With an arch look, she replied: Oh, is that the normal thing?
Well, the last person I was with, I never did message her. I think she might be annoyed with me about it, I’m not sure.
Maybe you should try showing up at her house out of the blue and then falling asleep on her couch for two hours.
He put his hand on his chest, as if wounded. Alice, he said. Don’t savage me. I’m embarrassed about that. Come here.
She went to him and he kissed her. He moved his hands over her body and she sighed softly. His phone started to vibrate in his pocket, the droning noise of an incoming call.
Do you want to get that? she said. No, he replied, it’s alright, I’ll knock it off.
Removing his phone from his pocket, he tapped a button to reject a phone call from Damian’s number, and went on: Do you know what I really feel like doing? I want to go up and lie on your bed and you tell me all what you did during the week. Alice said that sounded very innocent. Well, I can take your clothes off while you’re talking, he said, how about that? She flushed then, touched her lip, and said: If you like. He watched her with a kind of mischievous amusement. Am I making you blush saying that? he asked. I wouldn’t mind, but you’re the one who writes filthy books for a living. She said her books were not filthy, and he said he had read on the internet that they were. And I know you don’t get embarrassed talking about sex in public, because I’ve seen you, he said. Up there on stage when we were in Rome, you were talking about it. Alice said that was different, because it was not personal, only abstract. He studied her for a moment. Can I ask, he said, are you going over to London this week, or is your friend coming over here? Not to be nosy, but I heard you saying you’d see him next week.
Smiling, she said she had to go to London for work. Such a jet-setter, he replied.
Although London’s a bit of a kip so I won’t be jealous. I used to live there. His phone started to vibrate again and he sighed, removing it from his pocket. I won’t ask who’s calling, Alice said. Holding down the button, Felix answered distractedly: Ah, it’s just my brother. I’m not going behind your back falling asleep on anyone else’s couches, don’t worry. She laughed then, which seemed to please him. Pocketing the phone again,
he said: Can we head upstairs? If we stay up much later I won’t be any good to you, I’m wrecked.
They went up to Alice’s bedroom and sat on her bed together. She took his hand and kissed it, making a line of kisses up from his knuckle along his fingers, and then put the tip of his index finger in her mouth. At first he said nothing and then after a few seconds he said: Ah, fuck. He put his middle finger into her mouth and she ran her tongue along its underside. Alice, he said. Can I ask, do you like giving head at all? It’s alright if you don’t. Taking his fingers out of her mouth, she said yes. Can we do that now, what do you think? he said. With her mouth open and relaxed-looking, she reached under the waistband of his sweatpants. He lay down on his back with his head propped up on the pillows, and she went down on him. He watched her. A lock of her light hair falling forward, covering part of her face. And her lips wet, her eyes half-closed. She asked him if it was okay. Yeah, it’s good, he said. Come here for a second. She moved up beside him and he put his hand under her skirt. Closing her eyes, she held on to the headboard behind him. Do you want to get on top of me? he said. She nodded her head.
Clothes on or off? she asked. He frowned thoughtfully. Off, he said. But I’ll leave mine on if it’s the same to you. Taking her jumper off, she grinned and said: Is that a power play? He put a hand behind his head, watching her undoing the buttons of her blouse.
No, I’m just lazy, he said. She took the blouse off and unhooked her bra. Do I look nice with my clothes off? she asked. He was touching his cock slowly while watching her.
Yeah, you do, he said. Did I not tell you that before? Pulling her skirt and underwear off over her ankles, she said: I think as a teenager I did, but not anymore. Leaving her clothes hanging over the end of the bed, she got on top of him. I liked having you in my mouth, she said. Her eyes were closed, he was looking up her. That’s nice of you to say,
he said. What did you like about it? She was breathing deeply. I was afraid you were going to be rough with me, she said, but you were very gentle. I don’t even mean rough, I just mean, I was afraid you would want me to try and take more of it when I knew I couldn’t. He had his left hand on her hip. You mean like the people in porn, he said. She said yes. Yeah, but I think that’s a fairly specialised skill they have, he said. I wouldn’t expect your average person to be able to do that. With her eyes closed, Alice said that if he wanted her to learn how to do it, she would want to try. Still watching her face attentively he said: Don’t worry about that. You give very good head the way it is. Is that what you prefer to call it, by the way? Or something else? She was smiling, she said she wasn’t fussy. But there must be some words that turn you off a bit, he said. Would there not be? Like if I said, I want you to suck my cock, you probably wouldn’t like it.