For about two years after I'd first met Lucianna, my life was better than it had ever been. We still didn't live together, but we visited one another regularly. We talked, we made love, we cooked for one another in the nude (save aprons, since nipple burns are no fun), and we watched movies together while she regaled me on her artistic interpretations of them. My life was far richer for having her in it.
One day, though, I got a call from her asking me to come over as soon as I could. Of course I drove straight over. I opened the apartment door and saw her sitting at her dining room table, naked as usual, but staring at the floor with a letter on the table. She didn't seem to be reading it, but staring through it. “What's wrong?” I asked, not bothering to remove my own clothes.
“It's something big,” she started taking deep breaths. “I have to do it. But I don't know if I can.”
“Is it something to do with that? It's notarized and everything.” Luci handed me the letter silently. It informed her that her aunt Judith had recently passed away, and had named Lucianna in her will. I set it back down. “Well, if she named you in her will, I'd imagine that's a good thing. She'll likely be leaving something to you, given how fancy that letter looks.”
She finally looked me in the face. “Maybe. I was never terribly close with her... and what's worse is my parents will be there. I haven't seen them—or any of my family, at all—for years...”
“You should go. This is important. I won't pressure you, but you should, and I promise, I'll be there by your side. If your courage falters, go ahead and fall back on me.”
“You sure?” she looked up pleadingly. “I'm not asking too much of you? I mean, I feel kind of selfish having you come along. And you hate any city bigger than here—don't you need to look after your kids?”
I put a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her forehead. “You're not asking anything of me. I'm making you an offer. Besides, Lindsay's really matured since you and I started dating. I think she's deliberately trying to show me how good she is at looking after the house just so I can trust her to manage things and have more time to spend with you.” I chuckled and gave a proud smile. “Oh, if only my mother could have seen that. She kept telling me I was raising an unfeeling narcissist. I can't imagine much I'd love more than to rub her stupid face in this.”
Luci lifted her head. "Okay. We can do this."
"If it's for you, I can swallow my disdain for New York for a couple days," I said, typing a note for myself on my phone. "I'll book us a couple round-trip tickets and a hotel room. La Guardia is the best airport, right?"
"No, JFK's better. Closer to where we need to be, and much better facilities."
***
A week, a six-hour plane flight, and a half-hour subway ride later, Luci and I walked through the concrete jungle, her constantly shooting me New York etiquette reminders out the side of her mouth. “Keep your eyes ahead of you.” “Don't pull out a map.” “Try not to look like a tourist.” “Don't gawk at how tall the buildings are, just pretend you've seen them forever.” “Walk like you know where you're going.” The last one was by far the hardest since I didn't know where I was going, and had to hold onto her hand to find my way. The high rises, thronging crowds, and relentless noise put me on edge, and I couldn't help but admire the ease with which she drifted through the streets.
While I didn't dare look up, the sign on the front entrance was unmistakable. “I thought we were here to get you closure, not to visit tourist attractions,” I mused as we made our way through the revolving door of the Empire State Building.
She smirked at me. “I told you, didn't I? Our business and the tourist attraction happen to be at the same place, silly.”
Just as I was about to press a button to summon an elevator, she pulled me away. “No, that one doesn't go high enough. Over here.” Once we were inside, she pushed the button for the 64th floor. “This should get us all the way up to Cohen, Frankfurt, & Hennessy, if that's still where it was.”
“Yes, I remember seeing them in the letter. I take it they're your aunt's executors?”
She nodded, and was silent for the rest of the elevator ride. Once we were at our floor, we followed the signs to the law firm's office and checked in. The receptionist told me I wouldn't be able to attend the reading, which would take three hours at minimum. “I can handle that much,” she assured me. “And if I need anything, I'll text you. Go have some fun. This building's practically a city in itself.”
“Alright,” I kissed her softly on the lips and walked out, grabbing a copy of the building's directory on the way. Naturally, I first did what every tourist would and located the first elevator to the 102nd floor and took a look out. It probably would have been a more impressive view at night, and if I hadn't already been spoiled by all the mountains I'd climbed ever since relocating across the country. Though I didn't need to tell Lucianna that.
After spending hours admiring the exhibits about the building's construction, then walking around on the first floor admiring the exquisite art deco carved into the walls, wishing it was a trend that had lived longer. It reminded me of the time I read Anthem in high school, mostly so my ultra-liberal parents would catch me reading it and be horrified at the ideas I was exploring. I was jolted out of my momentary reminiscence when my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw a text from Luci. “Please come ASAP.” That was all I needed to head straight to the nearest suitable elevator and ride. She was nowhere in sight, so I sat in one of the leather-lined chairs in the reception area, ready to spring up at a moment's notice. Soon, the door into the deeper offices opened and I saw her walk out, a faint smile on her face.
“Well? How'd it go?” I pulled her into my arms for a kiss, but she put a hand on my sternum and shook her head gently. Now wasn't the time.
“I'll tell you in a bit,” she said, looking like she was straining to keep a straight face. It didn't take long to figure out why.
We went to the elevator, waited for the crowd inside to exit, then got on. “Hold the elevator!” came a breathy older female voice from down the hall. Luci instinctively moved her hand into the door to hold it open, and in walked a well-dressed Latino man and Asian woman with graying hair got on with us. I was standing behind Luci, so I couldn't see her face, but she stood still. I'd always been bad at reading faces, but the woman's was an enigma unto itself, and her husband's gaze sent a shudder through Luci. I put a hand on her arm, feeling it erupt in goosebumps.
She backed up and let them onto the elevator and they entered, turning their backs to us. Nobody else had a chance to get on before the doors closed. I saw their faces in the reflection from the smoky steel of the doors. The man smoothed his coat, and the woman gave a single sniff. Then and there, it clicked and I figured who they were. I looked to Luci, gesturing with my eyes for silent confirmation, and she gave a stony nod. Every subtle head movement from either of them seemed to paralyze her. I put my arm around her waist and just held her.
The elevator took a long time getting to the ground floor. No one said a word until the door opened, when the man broke the silence. “You look the same. I take it you haven't changed.”
The silence told me Luci wasn't up to speaking. I couldn't help myself, a bit of a rebellious, chivalrous impulse rising in my chest. “Maybe not any way you can see. But you wouldn't bother finding out, would you?”
The two of them stopped, and the woman turned to me. “I'm sorry?”
“You should be,” I stepped towards them, ignoring the tug on my sleeve and returning their icy gazes. “It's been quite a long time since anyone's said 'no' to either of you, hasn't it?”
“Who are you?” Luci's mother demanded.
“I'm one of Lucianna's friends. You know, the people who like you because they want to. Perhaps you're familiar with the concept? I'm here because she wanted me to be.
Her father scoffed. “Well, that doesn't say much about you. What do you do for a living?”
I decided to lie—or, rather, to embellish myself. “Not that it's any of your business, but I'm a psychotherapist.”
“Really? Do you think, Miss Psychotherapist, that you'll be able to cure her of her need to drag everyone down to her level?”
“She hasn't dragged anyone down,” I growled, “And she's made me a better, more capable person. I've never known anyone so extraordinary.”
Now the hag chimed back in. “Oh, she was always special, and she always knew it, which is what makes her so disappointing.”
I dropped my arm from Luci's waist and took another step toward the wannabe plutocrats. “Excuse me?”
“Did she tell you what she did in high school? How she fell in our esteem?”
“She did,” I fought to keep the anger out of my voice. “She was looking for the sort of human connection she'd been starved of at home. I honestly think the idea that a child should earn esteem from her parents is completely deranged. Parents should love their children unconditionally. That's their job.”
She scoffed. “You're not even a mother, are you?”
I clenched my fists. “I am a mother. I'm a far better one than you or the one who raised me, and that's a fact.”
“You sound more like a tourist than a person with any serious sense of legacy,” her father chimed in, making a big show out of looking at his watch. “Speaking of which, how long to subject us to sentimental whimsies?”
“Oh, I see how it is.” His elitism chafed me. “You're one of those people who thinks that big thoughts can only come from big words. Well, try this one on for size.” I cleared my throat. “Such a sophomoric sentimentality is indicative of an intellect nurtured in an ivory tower environment, completely untouched by any sort of applicable notions of genuine human praxis. Or, translated into my native redneck, you've got your head stuck so far up your ass, it's coming out your nose.”
“That would almost be impressive if you had the credentials or connections to go with it. Are you done pontificating on our parenting? The livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe hinge on my word.”
“It's really sad that you care more for those faceless strangers you've never met than for your own daughter. I bet you don’t even care about them. What kind of parents are you, anyway?”
“We're the ones who raised her to have the world. We gave her more than you could ever hope to achieve, and still she couldn’t help making it all about her own world,” Lucianna's mother said. “Though we're not entirely blameless. We should have been stricter with her. Then maybe she wouldn't have humiliated herself, humiliated all of us. But unlike you, we can’t afford the luxury of pitying our own failures. We’ve moved on, and left our failures in the past. Are you quite finished, or should I try guessing at what else you need to hear?”
My jaw dropped. “Wow,” I threw my hands into the air. “Yes, I guess I am finished. Good luck with your Very Important Work for Very Important People, Mom and Dad of the Century.”
The two of them started walking, just as Luci's father shot me a look, then his daughter. “Did you make her your dog, or your maid? Or both?”
Now, I knew, wasn't the time for me to make a raunchy joke. With the loss of the window for humor, my anger started bubbling up once again. Lucianna interrupted me by saying something to them in Japanese beyond my current level: “Deru kugi wa utareru, right?” It went over my head, but they certainly seemed to get it. I had never seen her so tense.
Her parents stopped in their tracks. After a moment of silence, her mother cleared her throat. “Are you two done taking the last word?”
Lucianna clearly wasn't. “Mom, dad, normally I would say mata when leaving. Since I believe we both are quite fine with that, let's just leave it at ogenki de.” Now that, I understood. The latter had more of an air of finality to it. “Saki ni dete sumimasen.” I figured what the final word meant, and before I could chide her for saying something even remotely possible to interpret as an apology, she grabbed my hand and dragged me briskly to the revolving door exit. “They're not worth it, darling.”
I cracked my neck. “No, they're not. But maybe they're worth this.” I sounded off a curse with my best white-girl Japanese. “Shin-e, kusojiji, onibaba!” or, “Die, shitty old man and demon hag.” They didn't even slow or stumble as they went on their way. Fucking psychopaths, my inner psychologist said.
We started down the block at a reasonable pace as Luci seemed to relax for the first time since we'd gotten onto the elevator. She let out a hearty laugh. “You didn't have to do any of that, you know.”
“But I wanted to. What'd you say to them? I'm not that far in my Pimsleur lessons.”
“I said 'Excuse me for leaving first.'”
“No, before that. When you cut into our verbal sparring.”
“Oh, that? An old Japanese proverb. 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.' Fits them, doesn't it?”
“I'll say. So, what did your Aunt Judith leave you?” Luci whispered an eight-figure sum in my ear. “No way! That's amazing! What'll you do with it?”
“I know of a few things I'd like to buy, but they can wait until we get back home. Isn't this your first visit to New York?”
“Second,” I clarified, “But I don't remember the first time at all.”
“Then I know what we're doing next. I'm showing you the city.”
“Three years ago, I would've said 'Hell no'.” She gave me exactly the sidelong glance I was expecting. “But I love you, and if you see something worthwhile in this place, I'll keep an open mind—for you. And I'll trust you to hold onto me tight.”
The streets of New York aren't that bad to walk down. Just as long as you: know off the top of your head where you're going; can shut off most of the world around you when necessary but instantly let it back in at a moment's notice; don't mind being in the middle of a sea of high-octane, tightly-wound, hair-triggered people; have muscle memory for every single corner, lamppost, and hot dog cart... eh, you get the idea. Suffice it to say, I'd have been horribly lost, drowning in a sea of humans walking down it like there was nobody else there, overwhelmed by the oppressive noise, sight, and constant jostling without Lucianna to hold onto me, walking with her head high in the sky.
Our fingers entwined, she subtly moved her hand forward and back, left and right to silently communicate with me where to go. While it didn't really endear me to the City that Never Sleeps, it gained me a good deal of respect for her. She'd always had the perfect balance between a Type A and B personality, and had told me more than once that dating me had given her courage to stand up to unreasonable customers at The Freaky Llama, which I had trouble believing. I thought she could already do that. If she grew up in a place like this, it made all that much more sense.
Every time we got to a spot that looked suitable to take a break, I insisted we do so. I wasn't winded—far from it, I jogged five miles every morning—but I still felt when surrounded by so many people like I could barely breathe. It was rare for them to touch me, but their mere proximity felt like sandbags crushing me from all angles. Still, I couldn't deny that the sights were breathtaking. Everything about the city was just so innovative, so coordinated, so human. And seeing Luci in her natural element was so right. Her very personality glowed, and watching her walking beside me, the wind blowing through her hair, I fell in love with her all over again.
And then... came that.
We walked along the sidewalk, taking in the view of the Atlantic Ocean, and as we crossed a street, we came into a plaza with a pair of reflecting pools in the ground. A bit of a break from what I'd come to expect of the city's scheme, but it struck me as good a place as any to catch my breath once more. I sat on the outside rim of the giant fountains, but Luci was just watching the inside of it. I looked at her and saw her, staring at the pools like a deer in headlights. It was more than a little jarring.
“Luci? Dear, what's the matter?
Though she didn't look at me, she didn't ignore me. “Have you ever been here?” she asked in a quiet, hollow voice.
I looked back at me at the giant square fountains, the concave square drains in the center, and saw that the pool linings had names carved into them, all over them. A few names here and there had little American flags someone had stuck into them. The plaza was surrounded by brand-new, shiny, sleek skyscrapers, and they all seemed to surround and hover over the plaza. The tallest one, across the street on the north side, had a familiar shape. It clicked and I looked back at the pools at us, and at her.
“The twin towers?” I asked.
“Mhm.”
“If I did, I don't remember it. Are you saying…?” She didn’t answer me. She didn’t need to. “On... that day?”
“Mhm,” she repeated. The corners of her mouth pursed and I could see her eyes watering. I took another look at the scenery, and finally put two and two together. She wasn't just in the city that day.
I felt like I was sitting on a headstone, and got up. “Oh. Oh, God. I didn't know. I'm so sorry.”
“I never told you,” she said, her voice sounding dark. “It was a class trip. We were all together, and we saw the first one. I don’t think most people saw it, we were actually going to it for the trip. The second plane had the whole city as its audience.”
“The whole world, if you count TV,” I said. She blinked and nodded her head to the side, acknowledging my light joke. Her mouth was open for a second, and her jaw twitched, like she had something to say, but couldn't. “What is it?” I said gently, trying to nudge the words out of her mouth.
“I’d been here before that. Quite a lot, actually…My parents had come here a lot for business and insurance meetings and whatever else—Very Important People, meeting at Very Important Places, and this was a main one. There’s not much for a little girl to do when you’re going over your portfolios, even though I behaved, so I was let to sit out. Sometimes I went up to the Top of the World, the observatory deck on the roof, but most often I went to this restaurant. They had a restaurant 3 floors down from the Top of the World called Windows on the World, and I would sit at a table by myself right by the window. The windows were narrow, because the towers were lined with all these steel bars going up the whole buildings—the architect was terrified of heights, and had bars going up the whole towers because they made him feel safe. I always sat at an opening by the barred windows, and I’d have a book, usually…I’d read and enjoy my food…I always just ended up staring out at the view, daydreaming.”
“Do you remember what you daydreamed about?” I said, breaking the silence that had fallen again.
Her eyes never left the pool. “I daydreamed about a lot…sometimes I was Elizabeth waiting for my Darcy, or trying to draw him to me, for us to go elsewhere…I dreamt of having a spaceship like the Millennium Falcon, taking off from the Top of the World, and exploring the Star Wars galaxy…I dreamed of exploring the world, by myself, alone and unknown, blending in with the various peoples, and experiencing what it's like to be another person sitting down at a bustling noodle counter in the streets of Hong Kong.”
I nodded, draping my arm around her waist. “I can see that. Your parents kept you in a gilded cage. You couldn't deny that, no matter how pretty the bars were. Me, I just fought my parents. I...got so used to fighting them, it became my default mode, and I started fighting everyone. Including myself.”
“That day changed me. I got stuck. I didn't dare dream. I stopped caring where I was going in life. Who knows? Maybe they were right about me, what they said back there.”
The same thing that made me want to take a swing at her father's face snapped. I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her to face me. “NO. No, they were not. They were wrong about you. You've come so far since then. Look at you! You've got a dozen girls at your beck and call, a career you kick absolute ass at, and, best of all...” I smirked, “A gorgeous cougar girlfriend who'd throw hands for you if you let her.”
“Then why did I react the way I did?” She looked into my eyes, though she seemed to be staring right through me. “Why did I just freeze, while you traded barbs with them? It was like being a little girl under their thumbs all over again.”
“You slipped up once,” I surmised. “I've given birth four times, Lucianna. And I got lucky. I've never miscarried, stillbirthed, or lost any of my children. I know how it feels to carry another human around inside you. To feel them slowly come to life. To hear their heartbeat for the first time. Even putting the intellectual factor aside, we swim in a thick cocktail of hormones to bond that much more. I can only imagine how devastating it must have been to have that boy torn from your arms so soon after you first saw his face. You had a well-trained imagination. I bet you saw, even for just a fleeting moment, a whole life of bringing him up by your side, you feeling his warmth and love, the warmth and love your parents could never give you.” I pulled her into my arms. “I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's a cruelty you never should've had to go through.”
“Thank you, love,” she embraced me back, “But how do the towers play in?”
“That's where you fertilized your imagination. It must've felt like losing your future when the planes hit. The future you'd imagined with that darling baby boy, stolen from you by people who thought more of their legacy than their own flesh and blood.”
She was silent for a long time and her breath got heavier. “My imagination was way off, wasn't it? I didn't expect I'd end up like I did. Putting down roots, way out west. Working a blue-collar job. I've barely had a chance to travel the world.” I started stroking her waist-long hair. “My son...I never even got a chance to name him, and I have no idea what name his new parents gave him. Not a day goes by that I don't feel the hole it left in my heart when they took him away. I still have no idea where he is or what he's doing.”
“You're here with me, now”, I whispered. “I know I'm no substitute for him, and I won't pretend I can be. But you have me. You're important to me, Luci. I wouldn't have come with you otherwise.”
Luci pulled me into a soft kiss, wrapping her arms around my chest. I embraced her back, not caring who saw us. Not like they would've cared, anyway. “I love you so fucking much, Clarissa,” She buried her chin into my neck, and I felt tears dripping onto it, though she still wasn't sobbing.
I rocked her gently from side to side, stroking her hair more. “Hey. Much as I appreciate it, I'm not the one who needs to hear that. You need to say that to yourself.”
“I...” Luci's objection seemed to be caught in her throat. “You're right. Not only that, you could stand to take the same advice.”
“Maybe so. Doesn't make it any less true.” We held on to each other longer until her tears stopped flowing. When she was back to her old self, I wiped her eyes dry, thankful that her normal refusal to wear makeup meant I didn't have mascara to clean, and grabbed her hand. “C'mon. Let's get to our hotel. I want to celebrate our new life.”
She led the way. “Yeah, yeah. Let's go, gold-digger.”
I snorted. “Hmph. Not like I knew you were an heiress. As I recall, you approached me. Besides... I don't make much of a trophy wife, do I? Twelve years older, and I have five kids.”
“Hey, I can afford to bronze you and have you put on the mantle.”
“You don't have a fireplace.”
“So I'll buy a house that has one. Hell, I'll buy a life-sized gold statue of you. That'll be my trophy wife.”
I busted out laughing as we trudged to the nearest subway station. “You goddamn crazy New Yorkers.”
Our hotel was a decent enough affair. I'd only been able to book one night, even with my ex-husband's alimony payments. Not like I wanted another night, anyway. Throughout the subway ride and walk, Luci's mood had picked up considerably. We'd ordered takeout from a local Mediterranean place, which was delivered minutes after we arrived. At Luci's insistence, we got naked as soon as the door was locked, and opened the door fully when the delivery boy arrived, though we didn't get the embarrassed rise out of him I'd hoped.
As we ate, we discussed what we'd be doing with Luci's newfound fortune. Obviously, she would get the first say, and I'd let her veto anything I suggested. “I think the first thing I'll get is a laser turntable. It runs for about $15,000, and it uses a laser instead of a stylus. Reads the records better, and it doesn't wear down the vinyl.”
I shrugged. “Well, it's your money. I don't really see the point myself.”
“Even after all the benefits I mentioned?” She picked up a souvlaki skewer, picking off the first bit of pork.
“Oh, you made the case for it over a traditional turntable just fine,” I admitted, “But I don't really see the point of vinyl at all. It's so expensive and time-consuming to maintain, and the improvement in sound quality over digital is so small, it doesn't even come close to making up for it. Besides, CD players don't damage CDs at all unless you forget to clean out their vents.”
“It's my money, you know,” she stared down at the mattress.
“Hey, I'm not trying to talk you out of it. And yes, it's your money. I'm just saying I don't get it myself. But you shouldn't let that influence your decision.”
“So what do you want to do with it?”
“Well, first and foremost, I'd want to pay off the rest of my mortgage. See if I can maximize what's left over from my monthly alimony payments.”
“That kind of goes without saying,” Luci cleaned the remainder of her skewer and set it in the environmentally-friendly cardboard box it had come in, “But what do you want to do after that? That won't even be a dent in what I've got.”
“You don't need to spend it on me,” I shook my head.
“I want to. You deserve what I can give you. Weren't you telling me earlier today that I need to learn to love myself? And didn't you admit you need to do the same? A good first step would be accepting my help. Now, come on. Tell me what you'd want.”
“Hmm... I think I'd want some of the usual things. A speedboat. A top-of-the-line gaming rig. A decent gun collection.”
Luci choked, coughing for a bit. “Guns?! Seriously?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I want to be able to protect my kids, and I want them to protect themselves.”
“I see,” she looked to the side.
I knew what that was code for. “Does my liking guns bother you?”
“It...yes. I mean, we've talked politics enough. And we've gotten rather heated. Does it bother you that I'm uncomfortable around guns?”
By now, we'd cleaned out the rest of the food, and I picked up the boxes, dropping them off the side of the bed. “Don't you remember what I told you? My dad married my mom because he thought he'd never find another woman who shared his religion and politics. Then they divorced the moment my brother turned eighteen, and five months later, my dad switched churches.” I grabbed both of her hands. “I love you enough that I don't care about your politics. You've always done right by me. I spent my whole adolescence trying to emulate my parents' politics, thinking that'd give me their approval.”
“Oh yeah?” Luci rocked forward onto her knees, kissing my neck. “How'd that work out?”
“I stopped taking my mom's calls two years ago. Right around the time I met you.” I decided to return her affection and clamped my teeth down on her collarbone. “Hell, she doesn't even know where I live. And you're good at making me forget all about her.”
“Right now,” Luci cupped my breast, “The only mother I'm interested in thinking about is the Italian MILF right in front of me. The one I love beyond words. The one who's full of fire and blood. The one who I'm about to fuck senseless.”
I slid my hand down her glistening, curved back, resting it on her plump, taut rear. “Good Lord. You said 'beyond words'. I'll never forgive you if you can't back that up, Missy.”
“Wanna bet?” Before I could say anything further to taunt her, she put her mouth over mine, silencing me. I pressed my fingers into that firm, round ass of hers, pulling the cheeks apart, just to let a bit of a chill into her. That earned me a strong, borderline painful squeeze of my breast. After what Luci had just been through at the memorial, I figured she deserved to feel like she was in control of at least one thing in her life, and decided to let her use me as she pleased. I moaned into her mouth and, following the urging of her hand, fell back onto the mattress, doing what I could to encourage her atop me.
She needed little encouragement. One of my breasts squeezed firmly in each hand, she kissed me up the middle of my neck, licked up my chin, and clamped her teeth on the very end of it, growling deep in her throat. “Take me...” I whispered as I pressed my chest into her hands. My nipples ached in anticipation, an anticipation that only grew worse as she released one of my breasts, her finger tracing across my collarbone right where she'd left the mark earlier. Her warm breath trailed back across my cheek, clouding in my ear before I felt teeth clamping on my lobe.
“I love you so much,” she whispered to me. I felt a small tingle building between my legs, right where her pubis was resting on my lips. For the smallest fraction of a second, I thought about leaving a tip for whatever unfortunate (or perhaps fortunate—this was New York, after all) maid would have to deal with the results of my arousal. Still, with a moan at her lying on top of me, knowing all the right strings to pull on my body and in my psyche, the thought could find little purchase and soon washed away on the currents of what I was sure would flow out of me in mere minutes. Knowing Lucianna, she'd make sure I kept up that flow for hours. Between ours being an afternoon flight and my earlier resolve to give myself fully to her for the night, I had no problem with that.
“I love you, too,” I panted. My patience was rewarded with the press of her warm, sopping sex on mine. Luci ground passionately into me, her hips wiggling in a pattern I couldn't quite make out, but which made me forget the world around me. The ache in my nipples gave way to a tingle as she pinched firmly, kissing me all over my face. I wrapped my legs around her, knowing better than to try keeping up whatever pattern she was carving into me with her hips. She was claiming me, I could tell, and right then, I wanted nothing more than for her to succeed. In that moment, I could not have taken dominance back from her, even if I'd wanted to.
Wanting to could not have been further away from my mind. While I'd married my husband because he'd rescued me from living out of my car and I thought it was only fair that I repay him, Lucianna was with me because she wanted to be, and I was with her because I wanted to be hers. Sex with my husband had been hungry, voracious, gymnastic, and energetic. Luci could give me all that, but when it was with her, especially this night, I felt our hearts becoming one. In that evening, all the pain of my childhood, the humiliation my husband inflicted on me that led to our divorce, all of it could not have been further away when I was in the embrace of this wonderful young woman.
Thanks to both my stamina and her insatiability, it wasn't until the rising sun broke through the window that we realized we hadn't gotten any sleep last night. Or rather, I noticed it from the reflection off the frame of a painting on the wall while my head was between her legs. “Oh. Look at that. We went at it all night.”
Luci, who had been lying on her back, looked up. “Oh. Oh no. Clarissa, I'm so sorry. I really should have kept better track of time. I can't believe I...ohhhhh!” Her mouth being out of my reach was no obstacle to my shutting up her unnecessary apology. “You're right. We can sleep on the plane.”
