Thiago, though—he drove me crazy. He revealed a part of me I hadn’t known existed. And I can’t tell you how liberating it was.
We didn’t just do it once. We didn’t just do it twice. We did itover and over, sometimes slowly, whispering in each other’s ears—profound things, sweet and glittery, sometimes even funny. We did it fast, too, talking dirty, whispering naughty words to each other. We let out everything we’d held back for months.
* * *
I don’t know when I fell asleep, I just know that when I opened my eyes the next morning, the sun was bright and shining through the thin checkered curtains on the windows. I reached out to turn off the alarm on my cell phone and felt someone groaning under me, trying to wake. I looked down to see Thiago’s eyes, Thiago’s smile, the most handsome smile I’d ever seen.
I don’t know how, but I’d fallen asleep on top of him, naked.
I felt myself getting hot with embarrassment, and I pulled away, but he grabbed me in what felt like a jujitsu hold, and I couldn’t escape.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, pressing his nose into my neck and pulling me onto his blazing-hot bare body.
I didn’t answer, I just kissed his neck, wondering if I would be able to keep enjoying this incredible experience or if the day would bring me back to my problems.
My phone dinged and dinged as messages came in. Some of them, I knew, would be from my mother.
“I need to go home,” I said, but Thiago gripped me tight.
“Thisis your home,” he said as I struggled to reach to my phone.
“Calling this a home is a bit of an exaggeration, no?” I quipped. I loved the way he just shrugged. Appearances didn’t matter to Thiago. He didn’t care what other people thought.
“You make it feel like an oasis,” he replied, kissing me on the tip of my nose.
“I was kidding,” I told him, “I love it here.” I reached up andstroked his hair. I’d wanted to do that so many times. Finally, I could.
“Who’d have thought?” Thiago said, musing to himself. “Compared to your house, I mean…”
Smirking, I said, “Yeah, like your mom’s place is a shack.”
He laughed. “You know your house is the fanciest one in the neighborhood. Everyone else is just trying to keep up.”
“I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job,” I said. “Speaking of, doesn’t it scare you, being out here alone?” I wouldn’t have lasted a second sleeping out there by myself.
“What would I be scared of? Wolves?”
Terrified, looking out the window, I asked, “Are there wolves out here?”
“We’re on the edge of a forest. It’s not likely they’d come close to us, but yeah, there are wolves.” He stopped talking and nibbled on my ear.
“Do you really think a wild animal could come after us?” I asked, returning to the subject.
“The only animals I’m worried about are human beings,” he said, standing up and leaving me there, naked and cold.
“You know this conversation is scaring the shit out of me?”
He grinned and took a frying pan out from a small drawer under the sink. “If you’re with me, nothing bad will happen to you, I promise you that. Now, are you in the mood for pancakes?”
I nodded, feeling around in the sheets for my underwear and bra and put them on, not wanting to walk around naked.
Suddenly something soft hit me on the head. I lifted it off and saw it was one of his T-shirts.
“Throw that on,” he said, and as I did, I felt like a fan at a concert when the singer touches their hand. Was I that hung up on him? He looked at me with lust in his eyes, grinned, and said, “It looks good on you.”
“And you look good without it,” I told him, gawking at his abs and chiseled body.
“Yeah?” he said, taking out the ingredients for the batter.
