Opened and (dis)played

This chapter is for J. with lots of kisses ... Every day you inspire me. Thank you!

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By 9.05 PM I was waiting nervously for Carlos, all my insecurities chipping away at my self-confidence. I was wondering how I could ever have made myself believe that a handsome, attractive and obviously intelligent man could want me except perhaps to toy with occasionally when he had nothing better to do. After all, with his looks and charm, he probably had five girls to choose from every day of the week.

A few minutes later, I was ready to go back upstairs and change out of my black dress when a car drew up in front of the house, a car door slammed and a knock sounded on my door.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Carlos said holding out a basket of fresh fruit for me to take. "It took me a while to wheedle my mother into giving me the keys of the pickup."

I stood back to let him into the house and he pushed the door shut behind him. The bright light from the kitchen reached the place where we were standing and I could feel his gaze rake over me.

"You look stunning!" He said, wrapping his arms around me and bending his head for a kiss. I was so happy to see him, so pleased that all my worries had been for nothing that I couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Leaning into his embrace, I responded to his kiss with a hunger that surprised us both. I had been wanting to see him, to feel his hands on me, his lips on mine since he left in the afternoon and I let it show. My earlier distrust of him had been unjustified and that shamed me, I did not want him to know just how unsure I had been.

My hands were stroking his back and his strong shoulders, then down his arms and up his chest. I could not seem to get enough of touching him, exploring the landscape of his body. Our kiss deepened, tongues tangling, tasting and probing in a slick, heated dance. Carlos drew me closer to him, crushing me against him and letting me feel his hardness pressing into my belly. The wonder of the sensations, of touching and being touched, wanting and being wanted, of having the power to arouse Carlos, filled me with pleasure and with need for him.

A low moan escaped me and Carlos sighed, his breath stroking softly over my cheek, then he drew back from our kiss. "I could kiss you all night," he said a little out of breath, just as I was, "but then we'd never get out of here."

Just as I was going to ask why that seemed like such a bad idea to him, he went on, "Tonight, I want to take you out to Vejer, it's a historical town not far from here, you'll love it. We can have dinner and then go to a bar where they play some traditional music. How does that sound to you?"

"Wonderful." I said, "I'm hungry so how must you be feeling after working hard all day?"

Carlos laughed. "I'm fine, thank you. I had a bite to eat during the afternoon. But I want to show you one of my favourite places and I want to show you off on my arm because I'm proud to be going out with you!"

I grinned at him in pleasure. "Let's go!" I said, full of the energy that the new, exciting stirrings in my body and my heart gave me.

He turned to open the door, but then he hesitated. Shaking his head, he returned to me. "One more kiss," he said. "I can't resist."

Eagerly I reached up to brush my lips over his, but very quickly we were devouring each other's mouths again, his teeth bruised my lower lip but I embraced the slight pain as a measure of his hunger for me. Carlos tried to pull away but I refused to let him, wanted to feel him crushed against me for one more moment, the sensation was just too wonderful. With a soft moan, Carlos gave in, drew me even closer and I replied with a deep sigh of my own.

One of his hands slid from my butt up the side of my body to cover my breast, stroking gently and I pressed against him, anxious for him to touch me more firmly. The soft fabric of my dress caressed my skin under his fingers and my nipple tightened with longing. Shocking myself and pleasing Carlos, I raised my hand and drew the strap of my dress off my shoulder and down my arm, sliding the fabric out from under his hand.

I moaned into his mouth with pleasure when I felt the rough heat of his palm on my skin and Carlos bit my lip with rising hunger. There was nothing I wanted more at that moment, than to give him what he had given me, such pleasure, such wonder.

As we kissed and Carlos's fingers closed on my nipple, making me gasp, I opened a button on his shirt, then another and another so that I could slide a hand under the fabric, touch his hot skin, feel his heart beating under my caress.

He pulled his mouth away from mine with an obvious effort. "What are you doing?" He asked, his tone rough with need when my fingernail scraped gently over his nipple.

"Having my hors d'oeuvre," I whispered back, my own voice shaky and hoarse, "isn't that obvious?" As I spoke, I let my other hand stroke over the front of his pants, feeling him, hard, pushing against my caress. I responded by touching him more firmly and he sank back to lean against the door, his eyes blazing, his lips still damp from our kiss.

"Alex." He said, and the way he spoke my name made my body tingle with need, because this tiny word betrayed how much he wanted me.

Wrapping one of his strong hands around the back of my neck and drawing my mouth to his for another kiss, the fingers of his other hand continued to please my breast, pinching my nipple harder now with the rising of his own passion.

I revelled in the sensations while I undid the button of his pants, then slid the zipper down in a slow, careful caress. Reaching into the gap between the pieces of fabric, I was surprised and pleased to find him naked under his jeans, hot, silky, hard, as I wrapped my fingers around him.

Once more, his teeth nipped my lips as I began to stroke him, gently, exploring, loving the feeling of him, as he twitched in my hands. It was my turn to tear away from our kiss, I wanted, no, I needed to taste him. My lips wandered down his throat, nipping at the skin over his pounding pulse, slightly scratchy with the day's growth of stubble. I let my teeth rasp over the roughness and Carlos groaned, leaned his weight against the door as if his legs were refusing to support him.

My lips and tongue explored his chest, tasting the slight saltiness of his skin and enjoying the goose bumps I was provoking while my hands slid into the waistband of his pants and shoved them off his hips and down to his thighs.

Hardly recognising myself in the aggressive, self-assured person who now slid her tongue wetly down Carlos's abdomen, tasting, stroking, teasing, I lowered myself to my knees and wrapped my hands around his shaft again. As my fingers stroked, and held, my mouth left a cool, damp trail across the silky skin of his flank, then onto his strong thigh and finally into the thick, dark hair of his bush.

Carlos's fingers threaded gently through my hair, but I could feel that he was restraining himself and that pleased me. Suddenly I wanted to take him to the point where he was unable to hold back any more, wanted him to be mine if only for a few moments.

Looking up into his eyes that were now almost black with lust, I held his shaft in my hands while I stroked my tongue softly over the tip, gathering the taste of him, enjoying it.

"Alex." He whispered again and I stopped teasing him, began to slide my tongue all over him again and again, my own hunger rising as I felt and tasted him. One of my hands continued to stroke his shaft, firmly now, while the other explored lower until I was cradling his balls in my palm, fingers playing softly. My eyes still gazing into his, I took the tip of him between my slick lips, wrapping them tightly around him while my tongue caressed, teased, probed him.

His fingers tightened in my hair and I took him deeper into my mouth, my tongue playing with him all the time while my lips tightened and relaxed around him. I watched his eyes close and his lips part, his breath rasping in his throat. With a fast movement, I drew him in as far as I could and his eyes flew open again, even darker than before.

Slowly, I pulled back, until only the head remained inside my mouth, my hand wrapping around his slick shaft, stroking, as my lips and tongue tugged and caressed in soft, pulsing motions. Again, I let him slide deep, while one of my hands gently fondled his balls and the other wandered down my throat to my exposed breast to pluck at my aching nipple.

Carlos's eyes roamed between the sight of my lips wrapped around him and my hand at my breast, his chest was heaving now and a slight sheen of sweat covered his upper lip. Again, I drew back sucking hard on him, and again I teased him for a moment before letting him plunge back, deep into my mouth. His fingers were clenched hard in my hair and his hips rocked slightly, instinctively, as I moved faster and faster on him.

"Oh. Alex!" He groaned, as I felt the muscles in his thighs tighten and tremble. I took him as deep as I could, letting him feel a light scrape of my teeth and his hips jerked uncontrollably. A split second later, I tasted him, hot and salty and so good, as his seed filled my mouth. I swallowed, humming with pleasure. The vibration of my voice made him jerk again, this time away from me, and hot liquid struck my throat, my chest, my bare breast and my dress.

With a deep sigh, Carlos slid down the door to his knees and drew my face to his for a kiss, his tongue probing deep and sliding against mine, slick and sinuous. His breathing was still fast and rough as he drew away from our kiss, bent his head and slid his tongue over my throat and chest, gathering some of the liquid that was cooling slowly. Then he kissed me once more, sharing the taste with me. Again and again, his tongue traced over my skin and then dipped into my mouth until I was melting into a puddle of pure need in his arms.

Adjusting his pants so that they did not hinder his movements, Carlos rose to his feet and pulled me up with him. Then he wrapped me in his arms and walked me backwards to the sofa that stood against the rear wall of the living room. Pushing me so that I had to sit down on it, he grinned.

"My turn, for hors d'oeuvre." He said huskily and sat beside me, drawing me onto his lap. One of his arms supported my back, his other hand drew the second strap of my dress off my shoulder, exposing me to him while we kissed in a languid tangle of tongues. His hand roamed, warm and rough, over my breasts, fingers tugging at my nipples, gently at first, then harder as I arched into his touch.

Carlos's mouth left mine and kissed, then nipped down my throat, teeth stinging and sending bolts of heat through my veins. When I felt first his tongue, hot and wet, caress my nipple, then his lips close around the tense crest and suckle hard, I groaned with pleasure and the need for more. More of his touch, more of him.

His hand was warm on my thigh, stroking slowly upwards, taking the hem of my dress higher and higher, his teeth gripped my nipple while his tongue teased the tip and I gasped, giving him what he had given me earlier. His name spoken with longing and desire. "Carlos."

I felt his breath, cool, on my heated skin as he sighed and suckled my nipple roughly, while his fingers traced lines of fire on my inner thigh. When he reached the top of my leg, he drew the material of my dress up above my hips, and gasped when he felt me, naked under his exploring touch.

Raising his head from my breast, he smiled at me, "You learn fast, Alex, thank you." He said, reaching up to kiss my lips as his hand stroked circles on my belly, dipping into my navel and teasing across the top of my bush.

With a smooth movement that surprised me, he slid his hand down, fingers raking through my hair, over my slick, wet lips and dipping between them making my hips jerk and drawing a groan of pure lust from me. Carlos drew back from our kiss to watch my face as he pushed a finger deep inside me and said, "I want to see you play with your nipple again, please Alex, that is so beautiful, so arousing."

Face burning with pleasure and slight embarrassment, I did as he asked, pinching and tugging my nipple, as he thrust a second finger inside me, drawing them both out again and circling lightly over my clit before sliding inside me again. I felt as if my veins were filled with molten lead, making my body heavy and weak with longing.

My hips met his fingers wanting to feel him deeper, harder in me. Carefully, he slid me off his lap and made me lie back on the sofa, supported on my elbows as he raised one of my legs to rest on the back of the couch and placed my other foot on the ground. I was splayed wide open for him and he settled between my legs, gazing at me with an intensity that embarrassed me.

"You are beautiful, Alex." He said, his hands stroking the insides of my thighs and meeting at my crotch. One hand stroked further up onto my belly, the fingers of the other slid into me again, and I arched up to meet them. As he bent his head to taste me, my fingers tugged my nipples again, and I cried out with the wonder of feeling his tongue, hot and slick, on my clit, stroking, rubbing, while his fingers thrust deep and hard. As I had earlier, he looked up at me, watching my eyes, my face.

It felt incredible and yet I still wanted more. I raised myself up until I could support myself on one hand behind me, the fingers of the other I tangled in his hair and drew his mouth to my breast. He suckled hard on my nipple as he slid another finger into me, thrusting deep while the heel of his hand pressed down on my clit, rubbing roughly. I struggled to breathe as the sensations washed over me, heat, need, longing and lust.

Much too soon, I was crying out his name and shuddering with the most intense climax I had ever experienced, my mind empty, my body drowning under an immense, boiling wave of sensations that began, hot, in my belly and spread outwards, all over me. Kissing me, Carlos went on stroking inside me until the last spasms subsided and I fell back onto the couch, dragging him with me, half lying on top of me, his fingers still buried deep, claiming me.

For a while, we dozed together, sated and content to feel each other's closeness until Carlos raised his head off my shoulder and said, "Let's go for dinner and then come back here for dessert."

It was a suggestion I could not resist, so I sat up and looked at myself. There was no way I could go out of the house with this dress on any more, stained and wrinkled as it was. "Let me go and change," I said, "I won't be long."

I left him trying to smooth his shirt over his chest as I went upstairs, pulling my dress off over my head as I walked. In the bathroom, I quickly freshened up, then I pulled my next best outfit out of the closet. A cream-coloured lacy bra, white blouse, narrow, almost knee-length black skirt and low heeled black sandals. If Vejer was like all the other historical Andalusian towns I had no intention of breaking my neck wearing high heels.

When I got back into the living room, Carlos gave me a good-natured wolf-whistle and held first the door to the house then the door to the pickup for me. As he drove, I watched Carlos's profile in the weak light from the dashboard. To me, he was beautiful, although his was not the kind of face that usually adorned advertisements and magazines. I thought about it for a moment and came up with the reason. His features were too strong, not bland enough to be considered perfect but that was just what I found most attractive about his looks. Perfection, or whatever came closest to it, had always been boring to me.

"You're going to make me blush if you go on staring at me like that." He smiled.

"I'd better stop, then." I teased.

"No, don't." Carlos replied. "I like it. And on the way back I'll stop somewhere so that I can return the favour."

Gradually, the pickup's engine strained against the incline as Carlos drove uphill, expertly negotiating sharp serpentines, the trunks of trees that flanked the road glowing softly in the headlamps. The road levelled out and we reached the outskirts of Vejer. Carlos parked the pickup in a narrow residential street and we walked from there, hand in hand, through the massive arched gate of the city wall.

The cobbled streets were narrow, with small two- or three-storied whitewashed houses on either side. Arched portals with huge wooden doors led into small, cobbled courtyards, most of them were adorned with potted palms and a riot of flowers. Family lives were led in the courtyards, the sounds of arguments, laughter, singing, radios, televisions and playing, squealing children drifted out into the alley where we walked in silence.

Under street lamps at corners, old men leaned on canes and gesticulated wildly, discussing the football scores, politics, their chances at lotto and smoked Ducados, a cheap brand of strong-smelling cigarettes. Young men raced their motor scooters past us, letting the engines whine as they took the corners at daring speed to impress their girl friends who rode behind them and make them cling to their waists in fright.

Carlos led me into an even narrower alley, that rose steeply upwards cobble stones alternating with flights of stairs. Chuckling, he held my hand and said, "I once rode my bike down this alley on a dare."

I grinned at him in the scant light of a far-away street lamp. "That's where the big scar just above your knee comes from?"

"Yes," he laughed. "You had time to notice?"

"Because I want to notice things about you, yes, I did." I replied, squeezing his hand. He stopped walking and turned to me, stroking a hand down my cheek.

"I want to notice, too." He said. "All the time." Bending his head for a soft kiss, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and drew me close. The giggle of a teenage couple roused us out of our reverie and we walked on to the top of the hill, where Carlos led the way into a tiny courtyard filled with rickety tables and chairs.

The floor was made of ancient terra cotta tiles that glowed warmly in the light of paraffin lamps. All along the walls, potted plants waved their leaves in the soft breeze. We ordered fresh fish, grilled to perfection with garlic, sea salt and herbs along with tomato salad, the red fruit so sweet that I could have made a meal of them alone, and fresh bread still warm from the oven. Small glasses of strong tangy red wine complemented the meal that we ate ravenously.

Guiltily, I did not protest, when Carlos ordered a dessert of flan –deliciously sweet caramel pudding- and tiny cups of coffee, so strong that it made my toes curl. Then we made our leisurely way back to the pickup. I wished that I could see more of the town, it looked beautiful and interesting in the night, how much more must there have been to discover in daylight?

As if he had read my thoughts, Carlos said, "We'll come back on Sunday when I don't have to work, then we can have a proper look at the town."

"Thank you." I said, "I'd love that."

As we reached the car, I looked up for a glimpse of the stars but the sky was inky black. A few clouds had floated across the sunset that evening, it seemed that they covered the sky completely now.

Once again Carlos negotiated the steep hill and the sharp turns with routine, but I noticed that he did not drive straight towards home. I said nothing, just waited to see what he was planning. After a while the road surface became gradually more and more uneven, with drifts of sand invading the tarmac surface. The pickup crested a rise and I saw the sparkle of the sea, lapping darkly at a white sand beach.

"Oh, lovely! Thank you!" I exclaimed, kicking my shoes off and climbing out of the car, thinking Carlos was about to follow me.