The Perfect Indulgence

“I should have known I’m too big to have sex in a Prius.”

“Yes, you are.” Yum. She liked that about him.

They bumped along on the rutted dirt road for about a hundred feet until the headlights picked up the glint of windows. Chris’s jaw dropped. “That’s a cabin? I was expecting a tin shack. Maybe logs.”

“She said cabin. I’d call that a house.” He put the car in Park and hopped out, coming around like a gentleman to help Chris, who was already out, bag slung over her shoulder, clutching her flashlight and gazing up at what looked to her like a villa.

“Wow. That is some place. How many bedrooms do—”

She was suddenly backed up against the car and Zac was kissing her as if he’d been barely holding back the entire drive up, his body large and warm against hers.

“—you think it has?” She was breathless, laughing. She liked Zac’s hidden caveman impetuous streak. He’d always seemed so completely controlled.

“There are four bedrooms. I vote we baptize all of them.”

Chris tsked. “Think of all that laundry.”

Oh, God. Did she really just say that?

“Actually, Chris.” He let his hand trail down her cheek. “I’m thinking of a few other things.”

“You’re right, you’re right. It’s a lot more than just laundry.” Chris grimaced. “Let me get my calendar, because we’ll need to schedule a full cleanup session after every—”

Her sentence ended in a shriek because she was suddenly hanging over his shoulder, being carried resolutely toward the front door, the glow of his flashlight wavering on the gravel drive.

Her giggles came out as if she were twelve instead of twenty-eight. This was crazy and silly and she loved it.

They reached the front of the house, where she was jolted higher onto his shoulder. Then again.

“What are you doing? I’d like to keep dinner inside, where it belongs.”

“Getting...keys from my...pocket.”

She couldn’t stop laughing. “You’re going to kill me!”

“Nah.” The door opened and he brought her in, kicked it shut, hesitated, sweeping the beam of the flashlight back and forth, then resolutely marched them...somewhere.

Then she was being lowered to her feet and was not at all surprised to find herself in a bedroom, Zac’s light searching around. An amazing and enormous bedroom. Crazy paintings and sculptures covered the walls and surfaces. Contorted, misshapen bodies tangled around each other, and strangely combined animals roamed eerie mountain and woodland settings. The flashlight created wavering shadows that stretched and contracted across the walls and ceiling.

“Wow. Is your friend a collector or an artist? Or both?”

“Friend of a friend, and I have no idea. Not my kind of art, anyway.” He struck a match, lit a kerosene lamp next to the king-size bed and replaced the glass chimney. A warm, steady glow lit their side of the large room, a surprising amount of light given the flame’s tiny size. But the effect was still, frankly, creepy.

“She doesn’t have electricity?”

“Apparently she’s an off-the-grid kind of woman.”

“Well.” Chris looked around, nodding politely. She was still glad they weren’t camping, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to make love for the first time with Zac in a Grimm’s fairy tale, either. She didn’t think she’d be able to relax and think sexy thoughts with a half bear, half reptile glaring at her. “It’s...interesting.”

“I have a better idea.” He caught her chin and kissed her. “Do you need to use the bathroom first?”

“Mmm, probably should.” She was not sure she’d ever get enough of his mouth.

“We passed one. Out in the hall, first door on the right.”

Inside the bathroom, Chris lit a candle and freshened up, grinning at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were large, lips pink and full. She looked happy. Happier than she had in a while. She felt more alive, too, and more free, as if she’d stripped off too-tight shapewear. She even really liked her own hair.

The smile turned troubled. Hadn’t she spent the past few months thinking she was finally alive and free, having risen above the shackles of routine and self-control? What was this, then? Jumbo alive and free? Maybe she was just giddy with anticipation. But something felt profoundly different about this mood.