Page 39 of Sweet Thing

“Oh, Jesus, Emily! Don’t talk about your sex life with Peety, please. It's like finding out your parents have sex… Uggh. I just don’t need that imagery in my head”, Simeon whined.

“Sim. Get over it! Pieter and I fuck like rabbits. Lukas wasn’t found under a bush”, she ribbed, laughing as Sim screwed his face effeminately.

“Listen, seriously. If you want to try something new and really want to get intimate with Bastian, this is your way in. As far as I know, mental pressure and fear of failure can make impotence worse. This will take the pressure off him as it’s not about reaching orgasm to start with. It feels good, and even just the closeness of warm skin-against-skin would comfort him. You’re not trying to make him forget Mattieus, but he probably needs to forget himself for a while, by the sound of it.”

Simeon’s interest was piqued.

“I can teach you some techniques that will make him forget his name, if you want,” Emily said, her gray eyes twinkling flirtatiously.

“Are you sure? Like, what will I have to do? I’m SO not having sex with you”, Sim huffed adamantly.

“You should be so lucky. You may have given me flowers, but a lady needs to be courted, Simeon.” She countered, waggling her brows playfully. “I can show you the basic massage techniques I learned. Only if you’re comfortable, though”, Emily paused for a moment and then looked Sim in the eye,

“Have you ever been massaged by a woman?”

The question made Simeon feel a little uneasy. He’d only been treated by male massage therapists at Health Spas. A few models he’d worked with over the years were touchie-feelie girls, and they’d loved having the flamboyant Simeon Duchamp to shop and party with. But the only woman Sim was aware of having any ‘real’ intimate contact with was his mother, Marielle. A memory sprang from the depths and startled Sim with its poignancy.

“Maman was always very tactile when I was small. I was one of those kids who ran around naked to escape bedtime. She would catch me and rub lavender balm into my back to make me sleepy”, Sim replied in a distant, little boy voice, suddenly overcome with sadness.

Emily couldn’t miss the way Sim’s eyes glazed over. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry—”, she said, seeing that the memory had upset him.

“I don’t know where that came from. I haven’t thought about that in years. I never speak of her to anyone, except my therapist, I guess. Papa misses her so much…” Simeon rubbed his eyes. “Love makes people so sad”, he added, in that same little boy voice.

“Love makes people sad because it made them so happy, that they miss it when it’s gone”, Emily countered. She left Sim with his memory for a moment, completed her sketch, and closed the sketchbook without letting him see.

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