Catch and Release

Is coming on his hand naughty? Grace wanted to ask but instead she shook her head and said abruptly, "No!"

"Good," Jules said and took a swig of his beer. "He's a heartbreaker. Don't get involved with him. He doesn't stick. He's got a new woman every couple of months."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Gracie honey, he's not for you. Anyway you've got your gorgeous doctor so you don't need Drew."

From the pocket of her shorts Grace's Blackberry sounded another message.

Sleeping in on-call room. Not home tonight.

Reading Brent's message she was again neither surprised nor disappointed.

"Bad Message?" Jules asked, leaning closer and touching a comforting hand to her arm.

"No. It's just that Brent won't be home tonight."

"So I can stay!" Jules' face broke out in another of those devastatingly cute grins.

To her surprise Grace found herself nodding—agreeing before she'd even thought about it. She never did that. She pondered, thought through consequences and all possible ramifications of all decisions. She never instantly agreed to anything—anything other than Jules Starling—or Drew Maxwell— it seemed.

"Sleep over!" Jules said pumping a fist in the air. "Chick flicks, junk food and gossip! It'll be totally awesome!"

"What about clothes?"

"I'll wear yours," Jules said and then broke into raucous laughter. "Oh your face Gracie. Your face…" he spluttered between laughter. "Honey, I'm not gonna dress in your intimates. I was just playing with you. I've got a spare shirt in the car and I'll just sleep in my boxers."

"Oh good," Grace said. Her face still burning red from the idea of Jules in her clothes.

"You are such an innocent aren't you?"

"And you're such a man of the world?"

"Oooh she wounds," Jules said and brought a dramatic hand to his chest as if in pain, "I know I'm way more worldly than you honey."

"Really?" Grace infused all her Connecticut ice into that one word.

"Gracie, I love it when you get all Ice Queen on me. Oh, calm down. I can see your feathers are all ruffled honey and I know the perfect way to fix this."

"What?"

"Well, it is a sleep over so it's only fitting that we play games. And I have the perfect game."

"What?"

"It's called I never. Have you ever played it?"

Grace shook her head and in doing so found that she was a little light headed. More tipsy than drunk, but still alcohol affected in a way she hadn't been in years. It was the heat. It was easier to drink in the heat.

"Well, what we do is this. We each make a statement that starts with 'I never' and if the other person's done it they have to admit it and drink up."

"Like what?" Grace said, a little confused.

"Something like mmm, I've never given a blow job in public. If you've done that well then you drink." Jules looked at her pointedly and waited for a moment before saying, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You either have to drink or say I never."

"Oh, OK then," Grace slowly brought her wine glass up to her lips and watched Jules' eyes bug out in shock and then when he actually gasped she said, "I never."

"Oh you filthy tease Gracie Hawthorne. You had me going there!" Jules slumped back in his chair and brought a hand up to his chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"So have you?"

"Of course not, that's why I said I never."

"Oh, OK I get the game now. Is it my turn?"

Jules nodded and Grace thought for a moment before saying, "I've never had sex with a girl."

She watched Jules intently; he turned to face her and placed his beer down on the arm of his chair in a slow deliberate action. "Really?" she questioned, "Never. Not even a fumbling awful first time?"

Jules shook his head.

"Wow. OK, so what next worldly guy?"

Over the next couple of hours as they got progressively drunker Grace shared more with Jules than she had with anyone ever—even more than the Therapist her parents had forced upon her at sixteen. Grace had come to realize while in therapy that her parents had not sent her because they thought anything particularly wrong with her, they just didn't want to risk the possibility of her actually speaking to them.

Jules ordered a pizza after declaring that without food he could no longer continue. After they'd eaten Grace cleaned up and discarded the pizza box—even debauched and drunk she still could not shake her need to be tidy.

How proud her mother would be.

She returned to find Jules, shirt and shoes off and his legs sprawled out over the arms of the Adirondack chair. She paused at the doorway to look her fill. His chest was lean, but beautifully defined—golden skin stretched across young taut muscle. A line of dark honey hair trailed down from his belly button to the low waistband of his jeans. The first button was undone and she could see the black band of his boxers. Unaware of her perusal he brought a lazy hand down to scratch his belly. Seeing those long fingers move across the muscle made her mouth water and sent a spike of heat down to throb between her legs.

What was she doing? Ogling Jules? He was gay and ten years younger than her. What on earth was she thinking?

He looked back over his shoulder at her still standing in the doorway and shot her another of his devastating grins. He moved from his sprawl and sat up. Holding out his hand—the one that had been playing on his belly to her he said, "Come back Gracie, I've missed you."

Why did that make her heart skip?

On legs unsteady—more from lust than alcohol—she returned to the chair beside Jules and vowed to herself to stop both ogling and drinking. After she'd settled back into her chair he turned to her and with wicked sparkling eyes said, "Last one, I've never kissed a girl."

Resigned to her fate of already breaking her vow Grace brought her wine glass up to her lips and took a drink.

Jules squealed, a sound so high that the neighbor's dogs began to bark in protest. "I cannot believe it! Incredible. I must know everything. Tell me. Tell me now!"

Grace shrugged and said, "There's not much to tell really, it was a summer camp dare. It's a personal failing of mine that I can't back down from a dare. So I did it."

"Did you like it?"

"Not really. She had braces and they caught on my lip."

Jules winced and brought a hand up to his mouth.

"What about you? I understand the never having sex bit, but you've really never just kissed a girl?"

Jules shook his head.

"Have you ever wanted to?"

Jules went to shake his head again, but stopped mid shake, met her eyes briefly and then looked down and nodded. He looked so vulnerable that Grace leaned closer and placed her hand gently on his forearm. "You should have asked her. You're so gorgeous Jules, I'm sure she would have loved to kiss you."

"Really?" He looked up and breathed the word. That's when Grace realized how close she was to him, close enough to feel his warm breath on her lips. She ran her tongue across the bottom lip that was still tingling from the feeling of his breath and said, "Yes."

"Good," he said and before Grace had time to think his mouth was on hers. It was fumbling at first; he came in too fast and bumped hard against her bottom lip painfully pressing the soft flesh against her teeth. She thought that it might end like that but he mumbled an apology against her lips and trailed his tongue across the bruised skin before sucking it into his mouth.

She opened to him. Giving and taking.

He tasted malty, like beer. Beer, man and sex. She wanted. Wanted with an intensity that overtook her—overrode all conscious thought. She moved on instinct. Following a primal need to taste this man.

As her tongue slicked against his she felt aftershocks reverberate through her body. Her nipples, taut and aching, longed for the flick of his tongue, the feeling of his teeth. At the thought of him sucking her nipples she couldn't help the moan. It came from deep within; it rose up, surged through her body and erupted into his mouth. The sound seemed to fuel him; he speared his fingers into her hair and pulled her closer. She straddled the arms of the chair, moving across until she was over him, her knees astride his hips.

As his lips moved against hers she let loose her hands, running her fingers through the trail of burnt honey hair on his abdomen. His stomach muscles contracted under her fingers and he groaned into her mouth. When her fingers moved down to touch the hard shaft of his erection they both stopped. He shifted back up in the chair away from her and she moved her hands to grip the arms of the chair.

He was panting and looking up at her with a mixture of shock and lust that made him seem even younger than his twenty four years.

"Grace," his voice came out husky, lust tinged.

She went to shift her legs, move off his chair but he grabbed her arm and shook his head. So she stayed—stayed hovering over him on her knees, feeling like a fool. "I'm sorry Jules."

"I'm not. I'm a little freaked, but I'm not sorry. I wanted that."

"I wanted it too," Grace said, feeling ashamed and sickly predatory as she looked into his young and oh so vulnerable gaze.

Jules pulled her down until she was sitting on his lap. He moved his hand to her hair, tucking it behind her ear and crooned, "Don't. Don't feel bad Gracie. Please."

Grace curled into his lap and let her head fall down to his chest. As he spoke she felt the words rumble under her ear. "I've wanted to do that for some time now. I don't know why, but I just wanted to kiss you. Needed to kiss you. I'm glad you're my first."

"Me too."

"Can I stay the night?"

Startled by the question Grace sat up.

"Not to fuck Gracie. Just to lay with you. Cuddle maybe?"

He looked so sweet, so earnest that Grace felt she couldn't deny him that simple comfort. She nodded, stood and held out her hand. They didn't speak as she led him into the bedroom. She left him there and went through her nighttime bathroom ritual in a daze. When she got back to her room he was curled up on the bed, she lay down behind him and snuggled into his back. He pressed back against her until her breasts were pushed against him. She felt him sigh and she laid her arm around him and splayed her hand across his chest until she could feel the steady beat of his heart under her fingertips.

Only then, when he was deeply asleep beside her did she admit to herself that she wanted this as much as him.

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Hope you enjoyed that, any and all comments appreciated. Ratings even more. Thanks for reading.

Darcy Sweet.