Perfect Strangers

"I find sometimes I need to get away from things myself," she said, half to herself.

"And do you?" Jason asked.

Veronica thought for a second, sighed.

"No," she said finally. "I don't."

"Why don't you?" Jason asked. His voice was calm, but Veronica heard accusation behind his words.

"Because," she said. "Because I have a life set up that I have to maintain. Because if I let it go then who knows what'll happen? And I ... I have a husband, who depends on me. He would probably leave me if I didn't keep everything held together."

Jason didn't say anything for a moment. And then, "Sometimes things can get overwhelming, and it can seem like it's too much. So you have to remember to take care of yourself too. If you try to take everything on by yourself you'll fail, and it'll all come crashing down around you."

"Is that what happened to you?" Veronica asked.

She immediately regretted asking it the moment the words left her mouth. She turned her head to see if he was mad, and Jason turned his too, their eyes meeting each other in the dark.

"Yes," was all he said.

Veronica found herself locked in his gaze. His stare was intense, almost as though he were digging below the surface of her mind, penetrating her brain.

"Why did you ask me to come out tonight?" she asked, the words coming out softly, a hush on the wind.

Jason again stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

"I think I see something in you," he said. "Something that's hidden and wants to come out. But I think you don't know what it is, or really, what you would do once you found it."

Veronica didn't know what to say. She saw Jason blink and his eyes travelled down to her mouth. She felt frozen to the spot, but she wasn't nervous, or scared. Veronica licked her lips as she studied Jason's features: the faint scars on his skin; the stubble ever-present on his cheeks; his full, rich, inviting lips.

She could hear her own breathing, heavy and impassioned. Jason's head tilted to the side and moved closer, and she felt her eyes slowly flutter closed. A second later she felt his lips press up against hers, the stubble on his cheeks just grazing her own.

Veronica's head swam as Jason kissed her, and a moment later she kissed him back. She felt a hand find its way to her arm as they pulled closer together. Reaching up, she grabbed onto his leather jacket, seizing a handful of the thick material, breathing in its scent. She felt his lips part as his tongue moved against her lips, and she opened her own mouth to let him in.

Their tongues danced together as Jason's hands ran down to the small of her back. Veronica returned the favour, grabbing onto the back of his jacket, pulling his body tight against hers. She felt light-headed as his hands ran up and down her body. She could feel how strong his fingers were, grabbing at her skin through the blouse, pulling at the fabric that separated the two.

Jason turned their bodies around so Veronica was facing inward and pushed her back against the railing. She felt the cold, hard metal jut up against her lower back as Jason's weight held her pinned to it. He ran his hands up her back to her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She could feel the hardness of his stomach, his chest expand

ing and contracting as he breathed heavily through his nose.

Another hardness appeared as Jason leaned forward, his hips pressing into her own. Veronica felt a bulge, a very familiar bulge, pressing against her pelvis and her heartbeat raced. This made it all too real. She felt the heat of his body on hers, the urgency with which their lips pressed together. He pushed his lower self up into her and she let out a moan, the singular sound escaping her throat before she even knew it existed.

Jason's breathing hardened. He took his hands off of her for just enough time to shirk off his jacket, letting it fall to the ground behind him. He wrapped his arms around her again and now Veronica could feel every muscle on him. She touched his back and felt the hardness on him, his shoulder blades working as he held tightly to her. She had forgotten just how powerful a man's body can feel when he takes good care of himself.

There was a warmth that appeared in Veronica's belly, a familiar feeling that it seemed had left her long ago. She felt it stirring, deep inside of her, making her chest flush and her heart beat faster. Jason's hands moved up to the shoulders of her coat, pulling it down off of her arms, leaning back so she wasn't pinned. Veronica let him take it off of her, not opening her eyes, and when she heard it fall onto the grating floor she leaned back again, Jason pressed against her once more.

The cool air made goosebumps stand out on her arms. She held more tightly to Jason's body and ran her hands up and down. His back was a landscape of muscle and definition. He was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt, tight-fitting, and she found her fingers going to the bottom of it. Grabbing a hold of the fabric, she started pulling it up, revealing the smoothness of his skin, the warmth of it on her hands.

Jason took his weight off of her and lifted his arms. Veronica kept pulling up on the shirt, watching his torso reveal itself as the fabric pulled away. Jason's body was tattooed, colourful drawings etched into his skin, around his ribs, his shoulders, his arms.

But more than the tattoos that Veronica saw were the faint traces of scars that showed up white against his skin. They were few but visible, one running from the top of his right pectoral across to the middle of his chest, another just below his ribs. He also had a few running across his shoulders and down his arms. She pulled the shirt off over Jason's head and held the fabric bunched in her hands, watching him breathe.

He looked at her and took the shirt from her hands, letting it drop down beside them. Without speaking he leaned forward and kissed her again. She put her hands up on his chest this time, feeling his hard pecs, running her fingers over the grooves of muscle that he contained.

Jason's hands ran down Veronica's sides to her stomach. She felt him grab lightly onto her, holding her close and yet exploring at the same time. It was his turn to find the bottom hem of her blouse, his fingers trailing the edge, brushing her bare skin and sending a shiver up her spine.

He slipped his hands inside of her blouse, the roughness of his skin moving along the softness of her own. He ran them up her back and she felt shivers all over. He reached the clasp of her bra and undid it deftly, without hesitation. Her bra now undone, his hands continued on their journey to her shoulder blades, where they reversed direction and moved down again to her lower back, sliding without hindrance now.

The harsh texture of Jason's hands was not an unwelcome change. It was different to what she had grown accustomed to, and the impression it left was one that remained, reminding her where his hands had been, how tightly he had squeezed.