Page 69 of Anywhere with You
“No,” she said, laughing. “Definitely not. But to say that I never thought about it? Never imagined it? That would be a lie.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked again, not believing her at all. “When?”
“Oh, goodness, for years.”
I backed away from her on impulse. I didn’t want to upset her. I wasn’t upset, but I was shocked.
Cara didn’t seem bothered. She cocked her head to the side and looked at me. I could only barely see her in the starlight and the glow of our abandoned flashlights.
“Come on, Honey. You know what you’re like.”
“Like?” I couldn’t find other words. My brain was stuttering.
“Yes,” she said, moving slowly toward me. “You’re gorgeous.” Her tongue flicked against her upper lip.
I huffed. I was overweight and rarely bothered to do more with my face than clean it. My hair was awesome, but that purple streak could only do so much.
“You are,” she insisted, still closing the small distance between us. “Not just your body, though definitely your body, you should know. But also you’re fun and interesting, and the way you move, God. I know that you’re not being intentionally sensual, but you move like someone…like someone who is comfortable with having elbows.”
Now I was laughing, letting her finish her approach and touch me again. “Like someone who has elbows?”
“No, like someone who has elbows and is totally okay with it.” She laughed, too, and kissed me gently. “I don’t. I never know where my elbows should be, or what to do with my hands when I’m standing, or how to sit without drawing attention to my thighs. I’ve picked out every piece of clothing in my closet with an eye to minimizing my flaws, and I feel like you’ve done the opposite.”
“I do try to maximize my flaws,” I said, biting her earlobe. “I have a pair of pants that makes my ass look like a planet.”
“No,” she said, sounding half amused, half frustrated. “You dress to maximize the things you like about yourself.”
I pulled my head back to look at her. “Do I?”
“Yes. The purple shirt that looks like the one mechanics wear, the one that matches your hair, it fits perfectly against your body, like it was tailor-made. Or the one with the music notes that is way too big for you but is somehow exactly perfect. The capri pants that show off the guitar tattoo on your calf. Oh, and that low-cut black top? Your breasts look delicious in that.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, and she grinned, pulling me back against her.
I thought about what she said, and about how none of those clothes were ones I’d brought on this trip. I hadn’t believed her when she said she’d been noticing me, that she’d imagined us together. But it was hard to dismiss the evidence.
“I almost told you,” she said, “days ago, when we were stuck in the elevator. I daydreamed about it, about touching you for the first time, there in the dark.”
A shiver ran through my whole body. I had not been a fan of being stuck in that elevator, but I, too, was perfectly happy to daydream about how it could’ve gone.
She must have felt the shiver. Her lips smiled against my shoulder, then bit me.
“If it helps,” I gasped, “I’m totally okay with you having elbows.”
“Very helpful,” she sighed, but it wasn’t an annoyed sigh. I had my teeth on her neck, my hands on the tantalizing sides of her breasts, all I could reach with our bodies pressed together, and she was happily losing track of our conversation.
I couldn’t help Cara become more comfortable with being a human. It was hard, most of the time. Maybe I faked being better at it. Maybe I just worried about different things.
But this, making her love how her body felt, that was something I could do, happily.
As for the rest, maybe being cared for, truly cared for, would help a little, in time.
Chapter Twenty-seven
We found our swimsuits, eventually, and slept briefly on the rocks at the edge of the hot spring, warmed by the proximity of the water and each other, pillowing our heads on folded towels.
I had thoroughly checked the area around the springs before we lay down and assured Cara that this spot was as snake-free, scorpion-free, and centipede-free as any place in the middle of the desert could hope to be.
Eventually, she was too tired to stay awake, and she refused to let me watch over her.
