Royal Bachelor by Trudi Torres

while. I remember him. He had my mom’s red hair. I was four when he died and I remember peering into his crib and wondering why he wasn’t there. He just... disappeared. One day he was my little brother sticking his arms through the crib to reach for me and learning to crawl around on the carpet, the next day, my parents said he was gone. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, as if a four-year-old could grasp that. I was seven before I realized he wasn’t coming back.”
    “That’s terrible.”
    “And I guess my parents were too heartbroken to try again. Though I don’t really know if they did and it would be too cruel to ask. Instead they just helmeted and padded me the rest of my life.” When he looked at her disbelievingly, it was her turn to chuckle. “Oh, college really shook them up. Rebecca and I both moved away and they got better because I threatened I’d do drugs if they didn’t loosen up.”
    “You are evil incarnated.”
    Alice belatedly noticed that they were both lying on their sides now, her with her arm tucked under her head, and Luke with his head propped by his arm, looking down at her.
    It was suddenly very warm.
    “I really want to kiss you right now,” he said, matter of fact.
    “Then why are you talking? Ew. I can’t believe I said that.”
    He chuckled and then lowered his head to hers, slowly, taking his time. When the touch finally came, Alice made a noise at the back of her throat. In relief, in triumph. She was a quick study and soon she matched his kiss, suckle for suckle, lick for lick, stab for stab. They did a gentle battle with their tongues. All her bones turned to water, her blood became liquid fire.
    His hand moved to her hair, stroking her scalp, and then her neck and shoulders then down to her waist. Alice laced her body around Luke’s, weaving her legs between his and conforming to the shape of him. She brought his hand to her breast, the touch muffled by sweaters and underwear, but she sighed nevertheless. The heat of his touch made her squirm at how disconcertingly right the sensation was.
    He transferred his hand under her sweater to her stomach and covered her skin, gently massaging before leaving to stroke her waist and back, and then returning to stroke and tease her breast again over her bra. She was drunk and so alive at the same time. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her fingers in his hair.
    Alice broke free of the kiss to gasp, pressing her neck to his mouth and digging her fingernails into the skin of his back.
    She wanted him, and she was suddenly bewildered and foggy on why she was refusing herself when he wanted her, too. She felt desperate and they were now grinding against each other, kissing, touching.
    They were on a rug, on the floor, in her parents’ house, with nothing between them but this raging fire that demanded to be fed and consume them—And Alice suddenly didn’t care. So what if she’d decided to take things slow? So what if all this practically screamed inevitable heartbreak? Any hesitation she might still have had was brushed aside by Luke taking a deep breath and propping himself on his arms away from her. He stared down at her. She melted at the desire in his eyes. Everything else melted away.
    Why not, why not, why not? It rang in her ears as loudly as the blood heated up by their touch and kisses. A sensible part of her answered the question, but the desire drowned it out.
    She pulled Luke close before he could move away.
     

Chapter Thirteen - Luke
     
     
    They went back to New York. Luke stood in the cold wind, letting his skin turn bright red. Luke looked out over the frigid ocean and thought of Alice, sweet Alice. Even now, a day later, it set his teeth on edge with desire, just remembering their mind-numbingly sweet coupling. He couldn’t call it sex in his mind, not even when it had felt like one because of their frantic fumbling and wordless, almost impersonal joining. It hadn’t surprised him because she’d set him on