a kiss so good Penny could have happily orgasmed simply from the way his tongue intertwined with her own. Then he took her hips in his hands, raising her up a little, and entered her body.
The pleasure disappeared, replaced by a sharp pain. It was as if her skin had been cut by a red-hot metal blade. She would have had every right to shout at him, ‘Stop, wait, do it slowly – I’m fragile!’ But she didn’t say anything at all. She only uttered one small cry, which could be mistaken for pleasure, and held back her tears.
Marcus moved with the impetus of a man making no concessions for someone who was doing it for the very first time. He thrust back and forth inside her like a battering ram, at the same time kissing her, licking her throat, squeezing her breasts, and gripping her thighs to make her body arch. Penny kept her eyes open so she could see him: his arms, his chest, his stomach glued tight to her own, the key to her lock that was opening for the first time in her life.
Suddenly he whispered to her, ‘I’m coming,’ and Penny said ‘Yes’, excited, almost as if she were about to give him a gift, and she felt him go deeper, so deep she was afraid he’d reach her ribs, and then the rhythm became even more frantic. He growled in her ear, his tongue becoming a spear, and finally he exploded inside her like a supernova.
Marcus collapsed on top of her, breathing like a sprinter crossing the finish line. Penny desperately held back her urgent need to tell him, I love you, I love you, I love you!
They stayed like that for a while, melted into each other’s skin and sweat, until Marcus rolled onto his side and lay down on the bed, nestled into her body.
Penny wondered, Should I leave now or can I wait? Can I say thank you or would that make me look stupid? How long will it take for him to forget about me?
Then something happened that broke the fragile spell. Marcus sat up. He was about to take off the condom when his eyes, still clouded from his mighty orgasm, became masked with anxiety.
‘Penny!’
She didn’t immediately understand why Marcus’s face wore a look of horror.
‘What the . . . ?’
And then she understood.
The condom was stained with blood and a crimson patch had spread between her open legs. It flowed out of her skin, staining the duvet on the bed, enough to betray her secret.
‘Penny!’ Marcus exclaimed again. ‘Tell me that’s not what I think it is.’
She shrugged her small shoulders. ‘I think it’s what you think it is.’
Marcus placed his hands over his face and began to breathe hard and fast.
‘Are you mad because I stained your duvet?’ Penny asked, trying to smile. ‘I’ll pay to have it cleaned.’
‘Why the fuck would I care about a duvet?’ he snapped, springing to his feet.
‘If it’s not a problem for me, it shouldn’t be one for you either. I’m not dead. It’s a completely natural thing.’
Marcus started moving around the room like an angry lion on a chain. Penny got dressed in an instant, without bothering with her underwear. She covered her wound, hoping that once it was out of sight, out of mind, Marcus would stop hating her.
Suddenly he stopped, and Penny looked at him, enchanted by the thought of what had just happened, of his body on hers, of the two of them who had been so distant becoming one, and she was so lost in remembering that she didn’t hear his question, not until he said it a second time.
‘Did I hurt you?’ His voice came out in a whisper and a gasp.
‘Not that much. Not really.’
Marcus looked for a cigarette. He walked around the apartment, naked and beautiful, his hands shaking with rage. He managed to get a spark after three false starts with the lighter and took a long drag. ‘You should have told me!’
‘It’s no tragedy. I’m still alive, aren’t I?’
‘Damn it, I hadn’t even noticed. I mean, you were very tight, but I thought it was because you didn’t do it often, not that you’d never done it in your life. And besides, I’ve had no way to compare. The women I’m with generally have their doors wide open.’
‘Really?’
‘Do I look like someone who fucks virgins?’
‘So it was a first for both of us.’
‘Why did you lie to me?’
‘I have a wild