Page 13 of Call Off the Dark

“Yes, yes,” she said in her most pretentious voice. “The artist really captured the many shades and nuances of life with her use of color.”

As Helen continued to stare at the piece with an expression that she hoped appeared pensive, Tyler stole a sideways look at her. She squinted at the art to show him this playfulness was serious business.

But then she couldn’t help herself. She inhaled deeply, followed by an exhalation that sounded so much louder than she intended. That breath held all her desire and her nervousness and her want, and Tyler heard it loud and clear.

One moment they were standing there as pretend patrons of the art community, and the next he was grabbing her so fast that she was squealing as she wrapped her arms around his neck, swept into how natural it felt to touch him, to be held by him.

In between kisses, Helen asked, “Is this too cliché?”

“What?”

“Sex on the first date.”

Tyler raised his eyebrows. “We’re going to have sex?”

She smacked him on the arm.

He laughed. “No, sex on the third date would be way more cliché.”

“So we’re really just being rebels.”

“Right,” he agreed and bit her bottom lip softly. “We’re rebels.”

And she melted right then and there. Somehow on the way to her bed, she ended up pulling them against her closet doors, and the wood groaned on its hinges. Then she felt him reaching for the hem of her dress. When he paused, she said, “Take it off,” and she put her hands in the air. She felt his fingertips against her bare skin as he pulled the dress over her head.

Helen reached for the top button on Tyler’s shirt and started working her way down. “Why did you wear a shirt with so many buttons?” she asked.

“To torture you.”

“So mean.” She dropped his shirt to the floor and stepped back to admire him. She was still wearing heels on her feet, and a matching black lace bra and panty set, and it made her feel like a pinup girl as his eyes took her in.

“You look so amazing,” he said. “Absolutely amazing.” He said it as if it was a statement of fact that she shouldn’t try to refute because he was unquestionably correct.

Helen put her hands on his chest and trailed her fingers across his skin as she said, “So do you,” then shoved him backward onto the bed. She stepped out of her heels and climbed on top, sitting astride him. Tyler sat up to kiss her, and as she lowered all her weight onto her knees, she felt the heat of him against her.

His hands trailed from the skin of her bare waist down, and he said, “Your legs are cold.”

“Because I walked four blocks in the cold with bare legs.”

“It’s March,” he said in between kisses. “That’s crazy.”

“It was for you!” she said against his mouth. “I wanted you to see my legs when I walked into the restaurant.”

Tyler chuckled and tilted his head back so he could see her face. “I definitely saw your legs when you walked into the restaurant. And I saw your legs in the elevator yesterday morning too.”

“You never looked at my legs in the elevator.”

“I did.” He smiled. “I was very quick and very stealthy.”

Then they divested each other of the rest of their clothes, and he looked at not just her legs but all of her, this time not so quick and not so stealthy.

Eventually, Tyler said, “I have a condom in my jacket,” and he looked all the way over to the chair where he had left his jacket. And Helen said, “I have a condom in my dresser,” and she looked at the drawer right next to her bed. And Tyler said, “You win.”

After that, the whole world faded away. It was hands in hair and urgent kissing, and it was their eyes poring over each other.

When they flipped over so Helen was beneath him, she accidentally caught her elbow in his ribs and said, “Sorry,” and he quickly whispered, “It’s okay.”

And then Tyler showed her how it was better than okay with the way he gripped her hips and slid inside her.