“It’s home.”
“I don’t know how you come back east with this here… I didn’t understand it before I visited, but now I really don’t get it. This is heaven.”
I felt his lips graze the back of my head, his palms smoothing down my bare arms, goose bumps following their path. Despite the end-of-summer warmth creeping into the nighttime here, Ford’s touch still left me tingling.
“It’s lonely here. Especially now when you’re not here. I’m glad you came to visit. Although I have a solution. You could move here.”
A tiny giggle erupted from my chest. It was the giggle of a schoolgirl with a crush. A nervous giggle, and not my style, but moving to Los Angeles? I couldn’t even entertain the idea. Could I?
Ford had come home an hour ago, toting sushi in a takeout bag and a chilled bottle of rosé for me. After kissing me hello, he’d poured two glasses of the bubbly wine and set the sushi on the kitchen counter, motioning for me to sit on a stool. We sat there eating sushi right out of the to-go platters with chopsticks, sipping wine. It felt domestic or commonplace, even though I knew there was nothing common about this lifestyle.
He’d asked about my afternoon with Billy and listened intently. Another normalcy I never imagined for myself. Tony never inquired about my day, and I certainly never dared to dream Ford would be the one to ask after it.
Now, as we sat outside, I wondered how I would leave this or him. But I had to. This wasn’t my reality.
“I’m still coming back east in two weeks,” he said.
“How did you do that?”
“I can feel your mind racing. Your whole body radiates when you start overthinking.”
“I’m an overthinker,” I admitted. “Especially when it comes to you.”
“Listen, I know you need to go home. But know this—I’m following you back there. I will keep following you there until you decide the palm trees are more appealing.”
Half turning, I looked at Ford, and then swiveled the rest of the way, dragging my knees up and straddling him on the lounger. “The palm trees are a selling point. They kind of make this place for me.”
“Never mind me,” he stated with a fake frown, the smallest of laugh lines coming out to play around his eyes.
“Never mind you.”
“Come here,” he said in the tone I’d come to crave.
I lowered my mouth to his and he kissed me hard, pulling me close.
We stayed like that for a while, until he broke free and said, “Want to go skinny-dipping?”
“Aren’t we a little old for that?”
“You need to cut it out with that. We’re not too old for anything. Who says we can’t go? Is there a rule book?”
He was already lifting me off him and setting me to the side and yanking off his shirt. I stared at his naked chest. I loved the way he wanted to be carefree with me. It was like he was giving me a piece of my youth back…
“There you go again. Overthinking. Strip,” he demanded playfully.
Instead, I stared at his gorgeous body.
“Come on, you can stare when you’re naked yourself. Nobody can see back here.” He had shrugged out of his faded jeans and was yanking down his boxer briefs, his length springing to life.
“Can you swim like that?”
“Don’t be coy. Get undressed. This is the last time I’m going to ask nicely.” He said it with no regrets—I either got naked or he’d do it himself. Playfully, of course.
It didn’t matter, I did what he asked. In a bra and undies, I stood before him. I wasn’t ashamed of my body when it came to Ford. He’d touched and seen every part. And no lie—he made me feel desired.
“Everything, James. Don’t be shy. You know I love that body,” he demanded, and started walking to the pool.
I heard the water moving as he slid in, and my need to get back to him took over. I quickly tugged my bra and panties off, leaving them in a pile on the ground, and went to him. I walked down the steps, my curves rippling in the moonlit water. I reminded myself what I’d just thought: Ford loved my body. Ford lovedme. He’d told me, and despite our cross-country situation, I believed him.
