"So why do you do it?" he asked, hugging me with one hand and a cup of tea with the other. "Why do you keep sleeping with people if you're just going to beat yourself up as soon as it's over?"
I shivered under his touch, feeling California's winter for the first time on my naked skin. "I don't know," I sighed, my fingers riding waves up the bones of his spine. "I don't think I do it because I want to be loved in the way a man loves a woman or a woman loves a woman but because I'm hoping someone will love me in the way that one human loves another."
"Has it ever worked for you before?" He set his tea down, signifying his desire to probe further. His eyes met mine for a second before resting on my nipples, fascinating to him as they transformed before his eyes.
"I'm tired. Let's just go to sleep." I rolled over, turning off the lamp. End of discussion.
"Okay," he said, draping his arm over me in an insistence on remaining attached.
He must've known I'd be gone by morning.
I really like/admire how you captured three phases of a day in one fluent short piece.
( at least so it appears to me) For when he holds his tea it appears to be early morning, standing straight, maybe after a wild night.
Brilliant.
beautifully written, as always.