Page 64 of All That Remains
"I wasn't even turned on or anythin'..." he said with a contemplative pause. "I just…wanted to kiss ya, I think. You looked sopretty. Your cheeks were all rosy…and your eyes were..." He trailed off, marveling at the memory. "Bluer than anything I’d ever seen. And your smile...simply gorgeous. Still is."
Too much was being untombed. For the life of me, I couldn’t bear it. My heart thundered up my throat in the wake of his sweet surrender of our pretense.
"Were you turned on afterwards?" I asked.
"No, believe it or not. You were so scared that it scared me. I thought I'd done somethin' wrong."
"No, of course not. I loved it. Everysecondof it. I just didn't know what to do next. And it’s crazy to think…that if you hadn’t done that then we—fuck’s sake, I don’t think we would’ve ever…”
"Strange times."
"Yeah…" I eyed his hands, noting the manicured nails and traces of clear polish. "Sometimes I wish I could feelthat wayagain, y’know? My body was always on fire. Burning for you. It was all sonewand exhilarating…”
He took ahold of my hand to play with my fingers. My guts were in knots. Violent, clenching spasms that made me frightfully queasy. We were edging back still, to what we were. The casual touching was a game-changer.
“I remember feeling so obsessed with what you were thinking all the time," I breathed.
"Yeah…you too.”
"What were you thinking? Around that time?"
"Too much, honestly."
My phone rang. "Shit," I growled upon checking it.
"What’s up?"
"I completely forgot I needed to reschedule the doctor’s. Em said the only available walk-in was today."
"Em?"
"Executive assistant…extraordinaire—"
"Ah..." he grinned. "So, uh...you gotta head out then?"
"I guess so. Fuck’s sake."
"I’ll come." He gently took ahold of my fingers again.
"Really?"
"If I’m honest, I'm not ready for you to leave. I could ride with…and we could keep catchin' up on the drive, if you’d like? Grab somethin to eat afterwards?"
That he cared enough to join me on such a mundane task made me grin uncontrollably.
"That works, actually. I'd appreciate that."
"Yep, my pleasure.”
He cleared our mess. After joining me at the side door, running a hand through his hair, he asked, "Should I drive?"
"Hellno! You're gonna ride the clutch. That's all you ever do." He shoved me in the back.
"Hey, I learned a thing or two about sticks recently."
"Recently?!" I scoffed. "You should've known already! That's all we ever drive back home."
"Yeah, but I never had to drive back then, now did I?"
