All right, Lina, enough with the torture.I take his hand and pull him back down.
“Because I put on some weight and it doesn’t fit anymore. Because I took your advice and started taking care of myself. Eating three well-rounded meals a day. Plus snacks.”
He looks down to where our hands are clasped together, then he meets my eyes again. There’s a question in his.
I sigh dramatically, then swing my leg over his lap to straddle him.
His hands land directly on my ass.
I grin.
His smile is slower to spread across his face as he comes to understand.
“I want to kiss you, but I’m going to wait for your consent,” I tell him.
He’s beaming now. I trace the well-worn lines in the corners of his eyes, at the corners of his mouth.
“Use your words,” I whisper.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what? I want to hear you b?—”
He yanks me down by the hair at the base of my scalp and seals his mouth to mine.
I’m home. This is home. I am complete. The last thing I let in, to take care ofme.
This is Lina. Not Real Life Lina, New and Improved Real Life Lina, just Lina.
My legs around his hips, his arms around my torso.
His tongue, my mouth.
My heart, his hands.
We’re both greedy, now. We’re both selfish. We both take what we want and need and deserve.
I pull away when I realize Frankie and Mai are downstairs waiting for us and I’m grinding him into the couch. We slowly come back to ourselves. I look around. I realize I’m completely topless. His pants are unbuttoned and unzipped. Somehow, his dick is out. We both look dazed and a little confused.
“There’s one more lesson learned,” I tell him breathlessly.
“What’s that?”
“Our family may be small, but we’re big love.”
He kisses every part of my mouth. North, south, east, west. “I didn’t just learn that. I’ve known that all along.”
“I love you,” I inform him. “Both of you.”
“I love you, too. We both do.”
* * *
“Do I have you to thank for pulling his head out of his ass?” Mai asks Gloria.
Gloria grins, her arm wrapped around my waist, mine draped over her shoulders. “And Frankie.”
Frankie kicks her feet with glee from where she’s perched in Mai’s lap. Mai gently picks shredded carrot out of her hair. “Gracias, mi amor,” she whispers into her ear.
