Page 16 of Lovesick
I made a comment that the lights around the parking lot had come on, and Maggie asked, “What time does the park close?”
“Usually, around nine o’clock, after the last ball game is over.”
“It’s almost that time. Do we need to leave?” The idea of this evening coming to an end didn’t appeal to me, and she asked the question hesitantly.
“No,” I assured her. “Let’s go back to the truck. I’ll show you.”
With the windows rolled down to enjoy the evening breeze, I headed out of the main parking lot. Instead of turning left to leave, though, I turned right and drove along a narrower road that led into the woods until we reached another parking lot - an empty one and not much more than a gravel rectangle on the ground.
“What’s back here?” Maggie asked curiously as I switched off the ignition.
“It’s just a trailhead for the three-mile trail. But no one will be back here this late, including the cops. Let’s grab the blankets and cooler and find somewhere to sit.”
She carried the blankets, and I carried the cooler, and we set off to do just that, using our phone flashlights to find our way. Not far down the path, we discovered a grassy space off to the left. A few ancient oaks stretched their branches over the grass, and we picked one to lay out the blankets under.
“It’s almost like a mattress.” Maggie laid out on the blanket with its thick layer of grass underneath and made a blanket-angel, which quickly lost its shape when she sat up.
“A sort of prickly mattress.” Maggie stood up briefly so I could lay out another blanket on top of the first one. “Perfect.”
“What’s the last one for?”
“Us!” I tossed it over her head. She giggled and extricated herself, accepting the beer I had opened for her while she was preoccupied.
“We kind of missed the sunset,” she noted, sitting cross-legged with the cover over her legs.
“Yeah, but the woods at night are peaceful too.” I took a sip of my own beer and grabbed a corner of the blanket.
“And chilly.” Maggie wrapped herself in more of the cover and stole my corner.
“Okay, that’s not going to work.” I snatched the whole blanket away, wrapped it around my shoulders and held an arm out invitingly. “Come here.” Eagerly, she scooted over so I could wrap my arm and the cover around her. “Better?”
We talked about old times for a few minutes. Maggie snuggled into me, setting down her second beer. “You okay?” I asked.
“A little chilly.”
“I can grab that quilt we left in the truck.”
“Uh…” She snuggled even closer. I could just tell the color of her eyes in the dim moonlight as she looked up at me. “Maybe. Or maybe we could…do something else? To warm up?”
Every inch of skin that touched Maggie tingled. In the back of my mind, all day, there had been this restlessness, a sliver of hope that the evening would turn out exactly this way. I didn’t want to push, but I had tried to make it clear how I felt… A couple suggestive words here, a hand on a soft, smooth thigh there.
If she didn’t mean what I thought she meant, a certain part of me was going to be pretty disappointed.
“Maybe we could…” I let the low, sultry tone of my voice tell her I had caught on. “Where do you feel cold?”
“Well…right here.” She held out a delicate hand, the tiniest, cutest pout on her face.
“Can’t have that.” I pulled the blanket from my shoulders so I could use my arms and took her hand. My thumbs pressed shallow, circular grooves into her hand and wrist, massaging up and down. “Better?”
“Yeah, but…now I’m cold here.”
I took her upper arms in my hands, and she shivered…but not from cold. “So cold,” I said, still playing along. “Let me try something…” Cool skin met my warm lips. I followed it upward until my face brushed against fabric, lingering there. “Warm yet?”
“Almost, but I’m still a little cold, right here.” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave an exaggerated shiver.
My heart pounded. I reached out my hands slowly, but they didn’t go straight to the area she indicated. They went lower, straight to the bottom of her shirt. My fingers teased their way underneath the tight fabric, brushing the slight curves of her tummy. She let out a little huff of laughter as I went over the ticklish circle of her belly button.
I kept my hands moving up slowly. Every breath translated through them to me, taking me over until we breathed together. Higher and higher, then slower and slower… I teased us both until tendons in my arms strained with desire, and her hands twitched like she wanted to grab mine and move them somewhere more…useful.
