Selena Kitt: Grace

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” she whispered, rubbing her hand up and down, liking how it made her feel-powerful, in control. He was putty in her hands.

“Yowza!” Clay’s eyes widened in the dimness, looking at her with confusion and a little trepidation. Had he thought she was a good girl? That made Erica want to laugh. Good girls didn’t sneak out and meet boys in the middle of the night. “Easy there, Tiger. Come on, follow me.”

He opened the driver’s side door, even coming around to her side like a gentleman. The gesture was so sweet it made Erica feel like crying, and she climbed out of the car, hugging her coat around her. It hadn’t been snowing after midnight mass, but it was snowing now, coming down in big, fat flakes, settling in their hair and melting on their cheeks.

“Come on.” He climbed up onto the big hood of the Sedan, holding his hand out and helping her up. She sat beside him, looking puzzled. It was darker out here, away from the city. She could barely discern the shape of fields, the dim glow of windows in far away houses like rectangles painted on the night.

“Look up.” He pointed skyward, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.

“At what?” Erica did the same, leaning back on the hood. The sky was a clear field of velvet, displaying so many stars it made her gasp in surprise.

“Amazing isn’t it?”

“So many!” Stars in the city never looked so close.

“When it snows, there’s no moisture in the air, so the sky is clear. No clouds.”

Erica glanced over at him. “How did you know that?”

“I paid attention in science class.” Clay pointed up and Erica looked again, seeing something streak across the sky.

“What was that?” She half-sat, squinting at the spot where she’d seen the stream of light, wondering if she was seeing things. “Is that a UFO? Or… oh my God! Are we being attacked?”

“Relax.” Clay laughed, pulling her back down. This time she settled close to him, putting her head on his chest. “It’s a meteor shower. The Ursids. See? That’s Ursa Minor right there.”

“Where?” Erica shook her head.

“See the big dipper?” He pointed and she followed the line of his finger.

The big dipper was easy enough to find. “Yes.”

“Okay, follow that over… that’s Polaris, the north star. Ursa minor is right between. That’s where tonight’s show takes place.”

“There’s another one!” Erica exclaimed, pointing. She cocked her head at him, meeting his eyes in the dimness. “You must have really liked science class.”

“Nah.” He squeezed his arm around her shoulder. “My dad’s an astronomer. He said the Ursids would be most active on Christmas and Christmas Eve.”

“Wow.” Erica settled back into her comfortable position, head resting on his chest. She could hear his heart beating, even through his coat. “Why isn’t he watching it with you?”

“He’s in Washington.” Clay shrugged. “When President Eisenhower asks you to head up a committee, my father asks, ‘How high?’”

“But on Christmas?” Erica made a face. “Who are you spending Christmas with?”

“My mother.”

She smiled. “Does your mother know where you are right now?”

“She doesn’t even know where she is after two nightcaps and a happy pill.” Clay snorted laughter. “Merry Christmas and ho ho ho.”

“Look, there’s another one!” Erica pointed.

“Do you think there’s life out there?” Clay asked, sounding thoughtful.

“Where?”

“You know, other planets.”

Erica considered. “I don’t know.”

“You think we’ll ever get there?”

“Outer space?” she laughed. “Like in flying saucers?”

“Well, the Russians launched Sputnik ,” he reminded her.

Erica shivered. “Would you want to go?”

“Anywhere but here,” Clay replied. She felt his hand stroking her hair, which was growing damp from the snow. It was starting to fall heavier, sticking to their clothes. She saw a snowflake caught on the edge of Clay’s eyelashes and he blinked it away, looking at her.

“I don’t know,” Erica murmured, sliding her leg up over his. “Here isn’t so bad.”

He didn’t bridge the gap, she did, pressing her lips to his, reveling in the warmth of their mouths, the steam of their breath rising in the cold night air. She felt him responding, hands beginning to roam, seeking her softness, reaching under her unbuttoned coat.

“Come on, I’m getting cold,” Erica murmured, sliding off the hood of the car. “Let’s go get warm.”

“What are you doing?” Clay watched as she went around to the driver’s side, opening the back door.

She winked. “There’s more room in the backseat.”

He gaped at her as she shrugged off her coat, wearing her dungarees and a white sweatshirt and boots, tossing it onto the seat.

“You coming?” Erica cocked her hip, hands on them, and then she crawled into the backseat of the Chevy. For a moment, she thought he was frozen to the car, like a hood ornament, and then he hopped off, the snow crunching under his boots as he came around the car door.

Erica had already pulled off her boots, leaving them on the floor with her damp coat. Clay hesitated only a moment, a bemused look on his face as if he’d just been told something incredible-like he’d just won a thousand dollar prize-before diving into the backseat with her, shutting the door behind him. She giggled at his enthusiasm, wrapping her arms around his neck, feathering kisses over his snow-wet face.

“It’s really coming down out there,” she murmured over his shoulder, glancing out the window at the white flakes, like a thousand flying moths, as she unbuttoned his coat. “What if we get stuck out here in the snow?”

“That would be a scandal.” He grinned, shrugging off his coat. “But I can’t think of a better way to spend Christmas.”

His coat joined Erica’s on the floor, and was soon followed by her sweatshirt and dungarees, along with his jeans and shirt, and they rolled around in their underwear, sweaty bodies sticking to the seat, only little bits of fabric left between them and paradise. Clay groaned at every instance of their disrobing, closing his eyes and dropping his head for a moment, like he was saying a little prayer, although Erica didn’t know if it was a prayer for forgiveness or a prayer of thanks.

“You’ve never done this before, have you?” Erica whispered as she took his hand in hers, sliding it past the elastic of her panties to the promise land. Clay groaned again, burying his face against her breasts.

“Done what?” he croaked, cupping her mound, snatching her bra strap between his teeth and pulling, shaking it like a dog, with a low growl in his throat.

“Oh this is going to be fun.” Erica guided his hand, parting her sex with his fingers, using them to pleasure herself. Neither of them spoke, their breath matching her motion, faster and faster. She watched his face, the confusion and the wonder there. He was enthralled, in total awe of her audacity.

“Are you… what are you…?”

“Shhhhh.” She quieted him with a quick kiss, wanting it, working for it, knowing that once she gave him the full green light, it would be over in seconds, so she had to get hers now, right now, like this. Erica curled his fingers around her sex, forcing them inside of her, and Clay had found her rhythm, rocking his hand between her legs under the stretch of her white cotton panties.

Erica cried out when she came, pelvis arched up, legs butterflied around Clay’s hips, quivering in the steamy heat of the backseat with the final pulsing release of it. He groaned again, fingers still buried in her, as she floated back down to earth.