I managed to pull my mouth away from his. He simply moved his head to the side and began tracing my neck with his tongue. I felt his unusually cool breath on my neck and I was certain the electric pulse was penetrating my skin and entering my bloodstream. I could hear myself, seemingly from a distance, moaning. My heart was pounding. I had completely forgotten how cold it was. The deep, guttural sounds that seemed to be emanating from his chest were having an almost hypnotic effect on me. Lost in the moment, I simply accepted it.

“Vincent,” I managed to say, “maybe we should go upstairs.”

His reaction was swift and immediate, and not the one I was expecting. He let me down and pulled away completely so we were no longer making any physical contact.

The electrical charge went with him. He backed off another step, looked off into the distance and shook his head, “No. I really must go.” He looked angry. With me? With himself?

My face was flushed, my heart was racing, I was almost panting and now I was speechless. Confused didn’t even begin to describe my mental state. I wanted to ask why, but that would sound like I was begging. Instead, I simply cleared my throat and managed to meekly say, “Oh... well... okay,” when what I really wanted to do was pull a reverse me-Tarzan-you-Jane maneuver and drag him upstairs and into my bed. I could see in his eyes that walking away wasn’t his first choice, but I could tell for some reason, it was his only choice.

“I will call you tomorrow,” he said. But, he wasn’t leaving.

He stood there, biting his lower lip, hesitating. Was he changing his mind about coming upstairs? His icy blue eyes were filled with indecision. Before I even had a chance to get my hopes up, he abruptly said goodnight, turned and walked away.

I was still leaning against the building. I was weak in the knees and the evidence of my rapid breathing was visible as each breath created a plume of smoke in the frigid night air. Smoke signals that spelled out COME BACK!