Page 1 of Tushie: A Taboo Tale of Forbidden Love

CHAPTER ONE

COLE AND ELSIE sat snuggled together in the back garden of their country cottage, mesmerised as they watched the flames inside their fire pit lick and crumble the last small log they had placed there only half an hour before.

It was late and the stars were bright as Cole leaned back and stared up into the night sky, letting his eyes adjust as the bright flames that had been seared into his vision subsided.

Elsie followed his gaze and together they looked up, holding each others hands and stroking each others fingers as the stars flickered and blinked back at them.

‘Isn’t it incredible to think that the stars we’re seeing up there, those twinkling particles of light, have travelled millions of light-years across the universe?’ said Cole, stroking Elsie’s shoulder. ‘All that way, and at the very end of their journey, our eyes were here to meet them.’

‘They’re beautiful.’

Elsie squeezed him and rested her head on his shoulder.

They sat close together, gazing up into the brilliance of the milky way. Out here, in the countryside, nestled amongst dark hills and deep forests, the sky was almost void of light pollution and the stars shone so bright that on some nights it seemed unreal.

Elsie gasped and pointed as a shooting star raced across her vision in the blink of an eye.

‘This is the same sky as the one we married under,’ said Cole.

‘Almost, one more night and it will be.’

‘Do you remember our first dance?’

‘To Rocket Man? How can I forget?’ she laughed.

Cole relaxed, loosening his shoulders and kissing his wife’s head as she slipped her arm across his chest. Elsie’s jumper was thick and baggy and he loved how it made her look and feel when she cuddled into him. He rested his face in her hair and breathed in her scent as she looked up at him suddenly.

‘Do you remember Alice got so drunk she tried to chat up my dad?’

Cole laughed. ‘I think he would’ve gone for it too.’

‘Oh my gosh, can you imagine?’

‘I remember how beautiful you looked,’ said Cole, looking down at her.

‘You scrubbed up pretty well too.’

Cole raised his hand and stroked her hair.

‘It’s getting late,’ said Elsie, sitting forward and placing the palm of her hand on his chest. ‘We should go to bed.’

She raised her eyebrows provocatively and grinned.

Cole nodded, smiling.

‘Sounds good, Mrs Winters.’

Elsie stood up and reached out for her husbands hand, sliding his fingers between hers and helping him up out of the snug.

The embers of the fire were almost dead and Cole decided to leave it to die out as they headed inside hand in hand.

As he swung the patio door shut behind him and turned the latch he paused and watched in the reflection of the window as his beautiful, dark haired wife walked away towards the light of the stairwell.

She stopped as she reached the doorway to wait for him and he turned to follow her after making sure the back door was firmly locked.

As he reached the lower landing, she set off up, and he couldn’t resist squeezing her pert little bottom as she walked up in front of him. She jumped and ran up a few more steps and Cole laughed and gave chase as she screamed and ran into their bedroom.

‘No, no, no. Please,’ she said, laughing as she leapt onto the mattress, spinning around and backing up on her knees, holding her hands up in surrender.

‘No mercy,’ said Cole as he advanced.

He leapt forward and grabbed her, pinning her down and tickling her as she screamed and laughed and writhed, desperately trying to fight him off with her hands but failing.

He paused for a moment to let her breathe and then just as she thought he might have finally relented he shot forward, wrestling her as she convulsed back and forth.

After another ten seconds he stopped and Elsie collapsed onto the bed, panting as she tried to catch her breath. He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled and turned to look at him with mischief in her eyes.

‘Don’t start something you can’t finish,’ he said as he saw the look she was giving him.

She raised her eyebrows and laughed.

‘You win,’ she said, taking a deep breath.

‘You’re so cute when you laugh.’

He wrapped his arms around her and spooned her on the bed. She smiled and took hold of his hand in hers, cupping it to her breast over the top of her thick jumper.

‘Can you believe it’s almost been a year?’

‘I know, it’s gone so fast,’ he propped himself up and looked down at her laying on the pillow.

‘A year of being Mrs Winters,’ she turned to look up into his eyes and he kissed her on the lips.

‘A long year,’ he said as he pulled away, laughing.

Elsie glared at him.

‘Almost. Tomorrow it will be anyway. So we’ve got an entire…’ she paused and turned her head to look at their bedside clock. ‘Forty eight minutes left of being newlyweds.’

‘Then we should fuck like rabbits, before we become old and boring,’ said Cole, laughing.

‘We definitely should.’

Cole grabbed at the bottom of her jumper and hurriedly pulled it up and over her head as she struggled out of it. She sat up as her husband knelt forward and tugged at her camisole top, pulling it up as it got caught in her ponytail.

---