The Player and the Single Mom

“Get naked,” I demanded.

He barely paused in what he was doing to strip off his underwear. Cash’s arms brushed my hips as I reached down and tossed the towel to the floor. I didn’t care what he saw, I just wanted to be free of anything holding me back. Free to feel all of him, feel all of his touch, free to not give a shit about what I looked like, free to just care what I felt like.

And what I felt like was alive with pleasure, appreciative of my body, grateful that I was experiencing such intense ecstasy after years of celibacy.

I felt sexy as hell.

When I came, it was big and boisterous and with wild abandon, not a single fucking care in the world.

It was the most intense orgasm I’d ever had, and I was still coming down from it when Cash yanked my knees up and pushed inside me. I didn’t even know when he’d put on a condom, but I was grateful he had all his moves in play. My arms were above my head and I lazily laid there and let him take me at whatever pace he wanted.

There was no reality.

There were no worries.

There was nothing but here and now, the scent of the apricot massage oil, the dancing light of the candles, the sound of the flute music and beyond that, the ocean.

There was just me and Cash and the creak of the bed as he moved inside me, our eyes locked with each other.

I felt myself smile, one that belonged to a smug seductress, not to me.

But in that moment, I was her, and he was the man who had reintroduced me to her.

When he let go, and poured himself inside me with a curse, I felt fully in control of my life for the first time in a decade.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked when he carefully laid down beside me, his enormous hand dropping onto my stomach.

“I just like the way you fuck me, that’s all,” I said.

And I kept smiling.

Cash

“This is beautiful,”Sera said, sipping her champagne and staring out at the ocean.

“Very beautiful.”

She turned and gave a soft laugh when she saw I was looking at her, not the water. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“Lucky me. All I have to do is speak the truth.”

“Is it absurd that I feel like I could go to bed right now and sleep like a baby? Well, not a baby. That expression is ridiculous. But I feel so relaxed and amazing. I know I’m going to sleep better than I have in a long time.”

“Do you have trouble sleeping?”

She nodded. “I think too much at night. I worry myself out of sleep.”

“You’ve got a lot on your plate.” I wanted to unburden her somehow. But I guess all I could do right now was give her this vacation and a whole lot of orgasms.

“So do a lot of people. I’m also really blessed to have three beautiful children and two sisters who are my best friends. I shouldn’t complain.”

“You’re entitled to your feelings though. You’re tired. It’s hard. Those are facts.”

“Those are facts but I’m sick of hearing myself talk about it. I wish I knew how to just turn everything on its head, you know?”

“Do you like owning the bakery?” I asked. I was curious about that. She didn’t seem to have the passion for it that you would think she would.

“Nope. I loved baking as a side hustle. I used to sign up for pop-ups once a month too, and that was fun. It was obviously a much lower commitment. But I think owning a small business when you’re a control freak who doesn’t know how to delegate doesn’t allow for any free time.”

“Would you want to sell it?”

“I have definitely thought about it. But I would probably lose money on it, and I’m too stubborn to do that.” Sera put down her glass and smiled at me. “Enough of that real-world shit. Thank you for dinner.”

“I didn’t make it.”

“Smart-ass. You know what I mean.” She sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Would you care if I just went to bed? I feel like I should jump on the chance to sleep.”

It was probably better if she went to bed. I was concerned the longer I sat across from her in the moonlight, the more likely it was that I would do or say something that would have her running scared. Like that I would marry her and take care of her forever if she would look at me like that every night.

Massaging her, touching every inch of her, had stirred something inside me, more than I was already feeling. Watching her be the one to let go of that towel had also twisted me up inside. She trusted me and I thought she was so fucking amazing, but I didn’t want to overwhelm her. Keep it fun.

For now.

“I don’t mind. You need your rest. We have a full day tomorrow.”

“What are we doing?”

“Fucking.” I said it casually.

Her eyes widened. “I see.”

“You also have a spa appointment and we’re going horseback riding on the beach.”

“That is a full day.” She stood up and she started to clear the table.

“Leave that. I’ll call someone to come and get it.”

“You’re not coming to bed?”

It wasn’t even ten and I was keyed up. “No. I might go for a jog on the beach. I ate too much.” I stood up. “I’ll wait until after the staff cleans up to leave though. Don’t worry about that.”

“Okay.” She pulled open the slider and stepped into the bedroom. Then she stopped in the doorway. “I just had a thought. There’s only one bed in this room.”

For a second I had no response to the obvious. “Well, yes. We can’t have sex if we’re in separate beds.”

“I just thought… I don’t know. That friends with benefits don’t cuddle and wake up together.”

Wait a minute. She actually thought we’d be sleeping in separate beds? That was not something I had even considered. “Why would you get up out of bed, naked, and go sleep in a different bed? That’s very confusing to me.”

“Because it’s friendship, not you know, a relationship.”

“You never shared a bed with a girlfriend growing up? Sleepovers, crashing in each other's rooms in college?”

“Yes, but they were friends.”

“You make no sense,” I said. “You just completely negated your own point. Are you saying we can’t sleep in the same bed?” I would be damned if I was sleeping on the couch.

“Would you mind?” she asked, looking at me pleadingly. “That just feels very intimate, very overwhelming to me.”

More intimate than my tongue buried inside her pussy?

Apparently. I knew all of this was out of her wheelhouse, but damn, not sharing a bed? Maybe the intimacy of the massage had been fine in the moment, but now she was freaking out.

“Please?”