comfort in the darkness

He kissed higher up your cheekbone, then just behind your ear, then started slowly kissing down your neck, opening his mouth. You reveled in it, how just a touch of his warm tongue could light the fire in you. You pulled his head up to kiss him, once on the lips, then quickly all over his face. He laughed into it.

"Is it time for bed?" he asked, his narrowed eyes showing his intentions.

You kissed his lips again, slipping his top one between yours. Your soft lip scratched against the stubble under his nose and pulled him closer. He opened his mouth wide so that warm tongue could make contact with yours.

"Mhm," you hummed.

____

You snaked your arm under his and wrapped your hands around his bicep as you walked up to the gym. God, he was already so ripped. You squeezed his bicep with both hands.

"Maybe one day I'll have arms as big as yours," you said.

"Yeah? I'll see you on the bench? I'll spot you," he played.

"No, fuck that. I looked it up and they have a pilates class starting soon."

The doors slid open and together you walked past the smoothie shop and towards the front desk.

"How long is the class?"

"45 minutes."

"Alright, I usually take a little more than an hour."

"OK, see you then," you said. He kissed your forehead before you let his arm go. He walked ahead, scanning his tag at the counter, flashing you a quick smile, and disappearing into the gym.

"Hi, I wanted to sign up for a membership," you said to the girl behind the counter. She was giving you a curious look - you weren't sure what it was communicating. She glanced at the spot where you lost sight of Jack. Ah, you thought. Your hot boyfriend had a fan at the gym.

"Sure! Come on back," she said.

___

Pilates was in studio 3, just behind the section dedicated to cardio machines. You had just left your coat and bag in a locker, swinging your water bottle as you entered the room. A couple of girls who looked your age, but much fitter, were bringing out yoga blocks and small handheld weights to their mats.

"Hey!" the tallest one said.

"Hey," you replied.

"I'm Amy. This is Charlotte and Arianna." The other two girls smiled, both starting to stretch on their mats. "We're usually the only people in this class - are you new?"

"Yeah, actually. I literally just signed up."

"Oh, perfect. Here, I'll grab you a mat and you can get some weights," Amy said. "We love Kaniyah, the instructor. But she's a hardass so maybe start with smaller weights and see how you do."

"Thank you! I will definitely be starting with a small weight." You grabbed 2 one-pound weights from the rack on the wall and took a seat on the mat Amy got you. 

"I saw silver fox come in," Arianna said to all the girls, then said specifically to me, "Our gym crush."

You of course thought of Jack, who was once your silver fox work crush. But the gym was huge and the likelihood felt small.

"It's important for a girl to have a crush in every space she frequents," you said. 

____

Kaniyah had your arms and legs shaking from what was marketed as a beginners pilates class, but at least you could commiserate and laugh with your new gym friends. Afterwards, they headed to the stationary bikes, and since you still had some time to kill, you joined them. 

"Yeah, he's here," Amy said, slowly starting to peddle, rubbernecking to get a view across the gym. 

Three bikes down from her, you couldn't see who she was talking about - your view blocked by all the weight machines on the far end of the gym.

"He's so fine," Arianna said, "It should be criminal."

"I want him to curl me. I feel like he could do it. His arms are fucking huge," Charlotte said.

"Guys, be cool. We can't look like horny freaks to our new friend," Amy laughed.

"That is not something you have to worry about around me," you said.

If they weren't talking about Jack, everything they said applied. You started on the bike, and thought about Jack and his arms and the sex last night, your first night living together, living with the man you crushed on, then pined for, then felt like you desperately needed. The man who stopped by your office to say hi almost every shift, who left you lattes and smiley face sticky notes, who looked at you and made it feel like you were the only two people in the emergency department. Who knew you now inside and out, who had let you into his world completely, who was approaching 10,000 hours of dedicated practice making you come, who said he desperately needed you. You felt the gratitude in your chest, the love you shared, the excitement for everything that was yet to come for you two.

You were starting to sweat from the persistent peddling, face feeling hot, and you thought about beads of sweat coming down the side of his faintly freckled face, which happened sometimes when you were fucking. Now you were turned on in the middle of the gym. Your clit swelled and the way it hit the bike seat suddenly felt good. You backed up a bit so you were rocking against a wider part of the seat. The girls were absentmindedly chatting, and they didn't notice your silence and your new focus. Could you come just from this? You squeezed your legs together tighter, a new, more heated sensation lighting a spark in your lower belly. 

"Well, he headed to the locker rooms so I guess I'm done, too," Amy said.

You let your legs fall apart and reminded yourself where you were. You had hit 20 minutes on the bike, and Jack was probably wrapping up soon. As the girls dismounted, so did you. You got a wipe to rid the seat of anything you may have left on it. 

"The smoothies here are really good," Arianna said. 

After you got your coat and bag back from the lockers, you looked at the smoothie menu while the girls each ordered theirs.

"The protein absolutely ruins it. Do not add protein," Charlotte said.

"It's not that bad," Amy said, grabbing her orange smoothie.

"Let her try it," Charlotte said. 

Amy handed it over to you. You lifted the lid to try a sip - it was chalky and indeed spoiled any possible good flavoring from the orange and mango. 

"It's a no for me," you said.

You ordered strawberry banana - no protein added. You texted Jack: Getting a smoothie, and he gave the message a thumbs up.

"Guys, here he comes. Look, that's silver fox," Arianna nudged you with her elbow and sucked down her smoothie with wide eyes.

And there was Jack, spinning the car keys in his hand, heading right to you. You tried, but you couldn't hide your smile - proud to be the gym crush's girlfriend, and even more turned on hearing how the other girls wanted him just as bad as you did. Well, not just as bad. No one on earth could match that. Especially not now. 

You decided to savor the moment, stepping back so you could watch all their faces. They were not being coy, and you didn't blame them. You barely were when you had met. They watched him saunter past the counter, gazes unrelenting as he came nearer. He didn't notice - he never did. He knew how to keep his focus, and it stayed on you. You saw his small smile.

"Wait, he's coming here," Charlotte said, low.

He walked right up to you.

"Hey, how was pilates?"

"Good, I made some friends. Amy, Arianna, Charlotte," you said, trying to hide a stupid grin. 

"Hey, nice to meet you," he nodded at them. "You guys look familiar. Have you been coming here a while?"

You sipped your smoothie and scanned his face, eyes landing on the hair at the nape of his neck that had turned darker gray, wet with sweat but starting to dry and curl again. 

"A couple years," Amy said.

She darted her eyes at your face to try and read it. Slap happy was all she could see, a school girl looking up at her class crush. 

"Yeah, same. I've never done a class though," Jack said. 

"Maybe I'll drag you to our next one," you said, grabbing his hand, intertwining your fingers. You may as well have been twirling your hair, too.

"We'll see," Jack looked at you, playful. "Nice to meet you," he said to the girls, their faces poorly hiding their shock and awe.

You lead him toward the door. Outside, you offered him your smoothie. He took a sip without taking it, just leaning his head over to drink.

"Pretty good. I got one a long time ago and it was awful," he said. He unlocked the car and opened your door. 

"That's because you added protein," you said. 

He laughed.

"Yeah, I did. You just know everything about this gym now, huh?" He closed the door.

When he started to drive, he put his hand on the middle of your thigh, like he always did. You pulled it up higher, and slid it slightly towards the inside of your legs. He looked over at you, already looking at his side profile, hungry. He smirked, squeezed your leg, then shifted his hand further inward, fingers nearly underneath your thigh, thumb applying pressure, his smallest finger nearly grazing your clit. The warmth in your lower belly became hot again.

"Actually, I got some great gym gossip," you said.

"From your new friends?"

"Yeah, they gave me the lowdown." "What's the tea?" he asked. You shot him a look - no man his age should be saying that - but he kept his eyes on the road, small smile at the corner of his mouth.

"I'll tell you when we get home," you said. Home heavy on your lips. 

___

"You want to shower?" Jack asked almost as soon as you were past the front door.

"No, I want to tell you the tea," you said.

"Oh, of course." 

You both shed your coats, and you grabbed his hand to lead him to the couch. Jack sat, and you kneeled on the cushion, whole body facing him. You took one of those half-wet curls at the nape of his neck between your fingers.

"I've seen those girls there a lot," he said, "They must know everything."

"Not really. They just have a gym crush," you said. Your hand in his hair spread out, lightly scratching the back of his head with your nails.

"Oh?" He wasn't sure where this was going.

"Yes, they call him silver fox. And they couldn't stop talking about his huge arms."

You trailed your arm down his neck and squeezed his bicep. Realization hit.

"No fuckin way," he said.

You nodded, your giddy smile infectious.

"Shut up," he said, covering his face with his hands, hiding his blushing.

"Jack, I swear. I wasn't sure it was you until you came up to us and they were like 'that's him!'"

"That is so embarrassing," his voice husky and pained. You peeled his hands off so you could kiss his cheek.

"No it's not! It's sexy. I get to go home with everyone's gym crush. Get him all to myself," you said.

You moved kisses down his neck, feeling him finally relax, releasing a huff of air.

"Well, you're my gym crush," he said, turning his body to you, pulling you into his lap by your legs.

"In these sexy leggings."

You threw your arms around his neck, kissing him hard and toppling him over, laying his back on the couch. You pried his mouth open with yours, shoving your tongue in. He shoved his back, muffled noises stirring from you both. You pressed your chest to his to close the gap between you, tightening your arms around his neck and arching your back. His hands grabbed your thighs just under your ass, squeezing once, then gliding them up to cup your ass. He gripped the slick fabric, trying to get a good hold. You lowered your waist down to press against his. You shifted around until you were pressing your warmed clit to his dick, separated only by flimsy gym clothes. At this touch, his dick perked up, twitching under you. With his hands on your ass, he pulled your waist even closer, pushing his hips up, desperate to eliminate any remaining space between you.

Your kisses turned sloppier, tongues catching each others' cheeks. Your breathing got heavier. Stretching your back, you slid your cunt from the base of his hardening dick back up to where the tip rested just below his stomach. You went back again. Once, twice, three times. Then you squirmed on it, so much better than the bike seat, rocking your hips side to side.

"Fuck," Jack breathed, only breaking the kiss for a second.

"Mmm," you replied into his mouth. He was fully hard now, and huge, like the girls probably figured. Maybe they fantasized about him, about the things you get to do everyday. 

His hands traveled everywhere. Groping your ass, then wrapping around your torso to pull you impossibly closer, cunt and dick desperate for each other through the fabric. He started to thrust upward against your warm center for the friction, and your body followed in rhythm. You thought of last night, how he made you come in under a minute from a careful, practiced dance of his fingers on your clit, pressure in all the right places, speed dizzying. It was similar to the feeling you were getting grinding your clit along his clothed shaft. And then you thought about how he had slipped it in from behind, slipped it in so easily from how wet you were. You moaned at the thought. 

"Baby, let me fuck you," he groaned in reply. His fingertips started to pull down your leggings from your waist. 

"Wait," you said.

You sat up, looking at his handsome, dumbstruck face. His lips glistened with your shared saliva. He bit his bottom lip as he watched you take your place on top of him. Your thighs trembled slightly from the workout, but you sat on his dick with all your weight, writhing on him. You placed your hands on his abs, those rock hard fucking abs, for leverage. Starting small, you rocked slightly up and down his dick, clit expanding and swelling, starting to whine.

"Oh, shit. You like that?" he said.

He squeezed your legs once, then brought his hands behind his head to rest on them. Those huge fucking arms. That fucking smile. He always looked so fucking good. His eyes were lit up, watching your face closely. Knowing he was enjoying the view got you even warmer and wetter. You picked up your pace, your range of motion still quite small, but it meant less time in between each sway, building the hot ache at your clit. You whimpered softly in concurrence with each rock, bobbing up and down his thick cock, getting closer.

"Oh, you love that." 

"Yeah," you whined.

"You look so fucking good from here," he said. "Are you gonna come, baby?" You grinded down on him even harder, edging closer with every word he said.

"You gonna come fully clothed, riding me like this? Let me see it, baby."

"Fuck, Jack," you breathed.

He removed his arms from behind his head and brought them back to the sides of your legs, helping you keep the pace you established. Letting him start to take over allowed you to focus on the feeling igniting and catching fire. You could do this all day, you thought. Maybe you won't ever come, and you'll just do this until one of you has to go to work again. 

But then he started gently thrusting his hips again, rubbing against you just like you needed. You let your head fall and your mouth went slack in pleasure, gasping and sighing. Jack continued the movement for you, gaining more traction on his dick, now throbbing under your clit. He quickened the pace, little by little. You didn't need to think anymore, didn't need to do anything anymore. You felt the heat travel everywhere, all the way down your legs, through your arms and to your fingertips, down to the small of your back. Heaven.

"Fuuuck," he groaned.

His voice and his persistent pace pushed you over the edge. For a minute you could feel nothing but full body bliss as you rode him in silence. You came back down to your earthly body, which finally shuddered on top of him with a guttural gasp. Your legs trembled before relaxing back into stillness, and you slid your hands back up to his neck, letting yourself fold over and rest on his chest, spent. 

"Jesus Christ," he said.

"Mmm," was all you could get out.

You took a deep breath, still coming down from the high. He let you rest for a minute or two, trailing his fingers up and down your arms and back. 

"Please let me put it in you," he said.

You laughed against his chest. 

"Baby, please. That was unreal."

You picked your head up, lifting off of him, and sticking your tongue into his open mouth, lips mashing. Then you pulled away and moved to get off the couch, starting to take your pants off.