Page 26 of Intangible
“Don’t ever question if I want you, though. I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you curled up on that cot,” he said, reaching out to brush a stray piece of her hair behind her ear.
“What if we just go forward slowly until we see where this takes us?” she asked, looking up at him. “We can promise to tell the other one if we don’t feel like it should continue.” He nodded his head once, letting her step past him toward the fire.
“I know I’m hiding from everything right now,” she continued. “But would you let me hide just a little longer, here, in your arms?” He leaned against the front door, staring down at the floor for a few minutes before raising his head to look over at her.
“Yeah, we can do that,” he answered her after a few minutes, pushing off the door.
* * *
Thayer was adding whipped cream to the ice cream sundaes she’d made when he walked out of the bedroom wearing flannel pajama pants. That was all, just pants and glasses. Did he do it on purpose, or did he really have no idea how sexy she found him? His hair was still damp from the shower and sticking out in different angles. She had never wanted to run her hands through someone’s hair as much as she wanted to Memphis’. Maybe while it was between her thighs.
“Please stop looking at me like that. I’ll have to go change again. I already have a pair of compression shorts on under these.” Thayer laughed as she handed him his bowl of ice cream.
“I guess if you don’t want me ogling you, you should remember to put on a shirt,” she teased him.
“Apparently,” he answered, starting to rise from the couch where they had settled to work on their ice cream.
“Not now,” she said, pulling him back down. “Later. Much, much later.” Thayer liked being with Memphis. Even pinned against a door or being devoured on the bathroom counter, she always felt safe with him. She wondered if it was because he had always kept his word.
When she had been doused with water, he had taken care of her. He was even still sitting in the doorway when she woke up later. She understood what he meant earlier. If he ever did bury himself in her, she knew she would never be able to leave him.
“You’re deep in thought. Anything you’d like to share?”
She smiled over at him. “Do you know why I’ve never had sex before?”
Memphis spit the mouthful of ice cream out, causing Murphy to jump to his feet where he lay on his dog bed. With one big leap, he landed in Memphis’ lap, licking the treat off his mouth. Sputtering, Memphis finally managed to fight the dog off while Thayer roared in laughter.
“Wow, that was an impressive share,” he said, trying to regain control of both himself and his dog. “Murphy! Get on your bed.”
“Sorry, I just assumed Knox had told you that,” she said, laughing.
“Jesus, why would he share that information with me? No wonder he wants me far away from you.”
Sliding her cold feet under him, she snuggled deeper into the blanket he had covered her with earlier. “Okay, this is going to make you laugh. It’s really stupid.” Memphis watched her as she began her story.
Chapter 10
“My mother diedwhen I was just entering middle school,” Thayer began. “At the time, my father was a commander on a submarine. He had taken a leave of absence to be with her at the end, but had to return to service soon after the funeral. He didn’t like being gone all the time and leaving me in the care of nannies, so he put in for a desk job. That’s how I met Knox. He served on the sub under Dad and when he was transferred to the office, he took Knox with him.”
“I still don’t understand how he fit on a sub,” Memphis said, shaking his head.
“Dad said he was pretty good at adapting to his surroundings and he can sleep pretty much anywhere.” Thayer laughed. “Anyway, during that period between Dad working on the sub and running for senator, he worked really hard at taking on the role of both mom and dad.
“One night, after I was supposed to be asleep instead of reading, I heard a voice downstairs. Sneaking down the stairs, I noticed the door to Dad’s office open a crack. He was sitting at his desk telling the picture of Mom everything that had happened that day.” Memphis watched her as she stared at the far wall, lost in thought, before turning her smile on him again.
“Mom told me that she knew from the moment she met Dad he was special. They met at a social held by one of the families my grandparents were friends with. Their son had just graduated from Annapolis with Dad, so he was invited to attend as well.
“She said the moment he walked in the door, there was this force that drew them together. He asked her out that night and they were together until her death. Even when I was little, I could tell just by the way he looked at her that she was everything to him. Do you know I’ve never seen him even look twice at another woman? He’s still in love with her.”
“That’s amazing,” Memphis said when Thayer became quiet again.
“Yeah, well,” she finally said. “It might just be a pipe dream of a naïve girl, but I want that. I want the kind of man that crosses a roomful of people to get to me as if no one else exists. I want the kind of love that lives on into the next life. I don’t want someone just looking to get his rocks off in a dorm room that smells like stale beer, socks, and Cheetos.”
Red began to creep up Thayer’s neck when he remained silent, staring at her. “See, I told you it was stupid,” she said, standing to gather the bowls of melted ice cream that Murphy had discovered on the floor and licked clean.
“It’s not stupid,” Memphis said to her back as she walked into the kitchen. He hadn’t meant to give her that impression. He had been wondering how many of the girls he had had casual sex with in the back of cars, dorm room beds and under bleachers had felt the same way. “As a matter of fact, I think you should hold out for that man. You deserve that kind of love.”
“Yeah, well, pipe dream,” she said, breezing past him toward the bathroom.
