Alone and Unobserved

“I like a guy with a good appetite,” Jimmy said, watching me swallow my last bite of steak.

I blushed, thinking of all the calories I had just consumed—I was such a pig. The familiar post-binge panic started to set in, but I forced myself to smile and relax, telling myself I could get rid of it all later.

When the waiter came around to ask if we wanted dessert, I said no, but Jimmy ordered a huge slice of gooey chocolate cake. I hadn’t had chocolate in months—it was all carbs and fat—and I could hardly keep my eyes off of it. When he saw my lustful glance, he scooted his chair right next to me and set the slab of cake between us. The aroma of chocolate was intoxicating, and I tried not to breathe, afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep from burying my face in the plate.

“C’mon,” he urged, picking up my fork and scooping up a huge chunk that dripped with icing and chocolate sauce. “Just one bite.” He leaned in and slipped his hand around my side, his brown eyes and crooked Italian smile impossible to resist.

I closed my eyes and opened my mouth. The smell of the cake suddenly redoubled, and then the fork slipped between my teeth. It was like an explosion: a deluge of chocolate aroma, chocolate flavor, sweet and bitter and moist and gooey. I swayed slightly in my chair, my eyes still closed, as I worked the cake luxuriously against my tongue. It may have been my expression or my soft, ecstatic moan that encouraged him, but Jimmy didn’t waste his chance. Ignoring the other diners, he pulled me close, and his warm, bristly mouth pressed passionately against my neck just beneath my jaw. In that instant, as I drowned in the electric thrill of his touch and smothered under the dizzying perfection of the chocolate, I wondered how sex could get any better than this.