A Five-Minute Life

He slid into me with one hard thrust. I stretched my arms over my head and arched my back as he braced his weight on one forearm and hooked my leg over the crook of the other, taking me hard and deep.

I gave myself up to him completely—my body and my heart naked and his for the taking.

Chapter 31

Jim

Thea nestled into me and nuzzled my neck. “Morning. May I take your order?”

“Surprise me,” I murmured sleepily.

She kissed below my ear, my jaw, my lips, then disentangled herself from my arms. I yawned and watched through half-closed lids as she padded naked to the bathroom. After these last three days, I had her morning routine memorized by sight and sound. She’d use the bathroom, brush her teeth, take the Hazarin. Then she got dressed, grabbed her bag and slipped out the door, blowing me a kiss on the way.

I rubbed my eyes and settled in to wait. I was getting better about letting her do things for me, like buying me coffee in the morning or picking up the—very—occasional tab at dinner. Lancing the wound of my childhood and letting her see the venomous details had loosened the grasp of a lifelong fear.

But I’d never fall asleep while she was out there alone.

Fifteen minutes later, Thea returned with two cups of coffee and two sausage-and-egg sandwiches from the shop across the street. She sat cross-legged on the bed beside me while we ate.

Thea sighed happily between bites. “I love this city. We could go to a different restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for years and never eat at the same place twice.”

“What’s the plan for today?”

Thea’s phone rang. Right on schedule.

“Hold that thought.” She wiped her hands on a napkin and answered her phone. “Hi, Delia.” She climbed off the bed and went to the window to talk to her sister. Their relationship hadn’t improved during our time in New York, but Thea never let a day go by without telling her sister she was okay. In return, Delia stopped threatening to have me arrested.

A fair trade.

“I will,” Thea said at the window. “We’re having an amazing time. The time of my life… Okay… Okay. Bye. Bye, Delia.” She came back and dum

ped her phone on the bed beside me. “I wish she’d just marry Roger and leave us alone.”

Thea’s eyes betrayed the hard words. I knew she hated the estrangement, but Delia couldn’t be trusted. She still hadn’t rescinded power of attorney.

Thea blinked away her sadness and smiled brightly at me. “Where were we?”

“Today’s plan,” I said through the last bite of my sandwich. “Empire State Building?”

“Not yet,” Thea said. “That’s last. I figure I have enough cash for a few more days. And don’t tell me you got it. You have rent to pay and no job.”

“I have savings.”

“We can’t drain them down. I don’t want to make anything harder for you.”

I reached and pulled her on top of me. “You’re making it hard for me.”

She settled against my groin, grinding on my growing erection. “I see what you did there.”

I kissed her, tasting the salt of her breakfast and the sweetness of coffee that was more cream and sugar than anything else. The kiss deepened, and all thoughts of food were forgotten for the next hour. I could’ve happily remained in the hotel for the rest of the day, losing myself in sleep-sex-talk intervals, but Thea had more New York-ing to do.

“I’d like to wander through Greenwich Village,” she said. “No plan. No agenda.”

“No oysters,” I put in and laughed at Thea’s sour expression.

Two days ago, we went to Grand Central Station, where Thea insisted on splurging at the Oyster Bar because it was a very “New York thing to do.” When the plate of raw oysters arrived, her eyes widened at the gelatinous goop and her nose wrinkled at the smell. But Thea being Thea, she clinked an oyster shell against mine in a toast and tossed it back. She immediately looked like a beautiful woman who’d knocked back the worst thing she’d ever eaten and was trying desperately to pretend it wasn’t so bad.

I can’t remember laughing so hard in my life. I chuckled again now, thinking about it.