kiss

"Really? she says, her anger tilting towards fury. "Well then, kiss me."

I hear her disbelief, she knows that I won't take her up on her challenge. I take three strides. I'm tall, but people seem to forget how much ground I can cover. How long my arms can be. A damned spider monkey sometimes.

And I'm face to face with her. Her lips painted red, still set in a hard line. Only her eyes have had time to show surprise. I can smell the gin responsible for the anger and her slow realization.

Its only when I tuck a blond lock of hair behind one ear that she realizes that I would. And her lips part, not with anticipation, but with a slowly welling objection. I see the crow's feet around by each eye. It makes her seem more knowing. And yet, her eyes are so wide and blue, and there is still a vulnrability there.

I brush my lips against hers, feeling, tasting the waxy lipstick. I lick her lips, once. A flicker of the tongue. Her arms raise to push me back and I grab her foreams and pull her to me. Cover her mouth with mine, feel the teeth beneath the cushion of her lips.

She stands on tip-toe to try and lean away from me, but that is all that she has left of her objection, and I slide one hand behind the curve of her neck.

My tongue licks her teeth and she falls into the kiss. With me. Breathless.