Page 28 of The Lessons

“That’s good, Natalie. Real good.” He sounded like he was smiling, although I couldn’t tell. He was just a blurry mass to me. “You’ve never had vaginal penetration, correct?”

Were we seriously back here again? Ugh.Fine, sexy surrogate man, I will spell it out for you.“No. I have never had vaginal penetration.” I pursed my lips, hoping that my definitive expression would prevent him from ever asking that horrible question again.

The shapeless mass of sexiness must have taken my point because he closed his notebook and put it down on the table. “Well, that will be the lesson for next time. Today we’ll work up to that by being naked and experiencing non-vaginal orgasms. Shall we head back to the bedroom?”

What?Just like that? I pulled my glasses off my head and put them back on, bringing the room back into focus. I blinked a few times, trying to process what he’d just said. I know last time I had been anxious to get started, but we’d also gone so slowly—it seemed like quite a jump now to say we were ready for the bedroom. As much as I’d known this was coming, I couldn’t help it: I felt like I barely knew the guy.

“I like those glasses on you,” he said softly. “You’ll want to keep them on. Come on.” With that, he stood up, pulled me to my feet, and led me to the back room.

Ryan

Natalie looked around hesitantly as I showed her the space. It wasn’t anything special. Part of me hated that I hadn’t ever done anything to spruce it up. But it wasn’t my house; it was my office, and keeping things clinical was part of the patient/surrogate strategy. There was a bed with a dark wooden headboard, fresh white sheets, and a set of pillows. No-nonsense. Utilitarian. The wooden nightstands each had a lamp, and I flicked them on before closing the doors. I showed Natalie the attached bathroom and a wardrobe with extra towels and robes, should she need to freshen up after our work.

I eyed her carefully as I showed her around. She was clearly nervous again but trying to project an air of confidence. I briefly entertained the idea of trying to calm her nerves with conversation but quickly realized I had to stop thinking about her and me in any context other than our clinical work together. I had less than one more semester to go in school. After that, I’d be a licensed psychologist, and I could stop doing this work. Maybe thenwecould be something.

Assuming I didn’t fuck things up in the here and now.

And assuming we both survived this mind-fuck of a situation.

And, of course, assuming she was interested.

Ifeltlike she was interested. Her face had flushed when I’d asked her about masturbating. Well, okay, maybe it was the subject matter. I was walking a tightrope there, asking her those private questions. I already had the answers in my notebook in front of me, from the questionnaire she’d completed as part of her application. But there was something so erotic about seeing her squirm when I asked her to answer them again. The feeling made my cock so hard, and quite frankly, it was addicting. I loved the idea of her virginal ears being marred by me and only me.

As I double-checked the doors, Natalie was fully in denial of the bed between us, choosing instead to concentrate her gaze on a landscape painting on the far wall.

“Natalie,” I started.

“This is a nice painting.”

“Thank you. It was my mother’s.”

Natalie turned and tilted her head at me. “Was?”

“She passed away.” I paused, “But Natalie, we aren’t here to talk about paintings. We’re here to focus on you.”

She raised both her hands, “Sorry, sorry. No personal stuff. I forgot.” She turned back toward the bed, her arms crossed.

“Are you ready to get started? Why don’t you take off your clothes?” I suggested.

“All of them?” She tugged on her earlobe. I’d been noticing she did that when she was nervous. It was her ‘tell.’ She’d be any easy win in a strip poker game.

My mind went fuzzy as I imagined Natalie at a poker table, naked.

“Ryan?”

I shook myself back to reality. Dammit.Get your mind out of the gutter, Andrews. “Sorry. You can leave your panties on for now, if you want, but take your bra off. Would you rather I leave the room while you undress?”

She glanced at the door and then back at me. “Yes. Thank you.”

I nodded and went over to the small bathroom. Once inside, I started to disrobe, purposely leaving my boxer briefs on. Our conversation had already given me a semi, and if she’d never seen a cock before, well, I didn’t want toscarethe poor girl.

I leaned over the sink and stared at my reflection in the mirror, shaking my head.You better know what you’re doing, Andrews. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the responsibility I felt for her. And then there was that nagging feeling this was all going to blow up in my face. I ignored that part.

Back in the bedroom, Natalie had arranged herself neatly under the covers. Okay, maybearrangedis too generous a word. It looked as though her entire body had been swallowed up by the bed, the blanket covering her up to her neck. She lay there, stiff as a board, her dark hair cascading around her. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why she’d want to cover up that gorgeous body of hers, but I wasn’t about to let her get away with it. Luckily for me, it wasmy job.

My job.Focus, Andrews. You are less than a semester from graduation. Don’t fuck this up.

“Hello,” I said as I walked over to the other side of the bed and pulled up the covers to let myself in.

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