“This brings back memories,” I said, feeling soothed.
He smiled up at me. “Yeah! Sex on the beach was one of those things that everyone at school used to brag about, and then I got to do it with you. That first time, that was one of the best nights of my life.”
“The first time we ever spent a whole night together.”
“You want to relive good times, Caro?”
“Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I left our one and only condom in the room.”
He sighed and closed his eyes.
“Besides,” I continued, “I’ve kind of got a thing for beds these days. Call me old-fashioned.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he said wistfully. “I really liked having sex in your car though. That was hot.”
“Oh my God, yes! Although I’d have to say that sex in that closet at the country club was pretty amazing, too. No, wait, the hotel in Little Italy. That room looked like a wild animal had rampaged through it by the time you’d finished!”
“Wild animal, huh?” he said, looking pleased with himself. “Yeah, well, I think I can improve on that now, baby.”
“Oh, you do, do you? Because I’ve got to tell you, Sebastian, you never ran out of condoms when you were 17.”
“Ouch! Low blow, Ms. Venzi.”
I laughed. “True, though.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll fix that tomorrow and then you won’t be getting any sleep, woman.”
“Heard it all before, Chief, but it ain’t happened yet.”
I lay back down on his chest, and drew pictures on his T-shirt with my finger.
“So, who was your first woman, after me, I mean?”
I felt his arms tense.
“Why do you want to know that?”
“Just curious.”
He sighed. “I don’t really want to go there, Caro. It was… a bad time for me.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. You don’t have to.”
We lay there in silence for some minutes.
“Will you tell Ches that we’re… back together?”
“Of course I will, Caro. Ches is my brother,” he said, simply.
“He’ll be surprised.”
“Fuck, yes!”
“Do you think he’ll be okay about it? I mean, I’m sure my name would have been dirt with him.”
“Ches isn’t like that. He was pretty shocked by everything that went down that day at your place, but he knew that what we had was real. He’s my buddy: he’ll be pleased.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it. When are you going to tell your friends about me?”
“Are you kidding?” I laughed. “After your little stunt with Nicole it’ll be hot news in NYC by now. Your photograph will be on screensavers everywhere.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, don’t be all coy with me, Hunter. You know you’re cute.”
He grinned up at me. “Just as long as you think so.”
“I think you’re devilishly handsome, with the emphasis on ‘devil’.”
“Yeah, well as it happens, Ms. Venzi, I think you’ve got some devil inside you, too.”
“Oh, I’d really like to have some devil inside me right now, Sebastian.”
He sat up, pulling me with him.
“Let’s go,” he said.
It wasn’t a request.
I stood up and brushed some of the sand off my pants, while Sebastian retrieved the bottle of wine that he’d stashed in the dunes.
We strolled back to our room, and every now and then, Sebastian would pull my hand to his lips and kiss my fingers gently.
But once we were in the room it was a different story. It was as if someone had flicked a switch in his body: gone was sweet, gentle Sebastian; in his place was a man on a mission who knew what he wanted, and he wanted it now.
No sooner had we closed the door than he pushed me up against it and started kissing me hard, one hand molding my breasts, the other pushing down inside my jeans.
“Where’s that fucking condom?” he muttered.
“Bedside table,” I gasped.
He strode over and snatched up the condom, and had already ripped the foil off before he got back to me.
“Sebastian, the bed?” I said, doubtfully.