Discovering Stella (9 page)

“I’m
sorry.
I
can’t,”
she whispered, placing
her
hands
on
my
chest and gently pushing me back.

I
closed my
eyes
and
sighed.
I really
shouldn’t
be
disappointed.
I’ve
only
known
her for
a
week.
And
during those
seven
days,
I’ve
seen
and
learned
more
about
her
than I
have
most
women
in
several
weeks
...
months,
even.
“You
can’t
or
you
don’t
want
to,
Princess?”
I
asked
playfully,
trying
to soothe
the
now uncomfortable
mood.

She
smiled apologetically yet displayed a hint of mischievousness.
“Both,”
she answered, standing up beside me, the
hem
of
her
dress level with
my
head.
“I’m
not
ready to make
you
a prince just yet. I kinda like
you
as
a
toad.”
Stella then turned and headed
for
the back
door.
“Lawson,”
she said,
as
she
swung
it
open.

My
gaze
met hers, causing me to swallow deeply before answering. “Yeah?”

“Thank
you for
tonight. I really needed
it.”

*
 
*
 
*

Lying in bed after clearing up the tequila shots, the scent of Stel
la’s
skin and the sound of
her
breath catching when I’d
  
 
trailed
my
lips up
her
neck were still vivid in
my
mind. I
couldn’t
get
her
out
of
my
head. Never had a chick had such
an
effect
on
me.
Shit!

I laced
my
fingers
together,
placed them behind
my
head and stared up at the ceiling. There was
movement
in
my
boxer shorts when
my
cock twitched
as
visions of the two times I saw
her
near-naked flittered across
my
mind.
Her
skin was perfectly smooth, golden and,
as
far
as
I could tell, without
tan
lines. God, the thought of
her
sunbathing in the
nude
made
my
cock twitch
more.
Yeah,
all right. Fuck, I get it. I want you to touch that skin as well.
Wait
your
fuckin’
turn.

Releasing
one
of
my
hands from behind
my
head, I pushed
my
boxer
shorts down, letting
my
cock spring free. I clasped
it
and closed
my
eyes, sucking in a breath and tilting
my
head upward, pretending that
it
was
Stella’s
hand wrapped around me and
not
mine.
It
wasn’t
easy,
but
as a
teenager,
I’d had years
of
perfecting this falsified
art
form,
and just like riding a bike,
it
only
took
a few
moments
before I was
on top of
it.

A vision of
her
kneeling between
my
legs,
her
eyes hungry
for
pleasure
as
she slid
her
hand along
my hot
skin,
provided
the perfect smokescreen
for
the reality surrounding me.

“Your cock is amazing!” she purred.

I smiled to myself and continued the charade.
Carry on
.

Stella moaned greedily. “Lawson, your cock is fucking huge. The biggest I’ve ever
seen.”

“The biggest, huh?” I murmured, bucking my hips and pushing my cock further into my hand.

“Yes. I want to see if it fits into my mouth.
It
might be too
big,”
she responded with a small pout.

Fuck!
The thought of those perfect pouty lips wrapping around me drew pre-cum from the eye of
my
cock, allowing me to swirl
it
around
my
head and lubricate
my
shaft, increasing the pumping action of
my
cupped hand.

The muscles in
my
arms tensed, so I pressed
my
eyelids together even harder and willed
my
vision of Stella to touch herself.

“Do you like my breasts?” she asked as she straightened her back and pinched both of her nipples.

“Yes,”
I groaned.

“Do you want to touch them?” she teased, clenching her pert, round tit while her other hand dropped between her legs.

Visualising
imaginary
Stella
twitching
her
clit,
my
balls
drew
high
into
my
groin,
ready
to
fucking
unleash.
It
made
me pump
faster,
the
muscles
in
my
chest,
abdomen
and
shoulders
tensing
in
anticipa
tion
as
my
cock
hardened
and
the
head
tingled
fucking
gloriously.

“Yes, Lawson!” Stella moaned, as she closed her eyes and plunged her finger deep inside herself.

Jesus fucking Christ!
Picturing
her
finger-fucking herself was enough to push me
over
the edge and I came, thick, warm jizz spurting
onto
my
stomach
as
I shuddered and throbbed
deliriously.

Seconds passed, which was when I opened
my
eyes and peered down at
my
torso to the small, white puddles
upon
it.
Decent load!
Admittedly,
it
had been a while since I’d last fucked a chick — nearly three weeks — and what sat
on my
stomach was a good indication of that.

I reached
for
the tissues beside
my
bed, quickly wiped myself clean and tossed them in the bin before pulling up
my
boxer shorts and placing
my
hands back behind
my
head.

Once
again
staring at the ceiling, I tried to make sense of what was happening, of what a brunette with the sexiest lips and most innocent eyes was doing to
my
mind.
Stella Walker. Stella fucking Walker. What have you done to me?

Bushwalking for dummies

It’d been a while since I’d lain in bed of a morning and pondered the day ahead. In fact, if I strained my brain long enough, I could not for the life of me remember when this particular situation last occurred.

The night before was still fresh in my mind. I remembered Lawson pressing his mouth on the crest of my cleavage and trailing it up my neck, only to stop and then brush my lips. My skin still buzzed at the
memory,
remembering his delicate touch and the warm, wet, delicious glide of his tongue. Shamefully, between my legs was not immune to this recollection as well.

Lying there, I
couldn’t
help reflecting on my reaction to his near kiss and, more importantly, what I should do about it. And
that’s
when I realised what it was that I was actually doing ... thinking about Lawson Drake.
What the shit-cake is going on?

Lawson had woken in me something that had been dormant, something I was
not
sure I wanted resurrected. Regardless of whether I even wanted to be
thinking
about him, I
couldn’t
ignore the step
for
ward I had taken and I
couldn’t
ignore that he was the
one
to have helped me take it.

For
the past eighteen months I had felt nothing, existing with
out
existing
as
the clock ticked time
away.
I
hadn’t
cared and part of me still
didn’t.
Part of me wanted to
pretend
that
my
life, up until this
point
in time, had never happened. I’d also come to realise there was a part of me that desperately wanted to
move
on
and
enjoy
what life had to offer without forgetting that
it
could also be cruel. A part of me wanted to believe
again
— to live.

And today was
as
good
as
any to do just that.

Kicking the sheets off
my
bed, I sprang to
my
feet and prepared
for
the day ahead. I was about to take a massive leap of faith, and I
didn’t
want to waste time. I’d already wasted enough
as
it
was.

*
 
*
 
*

“Todd,
have
you
got a minute?” I asked, while sheepishly smiling at the two elderly
men
sitting at the bar.

Todd
was the manager at the local
pub
and was standing
on
a
stool,
refilling the
liquor
shelves.
He
looked
over
his shoulder and smiled.
“Hey,
Stel. Sure,
what’s
up?”

“Can we
talk
in private?”

“Yeah,
of
course.” He
placed a bottle of
Jim
Beam down, stepped off the stool and wiped his hands
on
a cloth.
“Come
back
here
and
help
me
carry
these
into
the
storeroom,”
he instructed, lifting up the bar counter flap and handing me a large box.

Considering the
box’s
size, I prepared
for
the worst, strangely surprised when I realised
it
was practically weightless. “What’s in it?” I asked
curiously,
tossing
it into
the air just
slightly.

“Coasters.”
He winked.

I nodded,
“oh,” then
followed him
into
the
storeroom,
surveying the disorganised mess before me and noticing numerous opened boxes spread
over
the
floor.

“Just put it
down anywhere,”
he
advised
as
he awkwardly stepped
over
a
mop
and bucket.

Pivoting, I looked
for
a safe spot.
“Um
...
I would if there were any
room.”

“Yeah,
I
know.
I need
an
extra pair of hands around
here.
As
you
can
see, tidying up
isn’t
a priority at the
moment.”

“Well, it should
be.
You
could
find
yourself
in
a spot of shit
if
the
health and
safety
inspector
makes an
unannounced
visit.”

He
sighed
dejectedly. “Trust
me,
Stel,
I
know.
Problem
is, there
ain’t
a hell of a
lot of
people around
here
I
can
employ.
Unless I want to incite
some
of the locals to come
out
of retire
ment, my
choices are far and few between.”

“Really?” I asked, astounded by his statement. “Where are
all
the youngsters?”

“Most
of them
work
on
the surrounding farms
or
in Shepparton. There are
some
around town
...
it’s
just they are the ones who would succeed
more
in drinking
my
stock
than
selling
it.”

“Ah
...”
I nodded
my
understanding.

Todd
quickly peered
out
the door and
into
the bar.
“Gerry,
you’re
in charge
for
a sec. And no helping yourself to the
tap,”
he joked, before
taking
a seat
on
an
empty milk crate and gesturing
for
me to do the same. “So, what do
you
want to tell me?”

Taking a deep breath, I sat down and tapped
my
hands
on
my
knees.
“I
want to
stay,”
I blurted
out.

“Stay?” he asked, tilting his head to the
side
just a little.

“Yes,
stay
here
in Pittstown. I
don’t
want to go back.
There’s
nothing in Melbourne
for
me.”

He leaned forward and surveying me
intently.
“What about your nursing
job?”

“I
don’t
want to be a nurse any
more.
I’m
over
it. I need a
change.”

His eyes narrowed and it made me shift in my seat. “Stella, what
aren’t
you
telling me?”

When
Todd
and I were
younger,
he only ever said
my
name in
full
and in a
low,
questioning
tone
when he meant business.
It
was the same
tone
he was using
now,
so I knew I had to tell him something.

Standing
up,
I turned
my
back to him and started sliding boxes
on
a shelf to make room
for
the others.
“I
don’t
want to get
into it
now.
But
I
will
one
day,
I promise. Just
not
today,
okay? I just
...
can’t.”
I turned to face him
again
and swallowed
heavily.
“What I
will
tell you, though, is that
I’m
not
going back to
Mel
bourne, to
my
job.
I’m
done
there. I want a new start and I want
it
here,
with you.
You’re
the only family
I’ve
got.”

“What about your dad and your mum? They still live in Melbourne,
don’t
they?”
Todd
stood up and took a step
closer,
worry saturating his face. “Stella, has anything happened to your parents?”

“No!
No!
Dad is consumed with his criminal cases,
as
per usual.
Did you
know that
he’s
on
marriage number four now?” I said with mock impressiveness.
Todd
shook his head at
my
com
ment, but
wasn’t
distracted from the concern he obviously felt.

Sighing, I sat down
on
the milk crate and fiddled with the
hem
of
my
skirt.
“And
Mum is
...
well
...
Mum; self-absorbed and oblivious to the
world
and those who are in
it,”
I added,
my
voice
dripping with disdain.

“You’re
running from
someone or
something,
aren’t
you? Are
you
in trouble?”