Page 21

"Didn't have to." I take her sweater by the hem. "Arms up."

She puts them up.

I strip her slowly. The sweater. The thermal under it. Her bra. She stands in front of the stove with gooseflesh rising and her chest going fast, and I look at her, the line of her belly, the new weight in her breasts that I noticed in November and didn't say anything about. I get my palm under one and she hisses.

"Sore?"

"Everything's sore."

"Tell me if it's too much."

"It's not too much." She grabs my belt. "It's not enough."

I lift her onto the desk. The half she cleared is hers. The other half is mine. I push my side clear with my arm, headset and swabs and a coffee mug going onto the floor, and lay her back on the wood. She's laughing. I get her jeans off. Her underwear. I push her knees apart and look.

"Cole." Softer. "You're staring."

"I'm allowed."

"Are you?"

"Mine," I say. "Both of you."

I put my mouth on her.

I go slow because she's sore and because I want to. I take my time. She tastes like salt and heat and snow melt. Her thighs close on my head and I push them open again with my hands, flat, firm, and she makes a sound at the ceiling and her fingers fist in my hair. I find her clit with my tongue and stay there. I slide two fingers into her, curl them, and she bucks.

"Don't stop."

"Wasn't going to."

She comes with her heel in my back and my name in her throat, and I keep her there until she's shaking and pulling at my shoulders.

I stand. Strip my shirt. Open my jeans. She watches me do it with her lip between her teeth, and I'm so hard it hurts.

"Look at me," I say.

"I am."

I pull her to the edge of the desk and push my cock inside of her.

She's tight and hot and wet and she closes around me like she's been waiting all day, and a noise comes out of me that I don't recognize. I seat myself deep and hold still. Her hands come up and find my face.

I fuck her slow. Deep. My hands on her hips and her ankles hooked behind my back, and the little heart still going on the recorder beside her head, fast and light under the sound of us. I don't want to turn it off. I want it in the room.

"Took the first time," I say against her mouth. "You hear me? Took. I put it in you on that rock, and it took."

"Cole."

"Mine. You. That." I drive in and her breath goes. "Going to fill you up anyway. Don't care if it's already done. Going to do it every night."

"Yes."

"Want you round. Want you heavy. Want my hand on you in the dark, feeling it kick."

"Yes."

Her nails drag down my chest. Her body starts to tighten around me, and I feel it coming and lean in and put my forehead against hers.