Page 140 of Whirlwind

“I-don’t-take-my-clothes-off.” It tumbled out as a single word.

“You don’t take your clothes off?” he repeated, trying to make sure he understood.

She sat up and pulled away from him. “I… I’ve never taken my clothes off with anyone. Just, like, maybe down to my undershirt.”

Carla shrugged. “That’s fine.”

She looked stunned. “That’s fine?”

“Sure. You get to tell me how you see your body. If there are parts of it that you don’t think of as being sexual, I won’t think of them as being sexual either. I’ll just ignore them and kind of forget that they’re there.”

“What do you mean?” her eyes narrowed.

He picked up her elbow and cradled it in his hand. He enjoyed the heft of it, the weight and muscular roundness under her shirt. “Most of sex is in people’s heads. And I can control how I think about you. Here, let me show you. Do you think of your elbow as being particularly sexy?”

She shook her head.

“How about my elbow?”

She gave it a curious look. “Um, not really.”

“I don’t usually, but it’s a choice we can make. May I show you?”

She looked distrustful but curious as she nodded.

With gentle fingers and all of the care it deserved, he opened the button at her wrist. He drew back her loose sleeve. It felt intimate, important. His first time undressing her.

He pulled back the fabric and stretched out her arm. The pale skin on the inside of her joint looked tender and exposed. And now that it was the focus of his attention, very, very sexy.

The angle was a little awkward, since he was sitting slightly behind her, but it would work.

He ran one soft finger across it, hardly touching, and watched her eyes grow wide.

He moved his finger back the other way, just the touch of his nail against the crease. She inhaled sharply.

Then he dipped his head to her arm and let a warm breath play over her flesh before following it up with his tongue. She was trembling from even that small contact and he couldn’t get enough of watching her.

He made out with her elbow, kissing and sucking, nipping at the tender skin and blowing cool breaths over it.

Before long, Charlie was panting, quiet moans falling from her lips. His own body was throbbing in arousal as he felt her soft skin against his lips.

When Charlie’s eyes fluttered closed, he gave one last bite just to see her mouth open in need, and then soothed it with his tongue. Reluctantly, he drew back.

It took her a moment to open her eyes and focus them on him, and he felt a rush of satisfaction. “See,” he grinned, “sexy elbows.”

He gently pulled down her sleeve and laced their fingers together, cupping her elbow between them. Even elbows needed aftercare.

“In the same way, I can just ignore parts of your body that aren’t part of how you want to present yourself. If your chest isn’t a sexual part of your body, I would just think of it like I would usually think of your elbow. It’s something we get to choose.” It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been in a relationship like that. It often came with dating trans people.

“So you mean, if I took off my shirt you just… wouldn’t notice anything?”

“That’s exactly right. Like, I’d notice you weren’t wearing clothes, but I wouldn’t be aroused by whatever was under them. Well, maybe I would be by your shoulders. God, I love looking at your shoulders.” He loved her belly, too, but he wasn’t going to say anything now. Society had so many hang-ups about weight and he didn’t know how she felt about it. That conversation would have to come later.

She looked surprised. “Really? My shoulders?”

“Yep.” He pressed a kiss to one. “Hella sexy. So broad and muscular and…” He gave her an open-mouthed bite through the fabric. He’d noticed that she liked his teeth.

“Would that be… enough for you, though?” The look on her face said it hadn’t been enough for many of the people she’d dated. His poor, broken baby.