could watch him.
“This good?” she asked, in what she hoped was a sultry, flirty way.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” She pouted.
“Your shirt – actually, my shirt – is still on.” As he moved in front of her, she sat up. He latched his thumbs under the T-shirt and slowly, he inched his fingers, and thumbs, and palms up the sides of her, his hot hands tickling, teasing, so slowly. Her flesh prickled into goose bumps and she felt herself go warm from the inside out.
When Joe took the shirt off, he smiled at her and turned once again to the sink, retrieved the bowl of ice and lemon wedges and moved back to Marnie.
“Ready?”
Marnie nodded, suddenly nervous. Joe picked up a lemon wedge and sucked on it, not even making a sour face. He licked it some more, and then brought it to Marnie for a taste. As she licked it, lemon juice and water from the melting ice dripped onto her chin, and fell into a drop on her belly. She lay down again, and pulled her hair from behind her neck and let it fall onto the counter behind her head. She propped her hands under her head so she could watch. Joe lifted a cube from the bowl and held it above her stomach. Drops melted onto her, and turned hot when they hit her skin. Marnie felt like she was on fire. He moved the cube over to just above her nipple, and waited as it dripped – three quick splats – and then, he moved to the other one. She shuddered from the feeling and closed her eyes, to see only what she could feel, to remove the sense of sight to heighten the sense of touch.
“Oh, God.”
“That good?”
“Oh, God, yeah.”
When she felt the thick wedge of lemon on her belly, it surprised her.
He skated the lemon over her skin; skin that was hot and cold at the same time. Her nipples were tight, and the heat from below was insane. He moved the lemon back and forth, up and down her body, coating her with sticky sourness. She wanted him to lick it off her, to take every sliver of her body and suck it off. Her hips lifted as she arched her back.
He sprinkled sugar over the lemony path trailed on her body. Sugar fell, and then he traced the lemon wedge over the sugared lines. The sensation was almost too much and Marnie reached for Joe, ready.
“Wait, Mar. Hold on. You like this, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t know if I can take much more.”
“Oh come on, this is fun.”
“For you, maybe, ” she whined, “But, but… you’re torturing me!”
“Just hold on.”
Then she felt something new, something else down low.
The lemon.
This, she was not expecting. Not that she was afraid; it was just so… not Marnie. The old Marnie wouldn’t have done this. Been in the kitchen doing these things. Marnie wouldn’t have let a guy shave her as she had let him. Marnie wouldn’t have continued to keep it shaven. But she had. This was a new Marnie, one who wasn’t afraid of new things, the Marnie who was willing to trust completely. To trust Joe. This guy who she was certain she was falling in love with, because how could you feel this way for a person, and let him do these things to you, and want him so badly all of the time… how could you have so much desire for a person you weren’t in love with? How could you?
Because she knew she was in love with him.
The lemon wedge was making its way downward, and she moved her heels up, letting one knee fall open to the side.
“Looks nice down there.”
“Umm.”
He opened her up, spreading her, first licking the lemon and then slowly, gently, he took the lemon and moved it over her. He squeezed, and the juice fell onto her. He took the lemon and moved it back and forth, back and forth, onto her. He turned Marnie toward him now, and she lifted her knees up. Another lemon wedge and this time, he pushed a little too far. “Ooh, that stings.”
“Sorry, babe.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s good.” She loved when he called her babe.
He moved the lemon on her again, testing the limits, and again she
Learning to Kill: Stories