“I like that,” I told him. “A lot.” I pushed toward his hand. “I like it a lot!” I started to tremble and then I shook harder.
“Do you?” Our faces were close and we looked into each other’s eyes. “I want to see it.”
Shane wanted to see me have an orgasm, and I did. I kept my eyes open so I could watch him too, his gaze so intent, hischeeks flushed. He moved his hand away to reach for one of the condoms, and then he nudged me onto my back. “Put your legs around me,” he said. “I think this will be the easiest…oh, Molly.” His head fell forward to rest on mine as he started to move into me. Then he lifted it to look at me again. “Are you ok?”
I was, but it was odd. I was very glad that this was Shane here with me. “Yes,” I said. It pinched and I wiggled. “Yes,” I repeated. The slight pain was gone and now it felt good instead of strange.
“Ok, then…” He pulled back and rocked forward. He did it again, deeper, and I gasped.
“Yes,” I said quickly. “Yes, like that!”
He kept going and the pleasure of it…he kissed me and bit my neck, but not hard like I’d done to the trumpet player. It all felt good. It all felt overwhelmingly wonderful and I held onto him, grasping his butt to urge him to go faster and harder.
He was talking more and I understood some of his words. I recognized my name and I thought he said—
He had reached between us to stroke my clitoris and when he touched me there, I arched up and came, again. Shane pumped against me and repeated my name, his voice low and satisfied. We lay still, clutching each other.
“I heard you,” I said sleepily.
He smiled at me. “Did you? You heard what I said?”
“You said that you loved me. I love you, too.”
He turned away for a moment, rid himself of the condom, and then hugged me close. “Molly,” he said. He sounded even more satisfied. “You’re mine.”
I nodded. “Yes. I need you.”
He hesitated. “I need you,” he told me. “I need you, too.”
I understood. He didn’t need me as the fixer, but for his happiness. I felt the same way. “The other half of the duplex is empty. The cat guy moved out,” I noted.
“Is that right?” He laughed quietly. “Why are you telling me this right now?”
“I’m saying that I could live there.”
“It would be a lot of money for rent,” he pointed out.
“Well, I have two jobs,” I said. “I’m interviewing for another one, too.” Suddenly, I felt very optimistic about everything.
“Someone will get smart and snap you up,” he told me. “We could live next to each other. Then, we could live with each other. We can be together as a couple, and then later, a married couple.”
“Ok,” I agreed, smiling.
He laughed. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“You can hold me whichever way you want.” I looked over at the table and at the clock with the big numbers. We had more time. I pulled him down to kiss me.
“Again?” he asked, and I said yes. There was a lot more I wanted to try. There was a lot ahead of us, and not just sex. There was so much that we could experience together.
“You and me,” I told him.
“You and me.” Shane smiled. “I have a good visual of our future. It looks wonderful.”
Epilogue
Iblew a bubble, popped it, and chewed a little more. “I like it.”
Corbin held out a napkin and I delicately spat the gum into it. We had been friends for long enough that this type of behavior was now normal.
