‘Busted, Dasher,’ he says with laughter in his voice.
‘Yeah well, what do you expect? I’m a red-blooded woman and you’reright therein front of me,’ I say, glad that it’s too dark for him to see how hot my face is.
He lets out a bark of laughter. ‘That’s fair,’ he agrees, grabbing his clothes from last night from the armchair and quickly pulling them on.
‘Okay, let me brush my teeth and I’m good to go,’ he says.
‘Hmm. Good idea. Do you have a spare toothbrush by any chance?’ I ask hopefully.
‘Sure do,’ he says. ‘And before you freak out, the hotel provided it with the room, I didn’t get it specially, hoping I might entice you over here and give you cause to use it.’
‘Yeah, whatever you say,’ I tease, hoping he takes it the right way.
Luckily, he just lets out a low, gruff laugh at that and makes for the bathroom.
I give myself a mental shake and follow him in.
* * *
Kit
It’s the weirdest thing, brushing my teeth side by side with Chloe Dasher after five years of thinking I’d never see her again.
Especially after the way we fucked for England last night, then fell asleep together.
It was immense. Exactly what I needed and a massive boost to my self-esteem to make her come multiple times – giving her the kind of distracting pleasure she obviously needs right now.
I love it when women are vocal about enjoying themselves in bed, and she’s particularly good at broadcasting her pleasure.
That was one of the slightly frustrating things about Katya – she was really quiet when she came. Not that I hold that against her, everyone has their own way of expressing themselves, but the sound of someone else’s pleasure always intensifies things for me and it’s often the catalyst that gets me off.
Anyway, I must stop thinking about sex or I’m going to have a constant hard-on today. Especially if I end up spending it with Chloe.
I don’t want her thinking I have a sex addiction.
Once we’ve finished brushing our teeth we head out of the hotel and walk along the riverbank towards where the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is located.
There’s a subtle glow in the sky now as night turns to day, which feels quite energising.
I know some people get ‘the fear’ if they’re awake before the sun rises – especially if they haven’t even been to bed yet – but I’ve always loved this time in the morning. I’m fascinated by how still and quiet it is, how peaceful. It’s like I could be the only human on Earth and it’s all there, laid out before me – a world of possibilities.
Not that I’d want to be the last one standing in the event of the inevitable zombie apocalypse that’s bound to befall us, considering how much we’re messing with dangerous chemicals and DNA.
It’s actually a terrifying thought, being left completely on my own. One of my greatest fears, if I’m honest.
‘Here it is,’ Chloe says, breaking into my uneasy thoughts.
I remind myself that I’m still half asleep after not having slept much, on top of the jetlag that’s still got its teeth into me, so it’s not surprising I’m feeling so wired and weird.
I’m really happy to be here though. Especially as I’m with Chloe.
There’s a look of excited anticipation on her face as we start to walk along the deserted path between the tall bamboo canes. They must be thirty metres high and get denser the further into the forest we go.
It’s still pretty dark, despite the gradual lightening of the sky, but just as I’m about to make a joke about wolves and red capes, the sun suddenly makes an appearance, sending shafts of soft light through the canes and lighting the whole place up around us in a golden blaze.
Chloe turns to look at me in awed wonder and the dappled light plays across her face, making her skin glow and her eyes sparkle.
She’s mesmerizingly pretty. It’s almost impossible to look away from her. I found the same thing back when I knew her before and I’m finding it doubly so now. Especially here in this magical place. It’s like my eyes are magnetically drawn to her.
