"Red," a voice whispered next to me. "Are you asleep?"

"No," I whispered back, though it was getting increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open. The bed in my apartment was one of the most wonderful things I'd ever felt. After forty years of sleeping on my proverbial feet, laying on a pillow top mattress was better than the best fresh quart of premium oil. The blankets and sheets seemed like they were molded to fit my body, leaving me cuddled up in a warm little cocoon of comfort. All I wanted to do was… 

Wait a minute.

"Hey, what are you doing in my bed?" I whispered.

"You needed me here," replied Samantha.

I what?

The bed jostled as I felt her shifting closer to me, then an unfamiliar pressure fell across my abdomen - her arm, if I had to guess. I lay very still for a few seconds as she settled in next to me. Was this… normal? Did humans join each other in bed? Did they do it by surprise? I definitely dropped Samantha off at her place, but I knew she could get here on her own if she needed to. Hell, she'd done it yesterday morning when I didn’t pick her up for work. That didn’t explain how she’d gotten into my apartment, or why she was in my bed.

"Why are you-"

Samantha cut me off with a finger on my lips. Her body was very close to mine. I could feel her breath on my neck, the heat of her through the thin sheets separating us. "It's okay, Red," she said. "It’s just a little charge between friends. Nobody needs to know."

I felt her hand move down my body, still on top of the sheet. I whimpered as she touched my stomach, waist… and then she rested her fingers on my thigh, exactly where she'd squeezed me earlier in the car. My breath caught in my throat and I found myself wishing that she would… 

What? 

I didn't honestly know what. I'd heard my firefighters speak of sex rather often over the past forty years, but I'd never understood what they had meant by it. I literally couldn't understand - I lacked the physical anatomy to understand their boasting.

But the new me could understand. I knew enough to know that this felt good. Enough to know that I wanted more of whatever this was. Wherever this was going. My body was screaming for her touch, and I felt a thrill run through my abdomen, making me shiver like a bad spark plug. Unconsciously, I uncrossed my legs as I drew a ragged breath.

Her hand moved higher up my thigh and her body pressed in towards mine. I could hear her breathing, feel her breath on my neck. Her chest pressed against my arm, still trapped under the sheet. I had a wild urge to reach up and touch her, and an even stronger urge for her to touch me. My heart was pounding, revving faster than a dragster before the green light.

"Red, I want this," she whispered, and something in her tone set me off even further. 

"Me, too," I gasped.

Then her lips pressed into mine and I saw halogens, blinding light exploding in front of me as her soft skin touched mine in blissful, sensual pleasure. Her hand grazed my inner thigh as she moved upwards-

And with a gasp, I woke up.

I looked around the room, and there was no sign of Samantha. It wasn't dark anymore, and the bed where she lay was undisturbed. There was no sign that she'd ever been there at all. My heart was still thumping in my chest, though, and I felt a distinct wetness in between my legs and a sharp desire for her touch to come back.

Just a dream, I realized. She’d never been here at all.

Fuck.