Chapter 16: The Safe Opens

She was gentle with me that whole week, and I took it for peace.

On Friday night she fed me pot roast and put her foot in my lap under the table.

She took me upstairs at eight o'clock, before the dishes were done.

She undressed me slowly and kissed each place she uncovered.

She laid me back on the quilt and knelt over my face.

"Show me again," she said. "What you did on the desk."

I took her hips in both hands and pulled her down onto my mouth.

She tasted of salt and soap, and she sighed, long and low, and moved against my tongue.

I licked her until her thighs shook on either side of my head.

I slid two fingers into her and found the place that made her cry out.

She came gripping the headboard, saying my name, and her wetness ran down my chin.

Then she slid down my body and took me inside her, inch by inch.

"Look at me," she said.

I looked.

She rocked on me in the lamplight with her hair loose and her hands flat on my chest.

She was slow and slick and clinging, and she kissed me for a long time.

I came with my fingers in her hair, and she held me through it, whispering that I was good.

When I fell asleep she was still lying on top of me, warm and heavy.

I slept harder than I had in a year.

I woke in the dark with my chest bare.

The cord was gone from my neck.

I sat up.

The bed beside me was cold.

On her pillow lay the small iron barn key, set neatly in the middle.

I didn't stop for my boots.

I went down the stairs in my jeans and heard nothing.

The office door stood open, and the green lamp was on.

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