Trivial Pursuits Ch. 15

"Who cares if they can?" he answered clairvoyantly, and then reached for her, snuggling his body close to her. "Besides, we have a blanket to hide...anything we might do."

She pressed her head back into the pillow behind her to create what space she could. "And just what might that be?" The humor was still in her voice, but it was also laced with that wariness she always carried with her.

Again Denny snuggled a bit closer, pressing himself against her hip. "I don't know. What would you like to do?" he murmured as his eyes dropped to her lips.

She licked them unknowingly. "Well, I thought you said we were going to sleep."

"Mm, maybe I did...and maybe we will. But now that I have you in my arms, I'm thinking I'd much rather kiss you than anything else I can think of."

"Is that so? Well, then, I guess I can't deny you the one thing you want most in life."

"Especially when you might enjoy it yourself?" he teased, his head slowly dipping toward her.

"Especially then," she murmured just as his lips met hers. And while she might have expected a great passionate kiss, she reveled in the slow, firm but tender movement of his mouth. His lips were warm and wet as they moved sensually, coaxing her responses. One of Denny's hands gently stroked her jaw, occasionally grazing her lips between his kiss, igniting a slow-burning hunger.

Alessa's own hands began roaming, sliding up his arms to his shoulders, one hand down his firm chest. Just under the surface of thoughts that were basking in his affectionate kisses, was the reassurance that she was safe; Denny wouldn't try to have sex with her in the middle of the day for the whole world to see. And that brief thought was enough to free her of worry and to be present in the moment, enjoying it all.

Denny's hand slipped from her jaw to snake into her hair, adding another layer of pleasure that caused her to purr. In between the flickers of delight spiking through her, she idly wondered if she made Denny feel as good as he made her. While she was content with the gentle pace of their languid kisses, she wanted to explore, if only a little. Tentatively, she eased her right hand down from his chest, and then, before either of them changed course, she skipped her hand under and allowed the cool tips of her fingers to touch the warm skin underneath.

Denny took in a sharp breath at the shocking feeling of her stroking his lower abdomen, but did nothing to stop her. Eventually, no longer satisfied, her hand slipped higher, stroking the smooth and strong planes of his stomach and chest until she was lightly exploring the wispy hairs there. He seemed to like it, Alessa decided when his torso began to slowly rise and fall in a sensual rhythm above her. She half turned to him, allowing her outside leg to wrap over his legs, curling to anchor herself to him. He shifted his leg ever so, and once again she felt her crotch come into contact with his hard thigh.

Alessa sighed into his mouth as a feeling of bliss and contentment filled her. She allowed him to delve into her mouth and responding in kind, luxuriated in the perfection of the afternoon and his kisses. At some point, Denny's mouth left hers to place slow, appreciative kisses along her jaw and down her neck before eventually settling himself there, breathing her scent in deeply.

It took her some minutes to realize it wasn't likely he would continue kissing. "That's all?" she asked somewhat dazed.

He chuckled before lifting up onto a perched hand. "What? Want more?" he teased.

She opened her mouth to speak, but caught herself when she realized she had no smart retort, only honesty. "Yes," she said simply, frowning at the dissonance of what she wanted and what she was getting.

Denny's expression softened before he tenderly reached to wrap a stray hair behind her ear. "It's not always about sex. Sometimes it's just about connection. Making out, it's just the simple enjoyment of kissing and touching," he stated, emphasizing his meaning by stroking a finger down the side of her neck to run across her collarbone. "You don't always have to get off, even if you kind of want to," he explained and then leaned down to kiss her once more, his intention clear. "I think that's an important pleasure you have to learn to cultivate. Now, can we sleep a little?" he yawned for emphasis. "I am sleepy."

"I don't really take naps," Alessa mumbled as she followed his lead and turned half on her side so he could spoon her. He chuckled behind her.

"Neither do I, but we've been working so much lately, and were up so late last night and early this morning. I think we'll need our strength for later."

Alessa stomach flipped and she bit her lip to hide a smile even though he couldn't see her face. "Really? And why is that?"

"I'd hate to give away the surprise," he teased.

Alessa sighed and rolled her eyes with a smile. His fingers were mindlessly stroking her forearm up and down. Coupled with the slightly cool breeze while being snuggled in the warm blanket was too much lulling pleasure, and before she had a chance to resist, she was asleep.

Some hours later, Alessa shivered almost violently, turning into the deep warmth at her back, folding her arms into the furnace. And then a gentle scent she had grown happily accustomed to drifted into her surfacing consciousness, pulling her fully awake as she realized she was smothered by Denny. His arm was around her with his hand rubbing across her back.

"You're awake," he observed, his voice groggy from sleep. "Wanna get up?"

She burrowed just a little more. "Not especially," she stated craning her neck to look up at him.

His smile swelled her heart. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little cold. Wanna come in and get warmed up?"

She really didn't. She felt absolutely fabulous curled in next to him. And that was a little strange. She sat up. "Sure. It is getting a bit chilly," she agreed and stood up, remembering to take her drink with her. She was sipping it as he closed the French doors behind him, setting his own glass on the table.

He stretched his back, his arms going high and wide to the side. He gave an energetic yawn before heading into the kitchen. She stood near the doors, waiting for some indication from him as what to do next. But he didn't seem hurried to leave the kitchen, and after a time, she slowly started ambling around his spacious room, looking at the art on the walls, or the few sculptures here and there. She suspected everything was picked by him, nothing arranged by a decorator. It was all very artistic, but not staged, somehow, genuine and authentic.

She was staring at the various books on the large bookcase, taking note of the different class of literature he collected. There was standard classic fiction as well as a few newer, more modern reads. But there were also volumes on history, philosophy, and photography. Though by far the books on architecture took up the most space.

Denny had entered by that time, two cups of coffee in his hands. He silently observed her as she stood before his bookcase, scanning for information she could gain. After all, the contents of a bookcase were just as telling as the writings in a diary.

He sat the steaming mug on the glass table for her and quietly sat in his chair, picking up something to read. Finally aware of his presence, Alessa thought about what to say, before turning and smiling awkwardly when she caught him staring at her.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she picked up the mug. "How do you know what kind of coffee I like anyway?" she asked as she sat on his couch, turned so she could see over it to where he sat in the corner in his reading chair.

He gave a half smile. "Because I pay attention," he answered simply.

She flushed, and looked back down at the coffee in her hands.

Denny quietly glanced over at her, keeping an eye on her as she tried to read a book she had swiped from his bookshelf. But Alessa seemed as distracted as he was, and he caught her stealing peeks from her lowered head. After ten minutes of the awkward tension, Denny had had enough.

"Come on, let's go," he announced standing up decidedly.

She looked up sharply. "Go where?"

"Let's go get changed. You can take me on a run, or I can take you down to the gym and put you through the paces."

She eyed him speculatively. Actually, it would be nice to do something instead of sitting around getting embarrassed, she decided. Alessa looked at him with a lifted eyebrow. "You run?"

He chuckled almost self-deprecatingly. "Probably not as well as you, but I get around."

Suddenly, the idea of being better than him at something struck an exciting chord with her. "Fine. Prove it," she said with and evil grin and went to the bedroom to change into her running gear. But when Denny entered behind her, she realized she couldn't change in front of him and so took her bag to the bathroom.

Denny watched her with a curious smile. He never heard the water run or the toilet flush, and as she was quick about the change, he decided she simply didn't want to change in front of him. Odd, considering he'd had her shirt off the evening before and done just about everything imaginable to her chest. Almost everything, he grinned stupidly.

He wondered if she was shy or embarrassed to be naked in front of him, and then decided that would never do as he stripped off his own shirt and pants and donned a clean t-shirt and shorts. He was lacing up his shoes when he had a fantastic idea.

"What were you thinking for dinner?" he asked when she emerged.

"You mean you didn't have that planned yet?" she quipped.

Denny chuckled. "I do have some food in the fridge, but I thought I might let you choose a restaurant to order from if you wanted."

"What? Let me choose? Oh, my lands, I don't think my tiny little mind could ever make such a monumental decision," she feigned with a Southern accent, the back of her hand pressed faintingly against her forehead.

Denny laughed ruefully, standing from the chair and stalking to her with a gleam in his eyes. Alessa blinked at the hungry look, but held her ground, her chin even coming up a notch in defiance.

"Whatever are you suggesting, my dear?" he growled a moment before grabbing her about the waist and twisting her around into a dip. Her head momentarily extended back to the ground before she looked back up at him, her hands on his biceps. Their face was only an inch apart. For a moment she hoped he would kiss her. "Don't give me any sass, or I won't let you make any decisions," he growled.

Her eyes flared. "Why you-!"

But she was cut off by his hard, passionate mouth crashing into hers, instantly conquering with plundering strokes. Her fingers dug a little deeper into the flesh of his arms, and after a moment of the position, he twisted them back up, clasping her closer into his body. She pinched his arm.

"Ow!" he darted away laughing. "You don't have to be violent," he teased.

"You are such a twelve year-old," she chided angrily.

"And you love it," he said, rushing at her again, picking her up and twirling her to deposit her on the bed. She squeaked out and readied to defend herself from his onslaught, but was disappointed when he simply disappeared out the bedroom door. She was breathing harshly and was just about to scoot off the bed when he returned with his silver laptop.

"Stay," he commanded, to which she scowled. She thought about getting up, she really did, but when he went around to his side of the bed and plopped on it next to her, she scooted back over to see what he was about.

Denny fired up his computer and pulled up a file on-line. It was a list of restaurants that took orders for carry out. Alessa was quite impressed with his taste in food, as equal in Asian cuisine as hers, but even more adventurous in foodie dining than she ever realized existed. He begged to recommend a few strange-sounding restaurants, but was easily amenable to sushi. They ordered more than she thought they could eat in three life times, with a pick-up set in an hour and fifteen minutes.

"Gives us time to go work out and then drive over and get it."

When Denny slid his key card into the reader to unlock the gym door, Alessa breathed in awe as the impressive space automatically lit up. Though she knew they were in the basement, it felt very different with the tall, brightly lit walls and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Even the fragrance was surprisingly fresh and not musty or sweaty as one would have expected.

Along one bank of mirrored wall was a remarkable number and array of cardio machines, including top-of-the-line treadmills. She turned to grin in challenge at him. "Okay, how about the person to go the farthest in ten minutes is the winner."

"And just what does the winner win?" he asked, liking the playful, challenging side of her.

Her eyes roamed up as she thought, and then another evil grin struck her face. "A ten minute foot massage."

Denny was able to suppress the amused smile because of the flash of heat the memory from the last foot massage ignited in him. "Deal," he said, not really caring if he won or lost, as either outcome would be enjoyable.

As they approached their machines, Alessa suggested a precursory warm up so as to avoid any strains from the doubtless hard pace they were going to put their bodies through. After agreeing on five minutes, they stepped on their respective treadmills and chose their own pace to begin at, and when five minutes were up, they each stepped on either side of the running decks to reset their time, agreeing that counting down would be the best method for keeping track of specific distance in a given amount of time.

Alessa stretched out an old injury while Denny did some butt-kicks to loosen his quads. "Ready?" he challenged with a cocky grin.

"I think the question is, are you?" she returned confidently and then began mouthing the countdown. "Go!" she shouted and hoped on the deck and punched the speed up. She started sprinting at level six, but with each passing minute she punched it up a few notches more. She could hear Denny likewise steadily increasing his speed, but was running too fast to dare to look over to see what pace he was making.

At minute six her thighs began to burn, but it wasn't any discomfort she didn't know intimately and so kept pushing, deciding an even faster pace was what she needed. The pain began to creep in like a vining barbed wire, but still she focused on the rhythm of her steps, the steadiness, the pattern of one then the other. She saw there was less than a minute and at ten seconds, though there was barely any air left in her burning lungs, she counted down the seconds she had flashing at her.

"Zero!" she shouted in a huffing breath and then knocked the speed down to a slow trot, just enough to keep her moving but not so fast as to require any sort of energy. Her hands were on the grab bar, holding her up and she panted. "One...point...nine-eight," she declared, a little frustrated that she hadn't gone the full two miles.

Denny had slowed two seconds after she...and was similarly jogging along with his hands clenched onto the side bars. "Two," he declared breathlessly.

Alessa's head jerked up and she scowled as she looked at his distance. Sure enough, he was just a few meters ahead of her, very likely making his declaration the truth. She could feel her pulse begin to slow and took her hands away. For a moment she couldn't acknowledge that he'd spoken, that he'd won, and so she looked straight ahead at her pink-cheeked reflection jogging until she felt as if she had enough strength return to speed herself up to an almost typical pace.

Denny was still slumped over beside her, his feet slogging along, but no gloat in his eyes for his triumph. In fact, she couldn't even see his face, she realized when she finally looked over at him. And then he stopped his treadmill altogether and stumbled off, collapsing on the floor, still breathing heavily. And then she realized he was hissing in pain.

A very concerned Alessa pulled the emergency cord on her machine and hopped off to kneel beside him. "Denny, are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked clutching onto his shoulders.

Denny was grasping his thigh, his finger digging in deeply. "Fuck," he hissed.

"Cramp?" she asked knowingly, having experienced a few of those herself. "Here, let me. Stretch your leg out," she instructed calmly, helping him move his leg. "Now, contract your quads," she ordered while she dug deeply into his cramping hamstring. Denny hissed again, but his breathing slowed when he felt the sharp tightness loosen. "Denny, roll over onto her stomach; I'll massage it," Alessa offered without thinking.

The pained man did as commanded, rolling cautiously to his stomach, his torso still rising and falling as he laid his cheek on his folded arms. She was digging into the right muscles, and he fought not tense up at the pain she caused. After several minutes of intense massage meant to stretch the muscle out, her hands were more pleasant, more pleasurable as they firmly stroked a larger and larger part of his thigh.

"You dummy," she said softly. "Don't you know you should keep moving after you've pushed yourself so hard?" But her hands didn't stop the massage.

"Does this count?" he mumbled dreamily after a time.

"Hm?"

"My reward. My massage. Does this count instead?"

Alessa was silent a moment. "We're always thinking about stipulations, aren't we?"

Pause. "I suppose we are."

"Our training?"

"No. Our way of ensuring we get what we want." Denny turned over. "I'll forego my foot massage if I can have a kiss."

Alessa smiled faintly. "You like kissing, don't you?"

"And you don't?" he chuckled. "I just figure you have a lot of time to make up for." And with that, he took her by the arms and gently pulled her forward.

Alessa placed her hands on his chest to steady herself, and though he drew her near to him, he left the last of the distance for her to cross on her own. And so for a minute they just stared at each other, each daring the other, until Alessa could no longer hold back and touched her lips to his.

Although Denny's lips were soft and pliant, they were unmoving even as she assumed he would be kissing her. And then she realized he wanted her to kiss him, to seduce him like all the times he had her. She felt a frisson of excitement rush up from her stomach, quivering her heart and her breath.

If he was giving her this moment then she wanted to discover him, as he had her so many times. Alessa moved her lips gently, tentatively, learning the feel of the perfectly contoured mouth, coaxing reactions and taking note of his seeming enjoyment. She studied if he mimicked her or simply responded. She allowed her teeth to drag over his bottom lip, finding just the right pressure to bite and cause a spark of action on his part. And then when she felt her lips had done all they could, she took another gentle bite and slowly dragged her tongue across the captured lip.

Denny's breath caught at the shocking contrast of the sharp bite and the dull, soothing swipe of her moist tongue. His chest rose a little faster as he concentrated on relaxing under her, allowing her the reins, but it was difficult suppressing the quickly climbing ache. And then thankfully to his relief, she released his lip only to open her mouth over his with another sweep of her sinuous tongue. How wonderfully quick she learned, he thought as a moan finally escaped.

And then there was no holding back, no laying limp and minimally responsive to her. Denny wrapped her in his arms, pulling her just a little more tightly and kissed her fully back. But it couldn't last, she whined internally, as her knees were beginning to ache from the hard, short carpeted floor. Reluctantly, she pulled away, sitting back on her knees and ankles.