Page 106 of Let's Talk About Love
She became a chaotic mess of wants and needs and desires, both hers and his. Feelings shot through her too fast to grasp. She couldn’tsort, couldn’t sift through them to analyze what was happening, how she felt as Takumi kissed and touched her. The moment had captured her.
He rubbed his nose against her temple. “Your hair smells nice. Like coconuts.”
“I use coconut oil for maximum moisture retention and to make it shiny.”
Takumi laughed. He gazed at Alice with a smile that made her heart forget how to beat. “What am I going to do with you?”
“You know, I’m thinking that that was an excellent question. And we should talk about that. I don’t want to have sex, but I like other… stuff.”
He turned his head, pressing kisses into her palm and up the lines of her fingers. “I wasn’t talking about that.”
“I know. But I’d like to talk about it,” she said. “Cuddling, snuggling, hugging, kissing, and touching. All of that is great.”
“Like this?” He held her close, nuzzling her skin, tickling her sides, making her giggle and squirm.
(In the library.)
(Because what was shame?)
“Yep, that’s the stuff.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck, leaving a kiss in the hollow of his throat. “I think I’m overheating from the squee.”
“Squee?”
“You know,” she said, pulling back and fanning her face, “that feeling you get when you’re really happy and it’s building in your chest, but you can’t find the right words so you just make incoherent noises.”
“Ah, that squee. What was I thinking?”
“There’s more stuff that I like, but I want to wait to tell you the rest. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Really okay?” She stroked the side of his face, from hairline to chin, taking a moment tofinallytouch his bottom lip. “And, um, what about you? I mean, it’s okay?”
Takumi scrunched his face into a frown. “I’m so emotionally drained, all I want to do is take a nap. Preferably with you. It’s something that we need to talk about, but not right now.” He dropped his head to her shoulder and kissed her neck. “Please.” A kiss on her jaw. “Later.” A kiss on the corner of her mouth. “Later.”
As much as she enjoyed the tiny kisses, she pulled back and shook her head. “Now, please. I’d like to know.”
“What do you want me to say?” he said, voice close to an uncomfortable groan. “That, yes, I want to have sex with you? That isn’t going to go away.”
“So it would make you happy if we had sex?”
“I’m happy now.”
“Fine. You’d be happier, then?”
“Alice, we’ve been dating for five minutes. We have plenty of time to figure out what’s best for us.”
(DATING.)
“Being in a relationship takes actual effort to be successful,” he said. “Not just talking, but listening, being honest, respecting each other, and compromise, you know, those kinds of things. That’s why people say make sure to marry your best friend because once the honeymoon is over? Nothing will save you if the foundation is shitty. But us? Me and you? We don’t have anything to worry about. We got this.”
“Okay.” She breathed. “Okay. I think that’s it.”
“It?”
“Yes. Yeah.” She kissed him.
It wasn’t the Perfect Thing, but it was real and honest and damn it, she’d take that any day.
