Free On Every Street by Karina Halle

the ocean looked less menacing and the waves had slowed down to a gentle lapping. We walked, hand in hand, through the soft sand. I had taken off my strappy sandals, my feet happy to be free. The sandals I had were the ones I wore when it wasn’t appropriate to wear boots —they looked elegant, yet their criss-cross gladiator-style straps kept the scars on the top of my foot hidden. But under the light of the moon, after a lot of wine which we shared straight out of the bottle, I didn’t care if he saw them or not.
    That still didn’t keep me from being nervous as fuck. The setting, the wine, the enigmatic man I was with. This was all leading up to something and I didn’t know how to handle it. We were walking further and further away from the restaurant, the beach deserted, the houses on it growing further and further apart. It became more and more apparent that it was just him and I. We were alone, the universe pushing us together, turning off the lights.
    I started babbling. I d idn’t know what I was talking about. I think I began touching on reality TV shows and how they were ruining the world. I’d done a lot of TV watching back at Uncle Jim’s.
    Finally, Javier stopped and pulled me right up to him. One of his hands slid to my lower back, finding the bare skin between my top and my pants. The other hand went to my face, gently wiping his thumb across my cheekbone, then trailing it down to my lips. He put the tip of his thumb in my mouth, at the fleshy part of my lip and gums, and grinned at me. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so I just let him keep it there, my eyes growing larger with fear and anticipation.
    “Your lips are being wasted,” he said to me, eyes boring holes into mine. His face was darkened in shadow, the moon at his back, but his eyes still glinted, gleaming like an animal’s.
    I was about to ask how so, but he pressed his thumb further until I lifted my teeth and let it in. My tongue tasted salt and wine and garlic. I gently swirled it around.
    His eyes glazed over with lust. “Yes. This is better.”
    He placed his whole thumb in my mouth, so I had no choice but to suck it while locked in his gaze. His breath hitched, his nostrils flaring.
    “Your lips are made for this. But this is easy. Would you like a challenge?”
    I knew exactly what he meant. Believe it or not, I did go out on a date to a drive-in movie in Colorado. The guy wouldn’t even kiss me but I still ended up giving him a blow job. I did all right. I mean, I must have, judging from the way he came in my hair. But I didn’t want to do just all right with Javier. He had a lot of women, and if I was going to be the one to stick around, I needed to up my game. It’s just…of all the games I had played, this was out of my league.
    He slowly slid his thumb out of my mouth and put his lips to my ear.
    “Don’t worry,” he said softly. He took his dripping thumb and started to slide it and his fingers down the front of my pants. “My angel will always come before me.”
    Then he kissed me, delicate lips and strong tongue. I seemed to draw energy from his mouth, heat and warmth and stars filling me from the inside. It was a kiss unlike any kiss I’d ever had. It made me addicted, like my own mouth would forever be lonely without his there.
    Suddenly my pants were loose; the drawstring that held it together was being undone. I started clamming up, my body stiffening, my heart racing. I didn’t want him to stop, but I was scared to death by what was about to happen. I was truly about to go into the unknown and losing control was risky.
    His fingers found me wet and slid smoothly against my clit. He pulled back from my lips and let out a harsh sigh, his eyes closed. “Drenched, just for me.”
    I let out a similar sound, relishing the foreign s ensation of his skilled fingers, my cheeks flaming over how damn vocal he was, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Before I really started grinding against him, he pulled