Rob and Elise Ch. 03: Endings and Beginnings

Robert woke partway in the night, the memory of what he'd done with his friend just hours earlier flooding back, eliciting feelings of both arousal and guilt. Then he felt the hot flesh of her breast against the palm of his hand, her nipple pressing into his skin. In her sleep, her hand had gripped his and held it against her chest, against her breast. He lay there a moment, savouring her silken skin, making his erection, currently pressed into the crack of her ass, throb painfully. Not wanting to torment himself with thoughts of pulling her panties down and waking her by making love to her spooned like that, he gently extricated himself from her grip, rolled over and settled himself back toward sleep.

Elise felt Robert stir, and woke to feel him roll over away from her. Her right breast tingled with the memory of his hand against her nipple. The feeling of him up against her had been wonderful and the sudden absence of his body evoked memories of Christian leaving for an early flight. She was so lonely, so tired of having someone, but not having them. She wanted to just BE with someone, with no complications, no absences, no loneliness. She wanted to come home to have dinner with her man, to go to sleep with her man, to make love to her man, and wake up with her man.

She lay still in the bed for a time that seemed to drag into nearly an hour, thinking about how Robert and she had had such a wonderful day together. She found herself really wanting him in every way, emotionally and physically. It didn't help that she found him physically irresistible; his muscled body against hers dancing or naked and wet in the hot tub, so close, so far.

She imagined hwat might have happened had they been a couple. Instead of just masturbating next to each other in the hot tub, she would have been free to put her hands on his chest, to feel his arms around him, his cock against her bare skin, so close to her pussy. She would have let her hand drift down his chest to gently stroke him, feeling him grow hard in her hand. She would have felt his hands grip her ass, as they kissed each other with all the passion she thought was growing between them.

She would have kissed his chest, sucking on his hard nipples as she made her way down to his crotch. She would have lovingly kissed the head of his dick before sucking it into her mouth. She would have tasted his sweat mixed with the tang of the tub's water in her mouth as the head slid along her tongue toward the back of her throat. She would have sucked his cock to make him wild for her, until she could taste the pre-cum leaking out the head. She would have run her tongue up along his length before taking his balls into her mouth. She would have tickled her finger along his perineum as she put her lips on his cock again, felt him start to thrust himself into her mouth as his need to cum took over his body.

She would have backed off, and spread her legs, inviting him to return the favour. She would have watched him as she leaned back on the rim of the tub as his mouth sucked her breasts. His hot lips would have felt amazing on her tits, making her moisten in delicious anticipation of his mouth on her, his dick in her. His tongue would have wandered along her belly until drifting around her labia, spiralling closer to her interior.

His tongue would have rasped its way up the crack of her pussy until his lips closed around her clit. His fingers would have slipped into her wet heat as he licked her labia. She would have run her fingers in his hair, and then gripped it firmly as he brought her closer to orgasm.

Unable to resist, Elise started to pleasure herself as the torrent of images cascaded in her mind. Her hand slid in under her panties to dip into her moistening pussy. Her labia were already hyper sensitive to touch because the episode in the hot tub had left her still keyed up.

Back in her fantasy Robert was fully committed to making her cum, stimulating her G-spot as his tongue continued its relentless assault on her clit. She would be pulling him into her, crushing her pelvis against his mouth as her body demanded more from him until the flood of her orgasm washed up through her. She imagined that at that point he would have stood back up and, wedging himself in between her legs, positioned the head of his cock at her entrance. She would have pulled him into her, wanting to come again with him inside her. He would have pumped himself deep in her pussy, rubbing the base of his cock up against her clit over and over until she came a second time. Her climax would have sent him over the edge and he would have filled her with his cum as he thrust himself in as deep as he could go; up against her cervix. They would have been kissing at that point so that their cries would have been muted somewhat by their lips.

Elise worked her fingers in her now sopping pussy until her real orgasm pulsed outward, lips pressed in tight to keep quiet through the bittersweet pleasure at imagining how their night could have been, but wasn't. She fell back asleep soon after, unaware that Robert hadn't fallen back asleep and spent the whole time in fevered silence wondering what she had fantasized; wondering if it had been him.

The light streaming in through their west-looking window was dim when the two friends woke up, both at first wondering where they were. Robert looked at his friend, her hair pressed into the pillow, the curve of her body so painfully evident under the thin bed cover, her smile warm and inviting.

"Gods you're beautiful," he blurted out softly, surprising himself with the sudden admission.

Her eyes opened wide, and her lips formed an 'O' of shock and surprise.

"Oh Robert," she whispered. Tears welled up in her eyes as her hand came up to her mouth. Then they ran down her cheek as she closed her eyes and started to sob. His words filled her with such longing to be held by him, to feel him hold her and love her in the way his eyes said.

"Why did I never see you like this?" he asked, almost rhetorically.

Elise burst out laughing, a bit of humour mixed in her gentle sobs.

"Probably because we've never slept together. I certainly haven't ever seen you like I saw you yesterday." She paused, looking at him with an almost terrifying intensity. Then nudged herself close enough to whisper in his ear.

"You have a hot body."

Her breath was a hot wind in his ear, sweeping away his eroding restraint.

"Elise, I-" he started but stopped when he felt her fingers on his hand, gripping it, guiding it to his cock.

"Stroke it again for me. I want to see you come"

She pulled back the blankets and pulled off her nightie, hands working her tits and pussy in a frantic need to be fulfilled; without romance, or subtlety. Robert didn't hesitate, pulling off his briefs to reveal his hard cock to her hungry gaze. He started fisting his dick, likewise not interested in savouring the moment. For them, there was no savouring, just release from the tension they both felt.

Elise grunted in lust as her fingers plunged into her moist pussy, eyes staring deep into Robert's, wishing it was him inside her.

"Fuck me Robert; shove your cock into me. Fill me, make me come," she said softly, her coarse words an audible manifestation of her fantasy.

Robert returned with his own dialogue, blurring the lines between reality and desire.

"Oh Elise, you are so wet. It feels so good inside you."

"Get up on your knees," Elise panted, trying to make herself come.

Robert clambered up onto his knees, instinctively pointing his erection at her, as if reading her mood, her desire.

"That's it. Let me see you come," she commanded breathlessly. Her one hand pulled at her nipples, the other was a blur near her clit. She looked into his dark brown eyes, and watched his hand work his cock, one moment fast, another, slow. She loved watching his muscular chest heave with his heavy breathing. She watched as he started to gently thrust his hips toward her. She wanted him in her so much, wanted to grab his cock and pull it into her, feel him fill her.

Robert was now covered in a sheen of sweat, bereft of breath to the point of seeing spots. His body was all sensation, no thought. With animalistic fervour, he took his pleasure from seeing her play with her body until he came with a howl.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah," Elise chanted with each jet of his spurting cock on her breasts and stomach. Elise was so close, and the feeling of his hot semen on her body served to only heighten her arousal.

But compared to the sustained blast furnace of Elise's arousal, Robert's orgasm was a bomb going off, burning itself out in moments. The sudden realization of what he had done slammed back down onto him and he didn't have the hormones, the lust to withstand it. He looked down at Elise, with an expression of dismay at what he'd done on his face. Elise, seeing the light leave his eyes, felt a cold hand extinguish her embers of pleasure, leaving a grey ash in her soul as Robert pulled away from her and sat at the edge of the bed still breathing hard from his exertions. Without a word, he strode into the bathroom and gently shut the door.

"Robert, wait," Elise cried out, too late to keep her friend in the room. Sour grief filled her as she realized that she'd pushed him too far. She sat herself up in bed and wept again, the poignancy of their mutual desire stained by the semen splattered all over her chest and belly. Now she sat in the wreckage of their morning, with her friend closed off in the bathroom, another day and a half at the resort stretching out in front of her. After a few minutes of being alone in the room, resigned to calling it a weekend in defeat and despair, she got up out of bed, put some clothes on and went over to the door to knock softly on it.

"Robert, are you okay?"

Nothing.

She waited for an uncomfortable minute, then went over to the small coffee pot and made some coffee for them. She also tidied up the bed, sort of trying to clean up the mess (crime scene). It was just after that when he came out of the bathroom to give her a wan smile.

"Sorry for bugging out like that," he apologized. "Not the best way to end our, uh, moment." He put some underwear on and came over to her and gave her a stiff hug.

"I'm sorry, too," Elise agreed. "I shouldn't have pushed myself on to you like that. It put you in an unfair position.

"That's okay," Robert assured her bravely. "I had a role to play too in what just happened."

Elise gave a weak smile accepting his support. "We agree that it was a mistake, then. One that won't happen again."

Robert gave her a long, slow look, almost sad. "Definitely a mistake. But we're adults here. We can get past this. Friends?" He put his hand out.

Elise took it in an almost business-like manner.

"Friends."

Neither mentioned the fact that 'friends' had been the same promise they'd made each other just the previous night.

"So, breakfast?" Robert asked, keen on getting past it, past the awkwardness.

"Yeah. It's, what, 830? Let's go eat now and maybe do the west loop tour first?" Elise pointed out a section of the tour map sitting out on the bureau dresser.

"Sounds like a plan," Robert said with hint of false enthusaism.

Breakfast was a delicous selection of foods available ranging from exotic things like orange prawns in a red-pepper reduction along with more prosaic items like apple-spice pancakes with maple jelly. They ate their almost somnambulistic fill, and then waddled to the car to start the actual wine tour.

Despite their best efforts, however, things were different. They sat side by side in the car, but the space between them was a vast gulf of guilt-fed shame and restraint. Robert didn't touch Elise like he did yesterday. There were no friendly pats on the leg, no occasional brushes of hands against each other when reaching for the snacks in the centre console. Elise noted all of this with a bitter resentment, not at him, but at herself for being so irresponsible. She knew he was into her, and had she just been patient, he might have made a move on his own, with his own decision to bear the consequences of. Instead, he was clearly wrestling with his indecision, plagued by desire and guilt.

Yet he was still unfailingly polite, going through the motions, holding doors open for her, pulling out her chair, filling her water glass during lunch. He smiled at her, laughed at her humour, made ribald comments himself; yet all with a guarded look in his eyes. Instead of the day being comfortable; two close friends being together as they wandered around the quaint regional architecture, it was slightly saccharin, both of them feeling a forced levity. She still desired him, though, to have him hold her; be more than just a friend. She could smell him, a mix of the hotel soap and his own scent, and it reminded her so much of his scent when she with him in bed and he was stroking himself. She remembered wanting him to throw himself on her and plunge into her aching body. She remembered the hot splash of his cum when he climaxed all over her sweaty body. She remembered the look in his eyes, how she knew he wanted to fuck her, how torn he was, between his desire and his morals. She also remembered the look of consternation on his face as he realized what he'd done, and how close he'd come to breaking his relationship.

Oh she remembered, and it hurt so much.

Robert was not looking forward to a dinner that promised to be just as romantic as the previous one. His head was pounding, and his lower back was a knot of pain from the stress of the situation. By the late afternoon, he knew he wouldn't be able to spend another night with Elise, balanced on the precipice of infidelity. Having her so close, knowing she wanted him, and being torn between his own desires would be too difficult. He watched her move in the sunlight, sexy in her curvaceous strength. He thought about how her smile, even if a bit forced during their lunch, was still endearing.

Despite the strain between them, they managed to survive dinner. Elise was stewing in her own regret over being so aggressive that morning and ruining things. Robert seemed pre-occupied, often staring down at his plate not saying much at. It was a good thing when the dessert selection was not something either of them wanted; it prevented them from having to stare at each other across their awkward table. To make matters worse, Robert kept on looking at his watch, almost as if he were counting the time down Elise thought, sourly reflecting on what an incredible contrast this night was compared to the previous one. How they had been so close to being close. Now, they were in the terrible limbo of being stuck with each other, but not happy or comfortable in their forced proximity.

"Let's get out of here," Robert said, echoing her words from the previous night in an unhappy reprise. He led the way back to their room, not with a decisive stride, but with a resigned trudge, the fatigued set of his shoulders a silent testimony to the burden of his actions. He looked self-convicted. And Elise wanted to reach out to him, to hold him compassionately. When they got into their room, the champagne was once again waiting for them, along with the bubbling hot tub. Robert scanned the room quickly, to see what other painful reminders were waiting for them. He sat on the bed and patted the mattress near him, inviting Elise to sit with him, which she did, keeping her distance.

"I'm sorry Elise," he started to say, but she cut him off.

"No, Robert, there is no need to be sorry to me. I am the one who invited you to join me, the one who insisted we get in the hot tub, the one who started, uh, things this morning."

She started to cry, great wracking sobs that shook her shoulders. She finally acknowledged what she'd been hiding from herself all this time. She was alone, without Christian, without Robert, without anybody. Christian was gone to his career. Robert was walled away from her behind his own morals and sense of commitment to an unfulfilling relationship. But without closure, he was as unreachable as the moon. She couldn't make him leave Samantha, couldn't make him choose her.

Robert gently guided her to the pillow of the bed and held her, almost cradling her, her tears soaking his shirt, staring at the ceiling, feeling torn at not being able to give more, but wanting to. Elise's hand rubbed his chest a bit in appreciation for his presence; a gesture of affection and appreciation of even that little bit of support. Eventually her sobs subsided into heavy breathing, and she nuzzled herself into the crook of his neck and shoulder. After a few minutes, Robert felt the weight of her body shift as her muscles relaxed into sleep.

It was just not fair, he thought morosely; to be tragically late in noticing a friend's true worth. He lay with Elise on the bed, his chest heavy with a pressure that seemed to squeeze his heart more and more with every passing minute. He knew now; saw now what her feelings for him could be. Tangled in the web of the idea of Samantha, he could not do what he was doing, be what he was being. As the time passed he became sure of what he had to do, what hurts he had to withstand to make things right. When he knew Elise wouldn't feel him move, he carefully extracted himself from her warmth, covered her with a spare blanket and quietly left the room.

Elise woke in the dark and took a moment to realize two things: she was still in her clothes and Robert was not in the bed with her. Figuring he was maybe sleeping on the floor, not even sure of what time it was anyway, she first looked at the bedside clock: 10:45PM; late but not that late. It was entirely possible that he stepped out for a walk or something to keep his mind clear. She sighed bitterly at what she had missed out on; that she and Robert weren't together, in any sense of the word. Once again she was alone in an empty bed, only now she had nobody coming home.

She got up and changed out of her dinner clothes, noticing with a pang of bittersweet poignancy that Robert had taken the moment to cover her so she would be comfortable before going out on his excursion. She made a pair of teas for them and relaxed on the bed, trying to recover a bit of her dignity and equilibrium after breaking down so badly after dinner. But she found herself looking at the clock more and more as the hour ticked away; then the next one. On a dark thought, she double-checked that his stuff was actually still in the room; that he hadn't abandoned her or something.

His suitcase was sitting on the floor next to hers, but his jacket, wallet and car keys were not to be found anywhere. Trying to swallow down her fear, she put on shoes and went along the hall to the elevator. Telling herself an increasingly fictitious story that all was well, she made her way to the parking lot to see if his car was there. It had rained earlier, leaving the pavement wet except where his car had been.

Robert was gone.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted him, but got no answer. Feeling confused and a bit hurt, she went to the front desk to ask about him. But the desk clerk had no information regarding any Robert, so she was left to ruminate over what may have happened to him. She texted him again, then phoned him, but still no answer. Not knowing what to do, she wandered aimlessly back to the room and lay on the bed staring at nothing as her brain churned through a half-dozen ridiculous scenarios. He left her in a panic, abandoning his stuff in a desperate need to get away. He went to a local 24hr food mart to get some snacks and crashed on the wet roads. He went for a walk and at the same time his car was stolen. Aliens abducted him as he was on the way back from the food mart; convinced his DNA and a Ford Focus were the keys to galactic conquest.