Free Ready and Willing by Cara McKenna

did,” he says. “In the shower. That wasn’t fair. I know that’s not what we’re all about.”

    I purse my lips, eyes glued to his chin as I mull it over. “I think you and me are probably equally guilty when it comes to fucking up the politics of this experiment. And to be honest, I thought it was sweet that you did that.”

    He angles his head and kisses me lightly, apologetically. The room still reeks of sex, the smell hanging potent around our clean bodies.

    “You can still make it up to me, Noah.” I hope the tease comes off as gentle and innocuous as I’m intending. I drag my lips along his jaw, kiss his ear, listen to his breathing. He tenses—first with caution, then excitement. His mouth takes mine, tongue explicit and deep as the groans rumbling in his chest.

    He rolls me onto my back, grabs the lube, and gets himself ready. He spreads me wide with his knees and slides in, just the faintest sting from the gel on my tender lips. Noah grunts and holds himself still, savoring something—maybe the fact that I’m all his now. That’s what I’m feeling, at any rate. I want to spoil him, make him feel as if he’s only man on the face of the Earth.

    “I need you, Noah.”

    “Yeah?”

    “I need you to fuck me, give me all your cum. You’re the only one I want.”

    He starts to thrust, going from controlled to frantic in less than a minute, arms locked tight around my back. I grin unseen over his shoulder, loving his strong body above mine, his deep grunts, the flex of his ass under my palms.

    “Come on, Noah. Come for me. Nice and hard.”

    He answers with his hips, fucking me deep and graceless and greedy.

    “Come on. Come on.”

    “Fuck, Abby.”

    “Shoot it deep.”

    He hammers me hard, then freezes, holds, pushes his hips into mine so hard I feel the bite of bone on bone. I rub his back as his body melts and his breathing returns. He slides out and lies beside me, curls against my side as I hug my knees. I feel his lips on my shoulder, kissing idly for a couple minutes; then he’s out—asleep. I reach over and stroke his hair and cheek, smile at him.

    Noah wakes just as I’m about to nod off. He makes an adorable noise, a soft, startled snore; then I see him blinking in the low light.

    “Hey,” he says.

    “Hey.”

    We cuddle for ten minutes, exchange a few lazy kisses. Finally Noah clears his throat and breaks our silence.

    “Hey, Abby…”

    “Yeah?”

    He kisses my shoulder, thinks for a moment. “How come you’re doing all this the way you are? The conception? And I don’t mean the sex.”

    “What, then?”

    “I mean, why me and him? Why strangers? Why…single? I know this’ll sound cheesy and probably a little patronizing…but I can’t imagine you couldn’t find a good guy and settle down and do this the…”

    “Old-fashioned way?”

    He shrugs and nods. “You’re pretty and smart and interesting, and you’ve got your life together. I’ve met you under the strangest circumstances imaginable, and you still don’t seem psycho at all.”

    I laugh. “Even after tonight?”

    He nods again.

    “Well, thanks. I guess I just don’t want to wait. Even if I met the right guy tomorrow, I’d still need a long time to know if he’s really right. Right enough to be my kid’s father. And at the risk of sounding a bit desperate, I don’t think I can wait another two or four or more years.”

    “Sure.”

    “I ended a serious relationship this summer,” I say. “I’d been going out with my boyfriend for almost three years, and we weren’t even living together yet. I think I loved him, but I know it would’ve taken me another three years to figure out if he was The One or whatever. The traditional way is just…too damn slow. For me, anyway, because I’m sort of cautious, believe it or not. But my body’s still like, tick-tock, tick-tock,” I add, tapping my middle. “Biological time bomb. But I knew I didn’t want to settle down with the