Lips Like Coffee

cup: 27

NORMA

I stopped keeping track of the time after the first night. We spent the night watching movies, and Pen had bought me all my favorite candies. It felt like being back at our apartment, which I missed so much. There was nothing more I wanted than to be back under the same roof as him. Seeing him every day was something I took for granted, because when he wasn't there anymore, I felt like I was missing a part of me. Pen was my routine for so long, and it shifted my whole world leaving him behind.

Now I was waking up next to him in a hotel bed, and everything felt more right than before. I cuddled into his bare chest and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder to hold me. Although I started out on the bed alone, I ended up having a nightmare and Pen insisted on sleeping with me thereafter. The wasn't much of a fight I could put up after he started holding me--I didn't want him to stop. I felt the world's problems melt away in his arms.

Kissing his right pectoral, I smiled when I felt him kiss the top of my head at the same time. I pulled away to look up at him, and his dark irises stared back at me. Using my elbow, I propped myself up and he rolled over to his back.

"You're pretty in the morning," I said, moving hair from his face.

"You're pretty all the time," he replied.

Pen placed his arm around my waist, then pulled me on top of his body. I giggled as he settled me on his chest, resting his hands on my lower back. His body was warm. Nuzzling my face into his neck, I caressed his cheek as I kissed the spot behind his jawbone. A low groan resonated from his throat and I could feel it against my lips.

"I think I found your spot," I whispered, tracing the tattoo on his chest.

"Norma-Jean, my whole body's a spot when it comes to you," he said, digging his fingertips into my back.

That opened a world of possibilities. I inched my hand down his torso until I reached the blanket that covered his lower half. Before I could go any lower, Pen grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed the back of it, resting back on his chest.

"I have a question," he said, tilting my head up by my chin.

"Ask it."

"When you got here, you said you were nervous, did you think we were going to have sex?"

I buried my face into his chest farther, then reached to pull the blanket over my head. Why did he have to ask? Did I have to answer? The bed should just swallow me whole.

The cover got removed from over my head, and he made me look at him again. Pen's face was serious as he stared at me, which was a lot more than intimidating. His 'I mean business' face was kind of scary. I've stared war criminals in the face without fear, but this was different somehow.

"I did," I said, biting my lip.

"Have you had sex before?"

Another question I, one hundred percent, did not want to answer. My focus in high school was my training, and boys became intimidated with me after awhile. The boys my age in the infantry weren't attracted to me either, and the older men steered clear of me all together. Sex wasn't a priority for me.

"No, is that bad?"

"Of course not, but this leads to my next question. Two actually."

I had enough of his questions. I hate feeling embarrassed and that's exactly what was happening. Once again, I pulled the cover over my head and rolled off of him. He couldn't ask me anything if he couldn't see me. My flawed logic didn't get a chance to be proven as he stripped the cover away, then pinned me to the bed by moving on top of me. The position was something I had only dreamed about, and now I was in it under much different circumstances.