I kissed him back, winding my hands around his lean shoulders. His skin was warm to the touch, and his breath quickened. His tongue danced with mine. With a moan, I clung to both him and some sense of normalcy. Theo pulled away with a gentle smile, one that reached his eyes and made the skin surrounding them crinkle in a delicious way.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I guess I got a little carried away.”

I shook my head. “Please don’t apologize. Kiss me again.” I wanted the safety and reassurance another body brought me. I wanted to ground myself in the moment, remind myself I was still here, even as I floated away on a buzz.

Theo ran his hand through his waves, giving me a smirk. “If you so insist.”

He tugged me to my feet. Around the corner from the wooden staircase and the dirty cement floor stood Theo’s brewing supplies, all situated on an ancient rug. He sat down on the rug, and pulled me on top so I straddled him, a leg on either side of his lap. He looked at me, brushing a stray hair out of my face. “Now, where were we?”

There was something so casual, yet intimate in those few words I couldn’t stop myself from tangling my fingers in his hair and pulling his face towards mine. Our lips met in a clash of desperation and passion, a need to know we weren’t alone in this hell hole. His hand slipped under my shirt, sliding up my ribs.

“Is braless a thing in 2022?” he whispered.

“For me it is.” I grinned against his mouth, pulling his hand back to my bare breast. He eagerly ran his fingertips across my nipple, teasing it until it was hard and reaching for his touch. Theo leaned backwards, lying on the ground and taking me with him. I rolled my hips against him, needing some kind of friction to ease the growing ache between my legs.

Theo groaned under me. “Take them off.”

High on booze and Theo, I did just that, kicking my pants off as he helped tug them down. I unbuttoned his jeans before I could think too much about it, and he slid them down low enough for his cock to spring free. Propped up on my elbow, I ran my other hand around his thick length, imagining how it would feel inside me. I smirked. “Was underwear not a thing in 1992?”

“Not for me.” He reached for me, pressing the head of his dick at my slick opening. “But I take it you aren’t complaining.”

Things were so easy with him. Theo deserved to be free and living his life, not rotting away in this house. But he was here, and so was I, and we had to make the best of it. “Not in the slightest.”