No Kissing Allowed

Chapter 30: Crushed

Chapter 30: Crushed

Time had passed. Cora couldn't say how long. She'd let go of counting the days and nights, just as she let go of worrying about her position in the bed after Jamie turned off the wall sconces. She floated, relying on his steady weight to keep her from drifting too far out of place.

She floated through time as well now. A new sensation for Cora, but not unpleasant, anchored by the knowledge that her stay here on this island would only last a month. Not a moment more. One of these mornings the producers would call it a wrap. She and Jamie would bid their bungalow goodbye, never to lay eyes on it again. Any feelings that formed here would end at that boundary, ephemeral and easily forgotten, like a dream.

If the rest of her life was an ocean of time, these nights with Jamie were a warm lagoon, sheltered from the dangers of the open sea. She could strip herself naked here with no risk—no real vulnerability. No harm could come to her as long as she didn't let the currents drag her into deeper water.

Jamie stirred, pulling Cora out of her reverie. She had been drifting in the nether regions between wakefulness and sleep, but his whisper tickled against her ear. "Am I crushing you?"

He lay draped on top of her. Hip bone to hip bone. Rib cage to rib cage. Her legs tangled around his thighs from the position in which they'd finished earlier, both too boneless to move. He had his forearms tucked beneath her shoulder blades against the mattress, supporting the weight of his chest and shoulders just enough to let her breathe.

Was he crushing her?

"Yes," she said in answer. "But I like being crushed."

He let a little more of his weight press onto her frame. Cora let out a sigh, the sound of a piston depressed. "I like to feel weighed down," she said on a slowly expelled breath. "It helps me relax. I use a weighted blanket at home when I'm having trouble sleeping."

"It doesn't suffocate you?"

"Not so far." She caressed his arm, tracing the rippled shape where his bicep met his shoulder. "You're much better though."

"Better than your blanket. High praise, indeed."

"You make excellent ballast." She patted blindly at what might have been his cheek. "Your one and only talent, or so I've been told."

This elicited a throaty chuckle. She could feel it rumble as his abdomen vibrated against hers. Her eyes were open in spite of the pitch black darkness of the room, but she closed them as she soaked in the sensation. She wondered if he could see her or if his eyes were closed as well.

Jamie ducked his head to whisper in her ear. "This can't last, you know."

Cora felt a tug. Yes, she knew, although she allowed herself to forget sometimes. She was enjoying her present circumstances far too much to think about the future.