“Amir,” she said suddenly, her breath fighting the words. “Wait.”
Amir moved up her body and took her in her arms. “What is it?” Her words were soft against her cheek. “Did I hurt you?”
“God, no…I’m just so close.” Loch hesitated, then pressed her damp forehead to Amir’s shoulder. “And I don’t want this to be over.”
Amir smiled as she pulled Loch tighter into her chest, her hands sliding up the length of her back. She let her go after a moment and lifted her chin, bringing Loch’s gaze to hers.
“Baby,” Amir whispered. “If you come for me, I promise I’ll make you come again before you even catch your breath.”
“Really?”
Amir nodded and bit Loch’s lip gently before she moved back down her body to tease Loch’s clit back into the heat of her mouth. She stroked it achingly slowly with her tongue, listening to Loch’s breath quicken as she gave into it, hand tangled into Amir’s hair. She held it there, the tips of her fingers whispering, her breath falling between them, one word hovering soft in the air.
“Amir…”
Loch’s back arched to follow Amir’s mouth, her body moving like flowing water, guided by the fingers inside her. Amir put Loch’s thigh back on her shoulder, thrusting her shoulders against Loch’s body in a steady rhythm, her fingers inside, fucking her in time with her breath.
“Oh, my god,” Loch whispered, arching against Amir’s tongue and lifting her arms over her head as Amir wrapped her arm around her back from underneath, pulling her harder into her mouth.
Time stopped as she came. Loch groaned, grinding into Amir, moved by the hand at the small of her back that pulled her hard into the slick heat of Amir’s mouth. Amir held her as an orgasm visibly swept through her body, the heat between them flashing, intensifying, then flowing from Loch in a wet slick of lust.
Amir stayed inside her until her breath slowed, then moved back up her body, pulling Loch into her arms and smoothing the damp hair back from her forehead. She ran her fingertips up her back to her neck, circling the back of it with the warmth of her hand and holding her.
“Amir, that was…” Loch whispered against Amir’s chest, her words open and soft. “That was so intense. I’ve never felt like that.”
Amir kissed her forehead and felt Loch’s breath soften and slow, then held her tighter and pulled the duvet up around her. She trailed a gentle finger across her cheek after a few minutes.
“Are you ready, baby?”
Loch stirred in her arms and buried her face deeper into Amir’s chest, her breath already heavy with the rhythm of sleep. Amir smiled, reaching up to turn off the lantern. She held Loch in the darkness, staring up at the silver wash of stars above them. When she finally whispered the words, they hung in the air like the stars and refused to fade.
“I’ve never felt like this, either.”
When Loch unzipped the tent the next morning, Amir looked up at her from the fire, her hair wet from the shower. She’d worn a flannel shirt under her work jacket, but the morning chill still hung sharp in the air.
“Good morning.” Amir laughed as Loch walked toward her with her hands over her face.
“Did I completely fall asleep on you last night?” Loch moved one finger aside and peered out at Amir.
“Yes.” Amir poured Loch a cup of coffee from the blue enamel percolator on the fire grate and handed it to her with a little pot of cream. “And I can’t think of a bigger compliment.”
“Well,” Loch said, taking the cup and kissing Amir before she sat on the log beside the fire. “If you think about it, it was all your fault.”
“Absolutely. I take full responsibility.” Amir sat beside her and pulled Loch into her, kissing her forehead. “So, do you remember that morning when you helped me with the pictures for the website?”
Loch nodded, holding her mug in both hands and scooting her feet closer to the fire.
“You said you had something to ask me that was guaranteed to be a pain in my ass, so you wanted to butter me up first.”
“Now I’m embarrassed to tell you.” Loch smiled at her. “And if you laugh, I’m getting right back into the tent and under the covers.”
“Now I’m definitely going to laugh,” Amir said. “I’m not sure that’s the approach you want to go with considering getting you into bed is pretty much my goal anyway.”
Loch laughed and snuggled closer to her. “Well, I have to show you. I can’t just tell you.”
“How about I take you to breakfast at the diner and then you can show me?”
“Deal,” Loch said. “Although now you have to point me toward where you found a shower before I’m going anywhere.”
After Loch had showered and dressed, they drove into town and found a parking spot near the marina. The diner was busy, but Amir snagged a table by the window, sunlight warming the faded vinyl tablecloth between them. The waitress Loch had gotten to know from her morning coffee runs took their orders, then glanced at Amir as she gathered their menus and walked back to the counter.
“It was Cara, wasn’t it?” Loch looked at Amir with a raised eyebrow, challenging her to admit it.
Amir smiled. “What about her?”
Loch leaned in and met her gaze. “The one who didn’t need you to hang the porch swing?”
Amir shook her head and poured sugar into her coffee, smiling. “I’m not saying anything.”
“Well,” Loch said, glancing over at Cara ringing up a ticket for another customer. “I’m impressed. She’s pretty young to pull that kind of thing off with no drama.”
“I know,” Amir said. “I’ve always thought the same thing.” She realized suddenly what she’d said and tossed a ketchup packet at Loch. “I mean, in theory, of course.”
The two plates of fresh blueberry pancakes and crispy bacon Amir had ordered over Loch’s objections arrived blissfully quickly, and golden sunlight warmed the table as they ate. Amir carefully spread each of her pancakes with lashings of butter, then rolled each of them up like a little burrito and lined them up on her plate before she started eating.
Loch watched with one eyebrow raised, then picked up her coffee cup with a smile.
“I don’t even know what to say about that, Farzaneh.”
Amir looked up, pancake in hand. “Let’s go with nothing. Although I’m sure Cara would love someone to laugh with about this. She’s been teasing me since I met her about my pancake system.”
Loch glanced up to the front of the diner where Cara was leaning against the counter, coffee cup in hand, not even trying to hide her amusement.
“It’s just efficient,” Amir said with a smile aimed at Cara and Loch. “I never have time in the morning to sit around with a plate of pancakes, so this just made sense. I can just take them with me. After a while, it just got to be a habit.”
Loch shook her head, still smiling, and cut one of her pancakes in half, carefully separating it from the rest of the stack. She felt Amir staring at her and looked up, fork in hand.
“Not that I wouldn’t love to dive face first into this entire plate, but I can’t.”
Amir started to say something, but Loch intercepted with a wink. “Eyes on your own plate, pancake freak.”
After they’d eaten, they walked out into the bright sunshine, the glass doors closing silently behind them and taking the clatter and conversation of the diner with it. The sun glinted off the surface of the water, and the bright yellow ferry coming back from Bar Harbor was just pulling up to the dock, tourists dripping from every surface.
“Where to, Ms. Battersby?”
“My house,” Loch said. “But just keep in mind you can totally say no.”
“This is starting to sound like you’re ordering a mafia hit or something.”
“Well…” Loch bit her lower lip and looked up the hill toward her house. “You may consider doing that before it’s over.”
As they pulled up to the house and Amir cut the engine, Loch sat there for a moment, looking
up at it. Amir watched her, waiting to see if she wanted to talk about whatever it was that was making that crinkle in her forehead. She’d either tell her, or it wasn’t time. Either way, it was Loch’s move.
“Remember when you found me on the dock that day and I’d been crying?”
Amir nodded, taking off her seat belt and turning toward Loch.
“Well, I’d just read a letter my aunt had left for me.” She pulled the sleeves of her shirt down over her hands as she spoke. “She said I needed to clear out the house, that it was just stuff, and whether I wanted to keep it or sell it, I needed to get some fresh energy into the place.”
“That makes sense.” Amir picked up one of Loch’s cold hands and warmed it between both of hers. “And now I can see why you didn’t want to go home that night.”
“Well, that and I just wanted to sleep with you.”
Amir smiled and leaned over, bringing Loch’s face to hers. “It was really hard not to touch you. But I’m glad you stayed.” Amir kissed her, then sat back and ran her hand through her hair. “Ready?”
Loch nodded and got out of the car, and they headed to the house. When they got to the front steps, Loch took Amir’s hand and led her around to the side, toward a detached garage with slate shingles and wide wooden doors. She pulled out her keys and squinted at the padlock, trying the same brass key several different ways before they slipped from her hand and clattered onto the stone path. Amir picked them up, opened the lock, then handed the keys back to Loch.
Loch stepped back and motioned for Amir to walk in first. Sunlight flooded in when she opened the doors, illuminating the dust hanging motionless in the air like fog. A restored 1956 Chevy 3100 truck filled almost every bit of the space, painted a brilliant yellow with a custom hardwood bed. Even in the low overhead light, the gleaming chrome fenders and white leather upholstery popped.
“Wow,” Amir said, turning to Loch. “This was your aunt’s truck?”
Loch nodded. “She rarely drove it. I think what she really loved was the process of restoring it. She came out here every few weeks and waxed it by hand even if it hadn’t left the garage.”
“This is gorgeous.” Amir ran her hand over the smooth, curved lines of the truck bed. “And she left it to you?”
Loch shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and blew a lock of hair away from her face, which fluttered up and settled back down exactly where it had been. “Kind of.”
Amir smiled and waited for her to go on. “Kind of?”
“It came with a caveat,” Loch said. “Evidently, it’s mine if I can learn to drive it.”
“Ah, I get it.” Amir opened the door and ran her fingertips over the chrome steering wheel and white leather bench seat. “Honestly, driving a stick shift is not as hard as it looks, even in an antique car. I mean, the no power steering always takes some getting used to, but you’ll get used to it fast once you start taking it out.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of where you come in.”
“Sure, I’ll go with you.” Amir shut the door, then looked back through the window at the ignition. “Do you have the keys?”
“I do,” Loch said. “But they won’t do me much good since I don’t know how to drive.”
“A stick shift?” Amir smiled. “Or at all?”
“I’ve never driven anything but a scooter,” Loch said. “I’m from Manhattan. I take the subway everywhere.”
“Well, you’re in luck.” Amir walked over and held out her hand. “Let’s go. I know the perfect place to start.”
Amir led Loch out of the garage, closing the doors and clicking the lock back into place.
“Wait, don’t we need the truck?”
“Not at the moment,” Amir said. “You should learn in a vehicle that’s not quite so difficult to drive. Or expensive to fix.”
“Wait,” Loch said, hesitating as they walked back toward Amir’s vehicle. “I can’t learn in your truck. It’s way too nice to let me wreck it.”
Amir opened the door for Loch to get in, then wrapped her hand around the back of her neck gently and kissed her before she went around to the driver’s side and got in. She looked over at Loch and winked as she put the truck into gear. “It’s going to be pretty hard to wreck anything where I’m taking you.”
Amir drove them about a mile out of town and onto a gravel road that wound down a hill into a green expanse of cut grass. Maple trees surrounded them on two sides, and they were far enough from the road to see a car coming long before it reached them.
“Okay.” Amir slowed to a stop in the middle of the field and put the truck into park. “This truck is an automatic, so it’s great to learn on, but eventually, you’ll need to master a stick shift.”
Loch lowered her window and looked around. “Are you sure it’s okay to be here? What if the owner drives by and sees us?”
“I think we’re okay there.” Amir smiled as she got out of the truck. “I am the owner.”
“Shit,” Loch said. “That was the last excuse I had.”
Amir opened her door and wrapped Loch’s legs around her waist, pressing her hips close into hers. Loch let out a slow breath as Amir kissed down her neck and back to her mouth, biting her bottom lip gently, thumbs grazing Loch’s nipples as she let her go.
“I’ll take care of you, baby,” Amir said. “It’s not as hard as you think it is.”
Loch shook her head, sliding her hands under Amir’s shirt and across her abs. “Well, if you value your truck at all, you may not want to distract me. I take no responsibility for my actions when your hands are on me.”
Amir laughed and nodded toward the driver’s seat. “Ready?”
Loch slid over into Amir’s seat as Amir climbed into the passenger’s seat, closing the door behind her. Loch was staring at the controls, her fingers white around the steering wheel. “Why is this so nerve wracking?”
“It’s just unfamiliar. Everyone feels like that, I promise.” Amir looked down at Loch’s feet. “The most important thing to remember is that the gas pedal is on your right, the brake is the one right next to it.”
Loch immediately put one foot on each, and Amir had to look out the window for a second to hide the smile on her face.
“You’ll use just your right foot for both to avoid pressing them at the same time,” Amir said. “But that was cute.”
“Okay.” Loch gripped the steering wheel and stared straight out the window like there was a cliff three feet beyond it. “What’s next?”
“Next we’re going to put it into gear,” Amir said. “So, press your brake down and slide the gear shift down to the drive position.”
Loch lowered her foot onto the brake and tried to shift, but it refused to budge.
“Press that button under your right thumb as you move it. That just keeps it from being knocked out of gear.”
“Now the gas?”
“Take your foot off the brake first, and then the gas,” Amir said. “But slowly. You just want to ease into it.”
Loch pressed the gas pedal down, and the truck lurched forward.
“A little more lightly than that, babe.” Amir reached over and snapped Loch’s seat belt into place. “Just relax.”
Loch bit her lip in concentration and pressed the pedal lightly with just the toe of her boot. The truck moved slowly forward, but then she felt Amir’s hand on her thigh.
“That was perfect,” Amir said softly. “But you might want to open your eyes.”
Loch opened her eyes slowly and loosened her grip on the steering wheel. “Look, I’m driving!”
“You are,” Amir said. “Now give it a touch more gas. You don’t want much speed. What you’re really doing now is getting the feel of the pedals.”
Amir took Loch through all the basics for the rest of the afternoon, and by the time they decided to head back to the campsite, Loch felt like an expert, or expert enough to drive slowly forward in an empty field, which was the same thing to her. On the way home, they stopped at the mark
et in town, but just as they were about to go in, Amir’s phone rang, and she looked at the screen.
“It’s my mom,” she said, looking up at Loch as she stepped out of the truck. “I may need to get this.”
“Take your time,” Loch said. “I need to get a few things anyway.”
Amir watched Loch shut the door and walk toward the market before she picked up the phone. “Hi, Ma.”
It was a good two minutes before she got the chance to speak again.
“I know,” Amir said finally, letting out a long, slow breath. “I’ve just been busy.”
She looked toward the door of the market and watched as one of the shopkeepers stacked watermelons on the table beside it. He built a wobbly pyramid and stepped back to admire it as the last melon he’d placed tumbled to the sidewalk and burst open with a bright pink splash.
“Ma, I can’t come to dinner tomorrow night, I’ve got to finish the plans for the greenhouse.”
Amir closed her eyes and leaned her head back onto the headrest. She was wasting her time; her mother always knew she was lying, and evidently, Hamid and Anna were already coming. Besides, the rising pitch of her mother’s voice told her that another escape was unlikely.
“Okay,” she said, watching Loch walk out of the market with a brown paper bag. “I’ll be there at seven.”
Amir started a fire when they got back to the campsite, her mind spinning about dinner the next night. Loch had just walked to the restrooms, so she took the opportunity to text Hamid.
Hey, Mom called me about dinner tomorrow night. I may bring Loch. What do you think?
She stacked a few dried leaves under the kindling and watched as the smoke spun itself toward the sky. Her phone pinged after a few seconds.
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