The Glassblower(31)

He kissed her so roughly that he squashed her lips unpleasantly against her teeth. Ruth turned away and broke the contact between their mouths. She had been yearning for a somewhat softer kiss, one that wasn’t so greedy. The flame within her died out.

“Not like that.” She gently moved his hand away as his fingers fumbled at the buttons on her blouse. Why couldn’t he just carry on stroking her and muttering lovely compliments?

“Why not? You like it too. You know you do. I want to have a little bit of fun with my girl!” Thomas squirmed up against her, trying to put his right leg between her thighs as he did so.

There was an undignified tussle, and Ruth felt her back thump against something. Thomas was snorting and panting so heavily that it made her a little queasy to hear him.

“Thomas!” She forced a laugh, and managed to shuffle away from him. To soothe his pride, she turned her mouth up to him and let him kiss her. He sucked greedily at her lips, and for a while they were lost in the taste of each other’s tongues.

But it wasn’t long before she felt his hand on her cold thigh. The warmth inside her cooled suddenly.

Not that.

She fished around under her skirt, grabbed his hand and removed it. The blanket that Thomas had spread out on the warehouse floor was as ice-cold as the stones beneath it. Ruth shuddered.

Indifferent to her change of mood, Thomas wriggled up against her once more. “Don’t be so stubborn!” he whispered into her ear.

Ruth shoved him firmly away. “In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s ice-cold in here! I hope I don’t get sick!” she said in an accusing tone as she straightened her blouse and smoothed out her skirt.

Thomas looked at her, baffled. “I could have warmed you up. But you don’t want to.” He stared down at the bulge in his pants.

Ruth was close to tears. “Sometimes I think you don’t care about me at all. Every time we meet you drag me in here. You’ve never even asked me once whether I like coming to this dingy hole!” She couldn’t have said herself why she was so on edge all of a sudden.

“What are you talking about?” Thomas looked utterly perplexed. “This is a fine place to meet, not a dingy hole. Nobody else has a key, except my father, and he certainly won’t be coming here at this hour. And it’s not ice-cold; it’s just a bit brisk.”

“But . . . I just feel that we’re taking things much too fast!” There, she’d said it. What was it that Joost had always told them? A woman who didn’t respect herself would never find a man to respect her.

“But we love one another! How else is a man supposed to show his girl how much he loves her?”

“I could think of one or two other ways,” Ruth thought bitterly. “We could do something else for a change. We could go to Sonneberg, for instance, and go window-shopping. Johanna tells me that . . .”

“I don’t understand you,” Thomas broke in, shaking his head. “Why would you want to go hiking the hills in the middle of winter?”

Seething, he folded up the blanket and hid it on a lower shelf. He had brought it here a few days ago in preparation, but he found that Ruth was far harder to please than other women. Too cold here and too dingy there, and once she had even complained that his shirt was scratching her cheek! Sometimes he thought he couldn’t do anything right with her. And that was a problem, because he had never wanted a woman the way he wanted Ruth. The very idea that he was with one of the prettiest girls in the village fired up his desire. The fact that she was a virgin only made him want her that much more. How often had he and the other village lads fantasized about showing one of the Steinmann girls a good time? Well, so much for that. The way she fought to protect her virtue, you’d think she had a pot of gold between her legs. He felt a stirring in his pants at the thought.

The silence stretched out between them as each waited for the other to apologize.

“I have to go,” Ruth said at last. She felt disheartened at the thought that there would be no fire in the oven back home, no hot brick to wrap in flannel and take to bed with her. She wound her scarf twice around her neck and already had her hand on the door handle when Thomas put his arms around her from behind.

“Come along now, don’t be such a sulk. How about we meet again tomorrow?” He grinned at her.

She took his hand off her arm. “Tomorrow’s a Saturday. I don’t think I’ll have the time.” Even if she had to spend all day scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees, with Johanna and Marie, Thomas mustn’t get the idea that Ruth Steinmann was easy.

But she had hardly stepped outside into the alleyway before she felt herself overcome with longing for Thomas once more. Maybe she had been too harsh with him? She would have liked to turn around and throw herself into his arms. After all, she loved him too.