Chapter 5-3
699 Words
A few days later, I sat in my living room watching a rerun of Three’s Company, trying to remember why I’d found any of the show’s jokes funny as a kid. Annoyed, I turned the TV off and watched my reflection for a moment.
My only company.
I was so done with being with myself. What time was it, anyway? The whole street was quiet, everyone probably fast asleep. I checked the VCR—almost eleven.
Maybe Shirley was right. Maybe I should think of going out to the city this weekend. The loneliness was getting to me.
When I heard a car rolling down the street, I peered through the front window. My curtains were drawn shut, but made of white lace, so I could clearly see Hank’s black Mazda slowly driving by behind my lilac tree.
He hadn’t returned since that last time I’d spotted him four days ago. Now as I stood and walked to my front door, my heart was like rolling thunder inside my ears. Would he stop tonight? Somehow, I knew he wasn’t stalking me, but only trying to summon the courage to knock on my door.
Part of me wanted to step outside and wave him over, but that would probably scare him off.
I leaned my forehead against the front door, willing him to stop. I needed to make a connection with another man. My body craved it. I’d take a less than perfect hook-up with a stranger over spending another night alone.
There was the sound of wheels on gravel. He must have turned into the vacant lot by the end of the street. The driveway there was unpaved. I was frozen still, listening to the sound of a car engine turning off. A door opening and shutting.
Footsteps. Then silence.
Moments later, when he knocked, I jumped back and stared at the door. Couldn’t leave him standing there for too long or someone would surely spot him. I quickly pulled my door open and without even making eye contact, signaled for him to come in.
This was it. He was here. The scent of his aftershave turned me on.
“I’m sorry for driving by your house like that.” Hank’s breath was short as he stepped closer. “I couldn’t work up the nerve to stop…But tonight, I couldn’t take it anymore.” His voice was husky, his blue eyes, full of heat. “Did I imagine our…connection the other day?”
I hesitated, not knowing how to touch him without sending him into flight. I wanted to kiss him, but the space between us was like a gulf I didn’t know how to breach. “No, you didn’t,” I whispered.
“No?” Hank tipped his head.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “No…”
Then Hank moved—just a small step—and giving in to lust, I grabbed the collar of his shirt, my body colliding into his with a force that knocked the air out of me. “Why didn’t you come before?”
“Too scared,” he groaned against my mouth, his eager kiss nearly bruising my lips.
Frantic with desire, I pulled the nape of his hair, my hands hard-pressed on his back. Hank was holding me so tight, as though he was afraid I’d stop us, but I wouldn’t have. He had me up against the wall by the staircase, being brutal and tender all at once, never letting me catch my breath. Was this really happening? I didn’t even know him, but this felt too good to doubt. Eagerly, I helped him out of his boots and he chased me up the stairs, to my room.
We fell back on the bed and our shirts went flying.
There was something in the pressure of Hank’s touch that told me he hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. I wrapped myself around him, sliding my hand down his washboard stomach, reaching the edge of his white briefs. I hadn’t touched another man in a year, and when I slipped my hand into his underwear, the fever peaked inside me, my nerve endings sizzling.
“God, yes,” Hank grunted, tugging my boxers down my thighs, his eyes roaming all over my body. I was self-conscious about my weight, but too turned on to let it stop me from enjoying Hank’s hands discovering every inch of my chest. “Oh, I wanna devour you,” he breathed against my stomach.
I pulled the covers over our heads, and the scent of him, so musky and clean, drugged my senses.
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