Page 49 of What I'm Looking For

“Hmmm. Sounds like a bad case of man withdrawal. Let me see what I can do.” I pin her against the counter and give her lovely lower lip a gentle kiss. “Better?”

She shakes her head and points at her top lip where I dutifully apply my medicine. With further finger pointing, she directs me: her ear, her neck, her clavicle, her belly button. The whimpering devolves into moans. I haul her up; she circles her legs around my waist and points directions until I find the bedroom. Where there’s a cat in the middle of the bed.

She sweeps her arm toward it, waving toward the door. “Frankie! You have to go now!” He flattens his ears at us before slinking out of the room. “Thank you, Frankie!”

I close the door behind him. “Sorry, Frankie.”

Spinning back around, I toss Kate onto the bed. She bounces, laughing. When I crawl over her, strong legs circle my lower back. They tug me in so urgently that I lose my balance, toppling on top of her. When I try to ease up so I won’t squash her, her thighs keep me in place. Her eyes spark with humor, a sharp contrast to the hesitancy I saw in them Monday night.

Giggling, she grasps the back of my head and pulls my mouth to hers. As our lips touch, need sweeps through me and I dive in, a wave of desire erasing all caution. Spreading my fingers across her temple, caressing a cheekbone with my thumb, kissing my way to an ear, I rasp, “I need to feel more of your skin.”

“I know, me too.” She puts a hand on my chest, concern clouding her expression. “But what about your lucky vest?”

“Think I’ll get lucky without it?”

She taps her chin like she’s seriously considering the question until I take her other index finger and drag it across my lips. Her eyes widen when I slowly take it into my mouth. Moments later she’s wiggling all over. “Yes, yes, lose the vest!”

I reach back to get rid of it and my shirt, groaning as her hand trails across newly exposed skin. Straddling her hips with my thighs, I ease my fingertips under her tee, loving the quiver that greets my touch. Slowly drawing it up to reveal more satiny skin, I kiss my way across her writhing belly until she cries out in frustration, wriggles out of her shirt and tosses it away.

All four of our hands move at once. When my mouth explores her breasts through the thin white cotton of her bra, her whole body shudders. Man, she’s sensitive. I move to the other breast and she palms the front of my shorts.

Hanging onto control by a thread, I ask, “Can I assume you’re saying that you want to go further?”

Her pouty lips purse and a tiny line appears between her eyebrows.

“I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want to. I still don’t know what we’re doing here. I mean, I like you… a lot.” I gulp when her hand squeezes what’s now the absolute hardest part of me. “Obviously. And I’m not seeing anybody else.”

She shakes her head. “Me neither. I don’t know where this is going.” The light brown of her irises is eclipsed by her dilated pupils. “But I do know that I want you inside me.” Her hands begin to unbutton my shorts and shove them out of her way.

I’m about to shove off my boxers when I realize I’m missing something. Something very important. “Fuck.”

She giggles. “That’s the plan.”

“No, I mean?—” I flop onto my back with a grunt. “I brought everything I needed to make you breakfast, but I didn’t plan for this, so I,” covering my face with my hands, I growl, “don’t have any condoms.”

“Oh, is that all?” She shoves my shoulder. “I gotcha covered.” Crawling over me toward the nightstand, she looks over her shoulder with a grin. “No pun intended.” She opens a drawer. “Look!”

I have to lean awkwardly over her butt to see what she’s pointing at. Colorful, shiny packages fill the drawer. To the brim. And it’s a pretty big drawer.

My jaw about hits the floor. I’ve been pleasantly surprised so far that seemingly straitlaced Kate is so responsive. But I’ve never seen a condom stash quite like this one. “Um. Why?”

Kate looks back and forth from the drawer to me. “Huh. I guess this does send a certain message.” She waves a hand in the air. “But don’t worry. I’m not a nympho or anything. In fact, the reason I have so many is that this bed hasn’t seen much action lately.”

She wriggles to sit facing me. On top of me. I have to make my hands sit still because the way her thighs are gripping mine is driving me insane with need.

“See, one of my many cousins is a gynecologist. She does some work for Planned Parenthood, so she gets lots of samples. When I turned eighteen, I started getting monthly packages in the mail, as did all my other cousins, apparently—male and female, I might add—with little inspirational notes that said things like, ‘Condoms are the only way to prevent the spread of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia.’”

“Not exactly words that inspire passion.”

She nods her head slowly. “Yeah, she’s a real romantic. When the AIDS thing kicked in, she started sending them twice as often. With reminders to throw out the expired ones.” She leans over again and stirs the contents of the drawer. “So… weird, I guess, but at least you have your choice of protection.”

She scoops up a handful of condoms. “Let’s see what’s on the menu. Fun Flavors? Ribbed for Her Pleasure? Latex-free for Sensitive Skin?”

“Come ’ere, you,” I growl, pulling her butt in close so that she’s pressed up against me, making me crazy in the best possible way. “You are the funniest person I’ve ever met. And I know a lot of funny people.”

She half-grimaces. “That’s a good thing, right?”

I sit partway up to kiss her. “That’s a very good thing. At least I think so.” Grabbing a few condoms, I fan them out across my chest. “Hmmm, what shall we start with? ’Cause I’m thinking we’re going to have to try them all.”

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