Elizabeth 05: Christmas Troubles

Pushing the door forcefully inward in her nervousness and urgent need, she was utterly humiliated to be greeted with the sight of a man standing at the urinal. That humiliation melted into relief and amusement as she realized the man was Jonathan. Why on earth had she failed to anticipate that she would find him there of all places?

In lieu of a greeting, they both dissolved into laughter. "So it's come to us even weeing together, has it?" Jonathan grinned.

"Isn't it wonderful!" Elizabeth laughed along with him as she stepped into the lone stall. "After all, we've done that once before, haven't we?"

"Indeed, why not again?" Jonathan admitted.

"I will explain everything in just a moment, I promise!" Elizabeth called out as she latched the door and gathered up her skirt.

"I hardly think you need to explain," Jonathan called back from the sink, where he was washing his hands. "You drank gallons of tea this morning and you don't know where the ladies' room in this building is. Not to worry, Elizabeth; I don't know where it is either."

"You have undoubtedly been drinking it all day yourself to stay awake while catching up on your work," Elizabeth concurred.

"Of course I have," Jonathan acknowledged; she could hear the water running as he washed his hands. "Both due to the dull work and because I slept rather poorly last night. I am sure I don't need to tell you why."

"You do not," Elizabeth said. "That is why I rushed out to meet you this afternoon, darling. To apologize for my selfishness last night."

"Your selfishness?" Jonathan sounded astonished.

"Yes," Elizabeth said, pulling her panties back up; she gave some thought to removing them instead, but quickly reasoned that was how she had stirred up so much trouble the night before. "I fairly stood the Christmas spirit on its ear last night, and after some unpleasant memories and dreams, I see all too well that I acted terribly." She emerged from the stall as she said it, and after a cursory rinse of her hands at the sink, she threw her arms around Jonathan. "Our love is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and making love with you is wonderful but it is not the be all and end all of anything. I should never have treated it as such."

"I suppose I should have been more diplomatic about Irene given that it is Christmas," Jonathan said. He had just enough presence of mind to peer out into the hallway to ensure that no one would see Elizabeth emerging from the gents' with him.

"No, that's just it!" Elizabeth said. "What you said about her last night was all only too fair and reasonable! Any time of year but this, I'd have found no fault with it, and I now see that should have been no different now than then."

"I'm impressed," Jonathan admitted, unlocking the office door and ushering her into the empty but warm office. "That is just what I have always detested about this time of year: the idea that no one is ever allowed to have a bad day or to complain about bad behaviour. Forgive me, Elizabeth, but I had the impression you were among the crowd who subscribed to all that."

"I was," Elizabeth admitted. "But...oh, this is going to sound absurd, but I had a nightmare about our children, if you can believe that."

"The ghost of Christmas future paid a visit, is that it?" Jonathan sat down at his desk chair, his legs spread enticingly, making Elizabeth wish she had done away with her panties after all. But she said nothing to that effect as she stood before him.

"Something like that. Past and present as well, but never mind all that. What I see now is that this is a time of year like any other in some ways. Things still go wrong, and things still sometimes go very, very right."

"And what we have is still one of those things, I should hope?" Jonathan asked.

"Precisely. More so than I had bothered to remember of late, and that was my mistake. And we don't need sex to make it so. I promise I understand that, even if I do not always act as though I do."

"Pity," Jonathan said with a grin, flicking at the button of his trousers. "I had rather hoped you might be here for a bit of make-up play."

Elizabeth could not stop her face from breaking into a ravenous smile. "Only if you truly wish to do so, darling," she said. But she was already gathering her skirt up with both hands before Jonathan could offer a verbal reply. He did, however, offer a non-verbal reply in the form of unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them down to reveal his robust, hard willingness. He looked down at it and back up at Elizabeth, who was losing no time in sliding her panties off.

She kicked them over towards my deserted desk and leaned over Jonathan. Taking his cock in a gentle grip with her right hand, she slipped her left around his shoulders and kissed him deep and long just before climbing atop his lap, facing him. The outdoor chill and their initially tentative reconciliation meant Elizabeth required more foreplay than she normally did; but there was no shortage of opportunity for all that. Perched on his lap, she ran one hand playfully about his chest through the thin fabric of his shirt, and grazed her other thumb lightly over the tip of his eager erection. "A nice healthy cock in search of a bush to nestle in!" she cooed.

"And I do believe it has found one," Jonathan added. By then he had all ten fingers exploring Elizabeth's robust bush. "My god, Elizabeth, your bush is just as amazing as the first time, every time I get lost in it!"

"May you never stop getting lost in there!" she replied, thrilling to his expert gentle caresses under her skirt. A last fleeting memory of Roger flashed through her mind, compelling her to add, "You will never know how happy I am that you embrace that part of me."

"Nor you how happy I am about the part of me that it embraces so well!" Jonathan quipped between heavy breaths. "A delightful, natural evening gown you wear under your clothes, keeping your greatest secret from everyone but me!"

"Good heavens, you're going to give me a mental orgasm along with the real one!" It was the last thing Elizabeth said before his first tentative stroke on her clitoris, which elicited a delightfully cathartic yelp that Jonathan knew as a plea for more. He lost no time in giving her more, easing his thumb carefully inside to Elizabeth's delight. Despite the awkward angle, he was able to flail about enough to confirm that she was wet and ready – and to give her fleeting jolts of pleasure that made her long for more. To that end, Elizabeth pushed up hungrily against his body as if willing his thumb to reach magically further in. That being impossible, Jonathan withdrew it but kept it pressed neatly against her clitoris and drew wet circles around it in the way he knew she loved.

And love it she did. Words giving way to grunts, Elizabeth leaned back and ground her hips into his, welcoming the lovely teasing from his expert touch. She wiggled her legs intently against him, awaiting his entry even as she knew it was unlikely before he had rubbed her to her first orgasm. That was not long in coming, and she threw herself tightly against him with a kiss masking her scream at the big moment. With that accomplished, he soon had his eager cock set between her damp thighs, and together they guided it inside. Now joyfully full of the only Christmas present she truly coveted, Elizabeth bobbed and rocked in delicious rhythm and enjoyed Jonathan's heavenly moans blending with hers. Despite – or perhaps because of – the pale glare of electric light, they both kept their eyes open and gazed at one another in intimate wonder as one minute, then two, then five or six or more passed. Elizabeth felt her second orgasm bobbing just beneath the surface for some time, but did her best to hold it at bay as she savoured the sensation.

"Coming," Jonathan whispered at last. And with that, Elizabeth lay down her last defence and allowed the final, intense release to rush through every inch of her still-mostly-clothed body, just as she felt Jonathan spurt within her and heard him yowl with the release. She went limp with a satisfied sigh in his arms, and clamped his receding hardness tightly within her like a last drop of wine.

"Merry Christmas, Elizabeth."

"Merry Christmas, Jonathan. Let's make certain they are always this wonderful for us both."

"How could they possibly not be?"

"Indeed."

As they cleaned up as best they could after their adventure, Jonathan was concerned about the tell-tale scent that would surely linger for some time. "I certainly hope Mr. Thompson doesn't turn up before Monday," he mused as he blotted at the damp stains on his trousers and waited for the dry air to take its toll.

"Well, if he does, how will he know whether it was you or Agnes?" Elizabeth quipped.

"Oh, I'm sure he thinks she is marvellously chaste," Jonathan said. "If only he knew how many times she has flipped up her skirt at him when his back was turned."

Elizabeth laughed and made a mental note to query me about that practice. "If that is the sort of office he is running, whether he is aware of it or not, I believe we are safe!"

Indeed they were; as with their previous tryst on Mr. Thompson's office couch, he was never the wiser.

It was some time before Jonathan deemed himself presentable in public; this gave Elizabeth time to find the ladies' and primp a bit for our dinner date. I was none the wiser as to Jonathan's concerns about his trousers at the time, for they were both looking resplendent and radiant when they arrived at the pub. Irene and I had arrived a quarter of an hour earlier and were still enjoying our first glass of wine when they appeared at our table. (Having put any and all shame about our relationship to bed, we had held hands in the cab on the ride into town; but we did keep our hands to ourselves in the pub. Westfordshire City was progressive, but not yet that progressive!)

"Jonathan!" Irene burst out gratefully, standing up to embrace her cousin. "I am so very sorry for..."

"No need, Irene," Jonathan assured her. "You are coping with a broken heart, and that can only ever be so easy to do."

"Yes, but at Christmas," Irene mused sadly, sitting back down.

"At Christmas it is all the worse, is it not?" Elizabeth asked. "Everyone is always telling us to be of good cheer all the time, no matter how far that is from our true feelings. It is most unfair, and your true friends will never judge you for being honest about yourself."

"Why, that is perfectly lovely," Irene said. "I wish I had thought of that last night."

"I wish I had, too," Elizabeth said. "But I am afraid I thought of it because of last night."

"How is that?" Irene asked.

"Yes," I added, "I appreciated all you said to me this morning, Elizabeth, but just where did this come to you where it was ever so lacking yesterday?"

"She had a Scrooge moment," Jonathan quipped.

"Why, that makes no sense at all!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, is that not the opposite of what has happened?" Irene chimed in.

"No, he is quite right," Elizabeth confirmed. "I relived some unpleasant holidays in my own past, and dreamt of some future trouble, and now I see all too well how tempting it is to handle one's problems just as Irene has been doing. But it was Alexandria who saved the day, truly."

"Oh, yes!" I added. "That girl has rediscovered her decency to a greater extent than any of us had dared hope."

"A lovely surprise at any time of year," Elizabeth concurred. "I am sure it would have restored my faith in humanity at any other time as well, but it was especially well-timed while we were all going through a bad patch with one another."

Irene looked at Jonathan and then at Elizabeth. "You two as well? Not because of me, I hope."

"No," Jonathan reassured her. "Because we were each expecting something the other couldn't have offered. But that no longer matters."

"Well, you do both look like you have had a delightful afternoon," Irene said with a twinkle in her eye.

"As do the pair of you," Elizabeth retorted. Irene took my hand under the table, and we burst into nervous laughter together. Jonathan joined in, while Elizabeth raised her glass to us. With the chilly bluster just outside, I felt as safe and content as I could ever recall feeling in my life.

The pub, already more than half full upon our arrival, grew outright crowded as our dinner and drinks progressed. It made no difference to us, as the thrill of intimacy and the comfort of friendship held the world at bay throughout the evening. We talked of Elizabeth's unpleasant memories and dreams and the much more positive present, and the progress of Irene's recovery, and our hopes and fears for after the wedding in the spring. Although not all of our concerns had easy answers, we did find addressing it all together helped. While none dared say it in Irene's presence, I am quite sure the absence of Benjamin served as proof that no one's world would come to an end when a circle of friends was disrupted by such a thing as a wedding. In any event, this evening was not for fretting over what might or might not come to an end but for celebrating what we had and what could never be lost.

If nothing would be quite the same after that day in May, the joy of December made it all worthwhile!