Chapter 18

I awoke with Christmas on my mind. It was now early December and I hadn't given it more thought than it took to book the plane tickets home. Now I needed plans for a fancy dinner with Sharon. And a present for her. And for Tina, too.

Tina. She continued to slumber beside me, peacefully. What was I going to get Tina for Christmas?

I realized that I'd never really expected to be celebrating Christmas with Tina. I was supposed to have graduated and gotten the hell out of Tucson. I'd be getting out soon enough, if I could find a job that is.

I needed to try to look for some jobs while I was back in Colorado. Christmas wasn't the best time to look, but I needed to at least start.

Besides, a job might be harder to find than I'd been willing to admit. I was a newbie astronomer who hadn't been able to finish his Ph.D. What was the market for that, really, anywhere, much less in Colorado?

I sighed. One step at a time, I supposed. Get the resumé done. Start figuring out possible employers. Figure out if I could actually get an interview somewhere over Christmas vacation.

Christmas. I needed to get presents. Tina probably wasn't that hard, I realized. I could hit the mall and look for a necklace she'd like. I'd done something like that for Alicia, and discovered that you could get some pretty nice jewelry without spending a lot.

Alicia. My chest tightened and then I berated myself. I was over her. I'd moved on. Definitely moved on, thanks to Tina and Sharon.

I still needed to get something for Sharon. I didn't want to give her erotica books, like I'd done last year. What else did she want?

I ransacked my memory for any time Sharon had said what she wanted. Nothing recent came to mind. I cast back to earlier in the year and remembered the Santa Fe trip. She'd admired the Steve Hanks poster of the nude woman under the shower. I could get her that. Even better—I knew someone who worked in a poster shop. I decided to talk to Tina about it over breakfast.

Tina liked the idea when I mentioned it to her.

"I could use my employee discount and we could ship it to your parents' house," she said, as we dallied over the remnants of our eggs and toast.

"What about framing it?" I asked.

"You better see where she wants to hang it first."

"Hmmm."

"So when are you heading back?"

"Wednesday after finals," I said. "I want a couple of days to shop for my family before Christmas."

Tina nodded. "My last final is Tuesday morning. Want to spend Tuesday afternoon together?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Tina grinned and waggled her eyebrows. "We'll think of something."

"Why wait?" I asked, leaning back.

Tina stood up. "Why indeed?"

We left the dirty dishes and wandered back to the air mattress where we slowly made love until we'd both come. Then we cuddled for a while before getting up to clean the kitchen.

"And here you've done the reverse," Sherri said, gesturing to the now spotless table. I'd cleaned while I talked, as Sherri sat and watched, growing more amused as I worked.

"What?"

"You said you wanted to go down on me. I said we should wait until after we'd eaten, but then cleaning the kitchen first?"

I winced and closed my eyes. "I took your answer to mean you didn't want me to."

"I didn't say no."

"But you went off on that Goddess Worship stuff..."

"Which I said we could do later. That's not the same as saying no to some simple oral sex."

"Oh."

Sherri smiled and didn't say anything.

"Well, I supposed I should get started," I said. "Though I'm not sure it's a B&C anymore, since we've finished breakfast.

Sherri chuckled. "True. The breakfast is a key part of it."

I grinned. "Brings a new meaning to breakfast in bed."

"That would be a different type of B&B."

"Yeah. Which reminds me, is 'B&B' a regular term in your ... field?"

Sherri raised an eyebrow and then shook her head. "I got the term from a friend. That's what she called it before she demonstrated it."

"Demonstrated it? On a guy?"

Sherri's smile turned impish. "Uh huh. Lucky guy, too. We took turns, once she showed me what he liked."

I groaned. "Gawd, I'm envious."

"Of a double blowjob, or the full threesome?"

"Yes."

Sherri chuckled.

"Was your friend ... another professional?"

She shook her head. "She's someone I met in college. Later, when I was going through a really rough time. She ... she helped. She helped a lot." Sherri smiled weakly. "Mostly by just being there and listening."

"Ah."

She took a breath, and then smiled more strongly. "It's okay. It wasn't all me crying on her shoulder. We also had some fun." Her smile turned into a leer.

"If you ended up in a threesome, I would suspect so."

"Oh, that was before. And after, actually."

"I'm jealous."

"Well, what's preventing you from arranging one for yourself?"

I started to explain, but then stopped. I'd called the agency and asked for an escort. I just as easily could have asked for two.

Except I'd been drunk then. Would I have the courage to ask for one now?

I looked at her. She smiled, but sat still. She was waiting.

Waiting for me to make the next move.

"Get up," I said.

Sherri raised an eyebrow, and then pushed her chair away from the table.

"Let's go to the couch. If I'm going to go down on you, I want to kneel on the carpet instead of the floor."

Sherri chuckled and slowly walked over to the couch, shedding her clothes as she went. This time I openly ogled her body as it came into view. When she reached the couch, she turned and sat, spreading her legs. She'd shaved her pubic region except for a small triangle on her mound. She slid one hand down and began playing with her lower lips.

I gulped. She's had tons of guys go down on her. I'm probably nowhere in their league. What made me ask for this?

Because you were too scared to ask for another blowjob.

I could still enjoy this, though. I sank to my knees in front of Sherri and took a breath as she pulled her hand away.

Her labia were full, almost pouty, and slightly parted. I gently kissed her mound, and then the inside of each thigh. Sherri let out a small purr. I centered myself and licked her slit from bottom to top, before sucking lightly on her clit.

She was dryer than I'd expected, but that soon didn't matter. I licked long and deep, and Sherri's whole pussy got wet enough for me to glide effortlessly across her skin. She moaned when I thrust my tongue into her and again when I flicked her clit with the tip. I glanced up while sucking her clit and saw her watching me, through half-lidded eyes. She grinned and I returned to my ministrations.

Sherri's clit had hardened under my sucking, but additional flicks didn't seem to increase the intensity of her moans. I brought one hand up and gingerly slid my finger inside her.

"Oh, that's nice," she said.

I turned it and crooked it, like I had done regularly with Tina. Sherri let out a hiss and another moan, but then she fell quiet again. I sped up, licking harder and faster, stroking my finger to the same tempo. She let out another moan, but it was soft and low.

I pulled back. "You're not going to get off, are you?"

She nodded. "But that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying."

I sat back on my haunches. "I was hoping you'd come."

Sherri sat up straight. "Why does that matter? It's not a reflection on you. I don't come for a lot of guys. But I enjoy it, and you enjoyed it."

"Yeah."

"Besides, you asked for it. It's what you wanted."

I snorted.

"Well, is it?"

"It's what I asked for," I said, "but I'm not sure it's what I wanted. I mean, it was and it wasn't. In fact..."

A light flickered in my brain.

" ... I think part of the reason I have trouble asking for what I want is that I'm not sure what I want."

"Like?"

"Like, I wanted to be a good guy and return the favor from the other day. And at the same time, what I really wanted was another blowjob. But I didn't think I could ask for it." I glanced up at Sherri, to see if she was mad, but she was smiling.

"But I don't think it's just now," I continued. "I mean, I think it's more often than that. Like with Tina before Christmas. I wasn't sure what I really wanted when she came over before I left. I mean, did I just want the sex? Did I want something deeper? Did I want to just get the hell out of town?"

"Why don't you tell me about it."

"Okay..."

I did a lot of second-guessing when I went to buy Tina's Christmas present. What would be too nice? What wouldn't be nice enough? What would be too romantic to be from a guy who was trying to leave town soon? What wouldn't be romantic enough? In the end, I settled for a fairly nice gold filigree necklace with some small colored stones.

Tuesday afternoon, Tina arrived carrying two gift-wrapped boxes. I smiled. We hadn't discussed exchanging presents, but my gift for her sat in its own box on the table. We exchanged a deep kiss at the door before returning to the kitchen and sinking into the chairs.

"Merry Christmas," I said, sliding the box toward her.

"Oh, you first." She pushed her own packages toward me.

I paused and raised my eyebrows. Tina nodded, and I decided not to argue about who was first. I flipped the first box over and began tearing the paper off.

"The other one first," Tina said.

I nodded and switched packages. This one was clearly a book. I tore the paper off and flipped it over to the title. Video Guide, 1992, by Martin and Porter. I thumbed through the pages. It covered just about every film I could immediately think of.

"Wow," I said.

"I thought we might use it for movie nights."

"That'd be good," I said. "We can always use more ideas."

Tina fidgeted as I reached for the next box. "I hope you like it."

I smiled reassuringly as I removed the wrapping paper. "I'm sure I will."

The box held a three ring binder. The cover had a picture cut from a magazine of an extravagant dinner. Block lettering declared it the Miller-Delgado Cookbook.

"It contains every recipe we've cooked together," Tina said.

I paused, digesting that. "Every one?"

"Well, except for a couple from your cookbook. But we can photocopy those and add them."

I nodded and opened the notebook to the first page. Tina had duplicated the cover to serve as a title page, but added a dedication.

To Joe, my favorite cooking partner.

May this serve as a record of all our great meals and in anticipation of more to come.

Love,

Tina

Christmas, 1992

"That's really nice," I said, looking up. "Really, really nice."

"You like it?"

"I love it. I'm blown away." I was. This had to have been a ton of work.

"I'm glad." She reached across the table and took my hand. "Can you believe we've been cooking together for a year?"

"That's pretty impressive."

"Yeah."

"So, how would you like to celebrate?" I asked.

Tina shrugged. "We could cook something special for dinner tonight, but I'm not sure what. And I don't think we want leftovers."

I nodded. "I don't mind going out. Or we could order pizza."

"Pizza would be nice."

"So what should we do until then?" I asked in mock innocence, my eyes wide.

"Have appetizers?" Tina teased.

"Sounds like a great idea. But first, you need to open your present."

Tina tore the paper off the small box and cast it aside. Her eyes widened when she saw it was a jewelry box, and she fumbled with the lid before opening it.

"Oh! It's beautiful!" She extracted the necklace from the box. and let the chain slide through her fingers, admiring it.

"I'm glad you like it."

"I need to put it on."

I nodded and followed her to the bathroom, where I stood behind her as she faced the mirror. She had little difficulty with the clasp and soon had it in place.

I slid my arms around her. "It looks beautiful on you."

"It is beautiful." She turned and kissed me. "Thank you."

I kissed her back. "You're welcome. And thank you for your presents."

Tina kissed me again. One kiss turned into another, and then I took Tina's hand and led her toward the bedroom.

We kissed passionately as we slowly undressed and then stretched out on the bed. We continued to kiss, just lying there on our sides, our arms around each other. Eventually, we shifted so that I could support my head on my arm while I ran the other hand down her side and hip. I couldn't quite turn things to caress her front, so I slowly rolled her on her back, only breaking the kiss near the end. I pulled back and grinned at her.

"I believe you suggested appetizers?"

Before Tina could respond, I lowered my mouth to her nipple. I kissed it quickly before sucking it into my mouth. As I nuzzled her breast, I brought my hand up to caress the other one.

Tina purred and stretched a little, clasping her arms above her head. I took that as a signal to keep going.

I alternated kissing her breast, around the nipple, then along the underside and toward her neck. After a while, I realized her other breast was being neglected, and slowly shifted on top of her so I could give it its fair due.

Tina purred again, particularly when I flicked my tongue across her skin. Like a kitten, I mused. Both of us—me in licking, her in purring.

Tina continued to purr as I kissed my way down her belly and then across her mound. I shifted so she could put her legs over my shoulders and then ran my tongue up her slit and kissed her clit.

Tina shuddered. She was already quite wet. After a handful of kisses and licks, I slid a finger inside her and she moaned. Her breath grew shorter and she moaned softly as I sucked her clit and curled my finger inside her. I sped up slightly, and she gasped and arched her back. I flicked her clit with my tongue, maintaining the suction, and using the same rhythm I used with my fingers. Tina began panting and, then, with a loud moan, went stiff and came. I kissed her mound a few more times before sliding up next to her on the bed. I waited until she'd caught her breath and was able to focus on me, her smile growing, relaxed and warm.

"Definitely good appetizers," I said.

Tina chuckled. "Let me catch my breath and I'll return the favor."

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

I shrugged. I really just wanted to grab a condom and enter her, but if she wanted to go down on me...

We continued to cuddle for a few minutes, me on my back and Tina with her head on my shoulder. She gently ran her hand over my chest as she snuggled in. After a few minutes, her hand roamed lower, until she eventually just wrapped her fingers around my cock and began stroking me.

"Feel good?" she asked after a little while. I hesitated. I didn't want to say that it only felt good three out of four strokes, because she was squeezing just a little tight, catching my skin. But Tina noticed my pause.

"Yeah," I said. "Though you'll have to be a little more gentle. Or we need to get some lube."

She grinned. "I can add some lube." With a grin, she shifted and took my cock into her mouth.

Tina's lips and tongue felt good, but I quickly knew I wasn't going to come. She bobbed her head and brought her hand up to caress my balls, but it still felt like just a really good massage. After several minutes, she seemed to figure it out too, and pulled back.

"What should I do?" she asked.

"I ... I don't know."

She sighed. "I really wish I knew what to do."

"That's okay," I said, pulling her up next to me. "I like the fact that you try." I kissed her lightly. "Besides, there are other things we can do."

Tina sighed, but also frowned in frustration.

"Besides," I said, trying to keep my voice light, "we both like the main course."

I reached for a condom and Tina smiled and nodded. As she shifted to the middle of the bed, I stroked myself back to hard. Then I rolled the condom on, knelt between her thighs, and placed the tip of my cock against her opening.

She reached down and slowly guided me in. As always, she was hot and wet and tight. I held still for a moment, and then kissed her before beginning to thrust.

Tina gasped and moaned immediately. She hungrily sought my own mouth, kissing me and pushing her tongue between my lips. I sped up my thrusts and she wrapped her legs around me, pulling me in deeper. I sped up again, and my own gasps joined her moans. She trembled, kissing me harder. My balls started tingling and I fought to hold the pressure down, determined that she should come first. I thrust hard three more times and that did the trick. Tina gasped and went stiff, letting out a long moan into my shoulder. Two more thrusts and I boiled over—loosing my own orgasm deep inside her.

After I'd disposed of the condom, we cuddled on the bed, catching our breath.

"I told you we were good at the main course," I teased, kissing her forehead.

"Mmm," she replied, just snuggling in tighter.

"When do you want pizza?" I asked.

"Not yet."

"Another round first?"

"Yeah, but I want to just be held for a while."

I caressed Tina's back and gave her an acknowledging hug.

We lay there, flesh against flesh, for some time. Then, our idle caresses turned more sensual and then direct. This time, Tina straddled me and rode me until we'd both come, me playing with her breasts as she did. Feeling sticky, we decided to take a quick shower before ordering the pizza, but that stretched out as we washed each other and Tina tried once again to blow me. She didn't spend long at it though, before we got out and toweled off.

We remained naked until the pizza arrived, when I slipped on a robe, and Tina wrapped a towel around herself, much to the disappointment of the delivery guy. After dinner, we had sex again, though only Tina came. We took a break for ice cream, and then, after some teasing, got the air mattress down for one final round before we collapsed and fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, Tina had to say goodbye all too soon. I'd planned to take her to breakfast on our final morning before the break, but we didn't make it out the door in time. Instead, we shared a long hug at the door before she headed back to her own dorm.

"I'll be thinking of you a lot over vacation," she said while we held each other tight.