The first rays of morning sunlight slipped between the curtains, brushing Sina's face with a soft, ticklish warmth. She scrunched her nose against it, half-heartedly trying to burrow deeper into the covers before blinking her heavy eyes open. For a moment, she simply lay there, blinking lazily at the clock on the nightstand, letting the quiet hush of the morning settle over her. Then, instinctively, she turned her head -- and there he was.
Billy, sprawled out beside her, his chest gently rising and falling in sleep. A helpless smile tugged at Sina's lips before she could stop it, blooming slowly and sweetly from the depths of her chest. Memories of the night before floated to the surface -- and her heart gave a small, involuntary squeeze.
It was perfect. If she didn't know better, she'd assume that it was just a nice dream - but now, with Billy, impossible was always just a step away. Her mind wandered, reliving the moments...
-- --
As soon as she stepped into the house, she froze, keys still dangling from her fingers.
Billy stood there, fidgeting with his sleeves, looking like he had raided a formalwear store five minutes ago. The suit didn't quite fit, the tie was crooked and didn't match the colour of the rest of the outfit, and he was blushing hard -- but God, was he trying. She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up. A real one, not the tired, forced ones she had been handing out all day.
"Welcome home, love," he said, stepping forward and easing the bag off her shoulder before she could protest.
"Yea-hi... So, what's the occasion?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, but already feeling the tension start to slip away, as she noticed the floors cleaned to perfection and the usual mess completely gone.
"You," he said simply. It felt like he rehearsed that line, but she couldn't care less. Then he nodded toward the living room. "Come on, sit. You must be tired."
She chuckled, letting out a quick "You have no idea", and flopping onto the couch.
Billy knelt in front of her like a knight before his queen, which made Sina feel all fuzzy and warm inside, as he gently reached for the straps of her high-heels. Soon, he peeled them off, then followed that with doing the same with her socks. His fingers lingered just a second too long on her ankles, rough thumbs tracing tiny circles. Not overt -- careful, hesitant, but still unmistakably longing. His ears turned bright red.
Still, he didn't push, instead jumping to start with her shoulders, working the stiff knots out of the girl's muscles. His hands were warm and clumsy at first, but he remembered his courses as he went, getting better, reading every tiny twitch of relief from her muscles and every quiet sigh.
Feeling a lot of tension in her arms and shoulders, he lifted his eyebrow. Usually, Sina would be mostly using her legs and lower back, so that wasn't normal.
"Did you do an arms day today, or was it again just the director, making you redo the scenes?" He half-joked, continuing his work.
"Yeaa... We had those stupid scenes... One has me showing off at a gym. The weights are fake, of course. But still, stupid guy makes me redo the same thing so many times, even that makes my arms hurt. And there is the other one, when I need to pretty much hang on just with my arms, that one is misery - I think it took three bloody hours to get it done. I thought I'm not gonna be able to use them again..." She complained in response.
"'Stupid guy', as in that director who wears a scarf, no matter what is happening?" He asked, putting all the effort into making sure her upper body was massaged thoroughly, now that he understood the situation.
Sina looked up at him. "You remember that douche? You saw him maybe three times" She said, surprised, letting out a soft moan of relief.
Billy nodded. "Four, I think. But I remember him cause you complain about him all the time. And his scarf helps as well" He smiled, methodically moving lower.
His girlfriend still had a bit of a bewildered look, but she had more pleasurable things to attend to. Like relaxing and letting go.
Seeing that she wasn't going to continue, Billy instigated again, asking more about her day and how she felt, as he worked his way downwards.
Sina let the words spill out -- stupid scene arguments, an actor throwing a tantrum on set, directors being harsh and making her reshoot multiple times. Billy hummed and listened, asking questions when he didn't understand the jargon, genuinely trying to keep up. Somewhere between complaints, she caught the way he stole glances at her body, how he subtly adjusted the front of his pants when he thought she wasn't looking, more and more, the lower he got.
It made her smile, warmed something deep inside her, as she felt wanted, desired. Carefully, she moved her right leg up, towards his body.
"You're hard, aren't you?" she teased quietly, voice low and amused. As she placed her feet on his crotch, lightly pushing his cock, against his body.
Billy's hands faltered for half a second before he steadied them again. There was no point in hiding the truth, since she felt him up anyway. "I uh--," he stammered, face on fire. "I'm fine. Just... focused."
Sina brushed up and down, ever so lightly, and let it go with a little smirk. She knew he wouldn't make a move unless she dragged him into it by the tie. That was the thing about Billy -- all that need - bottled up tight, not out of cowardice, but out of respect. He worshipped her without even meaning to, just by his general demeanour and approach.
For a second, she thought about her own luck. How treasured and adored she felt with her boy. It wasn't like anything before. Of course - she had no trouble finding guys lusting over her body, and obviously she dabbled in a few relationships before. But none of them had been anything like it was with Billy. None had ever made her feel quite like this -- treasured, safe, adored, and respected. If she'd ever tease someone else like she just did, save for them ever even being in such a position to begin with - on their knees, caring, massaging and listening to her, it would be a sure ticket to being used like a living sex toy.
Such raw, crude desire, the failure to restrain oneself from indulging, these moments were also pleasurable and had a certain charm. But this-this was something she hadn't even known how to ask for before.
By the time Billy had worked his way all the way down, Sina felt herself melting into the couch, the last stubborn bits of stress draining from her muscles. His hands, a little unsure, finally arrived onto her feet, very slowly and meticulously ensuring that Sina could forget about spending the day in high-heels.
"You're gonna spoil me," she murmured, half-teasing, half serious.
"You deserve it," he said, his voice so earnest it made her chest ache.
When he finally let her go, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror across the room -- hair messy, shirt wrinkled, a faint flush across her cheeks. She looked... soft. Relaxed. Beautiful in a way she hadn't seen in herself for a long time.
Before she could think too much about it, Billy grabbed her hand, tugging her gently toward the kitchen. "Come on," he said, practically bouncing on his heels. "I made something for you."
She followed, and her jaw dropped the second she saw the table.
Candles -- a little crooked since they've been burning for a while, dripping wax, but glowing warmly. Plates are set out with a real cloth napkin at each seat. And in the middle, a dish that actually smelled incredible - and something that stunned her. She looked at her boy and back at the dish.
"Is it... Is that really..?" She asked, dumbfounded. Without hesitation, she came closer to the table, taking a look at the dish. "How did you even know that?"
Billy smiled sheepishly. "You mentioned it once. We played that quiz game, twenty questions or something. I thought it would be nice to remember your comfort food."
Sina walked around, taking a look at the prepared sides. "But you got all of it? I don't know if I'd even mention the green beans" She said, pointing to them, roasted with garlic. "Or fettuccine? I'd just say chicken masala or something!" She protested.
"Well... I might have called your sister about that. She was... Pretty amused, but she said she had the recipe and mentioned all that..." He admitted, blushing a little bit.
That did it. Her chest went hot with something tender and fierce. It was so cute and thoughtful, she considered the complexity of the food, all the time he put in preparations, and just couldn't hold back her smile. Yet, she had food to attend to, so she took a breath to clear her mind, turned around to face Billy, and responded.
"I bet. Both that she was amused and that she had it - it's her comfort food too"
"Well, it's not gonna eat itself", he answered, getting the chair for her.
As she jumped into it, greedily looking at the food, she noticed something. "Billy... Where are the forks..?" She asked, chuckling.
The boy looked around, his ears burning bright red. "Whoops... Let me get that for you" He said, embarrassed, running to get the cutlery.
Soon enough, they were both seated and able to enjoy themselves. Sina was getting the bulk of enjoyment purely from the food being tasty. Billy, on the other hand, kept sneaking glances at her across the table, like he couldn't believe she was really there. She caught him once, mid-stare, and cocked an eyebrow.
"Something on my face?" she teased.
He flushed but didn't look away. "You're just... really beautiful."
The way he said it -- like it was a fact, not a line -- made her cheeks burn redder than the wine she was sipping.
They talked, easy and unhurried, about nothing and everything. Billy asked general, easy questions - about her favourite scenes to shoot, which director she admired most, whether she'd ever want to try writing her own screenplay. He was interested -- not just in what she did, but in what she thought, what she dreamed about.
She found herself, like many other times around him, opening up without even meaning to, laughing, telling stories she hadn't thought about in years. Getting excited about past times and once yet to come, making big plans she never really expected to fulfil.
No one before could make her feel like this, this effortlessly - so confident, trusting.
By the time the plates were empty and the candles were burning low, Sina felt something wild and tender blooming in her chest -- something that had nothing to do with the wine. The feeling of deep gratitude, not just for a great dinner and a fantastic talk, but also for letting her forget all the downs of her job - both short-term ones, like physical pain from uncomfortable positions held for hours or anger at a fellow actress, and long-term ones, like burnout and never ending impostor syndrome.
She set her glass down carefully and leaned back in her chair, watching him fidget with the hem of his sleeves, still stealing glances at her like he couldn't help himself.
God, she loved him. Loved his heart, loved the way he cared, loved the way he tried so damn hard.
Without really thinking about it, Sina stood up and rounded the table, stopping behind him. Billy looked up, startled, his chair creaking as he twisted to face her.
"You did so, so good, baby," she murmured, threading her fingers through his hair. It was soft and slightly mussed from his nervous fiddling, and it made her heart ache all over again.
