“I love that sound.”
His voice near my ear shot jolts down my legs. My whole body quivered. There was no stopping us at that point. The intensity left me totally breathless. Our bodies were a blur, gripping, tugging, kissing, sucking, moving up and down, rolling over and back, every motion somehow perfectly fluid on Matt’s tiny twin bed. He pulled me on top to straddle him. “Like this,” he said, and then he lifted my hips and guided himself inside of me. I arched my back, pressing my hands against his taut stomach.
I could hear my tiny mewling sounds mixed with the deep, quiet, satisfied sounds rumbling from his chest.
“Do you feel it? Do you feel it, Matt?” I started moving faster.
“Yes, baby,” he said, his voice strained. His eyes were drowsy with desire and his lips slightly parted.
I moved harder against him and then leaned back, putting my hands behind me on the tops of his thighs, making the friction even more intense. He pressed his thumb to the bundle of nerves right above where we were connected. His small, subtle movements shut the rest of the world out to me. The walls could have been crumbling, my cello could have been on fire in the corner, and I would have stayed right where I was until the very end, moving above Matt, our bodies connected.
When the quickening began, he gripped my waist and tensed. I felt my mouth fall open but no sound was coming out. I couldn’t breath at that moment for fear that it would all go away. I closed my eyes and let go. It was strange; it wasn’t that I forgot that Matt was there—how could I?—but I had very little self-awareness and self-consciousness. It was like I forgot that I was there when the buildup began and the tingling waves of hot and cold shot through my body. Down below, the pulsing began, harder than it ever had before. Matt made a strangled sound from his chest.
The word “Yes” inched from my throat, almost painfully. It wasn’t triumphant, like you see in the movies. It was quiet. Euphoric.
One last thought ran through my head before I collapsed on top of Matt. I’ve got to get my hands on that book his mom gave to him.
Moments later, he stirred under me as I lay splayed over his body. He kissed the top of my head and took a deep breath.
“We have to go, huh?” I grumbled into the smattering of hair on his chest.
“Yeah, we better get going, although staying in bed with you all day and spending Christmas in New York doesn’t sound bad at all.”
“Won’t you miss Christmas with your family?”
His expression was inscrutable. “No.”
“No?”
“Seeing my mom, maybe. But I’m definitely not going to miss stuffy dinners with my obnoxious brother.”
“What happened that made you two so different?”
He rolled me over onto my back and pushed himself off the bed. “I just got lucky, I guess,” he said with an arrogant smile. “I’ve gotta take a shower.”
I stared at his glorious backside as he walked away. Even in the hazy early-morning light, I could see the fine, cut muscles of his back.
ON THE WAY to the airport, I fell asleep in the back of the cab with my head on Matt’s shoulder. “Wake up, baby. We’re here.” Matt looked at his watch. “Shit, we gotta hurry.”
He pulled his bag and my small rolling suitcase from the trunk. We sailed through the check-in line, and before I knew it, we were boarding the plane. I sat in the middle seat and Matt had the window. I was asleep on his shoulder again before we even took off.
About halfway through the flight, there was a little turbulence that woke me up. Matt was asleep with his headphones on. I made my way to the bathroom, and by the time I came back, Matt had ordered us both Bloody Marys. He looked up at me, eyes beaming, as I scooted in toward him.
“Gracie,” he said, handing me a plastic cup.
“Matthias,” I replied. There was a current of electricity in the air between us.
“I got you a double.”
“I’ve never had one before,” I said, buckling myself in. “But I’ll try anything once.”
I took a sip and was immediately surprised by how much I liked the spicy and salty tomato flavor. “You can’t even taste the alcohol.”
He laughed. “That’s the point.”
I turned my head to look Matt in the face. He had dark circles under his eyes and his brownish black hair was sticking out in every direction. Somehow he still looked gloriously sexy. He took a sip, looked over at me, and grinned all the way up to his eyes. “Good, huh?” His voice was low and just rough enough to send shivers down my spine to the space between my legs.
“Uh-huh,” I said, breathlessly. I thought about what Matt and I had done hours before and what that meant for us . . . what that made us.