It had been a while since they'd needed this.
He strode quickly toward the door, hoping he'd really find her there. The brief message he'd sent, proposing this place on this night, had gotten an equally brief response. In a way, that was perfect: it was what she knew he'd want. Still, one of these times, they might cross wires and be in the wrong place... and after all they'd gone through to find each other in the first place, any missed chance would be frustrating.
One of these times, too, maybe she'd get him arrested. He always thought about that as these evenings began. Still, when he reached the automatic door, he was moving faster than it wanted him to move. He stiffarmed it aside and entered, and paused to get his bearings.
Off to the right, toward the back of the store. Still moving quickly, he stepped that way, breathing deeply with the exertion of his walk, and with his body not quite knowing whether to be hard. Not that aisle, not the next one... but finally there she was, toward the back of the store past a pair of married shoppers, toying with items displayed on hooks.
The sight of her didn't exactly calm him, but his pace was more normal as he brushed past the others leaving the aisle. He took in the sight of her as he walked - the skirt, the heels - remembering her. She must have seen him first, because her smile couldn't be about the merchandise on the rack in front of her. He thought she'd seen him, at least - she had to be pretending, to be so unaware as he drew near.
To find out, once he was within arms' reach, he reached out to touch her hair. Wordlessly, his fingertips brushed the back of her neck, feeling the electricity of that first contact, skin-to-skin. Her body gave just one tiny quiver - from this, he was certain she had known he was there, and had been anticipating whatever touch came first.
His hand fell down to rest upon her hip, palm pressing against the top of her buttock. His fingers curled around towards the front, tips edging towards the territory they longed to visit. She shifted weight toward him and rose a fraction on her toes, as a subtle way to press against him, a way that just might not get them caught. To the old man that walked past them then, they seemed to be reading labels, but the man with the warming palm was busy trying to read the lady's mind.
Her mind was in a whirl; she barely knew what she was thinking herself. This man was a recurring fantasy to her most of the time, somebody you'd think about when the mood was right, the secret lover she kept just for her. Having him genuinely there, with that too-damn-right first touch, was just a bit different from what she'd been anticipating. Just like every time. She wanted to seduce and to amaze him with her daring... but for the moment, it was good to just stand still, just let it happen.... just to melt.
Unplanned and in unison, they shuffled slightly closer together; his right hip slightly overlapping her left. The curve of her body became pressed against his groin, and his grip on her other hip immediately tightened with the shock of it. Her smile widened as she thought "my goodness, he is happy to see me." Somehow drawing strength from that thought, she shifted to press more fully against that erection. After all, it was the reason she was there, fundamentally - she wanted to reassure it that she was happy too.
He drew a long breath as she ground her body against his shaft, acutely aware that the old man had not gone far, was within feet of him, could very well be watching. He was half terrified of some disgusted outcry, but half tempted to turn around and say "Watch me fuck her right here." Neither was quite the way he wanted this to end, and he believed he could feel either or both moments approaching... so reluctantly he shifted his body away from hers. Squeezing with the hand still grasping her, to reassure, he bent close to her ear and said:
"Next aisle."
Then he turned and walked away from her, aware his erection was noticeable, trying to think of a place to hide it other than the place he was wanting to hide it. He hoped she understood, hoped it wouldn't all go wrong right here. As he left the aisle and turned to the next one, he heard her footsteps... walking away. Dammit.
He stepped into the next aisle, which had no other shoppers. At least he had some space to curse himself. How did he let her get away? What the hell did he do wrong? Now what was he going to... oh.
He grinned ear-to-ear as she appeared at the far end of the aisle, peeking around the corner before stepping fully into view. He let his hands fall to his sides and kept the grin in place as he began walking slowly toward her.
She stepped toward him as well, watching the way his hands dangled at his waist, the way his fingers flexed, the way his eyes moved across her. Every sign she read said that he wanted to have her right there, and she was losing track of reasons why he shouldn't. About ten feet away from him, she turned abruptly to face the shelves and stopped, staring without seeing, trying to understand her own nerve endings. She already knew she was sexy, really she did - why did the way he looked at her in public make her weak?
His footsteps stopped right behind her, and for a moment there was nothing for her nerves to do except to know he was close. His right arm reached past her right shoulder, to touch the colorful merchandise on the shelf; he'd found the simplest excuse to be near to her. His foot shifted, their thighs touched... and again she felt the length of him pressed against her. She realized that she didn't even know if anyone could see them, that she wasn't even keeping track of where she was.
His breathing spoke only of his excitement, how thoroughly he wanted to press his body against hers. The scent of her was maddening him, reminding him how spectacular she was, that woman right against his body... how satisfying she could be... His left arm went around her midsection as his right drew back from the shelf. He had to hold her just then, and he didn't even consciously realize how his right hand was groping her breast until his thumb brushed across a barely-covered nipple.
He felt her weight sag back against him, then push back, shoulder blades against ribs. The contact overwhelmed her, her spinning mind taking refuge in what nerve endings could tell her. How could he know how she had ached for that intimate touch, how she had considered the feel of every blouse she owned before dressing that morning, how she had felt the material against her that afternoon when she visited the store to think about the night... He'd touched her perfectly again, and she leaned into it, hard, without thinking how obvious it would be to anyone watching. Not at first, at least, and when she did think of it, she immediately convinced herself that the embrace would look innocent enough, long enough...
They had been needing this for so long.
His hand froze in place as she squirmed against him, as he tried to keep some control of himself and what was happening. He'd already almost lost her once - he wouldn't be able to stand it if she got spooked, if he couldn't get her near him, against him, on him. The fingertips which had begun to close around her breast opened again, and his right hand shifted down to her abdomen, to rest above her navel. As innocently as he could manage, he caressed a small circle on her body, up to just below the curve of her breasts and then back down. Suddenly aware of how his arms were pressing her against his erection, he backed up slightly, reluctantly, hoping his hands could do enough for her on their own.
She exhaled slowly through her nose, resisting the urge to growl. Damn him, did he have to torture her like that? Hands, those hands, rubbing her, which was just why she'd answered him in the first place, but damn him, leaving her nipples so ready, she knew this blouse, she had to be so fucking obvious right now... getting so soaked from the center out... damn him... those hands...
She leaned her head backward, eyes closed, until her temple rested against his jaw. As he reflexively gathered her tighter against him, his failing shave rasped against her skin and drew that first little sound from her. One long breath later, relying on bone conduction, she spoke softly but clearly:
"Come after me. Garden center."
And suddenly she was breaking free of him, heels clicking down the aisle. Her legs were working like pistons, moving with a sudden burst of energy. She glance at the couple she passed toward the end of the aisle, ignoring the man's surprised survey of her body. Reaching the corner, she turned right... and disappeared into the store.
The couple continued walking - the man she'd left just stood for a moment, collecting himself as best he could. He drew one deep breath of his own, wheeled on one foot, and marched toward where she had vanished, aware of the couple only as obstacles he needed to move beyond. The woman's widening eyes as he stalked by went unnoticed, and he did not care that the couple had, without thinking, moved more closely together as he passed.
He was occupied with turning right, and scanning the store. He found the sign for the garden center, high up on the side wall, but no sign of her. Oh what the hell, did she really...? His mind jittered through a dozen things she might have done, as his body moved automatically, with long strides, toward the sign that he did see. His body seemed confident it would find her, and it walked his jittering mind to the proper door before he realized it.
The garden center door slid open as he approached, just slowly enough to break his stride. He stepped through it into the outdoors, his eyes swiveling, adjusting to the fading twilight. This area was not the most popular part of the store this time of day - it was just a glorified section of parking lot surrounded by chain-link fencing, on the side of the building farthest from the traffic. He tried to appear calm as he surveyed the scene.
