Page 104 of Only Lovers in the Building

“Promise me it won’t be.”

“Take my clothes off,” she demanded.

It took no effort at all. He slid the dress over her arms and tossed it aside. It drifted onto the wood plank floor. She stood before him in her seamless underwear and cinnamon-colored nipple pasties. It was worth the slight pinch of humiliation because his playfulness was back.

He smiled. “We can’t have this.”

Ben peeled off the silicone patches, freeing her nipples. He then hungrily lowered his mouth over one then the other, sucking them back to life. His hands found their way into her underwear, cupped her ass, and drew her into him, with only his clothes in the way.

“Take this off,” she ordered, pushing his jacket off his shoulders. Didn’t he know how badly she’d wanted to feel his skin, down to the fine hairs on his arms?

“So impatient,” he said.

She demonstrated her impatience by helping him with the buttons of his dress shirt. Once free to discover the map of his body, she traced the outline of the tattoos inked into his golden-brown skin. “How did you pick this floral pattern?” she asked, breathless with admiration. “It suits you.”

“We’ll get into that later.”

He drew her back to him, only this time, her skin met his and the heat from his body scorched hers. Their kisses were deeper, but also looser, messier, just excuses to grab each other. They broke away, panting. Then he was out of his clothes, the pants and everything else just gone. Lily wrapped a hand around his impressive cock and felt it pulsing. “All this for me?”

“Funny girl.” He walked her backward toward her bed, his hands low on her hips. “Do you remember that time we went swimming, and your swimsuit came undone, and you lost the bikini top?”

“I’m pretty sure that never happened,” Lily replied. Before falling into bed, she swiped aside the bra that did not make the day’s final cut, reducing her options to the pair of seamless panties and nipple pasties.

“Must’ve been in my dreams,” he said.

With a hand on the flat of her chest, he eased her onto her back. Her breath labored and slow, she asked, “How often do you dream about me?”

“Often,” he muttered into her skin.

Ben was kissing her everywhere. She gripped the sheets and twisted to meet his mouth.

“Bikini wardrobe malfunctions aside,” she pressed on, “what are we up to in your dreams? Any chance we’re reading a book?”

“Not a chance,” he said, laughter rolling in his throat.

“What, then?” she asked.

“We bake cookies from scratch.”

“You’ve got such a sweet tooth!”

“You have no idea.” He flipped her onto her stomach and moved to bite into her cheeks before stopping short. “Oh good God!”

Lily squeezed her eyes shut. He’d found her last secret. They were going to have that philosophical discussion, after all.

“What do we have here?”

“A tramp stamp,” she said humorlessly. “In my defense, I was in a sorority for a hot minute. The cool thing to do on a holiday weekend was to go into the city and get tatted.”

“A tramp stamp is a specific thing,” Ben said thoughtfully. “A heart or a butterfly. An infinity sign doesn’t fit the bill.” He traced the figure with the tip of a finger. “Tell me one of your sorority sisters got one of those.”

Lily cackled. “Bethany did!”

“Oh, Bethany,” he sighed. “You don’t disappoint.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s had it lasered off by now.”

“I like it.” He pressed his lips to the base of her spine. “How did you manage to hide it from me?”