I want to let the words in, but behind my eyes I see Eliza and what she’ll go through if I don’t do what I need to.
“You don’t know me,” I whisper as he nears.
“Then tell me…who are you, Meg?”
“Most days I don’t know.”
“I’m Henry Benjamin Zervas, thirty-six, kite designer in my spare time. I enjoy sleeping in on the weekends, but rarely get to do it. I hate surprises. And my favorite thing to do is watch Ghibli movies and eat sushi.”
I love Ghibli movies.
“Love sushi, too, but I don’t believe you on the Ghibli. On the count of three say your two favorite movies,” I rush out. I hold up my fingers to remind him. “One…two…three.”
“Spirited Away, My Neighbors the Yamadas, and Grave of the Fireflies,” he says quickly and my chest hiccups.
“That’s amazing. And I would agree on Spirited Away and Grave of the Fireflies, but My Neighbors the Yamadas? Really?” I turn to face him on the leather sofa. “Ponyo is so much better.”
“I like that one, too.” Henry starts singing the theme song. I burst out laughing at this virile man singing an innocent and comical ode to a goldfish princess. My journey is not unlike hers, one of mistrust and denial.
“Wow. I didn’t expect that.”
“I think you’ll find that I’m full of surprises, Meg.”
“I thought you didn’t like surprises.”
“I mean the good kind—the kind that don’t feel like you’ve been in the dark, lied to. The ones that feel like you’re learning something no one else knows.”
“You’re definitely quite the surprise, Henry Benjamin Zervas.”
“Right back at you, Meg.”
My eyes bounce back and forth taking in the fact that his have tiny silver flecks around the pupil.
There have been times in my life where I saw a fork in the road. But this feels more like I’m not even on the road. The vehicle is off-roading, and but even if I’m out of control, the ride feels right.
And I know what I want to happen.
So I lean forward and kiss him.
Sometimes crashing is the only way to learn the lesson.
5
Henry
I lift her over my lap and she settles in close, all while continuing to keep our lips locked. I don’t want anything to stop this.
When I kiss her, I feel like I’m weightless and like I’m giving a part of me to her. She’s an effervescent woman and it blows my attraction off the charts.
She rocks against me and I groan into her mouth.
“Fuck, Meg. It’s been a while…and you get me fucking hard in seconds.”
Sliding off the sofa, she kneels and lifts the gladiator skirt, her nose sliding along my cock under my biking shorts. Her lips knead along my length and I cup the back of her head. Fingers graze against my skin at the waistband, she tugs and I lift my ass.
She glances up. “Holy shit, now that’s a mighty sword.”
I chuckle. “Thanks. Glad you—”
Her tongue does an ice cream lick on the head before descending down my shaft and suctioning on the way back up.
“Like it.” My thighs tighten and burn. “Oh, fuck, Meg.”
My head rocks back on the sofa as her mouth does fantastic things to my cock. My body feels like a bottle of champagne being shaken. My cork is about to pop.
“Meg…I don’t know what you want, but I’d love to…” I groan as my body tightens.
She stands and in two seconds she’s over my lap and lowering on my cock. I slide into that slickness and she gasps. I grab her hips and slow her decent.
“Slowly, baby. Slowly.”
I help her to lower and when she seats against my lap, she leans forward and her lips hover over mine. “Sexcalibur is sheathed.”
I laugh. “Is that what you’re calling my cock?”
“What do you call it?”
“Happy right now.”
Meg
This wasn’t supposed to happen, and I’m getting sucked into something bigger than I bargained for. A simple release is all I wanted when I kissed him, but right now there’s a part of me that’s reaching out to him. It’s asking to be held by him and cherished by him.
And he’s doing just that. One of his large hands hold my generous hip, fingers digging in just slightly and the other cups my neck, tangling in my hair.
I slam my mouth to his, our tongues rocking and rolling like our bodies. Our breaths mingle and our eyes connect.
There’s a moment when I feel like I’m being pulled into him and he’s being pulled into me. My soul is stretching out to him. I’ve never been perfect, but when I’m in his arms and united with Henry, there’s a clarity that the past is just that past.
With him, maybe I can begin anew.
I unzip the side zipper and pull the dress over my head.
His eyes widen and his hand slides up my body, cupping my breast. “You’re fucking beautiful.”
“So are you.”
His lips caress my skin, suckling lightly at my nipple. My body tenses and I know that the end is close. His chest rolls faster and faster.
“Just another minute.” The static starts deep inside of me. A buzz that I don’t want to be over too fast, so I try to stem the explosion of energy, but with this man, I can’t. My body wants to feel everything.
We writhe and our eyes connect.
“Oh, God…” I moan long and loud before my existence seems to melt away. “Henry!” I scream his name and he thrusts even deeper, my body clenching down on him.
He grunts and plants so deep I wonder if we’ll ever be able to separate. It feels too good and hurts to think we’ll have to go back to how we were.
I hold him close and our breathing settles slowly.
He leans back. “That was fucking amazing.”
“That was amazing fucking,” I retort and he chuckles.
“You are one sassy woman, Meg Devlin. And I think…I think I really, really like you.”
And that’s a problem for both of us.
6
Meg
We’ve continued our activities in the bedroom and now I’m looking at the clock as it indicates that he’ll probably be waking soon. As much as I want to be here, it’s too risky. He’ll have more questions and all I need to answer is that I can’t follow my heart when my head keeps telling me that I need to help Eliza.
He’ll be okay.
But I don’t know if I will. I’ve never felt like this with any man. The gods have both blessed and cursed me.
I slide slowly away from him, sitting on the edge of the bed. I look back and his copper hair is all messy and his face has the sparkle of morning facial hair, almost like dew on his jawline. He snorts a breath and I stand.
I slip into my dress in the living room and my eye catches on his bag across the room, but before I can get there, something else takes my attention.
I walk to the dining room table and stacked are kites. Rip-stop nylon sewn into different shapes, but mostly diamond and half-moons, decorated with various images of bats, pumpkins, and candy, all steadied into shape with fiberglass sticks. I pick up one of the probably two hundred around the room.