Hearts & Minds | WATTY Winner

Chapter 27 | St. Helena | Part 3

"You are correct."

"Okay then. Nora, would you like to go out on another date with me?"

She squinted up at the ceiling and pretended to think about it. "On one condition."

He looked wary. "Sure."

"Kiss me."

Theo's face lit up. He lowered his mouth to hers, pressed her body to his. With a deliberateness, he reached for her hands and interlaced their fingers. Nora came up for air from their kisses. She studied his hands in hers. His beautiful, strong hands. He gave her a tug, and she responded, but raised her eyes only to his chin with its scar. Before she could think twice, she leaned forward, letting her lips brush against the jagged line. She felt his mouth open and the warmth of his breath on her face. Green Dragon. Lightly, she ran her tongue on the scar, his rough beard stubble, pricking and bending under the pressure. Theo sighed. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him before bringing his mouth down over hers again. She didn't want it to stop. Theo's hands ran through her hair. He removed her hair clip and paused a moment to look into her eyes with an intensity she found herself matching. He broke away first, looking over her entire body, his fingertips running over her cheeks, down her neck, tracing the curve of her breasts, and across the skin of her stomach on the top of her belt. Nora shivered.

Theo stepped back. "Um, do you want to go for a hike?"

Seriously? "Do I what?"

"The sun just set. There won't be as many mosquitoes."

Was he joking?

No. He was being a gentleman. He probably surmised from their previous encounters Nora was inexperienced in these things, that she might want to put on the brakes. Be sensible.

She was tired of being that.

"Let's go hiking in the morning," she said. "Why don't you show me your bedroom again?"

He pulled back a little more to get a look at her face. His expression—a mix of wonder, tenderness, and desire—was her reward.

"All right, Miss Ko-Harvey."

Nora led the way. She shut the windows and pulled the blinds down. She didn't trust the walls' soundproofing, as she had a feeling about herself—ten would get her twenty she was going to be a noisy sex partner. She'd only been with two others before. Webster Chung, the summer after her senior year of high school—they'd agreed to swipe each other's V-cards if no one else came along before college—and Marco Calhoun, a boy in her Women's Studies 201 class junior year at Cal. Her study partner, he had seemed safe, and one late night as they quizzed each other for the final, delirious with exhaustion and needing to re-boot, Nora had opted for sex over Marco's unexpectedly proffered cocaine. Both boys had one thing in common. They were nerdy goths—not what anyone would picture for Nora Ko-Harvey, not even she herself.

But Theo Furlan. Theo fit her just right. Nora stood by the bed and turned to him, pulling his head down to hers, kissing him like it was their last day to be alive. And that's how she wanted to live—like there was nothing to lose—instead of the way she'd been living, like there was nothing to live for. She wanted to be on her death bed some day—hopefully, many, many decades from now—and regret nothing.

Theo kissed her back, matching her intensity. He gazed into her eyes, studied her face before reaching down and kissing her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks, and mouth. He leaned back and pulled his shirt over his head. He stood before her, waiting. She ran her fingertips over his skin, starting at his jaw, down his throat, over his shoulders, his chest, and abdomen. She pulled away reluctantly and quickly removed her top and bra, shimmied out of her jeans and underwear. She stepped forward and lined her body up to his, pressing, skin on skin. Their breathing quickened. Nora hooked her fingers into the waistband of his shorts, carefully pulling them down.

"Are you sure about..." But he stopped, unable to finish as Nora hands ran over him again. She nodded and shushed him. They scooted under the covers of his bed, kissing and touching. Theo knew all the places to explore, and while Nora lacked his experience, she worked on instinct, intuition, and the often unsolicited blow-by-blow recaps of Rainey's exploits as retold post-encounter.

Theo was expertly, almost reverently, attentive, and before she knew it, Nora was riding a wave that crested with her calling his name as well as God's. She would have been embarrassed if she hadn't craved it again immediately. For his part, Theo followed her swiftly, his eyes on hers, a look of vulnerability and beauty fusing them together for the first time.

But not the last.

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Thanks, everyone, for reading the third part of this chapter! Next week, I'll post some more. We are definitely getting close to the end. Have a great weekend, and stay well! x, Olivia