Taking It (Rewritten

Snippet #3

I looked over at Taylor and he was still fast asleep. Completely unaware of the state we were in. His hair fell into his face and more stubble had grown in as well. I didn't stay long to examen him. I grabbed his hand and pushed it away. He flopped onto his back, looking a bit more relaxed. His chest exposed itself to me and I couldn't help looking. But then my eyes drifted down to far and I discovered that elusive ninth piercing. I couldn't stop myself from screaming, scrambled in the bed until I fell out of it. Taylor jolted awake almost immediately and I popped up from the floor, tugged on the him of his shirt.

"Are you okay?" He rubbed at his eyes as I glanced down at his waist. Only for a nanosecond but in that nanosecond, I saw the twist and scrunch of his stomach and the way he curved up towards it.

"Mmhmm," I nodded, and stared at his face. My face felt on fire. It's on fire now as I write this. "I just—uhhh. I--ummm. I gotta go." I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder and he finally stopped rubbing his eyes to look at me.

He squinted and felt around his bed for his glasses. I snatched them off the night stand and chucked them at him. My entire insides twisted and I fought the urge to look again. Simply because I've never seen one before and curiosity begged to get the best of me. I still haven't seen one, not really.

It didn't take long for Taylor to realize that he was naked and semi-erect. By this point I had turned away and already stuffed my legs into my jeans.

"Charlotte I—it's not what you think." The bed creaked beneath him.

In the mirror I could see him on his knees, hands tucked between his legs. I grabbed my bra and slipped my arms into his shirt and nodded.

"It's a foner." His face was red despite me not wanting to look at him I couldn't help myself.

I knew he was fit. But he looked more so that morning. Stomach tight, defining each ripple, arms bulging, broad chest and sturdy thighs. I wanted to draw him like that. Use him for anatomy practice. I still do. But that'd be crossing boundaries we now have set in place.

"A what?" Once my bra was on I grabbed my shirt and waited until he noticed and closed his eyes.

"A foner. It's a fear boner. When you screamed it scared me."

"So you got hard?" I furrowed my brows. He opened his eyes too soon. Caught a glimpse of my pink bra and shut his eyes tight again.

"Fuck. Sorry. I thought—" he stopped, and let out a breath. His fingers twitched slightly. "It's a flight or fight response. Or so Jasmine tells me. I didn't mean to—I guess I fell asleep in my towel I just—"

I looked away as he dropped his hands. My face heated up again. I could hear him shuffling around in the bed. The springs creaking under his weight.

"Yeah! See!" I opened my eyes and he was holding up the towel, still naked.

"Taylor!" I slapped my hands over my eyes.

"Right, shit. Sorry," he hissed, followed by more shuffling and creaking.