The bridge swayed in the wind, moaning loudly. She cringed and dropped her head in a gesture of not wanting to acknowledge the slats, cracked and worn thin from a lifetime of passages. Some were recently replaced with disappointment and uncertainty. The bridge was narrow and barely ample enough for one. Two could not walk together or pass without touching.

She had not meant to approach the bridge it at all. She had meant to avoid it completely, to take another path. The path of faster, easier, and more protected.

Eventually, she gave into the walk. It was the shortest path. But it was also the one that left her open and vulnerable. She moved forward. Hesitating and unsure at first, she tried not to reach for support. She paused before and after each step, wondering if it would give or hold. Despite her fear, she knew that what she had built was structurally sound. A mis-step would not result in a tumble into the murky water. Some slats best stepped over. Unimportant for now as long as the bridge held. Each step flowed into the next as night turned to day and day to night…

The way they slid together into bed that evening jolted her. She fully expected awkwardness. And coolness from the remaining uncertainties of slats deliberately avoided. But their movements were automatic and rapid. As natural as if the fit had always been theirs and theirs alone. Once again, familiar and intimate.

The full length of their bodies entwined. Her head nestled into his shoulder. His fingertips touched her forehead. Light as a feather. Soothing her. No cares. No worries. One hand caressed her breast and circled the ring that gave her additional pleasure. Her arms rested on his in a gentle embrace.

His tender kisses traveled down her neck and across her shoulder. Sweet, whispered words intoned his desire as she struggled against the sleep that threatened to claim her. Drifting…her growing need and want for him was slowly replaced with an awareness of faint threads passing through and around. Over and under. Not a binding, but the creation of a layer that captured them in the here and now. Cocooned inside a transparent bubble. Nearly invisible to all. Untouchable by most. Only those insulated know and feel its presence. And with the slightest gasp of a skipped heartbeat she realized it was not just the joy she found in their sexual joining that was so very important or so very meaningful.