The day only improved from there. We shared a long, slippery shower that left me disordered in a very pleasant way and then we devoured Zelda's famous pancake sandwiches. Life was really fucking good.
Since I didn't understand her "system," Zelda required me to sit at the kitchen island while she washed and dried the dishes. Letting her do household chores while I watched made me feel like an ass but I'd missed her face too much to busy myself elsewhere. Instead, I wiped down the countertops and watered Kirby the cactus and her small potted herbs on the windowsill and stole every opportunity I found to touch her.
It'd always been this way, even before I'd realized it.
I'd loved her that way too.
"What should we do today?" Zelda asked, submerged up to her wrists in the soapy water.
I stopped behind her, settling my hands on either side of the sink. "I know what I want to do."
"Again?" she asked, laughing. "But I haven't seen you all week."
"I'm pleased you understand the issue," I replied, dropping to my knees and gathering up her long skirt in my fist. I looped a finger under the band of her panties and sent them falling to her ankles. "Be a good girl for me and spread your legs."
She did as I asked but did it while saying, "We shoulddosomething. Go somewhere. Isn't there a baseball game today? Why not a picnic in the park? How about a visit to that used bookstore we like over in Cambridge? Better yet, one of those sunset harbor cruises we always talk about taking?"
"I'll take you on a picnic, to a bookstore, on a cruise. I'll give you anything you want, my love." I ran my knuckles between her legs. "Just as soon as I feel this pretty little pussy come on my tongue."
A shiver moved through her shoulders and she released one of those high, breathy gasps that seemed to say "ohhhh" with six syllables. I traced the line of her ass down to her thigh and back up again, touching only enough to make her squirm.
"I'm not finished, you know," she said, as petulant as ever. "With the dishes."
"Go ahead and finish." I leaned in, dragged my lips up the silky skin of her inner thigh. "I don't mind." I licked the crease where her ass transitioned to her leg. "You taste as good as I remember."
"It's only been a few days, Ashville."
"You're delicious," I whispered as I closed my teeth around the curve of Zelda's ass. She gave a short squeal and I heard the water splashing. I smiled, brushed my knuckles along her seam once more. "Did I tell you to stop? No. Get back to work."
She was wet and swollen, rocking her hips toward my touch. I loved her in a way that lanced pain through my chest if I thought on it too long because it was a catastrophic kind of love, which was for the best as I had no intention of ever recovering from this.
I slipped a finger through her folds and rewarded her patience with my thumb on her clit. Her gasps turned into sighs as I circled the sweetest, softest spot on her entire body and bit along the low curve of her ass while the scent of her arousal flooded me, intoxicated me. That was my punishment, of course, since I was ignoring the best part.
No, wait, that wasn't true. Pussy wasn't the best part. Teasing Zelda in the kitchen on a lazy morning when neither of us had a mountain of responsibilities to climb was the best part. Biting my girlfriend's ass and saying inarguably rude thingsthat turned her onwhile I did it was the best part.
Although— "When are you going to marry me?"
Because it wasn't enough to merely ask the question, I pushed three fingers inside her and pressedhardon the spot that made her a little senseless. I dropped my other hand to the small of her back, right where that dragonfly tattoo took flight, and shifted her into an angle that would give her what she needed.
There was a splash followed by dishes clattering in the sink. Then, "Ash."
"Yes, my love?" I watched my fingers disappear inside her only for them to emerge coated in her arousal and my cock was ready to burn straight through my shorts. That did it for me every time. Her responding to me, us coming together. We shouldn't have made sense, we shouldn't have even found each other yet here we were, sharing the most elemental thing of any world. "What is it? What do you have to say about making me wait?"
While it was amusing to imply Zelda was the one holding up our nuptial proceedings, that wasn't a fair portrait of reality. We simply hadn't had the time to make any progress, not with her diving head and shoulders into grad school last fall, my new business ventures keeping me on the road several nights each month, and my father scaling back to only one day a week in his office after tax season had ended. And that was on top of me and Zelda learning how to make this relationship work when we didn't get to spend every minute of every day together.
In the spirit of reality, I was the one who struggled most with my separation from Zelda during the daylight hours.
If the storage of wedding vows spoken was anyone's fault, it was mine. As much as I'd wanted to seal this deal, there was no reason to rush. Zelda deserved time to come into her own. She'd spent far too long sitting on the shelf of her ex's design and even longer putting up with that horrendous family of hers. This was her shot at being whoever, whatever she wanted—and I had the fortune of watching from the front row.
Yeah, this was on me—but I was ready to change that.
"I'm waiting for an answer," I said, delivering an especially mean bite just an inch away from where she wanted it. "You know how I feel about waiting, Zelda."
"I—I—you know I want to," she replied, her words strained.
I slipped my fingers out and walked them along her back channel. It wasn't nearly enough pressure or friction, and the urgent rock of her hips confirmed it. "That's the best you can give me?"
"What do you want me to say?" she asked, breathless as she hooked a glance over her shoulder. "You want to set a date? Draft the vows? A promise I'll change my name? What do you want, Ash?"
