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Chapter 5 The Sound of Rain
Chapter 5 The Sound of Rain
Shen Man lay down first. She did not take the house trousers off at once. She drew Zhou Ye to kneel beside her and had him begin again from the kiss. Zhou Ye kissed her mouth, kissed her chin, and went slowly down the side of her neck. He stopped at the collarbone and ground there very lightly with his teeth. Shen Man's fingers pushed into his hair. She did not push him and she did not pull him. She only held on. When his mouth closed around one nipple, she finally made the first clear moan of the night. The sound was low and short, as if it had slipped out between her teeth. Then she heard herself. The roots of her ears went red. She did not push him away.
"The other one too," she said.
Zhou Ye took the other side. The tip of his tongue circled that point. His hand tended the one that had just been kissed bright, the palm kneading, the thumb passing over the nipple. Shen Man's waist lifted and fell again. Her breaths went deeper one after another. His hand moved down her stomach and stopped at the waistband.
"Do you want me to take them off?"
"I do."
The house trousers came down to her knees, then to her ankles, and she kicked them away herself. Under them was a very ordinary pair of dark underwear, already wet in a small patch, the color darker there. Zhou Ye set his forehead against her lower belly. His breath fell on that wet place. Shen Man's legs opened a little, then drew in again because she was shy, and in the end opened. She covered her eyes with her forearm. Her mouth was still clear.
"Look if you're going to look. Don't laugh. It's been a long time since anyone looked at me like this."
"I'm not laughing."
He kissed along the edge of the underwear, kissed the softest skin on the inside of her thigh. The muscle there jumped. His fingers hooked the two sides of the underwear and waited until she lifted her hips before he drew that layer of cloth down. Shen Man lay fully bare on the light gray sheet. The small lamp made her body warm. There was not much hair, and it had been trimmed. Beneath it the flesh had already parted a little with arousal, a sheen of wetness on the slit. Zhou Ye used his thumb to open her slowly. He saw a deeper red inside, and the clitoris already swollen. He did not take it in his mouth at once. He first stroked the outside with the pad of a finger, very lightly, like asking.
Shen Man took her hand off her eyes and caught the pillow. "Put one finger in. Slowly. Then use your mouth. I've thought it through."
He did as she said. When his middle finger pushed slowly in, she was so tight he nearly stopped. Inside she was hot and soft, drawing at his knuckle. He stayed there and waited until the tightness in her brow let go before he began to bend the finger gently, looking for the place that would make her shake. Shen Man's knees opened. Her feet pressed the sheet. He lowered his head and took her clit in his mouth. His tongue lay flat and licked, then gathered to a point and circled that bit of flesh. The finger moved slowly in and out. Her wetness came quickly. It soaked the base of his finger and soaked his chin.
"Zhou Ye." She said his name. The voice had come apart. "Don't stop. Just like that. Don't switch to something fancy."
He did not switch. He kept that speed. The tip of his tongue tended her clit steadily. Each stroke of the finger passed the same soft place inside her. Shen Man's thighs began to close on his shoulders, and then she forced herself to loosen them so he could breathe. Her lower belly tightened, released, and tightened again. She no longer bit the moans back. The sound of the rain could not cover them. When she came, her whole body arched up. Her cunt clenched his finger in waves. Her clit pulsed under his tongue. She gripped his hair, cried out once, and then turned her face into the pillow, as if the cry had startled her. Zhou Ye did not leave at once. He made the licking lighter and stayed with her through that stretch, until her legs went soft and her hand pushed at his forehead.
"Come here," she said, out of breath. "Kiss me. Let me taste myself."
He kissed her. The tip of Shen Man's tongue met that faint salty sweetness and did not dodge. She kissed him more deeply instead. Her hand closed around his cock and stroked twice, up and down. Her thumb spread the wetness at the head. Zhou Ye's hips pushed into her palm without his control. She looked at his eyes.
"I want you inside. Now. If there isn't a condom, don't come inside me. I get checked regularly, but tonight we are not going to take the risk that way. You can come on me, or I'll use my mouth. You choose."
Zhou Ye's mind was hot and heavy. He still heard her clearly. "There's one in my wallet. It might be expired. I'll look first."
He got off the bed and found his trousers. The date on the condom in the wallet was still within the month. He held it up for her to see. Shen Man nodded, opened it herself, and put it on him. Her fingers were still shaking while she did it, but the movements were careful. She did not tear it. After it was on she lay back, opened her legs, and guided him with her hand until he was against her entrance.
"Slow. Only halfway at first. I need to get used to you."
Zhou Ye braced himself above her and pushed in a little at a time. When the head opened her, both of them stopped. She was too tight. He was too hard. Shen Man breathed deeply. Her heels hooked his calves, and she brought her hips up a little herself. Only then did he get halfway in. The heat was still distinct through the thin condom. Her brow was gathered. It was not a refusal from pain. It was the ache of being opened. Zhou Ye kissed the center of her brow.
"We can stop."
"Don't stop. Wait a few more seconds." She said it, and her fingers went down his back and stopped on his hip, pressing lightly. "All right. All the way in."
When he sank in to the root, both of them made a sound at the same time. Shen Man's nails sank into his shoulder. Inside she was hot and wet, biting at him in small contractions. Zhou Ye stayed at the deepest point, forehead against her forehead. Neither of them moved. That pause was harder to bear than thrusting, and clearer. They were truly joined. It was not the collision of the last bus. It was not the hand in the taxi. It was her taking him in. It was him being held by her.
"Move," she said. "Deeper. Not fast. I want to feel every time."
Zhou Ye moved as she had said. Each withdrawal was slow. He left only the head inside, then pushed the whole length back until his belly met hers. Shen Man's breasts swayed lightly with that rhythm. He lowered his head and took one in his mouth. Below, he kept that depth. Her moans turned soft and broken. Her hand moved from his back to her own clit. Two fingers rubbed in time with him. Zhou Ye saw it. His breathing went more uneven.
"If I touch myself I'll get there faster," she said. "You just watch. Don't take it over. After I come again, then you can go faster."
He watched. Her fingers circled the most sensitive place. Because of that extra stimulus her cunt gripped tighter and tighter. The second orgasm came faster than the first. She suddenly held his neck. Her legs locked around his waist. Inside she clenched hard. Wetness squeezed out and soaked the place where they were joined. By his ear, in broken pieces, she said it was so deep, said don't go out. Zhou Ye's eyes burned from the way she gripped him. He still waited until that wave had passed, and only then, under the permission she had just given, went faster.
Once the speed came up, the lamp on the nightstand trembled lightly. Shen Man no longer spoke in whole sentences. She kissed him, bit his lower lip, and when he drove to the deepest point she opened her mouth and there was only breath. Zhou Ye's hands held her hips and kept her in each thrust. He asked whether this was too heavy. She shook her head. She said a little heavier. She said she wanted to be wanted by him. That sentence tore the last of his restraint. He fucked her hard at the pace she had asked for. His balls slapped against her. The wet sound mixed with the rain. Shen Man's third time came fast and scattered. She almost laughed through something like a cry, said it was too much, and then said don't stop.
When Zhou Ye was close he told her. Shen Man held his face and made him look at her. "Come. I want to see who you're coming for."
He let out a low sound, buried himself to the root, and released in pulses through the condom. The orgasm lasted long enough that his arms shook. He could hardly hold himself up. Shen Man held him. Her legs were still locked at his waist. Her hand stroked the back of his head, again and again, as if she were catching a person coming down from a height. Neither of them spoke at once. The rain was still falling. The room was full of breathing and the heat of skin.
A good while later Zhou Ye pulled out, took the condom off, knotted it, and wrapped it in tissue. Shen Man watched him do these things, eyes half closed, a softness at the corner of her mouth that had lost its guard. He came back to the bed, drew the thin quilt over her, and got under it himself. She turned onto her side. Her forehead rested against his collarbone.
"Still here," she said.
"I'm here."
"There wasn't a step I was forced through." She seemed still to need to confirm it for herself. "And you?"
"No. I wanted you. I still want you." He paused. "If the bridge has opened, I still don't want to leave. But if you want me to leave, I still will."
Shen Man kissed his collarbone once. "Don't leave tonight. Look at the bridge again in the morning. Before we sleep I still want water. You go pour it. The cups are on the coffee table."
He got out of bed barefoot and poured water for both of them. When he came back Shen Man was already sitting up, the quilt gathered at her chest, her hair a mess. She did not look like a vice president, and she did not look like the person who, a little while ago, had set the rules out one by one. She took the water and drank very slowly. When she had finished she looked out the window and said, "Come here. I want you to hold me while we sleep. Only sleep. My waist is already protesting."
Zhou Ye held her from behind. His hand lay on her lower belly and did not go farther down. Shen Man's breathing gradually slowed. Just before she fell asleep she was still saying something blurred, something like telling him not to look at her too long in tomorrow's meeting. Zhou Ye agreed. The rain covered half of that agreement. He remembered it very clearly anyway.
