My Body-His by Blakely Bennett

that?”
    “ It just fits. You are asking for an
intellectual response to something intuitive. It’s the way we feel
together.”
    “ Does your body react the way mine does? How
could we be in love so fast?”
    “ Jane, how about asking fewer questions and
just listening to what your body is telling you? I will say one
thing and then back to your questions: this doesn’t need to make
sense. It just has to feel right, and it does. We are meant to be
together. That’s why you feel alive and brand new and no longer
alone. I’m right about that, am I not?”
    “ Yes but ….” I couldn’t think of a but .
It made no sense and really, when did love ever make sense? There
was much I wanted to ask and yet I only had three lousy questions
left.
    “ So, Jane, what do you want to know?” he said,
smiling with his eyes as well as his mouth.
    His eyes did something to me. They infused me with
such intensity that it was as if they held my soul. Even without
his touching me, I felt cradled in his arms.
    “ Ahem,” I said, clearing the haze of my desire.
“Okay, here’s an easy one and probably a waste of a question but my
curiosity is driving me nuts. Do you own the house where we first
met?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ Just yes? Care to elaborate, like are you the
one throwing the parties?”
    “ You may use that as your next question. I
answered the third one already.”
    “ No, then. I don’t want to waste my remaining
questions on that.”
    “ Next?”
    “ What exactly do you do in your business, which
I have deduced is photographing nudes?”
    “ Pick another, my love. I will show you when we
get home.”
    “ Home?” I said. “Are we really living together?
How is it that my life has changed so much in less than a
week?”
    “ Jane, are you okay?” he asked, leaning forward
to take my hand into his.
    “ I’m scared,” I said. “This seems so fast and
so intense.”
    “ When it’s right, it just is, babe,” he said.
“And we are right. Want to save the questions for
later?”
    “ Oh, no. It’s just that I need to come up with
another one. Ummm, okay, how did you get your scar?”
    “ The wrong place at the wrong time, with a
sword. Let’s leave it at that.”
    “ That’s not an answer, Luke. Tell me the whole
story.”
    “ I’m not a fan of talking about the past, and
that’s all I’m willing to say.”
    “ But—”
    “ I’ll allow you another question,” he said. He
gazed out the front window of the restaurant as if trying to will
the past away.
    “ Could I save one for the future?”
    “ Sure, I’m feeling generous,” he said with a
grin.
    “ Okay, then here’s my last question: do I need
to be worried for my life?”
    “ That was good.” Luke laughed, bringing his
attention back to me.
    “ I’m completely serious, and how the hell did
you know where I work?” I asked.
    “ Oh … really, that’s what you want to ask?” He
looked astonished. “Of course I would never really hurt you. Plus
you have the ‘Get Lost Creep’ card. It’s in your power to end this
whenever you want. Just because our relationship is alternative
doesn’t mean I’m dangerous. Not in the life and death sense anyway.
I love you, Jane, and given time, you will come to trust that and
me. ”
    I felt better. His words rang true on a deep level,
allowing me to let my guard down.
    “ Okay, but I’ve got to tell you it’s all a bit
overwhelming at this point,” I said. I paused and then continued,
“Can I ask you something about us? It’s nothing about you
personally. I really like the idea of saving a question for later.
Plus, twenty-four ‘thwacks’ are way more than enough.” I wondered
if he would use the belt again for my discipline.
    “ Oh, I forgot to mention it costs two licks to
save a question for the future.” Laughter spilled out of him before
he had finished speaking.
    “ I don’t think so,” I said with a stubborn
pout, and laughed all the same.
    “ So ask,” Luke said.