Page 71 of Meet Me in Berlin

‘Let’s go,’ I say, jumping up and brushing the grass from my skirt.

Soon, we’re stopping at a set of glass doors with ‘Mitte Contemporary Galerie’ engraved into a large silver plaque beside the entrance. Casey taps in a security code, the door clicks and she holds it open to let me pass through before locking it behind us and flicking a switch that floods the gallery with light. The space is airy, bigger than it seems from the street, with dark wooden floors and white walls covered in various-sized canvases and frames.

She points at the artwork to the left and then to the back of the gallery. ‘Tomorrow these will be replaced.’ She gestures to the long wall on the right. ‘But some of these are for the new exhibition.’

I run my eye along the display, automatically drawn to the photographs. ‘These photos…’

‘I thought you’d like those.’

I slowly take them in, one by one. Portraits, street photography, landscapes.

‘Come through to the back. There’s a piece I want to show you.’

I follow her, still gazing at the art around me. We pass through a door and into a storeroom. Propped on a large wooden easel is a sizeable canvas that at first glance looks like a photograph, but as I edge closer, I realise it’s paint. I spin around, my mouth dropping open. ‘This is a painting?’

Casey nods. ‘It’s incredible, right? You thought it was a photo?’

‘I did.’ I step closer, squinting as I inspect it. ‘Is it oil?’

‘Uh-huh.’

It’s a naked woman, lying on a bed, her hand resting against her inner thigh, her other arm stretched over her head. Thick, auburn hair falls across one breast. The other is exposed, pink nipple erect. My eyes drift down her torso, over the small rise of her belly, along the sharpness of her hip bone, across the triangle of hair between her legs, and down her shapely legs. The woman has a contented smile, satisfied eyes, and a body that shimmers with an after-sex glow. Her lips are slightly parted, almost like she wants to tell a secret, or maybe she’s telling her lover to come back to bed.

My body stirs, and I slowly walk backwards to appreciate it from a distance, tilting my head to take it in.

Casey is leaning on the edge of a desk and I rest against her. She wraps her arms around my waist. ‘Like it?’

‘Mmm.’ I run my hands over her forearms. ‘It’s beautiful. The detail makes it so lifelike, down to the pores in her skin and the hair on her arms.’

Casey brushes her lips against my ear. ‘How does it make you feel?’

I swallow as heat pulses between my legs. ‘A little turned on. But I guess that’s the point.’ Her mouth moves to my neck and I tilt my head further to allow her better access.

‘Just a little?’ she murmurs, her fingers slipping under my T-shirt and skimming my stomach.

My skin warms and I steer her hand towards my breast. Over the silk of my bra, she gently squeezes my nipple then slips her fingers under the fabric while her other hand travels up my inner thigh. I’m too hot now, the ache between my legs too intense. I place my hand on hers and guide it inside my underwear.

She releases a soft sigh. ‘I love the feel of you.’

My breath quickly becomes more rapid as my eyes scan the painting, my fingernails digging into Casey’s forearms. Her hand moves faster in response, and I clench my jaw to stop myself calling out.

Within minutes, my legs begin to weaken as ecstasy builds, and when they buckle, Casey holds me up, whispering ‘I’ve got you’ in my ear.

For several seconds we stay like that – breathless and stunned with her hand between my legs and her lips pressed against my temple. As my heartrate normalises, I remove her hand and turn to bury my face in her neck. My heart is exploding, turning to liquid and drowning me.

She kisses my forehead. ‘You all right?’

I hold her tight and nod, my eyes stinging.

She pulls her head back a little and scans my face. ‘Are you crying now?’

‘Just a little.’

‘Fuck. I’m sorry,’ she says. ‘Oh, fuck. That was too much, wasn’t it? Was that weird? I’ve weirded you out. I was just taken by the moment.’

I cry-laugh and shake my head. ‘No. It was perfect. It was so fucking perfect, and you’re so fucking perfect. And this…’ I gesture between us. ‘This is so fucking perfect, and it blows my mind, and I just wish I knew what you were thinking and feeling because it can’t all be one-sided, and?—’

Casey swallows the rest of my sentence with a kiss, then says, ‘The same, I feel the same, because you ruined me for everyone else, too.’

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