by Redding, Mae
“I will never have a boyfriend,” I had said to Kane. I brushed him off as I took arm wrestling pointers and practiced my skills on him. I knew I could never beat him. I just had fun trying. “What boy wants a girl who can run faster than him and beat him in an arm wrestle?”
Kane just laughed at me. “Good, I don’t want to have to beat anyone up. But I think you will have plenty of boys wanting to go out with you, Jade.” He smiled and shook his head as if he seemed to know something I didn’t.
I looked at Gage as he stood before me and had to wonder. Why did I think that these creatures called boys would never outgrow me, that they would stay boys forever? I had to have known then, that someday, I would see them differently. I found it amusing.
To say the least, Gage got my attention, I definitely noticed him. There would be no way I would be able to beat him in an arm wrestle, I would never even want to try. I for sure would never ask him to wrestle me now. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment just thinking about it. Now I understood why Kane found it so funny. I had no desire to compete against Gage. For him, yes, if I needed to. Against him, no.
“See the steam rising in the meadow down there in the corner?” He asked, as he pointed to the far end of the meadow, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Well, I don’t know why I didn’t notice it before but it’s a natural spring. The water is warm, very warm. Want to go for a swim?” He asked, with a grin.
“Really! … I would love to.”
“Let’s go,” he grinned.
The smell of sulfur lingered mildly in the air as we neared the spring. Besides having a natural supply of hot water from somewhere under the earth, there was a small stream through the meadow. It spilled cool water into it constantly, enough to make it nice and warm but not too hot. There were several springs attached to each other. They were small but there was one about the size of a backyard swimming pool. Kane told me once there was some natural hot springs up here he came to often with friends when he was younger and I could picture him up here.
I sat at the edge of the spring and dropped my legs in the warm water then closed my eyes as a light breeze blew my hair back softly off my face. Completely hidden from the trail behind the trees and the tall blades of grass with sweet smelling wildflowers, it was easy to see how we missed this place.
I glanced over at Gage. “I’m glad you found this...” I started to comment when I became completely dumbfounded. I knew I was in trouble as he stretched to take off his shirt. He hadn’t taken it off in front of me before now and as I watched him, I completely lost my thoughts.
His chest and back muscles, sinewy and well defined like the ones on his arms, and if I thought he looked good in that grey tee shirt, he looked amazing with it off. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from his perfectly molded body, chiseled in all the right places that taunted and tormented me.
I suddenly felt nervous and fumbled on my words as he gave me a perplexed look. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a guy with his shirt off. My brothers’ friends would come over all the time and all of them practically lived bare chested in the summertime. Being around boys and seeing their tanned muscled bodies never had this kind of effect on me. To see Gage now just fueled my feelings that developed for him and turned them into an overwhelming desire that lingered sweetly.
I wondered if he knew how gorgeous he was, capable of sending my heart into an involuntary spasm. I felt defenseless. His smile tormented me. He found my weakness. My stomach flipped. He looked at me as if he saw right through me to my deepest, most intimate thoughts about him. I couldn’t look away.
Gage moved next to me then slipped off the edge of the natural pool into the waist deep water. He swam out further and dove under for a moment. He came back up, beads of water dripped from his body as he shook his hair.
“Come in.”
“Is it deep?”
“Only in the middle and I don’t know how deep it goes. These things can go down for miles. Along the edges, it isn't deep... Can you swim?”
“Of course, I can swim.”
“Oh, sorry, of course you can… Is there anything you can’t do? After yesterday I’m thinking I have Pocahontas here with me,” Gage commented sarcastically as he joked with me. His arms flexed as he posed and I laughed at his interpretation of me with the bow.
I wanted to say I couldn’t talk and stare at him at the same time but decided not to. I looked away, blushing as he waited patiently for my answer. I glanced back as I heard him laugh lightly under his breath at my shyness.
“Um, I don’t know, I’ll have to think about that one.”
I splashed water in his face with my foot as I felt my face flush a crimson red and he quickly grabbed my leg. I shrieked unexpectedly as he pulled me, laughing into the warm water.
I leaned back to wet my hair and closed my eyes. My body floated buoyantly with the waves. I sat up slowly through the resistance of the water and opened my eyes only to see Gage watching me as I ran my fingers through my wet hair.
“Can you swim?” I asked sarcastically, returning his question from earlier. I splashed him with water again.
“I guess I deserved that.”
I smiled at him softly as a trickle of water spilled down my cheek. My eyes I followed him as his overpowering frame moved through the water in front of me. Confident in his demeanor, his eyes held a look of promise and determination. I held my ground, along with my breath as he moved closer and the look in his eyes softened. He grabbed me around my waist and stood with me in the waist deep water. His hands rested in the small of my back with his palms pressed into me. He pulled me closer, nearer to him as the turbulent water swirled around us. It splashed around my waist and made it difficult to hold still which caused him to hold me tighter.
My heart skipped and I realized I held my breath. I anxiously forced myself to breathe as my hands hovered over his contoured chest, nervous to touch him.
“It's okay, I won't bite,” he said with a roguish grin and a husky voice, challenging me to let him take me where he would.
I let my hands rest against the firmness of his chest. My heart flipped and I watched, beside myself, as my fingers grazed lightly over his taut skin and brushed slowly up to his broad muscled shoulders.
Beautiful.
His smile faded slightly, revealing a desire deep inside him.
“I was walking to Marge’s when I heard you and saw Damian. I couldn't get to you fast enough and knew if he got you in that truck… I was afraid I was too late.”
I couldn’t imagine Gage ever being afraid of anything. His beautiful blue eyes held mine in his intoxicating gaze. I felt myself tense and I realized I clutched his shoulders. He squeezed me tighter. My heart pounded and I felt sure he could feel it since his chest was so close to mine.
“I don't want to lose my chance to tell you how I feel about you, again.”
“How is that?” I almost whispered, barely able to breathe.
With his cheek next to mine, he moved closer. I felt the warmth of his breath. Our lips almost touched as I turned into him. “You drive me crazy.”
My chest caved with each breath as he touched me softly. His hands moved up my back and over my shoulders then gently cupped my cheeks with his hands. His fingers tangled through my wet hair as he pulled me to him. My eyes followed his warm moist lips as he pressed them to mine. Butterflies rose in my stomach from the gentle give and pull of his lips.
His lips brushed ever so slightly against my bottom lip as he pulled at it with a delicate bite. “I guess I should say… I won’t bite hard.” He smiled and I smiled nervously back as he spoke while his deep soothing tone drew me in.
My mind whirled. From the heat of the swirling water or from his kiss, I didn’t know, maybe from both. Gage seemed so calm and confident and my body absolutely screamed inside.
“I didn’t want to wait another minute,” Gage said, as I watched the words form on his lips while the feel of him still
tickled mine, “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”
“Why did you wait?”
He didn’t hesitate any longer and his luscious lips found mine again. My lips parted with his, passionate and longing as he deepened the kiss. I let him kiss me, each new delicious kiss, stronger and more powerful than the last. He wrapped his arms around me and ran his hands softly across my back. I felt his warm wet skin as he pressed me into his chest. My body tingled throughout. There wasn’t one inch of me that wasn’t affected by him.
He pulled me with him to the edge of the pool as he sat on a ledge beneath the water. I faced him, straddling his body. With his hands on my hips, he moved me closer. My breath caught as my body stirred inside. I loved the feeling of being so close to him.
“The answer to your question… Why did I wait? You did hit your head hard. I needed to make sure you'd remember.”
“How could I not. I'll never forget…” I said, with my forehead resting gently against his. With our lips inches from each other, a gratifying, blushing grin grew across my cheeks. He touched my cheek. His fingers skimmed the skin under my eye.
“Do I still have a black eye?”
“Yeah… Does it hurt?”
“When I forget it’s there and touch it… Maybe it’s a good thing I can’t see it… I’m embarrassed by how I must look.”
“You're beautiful. Even with a black eye,” Gage said. He kissed my cheek then moved to my eye and kissed it softly.
“No I’m not…”
“Yes you are... I’ve always thought so.”
“Just because you think so, doesn’t mean I am.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“I’m plain…”
“I know what I see. You’re beautiful, Jade,” Gage said, then chuckled under his breath. “You just don’t know it.”
Everything seemed surreal as Gage took me to a new height. A month ago, if someone would have told me I was going to be sitting here with Gage at this moment, and that he held feelings for me, I would have thought they were crazy. But I was here with him, he cared about me, and I knew my feelings for him were real. They were young, but developing all the same. Almost as if those feelings were there all along. I wasn’t sure how deeply he felt for me or where all of this would go, but I liked it so far.
A sudden wave of heat rushed through me. I moved to the side, sat up on the bank and dangled my feet. My thin cotton shirt clung to me. I tried to concentrate on something else, anything besides the heat. I pulled my shirt away from my body and rung out the hot water to no avail.
“Are you okay, you’re looking really pale?”
“I’m dizzy.”
I closed my eyes. I didn’t realize I swayed until Gage grabbed my shoulders and steadied me. I opened my eyes but everything continued to spin. I felt flushed, fuzzy, but cold at the same time and my eyes rolled back as blackness closed in around me. I heard Gage’s voice, faint, distant.
“Jade! Open your eyes... focus on me...”
His muffled tones grew more in tune. I opened my eyes as the dizziness waned. I scooted back onto the nearby blanket under shade of the trees and laid back, my heart pounding. He sat next to me and stroked my forehead. The shade and the breeze cooled me and I slowly felt better.
“Sorry. That was weird. It came on so suddenly.”
“I guess maybe you shouldn’t be in a hot tub for too long after a concussion,” Gage paused concern weaved through his words. “Seems like I’ve heard that somewhere before, now that I think about it... Do you feel okay?”
“I’m getting there.”
The dizziness finally stopped as my body started to tremble. He leaned against a rock and I rested my head against his leg. I closed my eyes as he ran his fingers over my forehead and through my wet hair, bringing out the natural waves.
“Do you want to go back to the cabin?”
“No, I feel okay now. I think I just stayed in too long. I like it here.”
He moved next to me with his body propped up against his elbow and his other arm rested over my belly. I looked up into his eyes, full of worry.
“Gage… Will you do that again?”
“What?”
“Kiss me…”
The worry faded as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He leaned in slowly. His eyes followed mine then ever so softly, gently, our lips met again. They caressed, mingled together, and we embraced each other’s touch. My lips parted and his arms tightened around me. An intense tingling surged through me, unable to control a whimper that escaped me, muffled by his lips. His lips learned every inch of mine with ardent intent, and then as if something ripped us apart, he pulled away. With him inches from me, I saw his eyes heated and his breaths jagged.
He pressed his forehead against mine and his eyes closed softly as he released a sigh. He moved slowly to his back and pulled me into his arms. My head rested on his shoulder as I placed my hand over his bare chest, the very cause of my earlier undoing. We lay there still, words unsaid. Both of us knew how dangerous this could be, us alone, together with no one to sensor. My feelings were so new, so raw, so strong, raging inside me like nothing I had felt before and it scared me, yet I felt safe with him and knew I could trust him.
Slowly, the burn inside me waned and I felt myself drift in and out, as the tenseness in my body softened and I relaxed. The peacefulness of our surroundings grew more apparent with the song of the birds, the flutter of butterflies and the light breeze that cooled our skin as we lay in the shade of the trees.
The sun moved gradually, just in time as I started to feel cold and I appreciated its warmth as we talked the afternoon away. Eventually, the lazy afternoon sun drifted further into the horizon. The chill in the air returned and we walked back to the cabin.
His fingers entwined in mine. He skimmed his fingernail softly, back and forth along the palm of my hand. I gasped, an electric sensation coursed through my body. My skin prickled with goose bumps caused by his touch. My eyes flicked up to his, warm and inviting with a heated desire written in deep blue. Without a word spoken, I understood what his gesture meant. I rubbed my finger along the smooth skin of his palm. I felt the same way.
Later that night, I sat with him outside by the fire and reflected on the day, a beautiful day, and to spend it with Gage made it even more so and to be here now by the fire made for a beautiful night. The night air was calm. The clouds lifted and stars shone vibrant, brightly in the fresh clean air with their fascinating luster, like millions of little diamonds tossed into the nights’ sky.
The fire danced and cast long dark shadows in the dense pine trees, nothing but inky blackness behind them. The hoot of an owl called out as crickets sang in the distance.
He caught me as I looked at him through the flickering light of the fire. As he held my gaze, he walked over and sat next to me. My breaths increased as my heart pounded in my chest. An ever so slight tingling moved over me, increasing as the hairs of my arms stood on end at the thrill of what my heart told me.
“I had a good time today,” I said.
“Me too.”
Tired from the day, worn out really, I felt I could fall asleep right then. I leaned into him and rested my head against his chest as he tightened his arms around me in the crisp mountain air. I curled up, huddled closer to him and enjoyed his warmth in the light of the fire.
***
I woke during the night to the sound of rain, soft at first but soon the large drops came rapidly, pelting against the window and I wondered if the old glass would shatter. The breeze turned into gusts of wind that whistled through the cracks of the cabin. A bright light flashed and illuminated the sky and revealed the dark silhouette of the whirling trees as the thunder crashed overhead immediately after.
Violent thunderstorms in the middle of the night fascinated and terrified me at the same time and an uneasy feeling settled in like Jack the Ripper would crash through the door at any second. That was if he wasn’t already lurking in the black corner or under t
he bed. I looked over at Gage and cuddled closer. Still asleep. How could he possibly sleep through the rain?
The dampness in the air chilled me to the bone. An orange ember glowed in the fireplace with barely a flicker. Shivering, I quietly climbed over him and set my feet down in spite of my childish fear of what hid under the bed.
The cold, wooden floor creaked under my bare feet as I tiptoed to the wood box. I moved slowly, hinges squeaked as I opened the door of the stove and winced at the noise it made. I stirred the embers and put a few logs on. It didn’t take too long before the wood was hot enough and caught a small flame. It grew and I stared into the brightness for a minute and absorbed the warmth.
“I could have done that,” he said sleepily.
I looked over at him. My eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness and I watched him as he turned onto his side and looked at me through sleepy eyes.
“I know. So could I. You were asleep… Scoot over.”
He pulled open the blanket. I prayed the bed didn't collapse as I jumped across the floor onto it and slid down into the blanket next to his warm body in one quick move as the old springs of the bed squeaked loudly. He looked at me watchfully and laughed.
It didn’t take long for the fire to warm the cold cabin a few degrees. I cuddled up to him to stop my shivers. His arm tightened around my waist and he pulled me close. He kissed my head softly. I looked up at him.
“I’ve always wanted to kiss you during a thunderstorm,” he confessed with a roguish smile as he leaned over me.
“Always?” I asked, as I teased him, not yet letting him.
“As long as I’ve known I wanted you to be mine,” he groaned with torment and his lips moved inches from mine as he gave a low, husky laugh.
“Really?” I whispered, breathless. I tempted him more as my glance moved between his lips and his eyes, letting him know his yearning matched mine.
