Our kiss softened but wasn’t any less urgent. Our tongues found each other quickly, and our mouths moved perfectly in sync. We read each other like musicians who’d been playing together for decades. When she took, I gave. I tilted her head in my hand, exposing her neck to me, and kissed down the side. She gasped out my name, and all thoughts vanished.
We couldn’t get close enough. I didn’t have enough hands to explore her with. I finally found the godforsaken zipper and began to tug it down.
“Uh. Excuse me,” a voice called out through the speakers. “Your time is up in five minutes. We’re about to close.” It was the teenager that had let us in.
Mari leaned back, and her wet, swollen lips parted. I took a long, slow lick across them.
“Just so y’all know, there are cameras in there,” the girl added.
Mari licked her lips, tasting me as her eyes widened. A flush burned across her cheeks.
“Sorry,” I called out. “We are, uh, just wrapping up.”
We separated and took off the protective suits. We exchanged the occasional look, and I really wished I could hear Mari’s thoughts.
“Sorry about that,” I said to the worker as we left out the front door.
“It happens a lot.” She didn’t glance up from her phone as she pointed at a sign I hadn’t noticed before. There were several just like it when I lookedaround: Cameras Recording at All Times. With a graphic of a black camera and red flash.
Mari was silent until we got in the car. Then she threw her head back and laughed.
I worried she might freak out, but laughter didn’t feelgreat.
“I cannot believe I did that!” she yelled into her hands now covering her face. “I guess we can just chalk that up to the heat of the moment,” she said. “I’m sorry. My impulsiveness still manages to catch me off guard.”
“I hardly think that’s something to apologize for. A marching band at seven in the morning? Yes. That? No.”
“It’s not okay! I attacked you. I didn’t even ask for consent. How humiliating. I completely lost control. I didn’t mean to send the wrong signals. You don’t deserve to be the person I work my stuff out on.”
It was like I’d been punched in the gut. Something weighed on her. I’d heard her cursingsomebodywhile she pulverized her aggressions into smithereens, but I wanted to understand how she felt about me separately from that.
But it wasn’t about me. Whatever Mari needed to get out of her system, the outing had been a success.
“Apparently, it happens a lot.” I started the car and cleared my throat. I was embarrassingly hard still.
“Maybe I should think about investing in that unlimited pass.” She let out a long sigh. “Gosh, I’m still sweating. That was...incredible. Thank you. I’ve never let loose like that.”
I glanced over at her. Her head was back against the seat, a little bit of hair stuck down from sweat on her temple. She still had a mark on her nose from the tightness of the goggles. And she was beautiful. My feelings for her were rapidly pulling me under. I kept waiting to find a time when I wasn’t attracted to her, but with our every interaction, she became more alluring.
I needed to get a grip.
I began the drive back to Green Valley. The fall hours meant it was already dark, and the car grew quiet. I began to wonder if she’d tuckered herself out completely and checked to see if she was sleeping. As another car passed, briefly illuminating her face, I was surprised to find her still watching me, sleepy eyes and hands curled under her cheek. She’d brought her knees up to her chest and leaned against the partially reclined seat. “I could fall asleep,” she said softly.
I took no small amount of pleasure knowing she felt safe enough to be that relaxed.
“We’ve got a while yet,” I said. “You can take a nap.”
She made a soft sound and went quiet. My heart thudded in my chest, and I gripped the steering wheel tighter. I felt fevered and anxious. My body sensed something was coming and was trying to prepare me. I wanted to go home and not leave again.
Maybe if I didn’t see her, or touch her, or smell her, I could quell this rising panic.
“How did you know that’s what I needed?” she asked in a sleepy voice.
Something about the words and the way she said it had me clenching my jaw. An image of her sprawled out on a bed, knees parted, cheeks red, satisfaction curling her lips...How did you know that’s what I needed?
I always know what you need.
I shifted in the seat, adjusting my jeans. “Just a hunch. Janice was a big proponent of therapy before all the cool kids did it. When I was young, I’d always felt so apart from everybody else.” I cleared my throat, not quite ready to go into all my issues. “When the bullying started, she wanted to make sure I could process everything. I didn’t tell her the worst of it, but she must have sensed something. Plus, I regularly got to smash loud things together, and that helped with a good amount of teenage angst.”
