“And, what happens when you move back to Houston, and we run each other, and I’m with my husband.
I envision the moment she’s just referenced, and it makes me feel like my skin is too tight.
“It’ll be fine,” I say, ignoring the sensation.
She winces and looks away. Her shoulders hunch. “Maybe… we shouldn’t have sex while we’re away.”
I shake my head in vigorous disagreement. “I think that is a terrible idea, and I’m sure your vagina would agree.”
She doesn’t smile. “I think we should be clear about what this is. I may or may not leave my husband. I don’t want us to get confused…and, I would hate to hurt you, Stone. The way I did back then.”
It pricks my ire to have this compared to that. “I’m not that boy either, I don’t think I’ve got one foot in the grave, but relationships aren’t my thing. I used to think you’d be mine--.”
“You did?” She asks wide eyed with surprise.
“--when I was too young to know better.” I finish.
“And now?”
“Now…” I turn my gaze away, a caught off guard by the direct question. I run a hand through my hair while I pick my words carefully. “Now, there’s some nostalgia for the past. But 99.5% of this is just a man who is insanely attracted to a woman who speaks his language in more ways than one. Your pussy feels great, tastes great too. I want more of it. But I’m not going to fall in love or anything... so, you don’t have to worry that I’ll stab your husband.”
Her bark of laughter seems to surprise her as much as it surprises me. “I was thinking more like uncomfortable silences and dark glares.”
“Not my style.” I assure her.
Her lips twist. “Well, then let me speak for myself. I don’t want to end up with my feelings fucked. Clearly, I’m not in the best place emotionally. Maybe…we should just play it by ear. See how we feel once we’re all alone.”
I couldn’t disagree more, but I’m not going to pressure her about this.
“It’ll be great, either way, and I’ll take my cues from you.” I say and I mean it. Maybe when this is over, we’ll walk away friends again. At the very worst, she’ll be excellent company. And I know that we don’t need sex to connect.
From our time in the bakery and that shuttle ride, I also know that Regan will break all sorts of rules when she thinks no one is watching. And we’re going to have plenty of alone time in the next few days.
“I was going to leave at 9, is that too early?” I ask.
She looks at me, her dark eyes twinkling, her smile wider than I’ve seen it since we’ve been here. “Right now, it wouldn't be too early.” She declares and then jumps up.
“Oh my God,” she screams suddenly and flops onto her back, clutching a pillow to her chest and kicking her legs wildly.
“Woah!” I lurch back in surprise when she pops back up in a flash of dark hair and gleaming white teeth.
“I’m so excited. I’ve never done anything like this. I can’t believe it.”
“It won’t be luxurious like this. I don’t even know where I’m staying in Balandra.”
“But it’ll be an adventure,” her enthusiasm in unflagging.
“Do you speak Spanish?”
“A little?” She says with a nervous grin.
“Okay. Just don’t buy anything without me haggling for you, okay?”
“Okay. So, we’re going? Really?” Her expression is hopeful but tinged with fear. Like she’s just been given the chance to have something she wants desperately and she’s afraid to believe it. It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever seen her, and it takes my breath away.
In a flash of certainty, I know that I’d move heaven and earth before I let that hope on her face do anything but flourish.
“Yes, really. It’ll be fun at the very worst and at it’s very best, it will be life changing,” I say.
She laughs and rolls her eyes. “I’ll be happy if it’s not a total disaster and I come home with all of my limbs intact.”
“Oh, then you’re going to be ecstatic. Because you’re going to learn things about yourself you can’t know until you go to a place you’ve never been before.”
“Wow. You’re really good at selling the idea of travel.”
“I’m an evangelist for it.”
She starts to dance around
Maybe living in Houston won’t be so bad. Especially if we can find a way to keep this going.