by Milly Taiden
“As you wish.” Dan grinned in that irresistible way that made me want to get lost in his lips, and for his lips to get lost on my body.
I left the room feeling more confused than before. Why couldn’t I think of my ex-husband as an ex? Why couldn’t I hate him the way I had that day over two years ago when the news of his infidelity hit me? He’d crushed me, yet I’d been able to stand back up and put myself together. But he’d changed since then. I’d seen it myself. Dan devoted more time to our kids and appeared kinder than when we were married.
But if there was one thing I knew, it was that you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks. And though Dan was no puppy, he sure was acting like he belonged in a circus.
CHAPTER 4
The morning sun shone through the window. I could barely open my eyes as the kids kissed me goodbye at seven in the morning, and Dan managed to plant a wet one on my lips. The sneaky kiss aggravated me. The musk of his cologne lingered on my cheek from the deliberate pull of his freshly shaved skin on mine. It was as if he’d left his scent on me on purpose, like a dog. He’d be happy if I was thinking about him on my date with someone else. I quickly jumped into the shower to get rid of his manly scent.
By eight I rushed downstairs to grab a quick bite. A finely set breakfast waited for me on the kitchen counter, and a vase full of roses from our garden was propped in the middle. I pressed my lips together, forcing the emerging smile back. Dan had never done anything without wanting something in return, and I was beginning to wonder what it was exactly that he was expecting. A click on the pre-programmed coffee machine sounded. It appeared my ex-husband had flawlessly timed my morning, and he wasn’t even there.
“What time did you get up at to do this?” I said to myself.
An odd sensation of being loved and cared for passed through me. Dan had never been the one to cook breakfast for the family on the weekend or do the dishes without being asked. And now the kitchen was cleaned without a trace of the kids having eaten breakfast, which I knew they had by the missing eggs in the fridge. It was as if I was living in someone else’s house.
With ten minutes to spare, I sat in the living room. My back might as well have been prodded with a metal rod because my spine felt just as stiff. Bopping my knees, I gripped the cushions on the couch. Hot and cold sweats flew from my head to my toes. If this continued I’d have to take another shower. And I didn’t want to change. I’d spent enough time last night thinking about what I’d wear today. The white tank top with a crocheted olive camisole was comfortable and trendy, at least in my eyes. This morning, first-date nerves rolled through my entire body. I wiped off my clammy hands on my shorts, shaking them out when the doorbell rang.
Nearly tripping over my feet, I ran to the front, stopped, took in a deep breath, and opened the door.
And there he was. At six foot two, Adrian couldn’t have looked hotter. He wore a plain golf shirt and khaki shorts, so different from the Metallica and Sex Pistols t-shirts I’d been used to seeing him in when we’d dated. His freshly washed hair, fluffy in the breeze, smelled of apples and mint. My eyes drew lower to the single daisy he held in his hand.
Wow! Just wow!
Of course Adrian had remembered that daisies had always been my favorite flower. When the full smell of him hit me, my limbs turned into jelly. And I wasn’t sure whether it was his cologne or soap or breath mints that combined into his scent, but I wanted to bottle it up and save it for myself forever.
How long had we been standing here just staring at each other? Or was it just me thinking time had slowed down?
“Hi,” I finally said, feeling my insides do flip flops right under my shirt.
“Good morning.” Adrian handed me the daisy and leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek. His lips left a hot mark on my skin, nearly lighting it on fire and searing through my entire body. And in that moment I was no longer a mother but without a doubt a single woman ready to jump in feet first.
“All ready?” he asked.
I grabbed my purse and locked the door. He took my hand, interlacing our fingers as if it were a normal thing for us to do, and led me to his car. Holding his hand like that was the next best thing to kissing him. As the thought of his lush lips on mine crossed my mind, my body flushed with another wave of heat. It had only been a few minutes and I was ready to combust on the spot. How in the world could I go through the day feeling so high on him? Adrian was much better than that first sip of my morning coffee, and I was sure the taste of him exceeded the best Italian latte.
Stop it! I thought.
“Good morning, Mia!” My next-door neighbor sat on her porch the same way she did each morning, petting Snowflake, her black Persian cat. The old lady, who had outlived everyone in her family, had the most awesome sense of humor.
“Good morning, Mrs. Mayfield.” I waved.
“Who you got under your arm there?” she asked.
“This is a friend of mine, Adrian.”
“Looks like a fine young man. You treat her right, Adrian.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He waved and I swore she blushed. Mrs. Mayfield was loved by all the neighbors. On Thanksgiving, she baked pumpkin pies for everyone on our street, and then there were the gingerbread cookies for Christmas you could die for.
“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?” I asked.
“You never liked surprises, did you?” He opened the passenger door to his Jeep. This gentleman thing he kept doing was new to me, and I really, really loved it. After so many years with Dan who chose to forget about those things, I was beginning to feel like I’d stepped into some kind of a fairy tale.
Would Adrian forget them one day too? Feeling the sudden pressure of an unknown future, I shook the thought off and promised myself to enjoy the day for what it was—a simple date.
“I do like them. I’m just a bit impatient.”
“So am I, but some things are worth waiting for.” His gaze penetrated me to the core, and that one simple statement said so much.
Wiping my hands on my shorts again, I buckled my seatbelt and felt a new surge of nerves pulse through me.
“Are you all right?” Adrian reached for my hand and uncoiled my fingers. “You were gripping your seatbelt last night too. Are you having second thoughts about this?”
“No, it’s just that I hate driving. And this is a new car…” The smell of the upholstery and its interior reminded me of that dreadful day.
“I’m a pretty good driver, T.”
“I know. I was in a car accident fourteen years ago. My father picked up our new car earlier that day, and we were driving to my mom’s work from a night shift to show it off when a drunk driver hit us.”
“Ah, T. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right. I think my father swerved to the right last minute to take the impact on his side. It saved my life… but took his. Since then, driving anywhere isn’t on my list of favorite things to do.”
Adrian frowned for a moment. “Should I pick you up on a motorcycle next time?”
As exciting as it sounded, I wasn’t sure whether I was ready for something like that—or maybe it was just the kind of more adventurous side I’d never thought to explore.
“No.” I laughed. “It will pass in a few moments. I’m just being stupid about it.”
“You’re being very normal about it. If it helps, we’re not going far. Ten minutes tops.”
“Yeah, it does help.”
“Let’s go then.” Adrian turned on the ignition, and the hybrid hummed under his touch.
We drove north in silence. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk, but I had always preferred driving like this. It made concentrating on the road ahead easier. It felt safer. Dan, on the other hand, would blast music until the neighbors in the next province could hear it. Adrian seemed to respect the silent drive as much as I did.
Since I lived on the outskirts of town, the farmhouses appeared within minutes. Yellow fields of wheat and the first bundles of rolled hay
decorated the landscape. I lowered down the window at the same time Adrian turned off the air conditioning. A fresh breath of country air filled me. The smells and scenery reminded me of when I was young, visiting my aunt, playing hide-and-seek with my cousins in the fields of corn, Adrian chasing me between the stalks. Even the slight hint of manure didn’t bother me, not then and not now. It had always been my dream to live out in the country.
Unexpected vibrations underneath my seat startled me. I grasped the sides of the seat as my gaze flew to Adrian. He held onto the steering wheel, struggling to control the car’s momentum, easing his foot off the gas and slowing down.
“It’s all right, T. We’re fine. I think I may have a flat tire.” Adrian pulled over to the side road and walked to the front of the car.
“Shit!” I saw him run his hand through his hair and pull on his chin. He sure was acting like it was much more than a flat, and so I stepped out as he just stood there.
“It’s a flat tire,” I confirmed.
“I know.”
“So, let’s change it.”
He lowered his hands to his hips, looked from the front of the car to me, and then back to the car again, uncertainty guiding his every move.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never changed a tire before.”
“I haven’t. Matt has.”
“Your son.”
Adrian shrugged. “He loved these things.”
“Well, then, lucky for us, I have,” I said moving toward the trunk, “My father would change his for winter ones every December, then go back to the regular ones in the spring. I loved watching him work in the garage.” The memory of my dad brought a warm feeling to my chest. “But I’ll need your muscle to help.”
“Hey, you can use me any way you want, T.”
I looked back over my shoulder, at first uncertain how to reply, but I finally winked saying, “I’ll remember that.”
With my guidance, for the first time in his life, Adrian changed a flat tire. The pride once he’d finished was something close to walking up on stage at your graduation. How could a man as successful as Adrian have gone through life without even changing one tire? Matt couldn’t have always helped. What about before, then? Did he never find the need? I found learning about the Adrian standing in front of me, as compared to how I’d imagined him, fascinating.
Half an hour later we turned onto a side road, and after a few miles, down a lane leading to a two-story farmhouse with a picket fence. A porch wrapped around the front and to one side. The windows were open at their full width, and white curtains blew out from inside the house. The three dormer windows in the attic on the rooftop held potted plants. Rose bushes were scattered in no particular pattern on the front lawn, their colorful blooms climbing toward the sky.
Adrian parked the car on the freshly mowed grass under a lonely apple tree at the front. The fruits were ripened and red, their sweet scent permeating the air. Adrian opened my door and reached for me to join him. I stepped out of the car. The need to remove my shoes and feel the fresh cut green strands tickled my feet.
High-pitched barking from inside the house stopped me in one spot. And when the small Chihuahua jumped out of the window, I hopped on the hood of the Jeep like a professional acrobat and stood there on my toes.
I wasn’t afraid of dogs, but one had bitten me when Adrian had brought me to his house for the first time when we’d dated. And this little one was identical. Did dogs live this long?
“Get him away!”
“T, it’s not the same dog,” he laughed. “Rocky, c’mere.”
“You gave him the same name?”
“Yes, but I promise this one’s friendly.”
“That’s what you said last time.”
“Last time I was a stupid boy who wanted to impress a girl. Please, trust me.” He extended his hand toward me.
Rocky barked, running around the car and Adrian. I waited until he swallowed the foam collecting at the side of his mouth before I moved. The little pitbull-wannabe showed his teeth, and it wouldn’t have surprised me if he could tear up a calf.
“If he bites me, I will not be responsible for wringing his neck,” I warned, but Rocky kept his ground with the threatening barks and fang-like teeth. Okay, they weren’t really fangs, but I was convinced he could do just as much damage as a wolf—if not more.
As soon as I stepped off the car, I collided with Adrian’s hard body and the rest of the world ceased to exist, including the Chihuahua. Even if I wanted to escape, there was no way out of his arms. His strong hold pressed me against his stone chest. The thin fabric separating us might as well have not existed. We’d come a long way – from continents apart – to only a removable sheet of material between us. Our hearts pounded into each other. Adrian’s sweet tic-tac breath and that stimulating scent I wanted to bottle up filled me.
I tilted my head, looking up into his deep green eyes. His head blocked the sun behind him, and the light shone around his silhouette, shading my face at the same time. His parted lips were so close. It was just us, the same way we were twenty years ago, mesmerized by each other. As if no time had passed and we hadn’t missed a day apart. I swore I’d just traveled back in time, to under that apple tree in my aunt’s orchard, waiting for that first kiss from my first boyfriend and my first love.
Except this time, my body wanted more than a kiss. It needed him much deeper and rougher than it had so long ago. Right now, no parent or relative could stop us from being together. I breathed him in, holding onto his arms with my hands, drawing them over his taut chest up to his neck. Adrian’s full hands supported me, his fingers more urgently tracing my spine upward, insistently pressing in.
“I want to kiss you,” Adrian said. “Really, badly want to kiss you.” His mouth hovered above mine, the vibrating words tickling my skin and hot breath swiping my lips.
“Okay.”
“But Rocky is humping my leg.” He lowered his gaze to the dog gripping him below.
I chuckled, and the world came back into focus as Adrian gently let me go. He crouched down and Rocky jumped up on his lap, like the pup was the only one who could have him.
“You just wait until a lady visits you,” he scolded the Chihuahua. “I’ll fasten a chastity belt on her and we’ll see who’s the boss.”
But Rocky just jumped up and licked his face playfully.
“I think he’s into guys,” I laughed.
“No, he’ll just hump anything.” Adrian stood back up, setting the dog down.
“Men.” I shook my head as Rocky begun assaulting one of his chew toys. “They want to mark everything as theirs.”
“I wish that were true.” Adrian took my hand. The intention of his words sprinkled through me with warmth. Every nerve inside me responded to his touch, and my heart went off its regular pattern again.
“Wait, do you live here?” I asked. So far I’d assumed Adrian was staying at a hotel.
“Yes. The property belongs to a friend of mine. I’m taking care of it while he’s tending to his sick parents in the US. Come.” He led me toward the house.
I hadn’t been aware Adrian knew anyone around these areas. In fact, I had always selfishly assumed I was the only one he knew in Canada.
“We’re spending most of the day outside, and I need to use the bathroom. Unless you want to pee in the bushes, I suggest you do too.”
“It’s never stopped you before.” I chuckled. Teenage boys on the farm seemed to pee in every nook and corner, as if they were marking their territory like Rocky.
“I’m not the boy you remember, T. And if you wanna see me with my pants down, all you have to do is ask.” He winked with a lopsided grin.
And there it was: that dangerous and exciting look in his eyes, full of the promises and adventures I longed for. If Adrian had changed, it wasn’t that much. That part of him that had excited me and made me fall in love remained.
On our way inside, I noted the field of yellow wheat to the side and I froze. The swa
ying stalks took me back twenty years again. In the middle of the field, we’d lain there on a blanket looking up into the night sky. Our arms and hands were the only parts of our bodies touching – at least until we worked up the nerve to make the first move. Lightning bugs twinkled in the sky, and we finally turned our heads inward. The make-out session lasted hours. His hands explored my body and mine his until we were both naked, for the first time connecting in every way a man and a woman could.
Chills flew through me and I shivered. It definitely didn’t feel like it’s been twenty years since we’d made love for the first time.
“You remember,” Adrian whispered. His husky voice was thick with lust as he stood behind me. I leaned back against his tall frame. His tanned arms wrapped around me. I held onto them, gripping tighter as the memory revived itself in my mind, swelling my breasts and tingling with anticipation between my legs. The feeling of him inside me so many years ago was still fresh. A yearning for this man surged through my veins.
“Of course I do,” I replied and without thinking slid my cheek along his bare arm and kissed it. “It was one of the most amazing days of my life.”
“Me too.”
“Even if we didn’t know what we were doing.” I added. We hadn’t cared about the night-crawlers, bugs, or the three dozen mosquito bites I’d counted on my arms, legs, and ass the next day. All I remembered was happiness and the fear that everyone could read what had happened between us the night before. But no one had. It was just me, him, and millions of stars in the sky.
He squeezed me tighter. “I’m sure we’ve learned a thing or two since then.” Adrian’s voice was raspy. He breathed heavily against my cheek, the tempo of his chest moving me back and forth.
“I’m sure we have.” I snuggled deeper against his chest. Adrian’s excitement poked my lower back, but he seemed so at ease having me in his arms, it felt perfect. He was still the same man who wasn’t ashamed of what he felt around me.
“Wanna share your secrets?” His mouth brushed my ear and I closed my eyes. The warm breath whispered down my neck and chest. I’d forgotten how sensitive that part of my body was.
