“You’ll go easy on me right?”
“I’ll be gentle, and we’ll go slow. If you don’t like it, we’ll stop.”
“It’s an erogenous zone.” I’d learned about erogenous zones from the magazine Teresa had showed me in Atlanta. Talk about informative!
“Lots of nerve endings there, and you know about your prostate right?”
“Yeah, I read about that too.”
“You have any other erogenous zones you want to show me?”
I pointed to the back of my neck where he’d already bitten me. He sucked a little more, and I trembled despite the heat. Then he licked along the column of my throat and nibbled on the fleshy part of my ear. I placed one of his hands on my nipple and he pinched. My dick throbbed and my balls ached so bad. “The other one too,” I said, so he used both hands to twist and tug on my sensitive nubs until they were tender and puffy. I raised one arm and let it fall behind his head, and when his nose traced along my inner arm, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Too ticklish. My head is an erogenous zone. Will you wash my hair?”
“I’d love to, babe. Sit up and tilt your head back.”
He wet my hair by pouring warm water over me from a cup. I purred as his nimble fingers dug into my curls and massaged my scalp. This must be what it felt like to swim in the ocean, floating weightless in warm waters, being caressed all over by gentle fingers. I groaned, greedy for his touch.
“You like me playing with your hair, don’t you?” he said.
“Yeah, I might like you pulling it too.”
He made a strangled noise at the back of his throat and tugged a little harder. I liked that sensationa lot.
“You know I love you for more than your body?” he said.
“Yeah, I know, but my body is banging too.”
He laughed. “Never lacking in confidence, are you, sweetness?”
“If I was, I’d tell you so you could make me feel better.”
After rinsing, we resumed our previous positions, him in front of me with his back against my chest as we soaked up the waning heat. My dick was still hard, sandwiched between my stomach and the valley of his spine. I wanted to get off, but I wanted this closeness even more.
“So, what do you think of this place?” I asked. I’d been having pleasant flashbacks to that chicken pot pie. The crust was so rich and buttery with a thick savory sauce and bursts of sweetness from the peas and diced carrots.
“The perks are nice. Jury’s still out on the man behind the curtain.”
“Brother Larry?”
“I’m gonna do some recon. See what he’s all about.”
“You don’t trust him?”
He glanced back at me. “I don’t trust anyone, except you and our crew. Brother Larry, despite his good deeds, couldn’t give two shits about us. He just wants a functioning town that’s safe from the Rabids. And I get that. I just want to make sure our goals align.”
“What goal is that?” I asked, feeling a little behind for not knowing already. Cipher was the one with a plan, always.
“Taking care of you, sweetness, and the rest of the Assholes. If we can get on the same page about that, then Promised Land might be a place where we could build a happy home. Live, laugh, love, you know?”
“Yeah.” Being in this house reminded me of what I’d left behind in South Carolina, and I was glad that our crew was together under one roof again. Maybe Cipher could find some peace here, unlike the city. I kissed the nape of his neck and dragged my hands along his scalp. “Now that we’re here, I want you to take better care of yourself,” I told him, something that had been on my mind for a while.
He twisted in my arms to look at me. “What does that mean?”
“Sleep more. Relax. Have some fun. Chronic stress is bad for your immune system and laughter is good for the soul.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“My mother. She always did silly things to make us laugh. One time she was testing pasta to see if it was done cooking. She made the spaghetti noodle like a mustache and talked with an Italian accent.”
