Leo moved up the bed enough to rest the side of his face below her navel. “We can stop any time.”
“I know.” She uncovered her eyes and fingered the curve of his ear. Her cells softened, drifted south, pooled themselves under the weight of her lover’s head.
“We can go as slow as you want. We can take days to explore.”
“I know.”
My lover. She mouthed the words. Gary and Daniel disappeared. A tentative undulation unfurled from one hipbone to the other. Leo responded. His eyes asked for permission, hers answered: yes. He pulled the sheet away and kissed the insides of her thighs, each time longer than the last until he added gentle bites. He brought one thumb to her outer labia and stroked, adding his tongue, coaxing responses from her body.
Anna murmured to herself.
Trust.
Heard Gaia’s voice.
Breathe.
She relaxed her leg muscles, released the building tensions, and invited Leo’s fingers to enter. She stiffened. Clamped down.
“Saffron.” Her name left his lips, startling her before sound thrummed up her spine. “Relax.”
“I am.”
“Wait here.” He withdrew, stroked her jaw, and cantilevered his chest over hers. A drawer opened, then the crinkle of something plastic.
“I bought lube.” Leo waggled the container of clear liquid and handed it to her to open. “I think you’ll like it. Squeeze some on my fingers.”
She flipped the cap and prayed. Her head was ready, her heart was ready, and maybe her menopausal body needed a little help reaching the same conclusion.
“I’m going to warm this up, and then I’m going to go back to what I was doing. You okay with that plan?”
Anna giggled. Was she okay with a kind, handsome man letting her know she was desirable still? “Yes, Leo, I am very okay with that plan. Anything I can do?”
“Lie back and enjoy,” he purred.
Gaia’s book had multiple paragraphs dedicated to the benefits of playing with making sound during sex play. Anna had highlighted the instructions to relax her throat, open her mouth, and let any sound come out that wanted to, a technique that would, ostensibly, allow her to orgasm more fully.
She had to remind herself more than once to let go into the stroking rhythm of Leo’s tongue and fingers, to let go into all the new sensations.
Anna began her experiment with quiet ahhhs. Leo answered from deep in his throat, skin against skin, vibrating. The more she ahhd, the more he licked and sucked with his tongue and probed her with his fingers. He encouraged her with his own guttural sounds, until Anna ahhd her way to a prolonged, overdue orgasm.
Never was she so grateful for the privacy of a cottage in the woods at the end of a dirt road—and the patience and persistence of a sexually skilled man.
Leo withdrew his fingers with care, wiping them on the top sheet before he pressed the soft cotton to the puddle between her thighs. He kissed a wandering line along the center of her trembling body, encouraging her to taste herself on his lips when he brought his mouth to hers.
Her senses were heightened, on edge, in the aftermath of so much stimulation.
“Happy belated birthday.” He burrowed his face into the side of her neck.
Anna laughed, powerless to move, her head lolling to one side. She had no control over her bones, her muscles were useless, and little currents of electricity continued to ping through her. “I’m sorry, but I ate all the cake.”
Now it was Leo’s turn to laugh. “And I ate all of Saffron.”
He spooned into her body and covered them with the quilt.
“What was that like, for you?” His question came after a comfortable quiet settled between them.
“Couldn’t you tell?” She turned her face to feel his nose press into her cheek.
“Touché. But the book suggests we process our experiences with our partners afterwards.” He bit at her earlobe and the back of her neck. “Once they can speak.”
Anna chuckled. “Then I’ll start by saying this entire week has been one surprise after the other.”
“I’d like to have more surprising days with you.”
“Would you like to do more right now?”
Leo jostled against her back while reaching between his legs and shifting his position. He lifted his head. “You want to know if I’d like for you to reciprocate?”
“Yes.”
He hugged her tighter. “I’m getting exactly what I need right now. Being still and holding you and letting my body have these sensations.”
A wash of something foreign swept over Anna, a pang deep in her heart. They might get to do more of this. Or they might not. “You’re here for two months?”
“A little less.” Dipping his head, he inhaled whatever scent pooled at the side of her neck. “My plan is to be back in New York by the end of November or early December. I have a capable assistant running the shop in my absence, but there’s the whole holiday thing to get ready for, and then once the holidays are over, it’s back to my clients.”
“And you’ve only been here a week and a half.”
“And what a week and a half it’s been.”
“I’m not sure what it is I’m trying to say, but I think it’s something like this.” Anna rolled over so she could face him. “I’m older than you, and—”
“Maybe I have a thing for women who are older than me,” he interrupted.
“I’m being serious here.”
“So am I, and I’m only suggesting you might have a thing for younger men and you just didn’t know it until I came along.”
Anna laughed. “Okay, you got me there, but let me finish. I don’t have a boyfriend, I’m not even casually dating anyone, but I am going on a short trip later this month with an old friend, and I don’t know if this old friend is someone I’ll be sexual with or what.” She pressed the fingertips of one hand to his chest. “When I agreed to go to that workshop with Elaine, this,” she waved one finger between his chest and hers, “was not on my
