“And he did once pepper spray Roy to protect you!”

“Okay, so we’re gonna give the guy who shot up the office a free pass just because he’s less violent than the goon you were engaged to?”

“Roy was a lot smarter than Katy though...”

“Okay, how did this become about that?"

--

He started it. 

That’s how it became about that. Because he started it. 

There were a lot of late nights spent talking in the beginning. It was nothing like the “long talks” that Karen used to put him through--first of all, those were with Karen, and unbeknownst to her, those conversations were usually over before they started. Secondly, he and Pam had a lot to work through, a lot of unspoken air between them, things that really just needed to be said before they could finally be at peace. In all of the nights that they’d spent laying awake in the beginning, Katy had come up exactly twice. Once when it was her turn to ask the questions; the rules they’d put in place said no backing out of answering, and one-hundred-percent honesty no matter how awful or painful it felt. So she’d asked him if he had dated Katy to make her jealous. He said yes. She wiggled her head in a little victory move and put the matter to bed. After, of course, dragging him to bed. The second time Katy was brought up was one night later on down the road when it was her turn to pick the movie and Pam had chosen Legally Blonde. He rolled his eyes. She made one quip--”Hey babe, did Katy ever straddle you and ask ‘What? Like it’s hard?’ before you two--”--and he had kissed the rest of the sentence off her lips before the first scene was over. 

Katy wasn’t the problem. Katy had never really been a problem between them. Sure, it was Katy who had made her realize early on that there were jealous feelings, that when Jim was with someone else it just felt wrong. But Katy was there one minute and gone the next. A blip on the radar. If anything, she was the reason that Pam really got to thinking about what she truly felt for Jim in the first place. She was a catalyst. But she wasn’t the problem. It was Roy and Karen that they really had to hash out and move past. Roy and Karen who they talked about, argued through, shed tears over. Katy was the afterthought. Why then, was she following them home tonight?

It was like a bug up her ass, the insistence that she should keep poking at her husband about her. So when they got home, she handed him her purse to bring inside while she unbuckled Cece from her carseat, tossing a sarcastic, “Sorry it isn’t a Katy original,” over her shoulder as she did. And when she was making dinner, he retorted, in a weird and terribly drawn out and totally misplaced southern accent, “Hey Pammy, we havin’ wings tonight?” before forcing a belch.

While he fed Cece dinner and got her to swallow down the last of the jar of carrots without complaint, and he turned to her looking for some acknowledgement, she clapped her hands together and cheered, “A-W-E, S-O-M-E.” He rolled his eyes.

After he washed the dinner dishes, he left her alone in the kitchen to dry, where usually, he stayed to either help or chat with her. Once he had his butt settled in the couch with Cece on his lap, he yelled, “Hey Pammy, bring me beer on your way in, will ya?”

She did, but it was one of hers (he hated hard ciders and said they were girly) and she didn’t open it for him. She left the bottle opener in the kitchen and raised a brow in challenge as he lifted himself off the couch. He stood, his scowl deepening as he purposely moved Cece to the hip away from Pam and brought her with him to the kitchen in retaliation.

There were several other little jabs throughout the night. A couple of hair flips and obnoxious, high-pitched laughs from her. He stuck his finger deep into his belly button at one point and she had to turn away (because not only was it gross, but he was spot on in that particular Roy impersonation). But the one that stung her the most was, “Yeah, Pam. Katy was everything you’re not.” 

They always did bedtime with Cece together. But after, Jim retreated to their room and Pam disappeared downstairs without a word. 

He changed, slipping on a pair of basketball shorts and an old t-shirt in favor of the suit and tie he had yet to fully take off (his jacket was somewhere downstairs and he’d probably find it there tomorrow to throw right back over his shoulder on his way out the door). Then, he made his way into their en-suite bathroom to scrub some water over his face. He was annoyed with his wife. There was truly no reason to be rehashing their past right now. No goddamn reason. Slapping a hand towel over his face, he sighed loudly, hoping that she had her shit figured out by the time he got downstairs. But when he rounded the doorway to the living room, she was spread out on the sectional part of their sofa, the DVD remote in her hand.

“Here, babe, look: it’s your girlfriend’s favorite movie.”

She cocked her brow slyly as she pressed play on the DVD menu.

“Okay, seriously. What the fuck?” he exclaimed loudly, spreading his arms in surrender and frustration, his brows coming together in the middle. She could tell in the dark color and hardness of his eyes that he was genuinely agitated. He didn’t typically talk to her like this. They generally didn’t curse at one another unless they were between the sheets, and then, it was a completely different story. She tensed, sitting up on the couch.

“I don’t--”

“Don’t, Pam. What is going on?”

“Why is this my fault?” she challenged, crossing her arms. “You started it.”

“I started it? Oh come on.”

“You did!” She raised her voice, her eyes widening as she stood to plead her case. “You brought up Roy. I wouldn’t have brought up Katy if you hadn’t brought up Roy.”

He paused, considering the truth he’d just been slapped with. 

“Okay well...you…”

“Be. Ag. Gre. Sive. Be. More. Ag. Gre. Sive, Jim!” she clapped, edging towards him inch by inch, the kindling in her eyes burning. But as soon as he crossed the room with his fists at his sides and a hard intensity in his eyes, her own fire was snuffed out immediately.

“Do you want me to be more aggressive? Seriously?” He tilted his head incredulously. “Do you actually want me to be more aggressive?”

Shaking his head, he blew out a breath.

“I mean, Pam, I thought that you left Roy because he was too aggressive, but fuck it. I’ll give it a shot if that’s what you really want.”

When he crossed the remaining distance and grabbed her wrists gently to hold her arms between them, she wanted to swallow her words. She did swallow, genuinely unaware of the direction in which this was headed. 

“Do you want me to stand here and tell you how much I hate that you’re bringing Katy up all of a sudden? Because I really fucking do.”

His voice had lowered to an octave that reminded her of dark chocolate and whiskey; the grip that he had on her wrists as he tugged her closer was making her body warm.

“I dated Katy because I couldn’t have you, Pam. She was nothing. Nothing. Do you understand me?”

He didn’t give her enough time to nod or acknowledge. He just pressed on, pressing their bodies even closer together as he invaded her space and backed her up against the wall. 

“Katy is everything you’re not, Pam. She’s peppy and loud. She has no ambitions. She’s fake. And you’re right. She’s fucking stupid.”

It hit her like a freight train then, the one trait that she and Katy had in common. Jim had called Katy stupid to exploit their differences, but now she felt like the biggest idiot in the room of two. Despite the fact that he had started the argument. Had she stayed in the room earlier after he’d made the jab for the first time, had she not stormed out in a huff, she probably would’ve noticed his sarcastic tone and the roll of his eyes.

“But you started it--”

“I know I fucking started it,” he breathed, holding onto her tighter as he bowed their foreheads together. “I fucking hate that guy. And when you tried to tell me that he saved my life, I felt the need to remind you that the only way he saved my life was by not marrying you.”

This whole Jim-saying-fuck-a-lot thing was kind of making her body buzz. The way that his large hands were now cupping the sides of her head, cradling her to him as he breathed in her air with his heavy pants. His words, his actions, the press of his fingers was as territorial as they came. But she craved it. God, did she want more of it.

“So I don’t know what the fuck kind of games we’re playing tonight, but you are my wife. There is no Roy here, and there sure as hell isn’t a Katy here, is there?”

She shook her head against his, gripping onto his forearms as he pressed his body flush against her.

“Didn’t think so.”

He pressed their lips together in a bruising kiss as he lifted her against the wall on her tiptoes. Biting her bottom lip enough to elicit a gasp, he slid his tongue past her lips and tangled it around hers. Gripping her thigh in his hand, he hitched it up on his hip and pushed his thigh between her legs forcefully, rubbing his knee directly against her clit. As she tried to lace her fingers through his hair, he took her hands and pinned them to the wall above her head. 

He kissed her cheek, her ear, then lined her jaw with his lips until his tongue took over and traced down to the base of her throat. She writhed against him, her body seeking friction. With his free hand on her hip, he held her steady, setting a quick rhythm for his knee between her legs as he sucked and nipped at her pulse, letting her little cries of Oh god, Jim paint the walls of their living room. As soon as he felt her nearing her climax, he pressed his thigh between her legs and rubbed against her wildly. Her wrists fought against his grip, but he held her there, grunting as she wrapped her leg more tightly against his hip. As she burst, her body bowed into him, her back arching against the wall as her head tilted towards the ceiling. Coming down, she had just enough time to bury her face in the crook of his neck before he released her hands and picked her up, wrapping both thighs around him as he carried her to the couch and deposited her onto the sectional.

She scooted back  immediately in an attempt to give him space to spread out on top of her, but he grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her so that she was sitting at the edge of the couch instead. Running his hands up her legs roughly from her ankles to her thighs, he quickly found the zip to her skirt and pulled it and her panties down forcefully, leaving them on the ground as he spread her with his hands up the insides of her thighs. His lips followed his fingers, nipping up her thighs until he met her dripping center. She tented her knees, begging him in breathy little whispers. But he stopped, peering up at her with a wolfish grin from between her legs.

“You think anyone else could make me feel this way, Pam? Do you really think I want this with anyone else?”

He ghosted his lips against her in a chaste kiss, enough to make her sigh and arch her back and press her fist to her lips.

“Look at me, Pam,” he demanded, his voice thick with want. “I want you to watch how much I love making you come.”

He was torturously slow, his lips barely there as he peppered the length of her opening with soft kisses. She was putty in his hands, her breathing quick, erratic, her hands unable to find stable purchase. He laced his fingers into hers, squeezing her hands as his lips continued their assault. As soon as he switched lips for a stiff tongue, teasing the tip along her opening, a sharp Oh bit the air, and as her back arched and her head turned sideways and her hands pierced his with a squeeze, he rewarded her with his lips pursed around her clit. Her toes curled, knees tenting inward to a point where she was almost smushing his ears. 

Pushing her legs apart, he kissed his way up her body, pausing to rid her of her shirt, to unclasp her bra and free her breasts that bounced right into his hands. Squeezing the mounds in his hands, he kissed the space between them before sucking one taut nipple between his lips. Her legs wrapped around him, her fingers twining in his hair as she held him to her, arching right into his waiting mouth. He switched to her other breast, licking in teasing circles around her nipple until she was begging him breathily in short strings of Please, Jim, god, fuck. When he gave in, he dropped his body fully atop hers, rubbing the length of his erection along her so that she could feel every inch of him pressing against her. Her hands spanned his back, gripping and greedy, sneaking under the waistband of his shorts to grab his ass and encourage him to speed up. But he pulled away, standing on his knees in protest to the way her body bowed towards his absence and the way that she mewled and her glassy eyes widened. 

He peeled his shirt off first, then his shorts, stepping out of them to reveal his thick cock standing on edge. Wrapping his fist around himself, he smiled slyly down at her and bent to cup her cheek, catching her lip on the edge of his thumb. 

“God, do you see what you do to me?” he growled, his voice thick with want as she pursed her lips around his thumb. “That’s all you. Your beauty, your intelligence. Your ambition. The way that you’re writhing around on the couch for me right now is definitely helping.”

He collapsed on top of her, caging his arms around her head as he rubbed the head of his cock against her opening and nuzzled her nose. It was a slow burn, the way their parted lips chased each other without ever really touching, sharing breaths and swallowing one another’s gasps as he teased her with the slow thrusts of his cock along her skin and his never quite there lips. Her nails bit into his forearms, but he pulled his lips back each time she’d get too close, enjoying the chase too much. 

“Jim, baby, please,” she whined, only loud enough for him to hear as he pulled his lips just out of reach. She bowed her hips against his, mewling as he brushed against her swollen clit. As she turned her head, he traced his nose along her jaw, pressing a soft kiss to her chin as she turned back to face him.

“Do you believe me now?” Tilting her head, she eyed him in parts question and parts I’ll agree that the goddamn sky is purple if let me touch you. “This is all I’ve wanted. My whole life, Pam. No one else will ever compare to you being in my arms, wanting me like this. Do you understand that?”

“Yes,” she breathed, lacing one hand through his hair and spreading the other against the span of his back before she gripped his ass in her palm “Yes, baby, god I love you so much, just please…”

He lifted himself enough to slip his cock into his hand, teasing the head against her clit as she cried out Oh fuck, please Jim.

“What do you want, Pam?”

“You. Inside me. Fucking me,” she pleaded, squeezing his skin wherever she could find purchase. “I love you--”

“I love you so much,” he growled before plunging into her in one hard thrust.

They swallowed one another’s moans as he wrapped one of her thighs high onto his hip and drilled into her at a rapid pace. He’d already worked her up quite enough and he knew it wouldn’t be long before she was coming again. But as his skin slapped against hers, as she threw back her head and tossed her arm across her eyes, as he watched her tits bounce with every thrust and every whine, he needed more.

She was up on her feet in two seconds flat, her ass in his hand as he walked her backwards, kissing her sloppily, their tongues tangled by the time he had her backed up to the arm of the couch. 

“You said you wanted me to be more aggressive, right?” he asked, cocking a brow before bending to bite the skin of her shoulder. He turned her around, pressing on her back to bend her over. She murmured Fuck, sticking her ass up for him. “God you’re fucking perfect,” he groaned, palming her ass cheeks and squeezing them hard. 

“Spread your legs wider for me.” His voice was thick with desire, and Pam whined as she obliged, spreading her legs for him. “That’s my good girl.”

Palming himself in one hand, he slid the other up and down her bare back to tangle in her curls as he nudged her clit with the head of his penis. She jerked back into him immediately and he bit his lip, knowing that she was still on the edge of the orgasm he’d been building her to.

“You drive me fucking wild, Beesly.”

But as she adjusted her forearms on the couch, he stood. Reaching for her hand, he guided it to her dripping center and placed her fingers on her clit.

“Play with yourself, baby.” He knelt and kissed her fingers from behind, tasting her with his tongue before he squeezed her ass. “I’ll be right back.”

She turned, her eyes wild with lust, her face completely flushed. 

“Where are you going?”

“I’m getting you a pillow.”

“Just take me to bed then,” she whined, her fingers still lazily circling her clit. 

He shook his head. “I want you like this. You have no idea how much I want you like this right now.”

She nodded, thrusting against her own fingers as he raced against time to grab her pillow from their bed before power sliding right back to the couch. She was bowing into her fingers, making delicious little squeaking sounds that had him ready to come on her instead of in her. He slid the pillow between her hips and the arm of the couch, then  tugged her fingers away, sucking each one between his lips before nudging her pussy again. Grabbing her hip, he guided himself to her wet heat and inched slowly into her until he was up to the hilt. She squirmed, moaning as he bottomed out and held himself there.

“You good?”

“So good. You’re so deep, baby.” 

She backed her ass against his hips, swirling them in a little circle, and it was all over. 

He pulled out, slamming all the way back into her in one hard thrust before he started a slow rhythm, pulling out all the way and then feeding all of his dick right back into her. He groaned, throwing his head back as he gripped her hips. When she started meeting him thrust for thrust, he quickened his pace, the sounds of his hips slapping against her ass only second to the little cries she was trying so hard to hide.

“You feel so good on my cock,” he groaned, reaching between them to flick her clit, to feel her muscles pulse around him again. 

“Harder Jim,” she begged. “Fuck me harder.”

He obliged, more than willing. His balls were heavy and slapping against her ass. Every thrust made her cry out his name or fuck or shit. 

“I’m gonna come, Jim. I'm gonna come so hard, don’t fucking stop. Oh shit.”

When she started panting that she was going to come, he grabbed her mound in his hand, rubbing her clit with the heel as he teased her slit where he was still driving into her wildly. 

“Right there, right there, oh fuck,” she cried, bowing her back and meeting him thrust for thrust. 

He saw white as her walls milked him and she came all over his cock. Gripping her hips, he slammed into her, “Gonna come so hard Pam, fuck,” meeting each thrust as he shot into her in long, hard strokes.

He collapsed on top of her, resting his cheek between her shoulder blades for a moment as they both caught their breath. Once he could stand, he pulled out of her and slid his arms underneath her to carry her to bed. She was nuzzled against his chest, and they spoke more with touch than with words, leaving little fires in their wake as she traced the lines in his chest and he nuzzled his nose along her cheek, her ear, the side of her head.

“She’s the reason I finally realized I was jealous of you being with other women, you know.”

“Hmm?”

She focused on the letters that she was tracing into his skin with her fingertips instead of his eyes.

“Katy.” The name tasted like a curse on her tongue, but she retreated to their old rules: one-hundred-percent honesty no matter how awful or painful it felt. For a moment, they were in her old apartment, and their ring fingers were bare. “I didn’t really know why...I didn’t really get it, but...when I saw her with you, I was jealous that someone else got to know you in a way that I didn’t. I never told you.”

He kissed her forehead and held her tighter.

“Thank you for telling me.” They went back to touch-talking for a little while longer before he said, “I’m sorry I brought up Roy. It was...I don’t know, Pam. He shouldn’t still bug me. But when you…”

Retreating into his own thoughts, he recalled their conversation from earlier. 

“And he did once pepper spray Roy to protect you!”

“Okay, so we’re gonna give the guy who shot up the office a free pass just because he’s less violent than the goon you were engaged to?”

“Roy was a lot smarter than Katy though...”

“Okay, how did this become about that?"

“Hey, wait a minute.” He started to sit up, a smug grin spinning in his cheeks. When she joined him, the bashful blush in her cheeks said she knew it, too. “Oh my god, Beesly! You started it!”

She tried to hide in his armpit but as laughter filled their bedroom, he peeled her away, tucking his fingers under her chin to make her see that he wasn’t mad. But she was biting back a grin, too.

“Dude,” he chuckled with a wide grin. “Apologize!”

He shook her jokingly by the shoulders before bear hugging her to his chest, laughing as he kissed her hair and she peppered his chest with equal parts kisses and Sorry’s.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you.” She batted her eyelashes, her hand inching dangerously low, her fingers finally tangling in the line of hair that connected his belly button to beyond.

“Oh, is that so?” he grinned, doing his best to bite back a groan when she found him already warm in her fist.

Her lips curled into a Cheshire grin, and as she straddled his calves and lowered her mouth to his burgeoning erection she whispered, “What? Like it’s hard?”