Late that night, Jordan drove north on Route 4. The storm was moving fast to the east. Foreplay is driving north, she told Ari a while back, and she felt it now. Sheets of rain struck her windshield, obtuse and obstructing, blinding her as she drove, fast, too fast, toward Ari. Slow down, breathe, it’s treacherous out here. The storm on the other side of her windshield paled in comparison to the gale forces that whirled inside her. You’re stupid and dangerous, she told herself again and eased her foot on the gas pedal. Getting there late is better than not getting there at all.
She knocked on Ari’s door. As he let her in he leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Come quietly.”
Smiling but silent, Jordan was led to the middle of his living room, made to stop next to his baby grand. Ari took a silk scarf out of the back pocket of his soft, faded jeans and tied it over her eyes. Jordan’s already keen sense of hearing sharpened. Then she felt him place earplugs in her ears, push them in firmly. She swayed. She felt Ari’s hands remove her coat, swiftly, and she stood in his warm room in her thin dress, her body completely naked underneath the cotton, her heart pounding. She felt him take her hands, gently bring them together behind her back and tie them with soft fabric.
Jordan waited. She just stood there, her anticipation building. She couldn’t see or hear him, had no idea where he was or what he had planned for her. She sensed him walking around her silently, feline-like. She didn’t move, wasn’t allowed to move.
She felt caresses on her arms and shoulders, as gentle as early morning sunrays, raising goose bumps on her skin. His caresses left her arms only to return to her lower legs, then traveled up, reaching all the way up to her neck, and down to her behind. Her dress was still on, and she hated it for coming in between Ari’s touch and her craving skin.
His hands slowly changed, became heavy butterflies, landing for a short while, fluttering their wings, taking off again.
As he silently circled her, she felt his heat radiating like a small sun and she leaned toward it. He stopped his caresses and Jordan waited. For long moments nothing happened. Come back, she wanted to cry out, but kept silent. Every second that passed without his touch burned.
Then she felt his mouth on hers. His warm, soft lips nipped hers, his tongue licked. He took her lower lip into his mouth and sucked on it. Increasingly, his kisses deepened, the pressure of his lips on her mouth grew. He didn’t touch her anywhere but her mouth, and she leaned into him, hungry for more.
When Ari’s mouth began its journey across her skin, her entire surface ignited like gasoline-doused silk. She longed for him, for the calculated impact of his every touch. As he continued to prowl around her, his strong, sensitive, magical hands joined his mouth. They turned into powerful, giant birds. They swooped down on her again and again and as time marched on, their speed and weight grew. Jordan’s every skin cell tensed, not knowing what to expect, surprised with his every move.