A Passing Thought
She waits, impatiently. She thinks about this first meeting. The first reality in the virtual world she and he have created together. The opportunity to experience a one-to-one contact, no mediums, like the phone. She doesn't know if the plane will be late - it would be her luck that it would.
She daydreams about this evening. He said, "When I meet someone for the first time, even if we have talked a lot by the phone and computer, I'll usually talk all night." She thinks about the way he talks to her. The way he opened their last conversation with a narration of the opening of a favorite book - a book she said he could narrate well with that voice he uses on her. She shudders when she thinks of the voice in her ear. That sultry tone, the one that makes her melt like hot caramel. She uses her imagination to think of what that voice, in addition to his body, could do to her this weekend.
In her mind's eye, she has already picked him up. The meeting was wonderful as he swooped her into his arms with a huge bear hug. They had left the airport laughing and joking, and she had slipped her hand into his while they walked to the car. She couldn't smile enough for this man she had with her, and she took him downtown, as promised, for a carriage ride. They parked and crossed the street, hand in hand, and the carriage that pulled up was being drawn by a white horse. After joking and teasing each other playfully in the carriage, she had driven them back to her new home, the apartment.
As she gave him the "grand tour" she felt his gaze taking in everything that she considered home. He was very quiet, but attentive. They sat down at the kitchen table together, and she had offered him some dinner. It wasn't much, she said, just meatloaf, but it will take the edge off not eating all day. He ate her meal, and complimented her way too much for it.
They retreated to the living room, and she offered him a seat on her new couch, while she put on some music. She pulled out "Rose E.'s tape" and played it for him. He smiled, as if recollecting conversations they had shared on the telephone while she had played this same tape. She smiled too, knowing where his thoughts had wandered. She sat down with him on the couch, and they hugged again. She asked him if there was anything he wanted to do his first night in town, and he answered her that it would be enough to just hold her for the evening. She couldn't refuse, and let him wrap his arms about her like a teddy bear, and pull her close.
He took one hand and gently stroked her hair, as he always said he would, and she leaned into this soft touch. His hand swept the hair off her neck lightly, letting it cascade over one shoulder, while his lips gently descended upon her neck. She gasped when she felt the touch, light as a feather, and she relaxed further into his embrace. His hands deftly found the knots in her shoulders, and he massaged them firmly, while continuing to place light kisses upon her neck and collarbone.
As the evening progressed, she allowed him to massage her back, reveling in the attention he paid to every knot and kink, working each one until they disappeared with relief. His arms were strong, yet gentle to her frame. At one point in the evening, she had turned her head to thank him, and his face had gazed back at her, silent, and she had leaned over to kiss this new face. His response had been gentle, not overbearing, and she had smiled at him. He smiled back and said those words he loved to say on the phone, "Hi beautiful." She murmured "hi" back and fell back into the warm embrace he offered her.
They fell back together on the couch, and she was wont to enjoy his advances. She let his hand brush her cheek, his lips touch her own, and his tongue to wrestle in her mouth. The music he had asked to play for her repeated in the background, Melissa Etheridge, and only from time to time did she pay attention to what it was saying. She let his hands touch her arms, her legs, and she felt the passion of his kisses increase. Once, did she notice the time, and the fact it was getting late, and she asked him to let her up for a minute, that she was going to put on some PJ's, and she would be right back.
He let her up reluctantly, and talked to her from outside the doorway to her bedroom, while she threw on a tshirt and shorts. She came back out to the couch, and told him that he should get some sleep - it had been a long day - and she helped him fold out the bed, and put the sheets on it. He pulled her down onto the mattress, and kissed her again, thanking her for the hospitality and the generosity she had shown. She told him it was her pleasure, and that she really ought to get some sleep.
But, somehow she couldn't leave this man who so gently asked her to stay a bit longer. She curled up next to him, enjoying the heat radiating from his body, and he whispered in her ear, "what time do you have to get up?" She mumbled sleepily that she had to get up at 6, and felt his body stretch as he set the alarm clock on the table. He reached to turn down the light, and nestled up next to her, pulling the blankets up over both of them. He whispered in her ear that he would wake her, and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. She pressed herself to him, and closed her eyes to slumber these last few hours of the night.
The next thing she knew, she heard a whisper in her ear, "I'm here, Moonlight."
Jennifer Kelbaugh