A Heart Divided Ch. 04

The ringing of the doorbell interrupted my thoughts. I brought the pizza and some sodas to the coffee table. Gina had pulled a blanket over herself, and I patted her legs to tell her to make room for me. She didn't move, but instead asked, "Is the pizza hot?"

"Yeah, oven fresh, why?"

"Lie down with me first. We can eat in a little bit."

I shrugged and crawled onto the couch behind her. There was enough room for us to spoon if I kept her close to me. Gina adjusted the blanket to cover me and I got settled behind her. I propped my head up on one hand and slipped the other one under her shirt and onto her stomach. We watched the movie like that, with me making small circles around her belly. When I remembered that she had taken her bra off earlier, I moved my hand up to caress her breasts, which were rising and falling with her even breaths. Not very interested in the movie, I played with her nipples a bit, teasing them until they stood out. Gina began wiggling a little against me.

At one point, Gina put her hand under the blanket and found my hand as it rubbed her breasts. She moved it down, away from her chest, down past her stomach, and onto her uncovered ass. Letting go of my hand, she let the realization hit me that she had nothing on below her waist. I quickly moved my hand to her pussy just to make sure.

"Surprise!" she said happily. Then added, "I thought we could multi-task. Movie and sex makes better use of our time."

"You're amazing," I muttered while pulling off my sweatpants. I tossed them on the floor and guided my stiffening cock in between her legs. She tightened her thighs and we moved around a little bit like that. When it was clear that we were both more than ready for me to be inside her, Gina reached her arms over the edge of the couch to the end table. From under a magazine, she pulled out a condom packet.

"Seriously?!" I said, amazed. "You're like a ninja with those things! Did you do all that while I was getting the pizza?" She had opened the condom and was rolling it onto my shaft, which was peeking out from between her legs.

"No- I took off my pants then. But the condom has been there since we got back- while you were on the phone ordering pizza."

I think what I liked so much about that was knowing that Gina was planning opportunities for sex. It just made it so clear that she wanted me. And being wanted was what I most wanted.

Gina was grunting as she maneuvered my cock around her entrance. She lifted a leg up in the air to make entrance easier, but it still took a minute. I held onto her thigh, keeping her leg up while I started pushing in. We groaned together as I sank as far in as I could get from that position. From experience (with Lynn, though I tried not to think about it), I knew to pull the coffee table a little closer. That way Gina could put her feet on it to stabilize herself if she needed to.

"Now, get that hand back to where it was earlier," she ordered, lifting up the bottom of her shirt. I adjusted so that I could put an arm under her and rest my head on the side of the couch. Massaging her breasts and shoulders, I didn't begin thrusting. The movie was still going, and it had reached the main love scene, where the two main characters finally spend the night together. There were candles and other strange lighting, swelling orchestra music, lots of different camera angles, and the whole thing almost made me laugh. Sex had never been like that- so pristine and pure and perfect.

And yet sex, for me, was much better than that. Even what Gina and I were doing in that moment- pizza and sodas in front of us, the sound of the leather couch complaining against our movements, the occasional slurp or other noise- it was real. It was sex that didn't need a fantasy setting or a soundtrack, or perfect bodies (though in Gina's case, we had that). But Gina was enjoying watching the scene unfold, and her hand was busy on her clit.

"Keep rubbing my tits," she said, panting. "Oh my God, I didn't expect this..." She was gasping and pushing back against me. All I had to do was rub her breast and make sure I was pushing forward enough to stay inside her. Gina seemed to be on pace to reach a climax at the same time as the movie characters, who would of course climax together.

"Oh God...Oh God...Gareth, touch my nipples..." The woman's breast rose against the light of a fire in the background, and a strong hand covered it. I mimicked the motion with my hand.

Gina's eyes closed. "HMMmmf ... nnNGH ...OH GODmmmMMM!!!"

Sure enough, as the faces of the on-screen lovers showed them artfully climaxing in each other's arms, Gina cried out and found her own release. I used one arm to hold her by the waist, making sure she didn't fall off the couch as she shook and convulsed. You only had to make that mistake once- Lynn's cum had once been interrupted when she fell off the couch, and she had a hard time getting to another climax that night. Not that I minded trying again and again, but her frustration had put her in a bad mood.

I held on to Gina as she trembled and clenched and moaned and writhed. Her legs extended then curled up again, moving the blanked all around. She turned her head back to me and pulled me in for a kiss, breaking contact every few seconds when she would moan again, her walls squeezing me.

When she was done and recovering, I pulled the blanket back up over us and thrust once gently to test her reaction. She put her hand under the blanket and on my bare cheek, saying, "Take your time, or go fast, whatever you want, babe. I'm good. God, do I feel good."

"Do you want me to go slow and see if you've got more in you?"

Smiling and squeezing me tight in her pussy, she said, "I think I'd got enough in me right now. And I'm getting hungry. But it's not even dark yet, so don't worry- you've got me aaalllll night, here in your love shack."

I kissed her lips once, then rested my head on the couch. Gina turned to watch the movie while I enjoyed a leisurely screw. I kept pushing into her fast enough to keep hard, but no faster. She would laugh at the funny parts, which made her walls squeeze a little. I started to wonder if we should try this with a comedy next time.

After about 15 minutes, I was done with the slow pace and decided that pizza was smelling better and better. I kept my arm under her, gripping her breast, and with my other hand I held her waist. I warned her that I was going to speed up, and she picked up the remote to pause the movie.

With such a long build-up, I didn't need to do much to get to the edge. Gina put her hand over her clit, rubbing in time with my thrusts. Even though I was on the edge, it was difficult to get over, and my thrusts became harder, faster, less considerate. My face was next to Gina's ears, and I was breathing loud, the sound of the spit collecting in my mouth noisy and primal. Gina cried out as I pushed harder into her, the sound of my hips hitting her ass loud and and sharp.

My mind flashed back to the time with Lynn right before she left, when I took her from behind and was intentionally rough. The feeling of power over her, the feeling of having this body at my disposal, for my pleasure, that feeling set me off. I growled as I pushed one last time into her, pulling her hard against me. I heard Gina cry out and clench her legs, and I pulled back to thrust again. As I finished cumming, my body was tense and tight, still forcing Gina's body hard against me.

Eventually, I was able to relax and start breathing normally. I held her gently around the waist and buried my face in her hair. "That was...intense," I said. "It wasn't too much, was it?" I was worried I may have hurt her at the end.

Gina laughed softly, "No, babe. I came with you at the end. You were like an animal."

I breathed a sigh, then pulled out with the condom on. We got cleaned up and dug into the pizza, Gina starting the movie again. The plot seemed too predictable, even for the genre. Two-thirds of the way through and the couple seemed like they had overcome their obstacles and would end up together. But then he got killed in a car wreck- I guess that was the "drama" part of the romantic drama. I was suddenly a bit more interested in the story. However, to my surprise, Gina picked up the remote and abruptly turned the movie off.

"I'm kind of done with this, OK?" It wasn't really a question. We had both finished eating, and she stood up to take the extra pizza to the fridge. It was then that I noticed that she still had nothing on below her waist. I got up and followed her to the kitchen, picking her pants up off the floor and bringing them with me.

"Gina...can we talk about something?"

She was tapping her foot nervously as she looked in the fridge. "Can we have sex while we talk?" she said, somewhat playfully, but in earnest.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. We had just finished...

"I think I need a little time to recharge. And I want to talk about something serious first."

Gina gave me a fake pout. "I can be serious while we have sex. I've already got my pants off, Gareth. We're halfway there!"

"Well let's talk first and then see if you still want to have sex with me after."

Gina stopped playing around and gave me a concerned look. Taking her pants from my outstretched hand, she put them on and sat at the kitchen table. I sliced an apple to share while we talked. Gina asked in a serious voice, "You've heard from Lynn, haven't you."

Sitting down and pushing the apples towards her, I said, "No...not that. Not yet, at least. All's quiet on that front. But it does have to do with...her."

Gina sat back and stared at me, her expression worried, maybe a bit resigned, expecting the worst.

"Gina, I...I've told you I love you. I really mean it. And making love to you, well, it's perfect. It's not just sex for me, it's...it's a natural expressing of our relationship."

She looked to the side and seemed to be looking around the room.

"But it's been hard having you here...here in the house."

She turned to look at me with a confused expression.

"Everywhere I go in this house, everywhere I look- it's Lynn. I can't get her out of my head when we're here. You have to understand, there's 9 years of history with her, 7 of those years in this very house. Every corner, every piece of furniture, everything reminds me of her. I can't...I can't even make a piece of toast without remembering the shopping trip we took to buy that toaster, and the silly argument over whether to get one with 2 or 4 slots."

"So get a new god damn toaster, Gareth! I'll buy one for you!" Gina was, understandably, upset.

"It's not that simple, Gina. It's not just the toaster. It's the bed, the couch, the stairs, the artwork, the shower. We'll be lying in bed, you sleeping in my arms, and I catch sight of the window blinds and remember a story. Or the light fixture. Or...or everything. It's fucked up, Gina. Really fucked up." I had wanted to stay calm, but I was getting angry- not at Gina or at Lynn or even myself. Just angry.

"I can't even have a simple meal here with the woman I love without my ex-wife getting in my head! She never really left...she's left the house but she hasn't left here!" I said, tapping the side of my head.

"And it didn't bother me before, because I was alone. And it didn't matter that she was still haunting me. Back then I thought my only hope for happiness was if or when Lynn came back." I started choking up a little. "But you changed that Gina. You showed me that Lynn wasn't my only chance. And what makes me so angry about all this is that it's not fair to you. I want to be thinking about you and making memories with you. When we're making love, I don't want to suddenly be reminded of why Lynn insisted on buying a certain style of pillow for our bed. I want to be with you. Not just with my body, but with...with all of me."

Gina was scowling and bouncing her leg impatiently. "So now what? It's not like you're going to move, right? Are you saying you have to choose between me and the house?"

Getting past the tears that had tried to assert themselves, I got back onto my script. "No...not at all. I choose you Gina. Hands down, it's you. But I don't think we can keep spending so much time here. It's messing with my head and it's not fair to you."

"Phrase it how you want. It sounds to me like you're saying you don't want me here." God, she was twisting my meanings. I hated when Lynn would do that- twist my words to make them mean something I never intended, and then get angry at me for something I had never said or meant. And here Gina was doing the same thing. I tried to control my temper- with Lynn it had gotten to where I would just storm out whenever she started skewing things and making accusations.

"It's not that I don't want you here. It's...it's that I don't want to be here without you."

"Well it's not like we have a lot of options, professor! My place is out. What are we going to do- rent hourly rooms at cheap hotels? Or are you going to get another apartment to house your mistress?"

Wow. I guess this was our first real argument, and I was seeing a nasty side to Gina. I had expected some vitriol, though. That or else tears. I continued.

"I have some ideas. First, I think we should spend next weekend at a nice hotel. Really nice. My treat. I'm a practically single man making enough money to support a family, so it's not a big deal. We'll go somewhere and be free to be a couple the whole time. And we'll spoil ourselves with spa treatments, and room service, and anything else we want."

"I'm not a gold-digger, Gareth. I don't want you to buy time with me."

"I'm not. We can got to a cheap motel if you prefer. I just want us to get away and be somewhere that is special for just us. Somewhere that Lynn's memory won't get between us. Somewhere that we can be free to be together- at dinner, dancing, swimming, whatever."

"Well, that's one idea. I think I could be persuaded. What else are you thinking?" I was glad to see she was not completely rejecting me yet.

"Well, your half-marathon is coming up in April. I thought I could take a few days off and we could make a long weekend of it."

"That would be nice- but you'd mostly be giving me leg rubs. You know that, right?" She was definitely softening.

"And here's the thing. I need to get used to the idea that Lynn might not ever be coming back. I'm going to see a lawyer this week to start that process. And...I think I can start giving this place a make-over."

Gina raised one eyebrow in disbelief and crunched an apple slice in her mouth.

"Really. Like- new furniture and appliances, take down all the pictures and put up new ones..." I looked at her hopefully, "Make some new ones. Repaint, even get the bathroom and kitchen redone."

"Can I throw the toaster out the window?"

"When the time comes, you may personally chuck it out the window and into the street."

"Thank you."

"But that's a big step...no, not the toaster...the home...make-over. So first I need to get the legal aspect of my marriage worked out. So these ideas- hotels, blankets by the lake..." Gina's eyes lit up a little at that suggestion, "they're just temporary measures. I don't know how long you're planning to stick with me, Gina, but I'm prepared to make some longer-term decisions."

At the mention of long-term plans, Gina looked away. "I can't promise you anything, Gareth. Don't make any decisions based on me. But it sounds like you need to do these things for yourself, anyway, if you're ever going to be happy again."

"I am happy, Gina. Oh! And there's one more thing." I hopped up to get a flyer from a cabinet drawer. I had intentionally saved this for last. "I wasn't planning on going to this, but now it's starting to look like a good idea."

Gina read from the flyer. "International Symposium on Hotel Art? Gareth, that sounds like the most boring event in the world. You would actually go to this?"

I laughed, "I think they invite every art professor and author and expert in the world, hoping a few will show up. It looks boring as hell, even for me. And even if I went, I would probably skip most of it."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"It's next month, during the school's spring break. It's in Key West. My flight, room, and meals are reimbursable as a business expense if I agree to speak at a seminar there. I wondered if you had any plans, because I'd be happy to pay for your flight. You'd have to pretend to be my wife for the week, but I don't think that'll be a problem."

"Spring break...in Key West...together?" She asked in disbelief.

"That's the offer. If you're not too mad at me for banishing us from the house. And if you...you know, don't have any other plans."

Gina jumped up and gave an uncharacteristic squeal. Still gripping the flyer, she climbed onto my lap and covered me with kisses.

"Now can we have sex?" she asked.

"Yes, baby. Now, you may have sex with me." She playfully swatted my shoulder, then led the way upstairs for the night.