Making Space

What surprised Roy wasn't that Jessica wanted to take him to bed that night. That part had been almost inevitable. Once the rest of the girlfriends had arrived and everyone had finished touring the house, Jessica had looked around at the women gathered in her living room, then turned to them with the sort of directness Roy had already learned to expect from her.

"Would everyone mind if Roy and I spent the night together?"

There had been a brief silence. Not an awkward silence. More the kind that came when everyone was mentally checking whether there was some obvious reason they should object.

Nobody did.

Michelle had been the first to smile.

"It's your house," she had said. "I think you get dibs."

Zara had immediately nodded. "Absolutely. That seems fair."

Elaine had laughed softly and given Jessica an affectionate look. "I don't think anyone's going to fight you for him."

The response had been so easy that Roy almost didn't know what to do with it. There had been no jealousy, no argument over who had seen him first, no complicated negotiation. Jessica had invited him upstairs, and the others had simply accepted that tonight was hers.

So, no, that wasn't what surprised him.

The surprise came later. Specifically, when they were actually in bed.

The Jessica Roy knew was clever, sharp and possessed of a certain commanding edge that he found incredibly attractive. She was the person who seemed to become more confident when everyone else in the room started getting nervous. Give Jessica a problem and she would probably have three possible solutions before Roy had finished explaining it.

That was one of the things he loved about her.

In bed, however, Jessica was different. The woman who could dominate a courtroom, command a room full of people and calmly dissect an argument was suddenly hesitant beneath the covers.

Earlier, standing in the soft bedroom light in her pink bra and panties and slowly undressing him, Jessica had looked every bit as self-assured as the lawyer he knew. But once they were lying together, the uncertainty became obvious.

At first Roy couldn't quite figure out what she was waiting for. Then, after a moment, he realized.

She was waiting for him.

Jessica had only ever had one sexual partner. Roy knew that already, and he could understand what it meant. Until very recently, Roy himself had had exactly zero sexual partners. The wish had thrown him into the deep end of romance and intimacy with absolutely no warning, forcing him to learn things at a pace that sometimes left his head spinning.

Now, by comparison, he had quite a bit of experience.

The thought still made him feel faintly ridiculous.

Was Roy going to brag about it? Lord his newfound expertise over Jessica? Start dispensing advice like some kind of relationship guru who had accidentally skipped the introductory course and been handed a diploma anyway?

Not a chance. That simply wasn't him.

Still, lying there with Jessica, Roy at least had enough experience to recognize that she needed him to make the first move.

"It's okay," he said quietly, kissing her shoulder. "I'm not going to push you into anything you're not comfortable with."

Jessica turned her head towards him.

"Like what?"

The faint blush spreading across her cheeks made her look younger somehow, although there was still that familiar spark in her eyes.

"It sounds like you have ideas."

A laugh slipped out of Roy before he could stop it. There she was. That was Jessica. Even nervous, she couldn't resist turning the situation into a challenge.

"Maybe I do."

"Oh, really?"

"Maybe."

The teasing smile she gave him settled something inside Roy. For the first time that night, the balance between them shifted. Jessica might normally be the one who knew exactly what to do, but tonight she was letting him lead. And, strangely enough, Roy liked that.

Sitting up, he looked down at the woman beside him. Jessica was beautiful. There was no cleverer way to put it. Her body was lean and fit, her lips were full and inviting, and her eyes had a depth that Roy could have spent hours staring into. The soft bedroom light caught in her brown hair, some of it having escaped from the ponytail.

For days, Roy had spent so much time hating the wish. He hated what it had done to his life. Hated how little control he had over it. Hated wondering who would be next, what reality would change, and which relationship might disappear before he'd even had time to understand what had happened.

Yet moments like this made all of that anger temporarily difficult to hold onto.

Jessica was here.

She wanted him.

And for a few minutes, the impossible situation surrounding them didn't matter.

He leaned down and kissed her. The kiss started gently, almost cautiously, but Jessica quickly relaxed into it. Her hand found his shoulder, then slid around his back, drawing him closer. When Roy lifted his head, Jessica looked up at him with an expression that was equal parts nervousness and trust.

"Can we..." she began.

Roy waited.

"...can we, you know, have sex now?"

Her voice was soft.

"I think I'm ready. Please?"

Roy smiled.

Feeling his own arousal threatening to burst out of his boxer shorts, he smiled and nodded.

He climbed off of her, pulled his underwear off, and tossed them on the floor. He watched as Jessica reached down and did the same to her panties, leaving her only in her bra. Then she rolled over and lifted her rear end up to him.

"Back before Ava," she said, "Charles used to want to do it this way. I always thought it felt incredible. Do you mind if we try it?"

Without saying a word, Roy took hold of her hips and slid himself into her from behind. Then he stopped and held himself there. Her body hadn't needed to be warmed up. There had been no need for long foreplay, dirty talk, or anything else. She was just completely ready for him, receiving him, welcoming him in as if he had always belonged there.

He heard a satisfied sigh come from Jessica as she lay there, pressing her rear end into his groin. There was no pushing, no urging him on. Jessica seemed to love what was happening, and was patient for Roy to take her where they needed to go.

She didn't need to wait very long.

Taking a firm grip on her hips, Roy began to thrust. Jessica matched every move he made, completely using her body to match the energy he was bringing. This wasn't a gentle, romantic, sweet sexual encounter. It immediately became a heated, hungry, needy session where both parties were chasing release as quickly as they could.

A rhythmic, panting call of his name started coming from Jessica, intermingled with moans that were far too loud for whatever soundproofing the master bedroom might have. Not that Roy was spending his moments thinking about building materials. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to his climax, and didn't want to stop for anything.

"I'm so close," she said, surprising Roy.

Not that it stopped his momentum. In fact, it only spurred him on. Soon the headboard of the bed was loudly banging, alerting anyone who hadn't clued into what they were doing to exactly where they were at in their lovemaking.

And then he came.

And so did she.

Roy grunted.

Jessica screamed.

The pair shook, then froze, then collapsed in bliss. Slowly Roy slid out of her as he held her from behind, resting comfortably on Jessica's mattress. She reached down and held his arms tightly, ensuring that there was no space between them at all.

"I love you, Roy Robinson," she whispered.

"I love you, too, Jessica," he answered.

"Please," she said in the same tiny voice, "please move in. Please. I need you close, even if you're not with me. Even on nights when you're with one of the others. I need you close to me."

No response came from him right away. This was a serious ask, a serious change to his life. He wasn't even sure if the wish would allow him and Jessica to stay together.

But he hoped it would. He hadn't been lying when he had said that he loved her. It was a mystery as to how he had already fallen so head-over-heels for her, but love her he did. Imagining life without Jessica was as impossible as imagining it without the rest of his girlfriends. He loved her.

And he needed her close, too.

"Of course," he said, kissing the back of her neck. "I'll start packing tomorrow."

"Thank you," she said, wiggling around so that she was facing him. "Thank you so much."

And then her lips were on his. Not with the frantic, greedy energy they'd had before, but with a gentle, loving touch. It was a kiss of gratitude. One that he was happy to return to her.

"Do you think," she asked, her eyes darting down, "we'll have to wait long to go again?" A smile crept onto her lips. "I'm curious about those ideas you didn't want to try before. Maybe we could dust one or two off."

"I think I've created a monster," he laughed. "And no, I don't think we'll have to wait long at all."

Much later, Roy lay on his back staring up at the ceiling.

The bedroom had gone quiet except for the faint sounds of the house settling around them. Somewhere beyond the bedroom door, the unfamiliar house creaked softly, reminding Roy that he wasn't in his apartment anymore.

Jessica was curled against his side, her head resting near his shoulder. One arm lay across his chest, while her other hand moved absently over his stomach. Roy looked down. Her fingers were resting against his bare belly. He couldn't help smiling.

For most of his adult life, Roy had regarded his stomach as one of those things that was best ignored. It wasn't particularly impressive. It wasn't muscular or flat or anything that would have appeared on the cover of a fitness magazine. It was just his belly.

Soft.

Round.

Very much Roy.

Jessica's hand moved slowly across it, almost absent-mindedly, and something about the gesture made his chest feel strangely warm.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Roy turned his head towards her.

"For what this time?"

Jessica looked up.

"For tonight. For us. For everything."

"Jessica..."

"I'm serious."

Her fingers continued their lazy path across his stomach.

"I was nervous."

"I know."

"I don't think I did a very good job hiding it."

"You didn't."

She gave him a small, embarrassed laugh.

"Well, that's comforting."

Roy chuckled.

"You didn't need to hide it."

Jessica settled against him again.

"I suppose I'm used to being the person who knows what she's doing."

"You're still that person."

"Not tonight."

"No," Roy admitted. "Not tonight."

A few seconds passed. Then Jessica smiled.

"I liked that."

Roy looked down at her.

"You did?"

"Very much," she said, staring up at the dark ceiling. "If you want, we can do that again. I liked it when you were in charge. When you told me what to do."

That made him smile.

The woman who could walk into a room and make everyone else feel as though she had already figured everything out was now curled against him, content and vulnerable. There was something deeply intimate about that vulnerability, something Roy hadn't expected.

More than that, it made him think about the others.

Elaine.

Michelle.

Zara.

And now Jessica.

Seeing the four women together had felt right. Not normal, exactly. Roy wasn't sure normal was even available to him anymore. But right. A strange collection of people who shouldn't have ended up together, somehow forming something that looked suspiciously like a family.

Roy thought about the house downstairs. The rooms. The kitchen. The laughter that had filled it earlier. A home.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

His life was still a mess. Tom was still hanging over his career like a storm cloud. The wish was still changing things around him without asking permission. There was no guarantee that any of this would last.

But Jessica was with him. And he wanted her to stay.

His eyes grew heavier. Just before sleep finally began pulling him under, Roy heard Jessica speak beside him.

"I'm the luckiest woman on earth."

Her hand came to rest warmly against his stomach.

"How did I end up with a man like you, Roy?"

A sleepy smile tugged at his mouth.

"Thank you for making space for me in your life."

Roy wanted to answer. He wanted to tell her that she had no idea how much space he'd been hoping she would fill.

Instead, exhaustion won. The last thing he felt before sleep was Jessica's hand resting against his belly. And, for the first time in a long while, Roy felt no fear of what tomorrow might bring.