A Girl Like You Read online

  “Hey man, you ready to pack it in?” Al said, draining his beer.

  Jeremy looked reluctant. “You staying, Jess?”

  I locked eyes with Jeremy and wished with all my heart he were a few years older.

  “No, I’m ready to go too.” I gathered up my purse and coat.

  “Yeah, I’d better get home to check my dogs,” Jeremy said, shrugging on his jacket.

  We hurried through the parking lot in the cold, our breath seeming to freeze in the air as we exhaled. Our cars were in the same row.

  “Nice meeting you.” Al threw his arms around me, nearly knocking me off balance.

  “OK, OK, well, you too,” I said, clapping the back of his shoulder awkwardly.

  Jeremy waited until Al climbed into his SUV, then said quietly, “So you going to tell me your last name?”

  “Gabriel,” I said, not able to come up with any reason not to tell him.

  “Great to meet you, Jessica Gabriel,” he said, pulling me into his arms.

  I closed my eyes for a moment.

  “Hey, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon?” Jeremy asked, looking down at my face. “Maybe you can come over and meet my grays.”

  “Maybe.”

  “OK, well, I’m going to friend you on Facebook.”

  “Sure,” I said weakly, watching him go.

  Jeremy friend requested me before I even got home. I accepted his request, figuring it would be a good way to let him know my approximate age, and who knew? Maybe he had a Mrs. Robinson complex.

  I washed my face and stared in the mirror. Under the bright lights, it was clear I was not in my forties, but maybe I didn’t quite look fifty-seven. Maybe.

  “I love your dimples and long hair,” Jeremy messaged me minutes later on Facebook. “I can’t wait to see you again and talk more. I’d really like to get to know you better.”

  I sighed, climbing into bed. Penny launched herself at the bed like she’d been catapulted, trying to make it to the top, scrabbling at the side of the bed like a rock climber before dropping back down to the floor.

  “Come here,” I said, lifting her up with me and sighing.

  Where had all the single men (my age) gone?

  53

  Jeremy sent photos of his greyhounds, with their narrow bodies, alert eyes and impossibly long, spindly legs.

  “Come visit me,” he messaged, late Saturday afternoon.

  I was mightily tempted. To distract myself, I cleaned the shower. I scrubbed down the kitchen counters. Then checked for more messages. None.

  I vacuumed my room while Penny barked at it like it was an intruder. Checked my messages again.

  “Here’s my address,” Jeremy wrote. “You might want to GPS it because it’s hard to find with all the bends in the lake.”

  Google Maps said it would take me only seventeen minutes to get to Jeremy’s address. Aw hell, why not? The kids weren’t around, my house was sparkling clean, and Penny was passed out asleep.

  It took me almost an hour to get ready.

  “I hope you’re still coming to see me,” Jeremy messaged.

  “Can I bring anything?” I asked.

  “Just yourself, Jess.”

  Goddammit, were all forty-somethings as sexy as he was? I wouldn’t know.

  It didn’t take seventeen minutes to drive to Jeremy’s. It took thirty minutes to find the house, because I circled the lake twice, straining my neck to look at numbers on mailboxes. It was dark outside, making it even more of a challenge.

  At last, I pulled off the snaking, narrow road that wound around the lake, and into an unpaved driveway that had his house number on it. Shutting off the engine, I looked in the rearview mirror, fixed my lipstick and attempted to fluff my flat hair, without much success.

  “Hey, Jess!”

  Jeremy’s house had a wide front balcony overlooking the lake. He was standing out there looking down at me.

  “Hey, Jeremy. I found your place, no problem at all.”

  “Actually, you found my neighbor’s place. My driveway’s over here.”

  “Oh, sorry,” I said, dropping my keys down the side of my car door.

  Lights went on inside the neighbor’s house, then on the porch, and a man in an undershirt stepped outside.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Just my girlfriend. She’ll be out of your driveway in a sec,” Jeremy said.

  I was glad it was dark and my head was down as I fished around for my keys. Girlfriend?

  I almost hit a car backing out of the wrong driveway and swerving into Jeremy’s, while he watched. He must have been laughing, but he hid it well.

  “Did you find the place OK?” he laughed.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, I mean, I got here fine. Sorry I disturbed your neighbor.”

  “He’s usually outside with a twelve-pack anyway weekend nights. He was just being nosy. Come on in.”

  “Gorgeous house,” I said.

  “Yeah, wish it were mine. Landlord lets me fix the place up. I tore down the flowered wallpaper when I first moved in. I’m working on the floors right now.”

  The greyhounds bounded to me, a flurry of motion, as soon as I went inside.

  “Sit.” Jeremy held out his hands, palms down. To my amazement, both dogs settled down on their haunches, still panting, but calming down.

  “Drink?”

  “Sure, whatever you’re having,” I said, looking for a place to put my coat and purse. There wasn’t much furniture in the big, open space that was a living room-dining room-kitchen. But up a split-log staircase was a wide loft with a skylight framing a dark sky scattered with stars.

  Jeremy came out and handed me a Miller Lite Tall Boy, more beer than I’d ever be able to finish. Gamely, I took a long chug, spilling it on my T-shirt in the process.

  “Wanta sit down?”

  I looked around again. The only furniture was a round brown suede chair so deep it looked like I’d have to crawl into it. Jeremy folded himself into the chair and held out his hands to me. I awkwardly climbed across the cushions, slipped, and landed with my face squarely in his lap.

  “Come up here,” he said, reaching under my shoulders and pulling me into a sitting position right next to him. Jeremy kept his arm draped over my back as I tried, without success, to compose myself.

  “So how’re you doing?” he asked, his fingers grazing my neck.

  My mind went blank. “I’m good. You?”

  “Great, now that you’re here. Tell you the truth, I didn’t think you’d come.”

  “No? Why’s that?” I looked around for my beer, which I’d put down on the ledge near the kitchen, completely out of reach. So much for getting a little buzz on to help break the ice.

  “You seemed to be completely undecided. Either that, or you don’t like me.”

  “Oh, I like you,” I blurted out.

  “Good.” His hand dropped to the front of my shoulder and I instantly regretted the push-up bra, so heavily padded he wouldn’t be able to find my breasts no matter how hard he went looking. If he were even planning to look. At least it was black, not the beige bra I’d considered.

  I prayed I didn’t smell like the spilled Miller Lite.

  “We can do whatever you want,” he said. “We can sit here and hold hands and watch Netflix, we can have sex, you can spend the night, whatever.”

  Ah, so many options. The only one I ruled out immediately was spending the night.

  “Yeah, we can have sex,” I said, finding my confidence. “That would be fine.”

  Fine? That made it sound like he’d invited me for tea.

  “Come on up,” he said, standing up and heading to the stairs.

  The dogs were sprawled out on the bed, sleeping soundly. But instead of shooing them off, Jeremy pulled a comforter from the end of the bed and spread it on the floor. He sat down and patted the space next to him, pulling off his shirt to reveal a sculpted, suntanned chest.

  I had a sudden image of Jeremy directing me to lie down w
hile he calmly spread my legs and harnessed them open so he could see and explore every part of me. Of course, in this fantasy, we were lying on the actual bed, not the floor.

  Feeling like I should take something off, I bent down to untie my sneaks, trying to balance, then giving up and sitting down to kick them off. Jeremy had stretched out on the blanket lazily. I lay down next to him, feeling the hard floor under my back.

  Would it be too much to ask that he move the dogs off the bed so we could use it?

  Rolling on his side toward me, he put his hands on my face and kissed me deeply, winding his tongue across my teeth and into my mouth. I tried to reciprocate but ended up biting his lower lip.

  “I’m not very good at this,” I said.

  “You’re fine. Relax.”

  In one smooth move, Jeremy lifted my T-shirt over my head and began stroking the area around my push-up bra.

  “Very pretty,” he said, dropping his face and kissing my skin.

  Suddenly impatient, I unclasped the bra and shook it off. I cursed the fact that I was lying down and my boobs would no doubt be sagging sideways.

  A moment later, it didn’t matter.

  Jeremy put his mouth on one nipple while toying with the other, making them both stand up with exquisite sensitivity. I squirmed and tried not to moan. When had I last been touched like this? The vibrator wand was good, but didn’t come close to a real-life lover.

  He took my hand and brought it down to the crotch of his jeans, where I felt a bulge so hard, I started fumbling at his zipper right away. After a moment, he unzipped and slid easily out of his Levi’s.

  I sat up and tried to slip seductively out of my jeans, but they wouldn’t budge. I had to lie down to get them on, and apparently would have to do the same to get them off, all while Jeremy was sitting over me, watching. My jeans were tight at my hips and I was suddenly completely stuck in them. Smiling, he reached down and yanked, peeling off my panties at the same time.

  Well there I was. Naked, fighting the urge to cover up with whatever edge of the blanket I could manage to reach.

  “Nice,” he said running the palm of his hand across my stomach, which I was sucking in with all my might, hoping it looked flatter than it actually was. I fought the urge to giggle as he went lower with his fingers, finding places that were more ticklish than erogenous.

  Then he found all the right places.

  “You want to keep going, right?” Jeremy said, his hands hovering between my thighs.

  I nodded my head, having trouble forming words at that moment.

  Jeremy slid his fingers inside me and I gasped, arching my back right off the floor. “Yes, I guess you do,” he said, smiling. Then he brought his fingers to his mouth to taste me. “Yum,” he said.

  I was almost embarrassed by how wet I was, by the slurping noises we both heard as he moved his fingers inside me. Those thoughts washed away as he pulled the top of my slit firmly upward. I felt my clit pop out from under its sheath. No one had ever done that. Then he lowered his face and started swirling his tongue all around it.

  “Ahhh,” I groaned, unable to contain myself.

  I reached down to stroke his ears. I didn’t want to just lie there enjoying myself, but when I started to sit up, he gently pushed me back down.

  “Shhhh,” he said, his lips pressing into me, tongue still moving.

  Two long dog noses poked out over the edge of the bed, then two sets of eyes were staring at us as if they knew exactly what we were doing.

  “Go back to sleep,” Jeremy said, and the doggie faces disappeared.

  Using his fingers and his tongue, he stroked me and lapped at me until I was bucking my hips all over, the comforter rippling beneath my back. Jeremy put his hands under my ass and pulled me even closer, until his face was buried in me. Just as I felt the waves building up to orgasm, he sat up and moved away from me.

  “Um,” I sputtered, worried that he was done.

  Thank God he wasn’t done. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a thick roll of condoms in silver packages.

  “You don’t need—” I stopped, trying to think of a casual way to tell him I’d gone through menopause without sounding too much older than he was. But it was always smart to use a condom.

  “You’re on the pill? I’m going to use one anyway, babe,” he said, expertly rolling it down his erection.

  He lay back down and pulled me over and on top of him in one easy move, pushing on my hips down until he was inside me, sliding in, incredibly snug and warm. We both moaned out loud.

  “Wow, you’re tight,” he breathed into my neck.

  Yeah, especially for someone who’s had two kids, I thought.

  My thoughts were erased as we found our rhythm, Jeremy lifting his hips and me grinding mine down on him.

  “Nice sweet pussy,” he whispered.

  We started out slowly but couldn’t help but speed up the pace, at last slamming into each other, thrashing, Jeremy biting into my neck and me riding him, not giving a shit what my paunchy stomach looked like. It was exquisite; I’d forgotten how great sex could be.

  And then it began in my mind: The Great Orgasm Debate.

  Could I get off? Was I even close? How close was he?

  I didn’t want him to think he had failed me. Especially at his young age.

  I also didn’t want it to look like I wasn’t sexually responsive enough to reach orgasm. Or worse, too old to enjoy it. Could I get off? Was it time to fake it then go home and take care of myself later? Would it be insulting to him if I started rubbing my own clit to come?

  Faking it was easy enough, but certainly not the best option. What if—

  “Come for me,” Jeremy whispered. “Give it to me. I want it.”

  Then he pulled me down by the shoulders so he could bite at my nipples, still hard, and that was it. I forgot to debate, I forgot everything and went. Right. Over. The. Edge. We came almost simultaneously, crashing orgasms that shook our bodies and left us drenched, my head lowered to his chest, both of us gasping for breath.

  “Good lord,” I said into his shoulder blade.

  “Ditto,” he said, kissing me on the top of my head.

  I tried to gracefully roll off him, but ended up half-falling on my side of the blanket. I propped my head up on my arm and hoped I still looked seductive and that my hair wasn’t a rat’s nest. Jeremy got up and went into the bathroom. I heard water running and was glad we had used a condom, because I hadn’t been left with the sticky mess.

  Still magnificently naked, Jeremy came back to the bedroom, opened the dresser and took out a tie-dyed pouch. He pulled out a small, dark pipe and started tamping down inside it with his finger.

  “You smoke?” he asked, lighting up and drawing heavily on the pipe, exhaling the unmistakable smell of weed.

  What the hell was it with men and pot-smoking these days? I was ready to say yes, but remembered I’d have to make my way home on the winding road around the lake, which I’d probably have to circle twice again to find my way.

  “Thanks, maybe next time,” I said.

  Jeremy’s eyes had gone dreamy. “You’re really something, Jess.”

  I lay back down on the rumpled blanket and stared through the skylight at the stars.

  “So are you,” I said a moment later.

  He opened my legs one more time and planted soft kisses between my thighs, gently, as if he were kissing me good night.

  * * *

  I waited until Sunday afternoon to text Jeremy, even though it took all the willpower I had to not begin the day with, “Good morning, lover!”

  “Hey, had a great time last night…you?” I texted at exactly noon. Good, I thought to myself, nice and casual but still referencing the incredible sex.

  I waited at the kitchen table. And waited.

  Penny padded in and nudged her nose at my foot. Then she put her little chin up in the air and started barking loud enough to be heard down the street. She had heard Lily’s arrival before the do
orbell even rang.

  I threw open the front door and Lily bustled in, snow in her hair, on her eyelashes, and falling off the top of her boots.

  “Hey sweetie, haven’t seen you in a while!”

  “How much did you miss me?”

  “This much,” I said, stretching out my arms.

  Lily sat down and patted her lap for Penny, who ran to her.

  “So, what are you doing, just sitting around?” she asked.

  “Yeah, hanging around.”

  “I’ll stay and hang with you. My parents said it was ok.”

  “Thanks, kid.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Then she launched into a story about her best friend in first grade who she called a sister because neither of them had one, and after all, they both liked everything purple and playing badminton in gym. They’d exchanged braided friendship rings, sat together at lunch, and even liked the same boy, which Lily didn’t think would be a problem.

  I glanced discreetly at my watch so I wouldn’t interrupt her story.

  “Whoops, what time is it?” Lily asked.

  “Quarter after five.”

  “Gotta go, my grandpa’s coming for dinner and he always brings cupcakes for dessert. With pink frosting and sprinkles that look like real glitter.”

  She struggled back into her winter gear, barely resembling her graceful self.

  “Mwuh!” she blew me a kiss.

  Lily would one day give the world a run for its money.

  Hearing about the cupcakes made me hungry. Maybe I could walk down after dinner and see if they had an extra cupcake and tell them what a sweetie they had for a little girl, maybe meet the lucky grandfather.

  My cell phone buzzed—an incoming message.

  Thank God! I wanted to be sitting down to feel the full effect of what I imagined would be a sexy text from Jeremy. Instead, he had texted this: “Hey. Lisa, stop busting my balls. Sorry I cancelled last night, but I was out shooting film for the calendar. I’ll make it up to you with my tongue later, babe.”

  I read the message three times, trying to make sense of it.

  For starters, clearly, I was not Lisa. Secondly, he’d been with me Saturday night, not out taking photos. And last, but certainly not least, he was going to use his tongue—his magic tongue!—to make her forget she was mad at him.