I stand with my back to the fireplace and look at her sitting on a cushion on the floor. There are no lights on in the small cottage and it is far enough back from the street, that there is no illumination from the streetlights. The glow from the coals is too dim for me to read the expression in her eyes.

“Come here,” she says, stroking her hand over the plush pillow. Her hands are strong, and I want them on me.

I linger for a minute, drawing out my own desire, watching her watch me. Stepping off the hearth, I go on my knees in front of her. I meet her eyes briefly and then complete the move so that I am sitting beside her. Her eyes are a dark, the wide pupils turned on me. I look back at her and realize that I am hardly breathing.

I think she is beautiful. She is my height but darker of skin and hair. Her upper body is strong from all those weeks on crutches. Only needing a cane now, she is more likely to use it to poke at me to make a point than to bear her weight. Her lips are full and I wonder what it would be like to kiss them until they swell even more.

How long has it taken us to the get to this point? There have been many months and other people between the accident and now. For the last few nights, we have been engaged in a slow dance. We advance and retreat, circling ever closer to our mutual goal.

_________
So clever, we find any excuse to stay too late to drive home. That first night we spent together, neither of us slept. While we didn’t do much more than hold hands under the covers, we didn’t rest either. For hours, we lie in the dark and tell each other stories.

This morning we went out to breakfast to the Royal café. Over pecan waffles we obliquely spoke of the pull of our building desire.

“I am a flirt,” she said looking at me from underneath her long eyelashes.

I smiled slowly and met her eyes. “I am a tease.”

She looked away first.

Licking off my fork, I place it on my clean plate. “I think that anticipation is delicious, especially when you don’t know how long it,” I stopped speaking and leaned across the table. Her lips were parted slightly and I could see the pulse at the side of her neck speed up. “Or you, can last.”

She laughed a little breathlessly and moved one of her hands from under the table to put a strand of her hair behind her ear. She put the hand on the table and looked down at her fingers.

I picked up her hand and pressed my hand to hers, fingertip-to-fingertip, palm-to-palm. “For example, what if I had five dimes and I had you hold them here.”

The waitress came up to clear away the dishes but I don’t let go of Karen’s hand. When she had carried off our plates and walked away, I continued to speak. “As soon as you let any drop I will stop whatever I am doing.” We looked at each other. My own pulse matched hers.

“You could stop like that?” Her fingers snap and she blushed when our fellow diners turn to look.

“I wouldn’t want to. I want you too badly.”

At this, Karen smiled widely. “Maybe you are just talk,” she said. She reached her other hand to mine and we twined our fingers together. “Why don’t we see what kind of spare change I have at home?”

We spent the entire day together, walking around the city and running errands. I found excuses to touch her arm to illustrate my points. She was the first to reach out and hold my hand. We bumped hips and slid fingers into each other’s pockets.

______
Dinner tonight was a strange affair. She told me to put on some music but even now I can’t remember what I choose. I fall silent as I watch her move. The turn of her wrist to pull the cork from the bottle or the way she mixes together the oil and vinegar seem choreographed to the increasingly rapid beat of our hearts.

We work well together in the small space of her kitchen. In verbal shorthand, we get the meat roasted and the vegetables grilled quickly. While I plate up the food, she sets the table. A cloth she brought back from Guatemala covers the table. Its bright colors are muted in the low light.

Gazing shyly across the candle lit table, speech dies in our throats. The silence carries an almost static charge. My entire body tingles from her proximity. After cleaning up a meal that I don’t believe either of us tasted, we go into the living room and the fire burning brightly.

“I’m glad you decided to join me.”

“It took everything I had to stand that far away from you.”

“My fingers ache to touch you,” Karen says with a half smile. She reaches over and runs her thumb over my ear. Slowly, that hand drifts along the side of my face, across my shoulder, and down my arm. She takes my hand in hers and pulls my hand into her lap. The feather light stroking of her fingers tips over the inside of my arm makes me shiver.

I turn my hand and lightly tickle her palm with my fingers before I begin to mimic her movements. We sit there by the light of the fire and watch our hands moving on arms.

“You know, I’m wildly attracted to you.”

“Why has it taken you so long to do something about it?”

Raising my fingers to her face, I gently run my thumb over her lips. I can feel her smiling at me. I smile back and tug on strands of her heavy dark hair. Slowly, I draw her head toward my hungry mouth.

“I don’t like to rush.”

Her eyes are still looking down as our lips touch. Her lips are soft under mine and I am surprised by the moan that escapes me when her tongue traces the outline of my mouth.

I place one hand on her shoulder, with my thumb caressing the hollow of her throat. The other pulls her head closer as our lips and tongue explore. She takes my lower lip between her teeth and bites lightly. I push my tongue between her teeth and taste the wine from dinner.

“You taste so good.”

I feel her trembling beneath my hands. Kissing her forehead and then her cheek, I run my tongue around the outside of her ear and then suck on the lobe before returning her warm, open lips.

Karen reaches up and takes hold of my shirt at my collarbone. She says my name as she pulls my mouth from hers. “Please,” she whispers.

In answer, I kiss her throat. At her moan, I bite the pulse point. Sliding my teeth up her neck, I take the lobe of her ear in my teeth and bite down.

She pushes my face sideways with her head and probes my ear with her tongue before blowing lightly. My body breaks out in goose bumps and I realize I am panting. She laughs as she pulls my lips back to hers. “Lets go to bed,” she whispers.

Karen stands up and she places a hand on the top of my head while she gains her balance. I lean my face against her thigh. She plays with my hair for a moment and then chuckles quietly.

Looking up at her, I see her smiling down at me. “I have a better idea. Let’s bring the bed here,” she says.

She has two roommates and, while neither is expected home tonight, the possibility of being walked in on in the midst of passion creates a flutter in my stomach. She responds to my hesitation by pressing my face to the junction of her thighs. I can smell her desire and my hands slide up the back of her legs and hold her tightly to me.

“Yes,” I agree softly as I rub my cheeks on her jean-covered thighs. Her legs open wider and I mouth her the seam of her pants.

“Louder,” she says, the sound of laughter in her voice. “I want to hear you.”

I squeeze her ass in one hand as the other strokes the inside of her thighs. I am licking her pants covered clit as I repeat, “yes” again and again.

Karen moves away from my mouth and bends down to kiss me. “Help me get the covers,” she requests.

I follow her into the bedroom and take the comforter and blankets that she hands me. I carry that load out to the living room and return. She is bending across the bed with her weight on her arms, reaching for another pillow. I come up directly behind her and press my pelvis to her full ass.

“Stay still.”

She stops moving as I slip my hands under her shirt and run my fingernails up and down her back. When she arches like a cat against my hands, I run them down her sides and lightly tickle her ribs.

She is trembling when I touch the undersides of her breasts. She presses back with her legs and butt while she tries to move her breasts more fully into my hands. I stroke her underarms and the soft hair there. My fingers lightly trail down her sides and to grip her hips.

“Does this hurt?”

“No.”

Slowly, I move my hands back to her breasts. Even now, I don’t touch her nipples. I simply bring my fingers down almost to the center of her aureole before opening my hands again.

“Please,” she says softly.

I lean down and kiss her exposed back and touch both of her erect nipples with my palms. She breathes a quiet “yes” as I pinch the erect nubs between my index fingers and thumbs. She stills again as my fingers tighten.

I push my knee between her legs and she opens to me. Biting and licking the knobs of her spine, I stroke down her belly to hold her cunt in my hand. I feel her heat through her clothes.

Against her murmured protest, I step back only to roll her over onto her back on the bed. Her eyes are almost black in the half-light. I hold myself over her for a long moment before leaning down to capture her mouth with mine.

She slips her hands under my shirt. Her long nails dig into my back and I lightly bite her throat in answer. My knees force her legs to open wider. I pull her shirt open, exposing her body for the first time since that night in the hospital.

Her breasts are large and my mouth waters at the sight. I weave a hand through her hair and she turns her head to lick my palm and fingers. I mimic that movement with my tongue on her breasts. Her nipples are erect and the surrounding surface tightly puckered. I rub my cheek against her breastbone before seeking out the other nipple with my tongue. My left hand keeps her other breast from getting lonely.

She traces a pattern on my back with her fingers before slipping both hands down into my loosened pants. She pulls my hips to her and we are both aroused by the contact. I thrust into her and she forces me closer with the grip of her hands on my ass.

“I can’t get you close enough.”

Karen takes hold of my hair and pulls my mouth off of her. We are both panting. My eyes wander over her flushed face and disheveled hair. I lick my lips in anticipation of seeing the rest of her undone by passion.

Her voice is hoarse when she says, “Look at me.” I drop my eyes to her breasts and she laughs and shakes my head slightly. “Look in my eyes,” she says more strongly.

I meet her eyes and they are open to her soul. Staring deeply into the pulsing pupils, I forget everything, including my name. Our breathing calms before the chill in the room reminds us of our task. It is difficult but we move apart to remake the bed in the other room.

I toss another log on the fire before joining her under the covers. She lies on her side, supporting her head with one arm. She left her shirt in the other room and I reach for her as I get settled on my back. She shakes her head no.

“Why can’t I touch you?”

Ignoring my question, she reaches out and lifts each of my arms over my head. “Leave them there.”

She waits for me to interlace my fingers before she tugs on my shirt. “I should have had you take this off before letting you lie down.”

My muscles tense but she shakes her head. “Wait.” She lightly scratches my stomach with her fingernails. I shiver at the look in her eyes.

“It is quite a dilemma. You want my hands on your skin. But I’ll stop if you move.” She licks her index finger and plays in my belly button. “Whatever will you do?”

I will wait. Because I too like to be teased.