Blenheim

"Yannick, stop," she breathed. He immediately sat up like a meerkat. "I'm sorry," she apologised, feeling like an idiot. "I haven't—I mean, I want this, and I want you, and I know I said I wouldn't regret it, and I won't—"

"Hey, hey, slow down," Yannick told her, pulling her higher up onto the bed and then propping himself next to her. "Even if you want to stop right now and have me leave, I'm not going to feel any different about you, Xia." That's when her eyes betrayed her and forcefully pushed out tears.

"Dammit, this is so hard," she choked out in a partial laugh.

"I want to say, 'that's what she said,' but..." Yannick was relieved when she choked out a chuckle, despite the tears still rolling toward her hairline. "Is it too soon?"

"No," she replied, the word muffled by her hands on her face. That part she was sure about. "I just didn't think I'd react this way when a man wanted me again."

"Xia, every guy in that bar tonight wanted you. One even called me a lucky bastard when I gave him his free drink. I think somewhere along the line, you stopped letting yourself notice."

She allowed him a little smile, then curled into his arms with a sense of intimacy that made her mouth on his cock feel like an innocent peck. Yannick was in orbit when he exhaled into her kitten-soft hair, then held her tight against his chest.

"It's not too soon," she averred. "But it was a little fast."

He nodded before taking her face between his hands and gently kissing her. When her hands began to explore his abs and lower back, he let his palm cup her rear while his lips traveled down her neck.

Yannick was encouraged when Xia strained to reach her dress zipper, which he happily got for her. He was further encouraged when she gave him a little nod and smile after he looked questioningly up at her while fingering her bra clasp.

And then the nipples that had pushed against her camisole one of the first mornings he'd shown up on her doorstep, were blissfully in his mouth. Go slow, he admonished himself while trying hard to not let his teeth graze her delicate, tanned skin. But after a few more seconds of gently gnawing at her breasts, Xia's fingernails drew themselves down his back.

"You're teasing me," she whimpered, her head thrown back. Yannick smirked to himself at the realization that less, was in fact, more. Lifting her up so he could toss aside her dress and bra, he allowed his thumbs to absentmindedly play with her nipples while taking his sweet time kissing her ribs and stomach.

When she started to coo, he was sure she was ready. Gingerly, he slipped his tongue inside her again, his hands holding her thighs apart where her stockings ended. Xia writhed against the pillow but her eyes fluttered and her lips turned upward at the corners.

"Yannick," she breathed when she felt two fingers push into her while her lover's mouth surrounded her clit. "Mmmmm... Yannick..." Her voice was more urgent this time, but he refused to speed up just yet. It was only when Xia's strappy heels crept up onto his shoulders that he let himself eat her like a peach.

Her elated screams resonated through the upstairs hallway, and Yannick didn't let up until they turned into whimpers. As soon as she opened her eyes and lazily smiled at him, her hands drifted to his cock.

"Go easy on me?" she asked after he'd rolled on the condom. Yannick was sure he was dreaming when she kissed the corner of his mouth before scooching down and wrapping a leg around his waist.

He eased into her during the first few inches, and Xia was a bit surprised he didn't feel much different from Ross or any other man she'd been with. But when it didn't stop after six or even eight inches, she couldn't help but mew against his neck and wriggle beneath him.

"Too much too fast?" he seemed calm but there was a touch of alarm in his voice.

"No, you're amazing," she murmured, scratching his chest. After a few moments of kissing him and letting herself get used to his girth, she made him lose his mind again with just two words.

"Go faster?"

His inhibitions fell away with every thrust—first gently, then more frenzied when Xia's eyes drifted shut again and her mouth fell open while she gripped the sheets. Her heels scraped his lower back but Yannick was far, far away from caring.

When she finally wailed his name, he buried his face in her hair and let himself go inside her, needing all of himself to be totally consumed by her.

The absence of light pollution in the countryside made the darkness they lay in extra inky. It was only when the motion detectors outside got triggered by a wild animal that Yannick caught glimpses of Xia's beautiful form. Then, she shocked him yet again.

"You met Adrienne right after your dad was killed, didn't you?"

The room was still yet again as he wondered how to respond.

"I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I last had sex and I don't remember what people usually talk about," she continued, prompting him to smile.

"So that's what El and Nancy told you while I was tending bar, huh?"

"Not about her, but about what you went through after... after."

"Yeeeeahhh," he said, scrambling up as he felt himself—and the condom—slipping out of her. "Hold on," he stopped himself as he ducked into the bathroom. On his way back out, he grabbed the tiny flashlight he kept in his overnight bag and set it on the nightstand, letting it illuminate the ceiling.

"You weren't wrong last night while we were watching the movie and you mentioned trauma-bonding. That's what it was. Dad was killed and it felt like we barely had anyone in this town. She was one of the few.

"Then when she left—it was long overdue and something I kept prolonging—I kind of lost it that she'd outgrown me."

"It's okay for things to end," Xia said as he pulled her against his chest. "It doesn't mean it was a waste of your time. I think it just means you've learned what you needed to learn from each other."

"Is that what you felt when your marriage ended?"

"Okay, enough with the personal attacks," she wrinkled her nose.

"You know," Yannick muttered against her neck, making her shiver, "I like looking at you all disheveled like this."

"Stay the night and I promise I'll be disheveled all tomorrow. I have to move out the following day so we should..."

It suddenly clicked.

"Xia," he started, "what was this to you?" She stared back at him, her eyes widening just a touch. "I would really, really like this to not just be about sex. But I feel like the timing that you chose to spend the night with me is..."

"Yann," she stopped him. "I don't want you to think I'm using you. But you're not wrong about the timing." Xia's heart pounded with anxiety. She couldn't believe he didn't just want sex with her.

"It's been obvious for a while I wouldn't be staying in town, so ultimately the choice was between not starting anything at all, or not having regrets that we could have shared something no matter how brief." She studied his face as he considered her words. "I'm so sorry," she rushed on, feeling more naked now than she already was, if that was possible.

"No, no, I get it," Yannick rested his hand on hers, still warmed at how she addressed him the same way his family did. She cared about him too and he knew it, but he wasn't about to push her in a direction she wasn't ready to go.

"If this is all you want," he said, "just tonight and tomorrow, and that's it, I can respect that."

"It's not what I want. But what I don't want is to start off in a long-distance relationship with you and then fizzle out. I'm not trying to spin it to justify using you... but I want this to remain special."

"I'm not sure you realise this," Yannick smiled as he scooted down the bed and freed her of her heels and stockings, "but there are more guys out there than you think who are totally fine with being used for sex by a gorgeous woman."

He kissed up her right calf, licked the delicate part behind her knee, then kept kissing up her inner thigh. Xia knew where he was headed and she wanted it. But what she wanted more was to have him fill her again. She pulled herself up and backward into a sit, then straddled her lover's hips and gently rocked him onto his back.

"You really don't mind getting used?" she whispered as her mouth grazed his stiffening cock. Yannick found himself unable to respond as his breath stopped in his throat. The combination of her holding his wrists and also nipping at his tip was so strangely intimate that it brought everything in his brain to a halt.

He tried to push aside the abysmal thought that she'd be gone soon and this night was all they had.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Xia squinted at the packing tape just before noon two mornings later, running her nails along the plastic in a futile attempt to find the edge.

"Dammit," she muttered when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Without even thinking, she put it on speaker. "Hello?" she bit off.

"Oh wow, you don't actually want to do this move, huh?" her sister's voice rang out.

"Cel, your aggravation is not what I need right now."

"Which is why I'm calling in a last-ditch attempt to talk some reason into you. You can unpack your car right now and stay with Prince Charming. Just rent another place nearby."

"Wow, spoken like a true Torontonian who's clueless about anything west of Oakville," Xia rolled her eyes. "This is Blenheim, not East York! It's not even Ajax where you might have a few apartment buildings to choose from." Celeste snorted.

"Well, look at you, all small-town after, what? Three months? What I'm saying is, Yannick loves you, he has a successful career, a supportive family, and a big dick. Stay for that!"

Xia really, really wished she hadn't been on such a high after her 24 hours in bed with Yannick that she'd gleefully called her sister last night and spilled everything in an uncharacteristic move. She couldn't even remember the order in which they'd ravaged each other—the time she rode him, to the time he'd bent her over a stack of pillows, to the time she bounced in his lap while he panted against her jawline.

It had all imprinted in her mind as a massive clusterfuck, in the truest, most glorious sense of the word. They'd stopped to shower and eat together, right after Yannick had texted Elijah that he was calling in sick. His wry smile upon getting his cousin's response made it clear El had known what was what.

Finally, when the night fell again, Xia felt like their time together was ticking away. It was what they'd agreed upon, just the 24 hours, and she didn't want to extend it and postpone their goodbye.

"Xia," Yannick had told her at the door when he'd had his bag packed, "This is what you said you wanted, so you shouldn't be looking so sad right now." She'd been expecting him to tell her he'd always remember her or some other sappy shit, so the observation made her smile unwittingly.

"For what it's worth," he'd added as he held her close, "I don't think this is over."

How not? she'd wondered. Hell, she was still wondering that same thing now while on the phone with her sister, her car filled to the brim.

"A big dick?" Xia asked Celeste. "Yeah, because that's an accomplishment he strived toward." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "That's the genetic lottery. He didn't do 100 push-ups a day to achieve his dong." Celeste started giggling and Xia hated how her sister's laugh was infectious.

"At least, I sure hope not," Celeste finished before they both broke down in snickers, the tension effectively broken. "Look, the most important reason is that you noticeably love him, no matter how hard you try to hide it. Xia... Yannick isn't Ross."

Ouch. She just had to say that part. There were so many ways this could go wrong. The doubt pounded away like a bass drum in Xia's head, the way it did ever since she felt the first inklings of attraction toward Yannick. She'd failed at fooling herself into believing she could emotionally detach after a one-night stand. She couldn't let herself continue to obsess over it.

"I've decided, Cel," she said. "The car's almost packed. I'll finish up and be there before dark."

"And Yannick?"

"Well, I got your papers yesterday morning, and dropped them off to his office first thing today. Luckily, only Elijah was there so he and I said our goodbyes and I thanked him on behalf of you and mom, too." Xia could almost hear Celeste's eyes rolling as the younger woman let out a beleaguered sigh.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

***Epilogue, 2 months later***

"Hey," Celeste's voice was rife with concern as it came through Xia's phone, "you didn't text me back. My Cousin Vinny starts in an hour. Can I pick you up?"

"How many times have we seen that movie, Cel?" Xia asked. She only heard how weary her voice sounded when it actually came out of her mouth.

"That's the point! I'm going to wear my t-shirt that says, 'The two whut? The two yoots' on it. And we can whisper the dialogue to each other, especially when Marisa Tomei shows everyone how she deserved her Oscar..." Celeste sighed. "Xia, you can still visit each other."

"I know, Cel, I know. It's not high school and I'm way too old to be brooding over a boy. But a long-distance relationship isn't practical, especially without an end date. I couldn't stay in Blenheim if it wasn't in yéye's house, and I couldn't ask Yannick to pick up his life and move just to date me."

The chime at the door gave Xia the perfect reason to cut this call short, and tend to one of many deliveries she was expecting while she set up her new townhouse. The first month living with her sister had been fun, but she needed her space. Especially when she knew she'd be moping around far more than Celeste would allow her to.

She squinted through the frosted window, only able to make out the delivery man's shadowy form, then pulled open the heavy wooden door.

"Hi—" Xia's phone and jaw both dropped to the tile upon seeing Yannick standing on her porch. He smiled that striking smile while she was still in shock, then raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you've got another guy in there."

"No—oh my god, no," she said, pulling him in from the frigid January wind. "How are you—your work—have you been talking to my sister?" Her brain tripped over itself as it raced to a conclusion.

"I'm well, my work is sort of paused right now, and not for a couple of months," he smoothly replied as he took off his winter jacket. "But the last text I got from her did say if I ever thought of getting out of Blenheim, she'd be happy to help me make the move."

Of course it did, Xia thought, her confusion clouding her elation that the man she'd missed for months was standing right in front of her. She plunged herself into his arms, her heart pounding through her sweater as it tried to touch his.

Yannick sighed into her hair, blissfully at peace after the snowy three-hour drive he'd just endured. As she scampered into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, he followed and told her about the plans he'd been turning over in his head even before they'd met.

"El was the one who gave me the push, saying he'd be there if I decided I didn't like the GTA after all. I'll be honest, I wavered on it until your sister said you'd like it if I was here, too."

She wasn't wrong, Xia thought as she wrapped her arms around Yannick's torso once again while the coffee maker gurgled. At least one of them was brave enough to say the quiet part out loud.

"But it's the only place you've ever known," she looked up at him.

"Exactly. It's the only place I've ever known and I was sick of it. Who knows, maybe after navigating the big city I'll understand I was actually a small-town boy all along and move back. But I don't want to go through life not knowing which one I'd pick, given the choice." He gingerly leaned forward, put his palm along Xia's jaw, and kissed her forehead.

"And I definitely don't want to go through life not knowing how things would have turned out with you."

Xia turned her face so that her nose brushed against his, then took Yannick's lips in her own.

"Where are you staying?"

"One of those long-stay motels in... Rexdale, I think? Is that Etobicoke? I'm not sure where one of them ends and the other begins."

"Welcome to the club," Xia grinned. "Also, no you're not. Staying in a motel, I mean. If you've already checked in, let's go for a drive and bring your stuff back here."

"Xia, no, that's not why I stopped by."

"I'm not inviting you for you; I want you here for me," she insisted. "Wouldn't it needlessly complicate everything for you to stay at a motel when you could look for work from here and then spend the rest of the time in bed with me? I'm just eliminating the commute."

"Wait, what was that part in the middle?" Yannick grinned while tightening his arms around her shoulders. "I already have a job with a commercial realty group. I just have to learn the area so I'll probably be out and about all day."

"And then come home to bed with me?" Xia purred in his ear. Yannick laughed.

"Who even are you?" he dragged her down to the couch with him and sat her on his lap, forgetting all about the coffee. "You barely acknowledged me the first couple months we knew each other and you went from that to..." Xia sighed and slipped down to the cushions but kept her legs on his lap.

"I was numb," she said. "Just getting through another day and going through the motions, waiting until I felt something again. Believe it or not, the brick incident and then the anthrax scare reminded me of what it was like to feel alive."

"Just those two events?"

"I mean," Xia blushed, recalling how her legs flailed as Yannick pinned her beneath him in her farmhouse bedroom. "Up until that point, of course." She straddled her boyfriend and explored his mouth with hers until he gave up and let his head hit the backrest.

"Hold on," she pulled back. "Have you seen My Cousin Vinny?"

"Does us having sex depend on it? If so, yes." Her eyes crinkled in the corners as she smiled, and Yannick took in how unassumingly lovely she was.

"True story," he started. "Every time I was at El's and Nancy's at breakfast and one of them was making grits, they'd throw something at me because I kept yelling, 'how could it take you five minutes to cook your grits, when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes?!'" I know I shouldn't have said it every time but—" He was cut off when Xia grabbed his collar and kissed him again.

"I'm so glad you're here," she whispered against his neck, burying her fingers in his hair.

"Same, gorgeous," he murmured into the smooth skin of her cheek. "Same."

"How do you feel about meeting my sister right now?"

"So no sex?"

"No sex right now," Xia grinned. "Sex all night long until you beg me to unlock your cuffs."

"Holy shit, Xia, I was just kidding." This was an unexpected side of the woman who he'd thought had been the most reserved person he'd ever met. But he was thrilled to be able to discover her all over again. "Of course I'd love to meet Celeste."

"Let me text her and tell her we'll meet her at the movie theatre after all. She'll be so excited." Xia felt invigorated as she went to find her purse, then ran upstairs to get her jacket. When she returned, Yannick was standing in her doorway and smiling as he held out a few envelopes.

"Got your mail."

***END***