If the third date is the Sex Date, then the fifth is the Blowjob Date. At least that was the wisdom I’d heard.

It had bewildered me at the time that there could be a system as strict as that, where the steps of romance/sex were laid out like instructions. But, of course, it was just some bullshit somebody had made up that had gotten passed on until it sounded like a rule, or at least like something astute.

My romantic life had been anything but neat and orderly. It had been wild and a little chaotic. I’d dated a string of guys and had my fun, but I’d never gotten really serious about any one man.

But that seemed to be changing with Ted. I had met him through work friends. He was a handsome guy with a good build. He was also smart, witty and charming, which turned out to be an even more potent combination of alluring traits.

But we were approaching the fifth date milestone. And the simple fact was that I had never really sucked a guy’s cock.

OK, that’s not quite entirely true. I had taken a man’s cock in my mouth before — twice, in fact — but the results hadn’t been good.

In my first effort, I’d apparently grazed the dude with my teeth. I hadn’t meant to, obviously, but he reacted so negatively that I abandoned my oral effort then and there.

In another later try at that particular sex act, I had encountered my gag reflex with — well, let’s just say an undesirable outcome for us both.

The episodes had made me wary.

It wasn’t like I was averse to the idea of oral sex. I sure wasn’t any kind of prude. It didn’t give me the willies to imagine my mouth riding up and down a hard cock, to suck a man until his jizz let loose across my tongue and down my throat. In fact, that excited the hell out of me. I wanted to know that intimacy. I felt like something of a hypocrite for gleefully accepting a man’s tongue in my pussy, while not reciprocating with a comradely suck-off.

I really wanted to blow Ted. But I needed to prepare myself.

In times of stress, a girl might turn to her trusty dildo. I did just that, in a moment of inspiration.

I held the plastic cock, contemplating what I was about to do. Then I stripped out of my clothes, to get into character as it were. I conjured naked images of Ted, which were enough to get me nicely aroused.

I got onto my bed, on my belly and held the dildo before me, like Ted were lying back and I was hunkered between his athletic legs. I held the sex toy at its base, leaving the shaft exposed. This particular brand was molded to include a realistic cockhead and even squiggly veins lining the shaft.

Certainly, I’d seen enough porn to know how the act was supposed to be done. But I wanted to school myself on the mechanics. So when I set my mouth around the smooth dome of the crown, it was with a determined purpose.

I let my lips seal over the knob, which I then swirled with my tongue. I imagined Ted squirming in response as pleasure skittered intensely through him. I knew how sensitive a man’s cockhead could be, so I gave the dick a good licking but tempered my actions. If this were the real deal, I knew I couldn’t come on too hard, too fast.

I was quickly warming to my exercise. In fact, genuine excitement kindled in me. My pussy went slick, and I rubbed against the mattress beneath me. My nipples stood out, hard and sensitive.

Keeping my lips sealed around the shaft, I started to lower my mouth. I remembered suddenly about suction and applied some, wondering what the right amount would be. I let common sense be my guide. I didn’t suck so hard it would be uncomfortable.

With my cheeks flattened in around the faux cock, I descended further still. My tongue was free to explore the shaft. I strummed at the plastic veins, imagining them throbbing with desire and picturing Ted’s whole manhood twitching in my mouth.

The oral workout made me hotter still. I began grinding my pussy more intensely against the bed, putting my hips into it. Pleasure danced across my bare flesh.

I was halfway down by that point, and I went farther. And that was when my gag reflex gave me my first perilous twinge. I froze. Memories of that earlier incident still had me gun-shy. I became very aware of my throat muscles.

The built-in reflex was there for a reason, to help keep a person from choking. But nothing sinister was happening. I wanted to take this object farther into my throat. I knew full well that reflex could be overcome — all those porn movies couldn’t be wrong!

My determination increased. Ted’s image burned in my mind. He was lying back, groaning and helpless to the extreme pleasure I was giving him.

With a leap of faith, I surged past my gagging pause. The adjustment happened quicker than I could have guessed. Emboldened, I sucked down the rest, right to where I still held the dildo’s base. I felt the cockhead lodged comfortably in my throat.

I could do this! I really could!

Right now, though, I seriously needed to make another use of that dildo. Flipping onto my back and parting my legs, I plunged my reliable pal into my pussy and fucked myself silly. I called out Ted’s name as I came, over and over.

The following night, my fifth date with Ted commenced. We went to a show, then back to his place. The sexual ice had already been broken, of course. I knew how fun he was in bed. That night, though, I had something specific in mind. A treat for him. And for me, too, frankly.

Kissing and groping, we made our way into his bedroom. We undressed each other. The wonder of our naked bodies was still new, and that added to the thrill I already felt. My pussy was damp, and his cock sprang to full hardness.

He went to take my hand, to lead me up onto the bed, as he’d done on my previous visits. Instead, I took his, with some authority. He blinked but smiled. I guided him onto his own bed and gently pushed him onto his back.

Maybe he was thinking I meant to mount him without any preliminaries. He didn’t appear opposed to the notion, his cock still standing ramrod straight. But when I shouldered apart his legs, he looked a little surprised, though pleasantly so. He’d gone down on me the last time we’d been to bed — and a sweet nimble tongue he had, too! But if he’d noticed my lack of reciprocal oral attention, he was way too cool to say anything.

So it must have been a happy surprise as I settled there in the horseshoe of his thighs and calves, with my head hovering over his crotch. There was no mistaking what I intended to do. His legs tightened against my shoulders, and I felt the tautness of his muscles.

I gently cradled my hand around his balls and heard a soft moan escape his lips. I, of course, knew not to squeeze hard, but I gave him some gentle pressure, and his moan trailed away into a low growl.

I gazed intently at his cock — at the flared cap, the veiny length — so much more real, so alive, as compared to the toy I’d used the previous night. Practice was over. This was the real deal!

Slipping my lips over him, I was struck with the enticing texture of him. How smooth he was! But not plastic-like. I felt how alive he was, even with that first brush of my mouth.

I rolled my tongue over his knob, and just as I’d imagined he might, he writhed with the intensity of the pleasure. I flicked my tongue tip through his slit and tasted a salty drop of pre-come.

He might’ve been thinking I was simply priming him, I realized. It was time to convince him of the sincerity of my oral efforts. With my mouth still tight around him, I dropped the ring of my lips onto his shaft.

He bucked underneath me, sucking in a sharp gasp. For an awful second, I thought I’d grazed him with my teeth. But no, I had them tucked neatly behind my upper and lower lips, having earlier worked out that trick.

I drove my mouth downward, slipping my tongue along the crisscrossing veins of his staff. I found I could swirl all the way around him. I dialed up my suction, hopefully adding to his pleasure. When he started to claw at the bed on either side of him, I figured I was doing just that.

I continued my downward plunge. There came the gag reflex. I slowed just enough to deliberately relax my throat. Mentally, I knew I could do it. I just had to convince my body one more time.

I succeeded. His cockhead slid along the back of my tongue and — with another loud groan emanating from him — slipped into my throat. I held him there, with every inch of him swallowed. A tremendous feeling of triumph filled me. It was like I’d accomplished some drastic athletic feat. Only, of course, it was much more than that. I really cared for Ted. I wanted him to enjoy everything.

Slowly, I lifted my head. When I had just his crown once more in my mouth, I plummeted down his shaft again, this time flying right past the gag point. No gagging ensued. I had mastered the skill.

Only then did I let myself fully experience the act. There was his lovely texture, yes, but there was certainly also his masculine flavor. It filled my mouth and coated my tongue. It was a wondrous primal taste.

His responses increased as I bobbed up and down on him. His grunts and groans turned into half-articulated words and sweet vague obscenities, such as “fuck” and “suck.” Every utterance turned me on more, and my pussy streamed.

I sucked him harder and faster, the same way he fucked me with more and more zest when he was bringing me to orgasm and getting ready to unload his jizz.

That, I realized with a delighted start, was what he was about to do. His balls stirred in my hand, and his cock twitched in my mouth. He cried out, “I’m gonna come!” And then he did.

I took every hot spurt and drank them down. Afterward, he said it was the best suck he’d ever had.