He’d shaved that morning—fastidious man!—but his stubble was already blooming along his jaw, and the friction was delightful. She cradled his head as he kissed and nibbled and worked his way lower, as he kissed the tender skin of her inner thighs and spread them open and made himself at home for several minutes. And ohhhhhhh, when your endgame wasn’t penetration, the focus on other aspects of lovemaking
“God God God God God!”
—was immediately apparent.
“Jesus,” she gasped. “I never come that fast. And I have a Hitachi wand.”*
“How very kind,” he panted, surging up to kiss her, hard. “I need—after that—my God, you’re responsive. Can we—” He groped blindly for the toiletries bag he’d placed on the bedside table.
“Yes! Let me.” She reached over, fumbled with the bulging leather bag, and when she got the zipper down, the bag seemed to blow up. Two boxes of condoms as well as strip after strip popped out; she’d inadvertently made it rain prophylactics. “Jeez, how many condoms did you bring?”
“I, um, wanted to be prepared for any eventuality.”
“It’s like a clown car! Do you even have room for your toothbrush in here?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“Gosh, which one to choose? Such a vast array!”
“Stop it,” he groaned.
“Okay, here, I somehow managed to find one.” She snatched it up, then ripped the packet open with her teeth.
“Is that supposed to be insanely erotic? Because it is.”
“Glddooikeddid,”† she mumbled around the packet. She carefully smoothed it down over Tom’s cock and then lay back and stretched her arms toward him in warm welcome. “C’mere, gorgeous.”
He obliged, catching his weight on his elbows as she pulled her left leg up a bit, and he entered her in one long glorious slide.
“OhmyGod.”
“Yeah.”
“MyGodmyGodmyGod.”
“Perfect. Now move.”
He obliged, moving tentatively at first, then gaining confidence as his strokes lengthened. She crossed her ankles behind his back and urged him on with a series of gasps and groans and “Oh Gooooood, that’s good…” Her orgasm took her by surprise (again!) as she shivered and tightened around him, as he dipped his head for a messy kiss.
“Is it—is this good?” he panted.
“Perfect,” she murmured against his mouth. “Oh, you feel so good. When you get some practice under your belt—”
He groaned.
“Sorry! Totally unintentional pun. I was just—just saying—ah—that if you’re—ah—this good now—oh-oh-oh-oh—imagine what—ah—what—Christ, I’m coming again…”
“C-can I? Can’t wait … much longer…”
“Yes! I didn’t realize you—please, yes, don’t hold back. I’ve got you. And you’ve got m—ah!”
He shuddered above her and his eyes rolled back and she thought, you’re beautiful and I’m so lucky, and then he collapsed as gently as he could.
“Oof!”
“Mupolgeez,” he mumbled against her neck, which she took for “apologies.”
“Naw. You earned that collapse. But if you’re still squashing me five minutes from now, that’s bad form.”
“Noted.”
She ran her fingers up and down the long planes of his back as he struggled to get his breath back, still hard inside her (no worries about condom leaking just yet, at least).
“That was wonderful,” he said. “You’re wonderful.”
“It was. And yes. And ditto.”
“Do not panic…”
“Oh my God.”
“I am merely making postcoital conversation—”
“Oh my God.” What? What? What the hell could it be?
“But would you ever consider moving back to Minnesota?”
“Oh.” She paused, thought. “Let’s just say that’s not as off the table as it would have been a month ago. It’s not the state. Can’t blame Minnesota for the Monahans—and I promise that’s the last time I’ll say that name tonight.”
“Excellent. On all counts. I’m not trying to rush you,” he said, propping himself up on an elbow to gaze into her face. “I just hope you would be willing to keep your options open.”
“I will. We can talk about it. After my folks died, I always thought home was where my travel bag was. And that’s still true.” Which was something else Pete got wrong. It’s just, maybe soon, home will be where my travel bag and you and your gigantic condom collection are.”
“I adore you.”
“I—” Whoa. Her voice caught, her eyes filled—what was wrong with her? She never got choked up about stuff like this.
You never even talk about “stuff like this.” It’s a lot to take in; that’s all. Nothing to be scared of.
“I think you’re wonderful,” she choked out, and returned his kiss. “I want to be in your life. Your lives—I like Abe and Hannah, too. The thing is, I see now that it wasn’t Minnesota I hated; it was all the collateral damage.”
Tom blinked. “Yes. Of course. Are you saying you only now realized