I Want to Know You

And I will drink the clear
Clean water for to quench my thirst
And I shall watch the ferry-boats
And they'll get high
On a bluer ocean

~ Van Morrison (Sweet Thing)

* * * *

Some noise, some staccato sound separated her from sleep and Enid moaned, rolling to her stomach, hand reaching out for him before consciousness started to seep in.

His absence and the cool sheets that tickled the underside of her arm had her slowly squinting her eyes open. Across the room she saw him at his desk, frowning at the computer screen, each tap on the board a note sharply detached from sounds of a snowed-in New York City. A desk lamp cast golden long shadows across the exposed brick in the upstairs bedroom of his lofty home.

Enid smiled, snuggled into his pillow to watch him work, eyes still dreamy from sleep. In her imagination, she saw flashes of him, his mouth, tongue, his hands. God, his hands. Demanding, gentle, broad of back, wide of palm. Strong fingers drawing along the blank canvas of her skin.

She'd arrived in New York barely a week ago and had no idea of the day or date, nor did she care. Taking a chance on Perry was proving to be well worth it.

Burying her Cheshire cat smile in his pillow, Enid wallowed in his scent, sandalwood in amber, focusing on it and not the flicker-book of sexual scenarios flipping through her brain. She stretched her legs out stiff, arms sweeping out, morning groans as she shifted again, opening her eyes to look.

To see him turned in chair, head resting upon fist, looking across at her.

Enid's body flushed with heat, starting in her cunt and rolling up to bubble beneath her breasts. The sensation both excited and unsettled her. It was as though he knew all her secrets, her every thought, had traced every scar, could read every thought.

His midnight blue eyes were magnets for hers and she swallowed, throat dry after rest.

"Wha'time-is-it?" she mumbled and stretched again, words elongated with limbs as she worked out some of the kinks -- not at all an unpleasant sensation -- of her blissfully battered body.

Perry smiled and rested ankle upon knee. "What day is it?" he countered, and she grinned.

He pushed himself up to standing, the legs of his chair scraping briefly on wooden floor, and walked over to her, his stockinged feet soundless soft. He leaned down, one hand sliding under the pillow to stretch over her, the other trailed softly down Enid's Western Australian warm arm.

"Such a treat to have a summer warm body in my winter bed," he said, fingers smooth up her arm, his palm turning to thread through her hair. Leaning down further to kiss her.

Enid felt that flush again, the one that started behind her pelvic bone, and tilted her head up, wondering if he could feel her lips throb beneath his. She sighed, hands clasping around his neck, bringing him back down to bed.

He laughed and sat against her hip, hands either side of her head, boxing her in.

"You are insatiable," Perry smiled against her lips, across her cheek, along her jaw, down her throat, making Enid gasp and squirm.

"But you'll need to be patient," he continued, his hand shifting the sheets down her body, exposing pebbled breasts to the cool air. His fingertips traced the shape of her collarbone, down over her pierced left nipple, tracing the ridges of her puckered areola, before journeying down to circle her hip.

Enid mewled under his touch, so quickly her cunt heavy with lust. From his own Cheshire grin, she knew that Perry knew what was happening in her body. Over the last week, he had managed to pull secrets from her she hadn't even realised she'd harboured.

Why did it turn her on to confess her secrets to him?

"What are you thinking?" Perry asked, making her own blue eyes -- washed denim -- sparkle up at him.

"That I'm still in awe of your ability to seduce certain secrets out of me."

He chuckled, deep baritone soundwaves rippling along her skin as his hand moved back up to squeeze the curve of neck and shoulder. She shivered, skin pricked to prickle all the way down her side to knot in her core.

That flush swept through her body a third time, this time making her eardrums burn with blood.

"I just want to know you," he whispered, pressing his lips to the skin between Enid's breasts.

She swallowed, audibly, with nerves and thirst. "For some reason," she managed, "I think you're the only person in the world who knows me. How is that?"

Perry lifted his head and flashed his teeth, before covering her lips with his, tongue pushing through to tussle and tangle with hers.

She arched her hips as his hand spread across her lower abdomen, pressing her sleepy bladder, making her jerk and let out a surprised, "Ugh!", making him laugh.

Enid laughed too, playfully swatting his arm.

And that's when she noticed he was dressed.

It sobered her.

"Going out?"

Perry sighed, resigned, but clearly pulled between desire and duty.

"I need to go see my editor. Go over a few things."

Enid nodded, feeling oddly crestfallen. How have I come to depend on your company in so short a time? she wondered.

He cupped her chin between thumb and forefinger, eyes demanding she look at him, to look at him and know he knew what she was feeling.

He leaned in and kissed her. "We're going out after I'm done. I've made a booking. We haven't left my apartment since your first night here."

"You hear me complaining?"

He laughed, "No, thank the gods," and kissed her again.

"I'll be back in a few hours. Plenty of time for you to primp and preen."

Enid sat up, sheets pooling at her waist, leaned back on her hands. "You want to go out?"

Perry's eyes journeyed down Enid's body, starting at her throat, thick throbbing, down over her breasts, nubbins numb, to her pierced bellybutton and back up. Her ears were aflame under his scrutiny, and she swallowed, dry throat contracting audibly. He hummed a 'mhmm' response and nodded, eyes locked on hers.

"What time is it?" she asked again, the closed drapes and soft lighting confusing her sense of time.

"After four. Given last night -- and this morning, all week really," he smirked, "I figured I'd best let you sleep."

Remembering last night -- and this morning, all week really -- made Enid instinctively pull in her breath and pelvic floor, a reaction that made Perry's smile all the sharper, all the more beastly.

He reached over to the bedside table, the opening slide of the draw making tense muscles tremble. He located her heaviest kegel ball and held it in front of her face, as though it were a pendulum. It made her laugh, breaking the tension.

For her anyway.

He rubbed the kegel along Enid's bottom lip, pulling it out. She parted her teeth, Perry's own mouth a moving mirror to hers, and he pushed the toy between her lips, onto her tongue. She cradled the soft silicone, curling her tongue around it, allowing saliva to pool.

"Close your mouth," he murmured, his free hand pulling the sheets clear away, grasping her ankle, guiding it so her knee extended and exposed her pussy.

"Needy," Perry whispered, watching her cunt pull its opening.

Though the cool air softened Enid's need, the tingles spread across her pelvis, inner thighs, buttocks.

Perry pulled the kegel from her mouth, humming at the back of his throat as he rolled it down her body, between her breasts, around to circle her belly button, over trimmed mons and through her steaming soft folds.

"We're going to go out tonight," he repeated, rubbing the bulb-shaped toy against Enid's pliant opening, soft from days of loving him. "I want people to see you're mine."

He pushed the toy in on the word 'mine', making her suck in a breath, making her suck in the toy. He felt the pull of her cunt and laughed, using his thumb now to push it deeply into her pussy, to that sweet spot of torture.

"Ahh," Enid gasped, hands pressing onto the mattress for leverage, hips rocking up.

"And you are mine, aren't you, Enid?"

She bit her lip, breath trembling through, and nodded.

Perry slowly withdrew his thumb, bringing his hand to her face and traced the shape of her bottom lip with his wet digit. Enid sucked the pad of his thumb between her lips, scraping the front of her teeth against it.

"Are still you pulling?" he whispered, counting the beat of her breaths.

"Uh huh," she huffed, tightening around that internal weight, pulling it to her womb.

He ran the tip of his nose along the length of hers, over the contours of her lips and down her chin, burying his face in her neck and inhaling. Kissing his way up to the point of her chin.

"I'll be back to pick you up in a few hours," he whispered against her lips, capturing them in a kiss that made Enid's core ache with need, her heart thump thick and the room turn about her.

Her hands fisted in Perry's hair, giving him a hint of the passion that bubbled beneath the surface, his strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her close.

"Do you really have to go?" she whispered against his lips before capturing them in hers again.

Perry made a grunting sound, fingertips pressing firmly into Enid's ribcage, and pushed her back.

"Yes, I do." A smacking kiss. "Really." Another. And another. "Fuck."

Enid couldn't help but laugh when he pushed away from the bed, her eyes dreamily travelling down to the bulge in his pants, back up to his eyes. Molten blue four beats, five.

"Patience," he growled and turned on his heel, gathering his things and descended the stairs.

* * * *

How long is a few hours? Enid found herself wondering sometime later, wandering around Perry's apartment in her robe. Time slouched by and she eventually meandered back upstairs to the wardrobe, where Perry had made some space for her things. She pulled the long-sleeved copper rose mini-dress from the hanger.

Thoughts about wearing this dress excited her, the bold colour she knew brought out the blue in her eyes and the glow of her skin. The dress's lines caressed the length of her tapered waist and fell gently over hips.

She closed my eyes, held the dress against her body, swayed.

She caught herself, felt the flush in her eardrums, and went to grab her container of weed and pipe, grateful Perry granted her her liberties.

Inhaling herself calm, Enid leaned against the kitchen counter and again marvelled at the whirlwind week she never in her wildest dreams thought she'd experience.

She showered, taking her leisurely time, scrubbed her skin, the heat opening her pores and softening weary muscles. She allowed the hot water spray into her mouth, felt it pour down her chin and over her breasts. And then Perry flashed before her, making her tighten her tunnel in memory of the smooth bellend of his cock moving slick inside her as he reached completion.

Enid stepped from water into humid steam, lit up another pipe, allowing smoke to linger on the air, and patted herself dry before wrapping her hair up out of her face. She brushed her teeth and stared at herself in the mirror, pondering the changes she felt despite looking exactly like always.

Brown and blue.

Van Morrison crooned through the speaker as Enid readied herself, anticipation rising, kegels clenching. She sprayed perfume on her absorbent skin -- amber thorned-roses -- before coating herself in a thick body balm. She lost herself in the sensual slide of hands over warm curves, unable to do anything but imagine Perry's hands on her.

Especially when she rubbed that same balm between her thighs and over fleshy cunt.

But somehow, at the same time as this building excitement, the primping and preening -- as he called it -- relaxed her.

How does he speed her up and slow her down so seamlessly?

Sharp, quick inhale. Slow, controlled exhale.

Enid twisted and pinned her hair away from her face, leaving the rest to wave naturally to her shoulders, strands of honeyed gold catching the light, and simply lined her bright blue eyes with kohl, elongating their shape, drawing them out and up.

Her skin was pale gold against the dress, and she wished she were brave enough to not need winter tights. The Australian in her shivered cold, pussy pulling in for warmth, too. She pulled thick black thigh-high tights up her legs, secured them to her crotchless garter belt, and stepped into indigo ankle boots. Their lifted heel boosted her to what she figured would be the hollow of Perry's throat. She closed her eyes, inhaling, imagining his scent concentrated there, musky and male.

Hers.

Enid jolted back, shook her head and calmed her excitable nerves with another pipe, stocking her purse with things she thought she'd want on a night out in New York City with a suave, sophisticated man.

Yes, she packed her pipe.

She was tapping peppermint balm to her lips in the downstairs bathroom, Van now lamenting Tupelo honey, when the front door opened and closed, signalling Perry's return. Again, that base to breast flush warmed Enid from inside out. Her heeled footsteps announced her approach, and she entered the open kitchen and living space, pushing her arms through a short-waisted black leather jacket, flicking her hair out of the collar.

"Hi," she breathed, smile widening, hands running up Perry's pecs, up and over his shoulders, down and around to grip his elbows. Lean in. She was right.

Nose in throat.

She breathed in, slow and deep, his scent calming her as she slowly exhaled. She tilted her head back, his bedroom blue eyes scrutinising her. Enid squirmed a second before sticking her tongue out, breaking the tension.

"Hungry?" he asked, taking her hand.

"Starved," she laughed.

* * * *

Perry's fingers remained interlaced with hers in the Uber from his home to FlameTree, an intimate restaurant just off Park Avenue. Enid laughed at his commentary of the city, eyes diamonds with discovery, nose pink with cold, cheeks rosy with warmth.

A waitress led them through the restaurant, Enid trailing behind Perry, holding his fingers, her pussy pulsing with FlameTree's bass noise. Perry's thumb brushed over her knuckles and she smiled at the back of his head in wonder before they were seated at a semi-private dining booth, an area that attracted all the more attention from curious eyes.

And, for some reason, a lump formed in Enid's throat, making it hard to swallow.

At their table, Perry turned to her, stepped into her personal space, heedless of those who may see. He gently pushed Enid's jacket down her arms, his nose lightly touching the skin between her eyebrows as the cuffs caught on her wrists.

She exhaled shakily, breathed a thanks and draped it over the back of her chair.

"Drink?" he asked, making her temperature rise with his uncanny ability to read her thoughts.

"Negroni, please. And water."

Perry smiled, kissed her brow and navigated his way to the bar, Enid's eyes following his demanding frame, saliva pooling under her tongue. She sat, the kegel he'd inserted hours earlier pushing against her womb, making her suck in a breath and cross her legs in an attempt to appease the ache.

A musical quartet -- cello, drums, piano and sax -- with their instruments battered, set the atmosphere to a flickering flame and Enid looked around to soak it all in. Gentle laughter, light chinking of utensils, whispered words on the dancefloor.

It made her smile, the loveliness of it, and she looked over to see Perry at the bar, three others waiting with him. A tall woman -- trailblazing red down her back -- took the place of the person next to him, leaned over the bar to make her order then looked up at him, a flirtatious sparkle in her eye.

She smiled, clasped a hand over his forearm, squeezed. He leaned down to tell her something and she looked over at Enid sitting alone, then back at Perry. Looking up at him in a way Enid imagined she'd been looking at him all week. Like he knew all her secrets.

Like he knew she had more.

Enid felt that waving flush again, but this time it dropped from her ears into her lap.

She held her breath as he made his way back, exhaling slowly when he sat to her left, their elbows knocking. Laughing nervously, she brought the dark orange liquid to her lips, taking a mouthful to ease her dry throat.

Perry's eyes watched her over the rim of his glass, one elegant brow arching. "Everything all right?"

She sucked her lips in, capturing the cold moisture on her tongue, nodded. "I'm fine. Just..." She trailed off, twirled a finger around her ear, "my head. Foggy with weed and orgasms."

He chuckled, deep rich chocolate, and traced his fingers over the back of her hand. Enid felt heat spread from cheeks to tragus and she cleared her throat again.

"Excuse me," she said, rising, her fingers still limp in his hand. "Be right back."

She made her way through the restaurant, feeling his eyes bore into her back. She locked herself in a cubicle, smoked a pipe to ease irrational nerves, not caring who walked in or if she'd be caught. Enid smoked a second for good measure and wondered at her reaction.

He'd had a life before she arrived, she pondered. He'd have one when she goes. Just enjoy yourself, Enid, she told herself. Don't overthink things.

She washed her hands, shaking them dry before patting them, wet and cool, against the base of her throat where the heat was hottest. The door opened and in walked the redhead. She smiled brightly at Enid and despite her jumping pulse, Enid couldn't help but be friendly in kind.

"Great dress," she said, assessing herself in the mirror, fluffing her hair, adjusting her clothes.

"Thanks," Enid smiled, wiping her hands with paper towel before freshening her perfume at the base of her throat.

"You're a very lucky girl," she whispered to Enid's reflection, turning to squeeze her forearm very much as she had Perry's, and left, door swinging closed behind her.

Enid swallowed that lump in her throat again, eyed herself in the mirror, nodded once with determination, and returned to Perry.

There was a slight frown on his face as she approached, but the lines quickly smoothed out when she sat down.

"Is everything all right?" he asked again. She sucked in a breath and nodded, slowly exhaling.

"Fine. Just... forgot the world existed there for a minute. You're very distracting."

Perry laughed that laugh, the one that rippled across her skin, and she lifted her drink and laughed with him.

But that heat remained aflame, licking at the base of her throat.

* * * *

After their meal, Perry needed a distraction from the frustration he'd felt watching Enid's pick at her food. He stood, held out a hand.

"Dance with me."

Enid complied, keeping her eyes cast low, avoiding his gaze.

On the dancefloor, Perry placed a hand on Enid's lower back, drawing her closer. His other hand grasped her ribs, webbing of thumb and forefinger pressed to the curve of her breast.

"Stare into my eyes," he demanded softly, his breath aflutter across her nose.

Her hands gripped his shoulders and she lifted her lashes, dusky blue eyes meeting his. Their bodies moved as one, their sex soft putty under the heavy stretch of bass.

Enid gasped when she felt Perry's hand glide down to her thigh, eyes widening. His face remained impassive, maintained her stare, absorbing the little shocks and tremors twitching along her skin. Knees loose, Perry manoeuvred Enid between his thighs while his hand moved to the back of her thigh. He stretched out his thumb, finding the loop of her kegel and pulled, nostrils flaring at her winded response.

"What troubles you, my sweet?" he whispered, lips tickling the tip of her nose.

Enid blushed peach under the subdued lighting, shook her head. "Nothing. Just being silly."