I hope he doesn’t try to shut down what we shared, and judging by the way he smirks at my teasing, wincing slightly, his gaze drifting across my body like he can’t help himself, I’m hopeful that he’s as eager for more as Iam.
“You want to head down the boardwalk?” he asks. “Grab some lunch? There’s a place that has some really greatfajitas.”
“I haven’t found a place yet that has badfajitas.”
Eric smiles. “Trust me. These areamazing.”
“That works forme.”
We return our boards to the rental shop before heading to the Malecón and walking side byside.
He’s quiet for a minute before he blurts out, “So what’s yourstory?”
“What?”
“No, I just… I was kind of rambling about my life earlier, but you haven’t said much aboutyours.”
“You wanna know about my life now? I just figured you were gonna hit it and quit it, so I didn’t see thepoint.”
I’m just giving Eric a hard time, but as soon as the words come out of my mouth, he stops and takes me by the arm. I turn to him. His expression is so stern, his brow furrowed. “You don’t think that’s what I was doing, do you? I don’thit it and quitit.”
The way he says it, it almost sounds more like a threat than astatement.
“I’m not saying I’m expecting anything from you,” he adds. “But I don’t want you to feel like I was taking advantage of you. Or that I don’t respectyou.”
“I wasn’t thinkingthat.”
I’m surprised by how intense he is about this. He looks at his hand, how he’s gripping my arm. It’s not hard. There’s something about it that feels almost…affectionate. Like the way he kissed me after we came in his bedtogether.
Eric blinks twice and shakes his head, as though he’s pulling himself out of whatever state he was in. He releases my arm. “Good. I want you to know that. And I don’t want you to feel like I don’t want to get to know who you are as a person outside of fucking around. Not like in a weird way or in a we-have-to-pretend-this-is-more-than-it-is way, but I just…” He stops himself. “I don’t really have a way of saying any of this without it sounding weird, doI?”
I can’t help but release a big-ass laugh. “I’m sorry, you just made it superawkward.”
He smiles, like he enjoys how amused I am by how he just put his foot in hismouth.
“I guess I did, but Imean—”
“I know what you mean, Eric, and it’s nice. I promise, I wasn’t laughing at that part. It’s kind of a strange situation we’re in, you have toadmit.”
“That’s for sure,” hesays.
I start walking again. “And it’s been weird as fuck for me because I don’t normally do stuff likethis.”
“Likewhat?”
“I told you. I don’t hook up with people. I’m not virginal oranything…”
“I’d have never accused you ofthat.”
“I’m just not like some of the other guys my age. And so most of my experimenting happened in relationships, with people Itrusted.”
“And that makes all of thisweird?”
“Yes, but in a good way. What we did today was a lot of fun, and I’m hoping not the last thing we do together. I figure we kind of threw the whole, this-is-wrong-we-shouldn’t-do-it thing out thewindow.”
“Seems likeit.”
“How do you feel aboutthat?”
