Then he was kissing me again, pushing me against the wall. His body pressed tightly against mine, the strong contours of his muscles against the soft curves of mine, and I could feel his heart hammering in his chest.
When we finally made it down the hall to the bedroom, I pushed him back onto the bed. I climbed on top of him, straddling him between my legs. I loved the way his bare skin felt, hot and trembling against me, and I wanted to feel more of it. I sat up and pulled off my shirt, and Lazlo stared up at me with this awestruck wonder.
“God, you are so beautiful,” he whispered, and I bent down, kissing him and pressing my bare flesh to his. He moaned against my lips, and I slid my hands down to start undoing his jeans.
“Wait,” he breathed, gently putting his hand on my arm to stop me. “We don"t have to do that. I mean, I want to. But… we don"t have to.”
“I want to,” I insisted.
I wanted to feel close to him, I needed it. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing him to me, and pushed myself against him eagerly. That was all the encouragement he needed. Never taking his lips from mine, he rolled me over, so I was lying on my back, and he was on top of me.
He still had his jeans on, but I could feel the weight of his body pressing tentatively against mine. Instinctively, my body pushed against his, and I tightened my fingers in his hair, kissing him deeper. Everything inside me trembled with anticipation. Wonderful hot tingles spread through me and my stomach fluttered.
I felt his hand on my hip, and his fingers looped in my panties, sliding them down. They caught on the gauze wrapped around my bite wound, and Lazlo stopped kissing me to look down.
“What"s that?” He looked back up at me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it"s just a cut. I"m fine,” I tried to reassure him. His eyebrows scrunched with uncertainty, and I smiled at him. “Really. I"m fine. It"s nothing.” He wasn"t completely convinced, so I slid my hand over the smooth skin of his stomach, and it trembled underneath my touch. I sat up kissing his chest and neck, and I pulled off his pants. His mouth returned to mine, kissing me as he slid down my pants. He propped himself up over me, his skin resting warmly against mine.
Then I felt him, sliding inside of me, and my breath caught in my throat. I buried my fingers in his back and pushed him against me. He kissed my mouth, my neck, my shoulders, everything he could reach, and I moaned against him.
“I think I love you,” he murmured, his breath on my ear.
I wanted to say it back, but I couldn"t. The words were lodged inside, so I held him tighter to me, pressing my lips into his shoulder.
I had never felt closer to anyone than I did with him then, and there was something almost painful about that. The intensity of being so vulnerable and so intimate with him. It would kill me to let him go.
Gasping for breath, he rested his forehead against my shoulder and tried to gain some composure. When he gently kissed my shoulder, my skin quivered underneath his lips. So he wouldn"t put his whole weight of his body on me, he rolled off and lay on his back next to me.
I rolled over with my back to him. It all hit me so suddenly, and I couldn"t contain my emotions anymore. Tears were pooling in my eyes, and I fought to keep them back.
“Remy? Are you okay?” Lazlo sat up, putting one hand on my hip and peering over to see me. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” I shook my head. I couldn"t elaborate more, because I would cry if I did.
“Was… was that your first time?” he asked carefully.
“No.” My first time had been with my high school boyfriend. We"d been crazy in love and we thought we"d be together forever. Then a zombie got him, but that was after we"d broken up.
“So what"s going on?” He sat up more and pushed the hair back from my face, so he could really see it. “Remy? What"s the matter?”
“I just… I"m gonna miss you,” I swallowed hard.
“Rem, I"m not going anywhere.” He bent down and kissed my shoulder. “You can"t get rid of me if you tried.” When I didn"t smile, he figured it out. “Wait. You’re going somewhere.” I hadn"t planned to tell him anything, but I had to. I couldn"t let him think that this was his fault, that he was the one making me this upset. Taking a deep breath, I rolled over more so he could see my hip, all bandaged up.
“Remember how I said this was nothing?” I peeled it back, so he could see my healing wound, and his eyes widened. “That"s a zombie bite.”
“What do you mean?” His skin blanched. “You"re… you"re infected?”
“No, I"m not. This bite is a week old.” I bit my lip and watched for his reaction, but he only got more confused and upset. “I"m immune, Lazlo.”
“Why do you make that sound like a bad thing?”
“It"s not.” I sat up and pulled the sheets over me, feeling self-conscious about being naked. “But… I"m gonna switch places with Max.”
“What are you talking about?” By now, anger and fear had seeped into his words. Lazlo pieced together what I was getting at.