Page 35 of Mind

“I feel…” I try to catch my breath as my orgasm builds, swirls like a boiling pot, my spine tightening, limbs protesting as the first waves of release shimmer through me. “I feel us.” He smiles, comes down onto me and powers into me.

“What else?” He grates. His skin is shining with sweat at the effort to hold back, not just pound and pour into me. No, he wants it to be good for me and it always is.

“Baby, it’s everything,” I whisper into his ear as I cling to him in a full body clench before tipping my head back and roaring through my release. I grip him to me so tightly I can feel the exact moment his spine stiffens, one vertebra at a time, in extreme pleasure, before pouring his release into me. The orgasm goes on and on as we both ride the wave for long minutes.

When I come back from Nirvana, I’m still clinging to him, only now I’m sprawled naked on his chest, both of us panting like we just ran a full marathon. Chase extends his arm and shuffles through his pants. He pulls out his phone holds it out and takes a picture.

“Now look at the camera for me this time. I want to keep this moment with me forever,” he says. I can only oblige him. Certain that my breasts are plastered against his chest I peek up through my hair and my hiding place on his chest. One of my hands is lying against his rapidly beating heart. We both look at the camera, and I give my secret smile, the one I only give to him. He takes the picture and turns it around so I can see. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. I see the Drum Bridge clearly in the distance but most importantly, I see Chase, his eyes sated and untarnished by his past or our current situation. My own gaze is soft, resplendent. Mostly, it’s just another candid moment of us in love.

“Send it to me…that one is special,” I use the same words he used about the other image. He nods once and then tosses the phone back down near his pants. We lay together for a long time.

“Do you think it will always be this good between us?” I finally ask. His arms tighten along my bare back and waist.

I lean up and rest my chin on his chest like I usually do after we make love.

“I don’t know why it wouldn’t. I’m positive there is no other woman for me. No one else would put up with me the way you do.” He waggles his eyebrows, but I know there is some truth in his statement.

Kissing him softly, I pull back. “You’re right. No woman in their right mind would put up with you,” he cringes, but I continue. “Special dates and private garden showings, rooftop brunches, endless love making where the woman’s pleasure is paramount…you’re right. You’re ridiculous!” I giggle, and he nuzzles my nose.

“You’re cute.”

“Didn’t we already have this conversation? Cute is for puppies and newborns not naked women in their twenties who allow you to ravish them in public gardens.”

Chase laughs, and I enjoy feeling his cock wiggle within me. He likes to stay connected to me for as long as possible, but I know our private time is running out.

“Don’t we need to go?”

He kisses me then sits up. I shimmy off him and stand. The mixture of our combined releases coats my thighs and starts running down my leg. Chase watches closely, a predatory gleam in his eyes and a crooked, sexy smile on his face. I roll my eyes and grab the soft napkin that came with our picnic, wiping the mess up before putting on my panties, bra, and dress.

Chase dresses and I start to put everything away. “Leave it. I’ve paid someone to take care of it for us.” Of course he did. I shake my head and he puts my cardigan over my shoulders, the chill of the late afternoon in San Francisco starting to encroach.

“Next up...dessert,” Chase says as he leads me out the gate of the garden. I close my eyes and try to imprint today’s experience so that I can go back to it often. Whenever I have a rough day, I’m going to go back to those rainbow steps that tell a story so beautiful one must experience it with their own eyes, and the magical garden where Chase made wild and crazy love to me under the cool shade of a willow tree.

“I thought that’s what we just had,” I say, the innuendo clear in my tone.

“You saucy little vixen, come on. I know a place that serves up the best caramel cupcakes baked fresh every day.”

“You had me at ‘saucy little vixen’,” I grin.

Chapter 11

Gillian

Hollowis a little café not far from the Japanese Tea Garden. Twilight comes upon us at the tail end of our walk. Chase holds open the door of the quaint little eatery for me to enter. Cinnamon and rich coffee swirls heavily in the air, delighting the senses. I inhale deeply, taking it all in while closing my eyes. Chase squeezes my fingers and proceeds to the counter. He orders as I peruse the wares. A long antique looking sideboard displays an array of coffee and baking-related items for use in the kitchen. A small, metal robot-shaped infuser that holds tea catches my attention. It’s so wildly random that I pick up the little object and know instantly that I’m buying two of them for Chase and me. It will be a pleasant memory of this day. Stealthily, I grab two of the robots and hold them behind my back, right as Chase turns around.

“Shall we sit inside?”

I nod and let him proceed to the wrought iron table in front of me. With a quickness I wasn’t sure I had, I turned, went up to the cashier, and in two movements, had the robots on the counter and a couple of twenties pushing into the young boy’s hand. “Take it quick!” I say, clearly rushed. Casting a glance at Chase, he’s sitting with his arms crossed, a leg up over one knee shaking his head. I shrug and take the return change and the little bag before making my way over to a smirking Chase.

He taps a finger on the table and grins. “So, what’s in the bag, Sweetie?” he asks. It’s official. The use of every endearment known to man is a running game with him. I should start giving them back to him.

“Mementos of our day,” I pull out the two robot shaped tea infusers. A huge smile breaks across his face as he picks up one of them. It looks positively miniscule in his giant hand.

His brows crinkle as he turns the item over and around. “What is it?”

That’s when I start to laugh. “They’re tea infusers. See, you open it here,” I flick open the latch at the robot’s head and it opens perfectly in half. “Then you put the fresh tea in here, close it up and then drop it into a glass and pour your hot water in.”

He pulls up the little long, bendy arms with what look like washers that have been cut in half to mimic hands. “And these?”

---