Kiss Me Cate Pt. 06

"Is it okay if I leave you behind in the morning?" She whispered in my ear.

"No, never ever leave me." I replied in my most melodramatic voice. "Okay, but only if you keep me company tonight." I lifted her hand and kissed it.

"That was a given." I slid the chair back and she sat on my lap. "You'd have to call some of Da's boys to keep me away." She kissed me slowly, our tongues danced. She retreated and I followed her quickly, my ardor rising quickly. She smiled. "You're so easy to get going."

"I've said it before, I don't think you realize just how incredibly beautiful you are."

"You keep saying that and I'll be expecting no less from you in twenty years."

My eyes opened wider. "Was that a proposal?" She blushed when she realized the gaff.

"Be careful with that word. I've warned you before." Her left eyebrow rose slightly.

"What are you afraid of Cate?" I asked, a small smile spread across my lips.

She sighed heavily. "What aren't I afraid of would be a more apt question. Things move quickly, people change, you may come to loathe me and want never to see or hear from me again, and it could all start over something as silly as what to have on a pizza." She made a little grimace and looked deeply into my eyes. "You could, and very likely already do, catch the fancy of some young filly and could leave me high and dry, crying." She was silent for a moment and inhaled sharply. "It's all happened very fast, and that alone makes me nervous."

"Do you think I worry any less about things like that? Some dashing gent sweeping you off your feet and right out of my life. I've thought about us, and wondered what it was you see in a kid like me." I said, my eye drifting down, not quite focusing on the slight dimple in her chin. Her hand came up beneath my chin and lifted my eyes back up to hers.

"Some dashing gent already has." She had that crooked little smile on her face. "I admit our age difference made me wary at first. I felt like a downright cradle-robber." She laughed and slapped the thumb from my mouth. "Wise arse. Then I got to know you, and I had a hard time believing that you weren't putting me on to get into my drawers. Which I let you do anyway." She said putting her hand over her eyes as she blushed. "Despite your attempts to remain a gentleman and sleep in the next room." I reached up and took her hand away, she had her lower lip between her teeth and I pulled it gently free. Her voice softened. "That night I decided to let go and see where fate would lead me rather than trying to guess it's outcome. I knew, that first night at the hotel that you were very different and very special. Everything you'd said, everything you'd done was loving and selfless, and you'd truly set yourself apart to help me at every turn. I realized then why, it's because you were already in love with me." She placed her hand gently on my chest. "It just took me a little longer to realize, or admit that I was in love with you. Fear lost out that morning, and I was glad I let it go. It was liberat..." I kissed her quickly.

"What was that?" She asked gasping for air a few moments later.

I laughed. "I loved what you were saying and I was afraid you were about to over-think it so I had to stop you the best way I know how."

The most dazzling smile spread across her face as she leaned forward and rested her forehead against mine. "Proving my point once again. You even rescue me from myself." Her smile faded away and her lips tightened. "If things ever were to turn and we," I placed my finger on her lips trying to stop her, "no, let me say it. That brutally honest streaks needs its say as well. If things ever did change, please let's part as friends, with respect and dignity." She looked at me in the eyes, and my heart nearly broke.

I shook my head slowly, hers mirroring mine where we touched. "I don't want to even consider a future without you."

"Nor I you, but fate is a fickle bitch Dylan, we both know that."

I sighed.

"Do you know why I think this works so well for both of us?" She added.

"I think I have an idea. I love you, I respect you and I don't, I can't hold anything back from you. I tell you things even though I'm not sure they're the best things to say, because I want you to know how I feel. Even more than that, I feel like we compliment one another. You're like a baby bird who needs a nudge to open her wings and fly. I'm more of the foolish bird who needs to be chivied back into the nest before I land on my head."

"See I knew you were a smart one." She said smiling. "Promise me!" She growled and grabbed the sides of my head pulling us closer together as she looked into my eyes attempting to look menacing.

"I hope the day never comes, but should it ever come to pass I will always be your friend first and foremost."

She kissed me in the center of the forehead, then between the eyes, the tip of my nose and finally brought it home.

"Who's the most beautiful woman you know?" She asked grinning.

"Well there was this one, I met her in a nightclub in Toronto when I went with Jimmy, redhead, tall and... Ow! Ow! Let go!" I said laughing.

Cate's lips were pursed and her scowl warred with her desire to laugh as she held a dozen or so of my chest hairs between her fingers and was twisting. She let go.

"Once more?"

"It is, and always will be, you my love." I gave her a light smack on the backside causing her to give me a shocked look.

"How dare you make free with my body!"

"I'll do more than make free with it, I'll ravish it like a pirate on his first night of shore leave."

She stood up and reached up beneath the skirt she was wearing and pulled down tights, and panties, kicking them aside before straddling my lap. She licked her lips. "Was that enough or should I keep going?" I looked at her for a long moment and she pushed her hips into mine grinding against the front of my slacks. I took the hem of her sweater and dragged it up over her head and tossed it aside before reaching up and pulling the straps of her bra off her shoulders exposing her breasts to my waiting mouth. "Ah, I guess that was enough." She said with a breathless laugh. I reached beneath the skirt and grabbed hold of her ass and stood.

"Arrgh! Nice booty." Cate let out a yelp and tried to hold on to me as I turned and dropped her onto the bed.

"I warned you." I said as I dragged my shirt over my head and added it to the heap of her clothing and quickly unbuckled my belt.

"Oh, you beast!" She said putting the back of her hand to her forehead swooning. She stuck her tongue out and laughed. I leaned down and slowly tugged her skirt off, while she divested herself of her bra. I stood beside the bed watching her drag her fingertips slowly up and down the length of her torso. The effect it was having was blatantly obvious and directly within her reach. She took me in hand and pulled me gently further up the bed and leaned forward taking me into her mouth.

"Ahh, who's the one ravaging whom?"

She took a long lick up the underside before responding. "You were just standing there with your mouth hanging open. I felt it necessary to remind you what you were supposed to be doing."

I closed my eyes before they rolled back in my head. She used her hand to slowly stroke me into further hardness. "You are so not going to last." She said grinning. I leaned forward, trying not to fall over, and ran my hand up the inside of her thigh. She parted her legs slightly allowing my intrusion. She was already slick, and I slipped my middle finger into her causing her to arch her hips upward to me. "Ungh!" Her breathing got shallow and fast as I stroked slowly both with finger and thumb. Her hips began to lift and circulate with my ministrations and she begged me not to do it like this. Her grip on me was firm and she was pushing me towards her, wordlessly encouraging me to mount her.

"Two can tease you know."

"You're not going to make me beg for it I hope."

"No I'd never do that. The last thing I want is to have to do the same."

She rubbed her thumb up the tip of my cock and slid the thumb into her mouth. "Mmm, you know I've never really been into that until I met you." She smiled.

"Here's to firsts." I said withdrawing my finger and licking it clean. Her smile widened. She decided to roll over and grab the pillows bunching them under her raising her bottom to me. I looked down and felt my cock twitch hard. I placed a knee beside her on the bed and leaned forward sliding into her slowly. I'm not sure which one of us groaned louder. I began pumping immediately, she was right, I was never going to last, but I tried because I didn't want this feeling to end. My orgasm rose like a wave washing over me and I pushed and pushed, Cate's cries mounted as well and I stopped against all the will I had. "Am I hurting you?"

"Don't stop!" I felt her hand beneath us moving at lightning pace and I plunged forward into her and tried to match the tempo. It wasn't long before the wave finally crashed over me and I took her with me over the top. She clenched down on me hard, the spasms irregular and quick. Her long low moans were buried in the pillow. Her body fell limp, supported only by still being impaled on me. A soft mewling sound rose from the pillow as I stepped back falling wetly from her. Cate slid forward and crashed limply to the mattress. I reached down and rolled her over giving me room to join her.

"You're going to kill me with that thing one of these days." She noted it hadn't dissipated as usual. "Looks like it might be today." She said smiling and let her head drop back as she parted her thighs. I entered her slowly and we took our time.

"Dylan, do I have a single or perhaps a multitude of women to thank for your um, prowess?" She said with a breathy laugh in the darkness.

"No, not really. I spend a lot of time on the internet." I said chuckling as I stroked her back slowly with my fingertips.

She leaned over and kissed my cheek, and I turned and received the next full on. "You don't learn this on the internet any more than you can look at a drawing of a rocket ship and get a job at NASA."

I laughed at that, then fell silent, my hand still sliding up and down her back kneading softly. I wasn't sure that I wanted to tell her and wondered if she would press the question. I got my response a moment later.

"Hmm?"

I laughed again. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"No, I'm not, but whomever it was did excellent work teaching you."

"I guess that's par for the course." It was only a moment before the realization dawned on her.

"Oh Dylan, you didn't!" She sat up suddenly.

"Didn't what?"

"Another professor?"

"No, no. Well not really, no." I'm not sure how, but I felt the eyebrow rise in the darkness as she waited for the story. I turned towards her and took her hand. She tensed as if to pull away and I held it tighter. I started with a deep sigh. "She was one of my old high school teachers." I wasn't sure if I sounded as guilty as I felt right then, but I continued. "She was an art teacher and it was a mandatory course."

"Eww, how old were you?"

It was after I'd graduated and told Cate so. "Karen had gone through a nasty divorce. She was very cool in class, no sense of humor, and she didn't suffer nonsense from her students. She was teaching photography course that semester, and we were in the darkroom after school one day. I heard an odd sound, a sob, and turned and noticed she was crying, the dim red lights showed the dark streaks on her face. It was only her and I and I don't know what possessed me but I just reached over and gave her a hug. She turned into my arms and let loose. We never talked about it after that day, though she subtly began treating me a little more friendly than others, she picked me out for tasks and I stuck around after class to help clean up."

"Those dastardly emotional women." The sarcasm dripped from her voice. "Was she your first?"

I laughed. "Is that important?"

"It may have set a precedent."

"I'll have you know that while sitting at a table outside a tea shop in July wearing a very pretty and quite short sundress, you my love gave no indication of either your age or occupation."

"Touché." She added softly. I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it softly.

"She was lonely, disheartened and I don't know, spurned seems like the best word for it. She was bitter and I could see why. He'd cheated on her."

"How did it happen then?"

"We had done a few class photo trips, into the urban areas of the city, out to the state park, things like that. As the semester went on fewer people signed up for them and they went about on their own. After I'd graduated she contacted me and asked if I'd be up for one her photo safaris. I was the only one that showed up, it was a hike through a wildlife refuge in early summer. It was at least two hours from the city to get there. We spent the day hiking the trails. It was the first time I'd heard her laugh. She splashed me with icy water from a brook and got me full in the face. I splashed her back." I let my voice trail off. "It was weeks before I realized she hadn't actually invited anybody else that day."

Cate let go of my hand and ran hers along my arm to my shoulder gripping it firmly. "Were you in love with her?"

I snorted. "I thought so. She'd taught me so much more than how to take pictures."

Cate chuckled. "I'll say."

My hand found hers on my shoulder and I gave it a squeeze. "I don't mean that. Well not just that anyway."

"I know what you meant. I didn't mean to make light of it." She whispered.

I chuckled. "This is where you offer up your story. Isn't it?"

"I should have known you'd seize on that opportunity. It's only fair. It was an awkward teen affair. I was infatuated with him, and when he showed me interest I swooned. I ended up giving him the proverbial keys to the city soon after and once he'd been allowed entry decided he wasn't nearly as infatuated with me as I was with him." She said, remorse colored her tone. "I kneed him in the balls a few weeks later when he made a rude comment to me in front of his mates."

"Sounds very normal compared to mine doesn't it? Yes, to answer your question, she was my first."

Cate reclined again and nestled herself against me and I wrapped her into my arms. "I've always wondered if the people we meet along the way are put there intentionally to teach us something as we go through life."

"What have I taught you then?"

Cate buried her face in my chest. "Well, that you can be both gentle and strong at the same time. Faith in people is deserved when they've earned it. Trust isn't as foolish a gift as it would seem. Love." She paused. "You've taught me love means shifting your focus from yourself to another."

"All that? That last bit sounds familiar." I said with a chuckle. She poked me in the side with her finger.

"What about you? What have I taught you?"

"That network resources should have a single entitlement per request and not be opened indefinitely by applications. It may slow down communication but it's far more secure. Ow!" I got the finger a lot harder that time. I leaned over and kissed her, laughing out of the corner of my mouth. "You've taught me that love isn't something you gain, it's something you give. I think that's the big mistake a lot of people make in life."

"You're so philosophical for a young chap." The sarcasm in her remark was not lost on me.

I had drifted off to sleep at some point. I awoke with a start the next morning. I reached out and found the bed beside me was empty. I sat up and listened for Cate and heard nothing more than the usual hums and rattles of heating and appliances. I got up and poked my head into the bath but she wasn't there, not in the apartment at all. I couldn't see the parking area from here as it was on the other side of the building. I checked for a note and didn't see one, then went to my phone and there were no calls or texts. I looked around with a more critical eye. Her earrings lay on the nightstand where she took them off the night before, her luggage was all there. She must have run an errand. It was later than I had expected to sleep but still early. I decided to not panic. I chuckled inwardly thinking that was exactly what I had done. I texted her to ask where she'd gone off too. Relief flooded me when she texted back, "Surprise, make coffee." Some fifteen minutes later she came in with a box, handling it carefully as if it were full of glass. She leaned up and kissed me before shrugging out of her coat. She'd only thrown on her jeans and the shirt I'd been wearing last night before she went out. Her nipples stood out and I noted that she'd neglected to don her bra before going out.

"That shirt looks better on you than me."

"I thought you were going to say it looks better off."

"Well there is that. What got you out of bed so early on a chilly mornin' such as this?" I teased in poor imitation of her accent. She rolled her eyes and broke the tape on the box and lifted the lid.

"It's a wonder I'm not absolutely massive because of this place. I'd stop in at least once a week and they would have some new concoction I just couldn't pass up." She tilted the box gently showing four fancy pastries. "I'm not sure why but the memory came back to me as I woke up. I looked them up and decided to surprise you." She gave me another quick peck before reaching for a couple plates.

"It's times like this that I wonder what I did to deserve you." I grinned as I pulled down two mugs from the shelf and poured the coffee.

"Funny I've been thinking the same thing of late." We debated over which to start with, and ended up sharing a couple of them out, swapping bites with one another. Her legs crossed beneath the table, her stockinged foot rubbed against my leg as we ate.

"I want to go shop for a dress for tonight."

"So you said, and you don't want me along this time."

She scrunched up her nose and grimaced before looking down at her plate with a heavy sigh.

"Let me guess." I said. "Checked your bank account?"

She scowled at me.

"Use the card Cate." I said with as little exasperation as I could.

"But you worked hard for that money, and I feel guilty spending it on me. It's not fair after everything you did." Her voice trailed off.

I sighed and looked at her, I kept my expression carefully bland. "What is it going to take to get you to see past that?" I shrugged. "So what, I didn't work nearly as hard as you think for it, and it's not as if I've lost it all playing blackjack. I'm not saying go out and buy a Rolls Royce, it's a dress, it could be a really nice dress too, and it wouldn't matter what the price was. If you've got some diamond buying trip in mind, there's a limit on the card for security's sake." I said grinning. "So a side trip to Antwerp is out."

Her grimace changed slightly into hopelessness.

"If that expression doesn't change then I'm coming and you don't get to look at tags all over again."

Her eyes went wide at that. "No, no." She held up her hand. "I'll manage. Besides that's what I was hoping you'd say." She scrunched up her nose and smiled this time causing me to laugh.

"Wretched woman, making me go through all that!" I grabbed hold of her and kissed her repeatedly as she squealed in delight.

"What will you do while I do my best to spend all of your hard earned money?"

"I don't know, try to stay out of trouble I guess."

"Good, I'd hate to have to bail you out of jail."

We drove into the city where Cate dropped me off, she reminded me I promised to stay out of trouble. I just wiggled my eyebrows and kissed her before getting out of the car. I flipped up the collar on my jacket to cut down on the draft as she pulled away from the curb. I'd done a little research and got my bearings and began walking. It was warmer than home for December and as I walked I warmed even more. I found the shop I'd been looking for and went in. I glanced through the cases hoping something would stand out, and something had. I caught the eye of the proprietor who was following my movements closely.