Susan read the answer in my expression and flushed slightly before giggling. “Well, okay, but I’m not!” We both laughed, and started picking up our abandoned clothing.
It seemed a bit gauche to just leave, but we’d already had dinner. “Do you want to see a movie, or maybe get a cup of coffee?” I asked.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Isn’t that the wrong order? Besides, I think I need a little more cleaning up than you do.” Her skirt went into the closet in exchange for a robe, which Susan pulled on and belted. “Not that I don’t appreciate the offer, mind you.”
I finished tucking in my shirt and stuffed the tie in my pocket. “Well, another night, then.” I hesitated, and then walked over and kissed her again. It was pretty steamy, but without the raw edge of our earlier lust, and Susan pressed her hand over mine when I slid it inside her robe to cup a breast.
“I’d better fix that,” Susan told me when we parted, and ran a finger across my mouth; it came away lipstick red. “Better,” she pronounced, and walked me to the door.
Susan cracked the door and I slid out, trying for a little discretion, to find myself facing another girl. She was thin, although still feminine, and gave me a piercing look as I emerged from the room.
“So, Susan is not so aloof as she appears,” the girl drawled after finishing her examination. “I am pleased to meet you, I think.” Her amused smirk was hard to resist.
“I’m Lloyd,” I introduced myself, offering my hand.
“Yelena,” she responded, placing her hand lightly in mine instead of shaking it as I’d expected.
I yielded to impulse and raised her hand to my lips; it just seemed like a natural thing to do. “Charmed.”
“I can see,” she commented archly, looking at the red smudge I’d left by her knuckles. “I would wish you a good evening, but I see you’ve already had one.” Yelena stripped the sock from the doorknob and wiped away the lipstick. “Please feel free to visit again.”
“Yelena!” Susan moaned from behind me.
“I want to hear all about it,” Susan’s roommate said as she entered the room. I waved a silent, and unheeded, goodbye and retreated the way I’d entered without encountering anybody else.
The snow was falling again Saturday, and I wasn’t exactly a winter person. One of the benefits of boarding instead of living in a dorm or apartment was that I could get away with holing up on these kinds of days; Mrs. Wagner would even bring me coffee without prompting. I claimed my usual chair by the fireplace in the family room and worked through a stack of grading while Mr. Wagner studied the minutia of the sports section and Mrs. Wagner knitted — very homey.
After I’d finished grading, I turned to the more interesting question of assessing what I’d learned the previous day and what I might try next. There was a delicate balance to maintain between what I wanted and what would be safe, and what I could tell Alexandra and what I shouldn’t; I ended up just closing my eyes and waiting to see where my mind would drift.
I hadn’t quite fallen asleep, or so I thought, when I woke suddenly and found Mrs. Wagner standing beside my chair with a throw in her hands.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Lloyd! I didn’t mean to startle you; I just thought you looked a little cold.” She proceeded to settle the throw over my lap and legs.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Wagner, I wasn’t really sleeping. Thanks!”
The whole interaction was almost routine, because Mrs. Wagner was eerily silent in her slippers and really had surprised me any number of times in the past. I’d grown accustomed to it, but it was disconcerting. Somehow it hadn’t worked that way today.
I lay back and closed my eyes again, but this time my mind was working much more quickly. What had alerted me this time? I worked on the problem fruitlessly for some time before calming again in the warmth of the fire and the crackle of the burning wood. I’d started watching the transient flashes of imagined stars inside my eyelids when I gradually became aware of a faint lightness somewhere ahead of me. It reminded me somewhat of coals buried beneath ashes after a fire had almost burned out, but without any sense of color.
Opening my eyes momentarily revealed the glow, if it really existed, seemed to coincide with Mr. Wagner. I closed my eyes again and cast about for Mrs. Wagner; I convinced myself that I found a matching glow where she was sitting, but it was too faint to discern with my eyes open. A little experimentation suggested the glows tracked with them, but I couldn’t make out anything more. The chief result of sitting there with my eyes closed was that I fell asleep again.
The ringing phone awakened me. For whatever reason, Mr. Wagner was in charge of answering it, and he was most of the way to the kitchen before I was aware enough to close my eyes and try to follow him. I didn’t have any luck, either due to the extra distance or my unsettled mental state.
“Lloyd, it’s for you,” he said after a minute.
I sat up in surprise. Sure, I was listed in the campus directory, but I couldn’t remember anybody calling me before this, and it wasn’t the right time for my parents to be calling.
“A Susan,” he added with a wink. It was ridiculous how excited both of them looked; Mrs. Wagner had let it be known that she thought I didn’t socialize enough, and now I’d never hear the end of it.
I got to the phone and tried to ignore my hosts, who were hovering far enough away to give me some space but doubtless close enough to hear every word I said. “Hi, Susan.”
“Oh, Lloyd, I hope you don’t mind me calling,” she apologized. “Did I interrupt anything?”
“Only a thought experiment,” I quipped. “I’m happy you called.”
“I was just wondering if we could get together and plan some more research.” She lowered her voice and continued, “I just couldn’t stop thinking about yesterday. You don’t think I’m being too forward, do you?”
“I’d like that,” I smiled. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mrs. Wagner practically jumping up and down and whispering, “Ask her out!”
“This is research!” I hissed, holding a hand over the phone, before putting it back to my ear. “Would you mind coming over here? I board but I don’t think the owners will mind. The university doesn’t leave the thermostats turned up over the weekend, and it would be more comfortable than your place or the library.” It was unlikely to be a problem with the Wagners, and sure enough a quick glance showed Mr. Wagner giving me a thumbs-up.
“That would be fine; can you give me directions?”
“What if I pick you up, instead? It’s still miserable outside, and I’d be happy to take you home again afterwards.”
“Would you? That’d be swell!”
“About 6:30, then?”
“I’ll be waiting in the lobby.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I assured her, and hung up.
Mr. Wagner chuckled. “She must be some girl to get you out in the snow.”
“Oh, shush,” said Mrs. Wagner, elbowing him. “Weren’t you telling me you wanted to see ‘Lawrence of Arabia’?”
They traded knowing looks. “Well, Lloyd, it looks like some girl is going to drag me out in the snow, too.” Mr. Wagner didn’t look too upset about it.
“I promise not to throw any wild parties,” I grinned, starting to think about what else I might do instead.
We ate lunch, and I called Susan back, just to let her know she didn’t have to worry about impressing the Wagners. I then proceeded to do un-Saturday-like activities such as making my bed, showering, and shaving. I also checked to be sure I had a few condoms discreetly tucked where I could reach them at need.
After picking at a dinner that could have been sawdust for all I remembered of it, all of us bundled up, brushed off the cars, and departed in different directions. The movie was long, and the Wagners told me they didn’t expect to be home until late. The roads weren’t as bad as I’d feared and I made it to Susan’s apartment early, but she emerged from the front door as soon as I got out of the car.
I handed her into the passenger’s seat, slammed the balky door hard to make sure it latched on the first try, and scampered around to climb back inside myself.
“Thanks for picking me up,” Susan told me, huddling in her heavy coat. “I wasn’t really looking forward to going anywhere in this.”
“Neither was I,” I laughed, “but this seemed like a good cause.” I concentrated on keeping the Ford in the middle of the street and we made only inconsequential conversation on the thankfully short drive back home. After pulling back into my space in the empty driveway, we dashed up to the house and inside to the warmth of the mud room, where we stamped the snow off our boots.
I offered to hang up her coat, and got the surprise of my life — beneath it, Susan was naked save for a scarf and her boots. “Jesus, Susan!” I blurted, fumbling with the garment.
She giggled, evidently pleased by the pole-axed expression that must have been visible on my face. “I have a present from Yelena, too,” she announced, and withdrew a handful of condoms from one of the pockets. “We only have to promise not to use them on her bed!”
“It’s a deal!” I got our coats mostly onto hangers and then, hands free, pulled her tight for a passionate kiss. “This way,” I urged her a minute later, tugging in the direction of my room. I had my shirt unbuttoned by the time we got there; I started on my trousers, but Susan pushed me onto my bed and finished the job herself.
“I want you,” she growled huskily, shredding one of the condom wrappers. “Do I make you hot?”
“Unbelievably,” I gasped, as if my rigid erection wasn’t answer enough. There were things I wanted to try, but I suspected I was too worked up at the moment, and the sight of Susan wearing only a scarf was a real turn-on. I made myself lie still while she rolled on the condom, then pulled her onto the bed beside me and we were in each other’s arms.
“I’m looking forward to this,” I admitted, but she just moaned as I pushed myself into her wet pussy. There was no resistance and in no time at all we were fucking like minks.
“Oh, fuck! Fuck me, Lloyd!” was about the most coherent thing Susan said, but she was vocal enough to make me glad we had the house to ourselves.
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