Cuddles Ch 03

Lily: Are you free tomorrow for our date?

The text made me jump. I'd been deeply focused on my project and had forgotten to set my phone to Do Not Disturb. Seeing it was from Lily, I felt an automatic blush warm my face. Fuck. I wasn't getting any more work done now!

Nico: After 3:00, what are you thinking?

Lily: A curly-haired friend of ours told me autumn afternoons are your favorite. How about 3:30 at the trail off the North Ave. bridge?

I thought to myself: Sasha is such a whore!

Nico: That sounds lovely!

Lily: Perfect! See you then!

Well fuck. I blushed just seeing Lily's name on my phone. Now I had a date with her. I'm so fucked.

• • •

Lily was waiting for me at the bridge. Her black hair was piled into a wicker sun hat. Well-used, black fuck-off boots contrasted the flowing, forest-green tunic that hung past her knees. I swear I had my blush under control until she turned and her gaze pierced me, even through the aviator sunglasses she wore. I had dressed for comfort in jeans and flannel over a t-shirt. Lily had dressed to break my brain.

She was leaning with her back and elbows against the railing overlooking the river. Even though I couldn't see her eyes, her smile made me feel like prey: a mouse the cat had made friends with.

"Sasha told me you were all about the look." Lily leaned in and gave me a hug. One of those good tight ones that feel like a sweater just out of the dryer. She was sun-warmed and smelled of sandalwood and campfire.

"You look amazing," I said, holding the hug for one more breath, enjoying her perfume.

Lily a spin. "Does it give me a chance against your no kissing challenge?" She winked at me over her glasses and the words I was going to say came out like Porky Pig's "Bia, Bia, Bia."

I took a breath and tried to remember how to speak. "A hike for our date?" I shook my head. "You've picked out?" Fuck, I sounded like Yoda.

"Hike, seduction, six of one, half dozen of the other," Lily said, wrapping her arm in mine and leading me off the bridge and down to the walking path that followed the river.

Completely shocked, I let Lily pull me along. There was something I needed to tell her. Lily must have sensed my sudden shift in energy. Instead of continuing her aggressive flirting, she started to tell me where we were going.

"I found this spot last fall. It's past the area where they are planting those native grasses and flowers. It's over by the river under a willow tree, and it's a lovely place to sit and have some privacy."

Trying to walk close to a person on a narrow path is frustrating. You can walk arm-in-arm and run into branches or shrubs, or single file and talk over a shoulder. I wanted to touch the skin on her back and feel how warm she was. Still, after a few minutes we reached the main trail and it widened out. We were able to stroll with our arms linked. With the cool sunlight and the crunch of leaves under our feet, most of my worry melted away.

"You want to see something cool?" Lily asked, a big grin on her face.

I was still struggling with words and settled for a nod. She pulled me off the path and up a hill we were walking by. Halfway to the top the city had built a low concrete wall to keep erosion at bay. It made an outcropping that overlooked the river. Someone had spray-painted what looked like a cartoon squirrel giving me the finger. Below us, the river flowed past. Light and constant wind made leaves rattle and fall around us. It was a reset for my brain.

"Someone keeps doing silly graffiti up here. A couple of weeks ago it was a bee getting fucked by a flower." Lily mimed holding someone's hips and fucking them. The contrast between that and her music-fest-girly outfit had me giggling. She actually blushed. "I've got a pic of what it looked like before, somewhere."

She took her phone out of her pocket and started to fidget with it, trying to find the photo. I lifted the phone out of her hands and set it on the wall. Her hands were hovering, like they didn't know what to do without their prop. I brought one of them to my cheek and nuzzled into it. It was callused and warm.

I pressed a slow kiss into her palm while looking into Lily's eyes. "I'm not opposed to seduction, I just wasn't expecting that declaration. You look amazing, and if Shasha's been coaching you we are heading somewhere really pretty, yes?"

Lily leaned back on the block. "They said dating you is not going to be what I expect." I softly bit the side of her hand in appreciation. "I also know you are ace, so just to be clear, no pressure in that regard."

"Yes, but there are nuances to that which I'll help you work out later," I said and winked at her, leaning in to steal a kiss. Lily was up hill and already taller than me, so I had to stand on my toes. The hand she had on my cheek moved to the back of my head and pulled me deeper in our kiss.

"Oh look," I whispered, "I lost my bet. Your seduction seems to be working."

It was fun to see her speechless and blushing again. There was no way to touch the skin on her back without lifting her tunic all the way up. Instead, I settled for slipping a hand under it, just a little, to rub her thigh and the side of her ass. Running a finger along the hem of her panties, I resisted the urge to slip a finger inside them. Instead, I enjoyed her warm, smooth skin against my hand, and leaning in for another kiss.

"Is this a new game?" Lily's hands awkwardly tried to find a place to settle on my body. "Trying to make the other person blush? Wasn't that the game last time we hung out?"

"Was it?" I asked while nibbling her neck. "Trying not to kiss you was my game. Want to join? It's so much better than playing alone."

Being shorter and downhill from Lily gave me the perfect angle to kiss under her chin. From there I walked little pecks down her chest, stopping at the hem of the tunic.

Lily gave me a dirty look that I wiped away with another kiss on her lips. "We could turn this into a game of... horny chicken?"

Lily pushed me back, a hand on each shoulder. She tried to hold a serious look, which lasted all of three seconds before a smirk bled through. "Okay, but you're asexual, we need a better word than 'homy.'"

"Fine, what about 'seduction chicken?'" I asked "That way it's not all about having someone touch your bits. Instead, it's about building desire, and there are so many other ways to express that."

Lily took my hand and brought it to her lips. She gave it a kiss that turned into a trail of nibbles leading down my wrist. "So rule one is obviously 'no kissing or biting.'"

"What?" I gasped, putting extra distress into my voice. "No biting?"

Lily smirked at me. "The two seem basically interchangeable for you."

"Ugh, fine!" I winked at her, slipping a finger under the hem of her panties. "Then, only touching exposed skin. No reaching under my shirt, you degenerate."

"Fair," she whispered. "No scratching your back until you bend me over a couch to fuck me good. Got it."

"Oh dear! What language!" I pretended to clutch my pearls. "Also, we can only speak in innuendo. Let's say explicit or slang references to a sex act means you lose. Anything else?"

"Fine. When I win, you have to use the claws on me while I'm tied to my ceiling." Lily grinned at me.

"Okay," I replied. "When I win, you take me back to your place and give me a massage. Naked. And you are not allowed to touch your body, in any way, without my permission."

"Sounds like fun. Let's start right after this." She cupped the back of my head with one hand, pulling me in for a last kiss. It lingered. I made sure to squeeze her ass, enjoying that last caress until the game was over.

"Oh that was lovely," I whispered, resting my forehead on hers. I leaned closer, as if to kiss her again. "You know, I think I'd like one more. Too bad we are starting the game now!"

Lily sputtered at my duplicity. I tried with all my might to channel Sasha when they were in a toppy mood.

Lily reached out, sliding her fingers into mine. She raised my hand to her face as if to give the back of it a kiss, but stopped just short of contact. "Game on," she responded.

Fuck.

"I've still got that spot I want to show you," she said. Still holding my hand Lily turned to walk down the hill.

Reaching the path I leaned my head on her shoulder. "You know, I've been down here before." It wasn't a comfortable position, but I wanted to smell her perfume again. "This isn't my first time."

"You didn't know about the graffiti spot." Lily ran her hand across the back of my head. "And maybe if you've been here before, it'll be good to see with new eyes."

The spot was a willow tree next to the river. Its leaves had already turned yellow and were just starting to fall. Stepping between its drooping limbs was like walking into a secret boudoir. I leaned against the trunk and looked at the yellow dome above me. Wind shook the branches in a rasping sigh. Little yellow leaves spun to the ground. I did a little hop of joy.

"I was thinking about how you like cozy spaces and thought this would be a good place for an actual first date," Lily said. She was standing just inside the curtain, watching me.

"I love being covered in a yellow shower," I said, moving close to her and picking a leaf from her hat, "of leaves, it's so pretty."

"I could call that a win for me." She said, taking a leaf from my own hair.

"But I was talking about leaves. What were you thinking of?" I booped her nose with my leaf and walked away, hand brushing the golden curtain surrounding us.

"You don't sound ace when you talk like that." Lily grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a squeeze, holding me from behind. Her breath on my neck sent a pleasant shiver through my body. I could imagine her covering it with kisses.

"It's disinterest, not disgust - at least in my case. Plus, sex is hilarious, the sounds people's bodies make, the obsession, innuendo that's all around us." I paused, "Have you heard of doorknob theory?"

Lily used her hand to massage the back of my neck, interrupting my info dump by causing a trickle of pleasure to slide down my spine.

"Is that like spoon theory?" I bowed my head forward, inviting Lily to explore my neck, to which she obliged.

I was not to be deterred from my explanation, though. "How do you feel about doorknobs?" I asked.

Lily brought her other hand up so both were working the muscles at the base of my skull. She was trying very hard to derail this conversation, and dammit I loved how it felt. "I don't really. They exist? I occasionally laugh when my cat tries to figure out how to use one, maybe. You know, when I close the bathroom door to shower in peace." They'd moved down to where my neck met my shoulders. I took a deep breath, luxuriating in this for a moment.

"Now," I made myself continue, "Imagine you still held that opinion, but everyone else was obsessed with them."

Lily paused her massage. I took advantage of this. As much as I wanted her to continue, I had a point to make. I placed my hand onto the center of her chest and pushed. Gently and firmly I pressed my date back until she was back up to the willow trunk. I took her wrist in my other hand and raised it over her head, holding it against the bark.

Leaning into Lily, my knee between her legs, lips dangerously close to her neck - and losing the game - I whispered into her ear, "Now imagine most everyone else is obsessed with them." Being so close, I filled myself with the smell of her perfume. I nuzzled my cheek across hers, my lips millimeters away from a kiss. "How would you feel?"I cocked my head and looked into her eyes, daring her to kiss me.

"What an utter mind-fuck. You talk about disinterest while doing things that make me unable to speak." My date shivered. Could I win the game here?

"Disinterest in sex doesn't mean I'm not interested in my body feeling good or pleasing my partners. I'm just not interested in people fiddling with my bits, or sex for its own sake." I raised my hand to her chin, tilting it up a hair. "I'm quite good at handling doorknobs."

"Oh," Lily gasped, shaking in my hands.

"Fuck!" That was not an I'm going to kiss you exclamation. She was looking over my shoulder.

"There's an old man watching us. Follow my lead," she whispered, that mischievous glint back in her eyes.

"Oh, baby, Yes!" Her cry of pleasure was full of enough drama and desire to pass as a pornstar. She turned us around so my back was against the tree.

I could see the old man watching us between the yellow curtain of the willow's leaves.

"How do you like them doorknobs?" she whispered to me.

An excited gasp burst from my mouth when Lily pushed me up against the trunk of the willow. The river gurgled behind me, and a strong breeze caused a rain of golden yellow leaves to fall around us. Over Lily's shoulder, and through the curtain of willow branches, I saw the old man watching us. Lily's left hand pressed against my chest, holding me to the tree. Their right held my waist as she leaned close to whisper: "Is he still watching us?"

"Oh, Fuck. Yes!" I shouted as loud and high as I could, without being too theatrical. I took a fistful of Lily's jet-black hair and pressed her to her knees. The old man was coming closer.

"I want you right now!" I growled at my date. "Fuck me!"

From her knees, Lily winked up at me.

The old voyeur had stepped off the path and was doing a poor job hiding behind a nearby tree. To be fair, he was a stiff old man. I hooked my free hand into the front of my pants and pushed down enough to display the top of my pubic hair. I didn't know if he could see but I'd caught Lily's attention.

Looking up I saw his mouth hanging open. Our eyes met and I screamed with all the drama I could muster. "Shame on you!"

We ran off giggling -- park time was definitely done. We laughed and jogged all the way back to the street. Lily had parked right by where I had met her at the start of our date. I leaned against the car's passenger door trying to catch either my breath. Lily leaned next to me, doing the same.

"I did not expect our date to turn out like that!" Her breath was coming back to her much quicker than mine. Rude. I could only nod agreement.

"Guess what." Lily was now pressing me into the car with her hand on my chest. Involuntarily, I looked around. "Is the old man back? There's no way he is that fast." Placing two fingers on my cheek, Lily turned my head to look at her. While I was still breathing hard, she'd definitely shocked the giggles out of me by doing that. So rude.

"You lost the game." She leaned in close. "I'm going to enjoy this." Still holding my cheek, she held my gaze. She looked down at my lips and I involuntarily shifted my focus to hers. They parted ever so slightly as she kissed me. It was soft, warm, and lingered for just a moment. It was infuriatingly chaste. Fucking rude.

"So we're swinging by your place to grab that glove of yours and then back to mine?" This infuriating and skilled seductress stepped back and winked at me.

"I guess so," I pouted. "You so tricked me into losing."

"All I said was play along." She took my hand, giving it a kiss. "I couldn't have planned that in a million years."

"Likely story," I replied. "I bet he was a paid actor and you take all of your dates to that picnic spot, weather permitting, of course."

For extra drama, I stuck my tongue out at her then huffed back into the passenger seat.

"Of course." She pandered back. "And you're half right, but I'll never tell which." A convenient red light meant she could look over at me and wink.

"I knew it! He was a paid actor!"

Lily's house was a small cottage, set back from the street, with a lot of garden surrounding it.

She led me to her basement. At one end was... a bench? It was too narrow to be a long twin bed, but still wider than a normal bench meant for sitting. The top of the bench, and wall behind it, were upholstered in padding covered in vegan leather. There were drawers built into the space beneath it, as well.

Thick woolen blankets hung from the other two walls in a collage of luxurious reds, purples, and greens. A thick rug filled the center of the space, and several large bean bags rested on the floor around it. Hovering over the plush rug was an eye hook embedded in one of the visible ceiling studs. This was one of the coziest dungeons I'd ever been in.

"For all your stories at the bar, I expected you to have decorated your dungeon in black with black accents. This is much less the abode of a villainess than I would have thought." I plopped myself onto a giant beanbag.

"The goth dungeon is cliche for a reason. This feels more like mine." Instead of plopping down on the bean bag (which could comfortably fit 4 people), the mad-woman threw herself at me. Full-on leapt into the air and landed with her legs straddling my thighs. I did not flinch, nor yelp, I swear!

The bean bag plumped around us. Lily, hands braced on either side of my head kissed me for the second time today. This time she did not restrain herself. We sank into the giant beanbag and its sides puffed, squeezing us together. I wrapped my legs around her butt and my arms around her back.

I held Lily, her smokey perfume clouded my brain, and kissed her with desire that I'd held in check when we made my nest. This was the closest I'd ever come to feeling like I was living inside a lover's chest.

For a while we held each other, pressed together by the beanbag. It was hard to move, but I didn't want to. Lily's cheek rested on my hand. My lips were in the space just under Lily's nose, and above her mouth. I teased her with kisses on her nose and the side of her mouth. Sometimes I'd run a finger across her lips. She tried to push her chin forward to steal a kiss from me, but was never successful.

"You are so mean," She growled at me after a few minutes of this. "Just because you wouldn't let yourself kiss me before, and lost our game, doesn't mean you get to take it out on me."

Resting my cheek on top of hers, I purred into her ear. "Am I being so terrible?" I asked, licking along its edge. "This doesn't excite you?"

Her hands pressed into my back and she let out a pleading, wordless whine. My date looked starved. Placing my thumb on her lower lip, and forefinger under her chin, made Lily tremble.

"I shouldn't be too mean, yet," I whispered, and let her softly kiss my lips.

In moments, that soft kiss became an embrace of pure jubilation. Our snogging bubbled with joyous, fiery energy: Lily rolled on top of me and pinned my shoulders. Her lips pressed into mine, and she ground her hips against my knee. Never breaking that kiss, even to breath, she slid her hands under my shirt and forced it up my torso. Those strong hands wiggled between the beanbag and my shoulders, inching the shirt up until we had to briefly break to get it over my head.

I tried to match Lily by rolling on top of her and undoing her tunic. Instead, I balanced poorly. The whole beanbag tilted to the side and nearly toppled me onto the floor. Lily spared me this indignity by grabbing my hips and pulling me back, making me faceplant into her chest in the process. Kissing was paused to make space for more laughter

Eventually, we wore ourselves out and lay glowing in each other's arms. Lily and I lay on our sides, hip pressed to hip, legs braided together. My cheek rested on the palm of her hand, her head on my outstretched forearm. The bag conformed to fit our shape. Neither Lily nor I had words. Our free hands roamed across each other's bodies. A part of me was in awe that I was here with this lovely person.

The other day, cuddling and touching after building my nest could have been a fluke. But she'd asked me out on this date, declared her intent to seduce me, and responded with curiosity