‘That’s not creepy at all,” Marcie said sarcastically.
“But it wasn’t. He didn’t hit on me, he was just sweet and concerned after seeing Brian be such a dick inside, leaving me stranded there.”
“Yet he managed to ask you out on a date.”
“Not right away,” I corrected her. “We went for a drink at El Diablo. He offered and I desperately needed a distraction after the whole Brian thing.”
“Who is this guy? What’s he like?”
“His name is Terrance Delacroix, and he’s new in town. Tall and handsome. Very masculine, but not a total alpha jerk. He’s got the cutest little half-smile. After El Diablo, we traded numbers. He called last night, and we ended up talking for an hour. He’s taking me to dinner tonight.”
Marcie frowns. “Well I hope he doesn’t treat you like Brian did. You deserve better.”
Her saying that warmed my heart. “I lurve you, Marcie,” I said. We’d been telling each other that since fourth grade. It began as a joke, but eventually became a true expression of affection.
“I lurve you, too. I just don’t want to have to pick up the little pieces of your broken heart again. You’re overdue for some true love.”
* * *
“Sagan is an interesting name. Was it in honor of Carl Sagan?”
I knew I was in trouble. Looking across the table at Terrance, I realized I had underestimated his good looks. He was even more handsome than I remembered, and those dark, dark eyes threatened to pull me in and never let me go. This man!
“Who?” I asked when I’d regained my ability to process thought.
“Carl Sagan… the Cosmos guy.”
I was still drawing a blank.
The Moirai was pleasantly uncrowded on a Sunday night. Terrance decided to bring me here again because he remembered me saying I’d wanted to eat here for a while. He said I needed to have a better memory of the restaurant. So far, it had worked; I hadn’t had a single thought about what’s-his-name.
“You know… ‘billions and billions’?”
I had no idea who he’s referring to. I shrugged and took another bite of my delicious Late-Summer Ham and Farm-to-Table Burnt Plum Pie.
Terrance laughed. “Never mind. It was before your time.”
I ignored the gentle poke at my being so young. “Anyway, no, it wasn’t this Carl guy. My real name is Sagenia, after my great-grandmother many times over, centuries ago. Her name was Sagenia, but my mom nicknamed me Sagan because she thought it was cuter.”
For a few seconds, Terrance appeared to be lost in thought.
After a delicious meal, during which I found myself mesmerized by Terrance’s charm and good looks, our server asked if we’d like to see the dessert menu.
I spoke up before my date has a chance. “No thanks.” Once the server left to get our check, I explained. “I want to take you somewhere for dessert. Trust me, you’ll love it.”
A few minutes later, we were standing in line at Beez’s Ice Cream, looking over the menu and trying to decide which of their amazing flavors we’d indulge in.
“This place must be good,” Terrance asked. “Nobody’s complaining about the line.”
“Their Sunday flavors are bomb. They stay open late and the lines are here until closing.”
“Bomb,” he said with a smile. “That’s good, right?”
I ordered the strawberry with balsamic vinegar, while Terrance played it safe with Mexican chocolate.
Both excellent choices, and both with waffle cones.
We strolled the streets of Diablo Falls, eating our ice cream. Terrance switched his cone to his left hand and held my hand with his other. The second I felt his fingers intertwine with mine, my body reacted in absurd fashion, my cheeks flushing and my skin tingling all over.
My mental attraction to this man was already off the charts, and my body apparently agreed. This could get interesting. Once again, I found myself marveling at the idea of falling for an older man. What a weird turn my life had suddenly taken.
It got even weirder a second later, when I took the last bite of my cone and licked the ice cream off my thumb. I felt embarrassed when I realized Terrance was watching me, then he gently took my wrist and pulled my hand towards his face. Without ever taking his eyes off mine, he guided my saliva-slicked thumb into his mouth, licking and sucking it before releasing it.
My heart skipped a beat or two, right there on the sidewalk in front of Bishop Magick & Apothecary Shop. Our eyes remained locked and I tried to ease a breath in but couldn’t seem to manage.
Then Terrance slipped a hand around my waist to the small of my back, bringing me into him. Our bodies touched and my immediate thought was, This must be what sex feels like. I mean, I’d experimented with guys over the years—groping in cars, handjobs at the drive-in, blowjobs in dorm rooms—but this was more exciting and seemed to involve my entire body.
When he closed the gap between my face and his, I thought I might pass out from sheer anticipation. Those dark brown eyes looked even more intense in the glow of the nearby streetlight. Then his lips touched mine and I instantly lost all touch with everything else in the world.
Without worrying about seeming too eager, I slid a hand behind his neck and kissed him back. His tongue parted my lips and searched for mine, and I gave in totally as he turned the kiss into something more akin to foreplay. By the time he pulled away and smiled, I was aching for him to do something else.
I wanted his hands on me in places that would offend people who might walk past. I wanted him to back me up against the glass window of Bishop’s Shop and press himself into me, hard and insistent.
I wanted more.
Much more.
I instinctively knew that kiss had changed my life forever.
Terrance
What was it about this woman?
I’d been with beautiful women before. Some even more beautiful, and some younger. I’ve been with women whose bodies would make God blush. I’ve had fiery redheads determined to fuck their way into my heart or wallet, or both.
But this particular woman was already bringing out feelings I haven’t had in years. Centuries, even. And I barely knew her. We’d just met a few days ago!
After kissing her on that sidewalk, all I wanted to do was rip her clothes off and drive my cock into her. I wanted to claim her in the most primal manner possible, to leave my seed in her.
What the fuck was going on?
And that name she mentioned, Sagenia. Why did that name sound so fucking familiar?
I would have time to explore this mystery further, since nothing I’d encountered in Diablo Falls had given me the slightest clue as to why I felt draw there. Something was definitely up. There was an explanation somewhere, I just had to find it.
After walking Sagan to her apartment, I kissed her goodnight—another kiss that made me want to do things to her that I knew weren’t appropriate with a virgin. Neither of us seemed to want to leave the other, but the only direction we could still go that night was more physical, and that had to wait until I was certain she was ready.
But I had her on the verge. She was damn close to giving in.
On the way home, I passed Greene's Grocer's just as a guy was locking the front door.
“Excuse me,” I said, “can I ask you something?”
The man looked at me skeptically. He was human, and he’d never met me, which likely made him not trust a guy of my size.
“I’m sorry, I’m Terrance Delacroix. I’m in town for a few weeks and could use some advice from a local.”
His countenance softened. “Hey, I’m Devin. Devin Greene. What kind of advice are you looking for?”
“This is pretty specific, actually. I need a cool place to take a date at night. Someplace romantic and memorable.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Hmm…” Then his eyes opened wide and he grinned. “I’ve got just the thing: A night-hike to Culfire Springs!”
“What’s that? And where?�
�
“It’s a popular hot springs near the base of Blackwater Mountain. That’s the one on the north; the one on the south is Clearspring Mountain.”
I was already aware of the geography of Diablo Falls. The two mountain peaks formed what they called the Devil’s Crown, which in turn gave the town its name.
“How popular? I don’t need a crowd.”
Devin laughed. “There are always a few people there, even at night. That’s why you hike past it another half mile. There’s a trail that veers off the main trail to the left; follow that and go another few hundred yards. You’ll crest a small hill and see the secret hot springs.”
“Secret?”
“As secret as anything in Diablo Falls can be. Not many people know about it. And at night, people are afraid to go up that far because of all the rumors about werewolves and vampires.”
I smiled. “That stuff is nonsense.”
“Maybe so, but people around here believe pretty strongly in it. And there have been too many bizarre and unexplainable things that have occurred. It does make you wonder sometimes.”
“I’ll bring a wooden stake and some silver bullets, just in case,” I wisecracked. “Devin, I appreciate the tip.”
“No problem. Stop back by the store here and let me know how things went.”
“I’ll do that,” I said, then resumed my walk home.
I had no way of googling a map of the mountain’s hiking trails, but Devin’s idea was so perfect that I knew I had to find that spot one way or another.
* * *
The doorbell rang at just after six Tuesday evening. I opened it and saw Sagan standing there in jeans and hiking boots, with a nylon outdoorsy jacket.
“You didn’t tell me you were renting the Berringer place,” she said.
“You know about this house?”
“Everyone in Satan Stumbles knows about this giant house.”
“Everyone where?” I asked, confused.
“I’ll explain the nickname on the way.; we need to get going because I have to be home by ten.”
“No time for a quick tour beforehand?”
“You can give me the tour some other time.” With a grin, she added, “Some of us have real jobs, remember?”
The tour could wait. What was important was that I’d planted the seed in her mind about her coming into the house. Now she’d be thinking about it in advance, and when that moment actually came around, she’d have already committed to it in her mind and wouldn’t think twice.
Sagan knew where the springs were and drove us to a small dirt parking lot at the trailhead for the Discarnate Loop trail. In no time we were hiking up the gradually ascending dirt path. The night air was cooler up here, but not yet cold. Sagan says it’s the perfect time of year to hike, and in another couple of months, the snowfall would make hiking here impossible.
It took us about half an hour of steady hiking to reach Culfire Springs. The moon was just beginning to peek over the side of Blackwater Mountain. There were about a dozen people in the water, with steam rising all around them. Everyone was respectfully quiet.
Sagan and I stopped to look at the scene for a moment, and as we stood there, a couple emerged from the springs, their naked bodies dripping as they hurried to their towels.
“I’ve got on my bikini under this,” Sagan said matter-of-factly. I had to interpret that as her way of telling me not to expect her to get naked like this other woman had.
We continued up the trail, which quickly grew smaller and less used. Despite my looking carefully, we almost passed the smaller trail to the left that Devin had told me about. In fact, we did pass it, and just a few steps later I had a feeling and went back to look. Sure enough, there was the tiny trail. My instincts are usually sharper at night, but my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Sagan and her bikini.
A short while later we came to the top of a hill, and in a small area just below was the “secret” springs Devin mentioned. The setting was absolutely gorgeous; a natural stone pool, maybe twenty feet wide, was nestled among rocks at the very bottom of a steep outcropping that signaled the point at which Blackwater Mountain began to rise dramatically. Since the full moon was rising in the opposite direction, it bathed the area in just the right amount of silvery light. Steam rose from the springs, and we hurried our pace down the hill.
“This is amazing,” Sagan said. “I never knew about this place and I’ve lived here for years. How did you discover it in less than a week?”
I just smiled. “I have my sources.”
We scrambled down to the springs and found a flat grassy spot to spread our blanket out. I brought a bottle of red wine that I’d found in the house, and some fresh plums I’d picked up at Devin’s store when I went back the night after I met him.
Sagan peeled off her hiking boots and socks as I uncorked the bottle, and when I finished pouring out two red Solo cups, she was already dipping her toes into the hot water.
“This feels amazing,” she said.
“Let’s get in now. We can drink wine while we’re soaking.”
Her expression betrayed some hesitation. Reluctance, even.
I sat to untie my boots. Sagan slowly removed her jacket.
By the time she was done, I already was barefoot and shirtless. She glanced at me, then began unbuttoning her flannel shirt. I unzipped my jeans as I watched her remove the shirt. She actually was wearing a bikini underneath, or at least a bikini top. Her firm breasts pushed against the material.
When I lowered my pants and stepped out of them, I saw that she was doing the same. Standing in the cool air in my boxer briefs, I felt powerful. That was the feeling I always got when I was about to have sex with someone I was really into. Some kind of surge of alpha hormones or something. I never really analyzed it, but it was an intense, amazing feeling.
Sagan set her jeans aside and indeed had on bikini bottoms. She looked at me, just five or six feet away, and I sensed she was waiting for my cue. The polite thing to do would be to respect her having worn a bikini and climbed into the springs in my underwear so she wouldn’t have to strip.
But I was not in a polite mood.
Just looking at Sagan’s body was stirring me physically. Her figure was flawless, just the right amount of curve to her hips, and a lovely flat belly with no visible muscles ruining the femininity.
No, I wanted to see what she looked like naked. I slipped off my underwear. As I straightened up, I caught her flustered expression before she quickly brought her gaze up to my eyes.
“So that’s how it’s gonna be, then?” she asked rhetorically. Shaking her head, her hands moved behind her back, and seconds later she was topless. I couldn’t help but gawk, my cock twitching slightly as I drank in breasts so perfect they belonged in a museum, with nipples just the right size and shape that hardened as I watched.
Holy fuck, this woman was incredible.
Her gaze descended down my body for a second before she hooked her fingers into the sides of her bikini bottom and pulled downward. Not a single hair was visible, just a perfect little slit resting on the cutest mound I’d ever seen.
I could feel my cock beginning to grow, and how could it not with a sight like this in front of me? Sagan took one last glance and her eyes widen. Okay, so I’m a shower and a grower. Sue me.
“I’m getting in,” she said in an anxious voice. She stepped to the water and carefully tried to figure out how to enter without slipping. Her shapely ass distracted me for a second before I hurried to her side, taking her arm and helping her in. Once again, the second our bodies touched was electric, and I sensed an immediate change in Sagan’s mood. She slid into water, lowering herself to shoulder level, then turned to stare shamelessly at my naked body as I followed her into the spring.
The water was nice and hot. I looked at Sagan, with the moonlight illuminating the steam rising around her face. She removed a hair tie from her wrist and pulled her blonde locks back, her breasts rising just slightly out of the wa
ter. Once her hair was secured behind her head, she smiled at me.
I was already as hard as a rock.
This was going to be tricky. I didn’t want to seem overly eager, despite the torrid kisses we’ve shared. My penis, on the other hand, was ready for action. At some point, she was likely to see or feel the evidence of that desire. Hopefully, she’d take it as a compliment instead of a sign that I was expecting something from her.
“Come here, Terrance,” she said dreamily. Her eyes had closed slightly, and I knew the incredible setting was having the same effect on her that it was on me. This place was magical and romantic, seemingly carved from the mountain specifically for lovers.
I decided I might as well get it over with. If she was uncomfortable with the idea, better to know now, because I don’t think I could stand three or four more dates to get her to that point. I wanted Sagan desperately. My body ached for her.
I glided through the water, fully intending to stand next to her, but she turned to face me, lifting her arms out of the water, ready to wrap them around my neck. I stopped a foot in front of her and placed my hands on her waist.
Her fingers played with my hair behind my neck. “Thank you for bringing me here. This is divine.” Then she pulled, and since I was heavier and resisting, her body moved against mine. Her lips were on mine before I could think, her tongue passionately demanding my own. I kissed her back, my desire growing with each second. Her breasts nudged my chest as our tongues played.
A second later, my rigid cock pressed on her abdomen.
Sagan’s response to the unexpected stimuli was perfect; she moaned and kissed me harder, not trying to create space between her body and my erection. If anything, she pushed harder against me.
She finished her kiss and leaned her head back just far enough to look into my eyes.
“Somebody’s excited,” she said playfully.
“How could I not be? Your body is amazing.”
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