What Is Love?

by Jen Comfort

“Quiet.” His voice cracked in the air. The rest of her words sucked back into her lungs with a sudden inhale. Slow, forbidding footsteps came up behind her until the hair on the back of her neck lifted with his proximity. Static attraction. “We’ll begin with the Caspian Sea.” His finger traced the bare skin between her collar and chin, then tucked her fall of hair over her shoulder to leave her cervical vertebrae unguarded. When he spoke again, his breath was hot against her neck. “The largest lake in the world. Five times the size of Lake Superior.” His left hand came around to cover her left wrist, his long fingers stroking feather light across the backs of her own before threading between them. Locking their hands together. He closed her hand into a single pointed index finger and tugged, dragging it upward along the map. She watched helplessly as their bound hands traversed the length of Iran, settling the tip of her finger on the swath of blue shaped like a coiled cobra waiting to strike. “Repeat it,” he instructed. “Caspian Sea.” Her voice trembled. Her nipples were aching points. “Largest lake in the world.”

YO