Page 13 of Smoke and Glitter

I leave my fingers beneath her chin until her eyes settle on mine. The grip she has on the edge of the counter loosens first. Then she sighs deeply and finally relaxes.

I kiss her again before she can put any of it back.

By the time I tell her to go to the bedroom, she goes without another joke.

When I follow, she's sitting on the edge of the bed in her jeans, hair loose around her shoulders and her hands resting in her lap.

"Lie back."

She lowers herself onto the mattress.

I open her jeans and pull them down slowly, taking her underwear with them. She lifts her hips to help me and lets them fall again when I'm done.

I settle between her knees and look up at her.

"If you need something different, you tell me."

"I will."

I put my hands against the inside of her thighs and open her for me.

The first pass of my tongue pulls my name out of her.

After that she talks for a while. My name again, a yes, half of something else when I do it the same way twice. I keep my hands firm against her thighs and work slowly until the words start breaking apart.

By the time I push two fingers into her, there's nothing left but her breathing and the sounds she makes when I curl them.

Her back lifts from the mattress. I put my forearm over her hips and hold her there while her hands find my hair.

She comes hard enough to pull.

I keep the same pressure until her thighs stop shaking around my shoulders and her body settles back into the bed. Then I ease off, slower and lighter, until she pushes at my forehead with the heel of her hand.

"Okay," she says, trying to catch her breath. "Okay."

I lift my head. "Good?"

"Shut up."

"Out loud."

"It was amazing, Sam." Her eyes open halfway. "Life changing."

I move up over her and she reaches immediately for my shirt. Her fingers miss the first button twice, so I catch her wrists and put them beside her head.

"Leave them there."

Her eyes stay on mine while she does.

I take the shirt off myself.

Her gaze moves over the ink on my arms and chest, slow enough that I feel it.

"Can I touch you?"

"In a minute."

"Sam."