“I wasn’t saying it to you,” he said. “I was saying it for me.”
“I love you, Ian.”
“Flash—”
“I want you to take me to bed and do everything you want to do to me,” she said. “And I don’t want anything between us. Okay?”
Ian kissed her forehead and it hurt almost as much as when he called her by her name.
“Okay, Veronica. Nothing between us. Not ever again.”
9
FLASH WAITED IN the hot tub while Ian found towels for them both. She nearly screamed in shock when her hot bare foot touched ice cold snow, but she managed to make it into the house without passing out from sudden-onset hypothermia. Ian toweled himself off quickly and roughly, then wrapped the towel around his waist. Then he helped her dry off, rubbing the soft white towel up and down her naked legs while she dried her hair. When they were in the house again, warm and mostly dry, he kissed her once on the lips and said, “I have to cover the tub and turn it off. You go up to my bed and warm up. I’ll be there soon.”
“Anything you say, boss,” she said as she pulled the towel tight around her and headed up to his third-floor bedroom.
She sat on the edge of his bed and waited. It made her smile to see that he’d lit the first and second candle in his menorah earlier this evening. The flame had gone out but she could tell from the solidified white wax that he’d let them burn a long time. Ian was a good man. Only a good man would light that candle because lighting that candle honored both her, since she’d made the menorah, and his mother, since that was who Flash had made it for. She hadn’t been here at sunset. Ian had done it alone, on his own initiative. It meant everything to her that he’d lit that candle. She wasn’t even Jewish, and she felt blessed by it.
And now he knew she was in love with him. She couldn’t quite believe she’d told him. She hadn’t planned to tell him, not unless or until he’d told her first. But she could tell it hadn’t been easy for him to ask if he could be inside her without a condom. He’d taken a risk by doing that. She couldn’t let him be the only person in this relationship willing to take a risk. Now she’d done it. He hadn’t said he loved her back and that was fine. She didn’t want him to, not yet, not until she was sure she’d believe him when he said it. But she knew it was okay. He’d been surprised to learn she loved him but not angry or apologetic. She didn’t need him to say it back to her, not when he said her name like that.
“Veronica?”
Yes, just like that.
She looked up and saw Ian standing in the doorway, still wearing the towel wrapped around his waist.
“I’m here,” she said. He stepped into the dark room illuminated by nothing but the little bit of moonlight reflecting off the snow in the evergreen branches.
“You warm yet?” He stepped in front of her and she leaned against him, her cheek against his stomach.
“Getting there. This helps,” she said as he ran his hands all over her back and shoulders.
“What else would help?” he asked as he ran one hand through her hair, slicking it back. She’d never dated a guy who had the same length hair she did. Maybe they could go to the same barber. The thought made her smile. Ian made her smile. She smiled now as he took his towel off and tossed it to the corner of the room.
“That helps,” she said, looking up at him. “That definitely helps.”
“What about this?” He moved to stand between her knees, nudging her thighs apart with his legs. Then he dropped to his knees and pulled her hips to the edge of the bed.
“Warmer,” she said.
He kissed her neck.
“Warmer...” She sighed.
He licked her right nipple.
“Warmer...”
He sucked her nipple into his mouth, gently but deeply.
“Very warm...”
He pressed a long kiss onto her quivering stomach. Then he turned his attention to her left hip where he bit into her lightly and sucked her skin for a long time. When he pulled back he’d left a love bite the size of a quarter on her body.
“Marking my territory,” he said. She held on to his shoulders as he did it again on her right hip and again on the soft underside of her left breast. He left another red and purple bite on her chest under her collarbone and a last one on her right thigh as big as two quarters. The bites hurt and she loved it, loved to watch him leave imprints of his mouth all over her.
“How warm are you now?” he asked.