Free Snowbound Hearts by Benjamin Kelly Page B

asked.
    “I don’t know, but I’m glad you’re on top so you can’t get mad at me.”
    She slid off him and glanced at his crotch. “Oh.” She reached down and traced the length of his erection with her index finger. “Did I do that?”
    “Yes. Again .”
    “Sorry,” she said and got up, but turned back and grinned. “I’m not really sorry.” She spun on her heel and glided to the bathroom as if walking on air.
    Stephen expected her to go on to her room and get dressed, but she came back and got into the bed with him. Her big pink nipples were visible through the old, worn-out white T-shirt she was wearing.
    Stephen was still lying on his back. She slid under the covers, straddled him, and put her head back onto his shoulder where it had been. A man’s body was never intended to endure the kind of repeated stimulation with no relief that Audrey insisted on giving him. But he couldn’t ask her to stop. If the torture of constant arousal with no hope of fulfillment was what he had to endure to be near her, then he’d suffer silently in agonizing bliss. She shifted from side to side getting perfectly centered and settled her full weight onto him.
    ***
    After breakfast, Audrey and Stephen sat staring at each other over their empty plates. She had put on one of his flannel shirts over her T-shirt but hadn’t bothered buttoning it. Her hard nipples strained against the thin white cloth that barely obscured them. She pushed the plates aside, put her elbows onto the table, and her chin in her hands. He did the same so they were face-to-face.
    “I know I’m just the test dummy, but I hope I’ve given you second thoughts about your so-called soul mate.”
    Audrey shook her head. “I’m more convinced than ever that he’s my soul mate.”
    Stephen let his head drop and rapped it once on the table, then frowned at her. He tapped the middle of his chest with an index finger. “This is not indestructible, Audrey. Any more damage and it might never heal.”
    She sighed heavily, returning his frown. “Were not in love, Stephen, we can’t be.”
    If she had made her statement with conviction, Stephen was certain that his heart would have shriveled and died, but the tone of her voice betrayed her true meaning. She wasn’t making a statement at all. She was asking how they could have fallen in love so quickly. “Where did that come from? I never mentioned that word.”
    “Did you really think you had to say the word? I can see it in your eyes.”
    “No matter what you think, you don’t know what’s in my mind unless I tell you.”
    “Okay, tell me you’re not in love with me.” She leaned forward and kissed his lips.
    Stephen hesitated for a moment, thinking up a way to answer her question without lying or admitting the truth. “You know—it’s just a word. Four little letters someone strung together to give a polite name to a biological need to reproduce.”
    Audrey slowly shook her head and inched her face closer to his. “It’s not just a word. It’s a universe unto itself, and we’ve fallen into it.”
    Stephen gave her a little peck, catching her top lip between his. “You do realize that you’re contradicting yourself? You said we weren’t in love.”
    “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been full of contradictions lately.” She leaned forward and kissed him again, allowing the tips of their tongues to brush ever so briefly together.
    Stephen touched his forehead to hers, their lips barely an inch apart. “I’m utterly confused.”
    “You’re only confused because you don’t have all the facts.” She extended her tongue and gave his a little lick.
    “I don’t have the facts because you won’t give them to me.”
    “Exactly.”
    Stephen grasped her head, thrust his lips against hers, and kissed her, passionately caressing her tongue with his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, enthusiastically returning his kiss.
    “Tell me you’re not in love with me , Audrey.”
    “I