondering if the interest he perceived in her was real. She might just be humoring you, waiting for you to take the hint and get up. They continued to talk but the thought kept nagging at him. Finally he stood.

"Well, I expect you have to work in the morning and all, so I should probably get out of your way."

"I don't have to work tomorrow. You don't have to go. Unless you have work, or you're tired or something."

"No, I'm enjoying myself. I just don't want to be in your way."

***

"Well, I want you to stay. I mean, I want you to stay if you want to stay." She said, flustered.

She wanted to believe that they had a connection, and that this was what that was about. She didn't want to seem to be throwing herself at him, because just about any guy would take up on that, regardless of connection. She wanted this to be right.

He smiled at her, and said "I would like to stay." She sighed, relaxing a bit, and walked around the counter to face him.

"So, you wanna get in the hot tub?" she asked, smiling playfully.

He looked down at her, and said "I don't have any swim trunks."

"That's ok. Nobody can see us," she said, taking off her robe, and leading the way towards the back porch. He turned to follow her.

He helped her get the cover off the hot tub, and she turned on the jets, and turned on some music. Then, she started to undress. She wanted to do it slowly, teasingly, but it was cold out on the porch, and she never knew how to sexily take off socks. She slipped them off first, and her feet touched the cold wooden floor. She shivered, and her body erupted in goose bumps. She slipped her shirt over her head, and unhooked her bra. Her nipples stood erect, thanks to the cold air and goosebumps, and she crossed her arms over her stomach, making an almost automatic gesture to, but not exactly covering up. She slipped her sweatpants off, and hurriedly climbed into the warmth of the tub to escape from the cold. She had furtively glanced at him as she undressed, and when she got into the tub, she looked at him, waiting.

***

He watched her undress from the corner of his eye. He knew she knew he was looking and she hadn't asked for any privacy but all the same he was uncertain of the rightness of out-front staring, so he glanced as he started to pull his own clothes off, giving him a view of her in flashes, like selected frames from a film: the way her skin bunched at her back as she reached to unclasp her bra; the curve of her body as she was bent forward to free her feet of the legs of her sweat pants; the look of her submerging into the bubbling water, her pubic hair just a smudge beneath the waterline, her chest glistening. He hadn't been prepared for this at all. For a moment he was grateful to the cold for staving off his erection, but then he realized what other effect it was having on his genitals and he decided he would have taken the erection over the shrivel. He was shivering by the time he had peeled everything off and got into the water as fast as he could, just slow enough that he wouldn't fall and break his head open.

He dropped into the water with a long sigh. The sudden change in temperature made his skin prickle and his lungs catch, but within a moment he had acclimated.

"Oh my God that's amazing..."

She smiled like a vision in the mist. "Isn't it? Now that I've gotten used to having a hot tub I don't know how I'd do without it."

He was out of his depth here, uncertain as to what was happening or would be next to happen. She seemed to be inviting him and yet he felt unsure. Then he saw her smile and realized he was being foolish. While he couldn't assume that everything would happen tonight, here was a beautiful girl who had invited him into her home and had now stripped in front of him and brought him into the hot tub with her. He felt a little foolish for agonizing but put it aside and moved nearer to where she was. He sat and leaned back against the wall with his arms up on the lip and watched her, smiling.

***

She had noticed that he had somewhat given her privacy as she undressed, and she complied with the same, fiddling with buttons and such on the tub. She peeked around her hair at him a few times, but didn't want to be caught watching him, so she waited till he slipped into the tub, before turning to face him with a smile as he relaxed into the warmth of the water and the bubbles.

She spent a few minutes leaning against the tub, eyes closed, relaxing against the end of the weeks' work. Her Friday night ritual was to sit in the hot tub with music, a book, and a glass of wine. She had the music, she didn't really think she needed anymore to drink tonight, or she might drown in the tub, and she had the promise of something better than a book in the tub with her.

At that thought, she raised her head to face him. She felt awkward, sitting in a tub naked with a man she barely knew; they had managed to keep the conversation going before, but taking their clothes off seemed to put a damper on that, for the moment. She didn't know what kind of impression she made on him; she wasn't happy with her body, but she also knew that practically every woman felt that way about themselves, and men didn't nitpick about the female body the way women did. As long as it was in some semblance of a curvy shape, and you had boobs, you were good. She now wished that she hadn't been so prude earlier, and had watched him closer as he was getting in. She didn't want to outright stare, but she didn't get a good enough look at him to know what his body was like.

She reached up to adjust her hair better, so that it wouldn't get as wet, and her breath came out in a fog from the cold air. She giggled, and he looked at her.

"I just love this kind of weather for the hot tub, you know? I mean, it's almost unbearable to get ready to get in, but it is so worth it once you do get in. It's not 100 degrees outside, so you're not boiling yourself. It's almost perfect," she said, blowing her breath out into a fog on purpose.

He smiled at her, and that seemed to break up whatever tension was there, and they managed to pick up their conversation from the kitchen. He was sitting right beside her, and as she leaned back against the tub, and she felt her limbs floating in the water, they would lightly brush up against him. She wanted to scoot closer to him, lean up against him, but she wasn't sure if that would be too forward of her, so she stayed where she was, enjoying the accidental touches they shared as the conversation moved easily along.

***

Every touch sent ripples through him. He had a sense that if he were to be bolder she would respond, but there was something so thrilling about the brushes of their hands and feet and legs that he sometimes shivered despite the fact that he was sweating in the hot water. That cold breeze cut across the water every few minutes and instantly froze the sweat on his brow, and then it would disappear and his skin would bead up again.

The conversation came surprisingly easy. They talked about family and friends and history, though he was having trouble concentrating. He had only peeked as she undressed and so her body was largely unknown to him. There wasn't much visible in the turgid water but he would see flashes of water-filtered skin, skin that thrilled him at every touch.

Then the talking ended. He couldn't remember what they were talking about, but they just seemed to run out of words. He found himself looking through the water at his toes and glanced up. In that moment she was looking up in a similar way, as though she had also been staring into the water and chose that precise second to look at him. He reached out for her arm without even thinking, and just as his fingers reached her he felt her hand on his knee. It was more than just a brush, her palm was across his thigh near the knee, and stayed there.

He suddenly became aware of his almost painful erection.

***

She seemed to have flashes of awareness during their conversation; she would talking, and looking around, and then look at him and think, You're naked in your hot tub with a guy you just met! and then she would pause for a moment, but then pick up the conversation again, and then the sequence would start all over. It seemed to come as a shock to her of her own boldness, and her tired and drunken brain was having a hard time catching up.

She had been staring off into space when the conversation ended, and she looked up to meet his eyes. When he reached for her, she just reacted. She didn't think about it, she just moved. She slid sideways, closer to him, turned her knees into him, slipped her shoulder under his arm, and put her hand on his leg. She leaned forward, and tilted her head, and he met her lips with his. He moved his hand from her arm to slide around her back, palm flat, the touch of his hand on her making her shiver a bit.

She seemed to freeze in that moment, not sure of what she was doing. It was almost as if she had no control of herself, and she was afraid for a moment. Then she let go of that feeling, and just went with it. I'm already naked in the tub with him, why not? she thought, as she slid her one hand up his thigh, and touched his face with her other hand.

She kissed his lips, tingling at the feel of his mouth on hers, when her hand on his thigh found his erection. She paused for a millisecond, but she had already seemed to agree to this, so she continued on. She wrapped her hand around the girth of him, seeming to take the measure of him, and worked her hand up and down slowly, enjoying the heavy breathing and moaning he made into her mouth as they kissed.

He seemed to realize he had another hand, and used that to touch her face, too, but slowly worked it down, the side of her jaw, palming her neck, over her collar bone, slowly down her chest until he cupped her breast. She tingled even more at that touch, and gave his erection a slight squeeze, eliciting a reaction from him. He took that as permission, and squeezed her breast, running his hand over the curve of it, making circles around her nipple, but not quite touching, not yet. She seemed to tingle at every touch, and ached for him to touch her nipple.

She squeeze him again, and then tugged on it slightly. He didn't comply by touching her nipple yet, and she gasped from the slight frustration of it, the build of the anticipation was getting to her. As she tore her mouth from his to let out a gasp, he dipped his head, and took her nipple into his mouth. The sensation was overwhelming after the build up, and she threw her head back, and thrust her chest forward, making it easier for him to have his way with her nipple in his mouth. He swirled it around his tongue, tugged it, slightly grazed it with his teeth, bringing gasps and moans of pleasure from her mouth, and all the while she continued to pull and stroke his hard-on.

He pulled as much of her nipple and breast as he could into his mouth, and sucked hard, pulling it into his mouth, as if he were trying to give her a hickey. The sensation of pain and pleasure mixed together seemed to send her over the edge, and when he backed off, she rose up a bit, and straddled his lap.

Her repositioning caused them to be face to face, and she looked into his eyes, which were slightly hooded with pleasure, and he gave her a look heavy with sex, as if he knew she wouldn't stop now. She didn't stop; with his dick in her hand still, she guided his erection into place, and he took hold of her hips to help steady her, all the while staring into each other eyes. When the tip of him brushed her clit, she threw her head back slightly and gasped, but she didn't break eye contact. As he slid inside of her, working his way through the tightness of her from the water, she wanted to close her eyes, and release into the pleasure, but she fought to keep her eyes opened, and focused on him. When he was inside of her, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and began moving him in and out of her. He clutched at her back, pulling her close, then moved his hands back to her hips to help her move.