We burst into the house later that night and I struggled to quiet Angela's shrill laughter. I wrapped an arm around her waist when she stumbled while trying to remove her stilettos. She sagged against me and I managed to drag her as far as the living room. I left her on the couch with a blanket pulled over her body.
I walked upstairs and my pulse pounded as I recalled the strange events of the night. After meeting that stranger in the bar, I'd cooled down in seconds. Within an hour, I'd convinced myself I'd imagined the whole thing.
He was just some guy who bumped into me. He held onto me to keep me from falling over. I was unbalanced on those ridiculous shoes.
It sounded reasonable and so I accepted it.
As I reached the second floor, I was aware of a second heartbeat down the hall. I bit my lip and tiptoed to Harlowe's door. I'd never gone to him in his room but I told myself he wouldn't mind. Something had been roiling within me all night and I couldn't put my finger on it. An hour in Harlowe's arms would help.
I slipped into his dark room after tapping on the door. As I made my way to his bed, I removed the tight red top and the little black skirt. I shook my hair loose, ignoring the pins falling like rain against my shoulders. Then I removed my underwear, shuddering as I peeled the damp fabric from my swollen and sensitive skin. I reached for his bed covers and knelt on the edge of the bed, leaning over him.
"Harlowe." I ran my hand up his arm. I tickled the skin behind his ear, where I knew he was most sensitive.
He came awake with a jolt and I giggled behind my hand as he looked up at me in surprise. "Nerina? What are you doing here?"
I stretched out next to him. "I wanted to see you."
"I thought you and Ang went out."
"We just got home. You want me to let you to sleep?" This I asked as I ran a hand through the coarse hair covering his chest. I felt him shiver as my palm slipped lower, teasing the crisp hair above his burgeoning member.
"No," he ground out in a hoarse tone as his hands closed around my waist.
His surprise over my late night appearance was short-lived. He responded to my touch and pressed his head back against his pillow as I followed my touch with kisses. When I took him into my mouth, he groaned.
"Nerina," he hissed my name from behind clenched teeth.
I felt his hands tunnel into my hair, yanking the few pins I'd missed. The sting was minimal and I was too intent on my task to notice. I licked him, tasting his salty essence as I cupped his testicles and massaged them. He thrust into my mouth and I took him in deeper, sucking on him. I didn't usually enjoy this but it seemed I was not myself tonight.
I was more than aware of his pounding heartbeat, the twitching of his muscles as he held himself back from spewing into my mouth. He wanted what I wanted, to empty himself inside of my body.
So I did something else I didn't normally do.
I released him from my mouth with a final suction of my lips, making him gasp in surprise. Then I knelt above him, straddling his thighs. His hands closed on my hips, lifting me. He was such an experienced lover, he knew what I wanted. I was more aware than ever of my body's responses. It was less forced, more intense, even though it still didn't reach quite deep enough to make me ignite.
I lifted myself at his urging and circled his engorged member with my fingers. I rubbed my swollen flesh against the tip, wetting it, and gave a happy sigh as I brushed it over my sensitive nub. Then he was hauling me down, forcing himself up and into me. I rocked on him, taking him deep inside and moaned, as I should, as he thrust up into me.
Harlowe groaned, his fingers digging into my hips and I felt his thighs lift against my bottom as he moved. He was frantic for me and I sensed that he wouldn't last long. I touched myself, holding my fingers on either side of his plunging member. His eyes snapped open and he watched my hand between us. His breathing was ragged as I squeezed his cock every time he pulled out of me.
When my fingers were coated with my juices, I moved higher, circling that hub of nerves above our joining. I stroked, biting my lip as my own touch brought more sensations up from deep inside. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes, conjuring an unfamiliar face to mind.
Sweat dotted my upper lip and I pushed down hard on Harlowe. He grunted from the impact but continued to thrust into me. I drifted from the present as I called up images of golden eyes and overwhelming heat. I rocked against his cock, rubbed myself furiously and gasped as I ran headlong into a climax.
I wasn't certain but I think I cried out. A moment later, Harlowe's hands squeezed and I felt the warm slosh as he emptied himself inside of me.
You'd better be using birth control,
a deep, masculine voice intruded through my orgasmic haze.
Of course I am.
I was too annoyed at the intrusion to realize that I was speaking to myself.
I'm a modern woman. I've been on the pill for years.
Later, as I drifted to sleep with Harlowe snoring against my shoulder, I told myself inner conversations were ridiculous.
No one reads minds.
I yawned.
Or talks to themselves during sex.
****
This time the dream made me uncomfortable.
I was drowning, instead of flowing with the current. I opened my mouth, sucking in more water, and my arms flailed on either side of me.
This isn't right.
Always before, the water had just become part of me, and I of it. We'd roll together, pushing and floating like a breeze.
This time, unseen hands clutched my ankles, yanking hard. I bobbed with my head above water, sucking in hot, sticky fumes. My eyes blinked open but I caught only the barest glimpse of rolling steam before being hauled under again.
I kicked, frantic for another breath of air and opened my mouth on a cry as my foot kicked a rock.
I was in the shallows, ground just beneath me. I stopped struggling and flattened my feet, touching down. As I straightened, my head rose above the surface. I sucked in air and blinked the water out of my eyes. This time I saw more of the spreading steam crossing the water.
You mustn't.
A familiar voice rolled towards me from the cloud of steam.
What?
But I wasn't to be given an answer.
I was upended and fell beneath the water. The ground dropped away this time as I tried to stand up and I was left waving my arms like a shipwrecked human.
Something had me in a firm hold and I could no longer kick my legs. The water rushed into my mouth and up my nose. My ears exploded as water filled them and I felt panic, real, unadulterated panic settle in.
This isn't right. I'm not supposed to drown. It shouldn't be possible.
Strange thoughts, adding to my panic.
Black waves closed around me and then, for a long time, nothing.
****
In the morning, Angela was the first to wake. Then, as the saying goes, the cat was out of the bag. When she didn't find me in my own room, she hurried to Harlowe's in a panic, thinking I'd gone out again, or perhaps not come home with her. She found us wrapped naked together, breathing hard from our early morning session and screamed before running out of the room.
Harlowe and I shared a guilty laugh before I got up and crossed the hall to my own room. I was working a brush through the tangled mass of hair when Angela burst into my room.
"All right." She scowled at me as she slammed the door behind her. "Explain."
"What's to explain?" I gave her a weak smile in the mirror. "Harlowe and I slept together."
"You've got to be kidding me. I find you guys naked and sweaty and that's all you can say?" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. She had dark circles under her eyes from the mascara she hadn't washed off last night. To be fair, I looked much the same, just with messy hair thrown in for good measure. "How long has this been going on?"
"What makes you think it's been going on for longer than one night?"
