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So I steer her a little down the hall until we’re in front of the roohs and I say, “C’o? And the room isn’t that cold, there’s just the noise of the soda machine to contend with She says, “You can’t be serious,” and I agree that I can’t be I’m not I say, “I’m just really into you,” and then I kiss her and she finds the light switch and turns it off, and then we’re just lit in Pepsi-can colors and it’s like we’ve finally found this other kind of conversation, this conversation in gestures and pulls and pushes and breaths and grasps and teases and glimmers and rubs and expectation “Are you okay?” I ask, and she says, “Are you?” And I say, “Yes, I areat conversation

God, I like her so much

“Let’s get you out of some of those wet clothes,” she says, and she pulls at my shirt and stumbles over some of the buttons and I don’t knohat co her and that really pisses her off, but she’s laughing and then gasps back the laugh, I guess so the guests won’t hear She finishes the buttons and she takes off the shirt I take —she pulls back for a second and folds it neatly, puts it almost reverently on the floor Then I peel off the wet flannel, peel off the T-shirt underneath She runs her fingers through the patch of hair on my chest, then follows the trail down to my belt I have never, ever felt such desire She takes off the belt, lets it drop to the floor Then she unbuttons the top button of my jeans—only the top button And I reach over to her jeans and unbutton the top button—only the top button And I ask it again—“Are you okay?” And this time she says yes She says she’s more than okay

We kiss like it’s a for It’s not like it was in the club, when it was like she was proving so except that we’re not afraid That we’re not going to think too o too much Her hand traces down the zipper line and I say, “Slow” Because this is not a rush This is not so And this is ours

I a I can feelShe embraces me so her arms are behind my back, then lets her hands wander down, across that line, under my jeans, under my boxers I wrap my arms around her, raise my hands to her back To her neck To her hair Then one hand glides back, runs over her brsts, then between thele The icecrash that h, takes us out of the moht That stop That pause

“What are we doing?” she says

“I don’t know?” I reply

She leans into ain, her wet pants squarely on mine, and says, “Good answer”

I want to kiss her without counting the seconds I want to hold her so long that I get to know her skin I want, I want, I want

Her hands slide to my hips Her thumbs hook around my waistband

Lowering