Chapter 3: The First Touch
The city’s neon glow bled through Suki’s floor-to-ceiling windows, staining the black lacquer floors and brushed steel furniture with pulses of liquid mercury. The air hummed, not just from the hidden sound system, but from a shared, fragile energy. Three half-empty glasses of whiskey sat on the low table, untouched for the last twenty minutes.
Aidan stood by the foot of the vast, low platform bed, looking like a man awaiting a verdict. He’d worn simple grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt at Catriona’s suggestion. “Approachable. Real,” she’d said. His hands opened and closed at his sides.
Suki stood before him, bathed in the cool, directional light of two professional LED panels. She wore the green silk robe. It was exactly as Catriona had described it to him in the dark, a cascade of emerald that whispered against her skin with every slight shift of her breath. Her arms were crossed loosely over her stomach, her knuckles pale where she gripped the silk.
Behind the camera on its tripod, Catriona peered into the viewfinder. “Okay,” she said, her voice remarkably calm, a steadying force in the room. “We’re just testing. No pressure. Just see how it feels in the space. Suki, uncross your arms. Let them hang at your sides.”
Suki’s hands fell. The robe’s lapel gaped slightly, revealing a sliver of chest, the dark lace of a bralette beneath.
“Aidan, look at her. Not at the camera. Just at her.”
He dragged his gaze from the intimidating black lens to Suki’s face. Her striking green eyes were wide, a little scared. He saw the friend he’d joked with over pizzas, the woman who always stole the best crisps from the share bag. The surrealism of the moment sharpened, then oddly faded. This was just Suki.
“Hey,” he said, the word coming out rough. He cleared his throat.
A small, genuine smile touched her lips. “Hey back.”
“Good,” Catriona murmured, her voice a disembodied guide. “Now, Aidan, step closer. Slow. Put your hands on her waist. Over the robe.”
He moved as if through water. The silk was cool and slippery under his palms. He could feel the heat of her body beneath, the subtle architecture of her hips. His fingers trembled. He didn’t try to hide it.
“See?” Catriona said softly, almost to herself. “That’s perfect. That’s real. Suki, put your hands on his arms. Feel that?”
Suki’s hands came up, her fingers resting lightly on his forearms. She could feel the fine tremor in his muscles, the latent strength held in check. “I feel it,” she whispered.
“Now the belt,” Catriona directed, her own breath feeling shallow. She zoomed the lens in slightly, the soft whir the only sound besides the distant city thrum. “Aidan. Untie it.”
His gaze dropped to the knotted silk sash at her waist. His fingers, clumsy, fumbled with the simple knot. The intimacy of the action was profound, mundane and monumental at once. He pulled one end, and the knot slithered loose. The belt hung open.
“Let it fall.”
He didn’t have to. The heavy silk, released, sighed open of its own accord. The robe parted, revealing the full sweep of her: the dark lace bralette that barely contained her, the matching briefs cut high on her hips, the breathtaking expanse of flawless, toned stomach. The LED light loved her skin, painting it with a soft, ethereal sheen.
Suki’s breath hitched, a tiny, audible catch. She was exposed, not just physically, but in her decision. She held still.
“Look at her, Aidan,” Catriona prompted, her voice husky. “Tell her.”
He was already looking. His mind, which had been a riot of nerves, went quiet and still. The friend was still there, but now he was truly seeing the woman—the stunning, vulnerable reality of her. “God, Suki,” he breathed, the words full of awed, unpolished honesty. “You’re… you’re so beautiful.”
A shiver ran through her. Her chin lifted a fraction. The fear in her eyes softened, warmed by something else.
“Now kiss her,” Catriona said, the command a bare whisper. “Like you mean it. But start slow. Just… get there.”
Aidan’s hands, still on her waist, tightened just slightly, pulling her an inch closer. He leaned in. Suki’s eyes fluttered closed. He hesitated, a breath away, giving her every chance to turn. She didn’t.
He closed the gap.
It was tentative at first, a soft press of lips, dry and questioning. It was strange, kissing someone other than Catriona in eight years. It tasted like Suki’s peach gloss and shared nerves. Then her mouth softened under his. One of her hands left his arm and slid up, over the cotton of his t-shirt, to rest against the side of his neck. Her thumb stroked the line of his jaw.
The kiss deepened.
It wasn’t theatrical. It was a slow, dawning exploration. A sigh escaped her, misting against his skin. His hands slid from her waist to the small of her back, pressing her closer. The silk robe, now fully open, was just a layer between his clothes and her skin. He could feel every contour of her spine.
Behind the camera, Catriona’s pulse hammered in her throat. She watched the viewfinder, the tight frame of their profiles, the way Suki’s fingers now tangled in the hair at the nape of Aidan’s neck. She saw the moment Aidan’s hesitation melted, replaced by a focused, rising hunger. She saw Suki meet it, arching into him, her body speaking a silent, eager language.
Catriona zoomed in until the frame held only their joined mouths, the desperate flutter of Suki’s eyelashes, the faint scratch of Aidan’s beard against her cheek. The room’s sounds collapsed to the wet, soft sound of the kiss and their ragged, shared breathing.
When they finally broke apart, it was only by a whisper. Their foreheads rested together. Suki’s eyes opened, green and dazed, finding his hazel ones. A faint, disbelieving laugh bubbled from her.
“Okay,” she breathed, her voice wrecked.
“Okay?” Aidan echoed, his own voice thick.
“Yeah.” She nodded, her nose brushing his. “That’s… that’ll work.”
Catriona finally released the breath she’d been holding. The mechanical click of her shutting off the recording was shockingly loud in the quiet room. “That,” she said, stepping out from behind the tripod, her own smile wide and thrilled, “is going to break the internet.”
The spell fractured, but the charge remained, crackling in the air between the three of them. Aidan straightened, his hands falling reluctantly from Suki’s back. Suki drew her robe closed, not with shame, but with a new, quiet possession. She looked from Aidan’s flushed face to Catriona’s proud one.
“So,” Suki said, grabbing her whiskey glass and taking a deep swallow. “We’re really doing this.”
It wasn’t a question anymore.