Page 9 of Puck Me Secretly

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

He tilted my head back and something cold covered my mouth.

“Take a deep breath,” he instructed. I sucked in air that smelled like plastic.

The whole plane trembled.

A female voice, quaking with fear, instructed us over the loudspeaker.

“Brace, brace, brace. Head down. Stay down.”

“Brace, brace, brace. Head down. Stay down.”

We were going to die!

Max’s large warm hand pushed me forward so my head pressed between my knees. The whine of the plane intensified.

I turned towards Max. Too big to put his head between his legs, he leaned forward and braced his head against the seat in front of him. Our eyes met.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

People screamed and cried.

The flight attendant chanted out the same instructions.

The plane’s engines howled outside the window.

“Where are the exits, gorgeous?”

“What?” I cried, my voice muffledby the mask.

“Where are the exits?”

Why was he so composed?

“There’s one at the front and two emergency exits in row 11 but I don’t want to die. I’ve never been in love.”

“No one’s going to die.”

I babbled like a mad person. “I wanted to give my art a real chance. I want to have kids one day. And I haven’t had a real orgasm with a guy.”

His blue eyes widened.

Behind me, a woman sounded like she was being murdered. Her scream chilled my blood.

I craned my head back to see her.

He reached over and pushed my head back down. “Tell me why you’ve never come during sex.”

“What!?”

“Keep talking. Focus on my face.”

Fear kept the words flowing. “All my friends talk about these great sexual moments, but something is wrong with me. I had to fake it with all the Baby Men. Every single time. I’ve never told anyone this, but I think something is wrong with me.”

“Nothing is wrong with you. Blame the baby boyfriends.”

“You don’t know that!”