There were a few hours filled with hazy memories of the sun blasting us through the blinds and Jamie getting up to shut them. He brought me water and juice. I heard him talking to Susan on the phone before coming back to bed, and then the next time I woke up I heard him tinkering in the kitchen. I smelled pastries and became convinced that I had died and gone to heaven. I slithered out of bed and searched the space for my undergarments. Do people just walk around naked in heaven? I used his toothbrush covertly and then quickly realized how stupid it was to be sneaky about it after what we had just done.
When I walked back toward the bed, I noticed a sliver of sight line from which I could watch Jamie in the kitchen, about twenty feet away. He was wearing flannel pajama pants. Not fair. When he saw me, I froze. He stalked toward me with an intimidating look on his face. I couldn’t move. I felt myself flush all the way down to my toes. My heart skipped and stuttered. What happened next was a bit of a blur. I could have been dreaming, but I’m pretty sure I watched Jamie stop halfway and slip easily out of his flannel pants. We were standing in the bright light, completely naked and staring at each other. I could hear our shallow breaths and the faint thumping of our hearts. His hair was tousled loosely and the scruff he wore so well was thicker and darker than it had been the day before. An unintentional moan escaped my lips. He stared at me for just a second longer and then took three long, quick strides before lifting me from the back of the legs to straddle him. He pushed me against the wall forcefully.
“You are so beautiful. God, you are so fucking beautiful,” he said with a sigh.
We ravaged each other for hours, moving from space to space. On the bed again, he pulled me up to straddle him and then he pushed my chest back so that my entire body was on display above him. I leaned over and guided him inside of me, filling me to the hilt. He pushed me back again so that I was sitting more upright on top of him.
“Close your eyes, Jamie.”
“No, I want to see you.”
I felt self-conscious but let some of that go when I saw how adoringly he gazed at my body. His eyelids were heavy; he looked spellbound as I began to move. I ground down slowly and felt a small whimper escape my lips. There was already a numbness and pulsing throughout my body, but the position and Jamie’s roaming hands had set the pace much quicker. He finally reached down and touched me where we were connected. I writhed and increased the pace, threw my head back, and lost it. He sat up almost immediately and buried his face in my neck. We stayed that way until the minutes and seconds meant nothing. Time was measured only by the sound of our beating hearts.
When we finally broke our embrace, we fell lazily to each side of the bed. Jamie turned and propped one hand on his elbow and fed me pieces of chocolate croissant before insisting that we take another nap. Still pretty sure this is heaven.
“Where’s Chelsea?” I asked in a sleepy daze.
“With Susan.”
“That’s probably a good thing.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him smiling.
We were lying on our backs, staring up at the high, beamed ceiling. He reached for my hand and kissed the back of it. “Hey . . . let’s do this forever.”
My eyes widened. “Do what forever?”
“Lay around like this and sleep and eat and fuck.”
“Oh.”
He turned his body toward me and searched my eyes. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t very romantic.”
“That’s okay.”
“I can be romantic . . . but first let’s sleep.” He kissed my forehead and tucked me into his chest.
When I finally woke up from the dreamy sex-and-sleep fest we’d had, I realized Jamie was gone. There was an old hardback book on the nightstand and a folded note sitting on top of it. I reached for it and read: My kingdom for one more minute with you. Please stay put. Leaving you lying here like an angel in my bed is the hardest thing to do. I’m sorry. I have to help Guillermo with something. Here’s one of my favorite books to pass the time, so you don’t get bored and leave me. Maybe you can tell me if you agree that the poets are right.
The last line was a riddle of some kind. I found my dress and put it on and then shuffled through Jamie’s closet until I found one of his flannel shirts. I slipped it over my head and scribbled a note for him.