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“You okay?” Claudia asks when we make it under an awning.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I say through gritted teeth, my muscles tensing up as the rain intensifies. We should have left for the truck fifteen minutes earlier. “I can get the truck and pick you up—”
“You’re doing no such thing,” she says. “We can go together.”
Shit. That’s not what I want, for us to make a dash to the truck in this rain.
“Or we can wait until it lets up,” she says, as if noticing my reluctance.
“No, I’m good. If you don’t mind getting drenched—”
“I don’t mind it all,” she says. “Do you?”
“Ready when you are.”
“Go!” She runs, laughing as the rain soaks right through our clothes on our way to the truck. I press the key fob and the doors unlock in time for Claudia to reach the passenger side first, yanking the door open and jumping inside. The entire time, she’s laughing.
No, we’re laughing. There’s an exuberance I’ve forgotten from being caught in the rain and with her, I almost forget that I’m not the same man she met that night a year and a half earlier.
By the time I get behind the wheel, start the truck, and turn on the heater full blast, it’s absolutely pouring. Not everyone had the same idea as we did to run to their vehicles and we see them standing beneath the awning of the gift shop, far from drenched like we are.
But I much prefer where Claudia and I are right now. We may be drenched to the bone but we’re laughing like kids caught playing in the rain. All worries forgotten, all fears gone. The sound of her laughter making me feel the happiest I’ve been since the accident; I pull her to me and kiss her hard and deep.
It’s as if time stands still. All I hear is the rain drumming against the roof. All I taste is her sweetness, her tongue against mine. All I feel is my heart beating like a drum, threatening to burst out of my chest as her hands find my face, my jaw, the back of my neck, her fingers curling against my scalp.
When she pulls away minutes later, she’s breathing hard, her nostrils flaring. I let my gaze travel down her neck and down her shirt. It’s soaked all the way through that I can see the lace bra underneath it.
But before I can tell her that she needs to change into something dry, Claudia kisses me.
This time, it’s all Claudia. Claudia pulling me to her. Claudia’s fingers curling behind my neck as she presses her body against mine. Claudia’s tongue sliding between my lips, exploring.
The sound of thunder snaps me back to the present and I pull away. “You’re drenched.” I reach for my sweatshirt in the back seat and hand it to her. “Get out of your wet shirt, at least, and put this on. We can’t have you catching a cold.”
She nods. “Good idea.”
I try not to look as she pulls her shirt off but I can’t help it. Smooth skin, delicate curves. And God help me, but that lace bra hides absolutely nothing.
I look away. I want her back in my arms so bad I have to pretend I’m on a mission to get us home safely in this rain. And that’s exactly what I do.
By the time we get to the apartment, we’re mostly dry, thanks to the heater. We’ve mostly calmed down, too, conversation replaced with a playlist of songs blasting from my speakers, a few she’s never heard of.
Ain’t It Enoughby Old Crow Medicine Show,The Last Waltzby The Band,Smoothie Songby Nickel Creek,This Girlby Punch Brothers,Dream onby Aerosmith,Santeriaby Sublime.
Some help with the ache; some make it worse. I didn’t want to play the songs at first but Claudia insisted I play whatever I wanted and so I did.
I kiss her as soon as I switch off the engine. This time I temper myself. There’s no stepping back but there’s also no need to rush.
At least, that’s what I tell myself as I pull away, needing to take it slow. This isn’t that one-night stand anymore. “I want you, Claudia. God knows I want you more than anything right now. But I also don’t want you to catch a fucking cold.”
“I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we both take a shower—separately, of course. You at your place and me in mine,” she says, giggling. “And we can resume when we get together again… let’s say, in an hour?”
I have a feeling she needs time to think things over and I don’t mind. “Sounds good. Pizza and a movie after?”
“You pick the pizza and I pick the movie?”
“No chick flicks,” I say, chuckling.
“No pineapple.”
