Page 102 of Run
Looking up, I see Ari’s eyes are cast downward as she chews on her bottom lip in concentration. I lean a little closer and her eyes snap to mine. “Hey!” she yells, and a piece of green bell pepper comes hurling over the divider. “Keep your eyes to yourself.” A cherry tomato smacks me in the forehead next.
“OK, OK! I just wanted to see what you were doing. Jeez.”
Another moment of silence passes as I look at Ari. She must have dried her hair after she got out of the shower because it’s straighter than normal and it looks so goddamn soft, and she has no makeup on, but her face still looks flawless and her freckles prominent. She’s wearing one of my T-shirts again which, OK, I might have laid it out on the bed when she was in the shower, in suggestion, but she didn’t have to put it on.
But she did and I freaking love it. Call me a caveman but there is some sort of possessive shit that goes on in my brain when I see my girl lounging around in my shirt.
Ari’s eyes meet mine over the divider once more. “OK, just give me a hint,” I say. “Person, place or thing?”
“Uh, thing, I guess. But I’m done anyway, so if you’re done, too, we can just reveal.”
“Thank God,” I mutter, and pull the baking sheet away so we can look at each other’s creations. Of course, hers looks like a piece of art. She created a flower with petals made out of red and orange pepper slices, with yellow banana peppers in the center and green peppers as the leaves and stems. Out of pepperoni, she even made a little caterpillar on one side, complete with olive eyes and onion legs.
“Ethan, is that …” Ari is looking over at my pizza, turning her head this way and that as she squints her eyes. “It looks like …”
I turn the pan so it’s right-side-up for her, and her face goes still as her eyes travel up to mine. She can’t hide that she’s amused. “You are such an asshole.”
‘“No, I’d venture to say I’m adick.” I point at the giant penis-shaped pizza on my tray before reaching for a napkin. “A giant, saucy dick with cheese spraying from the tip.”
Ari tries to make a face of horror and disgust, but it falls, and a giggle slips out.
“Aha!” I point at her as she continues to shake with withheld laughter. “I win!”
“How on earth do you win?”
I lean back and fold my hands behind my head. “Because all I want out of life is to hear you giggle. Ergo, I win.”
Ari rolls her eyes and spins on her stool toward the oven that’s been preheating. “Let’s get these in the oven. I hope yours puffs up so big it looks like it has herpes.”
As Ari cleans up our mess on the island, I put some dishes in the dishwasher behind her.
“So, what did you do today before you came to pick me up?” she asks, while wiping down the countertop.
“I went and saw my mom.”
“Oh? How’d that go?”
“It went well.” I stop and think it over. “I was afraid she’d be reclusive living alone, but she joined a book club at the library,and she does yoga at the recreation center on weekends. And she’s doing some online adult education class. So, yeah, she’s really good.”
“That’s great.” Ari’s voice sounds closer, so I turn my head and see she has swiveled on her stool and is looking at me. “You seem closer to your mom now.”
I nod as I dry my hands on a towel and turn back around to close the dishwasher. “Yeah, I guess I am. I told her about you.”
There’s a moment of silence. “Oh.” It’s quiet again before I hear Ari’s sweet voice. “What did you tell her?”
My back is still to her as I answer. “Basically, I told her you’re still the most amazing person I’ve ever known and that I never want to let you go.”
More silence. And then another soft, “Oh.”
There’s shuffling behind me, and Ari’s hands come around my middle as her face presses against my back. I drop the dish towel and place my hands over Ari’s. “That’s a really nice thing to say,” she murmurs against my back. I can feel her hot breath through my T-shirt, and I’ll be damned if my dick doesn’t twitch in response.
I swallow. “Well, it’s true.”
“Mmmm,” she purrs, tugging up my T-shirt and scraping her nails over my abs. “What else did you say about me?”
I place my hands on the counter in front of me as Ari caresses my body. “I said you were beautiful and really great in the sack.” For that I get a pinched nipple. “Ouch!” Oddly enough, my dick bobs in response to that, too.
Un-fucking-believable.
