pulled away from the wall, embarrassed. What was wrong with me? I had been thinking about sex from the moment I walked into this building. First I’d stared at a stranger’s crotch and now I was eavesdropping on my nice, extremely hot neighbor.
Thinking about sex was one thing. I couldn’t listen to something this private. But as I deliberated the thumping increased, and the moaning grew louder, more intense. It pulled me forward like a magnet. My breath grew shallow, my legs weakened and I pressed my body closer to the sound leaning into the stucco.
There, there, please baby, like that, just like that . . . she knew what she wanted and he answered.
Like that.
Just like that.
Harder.
Faster.
With every word I felt my body humming with energy, a slow wave of pleasure building as I listened. I could see Theo in my mind. His shirt off, I wondered what he was doing in that bed. His beautiful hands on this woman’s body. I wanted to know. I wanted to feel this.
More.
“More,” I whispered.
Please.
“Please,” I whispered.
Now. Now. Now. The wave inside built as the woman’s voice grew louder, she was commanding him and moaning until her voice turned into a shrieking and wailing so loud I jumped back away from the wall my heart pounding, my bottle dropping with a huge BANG on the floor.
And . . . silence.
My pulse roared in my ears. I felt like a kid caught stealing from a candy dish. Shit. Had they heard me? Did they know I’d been eavesdropping? My cheeks burned. What was wrong with me? I wasn’t some sort of a voyeur, was I? I was a normal woman who had a very normal sex life. I grabbed some paper towels and wiped up the spilled beer, trying to walk quietly.
The room next door grew silent. I slipped off the lights and climbed into my sleeping bag still thinking about sex. Sex. I liked sex. At least I thought I did. Henry and I had sex, we had for years. He’d been my second lover when I was twenty-two years old.
Cara said I was a late bloomer, I didn’t feel late. I just didn’t have a lot of experience having sex with people outside of a relationship, outside of Henry. What had drawn me to Henry anyway? Had it been his confidence, his kindness? I felt foolish and sentimental thinking about those early days. When we’d first started dating, sex had been a little wilder, not really in what we did; in fact, we always did the same things, more in frequency. I remembered one night we’d had sex twice and then again in the morning. I had experience, right? We’d even tried a few different positions, I could think of at least three.
And I came. Henry had pleased me, not all the time, but often enough. I closed my eyes trying to remember the last time we’d been together. Had I come? Had I felt that incredible shaking and shuddering? Why couldn’t I remember the details?
My body rippled with heat remembering the sounds from the bedroom next door. I didn’t need to go through my memory banks to know that I had never ever screamed or called out like that in my whole life.
In fact, I thought back to all the times I’d made love to Henry and I remembered that I was always silent. The thought made me sad and slightly more embarrassed.
What was happening in the apartment next door? What was Theo doing to make a woman scream like that? I wanted to know.
I had dreams that night. I found myself walking the halls of The Holiday wearing nothing but a man’s white button down shirt. My legs were bare; I wore underwear and I was looking for someone. There was someone I needed.
I turned a corner and I felt a strong hand move across my body. A stranger pulled me onto the ground. I couldn’t see his face, but I could smell his scent. He smelled like sex and his body was hot with sweat. He hovered above me not penetrating me, but I could feel his throbbing cock brush against my belly, my leg.
I wasn’t afraid.
I knew him.
He was the one I’d been searching for.
“Don’t tease me,” I whispered. “I
Steve Karmazenuk, Christine Williston