Page 30 of Mom-Com
Running her fingers over the track pad, the screen came to life. A music video from YouTube was right there on the screen.
“What seems to be the problem?” She squinted, reading the name of the song I had pulled up. “Once Upon a Dream,” of course. The perfect song to melt her heart.
“I, um, couldn’t get the song to play.” I tugged at my shirt collar. I was winging it here and doing it poorly, I could tell.
She clicked on the video and it instantly began to play, full volume on the ginormous speakers on the sides of my laptop. “Did you try hitting the play button?” she shouted over the song.
There was no acceptable answer for that question, so I ignored it in favor of wondering what in the hell was playing. That didn’t sound at all like I imagined Disney princess movies to sound like. It had a dark and slow beat. A voice began to sing that should win a year’s supply of cigarettes for the throaty sexiness.
I came closer to Lily-Marie to stare at the screen. “That’s ‘Once Upon a Dream’?” I shouted back, even though we were mere inches apart.
When she didn’t answer, I swiveled my head, seeing her gaze on my chin. I swiped, wondering if I missed some toothpaste in my hurry to get over here.
A lazy smile tilted her lips and her gaze finally lifted to mine. “Yeah. It’s the Lana Del Rey version.” She’d whispered this time, but I’d heard her since she’d leaned closer. So much closer. Close enough I could see her eyes dilate and the blue irises turn a deeper blue. Like staring into the ocean and wondering how deep it went.
Then she lifted her nose in the air by my neck, as if to sniff me. I had no idea what that meant or why she would smell me, but if the rosy color of her cheeks was any indicator, she could sniff me all she liked. I was definitely pro-sniffing.
“Dance with me.”
Oh hell, that was me. I’d whispered that, lost in the same spell Lily-Marie appeared to be in. I hadn’t even asked, just demanded, the words slipping past my lips and into the air, oblivious to my earlier command to abort the mission.
Her gaze sharpened while her body froze. I waited, frozen as well, wondering how badly I’d messed things up between us. The air felt thick, like a sudden ocean fog had come through the house, cocooning us in a world where only she and I existed. I’d never been in a fog bank with a beautiful woman, but suddenly the idea of dancing right through it seemed like the very rightest thing to do. So I did.
Without waiting for confirmation, I slid my hand around her waist and picked up her hand, assuming a formal position. When her stunned expression slid into a shy smile, I pulled her in tight, making sure there was nothing formal about this dance. The singer crooned on and I felt in that moment I’d never known anyone better.
I swayed once, she followed, her body rubbing against mine in an innocently seductive manner. The swaying kept going, fueled by a wish for more rubbing, more pressing, more time spent with her in my arms. Our gazes stayed locked together, as if blinking would break this foggy spell. Something neither of us wanted.
The song spoke of dreams, of love, of knowing someone so well it felt like a dream. She sang of everything pumping through my heart with each exaggerated beat. Everything that didn’t make sense to my brain.
With sudden clarity, I knew exactly what I felt. It had taken a throaty princess song to spell it out for me.
I loved Lily-Marie.
In life, there were those things that were believed without thought or speculation. When I heard an ocean wave hit the sand for the first time I knew that sound was the most beautiful and calming sound in the world. It struck a chord somewhere in my soul. The truthfulness of it was obvious.
That’s what this moment with Lily-Marie was all about. It was my brain allowing the rest of me to get a say in the matter. My soul remembered. My soul knew. And now my brain just had to catch up.
“Lily-Marie...” I breathed her name, watching her eyes melt with each deliciously slow sway back and forth.
I brought her hand to my chest, laying it there so I could push a lock of hair behind her shoulder. One touch wasn’t nearly enough, so I traced the beating vein in her neck to the jawline that fit in the palm of my hand perfectly. She leaned her head into my hand, eyes nearly closing like a cat rubbing against heaven. She was warm, supple, soft. Smelling of lemons and something I couldn’t describe, she was the exact combination to make me want to crawl inside her and stay forever. A safe port to weather any storm.
Desire, the likes of which I’d never experienced, rocked through my body like a lightning strike. Every cell in my body was charged, alive like never before. Lily-Marie opened her eyes, her gaze traveling up through her lashes, the look so innocent and feminine I felt a thousand feet taller. A million times more the man than I’d been before I stepped through her door.
Be courageous, not a sissy.
Give swoon-worthy movie kisses.
All signs pointed to this being our moment. My hands traced along her body, delighting in every curve she possessed, singing silent praises to her mother and father for creating such a divine creature. Then I swayed right and used the momentum to tip her over my arm, her long hair nearly dipping down low enough to sweep the floor. Her eyes widened right before a delighted cry left her mouth. I wanted to touch, to run a finger down the length of her, to see if that creamy white skin was as soft as it looked. I’d never dipped a woman over my arm, never indulged in something as romantic as this dance we found ourselves in. I paused for a moment, just taking her in, the joy and surprise and wonderment lighting up inside of me.
Before she could panic, I tilted her back upright, my hand slipping underneath the heavy fall of her hair, caressing the nape of her neck to finally grab ahold of a fistful of strands. Gently, yet firmly, I pulled her head back and claimed her lips with mine.
Rational thought fled, so instead I chased the feelings shooting through my body from our intimate point of contact. She joined the chase, an active participant to a kiss far more epic than I could have ever imagined. The minute I flicked my tongue past her lips to taste her, a dark forest flashed through my head, confusing me with its clarity. For a split second I thought we were amongst the trees instead of in her living room.
The response of her tongue, reaching out to taste me too, pushed out all thoughts of seductive forests. The heady feeling of knowing she was as into this kiss as I was spurred me on, made me pull her tighter. Her curves pressed against me, squeezed and caressed by my traveling hands. My body was strung tight, just one huge ball of pent-up desire, needing to taste and devour.
The kiss, the desperate groping, went on for what could have been hours or minutes, neither of us aware of time or space or anything so mundane besides the two of us. I had suspected she’d be like this: all feminine passion, a modern siren pulling me in and never letting me go. I could happily stay right there indefinitely, taking my sustenance from her and her alone.
Her hands suddenly squeezed my ass, hard, the shock of her bold move pulling my lips from hers momentarily. I’d never had a woman grab my ass before. There was nothing hesitant about it. Just a full-on grope that ratcheted up my desire for this incredible woman. It was playful, it was wild, it was perfect.
