I’d expected.
“Holy moly,” I breathed. Clearly, I wasn’t going to be able to do what I’d pictured myself doing with that thing. But I’d give it a try.
Taking a deep breath, I scooted closer to Eli’s side, leaning over to touch my lips to the center of his chest. His hand came up to cup the back of my head, threading his fingers through my hair.
“That feels good,” he murmured. “Keep going.”
“That’s the plan.” I brushed my hand over him experimentally, tracing the lines of his pecs and then lower to his abs. He hummed and shifted a little, folding his hands behind his head as he watched my progress.
My head was still spinning more than a little, and I was aware that I was in way too deep now. Oddly, I didn’t really care. I had a feeling that there was some reason I should be worried about what I was about to do, but I couldn’t get a handle on why.
The part of him that was my destination had tented his boxers. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the top of it was sticking out through the slit in the underwear. Tentatively, I crept my hand down and wrapped my fingers around the shaft.
I was immediately rewarded by Eli’s groan. “Oh, baby, that’s good.”
Okay, then. I guessed I was on the right track. Moving so that I sat cross-legged next to his hip, I licked my lips and stroked him gently, taking care not to grip him too tightly. The last thing I needed to do was to break his . . . thing.
I knew that part of my mission had to do with using my mouth, but honestly, I wasn’t sure exactly . . . how. I had a vague memory of something referencing sucking—I’d overheard an older girl in school talking about sucking off her boyfriend—but that couldn’t be right. Could it?
Bending over, I started the same way Eli had with me—with a kiss. I dropped a chaste, gentle kiss on the side, just below the belled head. Using just the tips of my fingers, I ran them up and down his length, glancing up to his face to see how this was going over.
Eli was watching me with an odd expression on his face. He seemed to be enjoying what I was doing—maybe—but he was also frowning. That probably wasn’t a good sign.
“Uh, hey.” He gave a little cough. “Um . . . have you done this before?”
Heat suffused my face, and I was sure I looked red as a tomato. “Not really, no.” I waited for him to call me out as the fraud I was and haul me back to Hannah and Becca.
Instead, Eli reached down to caress my cheek. “Do you want me to tell you how to do it? I mean, you don’t have to, but—”
“Yes!” I blurted out the word quickly. “Yes, tell me what to do. I feel like . . .” I shook my head. “I want to do whatever I can to make you feel good.”
“You are, but there are, ah, other ways.” He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling under my hand. “So—don’t be afraid to hold me a little tighter. A little rougher, even. I’m not going to break.”
I nodded, tightening my fingers around him and moving them up and down, rewarded when his mouth dropped open. “Okay. Like that?”
“Exactly like that.” He sounded slightly strained. “And then . . . with your mouth. Take the head into your mouth. Suck it a little. Rub your tongue over the slit.”
“The slit? Oh—you mean the opening?” I wrinkled my nose before I could stop myself. “I mean, yes, I see. All right.” Leaning over, I parted my lips and guided him to me. It felt foreign and more than a little weird. I mean, who invented this? Who decided it was a good idea? What was going on in the mind of the first woman who thought, hey, I think I’ll take this man’s penis into my mouth?
“Yeah, that’s it.” Eli rubbed my head. “Oh, yeah.”
Remembering what he’d said, I used my tongue to touch the center—the slit, Eli had called it—recoiling slightly in surprise when I realized that there was some kind of salty liquid seeping from it. I recovered enough to stop myself from jerking backwards, instead circling the head with my tongue, hoping that was enough.
“Relax your jaw.” His voice was rough with what I