When he’s softening in my mouth, I release him and slide up to rest my cheek on his shoulder. He wraps an arm around me, cradling me close.
“Holy shit, Echo.”
“You came a lot,” I say, wiping at my lips.
He looks down at me. “I came hard.”
“Yeah you did.” I brush at a stray lock of black hair on his forehead. “But then, so did I. Really hard.”
He’s still breathing hard as we lie together. Eventually, he glances at me. “I don’t even know what time it is, I just know I’m hungry.”
“Not me,” I say, giggling. “I just had breakfast.”
He laughs with me. “You’re sure you don’t need anything else?”
“Nope. Lots of protein in come, I hear.” I grin up at him, and my smile widens as I see that he’s blushing again. Seriously, this guy and his blushing is so damned cute. “For real, though, I could go for breakfast.”
He lifts up to peer over me at the clock. “Holy shit. It’s twelve-thirty.”
I shrug. “Makes sense. I didn’t get back until after four.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d be back, honestly.”
I lift up on an elbow and look down at him. He twines a lock of my hair around his finger. “I just needed to think, Ben. It was a lot to take in.” I rub my hand over his chest. “I thought about leaving your truck here and just…taking off, but…it didn’t seem right. And I didn’t want to. That kiss…it was—I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to talk to you once more, at least. Tell you I…I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault. And even what happened with you and Mom, as weird as it is for me to think about it, I get it.”
“And now?”
I shrug. “And now…we’ve got chemistry, Benji.” I slide closer to him, press my lips to his and taste my own essence on him. “And I like it.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he says, looking at me and sliding a finger across my temple.
“And there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I mean, do we know anything about each other, really? Information-wise, I mean. No, we don’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that I feel a physical pull to you. Attraction, yes, but…something else, too. I don’t know.” I slide out of bed, and face him as I get dressed, enjoying the fact that he can’t take his eyes off me as I hook my bra on and shimmy into my jeans. “So get your fine ass out of bed and put on some clothes.”
He grins. “Yes ma’am.”
Now it’s my turn to stare at his magnificent body as he tugs on underwear, sadly covering his big, dangling dick, followed by a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
We head out and I drive us to a nearby burger place Mom and I used to go to a lot, but all the way there my thoughts keep returning to what he said: There’s a lot you don’t know about me.
And god, it’s true, isn’t it? I don’t know shit about him, or him about me.
* * *
He’s moody during lunch. Conversation flows easily, but I occasionally get a sense of something deeper going on in his head. I want to ask, but I also don’t. Being with him feels insular, like the world and life beyond this thing between us doesn’t exist, or doesn’t matter. I mean, I know I have a lot to do. Mom’s house needs to be cleaned out. I have to go through her stuff, and I don’t even know where to begin or what to do with it all. And I have to figure out if she had a will or anything like that. And eventually I have to get back to school. I got a leave of absence granted, but it won’t hold forever. And once this bubble around Ben and me pops, all of that will come crashing back down around me and I’ll have to deal with it all. And this place, San Antonio, will become a place of memories, a place that once was home, but isn’t any longer.
So I don’t pry into whatever is percolating behind Ben’s eyes.
We eat lunch, have a beer each even though it’s barely one in the afternoon, and we avoid talking about anything deep. And through it all, the only thing I really want is to go back to his apartment, get him naked, and fuck him until neither of us can move.
He pays again, and then we’re in his truck and I’m heading to his apartment.
He glances at me. “Um, do you want to swing by your grandparents’ house? Get your stuff? I mean…if you wanted to stay with me while you’re in San Antonio, I’d think you might want your bag, at least, right?” He clears his throat. “Assuming you want to stay, I mean.”
“Hell yeah, I do. But we can’t just ‘swing by’ their house. It’s kind of far. A good two-hour round trip, depending on traffic. And…are you sure you’d want to come with me? They’d…ask questions.”
“It’s up to you, Echo. You can do whatever you want. I wouldn’t mind questions. I mean, we’re friends, right?”
I shrug. “Sure. But I’m pretty sure it’d be obvious there’s more, especially to Grandma. She don’t miss a trick.”
He laughs. “You sounded very Texas just then.”
I grin and can’t help laughing. “Well, I did grow up here, so it comes back every once in a while.” I cut a glance at him. “I don’t know, though. Do I want to go there? Not really. It’d just be…hard. And my bag only has a couple changes of clothes and my makeup. Nothing super important, you know? I mean, I wasn’t planning on being here very long.”
We both sober at that.
“No,” he says, quietly. “I suppose not.”
I try to turn the conversation back to something light. “So, I guess my point is there’s nothing I really need. I can buy more clothes, and I don’t plan on putting on any makeup any time soon.” I glance at him and wink.
His smile is bright and hopeful and amused. “You weren’t, huh?”
I shrug. “Nope. I don’t usually wear much anyway. Some eyeliner and lip gloss to class, maybe a bit more if I’m going out with my friends.”
Clearly not the response he was expecting, judging by the look on his face. “Oh. Right. Well you don’t need it at all. You’re gorgeous.”
I can’t help but glow a little at his compliment. “Thanks.” I lean toward him. “Also, I don’t wear makeup to bed.”
A smile spreads across his face, and he glances at me. “Neither do I.”