CHERRY BLOSSOMS // Revisited // Bachelorette // 2.3

Nia was a little too tired for a real fat girl night, the binge watching part, but they tried it anyway. He let her know of the name change—that Fat Girl Night would be now called Sugar Poops Night, according to Odele. Nia laughed. She ate two brownies after her dinner, she’d worked up a real appetite today.

He sat on the couch with her, but she couldn’t stay awake and he said she should go to bed. That was what he wanted, too. He told her he’d run her a bath and rub her back, and that made her exhausted face smile. She leaned back on the couch and kissed him. “Geoff, you’re the best.”

“I know.”

“I like my thermos.”

“See. I knew you would.”

“Rocco has the same one.”

“Guy knows his thermoses, apparently.”

It was late, Odie in bed for an hour. He’d already shut down the kitchen, and puttered around doing laundry. The dishwasher gurgled away.

“Okay,” he said and stood up, held a hand out. “Let’s get you put away for the night. Gotta get up and do it all over again tomorrow.”

Nia groaned and frowned, lips pouting, surly like Odele. He took her hand and helped her up and walked her down the hall, palm pressed across the top of her back.

“Hey, we got any chicken?” she said, over her shoulder to him

“No.”

“Can you pick me up some things tomorrow? I want to make a chicken parm.”

“Sure.”

Once they were upstairs, he got ahead of her in the hall and held the bedroom door open, gesturing with a hand, saying, “M’Lady,” and bowed as she passed.

He’d already snuck up and lit the candles he’d prepared, ruffled the sheets in an inviting manner. The warm room was lit by the amber flickering light of a dozen scented candles in jars.

“Oh, Geoff.” She laughed, thinking he was trying to set her up for a night of sex. He’d show her he meant it: he was going to rub her back and her feet and just wanted to make her feel good. He wanted to have sex though, if she was up for it.

“Go on, Nia, get yourself ready for bed.”

“Geoff, I’m so tired.” She stumbled herself into the bathroom, making it funny for him, bumbling like their tired daughter would, also telling him sex would not happen tonight.

In the bathroom she brushed her teeth. She’d already dressed for bed after dinner, coming up to change into a night shirt. His wife was making a soft cotton nightshirt look way sexier than it should. Her shoulders hunched, but he had been watching the soft sway of her breasts behind that cotton all evening. Her toned legs were bare below the white cotton with the floral print. He watched her as she stood in their bathroom, scrubbing her teeth, untamed black hair shaking. He was so proud of her. This had to have been a big day for her and she’d come through it. He wanted her to relax now so he could show her how well cared for she was and what a great home she’d always come home to after a long day at her new job.

“Hey, Nia, come here, working girl,” he said, and patted the bed next to him. “Come on up here and let me make you feel good.”

Nia flicked off the light in the bathroom and padded over to the bed. “You know what working girl means, right?” She smiled as she climbed up the bed and walked to him on all fours. She kissed him with her cold toothpaste mouth.

“Not what I meant,” he laughed.

“I know, Geoff.” She flopped down on the bed next to him and he put an arm around her and cuddled.

“Nia, let me rub your back for you. I told you I was going to work those tootsies.”

“Yes, you did, didn’t you?” she said, rolling onto her stomach and folding her arms up under the pillow.

“Come on, keep it together for a minute,” he said to her sleeping face, her eyes closed. “Really, you can fall asleep while I rub.”

“Okay,” she said, eyes still closed. She flopped around on her belly and turned her sweet face sideways on her pillow, bumped her hands underneath to plump it.

“Can we get you naked?” he said, getting to his knees and reaching to the night table for the patchouli-scented hemp massage oil he’d bought at the store today.

“You can get me naked,” she said, rocked her hips and swayed her rump. “Just hike it up, Geoff.”

“Okay.” Nia was out of it tonight. He took the hem of her nightshirt and shimmied it up over her bare ass, bent, and gave her ass a kiss. Nia giggled, swayed her ass some more. He kissed it again. He bunched the cotton up under her waist, told her she had to get up because it was stuck underneath. She laughed and sighed, then got to her knees and he scurried her nightdress up past her hanging breasts. He wanted to grab them, then thought it wouldn’t be very nice considering all the signals she was sending him. Then also a conflicting thought about how she’d told him he had to take what he wanted. That she wanted a man who knew what to do and would do it right. Technically, while he wanted to shove his cock in her pussy from behind right now, he also technically didn’t want to because he believed she’d be against it. Kind of a nice guy loophole. Animal instinct versus higher-minded manners led to a troubled conception of what in his heart he desired. His cock would be happy buried in her right now, but his heart only wanted the things that made Nia happy. He’d never be that fuck-machine she seemed to enjoy. Too much going on upstairs, maybe. “Come on, baby,” he said, and helped her off the pillow for a moment so they could get the nightdress right off. He tucked it nearby so the fabric would keep her body heat. When she put it back on, it wouldn’t be cold.

He straddled her thighs and squirted oil into his palm. “I went out today and got a few things,” he said, rubbing his hands together and warming the oil.

“You did? What do you mean?”

“I went and bought a few things, you know, that couples use.”

“What?” She laughed, her back shaking, head still to the side on her pillow.

“Yeah, like this oil, you know, and some other things.”

“Other things, Geoff?”

“Other things, Nia, reserved for a more receptive time and for now which will remain a secret.”

“I like it, baby,” she murmured.

“You do?”

“Yeah. Take me next time.”

He lay his palms on her back, spread them both out like angel wings, putting his weight into it, thumbs digging into muscle and kneading, going either side of her spine and between her shoulders. Nia moaned. His hands glided across her skin, warm and slick. Her soft flesh bunched and smoothed underneath his effort.

“Oh, Geoff, that feels so good.”

“You go to sleep if you want. I’ll just keep rubbing.”

He kept up the pressure, working his hands across her back, out from the centre, from the spot on her back where her heart would beat, moving across her shoulders and down her arms. He had her moaning, grunting sometimes with his fiercest effort. It felt wonderful to be this man for her. To take care of her. It put such pleasure in him, made some part of him almost sing inside. A high, monotone note that lifted his eyebrows and put a dopey smile on his face. He had the most beautiful woman in the world underneath him right now. She was healthy and happy, she was warm and loving. She was his best friend. He got to spend every day with this beautiful female—which he could not find a superior to. There was no supermodel that was prettier, no Victoria Secret lingerie girl that did a thing to him more than his Nia did. He didn’t know how he ended up so lucky, but he was thankful every day, really, every day that she was in his life. Her happiness was upmost in his mind. Not his art. Because it wasn’t art, in that it didn’t nourish his soul. He drew with serious intent and he let the smart parts of him dictate what ended up on the finished page, but, shit, it was all work-for-hire. He did it because that was what he could do for money. That was where his abilities lay and it was a way for him to provide a home for his family.

Nia’s oily skin shone in the candle light. He worked lower, knowing this was where it would be tricky. He’d rubbed her back for more than half an hour now and she was still awake. He wanted to get down low, do the small of her back, do the crest of her buttocks. There was a chance it aroused her.

He worked her narrow waist, felt her giggle a little and struggle as he went over some of her ticklish bits. He moved away from her sides, and rubbed down to her rump, got into those tight muscles there under her soft woman flesh, dug the points of his thumbs into the hardened strips under her softness that were strong and toned from her yoga three days a week. “Hey, baby?”

“Yeah, Geoff?”

“How are you going to do yoga now?”

“I don’t know. I guess I can’t anymore. Not during the summer.”

“Think every night’s going to be as late as this one?”

“I don’t know. I hope not, but it could be. I think it’s just the time of year. It was all the bids we had to do today. Probably less of that once the season is under way.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he said. “Hey, what was Rocco like?”

“He’s scary. Kind of.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he’s, like, huge, really huge, and loud. And he yells a lot.”

“Heart attack type?”

“Maybe. He’s in good shape now. But yeah, like when he’s fifty, I could see it. His Dad was kind of like that too though and he’s still kicking, so . . .”

“He’s in shape, is he?”

He could see her smile at the corner of her mouth, the edge curling up and her cheek stretching. Her eyes were still closed. “Mm-hmm.”

“Really, eh? Somebody got a crush?”

“Geoff, no. He’s my boss. . . . You might be interested to know: I think he’s packing.”

“Packing? You mean . . .”

“Yeah.”

“Just like his brother?”

“Runs in the family, I guess.”

“Were you . . . how did you . . . were you crotch-watching?”

“Not on purpose. He twisted around in the truck and I just . . . I just saw it.”

“Turn you on?”

“No. I was at work. I just made a note of it. First thing I thought was I should tell you.”

He thought about the huge dong he’d been up close and personal with today. The size of that thing, if real, was crazy. He’d seen big ones in porn but never in person like that. Not hard. He’d seen some doozies in locker rooms but always figured they were showers and not growers. That replica he’d seen today was scary, and the thought of his pretty wife having had one like that in her past scared him. It hurt him, twisted at his heart, but fucking something there also somehow aroused him. The idea of her liking that, of admiring it. God, it was awful. But dirty and awesome too.

He tried to let it go. It was arousing and all but hearing her talk about it was disturbing. Too real. He loved the idea, but, fuck, maybe he hated it instead. He wished he hated it.

“So, is he the one whose cock you’re going to suck?”

“Geoff!” She laughed. “No.”

“You started it.”

Fuck, he didn’t want to talk about this, but something was driving him. He was getting hard. The tip of his cock pressed out the fly of his pajamas. He wanted to let this go, but couldn’t. This was like a fantasy conversation. Something he’d dreamed of talking with his wife about. But now, faced with it, the urge was to drop it. He couldn’t, though—this was something he’d always wanted, and it was here. Now. They’d had their Epiphany, and they were supposed to be all about openness and honesty. He had it in him somewhere, he had to admit, that he was serious about her sleeping with another man. And now that they were at the edge of something, it seemed like she might entertain it too. It felt safe. Safe, but he was still so unsure about committing to something that couldn’t be undone. They’d never been better as a couple. This last while had been incredible. All those unspoken truths spoken left nothing but pure love between them. No barriers, no things you couldn’t say. Nia seemed to hint she might be open to an idea like what he had. She tried to play it off like she was doing it to tease him, play with him, and have fun with some fantasy talk. That was how he interpreted her actions, but if you took a step outside and looked at this like a third-party, the things she’d said were pretty clear she would entertain the idea of being with another man. Or again, maybe she was just doing it all to tease him. He couldn’t leave it.

“Mm, I don’t know,” he laughed, taking advantage of an opening to tease her. “I think you might really want to.”

“I don’t think so, Geoff.” Her foot came up behind to kick him lightly.

“From ‘No’ to ‘I don’t think so.’ Nia, I can see where this is going.”

“My boss, Geoff? That has bad news all over it, buddy.”

“Okay, okay. So whose cock are you going to suck?”

Her back shook again. “I haven’t decided yet,” she chuckled. “Maybe it won’t be just one.”

“Two cocks at once? Nia, you’re—”

“No, Geoff,” she said. “I meant I wasn’t going to stop at one. Two at once?” Her feet kicked at his back, one foot then the other, like a teenage girl talking to her friend on the phone. “Mm. That’s kind of hot,” she hummed, giving it more thought.

He felt the urge to ask and then squashed it. Then again, this was new post-Epiphany Geoff and Nia—ask if you want. His mouth opened, then closed. Sometimes it wasn’t just the worry of the perception of his question, sometimes it was the fear of the answer. Realistically, he had to admit, there was very little she could say that would shock him. He assumed she’d done some dirty things. Wanted her to have done them. As long as she never killed somebody, he could deal with her answers.

“Have you ever? I mean . . . two guys together?”

“Geoff,” she laughed, half turned to him. “I’m not gross.”

“You just said it was hot . . . it’s not gross, Nia.”

“No. I know, I guess. But no, I never did that. I know girls that did. You think I seem like a girl that would do that?”

“Out of all the people I know, you would be the one most likely . . . I don’t mean that in a bad way, Nia. I don’t think it would be a bad thing. It would—”

“Okay, two at once it is,” she said, the soles of her feet rubbing along his lower back.