Faultless

"I'm glad you're here though, Mike," she added warmly, and I knew she meant it. I smiled in equal warmth.

We fell into a comfortable silence, and I used it to arrange my thoughts and recognise how much energy I'd spent on speculating on things across the day. It wasn't a good idea and would only feed into anxiety that I normally kept in check. As quick as I came to that conclusion, I knew it was time to leave. I was becoming overwhelmed - with information, with speculation and with alcohol.

I stood up abruptly, making Lily jump. "Are you okay?"

I looked down and smiled again, though this time I felt like I had to fake it. "I am but I need to leave, I'm sorry. I don't do crowds and noise and new people very well."

Lily jumped up too and I saw her make some assumptions about my past. She probably thinks it's PTSD, I thought, though I didn't correct her.

She walked me to the door and we hugged. It felt familiar but at the same time, the connection felt stunted, as though it wasn't quite there. I pulled away first and took out my wallet, where I fished out a piece of paper that I'd put in there that morning in the hope she might want to grab a drink at some point.

"My number," I explained, handing it over.

Lily took it and after touching her sides and realising she had no pockets, slipped it into her bra instead. I chuckled and she shrugged, turning away and back towards the hall. I didn't look back.

***

Chloe: Hey x

Mike: I've thrown you off your game, haven't I?

Chloe: Yeah lol

Chloe: But I quite like that you have.

Mike: Good! I liked how things felt in the car when it was genuine and honest. Let's stick to that.

Chloe: Okay so I have to be honest, and I can't play games?

Mike: Correct.

I waited for a reply for a few minutes and when nothing was forthcoming, got up and off my mattress, grateful I left the night before when I did. A hangover accompanied my drinking more often than not, so it was a welcome change. I looked at my task list for the day before I'd even used the bathroom, such was the way my brain worked - I had to have my day planned before I started it, especially with my current lack of structure and routine. I needed to create some. Then there would be some exercise, a coffee, the news. When I got back to my phone a while later after following my well-practiced routine, I saw two further texts from Chloe.

Chloe: Okay, here goes nothing... in the spirit of being honest and open: I'd like to have sex with you. You already know I want you so I'm not going to pretend to play hard to get and make you take me on 3 dates just to have what I want now lol. I'm also willing to not see anyone else, to show you I'm serious about going on dates too, as you made it a condition of speaking to you and I will follow that.

Chloe: You're not replying so I hope that wasn't too forthright. This is why it's better to have lines to use!!!

Mike: Sorry, I'd got out of bed and started my morning routine. I'd like that a lot.

Chloe: Morning routine?! Are we talking skincare?

I laughed out loud.

Mike: No. Bathroom, wake-up exercises, coffee, finalise daily schedule.

Chloe: Why is that strangely hot?

Mike: Because you're horny?

Chloe: I am...

Mike: Are you free this evening?

Chloe: I will be if you tell me to be.

Mike: Do you always do as you're told? I had you down as a tease.

Chloe: Only when the outcome is worth it...

Maybe there was more to it than just a spark, I thought, as I re-read Chloe's message and sent her my address. I got on with building the bedframe, aware I'd now need it. More than once, as I focused on the mundane task, I thought of Lily. My thoughts were conflicted and ultimately, reckless.

_

Chloe's knock at the door was light, nervous. As I walked to answer, I shared the same feeling. But when I opened the door, both of us hid it well. We smiled, greeted each other warmly and hugged. She looked fantastic. There was absolutely no doubt that she was dressed to seduce with black skinny jeans and a tight white top that was cut low on her chest and showed off the ample cleavage that had been hidden behind her jacket. I stared unashamedly, because how could I not? She blushed and I could tell she loved the way she had left me immediately speechless. Were I a more confident man, I might have invited her in, pushed her against the wall and kissed her.

Instead, I invited her in and offered her a drink. I'd thought it all out while I was putting the furniture together across the day. Have a couple of drinks, let things flow. I'd laid down my requirements to make this a thing and Chloe agreed with them. There was definitely something unusual about how we'd agreed to go about this. I laughed a little while later as we sat making idle chat.

"What?" Chloe asked with a smile and a blush.

"Just laughing at us," I grinned. "Normally people go on dates before they get here and do the awkward dance. But we've already agreed to date so this feels awkward in a different way."

"So why are you still acting like you haven't already got me?" Chloe challenged, looking at me expectantly. "Come and get it big man."

My pulse quickened and I put my bottle down. Best laid plans, huh Mike? I closed the distance between us and kissed her gently. She shared the slow intensity until we began to encourage each other to go faster; to be more urgent with our needs. Soon, she was laying back on the sofa with me on top of her, half focused on not trying to crush her small frame.

Chloe could kiss, she could kiss very well. In that moment, I was all she wanted. She kept opening her eyes and each time she did, she would kiss me with even more passion. My hands kept themselves honest, only roaming along her thighs and her sides until Chloe grabbed my hand in her much smaller one and placed it on her breast. Invite accepted, my honest hands became decidedly less so, gently kneading her substantial breasts over her top and her thin bra.

Chloe moaned throughout my barriered exploration until I could take it no more and my hand snaked its way under her top, over her flat stomach and onto her soft skin. I shifted the flimsy bra out of the way and felt her pebbled nipple. She gasped at my touch.

"This needs to come off," I demanded, nodding towards her top.

She leaned forward and took it off. "I'm glad you asked instead of ripping it off," she teased.

"I was getting close."

I spent some time at her breasts, loving that even in my hands, they still overflowed. Her areolas were large and provided me with an excellent target to suck and lick. Chloe's moans were music to my ears. This beautiful, voluptuous woman was losing control under my attention, and I'd barely started.

When I finally moved away from her breasts, intending to move further down, I saw that her hand was already in her jeans, her fingers moving in a slow rhythm as a result of my attention. I looked up at her and she was blushing. "That's so hot," I breathed. Her cheeks intensified in colour at my comment and then she gasped as I pulled her fingers away brought them to my mouth, tasting her.

"You need to take me to bed," she warned.

"Or what," I teased, definitely feeling the shift in power now.

She didn't reply and I didn't give her long to think of something witty. I picked her up from her position laying down and lifted her up, keeping her wrapped around me as I stood. She wrapped her legs around me and looked at me with lust. "Fuck, that's hot," she breathed.

When I took her to my freshly-built bed and dropped her down gently, she reached out and grabbed my cock over my shorts. "I want this," she declared without any hesitation. Then she looked up at me and stared at me hotly. "I want it in my mouth, in my tight pussy, in any way you can give it to me. I want my big man to leave me spent."

I groaned, pulling her jeans away in response. Her socks and underwear followed, as did her bra. I looked her over and had to stop myself diving in, just so I could take her all in. Her pierced belly button shone in the bright light, and I admired her small scattering of tattoos. A star near her mound, a flower running on the underside of her breast and the moon on her left bicep. It was a strange collection that only added to her appeal.

"I'll leave you spent only after I've left you sweet," I quipped lamely once I'd finished taking her in. She grinned; I knew she'd heard better lines.

I kissed my way down her body slowly, from her breasts to her legs, around her inviting pussy. As I kissed my way around, I could feel the heat radiating from her. Chloe's impatience got the better of her when I was kissing her thighs and she tried to push my head towards her goal. I resisted and looked up at her sternly. She relented with a deep sigh.

"Fuck, this is torture - uh!"

Before she could finish, I had pressed my lips to her, licking along her soaking pussy, along her delicate lips and up to the small mound at the top. She gasped and bucked her hips up, wanting more. I attacked her clit without delay, pausing only to taste more of her juices from the source. When I knew she was beyond the point of no return, I inserted a finger and delighted over the sound of her lustful cursing. I kept up with my relentless stimulation - my tongue and jaw refused to tire until I forced an orgasm from her. When it happened, there was no doubting it. She was loud, she was tense, and she was exhausted from it. Her legs were shaking as I carried on fingering her through the aftershocks, my mouth treated to her juices. I looked up only when she pushed me away, one of my pillows still in her hand. "No more," she begged.

I listened to her and made my way up to her face, kissing her breasts again as I did so. She pulled me into a kiss and then pushed me aside, still breathless. I rested beside her as she recovered, admiring her naked body.

"That was seriously intense," she said at last. "I don't know if I'm that good at sucking dick," she joked. I could see her nerves and was surprised at the change. I guess I was better at oral than my under-utilised skills would have had me believe. I leaned over and kissed her lips gently, holding her cheek in my hand.

"How about we skip that one and head to the main course?" I whispered. She nodded and we resumed our kissing, with me slowly moving on top, my knees either side of her. "Are you okay?" I asked, with her looking up at me nervously.

"Yeah, just uh, go slowly, big man," she replied with a shy grin.

"Of course," I promised, unwrapping a condom. I sorted myself out and lined myself back up. "Take hold of it and guide me in, I want you to control the pace until you're comfortable." I could see how much she liked that.

When she started guiding me in, I moved slowly until she held her hand against me, adjusting to her size. "Wow, you're thick." She was so wet that it made the journey inside her a lot easier than it might have been.

"Take it easy baby, go as slow as you need," I assured her.

"I'm going to be so sore," she breathed. I picked up on the excitement but wanted to urge caution.

"We'll go slowly until you're ready."

She nodded but her lust at the way I was stretching her won out. "When I'm ready I just want you to fuck me. Just go for it," she insisted.

When I bottomed out inside her, she took a few steadying breaths and nodded. I pulled out slowly, then pushed in, mirroring the sounds of her calm breathing. I kept going until her hole felt sufficiently stretched and her face mirrored the pleasure I felt. Her pussy felt incredible and I knew, just from the way we looked at each other, the way we felt in bed together, that this wouldn't be a one-time thing, even if we hadn't already agreed to that.

I picked up speed, building her up. Her moans were loud almost to the second that I started to properly pump into her. I used her moans as music, guiding me on how she liked it and then focusing in on that rhythm until her moans turned to screams that she had to lean into my chest to silence. I fucked her hard, enjoying the pleasure I was giving her and the pleasure I was gaining from our coupling. It was definitely a fuck, but even then, it already felt like more.

I lasted longer than I thought I would before I felt myself on the journey towards orgasm. It had been many months and Chloe was by far the sexiest woman I had ever been with. Not just in looks, but by the noises she made, the movements she made, as she took me underneath her.

"I'm going to cum, how close are you?" I asked urgently.

"Really close," she gasped, her fingers moving to her clit immediately. "Just go, it'll get me there," she begged, and I knew she meant fucking her hard and fast until I came.

I did as I was asked until I unloaded inside her, releasing my own loud moan as I did. Seconds later, Chloe followed me and pulled me to her, so we kissed as we both came. Somehow the forced silence felt even more intimate and erotic.

When we broke the kiss, we were both breathing deeply, Chloe especially. I pulled out and off her to give her some air and recovered beside her. We held hands as we caught our breaths, staring up at the blank ceiling. With Chloe beside me, I now knew why people put mirrors on their ceiling.

"Damn, that's a lot of cum," Chloe broke the silence, looking over at the full condom. "Was your intention to fuck me or drown me?"

***

"I like you," Chloe admitted while laying on the sofa beside me a week later. Her phone had been buzzing almost constantly for the last couple of hours and it was on the edge of driving me insane. I had come to the same conclusion as she had, seeing her spend Friday evening on my sofa when her social life was clearly quite active.

Despite my annoyance, I smiled over at her in thanks at her kind words, partly because she was looking at me pointedly, expecting a reply. "This honesty policy is really changing you, isn't it?"

Chloe blushed and shrugged. "I'm liking it, it's a little different but I like it."

"You like being honest?" I asked with a chuckle, gaining yet more insight into what Chloe was like.

Chloe only picked up on my humour, not my disbelief. She smirked and chucked a cushion at me. "You know what I mean. Knowing I have to speak my mind and you won't let me put on a show for you."

'Putting on a show' is what I'd called Chloe's flirtatious, fake side. Chloe took the term and ran with it, to the point where I felt she'd lost its meaning. I was perhaps being too harsh, the more I thought about it, because I recognised how much she was trying. What her intentions were, were less clear, perhaps even to her. I was certain the effort she was investing in our dating stage was for one of three reasons: to prove that she could; for her own self-growth or because she saw something in me that differentiated me from others. I suspected it was a combination of all three, which I was fine with, depending on the amount of each.

I paused the movie we were watching before I lost track of the plot. Years spent away meant I missed most of the Marvel films and Chloe was enjoying bringing me up to speed. We'd watched 3 of them in the week since we met. We'd actually seen each other almost every day.

I saw her glance at her phone again and look away guiltily. I read the situation easily enough. "You're getting shit for not being out again, aren't you?"

She nodded, still with a look of guilt. "They're not used to me dropping out of plans like this," she admitted. I admired her honesty there - more than her earlier 'I like you' which was clearly prompted from the same sense of guilt.

Chloe's friends were out the previous weekend, when Chloe cancelled on them; the following evening when she'd come back with an overnight bag and then twice more during the week. Now they were out again on the Friday, making her feel bad for missing out. I felt bad too - I didn't want to be seen as one of those guys that her friends thought was stealing her away or worse, stopping her from going out.

"Why'd you like me, Chloe?" I asked her in response.

She looked slightly startled by my question, probably not helped by her current feeling of guilt. She paused, brushing her blonde hair back behind her ear. Her face was well-done with make-up, which she always wore all day, even though I knew from her facial structure and complexion, that'd she' be extremely attractive without it. She had a weird habit of not letting me see her apply her make up in the mornings, as though it was a secret. But everyone had their weird habits, me especially.

Eventually she replied after giving it due consideration, "Because you're serious and mature. You're different and you're not boring, even when we do boring things," she said, pointing at the tv and making us both laugh - she was quick witted when she wasn't actively trying to be, "and you keep me on my toes. I can't take advantage of you, and I find that sexy."

My eyebrows were approaching my hairline at the end of her answer, I was truly surprised by it. Her ability to be forthright with her views, to own them, was impressive. Yes, I wanted honesty from her, but I hadn't banked on her level of openness.

"Happy with that?" Chloe added after a pause when my thinking had dragged out my silence for too long.

"I'm happy with whatever answer you were gonna give me," I replied, arms up as though in apology. "Look, I'm not happy with how frequently you're turning down your friends to be with me, as much as I appreciate it."

Chloe looked ready to argue so I raised a hand and she fell silent, letting me finish.

"What I mean is, you're turning down your friends a lot and that may backfire on you. I know this," I drew my finger between us, "is exciting you, you weirdo, but you do need to make time for your friends. You should go out this evening."

There was a quiet silence between us as Chloe absorbed my suggestion. "Right, so I tell you I like you and you tell me to fuck off?"

She stood up quite suddenly and looked close to tears as she sped towards the bedroom. They were angry tears. I stood up too and followed, immediately seeking to reassure her.

"No no, that's not what I meant," I said firmly. Perhaps a touch more firmly than I intended as she stopped her packing and looked over at me. I spoke more softly this time and added, "I meant I want you to go out and not alienate yourself from your friends."

"Fine," she replied, softening, "why don't you join me?"

"Huh?" I was thrown not just by her offer but the way the storm had dissipated so quickly.

"Join me?" she asked softly, a touch flirtatiously. A touch showy.

I didn't want to, unsurprisingly. Spending my Friday night with a bunch of women in their early 20's wasn't my idea of fun. Maybe that made me weird. But I knew I needed to make some concessions, given how many Chloe was making. Besides, having sight of what she was like on a night out would be a helpful observation, I reasoned.

"Okay," I conceded, ignoring the way she'd asked me, lest it start another argument. "But message your friends and ask if it's okay."

An hour later we were in the bar, ordering cocktails with a loud group of women. That there were only four of them, plus the pair of us, was hard to believe, given the noise they generated in laughs and shrieks. They were a friendly bunch, that was undeniable. Sharp too, with the gags about me being an old man, when I ordered an Old Fashioned.

I had seen the message from Chloe, letting the group know I'd insisted she go out for drinks, and she wanted me to come in exchange. It seemed to earn me some brownie points from the group and certainly, they welcomed me in more warmly than I was expecting. I was acutely aware that this was the exact kind of group that wouldn't have given me the time of day in the past, when I was covered in acne. Now they flirted with me, at points bordering on outrageously so, as Chloe goofily grinned. They eyed up guys hungrily and spoke of men they'd like to fuck at work or at the gym. I could tell Chloe was very mindful of my presence and her responses might otherwise have been very different. Her glances did start to linger on men the more she had to drink, and she was becoming increasingly flirty and suggestive to me. I could see signs of what she'd be like without me there and there were alarm bells going off quietly in my head.