Faultless

Eventually, as it neared midnight, I let out a sigh, "I'm sorry ladies, I'm really starting to tire. Loud noise, you know?" I said, pointing to the speaker system as a way to reassure them that their screeching had nothing to do with it. Chloe looked over at them meaningfully. Army man, loud noises, come on girls, get the hint.

"Oh of course!"

"Thanks for staying out with us!"

I could see them looking over at Chloe, almost encouraging her to go home with the soldier. I could see she loved it, like she was being tasked with something important.

We went to bed together, where Chloe's orgasms might have given me the headache I had just faked. I was still adjusting to being able to do that to a smoking-hot blonde, who clearly had her fair share of men.

We slept soundly until I woke at 7am, on the dot, and began my morning ritual. Chloe slept on, now used to it. I woke her up at 9am, as I did exactly a week before, with a coffee.

"Did you have a good evening?" Chloe asked, when the coffee hit her. The girl had put the drinks away something serious but yet, her hangover was minor, at best.

"I did," I admitted, despite myself, "did you?"

Chloe smiled, blowing on her liquid. "Yeah, I was glad you said we should leave when we did, I was starting to get too drunk and I'm not ready for you to see that side of me yet."

"What's that side look like?" I was immediately intrigued that she'd referenced it. Maybe she knew I'd seen signs of it.

Chloe shrugged it off. "Do you remember their names? I feel like you never asked after the first time."

"Michelle, Kerry, Tesha & Hannah," I reeled off in turn. "Why did you assume I hadn't?" It was more curiosity than annoyance.

"I dunno, some of my exes haven't bothered to remember them," she blushed, realising as she spoke just how that sounded.

"Well, you're not introducing them to the right men," I countered with a reassuring smile.

I made us breakfast as Chloe did her makeup and then joined me, barefoot and in one of the new shirts I'd bought alongside a couple of new suits, that she'd hijacked the second I was done trying it on.

"What are you up to today?" She asked, tip-toping up to kiss my cheek.

I already knew my plan for the day, and she knew that too, which I liked. "I'm sending off a few applications and then meeting my little sister and her boyfriend for dinner. You're welcome to stay as long as you want," I offered, not keen for her to rush off, now I'd seen she was naked under my shirt.

We ate and then Chloe lounged around for the morning while I worked on job applications. I had enough money to go another few months without a job but that would leave me very little wriggle-room when I wanted to settle down in the future. I couldn't leave that level of planning down to impulse.

Eventually she grew bored, I could tell. I ignored her, beyond shooting her a few sympathetic smiles, feeling quite rightly, that she was under no obligation to stay and that my finding a job was more of a priority than her short-term boredom.

"I'm bored," she announced, rather obviously.

"I'm sorry, gorgeous," I replied, rather obviously too, cutting the sympathy short in response.

Chloe huffed and then made her way over. I was immediately feeling a level of dread that I shouldn't have been feeling, given I was anticipating what she planned to do. She kissed along my jaw, along my neck and then towards my ear. "Distract me," she whispered.

I ignored her which just seemed to make her more determined. She worked her way down my body and pulled down my shorts, fishing my cock out, which became hard in her hands. I groaned.

"I was trying to concentrate," I groaned again, as she moved to her knees and took my growing cock in her mouth.

"Let me cure my boredom Daddy," she whispered flirtatiously, proceeding to lick along my shaft with her eyes on me.

I moaned, at her actions and what she'd just said. I was partly offended (I mean, I was 29!) but more than a little aroused regardless. As expected, arousal won out, especially as her oral stimulation continued.

Chloe was, unsurprisingly, very good at oral despite what she thought that first time. Her added dirty talk and her new name for me, turned me on more until I felt like I had to do something about it. I pulled her off my cock, picked her up off the floor like she was weightless and carried her to the bedroom. She groaned at my easy manhandling of her and wrapped her arms around me.

"I want you inside me Daddy," she whispered hotly, losing some of the shyness now I hadn't reacted negatively to it the first time.

I pushed myself inside her, slowly, tenderly. The nature of our mood, spurred on by her behaviour and what she was calling me, changed our coupling. It was, for the first time, slower, perhaps more intense and it felt more meaningful.

I held her face as I slowly but firmly thrusted inside her. "You're so tight," I gasped, realising just how much that was true now I was taking my time and not hammering away at her roughly, the way we both normally liked it.

"You're so big Daddy," she gasped, getting into it.

I could see why. My cock was thick, and it seemed to be twice the size of what her hole would accept. My body doubled hers. Her legs wrapped around my muscled frame but left little to spare. Were it not for her breasts, which defied the proportion of her body, I might have looked double her size. Our intimacy grew, as my cock widened her hole. Our eyes remained locked and what had been instigated by a bored partner, had morphed into perhaps the most powerful sex of my life. I kept up a steady rhythm and started to groan from the intensity of the coupling. Chloe was moaning, desperate for more.

We gripped each other tightly and I stayed on top. There was no shifting of positions, no closing of eyes. We were locked into it, deeply engrossed in the pleasure. Her orgasm built as she started to whimper from my slow, deliberate thrusts. Then it hit her, and she gasped, thrusting her body upwards, trapped in my arms. I loved the feel of her under me, the intimacy of our coupling. When she came, it was the tightening of her hole around my cock that acted as the final point from which my orgasm couldn't return, and I showered her insides with my cum, as we both moaned our way through it.

When her breath returned, some time after mine, Chloe smiled up at me. "I'm so glad I chose you to be my first without a condom Daddy."

I rolled off, a little put-out by her continued use of the word now our sex was over. Chloe followed me back over.

"Are you okay with me calling you that?"

Her tone was confident, as though she was giving me a great gift and of course I'd be happy with that. My thoughts were much more mixed. I was thrown by what the word alluded to in terms of the difference in our maturity but at the same time, the dynamic it created, had spoke to me in a way that years of meaningless sex had never come close. Did I find it powerful because she had said it in that moment, or because of the nature of what it meant?

"I may start dying my hair," I said, and she snorted while I continued on, "but yeah, I think so. I've not done anything like that before," I admitted.

Chloe rolled off and reached for the towel we used to clean up after sex, which she promptly put towards her leaking pussy. "Me neither but I've fantasised about it a lot and yeah, I've been feeling like that was right with you."

She looked over at me shyly and succeeded in being cute enough to earn a kiss. "That's a compliment, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically, as I pulled away from her soft lips.

She answered anyway. "Very much so. I feel very safe with you, and I feel looked after."

It was, whether Chloe knew it or not, the most profound thing she'd say to me and something that would change how I viewed the value I could bring to a relationship, long after our own relationship had run its course.

***

Megan had gratefully accepted my request that I bring a plus one to our dinner that evening, putting less pressure on her own relationship. After what Chloe and I had just shared, I felt very close to her - and it was clear she felt the same. Her focus on getting herself ready and making a good impression with my sister, hadn't gone unnoticed. Neither had the fact that she always packed an outfit for every type of occasion.

She stepped into my living room with her freshly dried hair in a ponytail, a respectably long velvet skirt and a patterned blouse to match. Her focus on displaying her maturity was clear, with both of us recognising my younger sister was still older than her.

While she'd got herself ready, I'd finalised plans with Lily to meet that Tuesday evening. I held what I considered to be a justifiable frustration in taking 10 days for us to meet up but said nothing beyond enthusiastic agreement.

Lily: I really can't wait to catch up with you. Just so you know, you have to dress up for the bar, I hope that's okay?

I reflected, again, that Lily seemed now to be embracing the kind of life she seemed destined for but had always rebelled against during university - classy, high-end and dare I say, elitist. I recalled frustrated conversations where I'd tease her about the men that would wear a suit jacket on their first date with her, such was the way she carried herself and the way she looked. She always responded scornfully: I can't help how I look, and I hate how I always feel like a trophy.

We met Megan and Mathew at a simple Japanese restaurant in town. I took to Mathew straight away, despite my natural brotherly reservations. He adored Megan, I could see it in him; he absolutely loved her. Moreso, she felt the same back. Throughout dinner, I smiled at their little bits of banter, the way she ruffled his hair or tried the bits of sushi he was unsure about, knowing if he'd like it or not. He paid and she let him, without fight, as though it was normal that he'd pay. He was interested in my background and passed not even the slightest judgement on my abandoning the care of my grandma to Megan and our Mum over the last few years, despite the likelihood she would have, at least at some point, complained to him about it.

I wished Megan had taken to Chloe as well as I had Mathew. It was clear from the start that Megan wouldn't, to my great frustration. In a way, I couldn't blame Chloe for over-compensating. Chloe went out of her way to show how hard she worked at her job in a science lab, referenced our shared Chemistry background and used her job as a way to explain her 'work hard, play hard' mentality. It didn't land with Megan, whose interest became rather forced, even under my threatening stare. To add cringe to awkwardness, Chloe started to mirror the behaviour of my sister and Mathew - ruffling my hair or sharing her food with me - neither of which I enjoyed at the best of times and Megan knew it.

When we parted, it was clear to at least 3 of us, that one of the relationships was doomed to fail. Stubborn as I was though, I refused to accept it and wrapped my arm around Chloe as both couples went their separate ways.

An hour or so later, Megan as expected, messaged me.

Megan: Thanks for coming bro and being so good with Mathew <3 Let me know when you're alone tomorrow so I can give you a call. Xx

I sighed and didn't indulge her with a reply. An argument was brewing and contrary to Megan's belief, it wasn't going to be one-sided.

***

"Was that seriously what you want?" Megan asked down the phone the following afternoon, incredulous.

"What you want and what I want are two different things, Megan," I replied pointedly, already tired of the call, 5 minutes in.

"No, no, I know you, Bro, I know you left to find yourself. You can't tell me coming back and being with someone who quite clearly thinks she's above self-work is what you want. You've seen war, for God's sake Michael. What do you think she can give you?"

"A stress-free life," I quipped, then paused at my Freudian slip. Megan fell silent too. That was one of her selling points, wasn't it? I didn't have to think too much with her, I didn't have to be much more than I was with her. I glanced at the suit jacket I'd had pressed, ready for Tuesday.

"Mike..." Megan eased in slowly, I could sense her nerves at what she was about to say, whatever it was. "You're really fucking up your chances with her."

I pulled myself back into the conversation, trying to make sure we were talking about the same person, especially given she'd just come into my mind when I'd look at the jacket moments before.

"Who?" I asked.

Megan's snort almost drowned out the end of my question. "You're sleeping with her cousin Mike. She's not worth ruining your chances of ever being with Lily."

"You're not serious?!" I breathed down the phone.

My tone was sharp, and Megan sensed it because she paused. But full credit to her, she carried on, despite the territory she was walking into. "You leave for years, and she still goes and visits your grandmother, well out of her way and didn't even tell any of us. Who does that for someone they don't have feelings for? She's like, the perfect girl for you."

"We were close, that was all," I replied, recognising that I too, was now in dangerous territory. I took a sip of water and then feeling restless, started to pace. "There's nothing there, trust me on that."

"Well, I don't buy - wait, why 'trust you'? Did something happen?" Megan was on it, quick as a flash.

I weighed up not telling her, but I needed her to drop this, for my own sanity. So, I picked a more sanitised, less damaging version of the truth. "Because I gave her an indication of how I felt back then, and she made it clear it wasn't the same for her."

Megan was silent for the longest time yet. "Shit," she replied at last.

"Yep," I agreed, closing it off. "You may not be a big fan of Chloe but thus far, I am. So, she's going to be around a little while longer and yeah, I may learn she's not right for me but at least she's not perfect for me in ways that I don't want and can't handle. I couldn't meet Lily's expectations back then even if there would have been something there on her side, never mind now," I added, finally voicing her name as well as my damning realisation of why we'd never work, years in the making. I could never have given Lily what she needed back then and even less so now.

We dialled off a little while later when I'd eventually reassured Megan that it was fine, and I was fine. As I predicted, it wasn't a one-sided argument, but the conversation had cost me more than I cared to admit.

I cancelled seeing Chloe that evening, citing illness, and then let her know I was out with Lily on the Tuesday. She took the news well and I sensed an unshared excitement to go out with her friends. It took a lot of energy to stop myself reminding her that she was under no obligation to spend so much time with me and I quite enjoyed my own space. I briefly wondered if I'd ever meet anyone I'd want to see every day and just couldn't imagine it being the case.

Tuesday came and I spent my day applying for more jobs and receiving more rejections with promises to keep my name on file. It was with both frustration and trepidation that I put on smart trousers, a shirt and a suit jacket, to meet Lily in an upscale part of the city.

She was already seated when I joined, her posture perfect on the high-backed stool in the cocktail bar. I caught sight of her first and made to walk over but was stopped by the maître d' who welcomed me as though I was entering the house of a French Aristocrat and guided me to the seat, with me tailing behind, feeling very far out of my depth. Lily stood when I arrived and hugged me gently, kissing the air near my cheek.

"I ordered as I arrived a little early, I hope you don't mind?"

I shook my head, still somewhat turned around, and grabbed a menu for the safety of familiarity. "These are some expensive cocktails," I noted on reading the menu.

Lily shrugged, "I don't mind getting it, if you need me to."

There was a somewhat bizarre hint behind her tone that seemed to imply it was my duty to pick up the tab. But we weren't on a date as far as I was aware, and I wasn't about to pay for two sets of cocktails at those prices.

"We'll split it," I suggested warmly, turning and nodding to the waiting waiter, who seemed to come alive at my nod and walked over promptly. "An Old Fashioned, please."

"Certainly, sir." I watched him walk off and looked around.

The place was elegant and ironically, old fashioned in a very upmarket kind of way. It was busy but not overly so. It had the kind of environment where to laugh too overtly would be entirely inappropriate. I turned back to the table to find Lily studying me closely. Her posture was such that she was almost at eye-level with me. She didn't do things by halves, Lily, even more so now.

"Do you come to places like this often?" I asked with a smile, subtly calling out the way she was judging me.

She looked around airily and replied, "Sometimes, for dates and such."

I bit the bullet early. "I'm guessing you're not currently seeing someone unless I missed them at the funeral?"

Lily's expression didn't change when I asked my question and then she shook her head gently when I finished. She seemed quite keen that her hair stay in place, I thought, as she kept going to touch it and then stopping herself.

"I was dating an agent for a few months, but he wasn't there at the end, so I'm not now," she dismissed further talk of the funeral with a wave of her hand.

"So how do you afford to come here so often?" I teased, changing the subject. Hearing about her exes wasn't top of my list of interesting conversations for our first meeting.

Lily blushed, "Well, I don't often pay," she tailed off upon realising what she'd said, and I laughed. She grinned too.

I almost replied 'you've changed' but I bit my tongue as I thought that was a bit too soon to say.

"So, what do you do then, when you're not being wined and dined by rich literary agents, or royalty?"

Lily smiled at my quip. "I'm a senior producer on the science and technology news desk."

"Blimey!" I cut in, impressed. "That sounds serious Lils,"

She blushed but waved it away, yet again keen not to draw too much attention to herself. "It's good enough for now. I do the lunchtime and early afternoon slot so it's mostly 9-5 except when there's some kind of big story coming out of NASA, which feels constant at the moment with all the Mars stuff. It's mostly why I'm better single, I just don't have much time to date and get to know someone..." Lily trailed off and blushed, unsure if she should continue.

I laughed and then lowered the volume when I remembered my surroundings. "Lily, you can talk to me about dating, that time has been and gone," I assured her, truthfully. "Where's our drinks anyway, you must have ordered ages ago?!"

"They'll have held my drink to do yours," she replied matter of factly.

"So, my arrival was at exactly the wrong time? Why didn't you tell them to bring your drink over as soon as it was done?"

Lily mumbled a response that I interpreted as, "It's not the done thing."

We sat in silence for a minute, waiting for our drinks now I'd drawn attention to it. I took Lily in, encouraged to do so by the intimacy created in the environment. She was a beautiful drinking partner, by far the most captivating I had sat across from. Her eyes too were truly out of this world - the best pick of a genetic lottery.

The drinks arrived just before our silence threatened to become uncomfortable and were placed onto the table by a waiter wearing a white glove. I chuckled as he walked off, but Lily shrugged it off, somewhat embarrassed by my reaction.