Faultless Pt. 02

He looked over and nodded at that. "Well reasoned. I also think the nature of the way we'll grow together means that dynamic is always going to be there. Even little things I already do like ordering for you when you can't decide or organising where we go, I think it'll move us into that space naturally now we're involved. It's perhaps just how explicit we make it."

We walked towards an empty bench close to HMS Belfast, a World War Two ship that was now a tourist attraction on the River Thames. Nobody stopped to look at it at that time of night so we could talk freely. Mike sat beside me, and he tucked my hair over my shoulder so it wouldn't get dirty from the bench. He then put his arm around me, holding my other hand as he did so, and I felt very secure with the way he was taking care of me. It was being looked after but not fawned over.

I weighed up my words for a minute. "It feels different because I know there's a line with you and a natural power dynamic. I don't just mean physically," I clarified, wanting him to understand that point in particular.

He was looking at me with a lot of love and understanding but kept silent, giving me my space.

"I think that's going to give me a lot of freedom to be the kind of person I want to be in a relationship because I know that line exists. I know you'll keep me in it. With my exes, I haven't felt like a line existed and I always felt like it couldn't because of the pedestal they put me on. How could someone keep me in line if they were always willing to move it to keep me happy?"

I paused again and glanced ahead, somewhat embarrassed as I spoke that I hadn't found anyone that met what I needed until the man I'd known since we were teenagers; who was now staring at me intensely. "So how could I be bratty and sassy when I didn't find them strong enough to handle it? Or submissive when I didn't trust them to take charge in the right way? So I reverted back to being classy & restrained because it's more comfortable, I guess. With you, I can push it and I want to give myself to you because of it."

I finished and looked over at him for his reaction now I'd told him it was what I wanted.

I could see him processing the needs I'd vocalised, working out what it meant for him. "Wow, you've done a lot of thinking Lils."

"I had to. The power of what I feel for you, I needed to understand it." I took a deep breath and added to the other part of my thinking. "It's going to be something that'll evolve over time, and I know that. Things don't need to change; we just need to let them naturally evolve. Maybe we push things along a little bit sometimes, like we did with the spanking, but generally it feels like if we do nothing at all to influence it, I still feel like I'll end up being in the relationship I've wanted to be in. That's why I'm so into you, that's what you give me."

At that, he leaned over and kissed me. It was another kiss where he took charge of it as soon as he felt me giving him that power. His tongue entered my mouth, and his lips were strong and sensual on mine, his arm holding me into it. It didn't matter to me that we were in public, although it should have. He pulled away slowly, our lips still pressing together until the very last moment. I was still getting used to being kissed by Mike and with such passion but damn, it was good.

"See what I mean?" I asked.

He nodded. "It feels like something else, doesn't it?"

I looked away, completely flustered. "Never in my life..." I trailed off. He understood.

_

In the end, the meal was good, the company was even better, and the conversation was the most intimate I'd ever had with a partner. For a first official date, nothing had really changed, but then everything had.

For one, Mike stayed over that night. I drove him back to his to pack a bag and coolly suggested he pack a lot as I wanted him to stay over a lot. "Only if you do the same for here," he replied with a grin.

When we got back to my apartment, I couldn't rest until Mike had space in my wardrobe and a bathroom shelf for his toiletries. Maybe it would have seemed too soon for some, but I didn't plan to spend a night away from him and I wanted him to feel at home. Plus, when you're folding away non-iron dresses, you know it's serious.

Mike just chuckled as he followed me about through the orientation tour of his new living space. Then he thanked me, picked me up and kissed me, then took me to bed.

By the end of the weekend, we were behaving as though we were a couple who had been in a relationship for months. It was all very relaxed and easy. Even for me, adjusting to having Mike in my home so much was effortless. He was tidy and well-trained - he put the toilet seat down after use and cleaned up to my standards after a shave, passing my 'joking but really not joking' inspection afterwards. He didn't even laugh at my exuberant amount of skin care or how much time I spent on self-care each night. He probably could have teased me about it, but it felt like he knew I was self-conscious of it.

"You know my looks are going to fade, right?" I asked him at the end of the weekend, voicing the worry that I always kept with me.

He smiled at me as though he knew a secret I didn't. "Lily, I'm not with you for your looks. Out of everyone you've ever dated, I'd bet good money that your looks are way further down my list of reasons for dating you than it was for them."

I blushed. He had this really bizarre but genuine way of complimenting me that just worked. There was no rehearsed words or lines, he just said it as he saw it.

The thing that really got me though, was the way Mike looked at me, even when he thought I wasn't looking. It was as though he couldn't believe this was happening. When we got into bed every night, I was the little spoon but before he wrapped his arms around me, we would face each other and kiss. Mike would pull away and look at me in awe and I would turn over and spoon into him feeling unbelievably secure with myself.

We spent that weekend as a couple would. I slept in, because Mike had this weird fucking routine where even at the weekend, he liked to be up and doing some calisthenics before mapping out his day. I was a planner and lists were my thing, so I found it quite hot that there was a plan for the day when I climbed out of bed. I rarely ate breakfast because well, I was shit with food, but he talked me into at least having fruit for breakfast, which I was willing to try.

We went out for lunch on the Saturday. Afterwards, we went on a shopping trip so I could get the food he liked and double up on ingredients for the week. Then we went back home and made love before we cuddled and watched movies after cooking dinner together. Life was that mundanely amazing. I was struck by the fact that neither of us checked our phones the entire day, we were so engrossed in being together.

On the Sunday, I realised what I was missing out on by staying in bed after Mike got up. I watched him do press-ups on my living room floor while I leaned against the doorway, sans bra, drinking a coffee and biting my lip as I watched his muscles stretch.

When we made a joint list for the day, I casually asked if he was going to add sex to the list or if that was just going to happen organically.

"Well, you took the romance out of asking you out, so I was hoping to at least keep a little spontaneity in when we had sex," he quipped, squeezing my bum teasingly.

"Is anything stopping you right now, Boss?" I wondered aloud.

Within a couple of minutes, he was inside me as we lay on the sofa, where he decided to pound me relentlessly through an orgasm. It was the first time I'd ever had sex outside of a bed, not even kidding. I wasn't quite able to let-go though as when it came to orgasm-time, I couldn't risk his cum leaking out of me onto the fabric (I still had some standards!) so instead I had him pull out and sit back as I moved to my knees for him. I took him into my mouth and started stroking him.

"How do you taste?" Mike just about gasped out.

I hadn't even thought about it, it was all so new. "Nice," I admitted a few seconds after realising the sweet taste was me. I knew right then I'd be tasting myself on him a lot.

I jerked him into my mouth while he came, groaning his release. Like the sexually-liberated woman I was becoming, I waited for him to look down at me and then holding eye-contact, I swallowed. Unsurprisingly, another first.

"Good girl," he praised. Holy fucking shit did that get to me.

I spent the next couple of minutes living out the fantasy he surmised I had. I cleaned his cock after he'd had me. I even kissed his balls to thank them for my treat.

"I think we're going to have to cross-off a lot of that list," he told me after we showered together, "I'm exhausted."

I chucked my towel at him. "I'm the one that gets the pounding, if I feel good enough to play some Crazy Golf then you've got no excuse," I reminded him.

He smirked at me, hanging the towel up in the way I showed him, which threatened to turn me on again. "I notice I do all the work. Do you have something against riding me?"

I blushed. I wondered when he'd make a comment about that though I didn't expect him to realise so soon. "I'm not being lazy, I just really, really love having you in-charge." I gave him the sexiest look I could give him, by way of apology.

He held my stare and then shook himself. "Stop with those eyes, or we won't leave."

We did get ready, though I made sure to do so in the most teasing way possible, letting his eyes feast on me. I waited until we were both dressed and ready to go before I went back to the conversation. "The floor, the wall,"

"Huh?" Mike turned to me in confusion as we got to the door.

I smirked, carrying on. "Bent over the bed, over the counter, over the dining table, against this door. Maybe even in an alleyway or somewhere public if you're very lucky."

"Are you listing out the places that you want us to have sex?" Mike asked with a laugh.

"I'm listing out all of the ways you can fuck me if being on top of me in bed starts to get too boring," I smirked.

He shook his head in wonder again. "What have you done with Lily?"

_

I took him to town on the course, which we played at a big arcade with cocktails as well as crappy but-oh-so-good arcade snacks. "Not my first crazy golf date," I winked when he conceded defeat.

We cooked again on Sunday evening (though it was mostly for him as I was still full from the popcorn and pizza slice earlier) and after re-planning our week so he could work-from-home on Monday and therefore stay over on Sunday night, we made plans to see each other every day that week except Wednesday, where we'd see our respective families. A question hung in the air about when we'd announce we were together, but neither of us voiced it.

I never realised how lonely I was, even when I was in a relationship, until I went to work that week and ached to be back with Mike. It was so obvious to me that I'd found my person and those shameful or embarrassing parts of me that I'd kept hidden were starting to come in from the dark, ready to be embraced by someone who truly cared about the real me.

We didn't need to do the early dates with the endless questions about interests, intentions and life experiences. We instead did things that established couples would and that felt infinitely more comfortable, for both of us. We'd already laid the groundwork by being friends, we just got to know each other a different way. I knew he hadn't dated much, and I'd done too much of the wrong dating, so why bother with that dance?

That didn't mean I wasn't keen to show him I cared. I went to the cinema with him that Tuesday evening to watch one of those crappy Marvel films he loved.

We sat down with popcorn in hand and a bag of sweets for me (I wanted some joy..) and he turned to me as I was biting into a strawberry rope.

"I know it's early days, but I need you to know that I know you Lily," he emphasised, "and I love you," he said, just like that, with me pulling on the chewy sweet and the movie about to start. No grand gesture, he just turned to me and told me he loved me. Before I could even reply, the speakers came on full-blast and drowned out any hope I had.

It was, I reflected, as I cuddled into him in shock and joy, exactly how I'd wanted him to do it. Though maybe it would have been in private so we could have made love. I spent the first 30 minutes of the film thinking about how, for the first time in my life, it felt truly right. I cuddled into his chest, wrapping an arm around him, watching the film at an awkward angle but no matter, I wasn't paying attention. 30 minutes in and I had no idea why they were in space and why a glove mattered so much but I didn't actually care as Mike seemed to be loving it.

During a part of the film that had less loud noise and therefore a slow part, I looked up and kissed him. "I love you too, my man." He later told me I made him miss a crucial scene, my bad. About midway through, I moved my hand down to his lap and I just held onto his package for the rest of the film. It wasn't to tease, though he might have thought so as I felt his jeans become tight underneath my hand. It was a possessiveness I'd never felt for a partner before. This is my man. This is the only cock that I ever want to have in my life again. I've finally found my person.

He took me home and made love to me. I was utterly desperate for it, for the 7th day in a row. I was actually sore from how much we were having sex, which itself turned me on. I was simply intoxicated by him. I couldn't get enough of him physically nor could I hold back the arousal that came from being this sexually liberated.

I don't know why he did it, maybe he knew I needed it, but he spent a lot of time on my breasts as we made love. He licked and sucked my nipples gently, being so delicate with them I was moaning in desperation. I felt weak and needy with the intimacy of the love-making. I couldn't stop moaning and gasping, pleading for more love. He kept a steady rhythm of thrusts, taking us there slowly but surely.

He kept going back to my breasts whenever I let him leave my lips. They were my one area of concern about my body so to have him spend so much time there, felt so reassuring. "Do you really like them?" I asked gently, half-worried about the answer.

He looked up, barely pulling his lips away. "Like them? I love them."

"They're small though," I reminded him shyly.

"For now," he countered.

My mouth hung open. He'd basically just told me I was going to be pregnant in the future. I threw my head back and stared up at the ceiling. I couldn't process that right then, it meant too much to me. I felt him leaving a love-bite on my breast as I started to quite obviously release more of my wetness. He was slick inside me by that point.

"More," I pleaded.

By the time he unloaded inside me, I had four on my breasts and another just below my collar bone. I'd begged him to leave one on my neck, but he rightly reminded me I had work the next day and dinner with my Mum that evening.

She noticed I was happier and asked if I was back with Benjamin who she'd never met but had looked up online and decided was perfect for me.

Naturally, it didn't feel right to tell her that the reason I was so happy was because I was now in a relationship with my best friend, who had covered me in love-marks, left my sex feeling sore and needy, and who had promised to spank me the following evening when I suggested a sore bum was the only thing missing from the feeling of bliss he was giving me.

***

"I think the parking is round the back," Mike suggested, as we entered Eleanor's care home complex a few weeks later.

"I have been here before Boss," I reminded him teasingly.

I followed the road around to the car park behind the building. It had three floors, Eleanor was now on the first, needing to be constantly watched though still with some independence. I hadn't actually seen her since Mike came back from the Middle East, back when she was on the ground floor and able to enjoy being in the garden. I was glad to be there for him now as I knew what it felt like to watch a grandparent slowly lose their life. First with a partner who didn't really care for me more than being on his arm, then alone. Mike insisted I didn't need to start joining his regular visits, but I wanted to. I was stubborn when I wanted to be and won out.

I signed in first at reception and noted the name a couple of rows above. I quickly checked to see if she had signed out. She had.

"Looks like we just missed Megan," I told Mike evenly, wanting to assess how he felt about that.

He peered over. "That's a shame."

"Yeah," I agreed, surprising myself with how disappointed I was not to run into her and briefly wondering if Mike would have introduced me as his girlfriend or not.

We walked in and took the stairs to the first floor. Mike led us to a room towards the end of the hall and we found Eleanor sitting on a chair watching a war film.

"I can tell Megan's been here," Mike whispered with some affection, looking to the window at the fresh flowers and then to his gran, who had her back to us. "Hi Grandma, you okay?"

She jumped with a start having clearly been asleep and turned around. "Oh hello son!" Mike kissed her on the cheek and sat on the bed beside her while I awkwardly stood at the back, shocked by how frail she now looked.

He waved me over and held his hand out, which I took and smiled down at Eleanor, wiping the thoughts from my head. "You remember my girlfriend, Lily, don't you Gran?"

"Yeah," she replied airily. Mike smiled patiently. "Have you seen my handbag?"

That started a 10-minute search of her room, without success. We gave up in the end and after seeing some nail varnish in a drawer, I offered to paint her nails to distract her.

I found myself watching the film depicting a battle on Iwo Jima, while I painted Eleanor's nails on autopilot. Mike slipped out to speak to the staff and I was thinking, yet again, about the scars on his body.

"Who are you then?" Eleanor asked suddenly, making me jump.

She was looking over at me as though seeing me for the first time. I remembered the first time I'd come to the home; she remembered me then. "I'm Mike's girlfriend, Lily. You knew my Nan, Catherine Williams?"

An instant look of recognition lit up her face, which made sense as her long-term memory was better than her short-term one. "Oh, how is she? Lovely lady."

"She's erm, she's good, yeah."

I went back to her nails, trying not to think about it. I felt Mike's hand on my shoulder. He smiled down at me sadly. I shrugged, letting him know I was okay, and it was what it was.

I spent the following hour or so looking at pictures of the past with her. She barely paid Mike any attention and when I looked over, he was smiling at us. "Meg will be jealous, she was always the favourite."

After we left, I turned to face him. "Are we ready to do a double date with Meg and Matt, do you think?"

"I am if you are?"

As it was quiz night, we drove back and got our game faces on, though I struggled to hide my smile.

***

Things with Lily were going extremely well. Every part of it felt right and for a naturally cynical man, I had to balance my mind between waiting for something to go wrong and enjoying the experience of dating my best friend. In fact, not just my best friend, but someone who was completely committed to me.

Because I was cynical and couldn't believe how lucky I'd got, every milestone came with it a hint of nerves that something was going to go wrong. Be it Lily coming to meet me after work and joining Mo, Jake and I for drinks as my girlfriend for the first time, or me joining Lily and her friends the following week. Amy, Char and Liv took great pleasure in telling us how they always knew we'd work together, and we clearly had something special going.