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“Of course not,” Colin interjected, the passion in his voice surprising June. Startled, June’s eyes broke from the ceiling and came to Colin’s. Brown eyes glittered with intensity. “I’m just saying, those years made you who you are now. Which, as I have demonstrated in a few ways over the past few days, is something that I really like.” A heat smoldered under the sparkle of his irises.
“So does that mean you don’t commit? Don’t you want to build something here? With -” June stopped herself mid sentence. She had been dangerously close to saying “With me.” Which would be ridiculous.
“I commit fully to what I’m passionate about, whether that’s a career or a sport or a friendship. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t desire longer commitments or work to maintain and sustain things that are incredibly important to me.” June tried to ignore the flip in her stomach at those words, at the way that Colin looked right at her as he said the last sentence.
“I’ll think on it. What did you study?” June asked, moving the conversation back from this tenuous place that threatened to expose June. Expose the questions that had been floating around her head for months. Expose her hopes and fears that she had been pushing down every time Colin touched her. She felt like an electric fence, unassuming on the outside but ready to spark at a moment’s notice when some unsuspecting person gripped the wire.
June saw Colin’s shoulders droop incrementally, knowing that he wanted to continue this conversation and see what June would share. One of the things she had begun to love - no, wrong word, dangerous word - appreciate about Colin was his ability to sense when June needed a retreat or an outlet from a conversation.
“I studied Ecology,” Colin said, laughing at himself and rolling his eyes. “I know, it’s not surprising at all. I got to spend a lot of my undergrad in the field though, looking for toads and shit. Once I started working at camp and realized that I liked being around kids, I took enough for a minor in human development.”
June nodded, chuckling. “That is pretty much what I would have expected you to study.”
“You?”
“English,” June replied. “Also, wildly stereotypical when you’re a pale redhead who literally teaches English. I had a Spanish minor, too, though.”
“What’s your favorite book?” Colin asked. June rolled her eyes and huffed out a groan.
“That’s like asking you what your favorite tree or animal is. There are so many and they’re so different, how can you choose just one?”
Colin pursed his lips for a moment, elaborately stroked his chin in a mimicry of deep thought. “Sequoias, though I’ve never seen one. And bison are pretty awesome.”
June rolled her eyes, “Of course you had an answer for this. I also think you just like things that are in big western National Parks.”
“A bison is cooler than a mountain goat, though. You have to give me that one, at least.”
June slapped a hand over her forehead. “I can’t believe you remember that. Okay, fine. My favorite book for kids - which, I will argue, is also for adults - is the Phantom Tollbooth. My favorite ‘grown up book’ is called The Night Circus. I re-read it once every year, just to escape into that universe and setting, it’s so gorgeous.”
“The Phantom Tollbooth,” Colin repeated. “I think I remember that one. Wasn’t there a dog with a clock on it or something?’
“His name is Tock and he’s a watchdog,” June corrected, adding a pedantic air to her voice that caused Colin to give her a playful shove. “And it’s about a boy named Milo who thinks everything is boring but actually finds beauty and adventure in the world. Also, the illustrations are amazing.”
June looked at Colin, who was grinning at her. She saw that spark behind his eyes and decided to fan the flames this time. He leaned toward her, intent on a kiss, but June moved at the last minute. Teasing, building up the tension. This could be fun.
“Do I get to see your bedroom?” She looked around the small house. “I’ve only seen this MurderCouch, and, to be honest, the plaid is getting old.” She picked an invisible speck of dust off a pillow and made a big show of tossing it aside.
“Oh, are you so fancy now?” Colin played along, looking offended. “I knew giving you that fancy coffee was just the beginning of you acquiring a taste for the finer things in life.” He sat up straighter, tossed his hair. “Toss toss.”
“I’m sorry,” June said, her attempt to be sexy and flirtatious broken in an instant. “Did you just quote Wicked to me?”
“Sister,” he explained. “Also, working at camp for over a decade.” June continued to eye him quizzically, raising her eyebrows. “Oh, okay, and I was a theater kid and that soundtrack fucking rocks.”
“A-ha!” June said, throwing herself at him, tackling him into the pillows and blankets that remained on the couch. “I knew you were a big old nerd.” Colin wrapped his arms around her as her legs split, her thighs going on either side of his legs.
“I have no idea what on earth compelled you to think I’m cool,” Colin said, sneaking a quick kiss.
“I think it was the sandals and socks,” June replied, her lips still close enough to Colin’s that they brushed on the syllables.
“It seems like it’s working,” Colin said, trailing a hand up her arm, running his forefinger under the sleeve of her t-shirt. Goosebumps trailed in the wake of his hand, and June rocked against him unconsciously, needing to press her heat close to his growing harness. She hummed a satisfied noise when she felt the evidence of his own attraction pressing up against her through the layers of her sweatpants and his pajamas.
“I’m not the only one it’s working for,” June said again, grinding herself further down on Colin, loving the way that his eyes sparked and his hips jumped with the pressure. His hands slid from her shoulders down to grasp her hips, his longer fingers settling in what June had already come to think of as their perfect sport. He gripped a bit harder as he began to move her body, to rock her against him. She moved with him, allowing him to take the lead, to guide her body, feeling herself grow hotter, wetter. She pressed her lips to his, slid her tongue across his own, as their bodies moved from tentative to determined, the rhythm of hips moving together, up and forward, until Colin’s back was arching and June had to lean down further to keep kissing him.
He suddenly flipped her while kissing her with a groan deep in his throat. “I can’t come this quickly,” he explained, his hands sliding up under her shirt, grasping the fabric and wrenching it up so it moved above her breasts. He moved down, sucking a line from her neck down to the valley between June’s tits, scraping his teeth slightly. June’s breath was louder now, her hands clutching in his hair, tugging the strands that hung down around, grazing her cheekbones and chest.
June pulled his head up to her own, kissing him with no pretense, no teasing, just pure desire and connection between them. “Bed,” Colin muttered against her lips, pulling June up from the couch while somehow, miraculously, keeping their lips connected. He continued to kiss her as he pulled her shirt the rest of the way up, tossing it to the floor, followed quickly by her bra. He pressed her backwards, his lips still finding hers in between the disruptions of fabric. June was quick to follow, pulling Colin’s worn t-shirt up. Colin helped her finish the task, reaching behind him and yanking the shirt over his head in that way that was stupidly sexy.
Time slowed for a second as they stood, arms length apart, each examining each other, drinking in the space between their bodies, a slight sheen already covering their skin. June chewed her lip as Colin’s eyes ran up and down her torso, bouncing from her chest to her swollen lips. Finally, his eyes found hers, locked in, and June heard a slow sigh escape her own mouth at the same time Colin whispered “Fuck.” He tenderly, slowly, drew her to him, holding her tightly for a moment, her nipples pressed against his chest, feeling the sprinkle of chest hair. He walked her backwards, murmuring small affirmations into her ear about her hair, her lips, her skin, her voice, her laugh, her brain, and June found herself illuminating, affection shimmering beneath her skin.
