“Not at all, just gimme a minute,” Riley replies before tilting her head back and inhaling deeply. Charlotte watches her think, but can’t help admiring her jaw line from this angle. Her eyes follow itdown to her neck, which looks so very, very accessible…
“Okay, I think I’ve got an answer,” Riley says, tearing Charlotte away from her thoughts.
“For me, romance can be found in a lot of things. Sharing love languages, you know; quality time, physical touch, acts of service, those kinds of things. Just making an effort to let the other person know that they’re high on your priority list. But what it’s really about…” She shifts her body on the rock, sucking in the corner of herbottom lip, and continues. “Okay, consider this. When you’re about to have sex with someone, there’s been some buildup and both of you are excited to get into it, it’s pretty normal to take each other’s clothes off, right?”
Charlotte nods, curious to know where this is going.
“This may sound stupid, but… I think it’s weird that, once the sex is over, everyone always puts their own clothes back on. What if you help each other get dressed afterwards?
“It’s like saying: ‘yes, I want to honor our physical connection by having sex with you and that’s why I’m taking your clothes off, but also, once we’re finished, I'm able to acknowledge that it’s been enough and I still like you if we keep going about our day with our clothes back on.’ Judge me for this weird fucking answer, okay, but that feels like romance to me. That feels like… romantic love.”
Riley’s cheeks have visibly started heating up and Charlotte has never seen her this shy before. She even seems to be avoiding eye contact, which is rare for her. The moment lasts, and Charlotte realizes her mouth is open when she feels a gust of cold air hit her teeth.
Yeah, maybe the answer is a little weird. And yeah, even though it’s about sex, it’s not a sexy answer necessarily. But shit, the image of undressing—and redressing—Riley in her mind is weaving itself into her very core until she gets so sensitive that the fabric of her own clothes against her skin is too much. There’s a faint throb between her thighs that sheimmediately suppresses by squeezing them together, but it does nothing to stop the current infatuation from temporarily paralyzing her.
“Satisfied?” Riley eventually asks her. Charlotte’s eyes go wide in shock.
“Wh— what?”
“Are you satisfied with my answer?” she asks, and the considerate furrow of her brows convinces Charlotte to pull her head out of the gutter because that was clearly not what she was implying, until that look turns into a wicked smirk, and she finishes Charlotte off with a wink.
It hits her right between her legs and it takes an enormous amount of effort to not kick Riley in the hip to make her topple over into the water.
“More questions? It’s now or never,” Riley asks, like she hadn't just attempted to murder Charlotte.
“Now or never? Why, are you gonna pretend none of this happened?” Charlotte responds defensively.
“No darling, but I’m leaving for Switzerland on Monday. Remember?”
It hits her like a ton of bricks. She’d forgotten all about that.
“Oh. Yeah. Of course. So... how long will you be gone?” She tries to sound casual and fails miserably.
“Up until the wedding, probably. I think I’ll be flying from Zurich straight to Mexico, instead of flying home first.”
No,no,she isn’t done yet, she has more questions, more things to learn.
“So how are we supposed to continue planning the wedding together, if you’re on the other side of the world, huh?”
“Aren’t we perfectly capable of making phone calls? Texting? I’ll offer myself up to call the hotel if we need to discuss things with them in advance, so there really shouldn’t be an issue,” Riley replies. “Unless… this is not about the wedding, and you’re scared you’ll miss me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Charlotte scoffs, getting up from the rock. “Let’s go.”
“Ha. Got you!” Riley cheers, following her as she tries to find a path up.
“Complete and utter bullshit—”
“Listen up everyone! Charlie is gonna miss me!”
Charlotte scrambles to hike herself up, but her heel slips and catches in a crack between two rocks.
“It’s Charlotte!”
“Sorry,I keep calling you that in my head in hopes you have a cute nickname for me too.Charlotte’sgonna miss me!”
“If you don’t shut up right now—”
“Charlotte’s gonna miss me…” Riley sing-songs, repeating it twice loudly for good measure.
