“That is just scandalous.”
“I know. I can never bring myself to say it.”
“I understand why!”
He laughs, and I marvel at it. The slightly crooked tilt to his smile, one corner of his mouth climbing higher than the other. The barest hint of a shadow growing across his jaw. The indentations on his nose where his glasses were sitting.
I want to reach up and smooth them out, but the gesture seems too…intimate. One reserved for a partner, not a stranger he just met.
But then he lifts the hand that’s holding mine and brings it to his mouth. He brushes his lips against the inside of my wrist, and I melt against him, my hips lining up with his, instinctively returning to an earlier rhythm, one he begins to meet.
“We—” He stops, inhaling sharply. “We don’t have another condom.”
My excitement wanes for a second, then I move to sit again, my legs on either side of his body. Slowly, I slide my way down.
“That’s okay,” I say, my hands finding the waistband of his pants. I undo the button, then the zipper, and he helps me take them off his legs, his eyes on me all the while.
“You don’t have to—”
“I want to,” I say, lowering my head.
The muscles of his stomach flex, and a desperate, ragged sound escapes him.
Before I take him in my mouth, I smile up at him. “After all, this conversation’s given me all sorts of ideas.”
—
The next morning, the room is bright, light streaming in through the windows.
I groan, turning over and pressing my face into the pillow. We must have forgotten to pull the heavy curtains, leaving only the sheer ones in place.
A weight lifts off the bed, and footsteps sound. The room grows darker, then the bed shifts again.
“Better?” a voice asks, and I nod.
I’m a little surprised he’s still here. Not shocked, but surprised. Before we fell asleep, I told him he could stay, and he said he would, but we didn’t make plans for the morning. He would have been well within his rights to skip out once day broke.
“Yes, thank you,” I respond. I stretch my arms over my head and peek at the digital alarm on the nightstand. 7:45a.m.
“How did you sleep?” I ask.
His voice is deep and sandpapery when he responds, “Very, very well.”
His hands find my body, turning me toward him, and our mouths meet. Slow and soft. But it’s different this time. A denouement.
I feel a pang in my heart, knowing this kiss isn’t building to anything. Isn’t leading to anything. This isn’t going anywhere butgoodbye.
I pull away, and he chases for a second. One last fleeting moment of connection before it ends.
“I have to leave soon,” he says, and I close my eyes.
“Right,” I say. I move to sit up, but he places a hand on my arm.
“You should go back to sleep,” he says. “You’re on vacation.”
I grimace. God, I wish this was just a vacation. But even thoughit’s not…maybe I can still find moments to sneak away. Moments of joy that could sustain me, could help me get through all of this.
“I’m only here for two days,” I say, slowly sitting up to face him. “And they’re kind of a busy two days. I have something that might go late tonight, but after that, if you’re free, and if you want to…maybe I could give you my number?”
