by Cyndi Raye
He slowed the car down on the tree lined road where small mountains loomed in the background. The moon sat amongst a thousand tiny stars that lit up the long winding road into the Pocono mountain sky. He steered the car to the side of the road and down shifted, his face serious. The engine idled as his fingers felt around the steering column for the four-way blinkers.
Maggie stared at the glow of lights blinking back and forth, lighting up the dark road. She couldn’t look at him because she worried he was about to tell her everything she planned was for nothing, that he couldn’t go through with this. Why did she feel so foolish? She began to pull at her bottom lip with her teeth, wondering why she couldn’t relax and enjoy their road trip like she planned from the beginning.
“Baby look at me,” Jake ordered. He reached over and cupped her cheeks in both hands. “I can hear in your voice how fearful you are that I won’t like what you’ve done. Don’t worry. I’m here baby, right now. Even though I care about my company, it’s part of my world, but I’m over a thousand miles away. I’ve hired great, competent people and I trust them to run things while I’m gone. I’m yours for ten days and I never go back on my promises.”
Maggie let a tear of relief slide down her cheek. He brushed it away with his finger. “I’m so glad. I worry you don’t want to be here doing this, that you want to be back in the Keys running your empire.” She didn’t tell him how scared she was he would become bored with her.
“My empire, huh.” Jake nuzzled her neck and leaned his forehead on hers. “You are part of my empire, my queen, and I want to be here with you. Are you going to relax and stop worrying about me? I can’t wait to see what else that scheming little mind of yours comes up with.”
“Put this car in motion because I’m going to show you the best time of your life, Mr. Hatfield.”
He looked over at her, his intense, dark eyes staring in to her own. “Promise me one thing baby,” he said, his voice serious.
“What?”
He latched on to the gear shift and stepped on the clutch, skidding the white wall tires as the car pulled away from the side of the road. “You won’t die your hair pink?”
Maggie laughed out loud. She shrugged. She was starting to like the color pink.
<><>
By the time they pulled up to the door of their suite, Jake was unsure of what he was in for next. The big sign upon entering the resort said Land of Love in giant, bold letters, like something from another time period.
He wanted to check the messages on his phone, even though he promised Maggie he would forget about business for the next ten days. Maybe he could sneak off to the bathroom and make a few calls to assure everything ran smooth down home. He shook himself. Jake was a man of his word. He pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and turned it off. With a sigh he reached across Maggie’s lap and flipped open the door of the glove compartment. He almost pulled back, but then let the phone drop inside. He slammed the door closed and let out his breath.
“Jake, you don’t have to do that, what if someone needs you?” Maggie whispered.
“You need me more,” he told her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his mouth. He was pretty pleased with himself. So far he was making the right moves, making sure she knew he cared about her. His only problem was he knew she wanted marriage. He didn’t know when he could offer it, or if he ever could.
Jake helped Maggie out of the pink car and in one swoop, he lifted her in his arms, luggage and all and walked her to the door. With a flip of his wrist, he slid the key card through the slot and pushed open the door. He walked her over the threshold while kissing her in one smooth move. The two lingered for a moment right inside the door as their kiss deepened.
“Jake, put me down. You’ll hurt your back,” she whispered, then moaned in his mouth when his tongue danced with hers. Jake dropped the luggage but held on to Maggie, wrapping his arms tighter around her.
“It’s too late to put you down. The sign says Land of Love and that’s what is going to happen, right here, right now.” He shut her up when he deepened the kiss. Jake closed his eyes and took in her sweet scent. It must be the setting, the dam signs warning of love because the build up of waiting for this moment was about to burst. He wanted her like never before.
“The door is hanging wide open,” she muttered.
Jake grunted, walked over and kicked it shut, Maggie still in his arms. He felt like a Neanderthal, wasn’t that what she called him before? He searched the room to find rose pedals scattered over a red carpet and up steps that led to another level. Jake followed them and came to a room with floor to ceiling glass windows where you could see the flickering fireplace below. Someone set up the room ahead of time. He gazed at Maggie, the soft classical music playing in the background from a Bose stereo. “This is perfect, baby.”
“Don’t say a word, show me,” she begged. It was all he needed. He placed her on the round bed and leaned over, dropping soft kisses over her skin. He lifted the fabric of her pale sweater and she held up her arms as he slid it off. They made love many times before, but this was so different. It was sexy and lustful and filled with hidden desires from every corner of the room. It was as if the atmosphere became magical.
Jake needed her. Every single inch of his skin was on fire for her. The desperate need to feel her in his arms overwhelmed his senses. He dropped to his knees beside the circular bed and lifted her hips while he slid her jeans off, dropping kisses along every inch of her skin, from her thighs to her toes. The moment he slid back up on the bed beside her, his fingers slid across her skin as if they had a mind of their own. He heard her suck in a deep breath as his touch lingered over the material of her bra, then slid his hand down to her panties. Jake lifted himself on his elbow and gazed down at her. “You are beautiful.”
Maggie touched his mouth, then slid long slender fingers across his skin and down his neck towards his chest. Jake sucked in a deep breath when she pulled the hem of his shirt up and he helped her slip it over his head. He leaned down for a kiss, skin against skin, desire for her so deep he wanted to take her now but knew he had to go slow.
He always tried to be a gentleman when they made love but today all he wanted was to bury himself inside of her. “Baby, I want you right now, I can’t take much more.”
“Then do it, Jake. Take me right now. I want you right this minute.”
With a moan Jake stood, ripped off his jeans and pulled her to the edge of the bed. She helped him as he tore off her panties, the desperate look in her eyes driving him forward. They came together hard and fast and he stood over her gripping onto her hips, pumping into her as she cried out. She screamed out his name one last time the moment he let loose. A moment later she shattered, her mouth open and her eyes rolling back and forth.
Jake’s knees weakened. He pulled out of her and lay down beside her on his back, his chest heaving. “That was incredible.” It was the only words he could get out. She took his hand and squeezed, her heavy breaths almost as deep as his own.
After a few moments Maggie leaned on him and gazed into his eyes. “I must say, Mr. Hatfield, you are an animal. I wasn’t expecting to make love quite like that with you.” Her eyes lit up when she smiled. Jake kissed her, a deep heartfelt, gentle kiss.
“I didn’t know you like it that way, Maggie.” Jake admitted. “I try to be a gentleman when we make love.”
She nuzzled his neck. “I like both.”
“Then perhaps you need to whisk me away to places like this more often.”
“Want to take a champagne bath?”
Jake chuckled. “I’m guessing that oversized champagne glass in the middle of the floor is where we are headed to next?”
“This is a small taste of our illicit weekend of romance, love.” Maggie giggled and shot up from the bed before he could get his hands on her. He lifted himself on his elbows and watched as she started the water in the tub and poured bubbles in. She gazed over at him an
d rolled her tongue across her lips then realized she put in too many bubbles. They began to foam and bubbles floated in the air.
Jake went to rescue his damsel in distress, laughing the whole time. They wound up in the glass tub, the water sloshing over the edges and landing on the floor below. Beside the tub was a metal bucket with ice and a glass of champagne waiting on them. The two glasses were soapy and sloshed with bathwater. He reached out and grabbed it from the bucket, popped it open and drank straight from the bottle. Maggie giggled and pulled the bottle away from him.
She took a deep swig, letting the champagne trickle from her mouth. Jake leaned over and licked it off of her. She took the bottle and placed her thumb over the top, shook it up and let it fly, causing it to pop off and shoot air and champagne all over them. They laughed and laughed until the bottle emptied and Jake began a serious festival of licking her all over. The water became cold and by the time they left the champagne glass tub there were no more bubbles anywhere.
“I feel like a prune,” Maggie told him, grabbing a towel on a shelf close by. Jake began to towel her off, his hands gentle over her shoulders and back and the rest of her. He loved the feel of her, he wished he could get down on his knee and propose to her right now.
He shook his head and took in a deep breath. What stopped him from proposing to the girl of his dreams? He ran a hand through his wet hair. Was he insane? He wanted to but the words wouldn’t come out.
Maggie deserved to have a man who didn’t sputter and cringe at the thought of being tied down. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starving,” she answered, then turned and reached up to cup his face in her hands. “I’m always hungry for you, love. It’s pretty late, do you think we can still order some food?”
“If not, I’ll pay to open the kitchen. If my baby is hungry, I’ll find you food.” He went to reach in his jean pocket for his phone to realize it wasn’t there. After looking all over the room, a phone sat by the bed with a list of instructions and phone numbers.
Maggie jumped on to the bed and began to bounce up and down while he tried to talk. She slapped her hand over her mouth so the recipient on the other end of the phone couldn’t hear her giggles when he reached out and grabbed her leg. After a bit of a struggle, he caught a leg and she tumbled towards him. He hung up just as she landed on top of lean, hard muscles.
He held her hands behind her back. “What kind of punishment does the troublemaker deserve?” he teased. Maggie looked up at him with her eyes shining bright, the love in them so open and honest he felt something tug at his heart. He opened his mouth to ask her to become his wife and then a fear so clear blasted him in the face he clamped his mouth shut.
What just happened? he asked himself. He almost proposed and then the door closed. It was as if there was a window of opportunity and then, bam, right in his face. Why couldn’t he bring himself to do the one thing he knew was what they both wanted? He knew he never wanted to live without her and yet something stopped him every single time. How long would she wait for him to make up his mind?
“Were you going to say something?” Maggie asked, her face serious, her eyes boring into his.
“I was going to ask you, uh, for another kiss,” Jake told her. He leaned in, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t see the disappointed look on her face. He’d soon have to talk about this with her, the fear he held deep because he wouldn’t let it go on much longer. Jake didn’t want to lose her because he couldn’t make a commitment like she wanted.
He heard her sigh and then she began to run her fingers across his muscles, down his stomach and he forgot all about feeling anything but what she was doing to him at the moment. Jake only wanted to think about right now and his lover in this land of paradise she brought him to. The rest would come in due time.
Chapter 4
Maggie sat on the low couch near the fire, it’s soothing flames flickering as she sipped on another glass of wine. Jake was in the shower, while Maggie lingered below, happy things turned out so well. After a night of making both wild and sweet love, they were ready to venture out and see what kind of night life there was in the land of love.
Her gaze spilled over to some papers on the end table beside the couch. Love letters, she read. Write something to your love and leave it here, we’ll post it on our website with hundreds of others. Maggie grabbed a piece of the cream colored stationary with red hearts scattered on it and began to write.
She concentrated so hard on the perfect words to say, Maggie yelped when warm breath lingered on her neck. She jumped. “Jake, you scared me!”
“What are you writing?”
“A love letter to you,” she teased, folding the letter and slipping it into the box on the table. “You’ll have to wait and see what I wrote after we leave. I forgot my phone, I’ll be right back.” She reached up and gave him a kiss, then went to find her cell on the next level.
When she glanced down from the upper level through the large glass windows, she saw Jake staring at the love notes on the end table. He squatted down, picked up a pen and scribbled. Then he crushed the paper in his fist and bounced it off the rim of the trash can. He stood up and thrust his hands in his pocket. He turned and as she stood there in shock, the door slammed shut behind him.
A pang of fear hit Maggie. What caused him to become so angry? She hurried to find her phone and then ran back down the red carpeted steps, the rose pedals smashed into the carpet from walking over them. She bent down and retrieved the crushed love note and in slow motion, flattened the balled up paper.
Maggie slapped a hand over her mouth. In clear letters were the words she longed to hear. “Will you marry me, I love you. Jake.” She heard the rev of the engine through the closed door and folded the wrinkled paper, then tucked it behind the phone inside of her cell case. He may not be able to ask her, but he would, sooner or later. Why did he have such a hard time with the words?
Maggie walked out of the room to her love, knowing it wouldn’t be long before he broke down and said the words she ached to hear. He was so close.
<><>
After a few games of pool to which Maggie lost twice and won once, the two strolled upstairs to the Lookout Lounge and sipped on more cocktails. The mountains were at their peak this time of year, late fall, where the colors of the leaves rocked the countryside in so many shades. The waters of the lake below glistened in the dim evening light. “I see a speedboat out there I’m dying to take out for a ride,” Jake mentioned.
“That sounds fun, but I also see some horses across the way. How about being my cowboy for a day and taking me on a ride into the wild?”
He nuzzled her cheek, standing by the window, looking out from the lounge. “Anything you want,” Jake teased. “But I thought I already did that wild thing.”
She giggled then turned to him, all at once serious. “All I ever want is for you to be happy with me. I don’t care where we are or what we do. I need to know I am the only one.” She held the cellphone in her hand, her fingers clutched around it with the secret letter was inside. She felt a tinge of guilt for taking it out of the trash but she wanted something to cherish and hold close.
When it came down to the truth, she knew in her heart if he never asked her to marry him, she would love him anyway, because Jake Hatfield was the only man who had her heart. She wanted marriage to complete them but if he couldn’t do it then she wasn’t going to manipulate and try to get him to propose. She had his words on a piece of paper that she would never let go.
“Maggie,” Jake began. “You’re all I ever want.” He kissed her so tender a tear slid down Maggie’s cheek. He reached up and wiped it away. “No more tears, no more worry. Let’s have some fun.”
So they did. Maggie convinced Jake to take a Sound Healing Meditation class. They were both sitting on the floor of the large, open aired room, in a semi-circle with other couples in the group. After demanding they close their eyes and listen, the sounds of crystal began to reverberate through the air.
“What is that noise?” Jake grumbled.
“It’s the sound of crystal bowls. They are singing,” Maggie whispered. “Don’t talk so loud.” She tried to relax her body as the beautiful crystal sounds filled the air.
She felt Jake’s warm breath against her cheek. He whispered in her ear. “I can’t do this, it’s stupid.”
Maggie sighed and opened her eyes. “Oh Jake, don’t you want your Chakras balanced for peace and serenity?”
He kissed her on the mouth. “No, I want an ice cold beer. Enjoy. I’ll see you at the bar I’m looking at right now through those big windows right there. That’s my Chakra calling!” He pointed towards the outside bar and grill.
Maggie held back a laugh when the trainer sighed as Jake made pointed noises and walked out the door. She closed her eyes and tried to get back into the healing powers of the sounds of the crystal bowls. Thoughts of their night together kept invading her mind during the forty-five minute session. When it was over she went looking for her love. He sat on a barstool at the Cupids Corner Bar. She slid beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
