Author's note:
This is a very sensual story with an extremely gentle, female-led encounter. If you are turned off by stories with sensitive, vulnerable men, this is really not gonna be your thing.
This
is
for everyone who feels a kind of loneliness that can come only from our connected, modern world, and for everyone who has trouble turning off the thoughts they'd rather not have -- especially on a certain night of the week. I see you (:
Thank you to
thatsbogus
for reading over my work even at short notice. All characters are over 18.
~~~
Hayden stared nervously at the door. That was the way he did everything, but, especially tonight, the anxiety tumbling around inside him was louder than usual.
He never really understood why. There was nothing different about tomorrow. Nothing special to fear, nothing special to have to prepare himself for -- mentally or otherwise.
Maybe it was the quiet. Every other night of the week, he wished he had earplugs to help muffle the bass from the neighbors down the street, or the college kids living life to the loudest at the apartment complex across the way, or the trucks rumbling past on the highway outside his front door.
Now, it was deadly still.
Daytime was spent immersed in artificial voices -- the television, an online call with a friend, a Spotify playlist or an audiobook while doing chores.
But eventually, time seemed to slow, the activity would follow suit, and then...
Silence.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
The noise gave him a start, even though he'd been expecting it. He wanted to smile, but there really wasn't anything to smile about. This was nothing to be proud of.
Uneasiness and relief washed over him in one, mixed-up wave when he swung open the door. That was how she always made him feel. At least when she first arrived.
Taylor wasn't her real name. He knew that. The warm grin that lit up her face every time he opened the door -- probably nothing was real about that either. Except maybe her glee at seeing such an easy mark yet again.
She was a little shorter than him and fit, although it wasn't obvious in her shirt and baggy pants. He always wanted her to come wearing something comfortable, something she would wear when she wasn't on the job -- when she was just
herself
. He had no idea if that's what she was really doing, or if she just knew what someone like him would expect to see.
Those were the kinds of thoughts, though, he was trying to expel.
"Hey," he said quietly, stepping aside to let her in. He caught a whiff of her lavender scent as she walked past him, toting the canvas bag she always brought with her.
He closed the door and turned to her so she could reach for him, like she always did -- a gentle hand on his cheek. He leaned into her touch, her cool fingers delicately stroking the stubble of his jaw.
They'd been through this so many times, maybe he shouldn't have felt embarrassed still about the way he so obviously craved that touch. But every time the warmth of her palm softly rested against his cheek, he couldn't help the shame of self-awareness from burning even hotter.
Hayden realized he must've closed his eyes, because when he opened them, she was closer, her deep blue eyes staring into his.
There was always a sadness behind the kindness in her eyes. He liked that about her. He couldn't relate to people who didn't have sadness in their eyes, couldn't
trust
them. The few people he interacted with during a given week -- an annoying coworker or two at the office, a pizza delivery person, maybe a cashier -- rarely got close enough or stayed still long enough for him to see what was in their eyes.
Like so much else, he wasn't sure if what he saw in Taylor's was really there, either -- the kindness
or
the sadness. But again, he was willing to believe in the faΓ§ade, if that's what it was. For now, at least.
"Hey, Hayden," she said just as quietly as he had, the smile only getting warmer, more welcoming. It certainly
seemed
like the sigh behind her greeting was genuine relief. He hoped it was. He wanted her to be able to let her hair down here, to be herself in the same way he was during their rendezvous.
He smiled back sheepishly, feeling the blush where her fingertips slowly slid off his cheek.
"Looks nice," she said, glancing around casually. "You cleaned up a little bit, huh?"
"Err...yeah." He felt himself blush even deeper. "Guess it must've been a little cluttered if it's that noticeable, huh."
She snorted. "Eh, believe me. I've seen worse. In my own living room sometimes even." She made a little face that made his smile deepen, then gestured to the stairs. "Shall we?"
Hayden led the way and ducked into the bathroom to start the shower while Taylor put her stuff down in his bedroom across the hall. She never made a point of looking at it, but the cash was on the nightstand -- the best way to tip her if he really wanted to, she'd told him a while ago, when she hadn't known her way around his house like it was her weekend home.
Taylor let her dark blonde hair fall from the ponytail first while he unabashedly watched her strip. She did it slowly, removing her top to expose her perky handfuls of breasts. She knew what he liked, and his eyes were glued to her long, slender legs as she slipped out of her pants just as deliberately.
"Big day tomorrow?" she asked as she slid her panties down, revealing her perfectly smooth mound and the hint of the outline of her labia showing in the gap between her slim thighs.
He was halfway to naked himself, removing his own pants when she began to help him finish the job.
"Not really," he responded with a shrug as she tugged down his underwear.
They both walked naked to the shower without needing to exchange a word, the steady
shhhh
enveloping them behind the sliding glass door.
He loved the feeling in here, encased in a cocoon of white noise and heat that shut out the oppressive silence outside.
The hot water poured over both of them, and he made no bones of admiring her gleaming body.
"So what's the latest at work?" Taylor said casually, as if they were old friends. She dunked her head under the spray, letting her hair spill over her face before tossing it back.
He shrugged. "Not much."
She squirted some liquid soap onto her hands and started to gently rub through the hair on his chest, down his stomach.
"Come
onnn
, you have to have
something