Black, Lesbian, Womanist

I walked out of the bathroom like a virgin, wrapped in a towel… He did not remove the towel. Grabbing another one, he dried my back and neck and face. He was nude, thin legs and narrow waist, muscular torso and tight buttocks.

He took my hand as though he thought I might break, and led me to the bed. He whisked back the covers and bowed chivalrously, assisting me into the crispness of hotel sheets. We lay in the dark next to each other, neither speaking nor touching.”

“I know you’re exhausted,’ he whispered eventually. I just wanted to be near you, after dreaming about you for so long. May I hold you?”

As I snuggled into the strength of his arms… He began to rock me back and forth, so gently that tears fell from my eyes. He brushed them away with the tenderest kisses.

- Elaine Brown, A Taste of Power