Chapter 9: Eight O'Clock

He came back at ten that night, and this time he knocked on the upstairs door.

He held a paper bag from the Thai place on Hale Street. He didn't say a word about rules.

We ate on the floor of my living room with our backs against the couch.

He told me the pad see ew was a mistake, and he ate all of mine.

I laughed so hard I had to put my fork down.

He stopped chewing and watched me with an odd look.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing. You laugh like you're surprised by it."

I didn't know what to answer, so I kissed him.

It started small.

His mouth tasted of chili and lime, and he set the carton down without looking.

When he pulled back, his thumb traced my lower lip.

"Bed," he said. "This time, bed."

"Is that a rule?"

"It's a request."

I took his hand and led him down the short hall.

In the dark he undressed me slowly, one button at a time.

He kissed my collarbone first. Then my shoulder, then the soft place behind my ear.

"You're shaking," he said.

"So are you."

"Yes."

He eased me onto the mattress and lay beside me, one hand spread on my stomach.

For a while we only kissed.

His palm slid down my body, over my hip, between my thighs, where I was wet and ready.

He stroked me with two fingers, slow and steady, watching my face.

"Ansel," I whispered.

"Say it again."

"Ansel."

He slid his fingers inside me and curled them, and I arched off the bed with a gasp.

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