Free Random Acts of Sorcery by Karen Mead

pounding as she felt that queer mix of nervous excitement that she only felt around him. She had surprised him, and his obvious surprise only made her heart pound more. The fact that she could feel him breathing, so close to her, seemed dangerous somehow.
    It was a long kiss, but eventually, he pulled away. “No.”
    She couldn’t talk without sniffling now, which made her feel ridiculous.
    “Why *sniff* not? That was the idea of inviting me over *sniff* right?”
    He put his hand on her knee. “But I don’t want it to be because you pity me.”
    “It’s not pity,” she said in a reedy, wavering voice. She hated the way she sounded when she cried. “It’s just, I wanted to do something to show I understand….”
    His hand tightened on her knee. “That’s called pity.”
    “No, it’s not,” Cassie started, then gave up. Maybe it was pity, she didn’t know what she felt anymore. Everything seemed crossed, confused.
    A strange sensation came over her and then she remembered the last time she and Sam had been in this position, with him kneeling on the floor before her. It had been at court, the night before proceedings where they’d had a big argument that led to him throwing something at the wall.
    “Hey, remember that fancy hotel in New York?” she said, barely knowing what she was saying. “You were in front of me just like this, telling me why you didn’t like me.” Even out of the corner of her eye, she could see his eyebrows shoot up at that.
    “Cassie—”
    “That I would be nothing if I didn’t have magic, that I was shallow, that I was just an average girl who wanted an award just for being av—”
    She stopped talking then, because his mouth was on hers. While her kiss had been tentative, exploratory, his seemed hard and desperate, to the point that it almost hurt. He moved closer to her, and faster than she would have thought possible, they were both on the couch, with him on top. She struggled for breath when he broke the kiss.
    “No,” he said again, his dark eyes searching her face. “Too soon.”
    He moved quickly again, and somehow, she was in his lap, facing forward. He pulled her close to his body so her back was against his chest, and began to caress her arms and shoulders. Even through her sweater, she felt vibrations in her skin. She shivered, and found that the shiver made the sensations more intense.
    Then she gasped as she felt him kiss the nape of her neck. The kiss, light and gentle as a feather, sent ripples of sensation down her back. Slowly, carefully, he began to shower her neck with gentle kisses, all the while continuing to caress her arms and shoulders. She kept waiting, breathless, for his hands to move and touch her in a more intimate place, but he continued; almost innocent in the way he handled her.
    She was glad he couldn’t see her face, because her eyes were rolling to the back of her head and she was open-mouthed, greedily taking in air like she would never get enough. She wanted to lose herself, to stop thinking and just feel what she was feeling, forever if possible, but an unwelcome thought burst forth from somewhere and made her eyes flutter open.
    He’s good at this. Someone taught him how to do this.
    It was another moment before she trusted her voice enough to speak.
    “Sam.”
    He shushed her gently.
    “No, Sam,” she said, wriggling forward so he couldn’t continue distracting her so easily. “Did someone teach you how to do this? Was it Miri?”
    His hands stopped suddenly, shocked. “She told you?”
    “No. I guessed.”
    He moved his hands so they were at her waist. He pulled her close to him again, but didn’t continue caressing her. “Why are you only really smart when it’s inconvenient?”
    She giggled at that, but then stopped herself, afraid the giggling would turn to tears. What was with her and crying tonight?
    “Does it matter?” He asked finally.
    She leaned back against him, wondering if it should. It wasn’t like she had