The Next Season (novella) by Rachael Johns

flicked his tongue over the bud.
    She moaned, her chest arching up into his mouth and her hand closing around his pulsing erection. He wanted to focus on her pleasure, to bring her to a shrieking release before enjoying his own, but the way she touched him caused mega-distractions. He felt like a high schooler on the brink of losing his virginity—all fumbling hands and desperation. Just like he’d felt that first time.
    Concentrating hard, he moved his mouth lower. Her hand fell away from his cock and then anchored itself in his hair as he kissed a delicate trail from the underside of her breast, over her smooth belly and down between her legs. Although she was no longer touching him where it mattered, his hardness grew stronger as he pushed her legs apart and kissed her. She gasped as he flicked his tongue over her clit, licked, sucked and more. She tasted so damn good, better than anything and anyone before, and the sounds she made as she quivered and shuddered, coming in his mouth, almost drove him over the edge. As teenagers they’d experimented but they’d never done this before.
    Things were different now. They were different. Older, wiser, all that shit, which meant they could indulge each other’s pleasures without things getting complicated. Hopefully.
    As his thoughts tried to intrude on what they were doing, Zoe spoke—‘Wow, wow, wow’—and then tugged on his head, drawing him back up towards her. He didn’t need any encouragement to meet her mouth with his as he laid her gently down and settled his body above her. The feel of her soft breasts against his hard chest only aroused him more. He held her close, their kisses growing hot again as his erection burned, begging him to put it to use. Sensing his need, Zoe wrapped her legs around his waist and thrust upwards so his cock nudged at her entrance.
    â€˜Holy fuck.’ He sucked in a breath, desperate to plunge right inside her but remembering the need for protection. ‘Condoms,’ he hissed, rolling off her and diving towards the bedside table to retrieve one.
    The moment he turned back, she snatched the small foil packet from his fingers, tore it open with her teeth and then, using both hands, rolled it slowly down over his cock. She pushed him onto his back, climbed up atop him and their eyes met. The heat and want he saw there echoed his own, the air between them crackling. They moved at the same moment—she sunk down and he thrust upwards—both of them vocalising their contentment as he entered her.
    He watched, mesmerised as her head fell back and she moved above him, the sight of her exposed neck and chest more erotic than anything he’d ever seen. He cupped her breasts, his thumbs flicking over her taut nipples as he drove in and out.
    â€˜You’re so tight, so hot, so—’
    She lowered her head and silenced him with a hot, urgent kiss. He crept his hands down her body and around to cup her buttocks, drawing her against him as they both shuddered towards release.
    Afterwards Shaun wrapped his arms around Zoe and held her close, feeling her heart beating in time with his as they caught their breath. Reluctantly, he slipped out of bed to deal with the condom but returned quickly. She smiled as he drew her once again into his arms, pulling her close until she rested her head against his chest. It’d had felt sensational being inside her but just lying with her, snuggling, felt pretty damn fine too. Neither of them said anything for a long while, but he couldn’t help grinning as they lay there.
    This autumn fling idea might just have been the best plan Zoe had ever conceived.
    He wasn’t ready for another relationship and neither was she. They both had heads to sort and plans to make, but that didn’t mean they had to be celibate while they did so. They would both be able to think better if they weren’t in a permanent state of sexual frustration.
    And he