Not now, anyway.The people who mattered most deserved to hear it directly from her.Tish already knew, but there was someone else she wanted to tell now.
****
Spencer left his apartmenton a rare full day off.He’d gotten a workout in in the morning and had just finished laundry.He should head to the grocery store...and then what?How had his job taken over his life to the extent that he didn’t know what to do on breaks anymore?He didn’t know but was sure he’d rather be preoccupied with other people’s workouts than see spreadsheets behind his lids every time he closed his eyes.
“Spencer!”The voice came from halfway down the block.Misty’s hair flew behind her as she ran toward him, and the sun turned her into a full-on redhead.He rushed to meet her, dodging a man with a stroller.He felt bad for a moment, but it faded when he registered that it was filled with grocery bags and there was no sign of a baby.
“What’s going on?”he asked once they were face to face.Up close, he could see how bright her eyes were and how high her color was.
“I got in!”she said, flinging her arms around him.
“Congratulations!”His own excitement ticked up almost as if he’d gotten into the combine himself.He hugged her back and spun her around.
She let out a happy shriek before leaning into him again.“And it’s thanks to you!”
He pulled back slightly.“Are you kidding?You worked your ass off, trained so hard, and probably met every requirement they had and then some.”
“And I could do all that because you got me strong enough.”
She squeezed him extra-hard as if to prove her point.Spencer laughed with pleasure and tightened his grip too.She squealed as she pressed herself closer, and he leaned in further.She was back in sneakers, which put them close to the same height and let her laughter ring in his ear.
As he became more aware of how close they were, the humor of the moment faded.Misty’s smile faded too as she looked him directly in the eye.He’d stood close to her any number of times in the gym, but hadn’t noticed that freckle under her right eye.She tilted her head, he leaned forward, and he couldn’t have said who kissed whom first.He lost all awareness of anything but the softness of her lips and the warmth of her mouth.Some small part of him registered the taste of coconut, but it soon got subsumed in the taste ofher.
All too soon, and yet after an eternity, they pulled apart.For a moment, they simply looked at each other.“I—”
Misty’s eyes were wide, her lips were slightly parted, and she looked as stunned as Spencer felt.But for all that, he didn’t see a trace of regret on her face.Because of that, he leaned in and covered her mouth with his again.She met it, and the one kiss became two, three...too many to count as their mouths met again and again.All the while, he couldn’t decide whether to feel euphoric at what he was experiencing or desperate to take things further.
****
It was amazing howthings could change in the blink of an eye.Twelve hours ago, Misty had been waiting on tenterhooks to hear whether she’d gotten into the combine or not.Now she was on her way and kissing Spencer.Holding and being held by him after that dinner had given her a taste; well, now she was getting the whole meal and couldn’t get enough of it.She basked in the feeling of his hard chest against hers and his muscled arms around her.Spencer probably hadn’t changed his herbal body wash or deodorant since she’d seen him last, and yet the fresh scent seemed to take a deeper undertone this close.Stubble scraped against her lips, and his were slightly rougher than her own, but it only heightened the sensations.
She sighed and parted her lips wider.Spencer seemed to take that as an invitation, because his tongue traced the edges of her lips in a way that sent a thrill through her.She brought hers to meet it, and the touch went straight to her center.It was all she could do to keep from rubbing against him for relief, but somehow she didn’t think he’d object.The pressure against her groin was proof of that.
“Get a room, you two!”Misty didn’t even see the speaker, who’d walked on before they were startled apart.
Not too far apart, though.Spencer’s hands were still on her back, and his lips brushed her ear as he asked, “Where can we go?”
He punctuated the sentence with a nip to her earlobe that sent a shiver through her.A passing taxi inspired her.“I’m down the block, and my roommate should have left for the airport by now.”
“Thank God.”
It took a few false starts, but eventually they rushed down the street to Misty’s building.They held it together in the lobby, nodding pleasantly at a passing neighbor.In the elevator, it was a different story.No one else had gotten on with them, which freed them up to rediscover each other.He wrapped a hand in her hair, and she wrapped an ankle around his leg to pull herself closer.
“Are there security cameras in here?”he asked, leaning back to glance around.
“I really don’t care.”She pulled him close and pressed into his erection.He buried his face in her neck.
Misty’s building had probably been state-of-the-art when it went up in the sixties but was downright shabby compared to the fancy new buildings that had gone up to the west.That came through in the lackluster gym and snail-slow elevator.Misty found herself cursing it for the obvious reasons, and yet rejoicing in it for allowing more time for foreplay.But before they could get into it, the doors opened on the fourteenth floor.
After a few tries with her shaking hands, she unlocked her door.The lights were off, the privacy screens in the living room were set up in their usual partitions, and Misty couldn’t have been more relieved.
At the same time, apprehension snuck in.Normally, she would have said something to put her guest at ease, but she didn’t want to break whatever spell had been cast on the sidewalk.And yet, what if it was already broken in the short walk down the hall?
She turned to face Spencer.“Do you still...”
His expression was neutral, but his eyes blazed.“More than you know.”
That was all she needed to turn back to him.Up here, they were freer to let their hands wander and to press against each other.She reached under his t-shirt to feel his bare skin and muscled back under her hands, then pulled back to admire what that swim shirt had hinted at.He went under her shirt to pull it over her head, and then unhooked her bra.All the while, they were backing toward her room, starting to reach below the waist, and grinding into each other in a simulation of sex that didn’t feel too far off from the real thing.
