"Earlier."
"Even a half day." Her gaze shifts back to the ocean. "I can smell the ocean from here. Maybe it's that Riverside thing. It was always such a hassle to get to the beach. We only did it a few times a summer. It was hot at home and we couldn't afford air conditioning. We didn't have a pool in our neighborhood. I dreamed about being on the sand, feeling the breeze, running into the Pacific Ocean." She turns to me. "You're probably sick of it after twenty-seven years."
"Not exactly."
"But close?"
"I don't appreciate it anymore." But I can, through her eyes. Enthusiasm is pouring from her expression and flowing into me. "I mostly think about the hassle."
"Is there any place like that for you?"
"Like what?"
"Where you feel free. Alive."
Two places come to mind. "Onstage. And when I have a beautiful woman under me."
Her cheeks flush.
"Or tied to my bed, waiting for me."
"Oh." She presses her lips together. "I do… Is that what you want to do with me?"
Fuck yes. But I can't think about that in detail. I'll get hard. "Eventually."
"Eventually?" She tries to hold a poker face, but the disappointment in her expression is obvious.
I want to tie her up right fucking now. But there was something about our fuck—something she isn't saying. "You wanted to be fucked."
"Yeah…"
"You just left your ex. Two weeks ago, right?"
"About that."
"Over sex?"
There it is. Her eyes turn down. Her cheeks turn red. It's not embarrassment. Or desire.
It's shame.
The same as the other night.
It's written all over her face. She left her ex because of sex. And she's ashamed of that decision.
But the details aren't clear.
Did he want something she couldn't give?
No. Lacey is eager. Responsive. She purred and groaned like a woman who hasn't been touched properly in a very fucking long time.
It was something he couldn't give her.
I hold her gaze. "It was."
Her lips snap shut. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You want me to tie you up?"