“And imagine, I’ll only get better with practice.” I skipped across the room to grab his towel, then cleaned us up again.
“You seem happy.” He grinned, scooting over to make room for me. “Like, really happy.”
“I am. And not just from the orgasms.” For once, I wasn’t on alert. I wasn’t as anxious about the push and pull of our dynamic. I snuggled in to spoon him in my T-shirt and undies. “Oh, one thing though, you tugged my hair.”
“Sorry.” He kissed my cheek, then stroked my head. “Next time, you can tie me up if I get too feisty.”
“I don’t have handcuffs. But I do have zip ties,” I realized with excitement.
“Zero, I love you.” He laughed, rolling me into a hug.
“I love you too.” I smiled, traced the slightly damp hair on his chin. His dimples. His lips. We kissed, soft, and I sighed, content.
I still had a lot to learn about love. And intimacy. And all that.
Maybe, in some weird part of the internet, there was safe, happy, sensual porn I could watch with him to learn, to understand, to figure out what to even ask. But the nice thing was, I knew we could figure this out together.
Epilogue: Zooming Ahead
Despite everything working out with Sal, my disaster-by-proximity curse wasn’t fully broken. A few weeks later, the neighbor kid crashed their mini car into a tree on my property and bawled while delivering a crayon-written apology to my doorstep.
“They skidded out. It’s all the slush out here, lately,” the mom said, holding the kid’s hand. “If only we had some kind of indoor park to drive it. The house is too dangerous.”
“Neighbor’s driveways aren’t exactly a safe alternative,” I said.
The mom slumped. “No, I know. I’m sorry. I can pay for the tree. I know this is a lot to ask, but don’t you fix things?”
I frowned. I fixed computers. Drum kits. My worldview, to some extent. “Not cars,” I said.
“Really? Oh, I was hoping you could fix the wiring. It’s totaled, right now. I’d pay you of course, with the extra for the tree.”
She offered me a staggering amount, probably out of guilt.
“But…you shouldn’t…” I huffed. It was stupid not to take the commission. “I can’t guarantee anything. So no, I can’t fix that particular unit.”
“No, of course not.” She flashed me a weary smile. “Sorry, again.”
“Sorry,” her kid sniffled, staggering off with their mom.
My heart twisted. Poor thing. Even if it was a stupid, dangerous toy, it’d been exciting.
Sal knew how to make kids happy. Well, he could probably make anyone happy, at least for a while. All I knew how to do was build stuff.
My gears turned endlessly, and I ended up brainstorming with my boyfriend that night. I drafted a safe version of a people-mover. He suggested covering the units in cute and badass animals. Batteries could last as long as a carousel ride, maybe a bit beyond. It'd be a decent rental service.
“But where would the indoor track be, an abandoned roller rink?” I sighed. Originally, I’d planned for The Widow animatronic to be picked up by the studio or rented by haunted houses. Maybe it would be, one day. For now, Kat was trying to work out if we could safely mount it to the ceiling of Hot Contra without blocking any sprinklers and smoke detectors.
“What if…we rented the space next to the Workshop?” He squeezed my shoulder and pulled up the mall map on his phone. “We could make a practice track there, an 'obstacle course' with bumpers, and if an adult's driving, they could go into the wider parts of the mall itself in front of our store."
“Wait, ‘we’ could make this? 'Our' store?” I sat up and smiled, my heart whirring almost as much as my brain. Were we about to become business partners?
“Yeah.” He tilted his head, his dimples deepening with a grin. “I know you don’t want to run this business yourself. You could always hire someone else. But I’ve been thinking about expansion. I could rent from you, hire you or something. I’m sure Ash would give a glowing recommendation.” He wagged hisbrows.
I narrowed my eyes and adjusted my glasses. “Are you serious about this? It would be a huge deviation from your main source of income, your whole business model. I’m a high risk.”
“You’re my brilliant girlfriend. I trust you’ll do everything you need to make this safe,” he said.
My chest tightened, though my heart fluttered. Maybe he was too optimistic. I hugged the plans to my chest. “I’m not sure I can do that. It’s your grandfather’s business.”
