Page 75 of The Significance of Moving On

Tal stands next to me biting her bottom lip and turning three shades of pink.

“We’re good,” I tell the cashier.

At the same time Tally asks, “Where are they?” The cashier points to the aisle while Tally looks from her to me. “I’ll be right back,” she says.

She wants condoms? She was attacked this morning. Should she want condoms? Tal shows back up tossing the black box onto the conveyor. The cashier scans them smugly laughing and shaking her head. What has she got to be smug about when she’s the one who started this?

When it’s just us in the parking lot I lean over the shopping cart to whisper, she needs to know, “Tally, I didn’t rent the cabin because I thought—”

“It’s my birthday.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

The campfire crackles orange flames that spurt up molten ashes into the air. She’s even more beautiful by firelight, chewing the last bit of tenderloin from her plate.

That’s my cue to get up and go into the cabin to get the cake from the fridge. The one and eight candles I bought slump a little in the middle. After lighting them, I walk slowly back outside singing happy birthday to the birthday girl. With the smile she gives, I’d think she’s never received a cake before.

“Make a wish.” I squat down and hold the cake in front of her. “And blow them out.”

“There’s nothing I could tangibly wish for.” She reaches her hand up to touch my cheek. “That you haven’t already given me.” My eyes close, I breathe deep and press into her palm, anchoring myself to the moment by creating a memory that, although insignificant to most, I know I’ll never forget.

When I open my eyes, hers stare straight through mine, glistening with wetness. I clear my throat and set the cake down on the table between our two weather-worn Adirondack chairs, preparing to slice her a wedge. Her face reads like a romance novel. It’s not really a surprise when she stands, slowly dragging the knife from my grasp.

“Don’t you want cake?” I ask, playing my part. But she shakes her head no while pushing me down onto the ground. This girl, my girl, climbs astride my lap dropping her mouth to mine for a pulse-spiking kiss all the while pressing her heat against me. Damn, she’s perfect.

I’ve never seen her move like this before. God, I grow painfully hard beneath her and want to touch her more than I’ve ever wanted to touch anyone. For almost a year I’ve fought against this, trying to be the better man, but what I suddenly realize in the moment is that denying us any longer doesn’t make me a better man. It only stands to hurt us, and Tally’s been hurt enough in her life. I give in to the temptation and pour everything that makes me a man, everything that makes me theright manfor Tal, into that kiss. And swallowing down her whimper, I come apart.

“Come on.” I push her off my lap.

We move back inside the cabin to our bedroom, to the bed, a tangle of arms while our lips press together once more.

Her fingers tease through my hair, slowly, and I have to admit, seductively before she moves them to the hem of my T-shirt. Hooking her fingers around the fabric, she then pushes it up over my head and we tumble onto the mattress.

Her turn. I unbutton the first four buttons of her blouse watching with every heaving breath as the pink lacey satin peeks out at me, calling to me. With the last four unbuttoned and the blouse in a heap on the floor, it’s not the lacey satin, but her milky-white flesh that feels so good against my cheeks and lips. Her sheer perfection. And the way she moves beneath me from just the simplest of touches makes me realize how much more I want to do for her, to make her happy, to continue to feel this way for the rest of my life.

Tally and I together, this is the real thing. Never in my wildest imagination when I helped her up off of Tom’s lawn in the rain did I think we would end up here. Before we go any further, even though I suspect I already know the truth, I push up off her, resting on my heels. “How far have you actually gone?”

She shakes her head, shrugging. “Not much opportunity at boarding school. Dorms are watched pretty damn close.”

So, she has no experience aside from kissing? No man has touched her before?

“Man, Tal.” I run my hand over my face, “Is this really what you want… withme?”

“I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else.”

Thank God. I pull in a breath then nip her bottom lip. She honors me. Today’s her birthday yet she gifts me a piece of herself that she can never have back. We go slow, torturously teasing the remaining clothing from each other’s bodies. With every layer peeled from her, the peach fragrance, her fragrance, intensifies. My mouth waters. I’ll never be able to eat a peach again without thinking of this moment.

Her soft, feminine curves wrap around not only my waist, but my heart, my soul. We keep up the meandering pace, supplementing with kisses and cuddles to prolong the enjoyment and because I know it hurts her at first, but hearing her breaths quicken, feeling her come apart, it’s like a drug, a highly addictive drug.

My pace quickens and I know I have to slow down, need to slow down, but this intense friction between us has less to do with the action than the expansive swell of emotion surrounding our little cabin. We build towards a together. Having her whisper my name as she holds on to me for dear life, it’s all too much and I can’t hold back any longer. Chantal Bradley is my undoing.

We lay together. I talk, she smiles. And I know I’ve done the right thing. Eventually her breath evens out rhythmically and I know she’s fallen asleep.

“Forever,” I whisper into her hair, knowing full well she’ll never know I said it, but somehow clinging to the hope that she might have.

•••

Despite the rented cabin or the thick, dense forest, despite the bubbling creek which merges with the river that empties into a great lake, we barely see the light of day for the rest of the weekend let alone the great outdoors opting instead to stay in bed, mapping out more memories over every inch of each other’s bodies.

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