Page 43 of Raff
The moment felt like it went on for ages, like seasons changed, like the world went on without us as we stayed stuck in that second.
Yet, too soon, Lula sat back.
“No rubber ducky beads, huh?”
I shook my head, forcing myself to tamp down the thoughts of slipping those straps off her shoulders and leaning down to suck one of her nipples into my mouth as my hand slipped between her thighs from my mind.
“Bead store seriously lacked imagination,” I said, gathering several types of beads and the elastic stretch cord.
With that, we put a movie on the TV and half-watched, half-crafted for the next hour and a half. Before we knew it, we both had several bracelets sitting on the table, and we were having a lively debate about the end of the mystery we’d just watched.
“I dunno. I think the bait-and-switchcanwork,” I told her as I picked up a bracelet I’d made out of muted pinks and creams. “Shutter Islandcomes to mind.”
“So doesAtonementand I hated that one with my whole being.”
“Okay. Fair,” I agreed, sliding the bracelet up her wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“Made this one for you,” I told her.
“You did?” she asked as my gaze flicked up, finding hers all soft and sweet.
“Thought these beads fit your aesthetic.”
“They do,” she agreed, smiling a little at her wrist.
“I made this one for you,” she admitted, making my stomach flip. “There was nothing crazy to work with, but I thought the chaos of colors suited you.”
She’d chosen some of the smallest beads and did it in more masculine colors: stop sign red, grass green, sun yellow, brown, black, and pile-on orange. She was right. There was absolutely no order to it. It was chaotic. And she’d made itthinking of me.
“You don’t have to wear it,” she said, a slice of insecurity slipping into her voice.
“I’ll be buried in it,” I told her, handing it to her to slide on my wrist.
“You’re so dramatic,” she said, but the insecurity was gone and a smile split her gorgeous face. “This was fun.”
“New hobby unlocked?”
“Maybe.”
“They sell fancier beads. You can get just about anything. Or you can work with metal too. Matter of fact, hold up, let me imagine you with a blowtorch and one of those welding masks… and nothing else.”
“So in this scenario of yours, I want to protect my face but not my boobs?”
“Don’t ruin my fantasy with your logic.”
She smiled as she sat back and stretched, making those boobs she mentioned stretch the material of her tank top.
“I’m still annoyed about that movie.”
“Want to watch another one to overwrite it? Perhaps with some coffee and Texas peach cobbler?”
“I’m going to return to Shady Valley twenty pounds heavier because of you.”
“That’s a yes.”
“It’s a yes. With the caveat that we have to take a walk or something tomorrow.”
