In Harmony (Fenbrook Academy #2)(32)
Author: Helena Newbury

I stared up into his eyes. “F’ckin’ ‘ell,” I panted, and then we were kissing again. It went on for long, glorious minutes, the energy soaking down through my body and making my toes dance in delight. When we broke for the second time, he stared very seriously into my eyes.

“We could go to your place,” he said, and what he was implying made the swirling rush of energy become a deeper, darker heat that twisted straight down to my groin.

But that raised an issue, one I hadn’t even considered until then. One that I needed help with, fast. “Not tonight,” I said breathlessly. “Tomorrow. Let’s go out tomorrow. Is that okay?”

He nodded, lips twisting into that familiar smile—and for me! “Yeah. Tomorrow is great.”

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked over to the door of Flicker. The girls were lined up outside, watching us and grinning. Ruth was behind them and though she wasn’t smiling, she didn’t look mad, either. She seemed to be appraising me and that scared me more, somehow.

Ruth was a problem that could wait, though, if she proved to be a problem at all. I wanted to enjoy the perfect moment and nothing—not even an ex-girlfriend—was going to stand in my way. I pulled Connor close and kissed him again, and this time it was sweet and tender, tasting each other and laying down promises of what was to come.

When we eventually let each other go and he climbed into a cab with Ruth, the girls gathered around me. “So what’s the story there?” asked Jasmine.

“His ex, from Ireland.” Everyone went quiet. “He’s sleeping on the floor. I trust him.”

“But do you trust her?” asked Clarissa, and I went quiet, too.

Jasmine gave me a hug. “Connor’s not stupid. He’ll kick her out now you’re together. Or he could just move in with you.”

I took a deep breath. “Easy, there. We haven’t even gone out yet.” I leaned in to whisper in Jasmine’s ear. “I need your help. My place, tomorrow morning.”

Chapter 21

I didn’t really know what was appropriate. Then I realized that the situation was far too weird for anything to be appropriate, so I just went with breakfast. I made coffee and then hit the local bakery and brought back a huge tray of croissants, pains de raisin and pains de chocolat, Danish pastries and muffins. Then I wound up drinking most of the coffee, because I was nervous. Then I got more nervous because I’d drunk too much coffee.

Jasmine arrived, yawning.

“Sorry,” I said. “I know you’re normally still in bed at this time.”

“I’m normally still out at this time. What’s up?”

I double-checked that the door was closed and that no one had snuck in. No: we were alone.

I took a deep breath. “How do you have sex?”

Jasmine blinked.

“You know how I told you about how I lost it to a firefighter when I was eighteen?” I said. “Well—”

“Yeah, yeah, you made it up.”

Now it was my turn to blink. “You didn’t believe that story?”

“Karen, none of us believed that story. We didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Oh.” I’d been proud of that story.

“But we thought you were just exaggerating a bit, dropping the age. Everyone does that. You’ve never done it?”

I shook my head.

“Never? Not even, like, that time doesn’t count because…?”

I shook my head again.

“Wow. And now you’re dating Connor Locke and you think tonight’s the night?”

I nodded. “I mean, I know it’s our first date, but we’ve been friends for so long….”

“Say no more. Fortunately”—she smiled and picked up a Danish—“you’ve come to the right person.”

“I don’t want him to know,” I blurted. “I want to seem like I know what I’m doing.”

“By the time I’m finished with you, Connor won’t know what’s hit him. She bit into her Danish and thought for a moment. “Okay. First thing, are you ready?”

“No. That’s why I’m talking to you.”

“No, are you ready? Is everything neat and tidy?”

I looked around the apartment. When I looked back at Jasmine, she had her head in her hands. “Down below,” she said.

“Oh!” When I’d reassured her that, yes, my grooming was fine, thank you, we moved onto the sex.

“Condoms,” she said. “Got some?”

I shook my head.

“Get some. Get plenty. You’ve been waiting years for this, and all that tension from being cooped up in practice rooms together…it’ll be like a dam’s burst. Now: sex.”

I picked up a pen.

“Really? You’re going to take notes?”

I put down the pen.

“Okay. Wear your heels.”

“The Heels of Death?”

“Of course the Heels of Death. Keep them on in the bedroom. Guys love that.”

“How do I get my jeans off over heels?”

“You’re wearing jeans?”

I frowned. “I hadn’t thought about what to wear.”

“You hadn’t thought about what to wear?!”

“I’m not really prepared for this, am I?” I said sadly.

She sighed. “Right. Dress or skirt. Show off those legs. Top half off, or take the dress off. Underwear and heels. Underwear off, heels and stockings stay on.”

“Stockings?”

“Do you want to do this the Jasmine way, or the wrong way?”

“The right—The Jasmine way. But are you sure this isn’t a bit…much?”

“You’re right. It’s a common male complaint: I wish my girlfriend was less sexy.”

I nodded. “Got it. Stockings. Suspender belt?”

“Whoah there. Let’s not move onto the advanced course just yet, rookie. Hold ups will do you just fine. Otherwise I’ll have to teach you how to get panties off while leaving the belt on.”

“Uh?”

“See? OK, now when you get to the bed—or wherever—you probably want to start off by going down on him. Then—”

I raised my hand.

“Karen, you don’t have to put your hand up. What? Oh, God, really? You’ve never gone down on a guy?”

I gave her a look. “I’m glad I picked you to help me, Jasmine. Thanks for not making me feel stupid.”

“Sorry. It’s just…really? Okay, okay, fine. Here.” She put her finger out in front of me.

“What do you want me to do with that?”

“Put it in your mouth.”

“What?!”

“It’ll help. Go on.”

I looked at it doubtfully. “Have you washed your hands?”

“Just suck on my damn finger already!”

I opened my mouth. “This is deeply weird,” I told her, and closed my lips around her finger.

“Okay, now suck. Jesus, not like that! You’re not a power vacuum. It’s got to be a firm, wet suck. And watch your teeth. No teeth, ever. Well, not unless he likes it.” She pushed her finger a little farther into my mouth. “Use your tongue. Right, but…no, not like that. Swirl it around and down the sides, and over the top.”

I did my best.

Jasmine pursed her lips. “Hmm…no. Ow! Teeth! Oh, look, just give me your finger.”

A little hesitantly, I held my finger out to her. Immediately, her lips engulfed it, her mouth hot and wet. Her tongue slathered up and down its length and then played with the very tip. Her soft lips caressed the bottom knuckle while her cheeks sucked at the rest. I actually felt a wave of heat ripple through me. “MMFF!” I said, Jasmine’s finger still in my mouth.

“Mmmmmm!” said Jasmine triumphantly, clearly meaning like that. I tried to replicate what she was doing and, eventually, she nodded and withdrew her finger. I pulled mine from her mouth with a wet slurp. It was tingling, and I stared at it.

“Wow,” I said, genuinely amazed.

“Yeah,” said Jasmine, leaning back smugly in her chair. “That’s what they all say.”

We broke to eat and I wolfed down a pain de chocolat.

“I need a favor from you, too, when we’re done,” Jasmine told me. She looked nervous, all of a sudden.

“Anything. You know that.”

She nodded and ate another Danish. “Okay,” she said when she’d licked the crumbs from her fingers. “Moving on. You probably want to start off in missionary. Please God tell me you know what missionary is?”

I flushed. “I’m not completely sheltered.”

“Okay. So what you don’t do is lie back and think of England. Get your h*ps going, like this.”

“Like I’m hula hooping?”

“Smaller circles. Like—Look, lie down on your back.”

I got down on the floor on my back and opened my legs, and Jasmine prepared to climb between them. We stopped and looked at each other.

“Or…we could just look at some porn,” she said.

“Yes, let’s do that,” I said quickly.

We fired up my laptop. Jasmine gave me a USB stick.

“What’s this?”

“All my porn. I had to cancel my internet service when things got tight, so I downloaded my favorites.”

“But why did you bring it? I didn’t tell you what I needed help with.”

She looked suddenly antsy. “There’s something else on there…I’ll show you afterwards. Go on, open it up.”

I clicked on the icon for the USB stick. Inside was a smorgasbord of porn, neatly sorted into directories and sub-directories. It was easily the most organized thing I’d ever seen Jasmine create.

“Jasmine, there must be, like, a thousand files here.”

“Two thousand.” She sighed. “I only had time to grab the best stuff.” She pointed me at a particular movie and we started watching. A blonde-haired woman was writhing on a bed beneath a shaven-headed, muscled stud.

“Okay,” I said. “Feeling weird now.”

“Focus. Observe the pelvic swirling. Observe also the way he pins her legs back in a minute…there.”

“Ow!”

“Yeah, you need to be stretchy for that. Natasha? No problem. And apparently Neil’s into folding up Clarissa like a pretzel. We all need to take up ballet.”

She closed the movie. “Now after that—if he hasn’t come yet—I’d go for cowgirl.”

I blanched a little. “Isn’t it a little early to be getting into roleplaying and stuff? And I don’t think they even have cowboys in Ireland.”

“Jesus, how sheltered are you? It’s you riding him, face to face. Haven’t you ever watched any porn?”

I flushed, thinking of Neil and Clarissa’s video. “Now and again.”

“OK, so ride him: he gets to play with your boobs and you can rub yourself at the same time if you need to. Oh! Tweak your n**ples. They love that.”

“Right. Heels stay on, no teeth, hula hooping, cowgirl, tweak my n**ples. Got it.” I actually felt pretty good. Some of it might be a little over the top, but at least I wouldn’t be going in cold.