at Thea beside me. She looked up, rainwater dripping from her hair, glistening along her skin. Without a word, she stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on my mouth. Soft lips and the smallest touch of her tongue before pulling away.
Goddamn, if nothing else happens, tonight is already perfect.
The lamps in our room were off, the drapes drawn. The lights of New York City were the only illumination. The grid lay spread below us or rose high in towering pillars. Obelisks of light.
“It’s so perfect,” Thea murmured, echoing my thoughts. She dumped her bag on the bed and moved to stand at the window.
I set my guitar against the wall and my duffel on the other bed, claiming it as mine if that’s what she wanted. For so long, even sitting across from her felt like an invasion of her privacy because she had no way to know if she wanted it. No memory to ask or answer.
Now she can tell me what she wants.
I joined her at the window, and we watched as lightning cracked across the dark night.
“I talk a good game,” she said. “But I’m suddenly really nervous. My heart is racing.”
She took my hand and laid it on the warm skin her tank top didn’t cover. Her pulse thudded under my palm.
“We do what you want to do, Thea.” I brushed a stray lock of damp hair from her cheek. “Whatever you want or nothing at all.”
“I don’t want to do nothing,” she said. “Not ever again. But…” She broke off with a small laugh, looking away.
Inhale. Exhale. “Is this your f-first time?”
“No.” She ran her fingers over my jacket, her gaze following, until she raised her eyes to mine. “But right now, standing here with you, I can’t remember anyone else.”
She moved into the circle of my arms, pressing against me. Every molecule in my body wanted to grab and take but I held her gently. Loosely.
She tilted her head up to mine. “Just kiss me, Jimmy, and let’s see what happens.”
No script. The entire night waiting for us to make of it what we wanted.
I bent and kissed her softly, tasted her lips that parted for me at once, despite the nervousness I felt trembling through her body like an electric current. I deepened the connection, my tongue venturing into hers and she moaned. God, Thea’s moans were like matches tossed on a smoldering fire.
She kissed me back, her tongue sliding against mine, exploring, while her hands slipped into my hair, then to either side of my face, holding me like I was something valuable.
We kissed with growing urgency. When thunder boomed, neither of us flinched. Thea pushed my jacket off my shoulders, her hands roaming as our mouths devoured and plundered, biting and clashing, with our breaths rasping between little sounds of want neither of us could control.
“I’m not nervous anymore,” she breathed. “Because I remember all of you. Us. Everything you ever said or sung to me, Jimmy. Not in my broken mind but here.” She laid her hand over her heart. “I kept you here. Even when my memory wouldn’t let me tell you.”
“You told me,” I said, my own breath coming hard. “I heard you.”
“You fought for me,” she said.
I kissed her again and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist, never breaking our kiss as I took her to the bed. I laid her down, and she shoved her backpack to the floor, then reached for me as I sank down on top of her. Her body beneath me, straining for me, was driving me out of my mind. I’d never wanted a woman like this in my life. I’d never had a woman like Thea, one I wanted and who wanted me just as I was.
Her hands slid down the sides of my body to my waist. She pulled me against her, lifting her hips to mine, and I ground down on her while I kissed her, sucking gently, eliciting more of those soft little moans that made me crazy.
She tore her mouth from mine, gasping. “Jesus, how do you do that?”
“Do what?” I asked, kissing her neck, her throat, and the delicate skin beneath her ear.
“Kiss me so it feels like I’m falling into you.”
I didn’t answer but kissed her like that again and again, until our hands craved skin. I sat up and kneeled on the bed, to reach behind and pull my shirt over my head by the collar. Thea’s eyes