“And the view is terrific,” Noah added.
“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” Ava said playfully. She opened one of the French doors, stepped out onto a narrow balcony, and gestured for Noah to follow.
Moving from the air-conditioned, dehumidified interior, Noah could feel the summer warmth and moisture. He looked out at the view, noticing he could see into multiple apartments in the buildings on the other side of the alley. “Very nice,” he repeated.
“This way,” Ava said, as she tugged his arm to follow her. At the northern end of the narrow balcony was a black wrought-iron circular staircase that led up into the darkness.
As Noah climbed after Ava, he felt a touch of acrophobia. Just over the low handrail as he went up he could see down six floors into a neighboring garden. A moment later he was up on the very top of Ava’s house, standing on a raised deck with a more substantial handrail. The view was truly spectacular, with a good portion of the city of Boston spread out in front of him. From where he was standing he could see over the tops of the buildings in the foreground. In the middle distance was a wide stretch of the Charles River that made it appear more like a lake than a river. “You are right, this is to die for,” Noah said.
“You’re looking directly at MIT,” Ava said.
“Where?” Although he had spent two years at the famed school getting his Ph.D., it was hard to pick out the details from the panorama he was viewing.
“Straight ahead,” Ava said. She pointed with her left hand while she put her right hand on Noah’s shoulder to pull him closer. She also pushed against him so that he could sight directly along the length of her arm.
“Okay,” Noah managed. But he was no longer trying to distinguish which buildings of the thousands he could see belonged to MIT. Instead, he was acutely aware of Ava’s hand in the crook of his neck and shoulder with her forearm pressed against his back. He was even more aware of her body pressed up against his. She was busy describing various buildings so he could orient himself to the MIT campus, but he wasn’t listening to her voice. He was listening to his body, which was sending alarm bells to his brain. And the messages were not going to the higher-function areas involved with rational thought.
“Can you see the dome?” Ava asked, referring to the building at the very center of MIT.
As if he were being manipulated by some exterior force, Noah turned toward Ava and looked dreamily into her eyes. As there wasn’t that much difference in their heights, their faces were close. Ava responded by also turning her body toward him. “I’m getting the message that you are not all that interested in looking at MIT,” she said.
Noah didn’t answer. Instead he leaned forward in slow motion, turning his head to the side in the process. Ava’s head tipped back. A moment later their lips came together as they embraced.
It was a long, sustained kiss. At its conclusion Noah slowly leaned back, although their arms continued to envelop each other. His eyes were fixed on hers, although in the half-light he could only assume hers were on his. Noah sensed an overpowering urge to make love to her. It had been a long time since he had had such feelings, and the sheer intensity of the desire caught him by surprise. Previously he had worried that arriving early might have scared her off. Now he was worried that if she knew the fierceness of his passion, she would be literally frightened. It was so encompassing that it even scared him to a degree.
“I think we should go down to my bedroom,” Ava said. “Will you be okay navigating the stairs?”
“I think so,” Noah croaked. Reluctantly, he let go of her.
It was a good thing she had warned him. Going down the tight spiral staircase was more challenging than going up. He took his time, with one hand grasping the steep bannister and the other hand wrapped around the central pole, especially during the portion when he seemed to be looking straight down six stories to a neighboring granite patio.
To Noah’s astonishment and relief, once they got into the bedroom and the French doors closed, Ava was as much the aggressor as he was. After getting rid of the decorative pillows and the cats, they quickly made short work of each other’s clothes and collapsed onto Ava’s bed.
As if regaining consciousness several minutes later, Noah suddenly became aware of the surroundings. The bedroom lights were on and the draperies for the French doors were fully open. Concerned that Ava would find the situation untenable, as it was her house and her neighbors, Noah pushed himself up on an elbow. Looking down at Ava, who smiled up at him, he thought he’d never seen anyone so beautiful and so sexy. “Should I get the lights?” he said, almost in a whisper. The last thing he wanted to do was compromise the atmosphere, but he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable.
“Who cares about the lights,” Ava said. She reached up and pulled Noah down onto her.
Her strength and her passion, which seemed to mirror his own, impressed him greatly. Forget the lights, he thought, and allowed himself to be lost in the moment.
Almost an hour later, they rested in each other’s arms. After a few minutes Ava excused herself. “I’ll be right back,” she said. And then playfully added: “And don’t you move!” Without the slightest concern for her nakedness, she slid off the bed and disappeared into the master bath. She didn’t even close the door.
Noah felt delirious with pleasure, almost drunk. He looked around the room. It was like a dream, too perfect to be true. He had never had the pleasure of being with a woman who seemed so comfortable with her body. There was no way Leslie would have been willing to make love with the lights on, and during the few times they had had sex during the day, she immediately insisted on covering herself with the sheet the moment they were done. It wasn’t that Leslie didn’t have a good figure, because she did. Yet Leslie had always acted somewhat embarrassed about the whole process, the exact opposite of Ava. Vaguely, Noah wondered who was more typical, because as an adult, he’d not had that much experience. He’d had more experience as a teenager, but those episodes were over before they started.
Ava returned after a few moments just as naked as she was when she had left. Noah had half expected her to reappear in a robe or some other covering. Instead, she seemed to revel in her nudity. Noah couldn’t have been more pleased, as it made him more comfortable at having resisted the temptation to pull on his own clothes.
Jumping onto the bed, Ava proceeded to tickle Noah, further surprising him with how relaxed and natural she was. It was as if they had been intimate for some time rather experiencing their first episode. It helped that Noah was an easy target since he’d been exceptionally ticklish from as far back as he could remember.
When the tickling was over, to Noah’s relief, Ava sat up. “I hate to be a spoilsport,” she said, “but sex makes me ravenous. How about we try the elevator and go down to the kitchen for some munchies?”
A few moments later and still as naked as a jaybird, Noah found himself pressed up against Ava face-to-face in the smallest elevator he’d ever been in. They kissed again as they silently and effortlessly descended.
To Noah’s surprise they ended up on the ground floor instead of the kitchen floor. “I’m going to get us some terry robes from the guest apartment,” Ava explained. “Hold the elevator door open. I’ll be right back.”
Noah did as he was told. He couldn’t believe what had happened. In one unexpected evening he had a sense that the anxiety-producing, upcoming M&M Conference might possibly be under control, and, more important, he might have found a new love. He was hard put to decide which was more incredible. Could it be true, or was this all a dream? If it was, Noah didn’t want to wake up.