breasts against him. Her hands rose in supplication.
Ashton, what are you doing, she kept repeating, her eyes closed, her face up.
I really don’t know, he said.
Their fevered fumbling in his miniature car could’ve been filmed as a climax of a screwball farce. He couldn’t move the seats far enough back, not his, not hers. Before he could even get her inside the car, before he could pull down her dress or expose her breasts, he had to remove the boot cast from her leg and put the top up. He sat in his seat, she in hers. He leaned over the console. Finally the tinted windows got steamed up. He pulled down her dress, unhooked her bra, bared her glorious breasts to him. He didn’t have enough hands for all of her, enough lips for all of her. He didn’t know what to touch first, what to do first. He knew where he wanted his hands and lips, he knew where he wanted his everything. Why do you smell so good, he murmured. Why are you so hot? They made out like wild kids on the beach.
Off to the side at the rest stop, they remained parked, her trying not to make a sound, and every five seconds a new car would pull in and some joker would get out, and peer across the dust at his lightly shaking BMW.
He pressed her against the car door, fondling her, kissing her, the heat off his body melting her down, the heat off her body making him rock solid.
Ouch, she said.
That’s not me, he said.
No, it’s the door handle in my back.
He took her hand and put it over himself.
Whoa, she said.
That’s me. Let’s get out of here. Quick. Let’s go find a motel.
Are you out of your mind?!
Yes. He was panting.
She was panting. Everyone is waiting for us in Vegas, said Zakiyyah. Julian’s family, Mia’s mom, my mom—oh, and Riley!
Ashton pulled back slightly. How do you know about Riley?
Mia told me.
You asked Mia about me? That is so hot. His mouth was on her breasts.
It was a question, not an invitation, she said in a moan.
How wrong you are. Let’s go. Motel.
Ashton, we can’t!
I didn’t say we had to stay overnight, he said. We’re not moving in. But I can’t drive like this or stand aright. I can’t move or breathe or live until—
You want us to go rent a motel for an hour? Please, Ashton, do continue with the romance. But he was making it difficult for her to berate him and moan at the same time, his fingers and palms and mouth on her topless body so insistent.
Z, this is the most romantic thing I can give you, Ashton said. I want you so desperately that I can’t wait until later. I can’t wait another minute. He tried to move his entire body over the stick shift into the passenger seat to get closer to her.
You cannot fit into this space with me! she said.
Watch me.
It’s physics, Ashton. Two people can’t occupy one space at the same time.
Watch me.
I think your idea of romance and mine is quite different, Zakiyyah said, gasping it out, pressing his stubbled mouth harder against her nipples. Suck them, she whispered, suck them. Wait, she kept saying, wait! This isn’t going to work.
Even the motel that rented by the hour was about to become out of the question.
You knew what you were doing, he said, when you wore this unbelievable dress. You knew how I’d feel about it.
The $20 knit pullover from Amazon?
Yes. Sitting there tantalizing me, seducing me. You’ll think twice next time.
I’m thinking twice right now, but what does the dress have to do with it?
His hand was between her knees.
Ashton!
Now you know. Because the dress is nothing but flimsy fabric, nothing but a bit of cotton between me and your bare—
Ashton . . . !
Now it was really too late.
Somehow Zakiyyah held herself up and he slipped under her from his seat into hers, somehow he unbuttoned his shirt and unbuckled his belt. While Marley’s “The Lion Roars” played through the car speakers, he sat in the passenger seat, moving it as far back as he could against her guitar, and she climbed astride him, her underwear off, the dress bunched up at her waist. His mouth tried to remain on her nipples as she fit over him and slid up and down, but she weakened too soon and was unable to hold herself up, breathing out his name O Ashton