When I ask Ethan about it, he says it’s between the men-folk.
Whatever it was, he seems relieved it’s over. I am, too.
Ethan’s the first man I’ve ever introduced to my parents. I’m hoping he’ll also be the last.
There’s a dull thud as Ethan pushes me up against the dressing room wall and tugs at the zipper to my costume.
“Hey,” I say, “you’re not allowed to do that anymore, remember? Karen has banned you from undressing me.”
“Karen’s a killjoy.”
“She’s in charge of costumes, and you’ve ripped three zippers this week alone.”
“Then she should make them stronger.”
“Or you should wait until I’m out of my costume before getting horny.”
“Impossible. I’m horny all the time. It just happens to be worse after I’ve been kissing you all night on stage.”
He tugs impatiently at the zipper, and sure enough, it rips.
“Shit.”
“I told you.”
“I’ll buy Karen another bunch of flowers.”
He pulls the top of the dress down and starts kissing my chest. I’m trying not to groan when there’s a loud rap on the door.
In a second he’s released me and passed me my robe. I slip it on as I yell, “Just a second!”
Ethan sits on the couch and tries to look nonchalant. I gesture to his erection, and he crosses his legs and drops his hands in his lap.
Subtle.
I open the door to find Marco.
“You two realize everyone in the building knows what goes on in here after the curtain comes down, right? And Karen has made a voodoo doll of you, Ethan, which she sticks with pins every time you damage a costume. It now looks like a porcupine.”
Ethan chuckles.
Marco frowns. “It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little bit funny.”
“I think I liked it better when you two hated each other.”
“Yeah, we get that a lot.”
“Well, when you’ve quite finished molesting each other, please come to the lobby bar. I have someone who wants to say hello.”
“Can you give us fifteen minutes?” Ethan asks. “I wasn’t anywhere near finished molesting her.”
Marco sighs. “You have five minutes. And make sure Karen is stocked up on Valium before telling her you’ve ruined another costume. I saw her talking to a burly Italian man the other day. I can’t say for certain she wasn’t taking out a hit on you.”
Ethan laughs as Marco closes the door, As soon as it’s shut he’s on his feet and grabbing at my robe. He really does become a clumsy Neanderthal when he’s horny.
“Stop,” I say and slap his hands away. “This robe is silk.”
“I know. I bought it for you.”
“Yes, and I love it, so stop trying to shred it.”
I pull off the robe and carefully remove the rest of my costume.
He watches with hungry eyes. “Now?” he asks, his voice low.
“You have sixty seconds,” I say, and the words are barely out of my mouth before he’s kissing me.
Despite his obvious impatience, I love how rough he is when he’s desperate for me. It feeds my ego. Not to mention my lust.
He goes to work on my neck. “Oh, God. Okay, so … maybe ninety seconds, but that’s it.”
“Please shut up and put your hand in my pants.”
“Hell, yes.”
His zipper is a little sturdier than mine and copes with the rough treatment as I yank it down. Then we have a frantic two minutes of giving each as much pleasure as possible without getting naked. He’s not good at keeping quiet. I’m not much better. No wonder everyone in the theater knows about us.
When things start getting too steamy, we grunt in frustration and step away from each other. It’s not easy. We clean up and pull on our street clothes in frustrated silence, and just before we head out the door, he pins me to it and lays his weight against me.
“Just so you know, when we get back to my place, I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name so loudly the neighbors call the cops.”
“What if I make you scream my name first?”
“Even better.”
We kiss once more then head out. When we reach the bar, we see a familiar dark-haired lady.
“Erika!”
She opens her arms as we approach, and Ethan and I hug her. “Ethan. Cassie. It’s good to see you two. You were both wonderful tonight.”
“You saw the show?”
“Yes. I loved it. I even brought a group of first years from The Grove. I think seeing two of our alumni up there provided a great deal of motivation. They can see where all their hard work may lead one day.”
“I wish we could have met them,” Ethan says.
“Well, perhaps you will. I was hoping to convince you both to come to the school next term to give some master classes.”
“I’m guessing you’d like me to impart my wisdom about working with masks,” Ethan says with a smile.
Erika laughs. “I’m sorry, did you say ‘working with masks,’ or ‘failing miserably with masks’?”
“Hey,” Ethan says. “I failed brilliantly. In the history of The Grove, no one has failed masks more spectacularly than I did.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Ethan takes my hand, and I don’t miss how Erika sees it and smiles.