Page 98 of Lovebug
Looks like old good-girl habits die hard and we’re going to have to reach Bad Mabel status in stages. But a naked outdoor underwater make out with a sort of co-worker in the middle of a family-friendly festival where we’re both manning booths has to be considered progress, right?
“I’m so glad this is happening,” he murmurs.
“Me too,” I breathe.
“But can we uh –”He pulls back slightly so he can look in my eyes. He runs his hands down the length of my wet strands. “I want to…”
“You want to what?”
“Can I take a moment to just… look at you?”
“Oh.” That is definitely not what I thought he was going to say. “Sure. Okay.”
He steps back from me and proceeds to just… stare.
I’m left standing alone under the spray, water droplets raining down my body while his eyes drink their fill.
Alright,nowI feel a twinge of self-consciousness creep in. I mean, it’s not every day I stand completely naked and wet in front of a sexy-as-hell sugarmaker—that’s what James called him, right? I recognize the urge to do a Flashdance reenactment, you know when that whole bucket of water pours on her and she juts her boobs up to meet the spray like “Yeah, take it water!” I checked Flashdance off the do-not-watch list the other night. I enjoyed it, except for the abundance of mullet hairstyles. Anyway I recognize the urge to do this, but I know it would just be me avoiding a serious moment.
I can be serious.
I can let a moment unfold.
Even a naked one with a very attractive almost stranger.
I decide to just stand there and breathe. Is it possible that our breaths have synced? I watch his chest empty and fill, empty and fill.
“You’re…” he shakes his head in wonder. “God, you’re everything Mabel.”
“Everything?” I feel my eyes fill. I don’t think anyone has ever said something so tender to me before.
“Who am I kidding,“ he exhales. ”I can’t stay away from you for another second.”
He steps back into my space and kisses me again. But it’s slow this time, intentional.
His soft warm lips land first on my forehead.
Then on my nose.
Then my mouth.
My lips respond and kiss him back, but he moves on pretty quickly. He places a soft kiss on my chin. Has anyone ever kissed my chin before? It’s sweet and strange, but not where I want his mouth to be right now. I’m about to settle into disappointment, but then his lips latch onto my neck, and I am whatever is the opposite of disappointed. I tip my head back to give him more room. He licks a cool trail down the bones of my throat and pauses when he reaches the divot between my collar bones.
“Wow. I don’t think anyone’s ever kissed my suprasternal notch before,” I breathe out in unexpected pleasure as the warm water trickles down both our bodies.
“Your what?” He pulls back a few inches and smiles, his hands stroking the strands of my wet hair.
“You’re right, you’re right,” I say smoothly. “I should be more specific. Ahem. ‘Wow. I don’t think anyone’s ever kissed myfossa jugularis sternalisbefore.’ There, that was better.”
“Somebody’s talking fancy today,” he chuckles, then gathers me in his arms and places more warm kisses in the same spot. My back bows gently and my pelvis presses forward to accommodate him.
“Can’t help it, I guess,” I pant. “Apparently I speak science when I’m turned on.”
“Oh yeah? That’s a thing for you?”
“Not exactly sure. Can’t say I’ve ever been this aroused before. Also I took—oh my gosh, why does that feel so good?—a lot of science classes on the way to becoming an entomologist. Zoology, Biology, Anatomy… That stuff sticks with you. And it’s good to be accurate with terminology, don’t you think?”
“I do think,” he murmurs as his mouth moves to the left. ”So let me be accurate too. We’ll start with a little detour to your leftclavicle…” he exhales, and nibbles my left collarbone. “And then your right…” He does the same on the other side, then positions his lips directly over the space between my breasts. “Yoursternum…”
