Sunsets and Shades Read online

  I forced myself to look away and closed my eyes to try to bring myself back to the current moment. Just a few beats later, I heard a familiar voice next to me. “Can I cut in?”

  Before I could respond, Kinsley pulled me away from my dance partner and started dancing with me the same way I had just watched her dance with the other girl. The feeling of her hands wrapped around my hips as she danced against me felt oh so good. It felt way too good, and I was about to pull away when her mouth was next to my ear again. “I figured I should save you. It didn’t look like you were very into it.” She then took my ear between her teeth and gently pulled, causing me to feel more turned on than I could ever remember. Shit. “I bet you were into that though, weren’t you?”

  I quickly pulled away from her and rushed out of the room. I forced my way through the crowd and into the bathroom, assuming that was the safest place for me to regain control of myself. What the hell had just happened? Why did I want nothing more than for that to happen again...and again? I took a few deep breaths, then splashed some cold water on my face. Clearly I needed to cool down.

  As soon as I was out of the bathroom, I felt a warm hand on my arm and looked over to see Kinsley staring right back at me. “Can we go outside for a minute?” she asked, an apologetic tone to her voice.

  I nodded my head and followed her out of the bar. As soon as we were outside, she turned to look at me again. “Listen, I’m really sorry that I made you uncomfortable in there. It was supposed to be a joke. Leah and I do weird stuff like that all the time. I guess, for a moment, I just forgot how different we are.” Of course Kinsley would be the type of person to do that with all of her friends.

  I forced myself to finally make eye contact with her again. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t mean to get so freaked. You have to realize that I haven’t been affectionate with anyone since Becky, so this is all just weird for me.”

  “Sexual,” Kinsley responded firmly. “That wasn’t affectionate. It was sexual. I don’t do affectionate.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “You know what I mean. It’s been forever since I’ve been physical with someone, so I need to adapt.”

  A smug grin returned to Kinsley’s face. “That’s exactly why we’re here.” She skipped back into the club, and I was forced to follow her.

  As soon as we were standing by the downstairs bar, a tall skinny brunette made her way over to us. She was wearing tight, black pants and a low-cut, white v-neck that left nothing to the imagination. “Do you think I could buy you a drink?” To my surprise, she was looking right past Kinsley and actually had her eyes locked on me.

  When I didn’t immediately respond, Kinsley patted me on the back. “I’m going to go find my, uh, girlfriend. You two have fun.”

  Once she was gone, I turned back to the girl standing in front of me. “A drink sounds great,” I smiled. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

  The brunette motioned for the bartender then held up two long, slender fingers. “Two vodka sodas please.” When she passed me my drink, she artfully brushed her hand over mine. “I’m Elena by the way,” she purred.

  “I’m… Grace…” I muttered, starting to feel ridiculously overwhelmed. Luckily, Elena was easy to talk to and conversation flowed freely between us. After what felt like forever, I noticed Kinsley standing a few feet behind Elena. She gave me a thumbs up, then made a humping motion. At that moment, one of the lights from the bar caught her skin. It was glistening with sweat from dancing too hard. Then there were her eyes; eyes that looked like a vast ocean with the light hitting them just right. My stomach tied up in knots as I stared, and I suddenly had no interest in the conversation in front of me.

  “I think my friends are getting ready to leave,” I lied. “I better go, but it was really nice to meet you.”

  Elena pushed her bottom lip out into a pout. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay? I could make sure you got home.” When I shook my head in response, she added, “Do you think I could at least get your number?”

  I shook my head again. “Listen, I’m really sorry, but I’m still getting over my ex. I thought I was ready for this, but it turns out I’m not.”

  Elena nodded her head like she understood, but the way she quickly walked away without another word told me otherwise. When Kinsley realized that Elena had walked away, she swiftly made her way back over to me. Once she was beside me, she threw both hands in the air dramatically. “Dude, what happened?!” she gasped.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Turns out she just wasn’t into me,” I lied.

  “How is that even possible?” Kinsley questioned. “That girl was already undressing you with her eyes before I even walked away.” She shook her head and waved one hand. “Whatever. Forget about her. She’s clearly an idiot. There are plenty of girls in this club who would be into you.”

  “Actually, do you think we can just call it a night?” I felt pathetic to be giving up already, but I was already drained.

  Kinsley checked her watch then gave me an exasperated look. “It’s not even 11:00!” When I made a face that said I wasn’t backing down, Kinsley let out a low growl. “Fine. But you’re doing a shot with me before we leave.”

  After taking a shot that made me go into a coughing fit, Kinsley put one arm over my shoulder and walked me out of the bar. I wasn’t sure if it was the shot or the feeling of Kinsley’s arm around me, but I couldn’t seem to control my movements as we walked down the few steps onto the sidewalk, causing me to completely miss the last step. I was sure I was about to hit the sidewalk face first, when I felt Kinsley’s strong grip pull me back.

  “Whoa there,” she chuckled, as she pulled me up against her. Instead of letting go, she kept her arms wound tightly around me. When she finally looked me in the eyes, her whole demeanor changed. Her eyes softened, and she removed one hand from my back to use it to push a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “I’m sorry we couldn’t make tonight work,” she whispered. She then cleared her throat and added, “It’s a damn shame, because you look smoking.”

  I stared at the ground hoping she wouldn’t see the blush that started to form on my face as a result of her compliment. “I really did want it to happen, but there just wasn’t anyone who seemed like the right choice given my current emotional state,” I admitted.

  Kinsley looked toward the sky as if she was considering my words. “So I have a really stupid idea,” she announced, still not looking down. “I’m buzzed enough to suggest this right now, but sober enough to realize that I shouldn’t be.” She finally looked back down at me. “Ah screw it. I’m just going to say it. What if...you and I had sex?”

  My whole body felt like it was on fire just from hearing those words leave her lips. Everything inside of me was screaming yes, which is exactly why I figured I should say no. As if reading my mind, Kinsley put one finger up to my mouth. “Before you say no, hear me out. I promise this isn’t me being a creep. The fact that I haven’t had sex in like two weeks is only partially contributing to this suggestion. You want to have sex, but you’re scared. I already understand your situation. I’ll understand if it gets too hard and you decide we should stop. You’ve already cried in front of me, so if you end up having a breakdown, it’s nothing new. Plus, you obviously think I’m attractive, and I feel the same way about you, so I’m sure the sex will be great. But at the same time, you don’t have to worry about me breaking your heart. We both have the exact same expectations - one night of mind blowing sex - so there’s no questions at all. It will be great. You’ll get rid of that sex hold, I’ll get to spend a night with more than just my hand, and tomorrow we can go back to being friends, or whatever it is we are right now.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her crazy plan. “You act like nothing could possibly go wrong,” I mocked.

  “Oh I’m very aware that there is a ton of shit that could go wrong with this plan. I’m just too buzzed and horny to care right now.”

  I wanted to say no. I knew that I shou
ld say no. Instead, I grabbed ahold of Kinsley’s collar and pulled her closer to me. I had no clue what had come over me, and it felt like I was having an out of body experience as I heard the words that came out of my mouth. “Let’s say I was some random girl in the club that you decided to take home with you. How would you pull that off?”

  A wide grin spread across Kinsley’s face when she realized she had won. “Well, I would have started by telling you that you look stunning tonight, which you do by the way, then I would have bought you a drink. Check. Next, I would have danced close to you to make sure you were really turned on. Check, check. I would find some way to bring up the fact that my apartment wasn’t far away.” I found myself becoming more and more turned on with each word that left Kinsley’s mouth. “I would wait for you to suggest that we should get out of here, and I would slip an arm around you as we walked out of the club, giving you just enough to make you yearn for more. Even though we could easily walk, I’d call for a ride.” With this newest tidbit, Kinsley pulled out her phone, tapped a few buttons, then turned the screen to show me the notification that said our ride would arrive in five minutes. “I’d let you know that it was going to be a few minutes, but I had an idea of how we could keep ourselves occupied. Then I would move in closer, until I was just inches from your mouth.” Kinsley did every action as she was describing it, and I closed my eyes awaiting her kiss. Instead, she spoke again, keeping our lips just inches apart so the breaths accompanying her words easily floated from her mouth to mine. “Then I would push you against the side of the building, and I would finally kiss you.” I felt my back hit the hard cement and then felt her lips against mine. She gave me a few chaste kisses before taking my lip between her teeth, just as she had done with my ear. This action caused my mouth to open fully to hers as a moan escaped me, and she used this opportunity to allow her tongue to briefly contact mine. Just as I was about to deepen the kiss, she pulled away. “We don’t want to miss our ride,” she smirked.

  It felt like hours waiting for our ride to pull up as the sexual tension surged between us. As soon as we were in the back of the car, I looked over toward Kinsley. “What would you do next?” I asked breathlessly.

  Just as I hoped, she leaned across the seat, placing her body partially on top of mine, and began kissing me again. Normally, I would have felt uncomfortable doing this in the back of a car, while a stranger was just a few feet away, possibly taking in the whole show, but I was too turned on to care. All I could think about was the way Kinsley’s tongue felt as it danced around mine and how my skin burned as she ran her hand up and down my side. Much too soon, the car came to a stop in front of Kinsley’s apartment, and she pulled away from me, my body immediately feeling the loss. Before I could fully consider what was going on, Kinsley jumped out of her side of the car and ran around to open my door. She took my hand in hers, and even this slightest bit of contact had my body back on high alert. We ran through the apartment complex and didn’t slow down until we were in Kinsley’s room.

  She closed the door by pinning me against it, and soon, her hands and mouth were back on me. I made the mistake of letting my eyes drift across the room and paused when they reached the chinchilla’s cage. “Do you ever feel weird about Lenny watching you get it on?” I questioned, as Kinsley frantically kissed my neck, stopping only to suck on my pulse point.

  “Nah, he’s totally used to it,” she reassured me between kisses. I continued to stare at the cage as she pulled at my shirt and lifted it over my head. When Kinsley noticed what I was doing, she groaned in frustration and took my hand, pulling me over toward the cage. “Lenny could you please tell this 30% naked girl that you are fine with us having sex in front of you?”

  “Of course mom,” Kinsley answered in a voice a few octaves higher than her normal tone. “For the record, I am very much OK with the two of you having sex. In fact, I’m not quite sure why you aren’t naked yet. Don’t let me stop you. I’ll probably have a hump of my own shortly.”

  Before I could say anything, Kinsley directed me over to the side of her bed and motioned for me to sit down next to her. “He’s not lying,” she said, pointing toward a stuffed animal laying in his cage. “He’ll definitely go to town on that thing later. Then once he’s done, he’ll pull out his dong, which literally reaches the length of his whole stomach and suck on the end of it. They say it’s to clean it, but I think he’s just giving himself a blowie.”

  I started to laugh, wondering how we had gone from a hot and heavy makeout session to a conversation about how well endowed the chinchilla was. “So, do you have this conversation with all of the girls you bring back to your room?”

  Kinsley began to laugh along with me. “No, actually. This is a first. What can I say? You’re special…” She cleared her throat. “I mean you’re a special case. I know this is weird and hard for you, so I’m just trying to make it easier on you in any way I can.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “You’re trying to make it less weird for me by talking about your chinchilla’s big penis?”

  Kinsley shrugged her shoulders. “Do you have any other ideas?”

  “Yes, actually. You could continue what you started,” I quipped, while pointing to myself.

  I watched Kinsley’s pupils dilate as she ran her eyes along the length of my body, before bringing her eyes back to mine. “You asked for it,” she growled. “I’m about to devour you.”

  She left the spot next to me on the bed and straddled my lap instead, wrapping her arms around me so she could unsnap my bra. I let it fall off of me and revelled in the way her eyes took in the sight in front of her. I leaned back in response to her hands exploring my body and felt my eyes roll back in my head as her mouth followed. Soon her hands made it to the button of my shorts, and she looked toward me for approval before removing my shorts and underwear in one swift motion.

  She slipped off of my lap to position herself in front of my legs, which I parted in desperation. She sat still for a moment as if she was studying me, and just the feel of her warm breath on me was sending me closer and closer to the edge. “Kinsley please,” I begged.

  She looked back into my eyes and winked, before finally bringing her tongue right where I needed it. The licks started out gentle, but soon she was sucking and flicking, changing her position and pace in response to the sounds I was making. Sounds that I couldn’t believe were actually coming out of me. I had never been the type of person to make any sort of noise in the bedroom, but now I wondered if the neighbors next door could hear us. I put my hands in Kinsley’s hair, forcing her even closer to me and lost control as her tongue dipped inside of me. Kinsley held me close as I rode out my orgasm and let go only after I fell back onto the bed.

  She wasted no time standing up and stripping off her own clothes. Before I could fully comprehend what was happening and drink up her body, she was pushing me further back onto the bed and crawling on top of me. Finally, she leaned down and placed one hard kiss on my mouth, before pulling back again. “Buckle up,” she teased. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

  Chapter 9: Kinsley

  I woke up Saturday morning feeling completely refreshed, which was strange given that I had just gone to sleep three hours before. I had to hand it to Grace. She had handled our marathon sex night like a pro. She had quite a large amount of endurance, especially given how long it had been since she last had sex. Also, for someone who was so vulnerable, she didn’t let her emotions get the best of her. We had our fun, many times over, and when neither of us had any energy to continue, she slipped out of my bed to go back across the hall to Leah’s room. It was surprising, to say the least. I was sure she would try to cuddle me and had decided I would be OK with it, just this once. When it didn’t happen, there was a part of me that felt strangely disappointed. It was probably the part that was holding out hope for morning sex. We had made the decision that we would have sex one night only, so waking Grace up to go for another round (or five or six) would have gone against ou
r deal. I had to admit that it was tempting though.

  Instead, I decided to go to the kitchen and start making breakfast. I had worked up quite the appetite and had a feeling that Grace probably did as well. Soon, I was preparing a feast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. I was dancing around the kitchen when I heard footsteps coming up behind me. “Making breakfast?” Grace asked, while snagging a piece of bacon. “Be careful, Kinsley. I don’t think you’re supposed to make breakfast for a one night stand. You could give a girl the wrong impression.”

  I chuckled as I continued to prepare the eggs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came home last night and went right to bed. Nothing else happened. There was no screaming or bedrocking; Certainly not multiple, earth-shattering orgasms.”

  When I finally turned around to look at Grace, I noticed that, although she was currently smiling, her eyes were bloodshot with red rims around them. I felt my stomach drop immediately. “You were crying,” I pointed out like an idiot.

  Grace took off her glasses and rubbed at her eyes. “It’s honestly nothing. I got oddly emotional after everything last night, but it had nothing to do with you. I promise. It’s just some stuff I have to work through. All part of the moving on process.”

  I continued to stare at her, unsure of what to say. I didn’t do emotions. This was exactly the type of thing I tried to avoid. But then it hit me: I could avoid this. Grace was giving me an out. She wasn’t forcing me to listen to her moan and groan about how heartbroken she was. So, I simply shrugged my shoulders and muttered, “Alright, if you say so,” wondering why it hurt to think of Grace crying in bed alone.

  The room went silent for a few minutes before Grace finally spoke again. “Thank you by the way… for… last night. You were right. I needed that. And even though these past two weeks have been a complete rollercoaster ride with us, I’m still glad my first time back was with you and not someone random. So… umm… yeah… thanks.”