Page 18 of Together in Harmony
Thinking about them makes him grin.
“And you?” he asks me. “Do you get on with your folks?”
I’ll give him an abbreviated version. It is only fair, he opened up to me.
“My mom died when I was eight. Then I lived with my dad, brother and a few other people. It wasn’t great, we're estranged now.”
“Shit, I’m sorry sweetheart. That sucks.”
“Eh, I’m fine. I have my aunts. They are lovely.” My eyes fill with tears and I blink them away.
Asa takes my hand. “Why do you have such a sad look on your face?”
"My Aunt Sheila got diagnosed with Parkinson’s a couple of years ago,” I tell him. “And her wife Patsy had a stroke a while back. They’ve had to move into sheltered housing. I miss them.”
He holds my hand. It’s wonderfully comforting.
We sit like that for a couple of minutes, then all of a sudden Asa leans over and pulls me into a crushing hug. “Side hug!” he shouts.
“Side hug?”
“It’s an inside joke. Lennox was raised Mormon. Mormons have to do side-hugs, not those sexy front-on hugs. It helps avoid temptation.” His strong, beautiful face moves close to mine. “And you are very, very tempting.”
While my heart does a flutter, Asa is grabbing the trash from our lunch and throwing it on the back seat.
“You finished sweetheart?” he says, bouncing around in his seat like a huge golden retriever. “I’m going to kiss you in about thirty seconds, so I need all this shit out of the way…” He moves towards me, threatening to rip away the rest of my lunch.
I giggle, flick a fry at him, then clutch my drink.
“You’ll have to pry this milkshake from my cold dead hands…”
“A challenge!”
He grabs at the waxed cardboard cup and a drop of milkshake flies out, landing right on the lap of my sundress. We both freeze.
Asa looked at the spot. “Well look at that,” he says. “You spilled a drop.”
“I think you’ll find that was your fault…”
“In that case, I must make amends. He takes one of the paper napkins and with a voice that is a little husky, says, “Shall I get that for you?”
I look at his face, and then my eyes drop to his lips.
We are alone on the top of a canyon, and the heat is rising, and it’s not just from the blazing sun.
I've known this man for all of twenty-four hours, and he is turning everything on its head.
Yum, head.
Shit.
I'm hiding out to keep safe, and all I want is to invite this beautiful man-bear into my life. I can smell the sweat on his skin. I can imagine his lips on mine, on my body. I want to be wherever he is.
He inhales, noticing the change of energy.
The image of his giant hand stroking the napkin on my dress fills my head. Asa is not saying anything, but a muscle in his jaw twitches.
Oh boy.
