Page 108 of Only Lovers in the Building

Lily: I don’t know how useful this episode will be to anyone. If you’re still listening, just know we appreciate you so, so much. In summary, we believe that sex with a stranger can be divine, but I’m partial to getting to know someone over time.

Ben: Did you always feel that way? Because I remember the night we met—

Lily: Never mind the night we met. I’ve always felt that way. Intimacy is hot.

Ben: Not as hot as the first chapter of Around Midnight. Read it and get back to us. We’re headed to the pool. [I need to be alone with Lily to find out how hot intimacy can be.]

Lily: [Oh my God! Ben!]

Ben: [Don’t worry. Dave will edit it out.]

Lily: [How do you know that?]

“Good stuff, guys!” Dave said over the microphone, enthusiasm cranked high. “Lily, don’t worry. I got you. We’ll edit that last part out.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Want to know what I’m thinking?”

“No.”

Lily didn’t look up from her paperback. They were in the clubhouse, lounging shoulder to shoulder, finishing up Crushed Hearts, the following week’s selection by bestselling African American author Kenya Parker. It was the right mix of angst, passion, and drama. She was loving it so far.

“I’ll show you, then,” Ben said.

He tugged at the high waist of her bikini bottom, edging it down. Lily screeched. “What are you doing?”

“It’s time you show me how hot intimacy can be.”

“Not here! They’ll see us!”

“There’s no one here,” he pointed out.

It was late in the evening on a Wednesday. After a swim, they’d stretched out in the pergola with their books. The sun had set a while ago, and the pool deck was deserted. Even so, anyone could walk in on them at any time.

“We’re totally exposed,” Lily said.

“I’ll fix that.”

Ben rolled up to his feet. With a few tugs on strategically placed ties, the pergola’s heavy burlap drapes tumbled down. They were completely secluded in their cozy little clubhouse.

“It’s almost like you’ve done this before,” Lily said, secretly delighted. She switched off her reading light to not cast any shadows.

“No, but I’ve been plotting it a while,” he said. “Now, may I?”

He was tugging at her bikini bottom again. This time, she didn’t have the will to refuse him. “Yes, you may.”

He dragged the bit of wet fabric down her legs and past her ankles in record speed. “That, too,” he said, referring to her bikini top. With a few tugs at the ties, he had it off.

“What about you?” she asked, her breath sharp.

“Give me a minute. I’m busy.”

His hands skimmed her body, gliding over her damp skin, still pebbled in places with pool water. Lily propped herself up on her elbows and watched him, coming undone under his gaze. A shiver of worry ran through her. Too much of a good thing was a problem. Ben had put her on a pedestal. There would come a day when she’d have to step down. What then? Walk among the mortals? How could she stand it?

Ben stood and stripped off his wet trunks, bundled them, and looked around for a place to toss them. His golden-brown skin glistened. Could it be that he was unaware of his effect on her? Had she played it a little too cool? His lean, cut, and inked body was the object of her every fantasy and slowly becoming an obsession.

“Ben?” she whispered.