Were they really going to—
Thump. Alex pulled her down on the mossy ground, her nose filling sharply with the rich scent of oregano, the heat of his body against hers a pleasure she would never take for granted.
Wait—oregano?
“You smell like Italian food,” he whispered, nuzzling her neck, one hand cupping a breast, his tongue licking right at the base of her earlobe, sending a full-body shiver through her.
“It’s not me,” she whispered back, fingering the ground cover. “It’s this.” Crushing some of the greenery between her fingers, she held them to his nose, his body pressing onto hers.
Alex inhaled deeply and said, “We’ll have to try out all the herbs. Oregano today, tarragon tomorrow, and then we need to find a bed of lavender. And…”
His mouth crushed into hers, hands flying up her camisole, hot and fevered. The sidewalk was not five feet away, their bodies hidden by a small hedge and a bench, the chance of getting caught reasonably high. It made the blood pound into her clit, her br**sts swell with excitement, and her mouth match his in intensity, the kiss transmitting a racy need to slam against him, to have his hands claim her, his c**k hammering her, all under the open night sky as they took each other’s bodies as nature intended.
With the stars as the audience.
Unlike the languid, luxurious night in her apartment a few days ago, this was fast and furious, her hands on his pants, unsnapping and unzipping, his fingers nimble with her shorts, pulling down, the cool night air smacking against skin that typically didn’t touch outdoor breezes. His fingers slipped inside her, in and out, making her h*ps buck against them. Her Crocs flew off her feet, one settling under a hedge, the other next to the only park bench in the little garden.
Preliminaries be damned—she wanted him in her.
Now.
He didn’t need to be told, fumbling in a back pocket for his wallet. A condom appeared out of nowhere.
“You planned for his?” she gasped, his fingers out of her now, her body aching to be filled by him.
“Yes,” he chuckled, rolling it on as she laced her legs around his hips.
“God, I love y—” she blurted out as he entered her, the last word gurgling to a screeching halt in the back of her throat as he thrust nice and deep, filling her with everything she needed at once, her eyes taking in the shadows from the greenery about them, the handful of stars she could catch in the city sky, the blinking red light of a jet overhead…
Oh, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
She did not just say that.
She did not.
She did—
“I love this, too,” he murmured in her ear, his arms on either side of her head, his face hidden by the inky darkness. A quick kiss, and then a hurried thrust as she quickened her own movements, the swollen need inside her clamping down as her orgasm rose up, stretching tall, elongating, ready to strike.
An out. “I love this so much,” she answered, speaking slowly, as if that’s what she’d intended to say all along. “So much.”
Their kisses disintegrated into simple connections, heated presses against each other as her body went rigid, all her nerves in concert as she hissed, “Alex, I’m—” Colored clouds exploded behind her closed eyes as she groaned and pushed up into him, her inner core tightening so hard her diaphragm seemed to spasm, her slickness and his enormity working together to make some third wave between them. She bit his earlobe as he bent down to change the angle, her hands grasping his waist, pulling up against him as a moan caught in her throat, the urge to cry out muted by the need to be quiet, to avoid being caught.
Alex’s body went tight, a growl in his throat as she bit him, his own cl**ax evident in the way his h*ps stopped moving, how his thighs halted, their bodies trapped by their own heat and fire burning through and, now out, as they each finished. A dog barked, the sound too close for comfort, and the two of them scrambled apart. Alex turned away as he dressed, and Josie hiked up her shorts with one hand while the other combed bits of oregano out of her hair. Her body still humming from what they’d just done.
Maybe she really was starting to love him. The thought remained a thought, thank goodness, her mouth firmly closed. She could think it as much as she wanted, right? As long as she didn’t say it.
Because who actually has danger sex and likes it?
Dr. Perfect. Of course.
As if nothing had just happened, Josie parked her ass on the bench in the little garden, whistling an off-key tune. Alex went around the corner to a water fountain, the sound of running water her clue. He came back and sat next to her, stretching an arm across the back of the bench, looking up at the night sky, whistling with her.
They burst into laughter.
A little corgi came around the corner, sniffing right where Josie and Alex had just had sex, the oregano apparently not enough scent to throw it off track.
“Oh. Hello!” A young guy, high school age, wearing a Red Sox cap and a matching Sox t-shirt, pulled on the dog’s leash.
“Hi!” they said in unison.
“C’mon, Daisy. What’s gotten into you?” he asked the dog as she bore down on the spot, sniffing furiously.
“Must be trying to claim her turf,” Alex said in a gee whiz voice.
“G’night,” the kid said, walking off, practically dragging poor Daisy down the street.
“That was close,” Josie muttered.
“That was fun,” Alex countered, kissing her.
Bam! The Klieg lights came on, bathing them in a flash of blinding light.
“What the f**k?” Josie shouted.
Headlights began streaming in and parking in the small lot behind a community center, directly behind them. Adult voices. People on the baseball field.
“Holy shit,” Alex said under his breath, adding a low whistle of shock.
“Danger sex, indeed,” she whispered in his ear, giving his lobe a nip. “That was really close. Next time we should try this little garden off the library over in – ”
“I know that one! With the giant Rose of Sharon bushes?” He stood, extending a hand to her. She took it and the two scurried around the non-baseball-field side of the park, avoiding people. By the time they found their way across the street, they were in front of Josie’s building, and Alex checked his phone. She was still stunned that he knew the exact library garden she was talking about. Eerie. How? She started to ask, but he spoke first.
“I have to be at work in the morning, but we can go back to my apartment and finish that wine…” He snuggled up to her, h*ps against her navel, arms around her shoulders. His embrace felt so inviting.