Chapter 22: A Key

His flat was on the top floor of a narrow house, and it smelled of books and toast.

I had never been inside it.

He shut the door behind us and stood with his back against it, looking at me.

"You're nervous," he said.

"No."

"Your hands are shaking."

"That's not nerves," I said. "That's wanting."

He made a low sound and pushed away from the door.

I met him halfway.

He kissed me against the bookshelves.

One hand was in my hair and the other flat on the wall beside my head.

Books shifted behind my shoulder blades, and neither of us cared.

"I want to do things properly this time," he said into my mouth.

"What's properly?"

"Slowly. In a bed. With the lamp on."

"No lamp," I said. "I want to see you."

"That is what a lamp is for."

I laughed against his jaw.

He reached past me and turned on the lamp by the sofa.

Warm light fell across his face.

His glasses were crooked, and I took them off and set them on the shelf.

Without them he looked younger and more unguarded, and a little afraid.

"Hello," I said.

"Hello."

"Ask me for something."

His throat moved.

"Undress for me," he said. "Slowly."

I did.

I took off my cardigan and let it fall.

I undid the buttons of my blouse one at a time.

He watched with his hands curled at his sides.

When I stepped out of my skirt, he said "God" very quietly.

"Your turn," I said.

He took off his shirt.

I put my palms flat on his chest, and felt his heart going hard under them.

I kissed his collarbone and the center of his chest and the soft skin below his navel.

Then I went down on my knees on his floor.

"Ellery," he said. "You don't have to..."

"I want to."

I undid his belt and his trousers and drew him out.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Bet I Wanted Nothing, So I Left Him Nothing from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.