by Lauren Wood
“You are like a different man. Last week you were flying out of the festival every morning because of business.”
“Gemma, you made me think about it. I never thought about work as everything I did, but you were right. I need to put more effort and energy into other facets of my life that are far more important.”
I wanted her to know that she was more important than work. I missed being around her, wanting to go home sooner and see her every night. I never had this before and I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t because I hadn’t been with a woman in almost two weeks.
“I am glad you are seeing things my way. When a person is on their deathbed, they will never wish that they had worked more.”
She may be a free-spirit, but Gemma had a great way of looking at the world that simplified it in a way that made me wonder why I was so quick to change it. Maybe it was me that needed a change.
“I don’t know about that, but I do know that I am looking forward to a weekend without work.”
“So is this our honeymoon?”
The way she said it had me looking her way. “Is that what you want?” Did the same thing come to her mind as it did to me? The only thing I could think of about a honeymoon was the consummation.
Gemma didn’t answer right away. She looked away shyly and now her innocence made more sense to me. After her first love was taken, she shut romance off in her mind. I knew that if I was ever going to be with her in that way, I was going to have to be a man that she loved like Raphael. It was strange to be going up against a ghost of a memory, but that was what it was. Nothing was ever as straight forward as it seemed and my wife was no different.
“I don’t know Keenan. Why don’t you tell me where we are going first?”
I chuckled and asked her if it mattered that much.
“Not really, I guess. I just didn’t bring anything and now we have been flying for several hours. Where are we going?”
I loved how her serenity was shattered because I wouldn’t tell her what was going on. It was hard to say no to her, almost impossible actually. “You will find out soon enough. We will be there about sunrise, so not too much longer.”
Gemma anxiously looked out of the window. She wouldn’t see anything though, nothing but clouds and darkness. We were too high up and the more I watched her build with anticipation, the happier I was that I had taken Ronald’s advice. He was like the puppet master, pulling all of the strings and we were mere puppets. But to be next to her, I was a happy puppet. The old man had known better than both of us.
I sat down next to her and our eyes met for a moment. Her bright gaze was filled with so many emotions it was hard to know where to start. “We will be there soon Gemma and I promise you will love it.”
She set her head on my shoulder and sighed. For a moment, the world stopped, as well as my heart.
Chapter 15
Gemma
When the plane touched down, I had no idea where we were. There was just a field and a car waiting for us. There were no indications of our destination except the exotic plant life and the sea breeze. I knew we were close to the ocean, not too close, but the whole area was saturated with the smell of it and something sweeter in the air.
“Where are we Keenan?”
He was getting a large bag out of the plane that I hadn’t noticed before, but like before, Keenan was going to be tight-lipped about what was going on. He just smiled at me in a way that made my heart beat faster and my palms a little sweatier.
“You will see soon enough.”
I was sick of waiting and I told him so, but again he just looked at me like I was adorable for even suggesting it. “It won’t be long now.”
We got into the car and I waited for him to talk to the driver that I didn’t see. I heard the trunk finally close and then Keenan was beside me in the seat.
“We will be there in just a few minutes. I hope you like it Gemma.”
“I am sure I will.” I better, as much time and energy he was wasting for all of this. I felt like I better like this because if not, I was going to be bummed out. This was a lot of anticipation to get disappointed in the end. But Keenan never had been a disappointment and I should have known that nothing was going to change.
I rested my head on his shoulder because we were supposed to be sleeping. I was tired and his warmth attracted me to him like a magnet. I missed lying next to him like we had in the tent. This time I wanted to lie beside him on a real bed and I hoped that was what was going to happen next. I still wasn’t sure what we were here for, but I knew that I was feeling closer to Keenan.
“Come on Gemma, wake up. We are here.”
My eyes opened and the first thing I saw was pink. It was so pink that everything reflected the color. We were at the beginning of a long cement walkway that was surrounded in cherry blossoms. The old trees climbed and sprawled their way over the road in such a way that left me breathless. There was so many of them and I was amazed that he had brought me here.
“Sakuras?”
He smiled and nodded his head. “Yes, so what do you think?”
I didn’t wait for him to do the right thing and help me out of the car. I wanted to see what was in front of me more than anything. I had never seen so many flowers in all of my life and the place was downright magical. How did he know that I would love this so much?
The scene was even better out of the car and not behind the shaded windows of the car. The color was more brilliant and I was just left standing there. I wanted to paint what I saw, but I knew that this was a moment that I would be able to close my eyes to later and I would remember it all. It was a gift and it was one that I was especially thankful for.
Before I realized what I was doing, I had turned to Keenan and kissed him. My arms went around his neck. I was just so happy that he was here and he had brought me. I wanted to cry, but it was happy tears. For a man that I had just met a couple of weeks ago, I had fallen so hard for him and in that moment of pure glee, I forgot what happened when we touched.
He took over so quickly, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me in tighter against him. Here I was hugging him to me, the kiss so innocent, but now nothing was innocent between us. I was ready to explode with all of these sensations. I whimpered in his arms and tried my best to keep myself together.
I didn’t have the strength to pull away, it was Keenan this time. His driver was standing next to us with that black bag and I was embarrassed to no end that the man was just staring at us. We had no doubt given him a sight and I smoothed the bottom of my dress out. I was so mortified, but there was nothing that I could do.
“Why don’t you come back in a while, a few hours maybe?”
The day was beautiful and it was perfect outside, but I didn’t think that we could sit here that long. What else was there to do but walk underneath the cherry blossoms?
“A few hours?”
Keenan grinned. “I thought you liked to just be in the moment.”
“Yeah, but that is a long time with nothing to do.”
“How about you paint?”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I am going to watch you. I could do that for hours.”
If it was possible, I could feel my face getting even redder as we talked. He liked to mess with me if I didn’t know any better and I didn’t find it that bad. I liked that he was being playful, but there was still that fear of being alone with him and what would happen. It wouldn’t be anything I didn’t want, but now I was starting to want things that would make whatever this was between us, absolutely impossible.
***
And he did watch me for long enough that I found it hard to pay attention. He was looking at me as if I was the last woman on the planet and finally I couldn’t focus on what I was doing anymore. I just couldn’t.
“Do you want to paint?”
There was no one around and he had that look on his face again. He shook his head that he did and came towards me. I now wis
hed that I hadn’t offered because I had an idea that his painting and mine were going to be two different things.
He moved behind me and took the brush in my hand, guiding it along a fresh piece of canvas. The strokes of the brush were replicated by the touch of his hands against me. I was lost in that moment and the longer he was behind me, breathing on my neck, the hotter it became.
“What time is your driver going to be back?”
“Who cares?”
I did, but I wasn’t sure why. I knew that I had to keep the conversation going or I was going to be in bigger trouble than I was already in. I was already lost in his touch and there was nothing I could do about it.
“This isn’t really painting Keenan.”
“Then let me paint another canvas. I can show you how talented I really am.”
His words sent shivers through me and before I could answer him one way or another, he was pulling my dress over my hips and then over my head. My tits jiggled without anything inhibiting them and all I had one was a small pair of panties.
“What are you doing?”
“I am painting.”
This was definitely not what I had in mind, but I didn’t want to stop it. I don’t know if I could anyways. I was just shaking next to him, wanting him to touch me so badly. But at the same time scared of what would happen if he did. I knew that there was going to be trouble, I just knew it.
The trouble started when the first paint brush went onto me. I felt the wetness of the paint and how cool it was against my skin. He painted a thin line of color up my arms that quickly resulted in another one, though this way went over one of my tits and made me visibly shake.
“Does that feel good?”
I shook my head that I did, closing my eyes and laying back onto him. There was no way that I ever wanted him to stop. Only when I felt a hand move onto my body, did I even bother opening my eyes. His fingers delved underneath my panties and I jerked in his arms. He shushed me like I was a child. “Just let me make you feel good Gemma. That is my job as your husband.”
I don’t know if it was his job or not, but I certainly wanted it to be. I had never been so turned on in all of my life and as his fingers moved into my panties, I moved my legs open to give him better access. I wish I wouldn’t have done it because now I couldn’t stop the torrent of feelings that he gave me. It was too much and I was left trembling in his arms.
Keenan’s skillful hands were more than I could take. He found the little button of all of my pleasure and pushed and rubbed on it until I was at a loss of words. I knew that I should have told him to stop, there was something building up inside of me that I wanted so desperately and I pushed him along. My body was half-painted and finally he put the brush down. I needed all of his attention.
One hand tweaked at my hanging nipples and squeezed until I made a whimpering sound. He told me that I sounded perfect and that he wanted me to come for him. I didn’t think it would be possible to do anything more than just that. I wasn’t able to control the pleasure that shot through me with each pass of his fingers on my core.
“Please Keenan!” I didn’t know what I was asking for, but I knew that I didn’t want him to ever stop.
“What do you want Gemma?”
He chuckled as I tried to find the words, but it was impossible. Instead his teeth sank into the side of my neck and I cried out as I felt a wave of pleasure go through me. I had never felt so good in all of my life and I knew that what was going on was just what I needed.
My body spasms and before I realized it, Keenan had me underneath his body and I was gasping for something to hold onto. He leaned down to kiss me, his hips pressing me into the soft grass underneath.
“Mr. Gray is on the phone.”
I stopped and so did Keenan. He looked at me like he was about to yell, but instead he just growled. The driver had showed up from nowhere. I was underneath him practically naked. This was not at all how I had seen this playing out in my head.
“Thanks Qing, I will get right on it.”
“Don’t you dare move a muscle.”
He draped his coat over my body, covering me fully and promising me that he would be back in just a minute. It was no use though. The moment was gone and I don’t know if we were going to get it back or not.
Chapter 16
Keenan
I could have killed the driver for popping up like he did. I know this was a different country, but it seemed like everywhere it would have been clear what was going on. I had been so close to finally tasting my wife, but then nothing because Qing popped up. I could have strangled him right there.
The spell I had on her was gone and she realized what we were doing. She had gotten dressed and Gemma was back to her old self. We were in Japan and she wanted to go see some sights that didn’t include groves of cherry trees. I wanted to go back to where we were and finish what we started, but Gemma had other plans and she was in charge far more than I was. I couldn’t tell her no and when she smiled at me, I had a feeling that she knew that fact.
We went to all of the sights that she could think of and none were as breathtaking as Gemma was in her light skirt that flowed in the breeze around her. She had a glow about her and while she took in the view around us, I was content to watch her react to it all. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that she hadn’t done much traveling, but I knew it wasn’t true. Gemma just saw everything with fresh eyes and it wasn’t the first time that I was jealous of her easy ways and wished that I could do the same.
“Are you just going to sit there or are you going to come for a walk with me?”
“Why are we here again?”
“Because this forest is special and I have wanted to see it for some time since I read about it. I just could never get anyone to come with me.”
I just shook my head. I didn’t know why it was so special, but I was sure that she knew. Gemma had some of the most interesting little anecdotes for everything and there was no wonder how she remembered it all. I had a feeling that she knew more about the forest than I ever would. I never worried too much about the sights of the world, but now I was wondering why that was.
“This forest is known as the suicide forest. Or Aokigahara.”
My brow went up. “Huh?”
Gemma shrugged and laughed at the expression on my face. “I am serious. For some reason a bunch of people hang themselves here every year and it has become a thing here in Japan.”
“Why would you know that?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
I could think of many reasons, but I did have to say for a place she had only been once, Gemma knew a lot about the country and we had gone to some peculiar places, though this one topped it. The forest was creepy and the last thing I wanted to do was go in it. But I couldn’t tell her that it was because it had an eerie feel to it. She wouldn’t understand and I didn’t want her to see me as less. Gemma didn’t need to know how superstitious I could be sometimes, even when I knew that there was no reason to worry.
So I followed her to the forest that was notorious for such a strange thing and I had to admit that I was not all that excited about it. The place had a weird vibe to it, but all Gemma could see was beauty and all I could see was her.
“This place is beautiful. I guess they come here because it is so peaceful. This wouldn’t be a bad place to be if this was your last moments on earth.”
A shiver went through me and I was ready to go.
“Let’s get out of here. Aren’t you hungry yet?”
She nodded her head that she was, though Gemma gave me a smile that told me she knew I just wanted to get out of there for other reasons. I would have thanked her for that, but then I would have meant that I had to admit that I didn’t want to be there.
“I could go for some sushi.”
I wasn’t going to make a face, but I wasn’t into raw fish, even here. We were so different and though I could have let it be the reason that we couldn’t be together, I wanted to m
ake it work.
So when we got out of that creepy forest and Qing had everything loaded up in the car from her art supplies, I took her to a place that he recommended. Gemma ordered for both of us and by the end of it I stopped asking what it was that I was eating. Half of it I never wanted to try again, but she had won me over on a few things.
We went and walked the streets for a while on her request. She wanted to get out and be with the people. I wasn’t sure what that meant to her, but to me it was rather pointless. Again my pleasure stemmed from her and there was a moment when she was looking up one street, trying to claim that she wasn’t lost and I just had to kiss her.
I don’t know if it was the way the light was reflecting from her eyes or what it was, but I couldn’t help it. Gemma was timid at first with her response and I almost pulled away, but then she made a sound low in her throat that turned it up a notch. She was so beautifully sexy when she wanted to be. I couldn’t help but be entranced by her charm.
She pulled away and smiled up at me shyly before turning away to look out at the view we now found ourselves looking at. I don’t think I could have planned a better moment.
I’d had all these great ideas of how I was going to impress her, but it had all went away and we had done it all on a whim. It wasn’t something that I was used to, but there was a sense of freedom in it that I hadn’t realized before. I wouldn’t want to do that sort of thing all of the time, but at the end of the day, I really enjoyed myself. However it could have been the girl that made everything more manageable and pleasant.
“You are really quiet today Keenan. Is there something that you want to do? I have just been dragging you around and you haven’t really suggested anything.”
“No, I am fine. You know more about what is here than I do. I have liked spending time with you here.”
