Shelby

JC was tense. He was trying to hide it and not play into it and not let it affect their weekly date, but it was like the elephant in the room all evening. Shelby did her best to try to distract him and console him, but after an hour of him stare blankly at the TV, not even offering his usual banter about what could or could not be done in movies, she reached for the remote and pointed it at the TV.  The screen snapped off and the house was silent. JC didn't even look at her.

"Can you talk about it?"

He chewed on his lip, his eyelids lowering. "Don't really want to."

"I didn't ask if you wanted to. Can you?"

JC turned his head toward her, his lips brushing her forehead. "It'll be fine," he said quietly. "Sorry to screw up our time together."

"It's not screwed up at all. I just thought if you needed to talk, I have a couple of really good ears that are available. They're perfect for things like this. "

He bent close to her, his teeth gently nipping at an earlobe. "I've never seen sexier ears in all my life."

Shelby shrieked and curled away, giggling as she rubbed her ear. "That tickled. I have a lot of sexy parts. My ears are not one of them. Or, two of them"

"What? Are you kidding? Have you seen your ears?"

He reached over to her and ran an index finger around the outside of her right ear, his touch so gentle that it sent shivers down her spine. Not that she needed a guarantee- the sex was always going to happen-but she liked how he always flirted with her, here and there. It made it seem like he was still working for it. It still excited her, and still set the mood.

Four weeks after she'd run into JC at the Winter Park Publix, their friendship (and more) had really taken off. They had drinks at some of his favorite bars, ate dessert at some of his favorite restaurants, and always ended up at his house or hers, ready to satisfy cravings of the carnal kind. It was the fun, casual relationship she was hoping for, with someone that was interesting and captivating, and most of all, wasn't trying to rescue her. 

Shelby shifted on the couch so that she was on her knees next him. She was going to distract him from whatever was on his mind, one way or another. "I'll just take your word for it. But uhm...can you help me figure out if there's anything under here, that's sexy?"

JC eyes dropped to her chest, where the folds of a frosted white satin robe, so micro that it may as well have been called a shirt, were being pulled open and skin was slowly revealed. Her entire wardrobe that night was new, from the frilly blouse with the endless neckline and skintight leather pants to the slinky, nearly see through robe and the lacy lingerie underneath. He hardly noticed when she let him in, excused herself and came back out to the den in something considerably more comfortable. A DVD was already in the player and he was already zoning out. Disappointed, she curled up next to him and tried to enjoy the movie and just be happy he had the mind to put his arm around her. 

Now that she had his attention, she had no intention of letting it go.

"Under here?" The tip of his finger poked under a flap of the robe, pulling it open further. A burst of color, red color, was peeking out from underneath. "Well I have to examine it, to be able to tell, really."

"Oh, do you have to? I thought maybe you could just look and be able to tell."

"I can, usually. But sexiness of this magnitude really needs an in-depth evaluation."

"Hmmm. You think? What does an... in- depth evaluation entail?"

"I'd tell you but I'd much rather show you. If I may." 

He stood and reached for her hand, and after she took it, walked with her down the hall to her bedroom. The room was spacious and cool, painted in soothing colors, because that was supposed to be able to help her sleep. At least when she was laying there reading or staring off into space instead of sleeping, she was calm.

Shelby snapped on a lamp next to the bed and picked up the remote for the flat screen TV he'd hung for her the week before. With a few clicks of her wrist, she navigated to a DMX Radio station that played slow, sultry, classic jazz, and turned it down low.

"For ambience," she said, setting the remote back onto the side table and easing onto the bed next to him. "So, you said something about an inspection?"

"I said evaluation," JC corrected. "In-depth, even."

"Oh, excuse me. So uh. What should I do to prepare for this in-depth evaluation?"

He studied her for a few moments. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "Do you have any tequila?"

She nodded. "And limes, and salt. But you want a tequila shot right now?"

"Not exactly. Will I be able to find them, if I dig around your kitchen?"

She shot him a sarcastic grin as he got up from the bed. "You'll find them faster if you dig around the bar in the den. Limes are in the fridge."

"You just... randomly have limes hanging around?"

"I'm a Bartender. We always have limes. Go. I'm ready for my inspection."

"Evaluation, honey," he called from the hallway. She giggled and laid back, listening to him rustle around in the bar, whistling a tune she hadn't heard before. Then heard the refrigerator door open, the produce drawer open and then close, and then some movement in the kitchen before she saw his shadow heading down the hall again.

"No, no. Stay right there," he said, as she started to sit up, again. On the bedside table he set the full bottle of Cuervo, a small plate of sliced limes and a salt shaker. "This might get a little messy. I apologize in advance."

"Don't worry about it. What is it you say? It'll give me something to think about, while I'm cleaning up?"

JC laughed. "Yeah, I say that. It's good to see you listen to me. So, if you don't mind, I need to get ready for my evaluation. I'm hoping you'll return the favor."

"We'll see."

JC smirked as he undressed, removing his long sleeved shirt and jeans, shoes and socks, crawling up onto the bed next to Shelby. He seemed to not know where to start, but after a moment, he reached for the tie that still held the satin robe closed and both sides fell away from her body. He swallowed audibly as his eyes traveled from her just-from-the-salon hair, down her neck, to breasts just barely contained by a fire engine red fishnet and mesh number. When it seemed his eyes reached their fill there, they continued down, down, down her body, past her belly to her hips, bare except for the thin string and tiny, tiny, tiny triangle covering her mound. His mouth fell open and he seemed, ever so slightly, to pant.

JC

He just couldn't take it anymore. He tried to hold back, for no reason at all except to just let it build up, but he had to touch her, to feel her skin. Shelby went through so much trouble to look good for him-he'd been so wrapped up in Rod's asshole comments that he wasn't even paying attention. She deserved some attention, not an apology, and she was going to get it.

JC lifted a hand to her thigh, slowly gliding over the skin, all the way down one leg, and back up the other, pausing at the triangle, pressing his thumb instinctively where he knew he'd get a reaction. It came, as he expected it to, in a roll of her hips and a moan from her throat. He spent a few minutes there, pressing and rotating and watching her hips move and her abs roll, listening to her. He bent to her breasts, nipples rock hard and fighting to extend around the thick fishnet material and licked at one, and then the other. She tasted good, so good. He teased and tempted, reveling in the taste and smell of her, the sounds coming from her mouth sending a shock or two through his body and a twitch or two to his dick.

"We better slow it down. I know how you like me to take my time." Shelby smiled, both arms stretched out on the bed on either side of her. "Stay just like that. You're perfect," he said, bending toward an arm and licking a thick stripe a few inches long. He reached for the salt, sprinkled a few shakes onto the wet patch and licked it up, then picked up the bottle of tequila.

"I didn't get shot glasses. Hope you don't mind swapping spit."

"Only with you," she shot back, and then watched him down a mouthful of the golden alcohol, reach for a wedge of lime and suck on it. He was laughing, watching her watching him, his eyes watering from the strength of the tequila, mixing with the tart citrus. He pried the wedge from his mouth, tossed it onto the plate and bent to kiss her, wildly swirling his tongue around in her mouth. She licked his lips and sucked on his tongue, sharing the taste of sweet lime and bitter tequila and salt.

"That was the best body shot, ever. And I have now certified that your arm is sufficiently sexy. I'm gonna skip your other arm, because I have some other places I want to check out."

Shelby giggled. It was such a cute sound, one he never thought would turn him on, before he met her. Giggles were so childlike and such a shy gesture. They made him feel like he had to work harder to pull more out of whomever he was with. Hers were sexy, with a bad girl undercurrent. A total turn on. This sexy Shelby girl was turning his whole world upside down.

"What parts? Can I help?" Shelby began to sit up, reaching for the tie to her bra.

"No, no," JC said, protesting, pushing her back into the pillows. "You just lay there. This is my in depth evaluation. You can evaluate later. Just enjoy it."

Shelby sighed, but did as she was told, a glimmer in her eyes. "Just don't get too drunk, okay? Your uh, final exam will be graded."

He chuckled, that low, slow, seductive laugh she seemed to like, bending toward her neck, licking the dip there. "Mama, I am shakin' in my boots."  A sprinkle of salt, a healthy lick, a swallow of Cuervo, a suck of lime, and then another attack on her lips and tongue.

He untied her bra and let her breasts fall free, her nipples calling out to him for attention. He was powerless to resist them, loving the feeling of her hips rocking against him. He licked a thick path between her breasts and took his shot of tequila there, repeating the kiss after. He did another shot from her belly, one from the thigh of one leg and the calf of another. The last shot he reserved for the mound of flesh below the opaque fabric. He licked around it, on the inside of each thigh before his tongue found her, pulsating through the mesh.

Shelby's hips jerked at feeling him there, then bucked up at him. He watched her breasts rise and roll and her chest heave with her deep breaths. He closed his eyes and listened to her moans climbing higher and higher, felt her body move faster and stronger, felt her press herself harder against his tongue until she stiffened, and her body pulsed and contracted, and then her hips fell back against the bed. Only then did he untie the G-string and toss the thin fabric away, run his tongue along her lower belly and take his last shot. His lips lowered to hers and she devoured him, sucking and licking every ounce of herself, and salt, and lime and tequila off of them.

"That was... amazing," she panted, finally falling back against the pillows, looking very satisfied. "Are you drunk?"

JC grinned, feeling good and pretty proud, and laid next to her. "I'm pretty happy. But lucid. Why?"

"Because I don't want you falling asleep while I do this." Shelby shot up and straddled him, landing right on his belly. Then reaching over to the table for the salt, the Cuervo, and the limes. "Your turn!"

Shelby

Try as she might, she could not ever remember doing body shots. Not in high school, or college, though she had plenty of opportunity. And certainly never with Lucas-he was a Scotch man, and his liquor was too expensive to waste by pouring it over her and tasting, licking, suck it off. Shelby would remember this night for a long, long time. That is, if she didn't get very drunk. Which wasn't a guarantee at all.

She pressed him back against the pillows, determined to bring every ounce of pleasure to him that he brought to her. That was a lot, but she didn't have far to go. He was already hard, his dick making a tent out of his tight briefs and poking her ass. He rocked his hips, a silly grin on his face as he bucked himself into her.

She shook her head, looking back at the action behind her and then back to his face. "That amuses you, doesn't it? Do boys ever grow older than 17?"

"Nope. We just find replacements for a palm and some lotion."

"That's what I thought. You're totally in love with it, aren't you?"

"Wouldn't you be? Big Red is a friend of mine. He wants to be your friend too!" JC laughed loud, his arms falling to his side. "I think I might be drunk. But I'm here. I'm awake. I'm... up," he said, thrusting his hips up again.

"Oooh. Baby, relax," she said, leaning forward, grabbing his chin. "Don't break it. I haven't played with it yet." Whatever he said in response was lost in the kiss and reduced to a series of lustful moans while her tongue took its turn with his. Shelby began her tour of his body the same way he started-with a muscular arm that made her weak in the knees just to look at it. To feel it, to experience the combination of strength and gentility was always enough to spark something for her.

He laughed at her studying his arm, so closely he could feel her breath in his skin. "What are you looking for?"

"A patch of arm with no hair!"

JC laughed and pointed at the underside of his arm, the soft pale skin as smooth as a baby's bottom. "God, I hope you're clean," she muttered, just before licking a stripe down his arm, applying salt, and licking it off. Frowning at the taste, she wrapped her lips around the bottle and tipped her head back, her mouth filling with the strong taste, followed by a wedge of lime, cutting the bitter and turning the mixture sweet.  She kissed him after removing the wedge from her mouth, letting her tongue roll along his, spreading the taste around his mouth. He hummed, smiling through the kiss.

"Good, huh?"

"Yummy," she replied, attacking his neck with her tongue, sucking and licking and making her way around to the dip in his neck, just below his Adam's apple. "Hold still. Don't move."

Shelby poured out a cap of tequila and carefully poured it into the dip, drops spilling over and dripping down the side of his neck. "Don't move, and don't laugh," she said, giggling herself while she sprinkled a few grains of salt into her palm, licked it up, and then sucked up the liquor from his neck, taking care to lick up the trail down either side of his neck.

"Can I laugh yet?"

"Yeah," she said, grinning down at him, sucking on a wedge of lime.

"Do you know how long it's been since I did this with anyone?"

"Body shots?" She shrugged, not really wanting to let herself think about the last woman he was with, that shared a bed with him, that he let get close to him, as close as she was. She liked to think she was different, even though it was a casual thing. She wasn't in the mood to be compared to anyone else. "I don't know... how long has it been?"

He paused, his eyelids half open, and then blinked at her, hips lips in a small pout. "I can't remember. But it's been a long time. I forgot how fun this is."

"Mmm," she agreed, making her way down his chest and his belly, licking a long stripe, salting him, licking it up, and then, hopefully to his surprise, pouring a capful of tequila onto his belly and sucking it up. He laughed as she sucked and licked every drop from his skin, her fingers toying at the band of his briefs and then pulling them down. 

"Gimme a hand, here. Up." He lifted his hips and down they came, tossed over her shoulder and forgotten as soon as they left her fingertips. 

And then he was bare, laid out in front of her in naked glory. JC piled pillows up behind him-- he wanted to watch. She had no argument with that, situating herself between his legs, wasting no time taking him into her mouth. He was hot and hard and pulsing as her lips slid up and down and her tongue swirled around and around. She released him with a pop, shook some salt into her hand, and sprinkled it on him, taking him in her mouth again, savoring the mix of his natural taste enhanced by the salt. Again, she released him, but instead of drinking the tequila and sucking the lime, she handed the lime to him. He drained the wedge of juice; she took a deep swig of tequila and climbed him, her mouth falling onto his, the taste of Cuervo mixing with the salt on her lips and the lime on his tongue.

Matching deep, guttural sounds crawled out of them. Shelby shuddered against him, feeling a new wave wash over her as goosebumps popped up along her skin. His skin was flush as she pulled back and moved down to him again, where she repeated the same process until she couldn't drink another drop of tequila, lick another grain of salt, taste another bite of the citrusy fruit.

Shelby was drunk. She wasn't surprised. Together they drank over half the bottle of tequila. JC insisted on doing shots off of her breasts, licking the salt off of her nipples and then pouring Cuervo on her chest so he could suck it up. It felt great but she was so ticklish and he was so heavy that the feeling was near torture. By the time JC sighed, set the bottle back onto the side table and fell back against the pillows again, the bedspread was stained with pools of alcohol and grains of salt and bits of lime.

"I'm gonna have a lot to think about tomorrow," she slurred, "when I take this bedspread to the Laundromat. A lot."

"I bet you don't stop smiling all day, tomorrow. That's what I bet."

"I bet you don't either," she said, tapping his nose with the tip of her finger.

Like a light bulb, his whole demeanor changed. The tension returned. His jaw clenched and his eyes became dark, and he exhaled a long, deep sigh.

"What? JC, tell me what makes your face do that. What makes you get all...emo like that? What is it?"

"Shelby, it's... nothing. It's nothing."

"Then let's talk about nothing. ‘Kay? Open your mouth and say the words. I'm here for more than fucking, you know."

"Okay," he said, but his tone was sarcastic.

"What? You don't think I am?"

"No past, no future. I'm not the only one holding back. I'm not the only one here just for the sex."

She tried to push him off of the bed, but he was heavy and she was drunk. JC didn't even move, despite the hand marks on his torso. "I'm not just here for the sex. Neither are you. You were willing to buy a bunch of shit you didn't need, so you could see me, again. That's not a guy who just wants to fuck something. You could step outside your house and run into five girls you could fuck. I'm not saying I'm like, your girlfriend or anything, but we're friends. You can talk to me."

No response came from under the arm he'd tossed over his eyes. "Or not. Suffer. I don't give a shit."

She flung herself against the pillow, irritated at being cold and naked and laying in a pool of tequila. ‘I'd go to sleep but I'm a fucking insomniac!'

JC

It totally wasn't fair. He knew it wasn't. He didn't want to make it seem like something she could handle or control, or was even her problem, but that one comment had brought the whole afternoon back to him, which rekindled both his anger and his fear.

A few minutes passed, and the situation diffused.

"Shelby," he said plainly, under the arm. When she didn't answer, he lifted his arm and glanced over at her. She looked pissed. At least she was pretty when she was pissed, her skin all pink and her lips pursed in that pretty pout. "Hey," he said, elbowing her.

"What?!"

"Sorry. I just, I had a bad day today. Something you said brought it all back."

Shelby rolled her head so she could see him. "Tell me," she whispered.

"Well. I have a question, first."

"What?"

"Why won't you tell me anything about yourself?"

Shelby shrugged, her eyes blank. "Not much to tell. No need to dwell on what doesn't need to be shared."

"Yeah, but..." he shifted so he was on his side, propped up on an elbow. Shelby didn't move to get closer to him, like she normally would. "I don't know anything about you. I think that's weird, because I've been inside you. I think I should know at least something."

"Okay," she said. "I was born in Ft Lauderdale. I'm twenty eight. My favorite color is red. I like Mexican food. I had a bird when I was younger-stop me if you've heard some of this already."

"Don't be a smartass, Shelby. Don't hide behind being funny. I hate that shit."

She huffed, giving him a cross look. "Look who's asking someone to be real! You were so preoccupied with whatever was going on, I could have been naked half the night and you wouldn't have even noticed. There's no sense in having a friend with benefits if said friend doesn't realize the benefit that doesn't have any clothes on practically, sitting next to him!"

JC laid there for a minute, knowing she was right. He was distracted and worried-about her. And about him. And about them. "Tell me something," he pressed.

"Like what? Tell me what to tell you."

JC went for it, blurting the question into the air, speaking the question screaming the loudest in his mind into fruition. "Who's in Miami, that you're running away from? A boyfriend? A husband? Are you married?"

"No," she answered, snorting a laugh. "I'm not married. No boyfriend." Shelby paused, like she wanted to say something but couldn't force it out of her mouth. "I had a fiancé, though," she added quietly.

"But you don't have a fiancé now, right?" He held his breath, knowing the answer was no but completely expecting the surprise of her looking at him with a guilty expression and giving some excuse that started with ‘actually...' But she didn't. She shook her head and stated plainly, "no."

"Okay, then. So you dumped him and moved here."

"You could say that, yeah."

"Why did you dump him?"

"I didn't love him."

"You mean you weren't in love with him?"

"Yeah. And I didn't love him. I just barely liked him."

"Why were you marrying someone you just barely liked?"

"I wasn't. I dumped him, I told you."

"Well yeah, but-"

"Look. JC. This story is complicated. And maybe you think you want to know all the facts right now, but you don't. Trust me. This is good, right now. This is fun. Let's not make it less fun and more serious. If you need to know more about me to talk about your bad day, then we have a problem." JC stared straight ahead, chewing on his lip. "So, do we? Have a problem?"

He sighed. This was pointless. If he couldn't find anything out, there was little chance Rod would be able to dig anything up about her, either. No sense in wasting a night fighting.

"No," he answered, his hand landing on her thigh, scooting her close to him. "No, we do not have a problem. Actually, I have a problem. I didn't come yet. You plan on making that happen?"

Shelby smiled, her grin growing wider as she sat up and retrieved a small square package from her bottom drawer. "Now we're talking. But you're not gonna get all sulky and brooding again, right?"

"Right." He flipped over, onto his back, welcoming the weight of her, loving the smile on her face and the flush on her skin, the rock hard buds that her nipples had become, looking forward to hearing the sounds he loved to hear coming from her, watching her hips ride and rock against him faster and harder, clawing him until she came.

Nah, he wasn't gonna waste his time arguing with her, when he could have so much more fun doing all of that.