She rolled onto her side, put in her earbuds, and waited for him to answer, her legs instinctively pressing together. It was just a call with her boyfriend, yet a strange tingling sensation ran through her.

Zhou Ye answered quickly. The moment the timer started, Xia Yao nervously buried her face in the comforter. Outside, she could hear the wind and the faint sound of tires on asphalt.

“Hello.” Zhou Ye’s voice, a little husky, reached her ears. His tone was mature, yet laced with tenderness when he spoke to her.

“Are you home?”

“Yes,” Xia Yao mumbled, peeking out from under the covers, her voice trembling slightly. “I’m in my room, getting ready for bed.”

“Good girl.” A soft cough punctuated his words. “Are you tucked in?” He sounded like he was still outside, not yet in his car. And he was coughing.

She wanted to be with him. Her fingers tightened around the comforter.

“Don’t you want to talk to me?”

Zhou Ye chuckled, a sound rumbling in his throat before he spoke, his voice low and magnetic. “Of course I do, but my baby is tired tonight. She needs to sleep.”

His deep voice sent shivers down her spine. Heat flooded her neck as she burrowed deeper into the covers. A fluttering sensation danced in her chest. She wanted to talk to him more.

“But I don’t want to sleep yet.”

“Hmm? You don’t? Why not?”

“I want to hear your voice.”

Shame washed over Xia Yao as soon as the words left her mouth. She listened to the frantic beating of her own heart. Everything felt different now. There had been a clear line between them before, but now, something forbidden, something secret, connected them. They had crossed that line tonight.

Imagining his hand between her legs, Xia Yao pressed her own hand between her thighs, rubbing herself slowly. The friction was a sweet torture, a maddening tease.

“Zhou Ye, I feel… uncomfortable.”

“…Are you getting sick? Is it… down there? I can go get you some medicine. Just wait for me, okay?”

The urgency in his voice was clear. Xia Yao traced a slow pattern on her panties with her middle finger. “It’s not that kind of uncomfortable,” she whispered.

It’s… down there. It feels strange. I want you to hold me, to be inside me. I feel so lonely here alone. That was the raw truth, the burning desire she couldn’t voice. She was aching for him, desperate for him to touch her again. They had just made love, multiple times, until Zhou Ye worried she couldn’t take any more. And yet, she wanted him again. Even with her inexperience, she knew this wasn’t normal. Other girls surely didn’t crave their boyfriends with this fierce intensity.

“Are you… upset? Do you regret… giving yourself to me tonight?”

Zhou Ye stood beneath her apartment building, unable to leave. He held the phone to his ear, his strong, clean arm exposed, his wrist looking firm. He was almost addicted to the sound of her voice, soft, compliant, always concerned for him. He took a deep breath, fighting the urge to sneak into her apartment, to spend the night with her, making love to her until dawn. The thought made him want to find a dark corner and relieve himself right then and there.

“No, Zhou Ye… don’t think that.” She paused, then added softly, “I don’t regret it. You made me feel… so good tonight. I… I liked it.” Her voice trembled with shyness.

Zhou Ye’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. He tilted his head back, his thumb spreading wide as he pressed the web of his hand against his hardening erection. A few seconds passed, but the intense desire wouldn’t subside.

He walked to the corner of her building, behind a cluster of bushes. The area was secluded, with no security cameras. People occasionally passed by, but not often. Certainly not tonight, he hoped. His long, slender fingers slipped inside his waistband, gripping his throbbing length. He began to stroke himself, hard and fast.