Limbo

ASHLEY:

I kiss Dawn goodnight in the hallway, then go into my room to get ready for bed. As soon as I hear their door close, I lean my head forward against my door and let out a sigh, because I don't want her to hear me. We've been together for almost three months now, and it's been close to six since I've actually gotten laid, so I'm kind of surprised that I'm still anything resembling sane, but I'm not really sure how to go about approaching the topic with her.

I still very vividly remember the conversation we had after she joined me in the shower at the B and B, so I know that, thanks to her worthless father, she doesn't feel really comfortable with asserting herself, and that I probably made things even worse when I accused her of trying to use sex to manipulate me. And since she asked me the day we got back together if we could wait awhile on anything more physical than hugs and kissing, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to know when the right time is to try for anything more. But I guess I'm just gonna have to play it by ear, take it slow, and hope that I'll actually know when she's ready, because I'm not about to do anything to mess this up again.

I move away from the door and go into the bathroom to brush my teeth, then start getting undressed for bed. I take my shirt off, and I'm sitting on the edge of the bed pulling off my boots when I hear a tap on the door. I walk over to the door, and when I open it, I'm kind of surprised to see Dawn standing there in her robe. "Hey, darlin', is everything okay?" I inquire.

She nods and says, "Yes, everything is fine. I was just wondering if I could come in for a minute."

I step back and let her into the room, trying to figure out what she needs to talk about that can't wait until morning. "Okay, what's up?"

Then the last thing on Earth that I would have expected happens: She closes the door, locks it behind her, and drops her robe to the floor, standing in front of me in nothing but a pair of silky, pale-blue tap pants, and a wispy, semi-transparent bra in the same color, which is nearly hidden by the beautiful rose-gold hair cascading down past her hips. She looks me in the eye, with a small smile, and says, "I thought maybe we could find a way to ring in your birthday together."

I instantly feel most of the blood in my body rush to my groin, but I'm utterly speechless for a few seconds and just gape at her, which I immediately realize is the absolute wrong reaction when I see her face change. The smile disappears, replaced by a purposefully blank expression, and she stoops down to pick up her robe. "All right, I guess not," she mutters as she turns and reaches for the doorknob. "I guess I'll see you in the morning, then. Goodnight."

I put my hand on the door to keep it closed, and reach out to wind my other arm around her waist. "No, sweetheart, please don't go," I whisper in her ear. "I didn't mean it like that, I was just surprised. I remember you saying that you weren't really comfortable initiating things, so I wasn't expecting it."

"It's okay, Ash. We don't have to do anything if you don't want to, I..." she begins, but I cut off her words with a kiss that leaves us both short of breath.

Pulling her closer to me, so she can feel how my body is reacting to her, I interrupt, saying, "Don't think that, even for a second! I've been making myself crazy trying not to push you too hard. So if you're here just because you think it's what I want, or because it's my birthday, then just kiss me goodnight and go back across the hall, because I don't want this to happen unless you're absolutely sure it's what you want, too."

The smile comes back to her face, brighter than before, and she drops the robe again to twine her arms around my neck. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be with you," she informs me. "I've wanted to do this almost from the first day, it just took me until now to get the nerve to do something about it. But I do want this, as much as it feels like you do."

I walk her to the bed and sit her down on the edge, then go to the other side and start yanking things out of my suitcase, checking all of the pockets, with no luck. "Shit!" I grumble.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"Wouldn't you know it? This would have to be the first time in history that I didn't pack any condoms with me!"

She starts giggling, and announces, "Well, unless you're worried about something other than having a Mini-Me running around, everything's fine. My aunt and I had a conversation right after we started dating, and when I told her that we hadn't made any definite decisions on when things would happen, she convinced me to go on the pill, so I wouldn't be trying to get everything done at the last minute when we did get together."

I drop the stuff I'm holding and walk over to flip off the light, then go back to the bed and sit down next to her, wrapping her in my arms and easing her back onto the mattress, unfastening her bra as we go. I toss it onto the floor, then quickly get up to get rid of my jeans, leaving my briefs on for the moment.

Looking down at her lying on the bed, I feel my breath catch in my throat, because she's even more beautiful than I imagined she'd be. The moonlight coming through the gap in the curtains makes her skin look almost pearlescent, and her breasts are almost perfectly round, soft, but almost seeming to defy gravity. She looks up at me, her eyes wide, and asks, "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, not at all," I answer. "Just the opposite, in fact." She reaches out, and tries to slip her hand into my waistband, but I catch hold of her wrist, and say, "No, not yet, darlin', I want to explore a bit. You already know what I like, so I want the chance to learn what pleases you. Will you let me do that, Dawn?"

After a second, she nods, and almost whispers, "If that's really what you want."

I lay back down beside her, and she winds her fingers into my hair as I kiss her, cupping her face with one hand while I slide the other across her skin, circling her nipples with a fingertip, causing her to gasp. I swing one leg over, so I'm straddling her, and start lightly nibbling at her neck, and slowly work my way down. I circle her nipples with my tongue until they're practically hard enough to cut glass, and she's whimpering, then I keep going lower, dropping kisses along her stomach until I get to the tops of her thighs. And just as I start to position myself between her legs, I get the second surprise of the night when she suddenly sits up and questions, "Ash, what are you doing?"

Okay, I have to say I've never heard that one before, and I wind up just gaping at her again before my brain kicks back on, and I very gently ask, "Darlin' are you serious?" She looks puzzled, but nods, so I have to take a second to regroup. "Do you mean to tell me that Sawyer never did this when you were together?"

She shakes her head, and replies, "No, I never even heard about anything like this, and I doubt that he did, either. Or if he did, he never said anything to me."

Well, it seems that we're going to have a bit of a learning curve for awhile. But after I think about it for a second, I can't really consider that as a bad thing. I actually kind of like the idea of being able to introduce her to some new experiences. "Do you trust me, Dawn?"

"Of course I do, Ash. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Then trust that I would never do anything that I didn't think you'd enjoy. Just relax, and let me show you how good I can make you feel. And if I do something that you don't like, tell me, and I'll stop. Okay?"

She still looks a bit nervous, but nods in agreement and lays back against the pillows. I slide my hand up the inside of her thigh, which causes her to shiver, and start very lightly stroking her clit with my thumb. She tenses for a second, and gasps again, but doesn't try to stop me, so I continue for several seconds before moving my hand and flicking the tip of my tongue against her.

She arches up toward me, and I hear a faint whine, so I keep going, trying a few different tricks I've picked up to see which ones get the most response, until her breath is coming in ragged gasps, and I can tell that she's right on the edge. Then I slip a couple of fingers inside her, and start searching for her G-spot, which makes her almost levitate off the mattress. "Oh my God, that feels so good!" she moans. "Please don't stop!"

I glance up, and see that her eyes are closed, her bottom lip is caught between her teeth, and she has the sheet gripped in both fists, so I start stroking her spot with my fingertips while simultaneously teasing her with my tongue, and within another couple of minutes, she jerks upward, moaning my name repeatedly, until it trails off into incoherent whimpering. I keep going, not giving her time to recover, and she climaxes again almost immediately.

After this, I feel her fingers run through my hair, and she gasps out, "Ash, please... I want you now, I want to feel you inside me. Please?"

By this time, there's no way I can resist this invitation, so I kiss my way back up her spectacular body until I'm looking into her eyes, and slowly, inch by inch, slide into her welcoming warmth. She lifts her hips to meet me, and we quickly find our rhythm, enjoying the way that our bodies work together, seeming to almost instinctively know how to please each other the most.

I feel her tensing up, which tells me that she's almost ready to orgasm again, so I maneuver her legs up over my shoulders, which lets me go even deeper. Judging by the startled look that crosses her face, this is also something she's not used to, but it seems to have the desired effect, because her fingertips dig into my shoulders as she lets out a long, shuddering breath and I feel her tighten around my cock. This is all it takes to finally tip me over the edge, and I rasp into her ear, "Oh, fuck, babe, you feel too fucking good! I'm gonna cum now!"

Since I don't have to worry about getting rid of a condom, I'm not in any hurry to pull out, so I just roll her on top of me and enjoy the connection we have. She looks down at me, still a bit wide eyed, and asks, "So, is there anything else I should know about that I've missed out on?"

"I don't know," I answer. "I guess we'll have to sit down and make a list sometime."

"I'm sorry if I sounded dumb or anything," she apologizes. "But Sawyer was the only guy I was ever with before now, and he really didn't know any more than I did, so everything was pretty basic, I guess. We had to pretty much figure it out through trial and error, so I'm sure there are going to be things that I'm not gonna know as much about as your other girlfriends have, and might not be very good at."

"Darlin' you don't have a thing in the world to be sorry for," I inform her. "There's nothing wrong with being inexperienced at something, and I definitely have no complaints at all."

"But are you sure you won't get bored, since I don't really know all of the... I dunno... fancy stuff, I guess?"

"If this was anything to go by, there's no chance of me getting bored," I assure her. "And if it turns out that there's something that you really need to know, I'll be more than happy to teach you."

This earns me an incandescent smile, and then she starts trailing her fingers down my chest, stopping just above my navel. Looking down at me, she tilts her head to one side and asks, "Well, can I have another lesson now?"

I can't keep from smiling myself as I answer, "You most certainly can."

Notes