“Good morning. Thank you.” She takes the coffee, and our fingers brush. She doesn't pull away immediately, and neither do I as heat builds between us.
We've been doing this dance for over two weeks now. I've been patient because I needed her to believe this is real and that I'm not going anywhere.
But I’ve been patient long enough. Today we take our relationship to the next logical level. Jennifer, willing and wet, in my bed.
She's wearing leggings today and an oversized purple sweatshirt that somehow makes her look even more touchable. Her brown hair is pulled back with a matching purple headband, and I want to take it off and run my fingers through her hair and then strip her out of her clothes and take her right here in the entranceway of the cabin.
“You already did your yoga?” she asks, cradling the cup.
I try to pull back on my lustful feelings and semi-manage to sound normal as I say, “Yes. I’m ready for our walk after I take my meds.”
It's become part of the routine. She waits while I line up my pills on the counter, the blood pressure meds, the blood thinner, the aspirin, and take them one by one. I’m a bit of a baby about swallowing pills, but I’ve gotten better. I’ve had to. Then, I check my blood pressure.
“One twenty-three over seventy-eight,” I read off the display.
Jennifer comes to look over my shoulder, and I can smell her shampoo. That floral scent drives me crazy. “That's perfect, isn't it?”
“It's optimal. Same as yesterday.” I pull up the app and show her the graph. Two weeks of steady improvement. “My doctor's going to be thrilled.”
“I'm thrilled.” She squeezes my arm, and the casual touch makes my skin feel too tight. “You've worked so hard for this.”
“We've worked hard for this.” I take her hand, threading my fingers through hers. “Ready for the walk?”
We take the lake trail at our usual pace, but today everything feels different. Charged. Like the air before a thunderstorm.
I keep catching her looking at me when she thinks I'm not paying attention. Her eyes trace the line of my shoulders, drop to my arms, then dart away. I do the same to her. The curve of her hips. The way her leggings hug her thighs. And the soft thrust of her breasts against the front of her sweatshirt.
“You're quiet today,” she says.
“Just thinking.”
A teasing glint gleams in her eyes. “About?”
You. Us. How much longer I can keep my hands to myself and if having sex out in the open is illegal. It probably is; otherwise, people would be doing it all the time. “About how good I feel. How different these weeks have been from my entire adult life.”
Her head tilts to the side. “Different good or different bad?”
“Different perfect.” I pull her to a stop at our favorite overlook. The lake stretches out below us, the morning sun turning it to liquid gold. “I've been thinking about something.”
“What?”
“When the month is up, I'm not going back to the city.” The words come out before I've fully thought them through, but theyfeel right. “Not permanently. I can work remotely. Stay here, with you.”
Her eyes go wide. “Seth...”
“I know it's fast. I know we haven't talked about it. But I can't... I can't go back to that life, Jennifer. It almost killed me. And now that I know what living actually feels like?” I cup her face and stare into her warm brown eyes. “I want this. I want you.”
Her cheeks flush a bright pink, and her eyes grow wider. “That’s a huge decision to make so suddenly. You can’t possibly-”
Impatiently, I cut her off. “I can know, and I do.”
I claim her mouth in a kiss full of hunger, need, and an emotion that I’ve never felt for another woman before, and doubt I ever will again. Jennifer is it for me. She’s all I need and want. So I kiss her with the morning sun warm on our shoulders and the lake glittering below us and pour all my feelings into the kiss. She melts into me, her hands fisting in my shirt, and I've never been more certain of anything in my life.
When we finally break apart, we're both breathing hard.
“Come on,” I murmur against her moist lips. “Let's finish the walk before I forget about doctor's orders and carry you back to the cabin.”
Her cheeks flush brighter, and I grin.
