My hand, stil tucked into his own, squeezed, and I felt his strong fingers squeeze back.
“Sounds like they were stil a couple, not just a mom and dad,” I said, hearing his breath speed up a bit.
“Yes, exactly.”
“You miss them.”
“Of course.”
“Might sound weird, since I never knew them, but I feel like they would be so proud of you, Simon.”
“Yeah.”
We were quiet another minute, feeling the night around us.
“Want to go back to the house?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He kissed the top of my head as we began to make our way back—hands stuck together like someone had spread Krazy Glue on
them.
I’d left Simon to clean up the mess from dinner. I wanted a quick shower before bed. After washing away the days of airport and travel, I threw
on an old T-shirt and boy shorts, too tired for the lingerie I had packed. Yes, I had packed lingerie. Come on, I was no nun.
I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom (yep, I had total y claimed the big one) after blow-drying my hair when I saw him appear in the
doorway. He was on his way to his room after his own shower, wearing pajama pants and a towel wrapped around his neck. I was exhausted, but
not so exhausted I didn’t appreciate the form in front of me. I watched him in the mirror as he appraised me as wel .
“Have a good shower?” he asked.
“Yes, it felt amazing.”
“Heading to bed?”
“I can barely keep my eyes open,” I replied, yawning hugely to punctuate.
“Can I get you anything? Water? Tea? Anything?”
I turned to face him, as he stepped inside. “No water, no tea, but there is one thing I’d like before I go to sleep,” I purred, taking a few steps his
way.
“What’s that?”
“Goodnight kiss?”
His eyes darkened. “Oh, hel , is that al ? That I can do.” He closed the distance between us and slipped his arms easily around my waist.
“Kiss me, you fool,” I teased, fal ing into his embrace as if in an old-time melodrama.
“One kissing fool, coming up,” he laughed, but within seconds no one was laughing. And within minutes, no one was standing.
After fal ing into Pil ow Town, we scrambled about, arms and legs twisting this way and that, kisses becoming more and more frantic. My shirt
bunched up around my waist, and the feeling of his hi-there against my hoohah was indescribable. He rained kisses down upon my neck, licking
and sucking as I moaned like a whore in church.
To be fair, I’d never actual y heard a whore moan in church, but I had a feeling it sounded a lot like the unholy sounds pouring forth from my
mouth.
He flipped me about like a rag dol and settled me on top of him, my legs on either side, the way I’d wanted to be for so long. He sighed, gazing
up as I impatiently pushed my hair away from my face so I could truly appreciate the magnificence I was perched on.
We slowed our movements, then stopped altogether, staring unabashedly at each other, appraising each other without shame.
“Incredible,” he breathed, reaching to gently cup my face as I nuzzled his hand.
“That’s a good word for it, yes. Incredible.” I turned to kiss his fingertips. He stared into my eyes again, those sex sapphires doing their voodoo
that made me a puddle of voodoo goo. For him to woo. See what he did to me?
“I don’t want to screw this up,” he said suddenly, his words breaking me from my Seussian rhymes.
“Wait, what?” I asked, shaking my head to clear it.
“This. You. Us. I don’t want to screw this up,” he insisted, sitting up underneath me, my legs wrapping around to his back.
“Okay, so don’t,” I ventured, unsure where this was going.
“I mean, you need to know, I have no experience with this.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I have a wal back home that would disagree with that…” I laughed, and he crushed me to his chest, inexplicably hard.
“Hey, hey…what’s up? What’s going on?” I soothed, my hands rubbing up and down his back.
“Caroline, I, Jesus, how do I say this without sounding like an episode of Dawson’s Creek?” He stumbled the words while talking into my neck.
I couldn’t help it, I chuckled a little as Pacey flashed into my head, and that brought him back. I pul ed away a bit so I could see him, and he
smiled rueful y.
“Okay, Dawson’s be damned, I real y like you, Caroline. But I haven’t had a girlfriend since high school, and I have no clue how to do this. But
you need to know, that what I feel for you? Shit, it’s just different, okay? And, whatever your wal would say back home, I need you to know that this?