I had known Shawn for four years. He was one of my fiancé's best friends. Over the past year or so, nights of long, drunken conversation brought Shawn and I closer, although our friendship had been strictly platonic. Or so I thought. I guess I largely ignored the warmth that would spread in my belly whenever my eyes would meet his.
Finally, there came a night I could no longer ignore it.
The evening started off innocently enough. We met up at a bar, laughing and joking over gin and tonics. The cocktails soon turned into pitchers of Pabst, and the conversation turned to dirty jokes and subtle innuendo. I sat across the table from him, and as we drained the pitchers, I found myself looking longer and longer into his soft, brown eyes and watching the way his shoulders moved as we spoke. I began to notice how well his long, red curls framed his face and how sinewy his body was underneath his clothes. I felt that warmth spread out from my belly as images of that body close to mine, that hair disheveled, those shoulders bowing and rising over me, flashed through my mind.
After the second or third pitcher was emptied, we decided to pick up some beer and continue our conversation over at his place. We sat on opposite ends of his couch, and as the cans stacked up on his coffee table, I found myself inching closer and closer to him. Our conversations grew more personal and intense, as tends to happen when alcohol is involved, and our eyes repeatedly met with matching intensity.
For one reason or another, the conversation turned to body image. I looked at the girls on the covers of the magazines on his coffee table and said, "Now, how am I supposed to live up to
this
?" I picked up one of the magazines and pointed at the cover. "I don't know anyone who looks like that, but I've been told my whole life that this is what I'm supposed to look like!"
Shawn took the magazine from my hands, put it back on the coffee table, and looked intently at me. "Stand up," he ordered. I did so.
"Now, you know what I see when I look at you?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"First, I see a beautiful face." He paused a moment before continuing, his eyes roaming over my body, clearly enjoying this excuse to ogle me. "Then I see this gorgeous porcelain skin, and really awesome hair--" (my hair at the time was my natural honey blonde, cut short with bangs and spiky in the back) "—and big blue eyes." He paused again, smiling, letting his eyes roam once more. "And then I notice your hips—your curves—like you've got something to hold on to. And finally--um, I'm sorry, but it's your tits. You have great tits." It was clear that he felt a little strange complementing his good friend's fiancé's breasts, but he did it anyway. I then knew that our attraction was mutual, and I sat down on the couch next to him, our legs touching.
I turned to look at him and said, "Shawn, I'm really attracted to you."
He looked away, tilted his head back, sighed, and said simply, "Oh, Nicole." He still had his reservations, and rightfully so. But the warmth in my belly had spread to my sex, making my entire body tingle with anticipation. It could no longer be ignored.
We sat next to each other in silence for a moment. I then reached out and began playing with his hair, tucking it behind his ears, looking into his face. His eyes then turned to me, those brown eyes. They were no longer soft, but piercing and lustful. He took my face in both hands and kissed me. The kiss was forceful, explosive. He opened his mouth wider and slipped his tongue into my mouth. As we embraced, he used his body to topple mine over. We continued kissing frantically, and he pressed his body ever closer to mine. His hands began to wander over my sides, my stomach, and finally to my breasts underneath my shirt. I began to breathe heavily, and could feel my sex tingling with warmth and wetness. He started kissing my neck, hard and deep, and moved up to nibble on my earlobe. I could hear his breath growing heavier as he did so, and it made me shudder all over.
Suddenly, an image of my fiancé entered my mind. I pulled my mouth away from his and said breathlessly, "I shouldn't be doing this. I really shouldn't."