“Wow.”
She poked his chest with her finger. “What else was on it?”
“Tell me one of your things, first.”
She thought about it. Something on her x-rated wish list. “I’ve never been skinny dipping. And if there was a way to safely have sex in public, but not actually risk violating someone else’s right to not see me have sex…” She laughed. “That kind of ruins it as a point on the list, but I can’t help it.”
He tangled his fingers in her hair and gave a gentle tug. “Never apologize for being thoughtful.”
“It wasn’t an apology,” she pointed out, sticking out her tongue. “There, I gave you two.”
“You’ve never been skinny dipping?”
“Nope.”
“The lake’s too cold now, but if you’re still speaking to me next summer…” He trailed off.
She bit her lip. Next summer was a long way off.
“Never mind,” he said.
“No.” She pushed herself up to sit. “It’s okay. Should we talk about…whatever this is? I mean, are we…are you…do you…”
He joined her in sitting, and set his hands on her upper arms. “I’m good. I’m happy just being with you. But if you want to talk about…”
She laughed. “Neither of us can say the sentence out loud. That’s probably a sign that we’re both focused on the here and now, right?”
“Right.”
“Can we make a deal?” She straightened her spine and tried her best to look serious, and not nervous, but they were both naked and they’d tripped into a Relationship Talk far too soon into their fling. “I want to know more about your Great Bachelor Plan, and I think we can talk about my wish list, too, and we agree that everything could happen on a hypothetical timeline separate from however long we’re sleeping together.”
He held out his hand. “Deal.”
She slid her fingers over his and shook. “Skinny dipping next summer. That’s my share.”
“I’ve never unplugged for an entire weekend. No pager, no phone, no kid responsibilities. Maybe camping or a trip to the city, but phoneoff.”
His was so wholesome compared to hers. And also something he should have been able to have already. “You’ve never done that?”
“No. Time away from Becca was time for work.”
“Vacation?”
“Becca time.”
“Oh, wow.” She pumped her arm. “Let’s make that happen for you. What else?”
He grinned. “I want to smoke a joint.”
She giggled. “Good. I was worried your list was too wholesome for me to handle.”
“Have you ever?”
“Oh yeah. College. Whew. But not in many years.” She thought about her list. “All of mine are variations on the exhibitionism theme. I want to record myself having sex, but I don’t want that video out there, ever. You know?”
He nodded solemnly. “Masks.”
“What?”
