Between the Lines: Ellie & Rowan

◇ Ellie ◇

Rowan was supposed to be here an hour ago.

When my coworker Saoirse invited me to the party she was throwing at her house tonight, it seemed like the perfect excuse for him to drive up from London to Edinburgh. Rowan's wife knew he had friends here from boarding school but didn't know them personally, so she was more than happy for him to go alone. As an added benefit, nobody at the party would know him; Saoirse was only a work friend. We were close enough--happy-hour drinks here, an occasional lunch there--but none of my "real" friends, the ones that knew about our history, would be there.

Earlier that day I had been almost giddy with excitement. In the shower, I envisioned what the night might have in store for me, letting my imagination run wild. As warm, soapy water trickled down my body, I daydreamed about Rowan's touch and let my hand linger between my legs, stroking myself gently. After toweling off I put on my favorite perfume, a new red bra and undies I had bought recently, and a fitted blue-and-white block-print dress that always garnered me compliments and made me feel attractive when I wore it.

I was relieved when he finally stepped through the door. He wore a white dress shirt, navy chinos, and grey driving moccasins; his beard was longer than I remembered but I still found him devastatingly handsome. I watched from the kitchen as he scanned the party, looking for me. When he saw me, his eyes lit up and he began walking directly towards me. Any annoyance I had with him dissipated. Our conversation came naturally, as if this wasn't only our second time seeing each other in twenty years. Rowan was as charming as ever, and I found myself leaning in towards him as he spoke and smiling often.

Rowan was playful and flirtatious, while maintaining a certain levity that made the evening feel safe. As the minutes turned to hours, I began to hope for a change of scenery. The night was almost over and while I didn't know exactly what I was hoping for, I knew it couldn't happen in a room full of people. I noticed the expression on Rowan's face, as if he were deliberating something. Wordlessly, he took me by the hand and guided me away from the commotion of the party. I was only too happy to be led.

-- Rowan --

The last time I saw Ellie, she was as nervous as anyone I'd ever seen-- she practically trembled when I came close to her. This time was different. There was a lightness to her, as if she was tiptoeing through soft sand, that I found particularly endearing. Being around her felt familiar and new at the same time, and in this second meeting I was struck by the realization that now I was the one who felt a bit flustered. Her dress did nothing to soothe my racing mind; she wore a fitted white dress with a light blue floral motif. Its sweetheart neckline gave a tasteful glimpse of the top of her breasts, and I found myself stealing a glance whenever she leaned forward or turned to look away. I could have sworn they'd gotten bigger. I wanted nothing more than to pull her against me and feel her body pressed against mine.

The party carried on around us as I shifted between light-hearted banter and more risky flirtation. As I grew bolder in my advances, I became more and more aware of the people around us; I wanted her alone. Taking Ellie by the hand, I inclined my head towards the kitchen. For a moment, I doubted she would follow my lead, fearing she would remain there, unmoving. I took a cautious step towards the back of the house, away from the party, her hand in mine. As I felt her take that first step behind me, a wave of relief and excitement washed over me: a first, unspoken "yes." Something--something--was about to happen, though I'm not sure either of us knew exactly what that would be. The din of the night's festivities faded to the background as we found ourselves completely alone for the very first time.

Ellie's friend probably called it a study; to me, it was a library. The walls were covered with built-in shelves almost to the ceiling, completely filled with books. The air had the distinct smell of almond and vanilla, old paper, warm mahogany, and musk.

We stopped in the middle of the room, turning towards one another. Now, without an audience, I felt the tension between us heighten. I yearned to explore Ellie's body with my fingertips, my hands, my lips, my tongue. For the first time I noticed her scent--a sumptuous mix of citrus and white flowers. I imagined Ellie in nothing but lingerie, spraying herself with perfume to prepare for tonight. I wondered where exactly on her body it was applied, hoping that I would soon discover it for myself.

The room was still; the muffled backdrop of the party seemed miles away. Ellie stood in front of me, waiting. I took a step closer, looking down at her as she inclined her face towards mine. Finally, we embraced, our only witnesses the countless, nameless tomes surrounding us. I wrapped my arms around the small of her back and pulled Ellie's body against mine. "I want you," I practically breathed into Ellie's ear. One hand traced the zipper up the back of her dress, the other slid down her backside, cupping her cheek in my palm as I rediscovered what Ellie's body felt like. I reached under the back of her dress and traced the lacy fabric of her underwear with my fingertips. I had always loved Ellie's ass and relished the opportunity to know it once more.

We pawed at each other like horny teenagers as we explored the other's body through their clothes. I desperately wanted to kiss her, a boundary we had yet to cross since reconnecting. My lips would graze hers before one of us would turn our head slightly, offering our cheek or our neck in consolation. I felt myself becoming aroused, brimming with desire and lust. Ellie let out a soft sigh as I caressed the back of her neck and I was instantly rock hard. I needed her. All restraint, all inhibition melted away. "Can I taste you?" I asked.

I looked at Ellie and studied her face, searching for an answer. She did not utter a single word, her expression inscrutable. I feared that I had drastically misjudged the situation. Moments before I could shamefully apologize, she turned her back to me and walked to a light blue chaise in the corner of the room. She sat, her knees firmly together. I could hardly breathe. Ellie reclined, propped herself up on her elbows, and ever so slightly opened her legs. I never told her this, but this wordless invitation of hers made me salivate. As she hiked up her dress, I got on my knees and began helping her out of her underwear. We both stifled our laughter as she tried to kick them off, only to have them awkwardly cling to her left ankle.

I had always loved the feeling of being between Ellie's legs, her knees resting over my shoulders and her thighs pressed against my face. "You have to be quiet," I whispered. My mouth was so close to her that she could feel the warmth of my breath on her bare skin. I set my palm against the smooth skin of her inner thigh, squeezing, pressing, asking her to open up to me. She shifted her body, raised her waist, and spread her legs wider. I could resist no longer. I leaned forward and traced my tongue slowly against her, beginning at the bottom of her sex and moving to just above her clit. I nearly shuddered. Memories of our past came flooding back as I took in her scent and tasted her skin. After so many years had passed between us, it felt almost surreal to have Ellie in my mouth again. I wanted to give her more than just pleasure. I wanted to give her excitement, intimacy, attention, adoration. I wanted to give her everything.

◇ Ellie ◇

"Can I taste you?"

I nearly gasped, my eyes growing wide for a split second.

"Finally" I thought to myself. For months I had been hoping Rowan would eventually go down on me, ever since we reconnected and started texting each other. Rowan was even more inexperienced than I was when we started dating, but even then he had a rare talent for oral sex. Maybe it was just the fact that he seemed to enjoy giving as much as I did receiving. I was curious to find out what twenty years of experience with other women had taught him. Not to seem too eager, I took my time sitting down on the first flat surface I saw: a light blue chaise sitting in the corner by the window.

Rowan knelt in front of me. I pulled my dress up to my waist as he removed my underwear and I felt the cool night air against my bare skin. I tingled with anticipation, watching as he leaned in until I instinctively closed my eyes the moment I felt his breath against me. I remembered this feeling--the way he held my hips and pulled me towards him right before going down on me. I could feel his excitement and his desire. I felt excited. I felt desired. Then, I felt Rowan's lips against me as he tenderly kissed my clit.

I exhaled, sinking deeper into the chaise as I felt his tongue against me. He slid a hand under my dress and rested his palm against my stomach while sliding his tongue in slow circles around my clit. I pulled his hand up to my breast, wanting to feel him grope me. Rowan's fingertips moved slowly up and down my slit, caressing the inside of my lips. I opened my legs wider for him--an invitation. He pushed a finger inside; I was so wet already that it glided in smoothly until I had taken the entire length.

I stopped paying attention to exactly what Rowan was doing to my body. I merely let him lick and kiss and finger and touch every part of me, vacillating between watching him pleasure me and closing my eyes and simply enjoying being pleasured. I felt both his hands on my breasts, kneading them, and I stared at the ceiling--a sliver of light moving across the room as the music from the party seemed to get louder. I'd feel his finger push up against me from the inside and my head would tilt back as I closed my eyes, my mouth opening slightly as my jaw relaxed. I could already feel my orgasm building as my muscles started to tense, but Rowan would never let me cum so quickly.

A whisper: "Not yet."

He leaned back and sat on his feet, his face shiny from my arousal. He left his fingers inside, pressing the pads of his fingers firmly down as he spread his fingers apart. He silently appraised my body from the waist down, as if he was seeing it for the first time. He noticed the scars on the front of my hips and traced them with his fingers. "These are new," he said, plainly. Rowan didn't ask me about them, he simply leaned down and gave them a tender kiss. He continued kissing down the inside of my thigh, pausing at my knee to look up at me and give me a devilish grin. Rowan was teasing me, making me wait. I almost hated him for it. Then again, he knew just how much I secretly enjoyed having my eventual release withheld.

The wait was interminable. And then it was over. Rowan's mouth was back where it belonged and now two fingers were exploring my depths. My breath became shallow as I gently cupped his head in my hands, practically whimpering as he lapped at my throbbing clit. Rowan paused again and looked me in the eyes, one hand resting on my sternum, fingers still deep inside me. His cheeks were glistening, his beard wet. He withdrew his fingers, held two against his lips, and sucked on them, shutting his eyes momentarily. "Ugh, I love it," he said before swallowing. He slid his fingers back inside, somehow even deeper than before, almost reaching my cervix. I felt a slow-building, deep, warm sensation as he pressed against me from inside. I was very wet before, but this new sensation made me gush. It was the distinct feeling of being full, mounting pressure, dizzying, and deeply, deeply gratifying. I moaned almost imperceptibly, completely enraptured. I didn't know how much longer I could last, or how long Rowan would make me wait.

✦ Lela ✦

The party wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that much fun either. I had met most of the partygoers at Saoirse's wedding; that said, I only really knew a couple of her closest friends. "Saoirse's sister" was my moniker to the vast majority of the attendees. Despite my being nine years younger than her, Saoirse always made a point to invite me to the parties she often held at the home she and her husband moved into last year. Tonight was a "mojito party," though in my mind a single drink does not a party theme make. Slightly bored, I decided to wander around a bit to see if Saoirse had hung up all the artwork she had acquired since my last visit.

I saw that the door to the study had been left ajar. The study was easily my favorite room in Saoirse's new house, even if she had only read maybe a quarter of the books adorning the walls. As I pushed the door slightly and let more light into the darkened room, I realized the study wasn't empty. There was a woman I didn't recognize sitting on the fancy blue sofa. Her eyes were closed and her brow furrowed as if she was concentrating intently.

Then I noticed the man kneeling between her legs. The party just got a lot more interesting.

I stood there motionless, watching as the man came up for air before he began kissing his way down the woman's leg. It felt wrong to watch them but I allowed myself to indulge my voyeuristic side for a moment. Whatever he was doing, she was clearly enjoying it. My first thought was that they were a random hookup fueled by one too many mojitos, but after watching for a few moments I could tell they knew each other (and each other's body) well. Maybe they were just a freaky married couple that liked to hook up in the back rooms of parties. Maybe I should make friends with them--they seemed way cooler than most of Saoirse's guests.

I watched as she practically squirmed as he went down on her, clawing at the sofa and arching her back. I felt my own excitement building as I imagined the sensations she must be feeling. As the woman started playing with the man's hair as he pleasured her, I realized my own hand had drifted between my thighs. "Okay, time to go," I said to myself and turned to head back to the party, leaving behind these two unknown lovers.

-- Rowan --

I loved the way Ellie tasted. It was like water that had been delicately flavored with the scent of her skin; a faint sweetness on the tip of the tongue, with only a slight saltiness that followed. It was intoxicating. All thought, all reason left me; only a primal thirst remained. It was as if I had been wandering the desert and came upon an oasis between her legs. I wanted to drink her in completely. I was enamored with how soaked my fingers were and decided to indulge myself, rubbing my nose and face against her pussy just to feel her wetness all over me.

I pulled my fingers out and rested my hand on Ellie's mound, tickling the skin below her navel with my fingertips as I gently bit the crease where her leg met her hip. I fingered her once more; her G-spot felt tantalizingly firm. Any time Ellie's breath would become too shallow, or her grip on me too firm, I would slow down, only to increase the intensity of my touch once she had recovered. Her building excitement was contagious--I myself had already started leaking precum just from the thrill of eating her out.

Ellie's body began to quiver. I wet my lips once more and put my mouth on her, focusing the tip of my tongue on the underside of her swollen clit. As I alternated between licking, gently sucking, and simply pressing my tongue flat against her clit, I could sense Ellie getting close. I pressed my fingers in as deep as I could, angling them up towards her navel. The arch in her back told me everything I needed to know.

I stopped varying my technique and focused on doing exactly what had brought her to this point: deep pressure and feverish licking. I kept fingering her as Ellie gripped the sides of my head, pulling my face against her sopping pussy. I kept licking her as I felt her thighs squeeze against the sides of my face. I lapped at her clit as she raised her hips and ground herself against me. I felt Ellie's body tremble and shake. I pushed my fingers in as deep as they could possibly go, all the while bathing her clit with my tongue. Ellie took one sharp inhale, and then a split second of complete stillness.

My fingers were nearly crushed by the strength of Ellie's contractions, every muscle fiber seeming to spasm in unison, clenching around my fingers and pulling them in even deeper. I held my tongue against Ellie's pussy as she writhed and convulsed. She stifled the sounds of her orgasm but the guttural noises that did escape betrayed just how intense her release was. The light blue fabric beneath her thighs was now a deep navy, practically steaming from her heat. I left my fingers inside her, my mouth resting gently on her clit as Ellie's spasms became more intermittent. I rested my face on Ellie's thigh as she began to run her fingers through my hair, exhaling. It felt more intimate than anything I had done to her up until that point.

We remained like this for a long time, both of us awash in the afterglow. Eventually, Ellie spoke. "Well that was nice," she said with a coy smile. I smiled back widely. She stood, picked up the red underwear that had caused so much trouble earlier, and pulled them on much more gracefully than she had taken them off. I checked my reflection in the glass of a framed painting: blue hydrangeas in a white-and-blue ceramic pitcher. As I fixed my disheveled hair, I found it funny that the flowers looked just like the pattern on Ellie's dress.

As we made our way to the door, Ellie paused in front of me and for a split second I thought we might kiss. Instead, she hugged me, turning her head and resting her face against my chest. It was a completely unguarded, almost innocent act and yet it felt profoundly emotional. Then, we let go, our hands lingering for a moment. Of everything we did together that night, that embrace is what I remember most vividly.

Closing the door behind us, I took Ellie's hand once more and led her back to the party. As we walked back through the kitchen, a quiet vulnerability washed over me. I found myself thinking about all the years that had passed and the separate lives we had led. I wondered if we would see each other again. The music grew louder as our hands drifted apart. We smiled together one last time before rejoining the party. Reconnecting with Ellie has been, at times, strange, nostalgic, thrilling, and messy, but I was happy for it nonetheless.

──── ❦ ────

✦ Epilogue ✦

"Ellie! Hi! Where have you been all night? And who's your friend?" Saoirse yelled over the pounding music. "This is my younger sister, Lela!"

to be continued...