“How's it going?” She leans in for a kiss and straddles my lap without moving her head.
I'm already straining against my zipper. Her arms slip under my shirt and lift it over my head. Then her head lowers to my chest and her teeth sink in.
Wasn't expecting that, but damn.
She lets go, moves down a few inches, and does it again. My body flinches, but I kind of like it. Her hands slide down my abdomen and massage through the crotch of my pants.
My head tips back on the couch, and I close my eyes, praying she's not going to leave me hanging. Not like she ever has, but I want no one else. Ever.
Her fingers undo the button, and then the zipper. She reaches inside, freeing me. The warmth of her hand makes me want to wrap her legs around my waist and nail her against the wall. I nudge her shoulder with my knee and give her a little motion to stand.
She resists, smiling up at me with the most amazing pair of eyes that have ever been in this position.
“I want to watch you,” she says.
The request makes me nervous and harder at the same time. She continues to stroke me, but with a slow, leisurely motion.
“My God, Syd.” I clench my jaw and dig my fingers into the couch arm.
She says, “I want to know every part of you, Dim.”
The fading logic in my brain tells me this is bedroom talk, but that lingering desire aches in my chest. I really do want her to know me, but we mean different things.
Her tongue trailing up me puts a sudden halt on those thoughts. She swirls her tongue around, then goes back to using her hand.
“On the couch.” I lean forward to start unwrapping her.
She shimmies out of her clothes. I expect her to straddle my lap, but instead she settles on the couch on all fours.
I scramble out of my pants and crawl over her from behind. As always, there's no waiting. I reach my hand around her waist and touch her in the way that makes her gasp until she shudders. Her hand clenches the back of the couch at her side, bracing herself up until the end. Her body relaxes, but I slip my arm around her, holding her up. On the last thrust, I fall against her and pull her down next to me.
Our naked bodies fit tight together. My face rests against the back of her head. She smells of coconut and I-can't-wait-to-do-that-again.
We doze until sometime in the afternoon, when we fumble toward the bedroom and take to the bed for round two. She is on top and acts like we have been apart for a year. The rest of the day is spent like that: sleeping and taking turns rousing the other into raging lust, and then satisfying it in every direction.
I've never been so enthralled with someone, or so terrified of the power they have over me.
***
In the evening, Syd says goodbye, leaving a trail of kisses from head to head. I lie under the covers for a while after the front door closes, gazing though the darkness at the ceiling. I could sneak in so many more days like this with her, if only I could loosen Karl's hold on me lately. Maybe I'm not supposed to have my own life, but that doesn't keep me from wanting one.
I just don't understand what has changed.
The first in the series of subsequent asshattery was kidnapping an opinionated little girl. Hopefully she is back with her family again. After that was my good pal, Phil Ballantyne. There's putting a bullet to good use if ever. Then Karl sent me on that dungeon quest through the downtown office, which ended in defeat.
Next up, I chased Counselor Robert through the northern Arizona forests. And now I just returned from blowing up a lab.
I have no idea how these fit together with each other or the one and a half million dollar donation to the hospital. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Karl is just doing some spring cleaning, a few months late.
My phone vibrates. I pick it up from the nightstand and check the text message.
It's from Syd. I lost my ring over there. Can you keep an eye out for it? It has a big blue square stone.
I reply, Okay, good, I won't confuse it with my ring with the big purple stone.
Her response is a tongue-out emoticon.
I grin and put the phone aside. Her ring could be anywhere between the living room and bedroom. And the sooner I find it, the sooner I have an excuse to meet up with her again.
That's motivation enough to drag my ass out of bed. I check around the mattress and pull the blankets. Nada.
I amble out to the living room, ignoring the burning cuts and scrapes on my arms and shoulders from my high-dive out of the lab. The couch cushions are hiding a few quarters, nothing else. So I yank the couch from the wall and peer behind it.
The corner of a book pokes from underneath. I reach down and pull it up.
The book has a gold colored spine. It must have slid under the couch when I hit the crate into the end table.
Intention is everything and the hum is gone, so screw Karl. He obviously didn't care about this particular volume.