by Luna Maye
He ate her ravenously, whispering sweet encouraging words as he went, hoping they would absorb into her heart and mind — that she would know what a treasure she was to him. Mina’s head tipped back in ecstasy was the final moment in his memory as he felt her wetness flood his mouth and he was shaken from the dream.
Victor woke to a pillow mounting his face, a very sticky pair of boxers and the chuffing of a hungry, disgruntled pooch waiting for him in the kitchen. He groaned a little, stretching his body and shoving the pillow off of him before he shuffled outside to the shower. He soaped his body up only to find himself hard and aching all over again, the memory of Mina’s sweet requests and unbridled passion working him up into a lather. If real life was any match for his fantasies — and he was sure it would be — he would have a hard time holding back tonight the way he planned. He leaned one hand against the tiled wall, the other squeezing the base of his hard cock as he willed himself to calm down long enough to go about his day. He groaned, the reminder that most of his plans for the day were preparations for his first date with Mina tonight causing him to give up. He tightly gripped his shaft, pumping to the same rhythm Mina’s hips had taken as she rode his face in the dream, and he was coming again in seconds. Groaning her name as he leaned against the wall, spent. He finished soaping himself up and rinsing off before he grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist as he headed inside.
“Good boy, Andy,” he murmured as he made his way into the kitchen. The patient pup was sitting at attention in front of his food bowl, waiting for his meal that was coming about 30 minutes later than normal. Victor poured a little milk on top of his dry food too help make up for the lost time, and he settled down with a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee for himself.
One of the guides from the lodge was coming out today to talk about being his on-call secondary pilot for when he started up skydiving lessons. Cal had flown a bush plane some in his youth and kept up his pilot’s license in case he ever needed it in a pinch. The guides were busy at the lodge in spring and summer, but he could definitely use some help in the fall.
Once he was finished with breakfast Victor made his way out to the hangar, anxious to get started on his chores for a workday he was sure would feel like a work month until he could see Mina again.
He spent most of the morning doing routine maintenance on the planes, while Mattie came over to help more with the ramshackle runway. When a large jeep barreled down the gravel road, he came out to meet Cal for their interview and was pleasantly surprised. The other man was a little older than his own 35 years, around 40 with wavy sun streaked hair and a thick beard. He was a better pilot than he let on, meeting all his marks during their pre-flight inspection and test flight. He was calm, competent and kind in all of their dealings, something Victor was more aware of than ever since the Honeys would probably be his first skydiving guinea pigs. He wanted them to feel safe and comfortable.
Once they landed back at the airstrip he promptly offered him the job and Cal accepted. He took him around to show him the rest of the property, stopping to introduce him to Mattie and the three of them ended up stopping by Tia Rita’s for lunch as he and Mattie had been prone to do. By the time Victor made it back to his place, it was late afternoon and he still had quite a few things to get ready if he was going to give Mina the full first date experience he promised. Leaving the bundle of blankets he borrowed from Rita in the back seat of his truck, Victor grabbed a few of his pillows from inside the house. Hopefully he would be able to look at them tonight without laughing at how he had pretended one of them was Mina in his sleep, he didn’t want to have to explain that episode to her or give her any ideas. Tonight was more about romancing than seducing, after all. When he finally had Mina, he wanted it to be body and soul forever — neither of them deserved to settle for less.
He grabbed a small cooler from the hangar, filling it with ice, a 6 pack of locally brewed beer and the tamarind sodas he knew Mina enjoyed, placing the cooler in the bed of his truck. He already scoped out a place to eat in Espanola thanks to Shelli’s recommendation, so the food portion of the evening was covered. He put an extra sweatshirt in the back seat of the cab, just in case Mina got chilly in the cool summer evening and went inside to grab a quick shower. Victor changed into a navy blue polo shirt and jeans, hoping the outfit would be nice enough to meet her expectations without being overdressed. He knew he was putting a lot of pressure on this date, but he wanted everything to be perfect for Mina. This would be her first date — ever, and he was proud to be able to claim one of her firsts, to give her the experience she deserved. Her past made his heart ache, not that she had been sexual with so many men before him — he had his own past to reconcile on that account — it was her treatment during those years that haunted him. She was never truly cherished or appreciated the way she deserved and that was the true crime.
Once he had brushed his teeth and ran some product through what little hair he had, he dabbed on some aftershave and got ready to drive next door. Traditional cut flowers were difficult to come by out in the desert, but he wanted to keep the spirit of the date, so he had picked up a small pink hibiscus plant at the general store in town, thinking it would look at home with all the others Mina kept on her balcony. Once he double-checked his pre-date list, he sent Mina a text message to let her know he was on his way and set off to get his girl.
14
Mina
Mina’s phone vibrated on her vanity and she reached for it, only to get her hand slapped back by Isabel who was finishing up adding smooth waves to Mina’s blown-out hair. “Don’t move again or I’ll pull your hair out,” she cautioned.
“It says it’s Victor. What if it’s important?” She slunk down in her chair a little, simultaneously enjoying and resenting the amount of effort Isabel and Shelli were putting into getting her ready for this date. She didn’t want to take advantage of her girls, but since they’d basically forced their way into her apartment with an armory of beauty supplies, she figured they were pampering her of their own free will and she allowed herself to enjoy the closeness with them, especially in light of the close call with the Iron Legion.
“He says he’s on his way!” Shelli screeched a little as she read the text. Putting down the highlighting brush she had been using on Mina’s cheeks and grabbing a small bottle of setting spray to finish up.
“That’s okay, I’m all done,” Isabel said, stepping back and eyeing her handiwork with pride. “You look amazing, girl. I’m so excited about this date and I’m not even going on it. We should have our own date here Shells, I feel a large pizza, a bottle of wine and a movie calling our names.”
“I’m game,” Shelli said, looking over Mina’s face with a critical eye. “We’ll get out of your hair so you can get dressed, he should be here any minute. We can meet him out on the porch with a shotgun and ask him his intentions if you want, kind of like a dad would do.”
“Ugh no, you guys are so embarrassing,” Mina huffed. “Just get out of here so I can get my dress on. I don’t want to answer the door in this ratty old robe.”
“With your luck he’d probably still look at you like he wanted to eat you up,” Isabel muttered under her breath, closing the door behind them on their way out.
As soon as the door closed, Mina shucked off her robe and grabbed the dress off the hanger that held it on the closet door. She chose a red spaghetti strapped sundress with a scooped neckline Rita had embroidered for her along the hem. It was light and soft, but still pretty enough to be date material. She considered grabbing a strapless bra from her drawer, but she felt safe enough with Victor to tease him a little and left out a bra entirely. The top of the dress snuggly lifted her breasts, hugging them up into a tasteful amount of cleavage. She slipped a small lace thong up her legs, settling the underwear at her hips just as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She slid the sandals she’d picked out onto her feet and spritzed on a light perfume before she heard Victor’s knock. She giddily hurried over to the
door, stopping in front of it to collect herself before she swung it open wide.
“Hey ba…holy hell,” Victor stuttered to a stop as he took her in, his eyes roving over her from head to toe and back again. “Oh my god, you look… and your toes are red.” He covered both his eyes with a large calloused palm and scrubbed down his face hard, like he was trying to knock himself out of his trance to no avail.
“They even match…ugh. I’m never going to make it through this.”
His overwhelmed stutters were exactly the reaction she hoped for and she was overcome with light, bubbly joy. It was such a foreign feeling, her body and heart almost constantly staggered under the full weight of the worry and weariness each of the women in her club arrived with. To be here, with the kind and beautiful man in front of her struck dumb by a little primping on her part, it felt too good to be real. She slammed into him, throwing her arms around the center of his waist and pushing her body against his in a tight, warm hug. He brought his hand down to hold her close, her alert nipples pressing even harder into his chest. The bralessness was beginning to seem like a bad idea, so far it was teasing her more than him.
She stepped back from him, smiling up at him with a radiant smile as he brought a little potted plant with pink blooms from behind his back. “My lady,” he bowed a little jokingly, presenting the greenery to her. “Some flowers for your garden.”
“Thank you, you weirdo,” she laughed back, taking the plant from him and setting it on the stand outside, closing her balcony doors behind her. “It does look beautiful out there, I’ll think of you every time I see it.”
“Are you ready to go? I don’t want you getting too hungry,” Victor stepped out into the hallway, waiting for her to grab a small purse to carry with her. After she closed and locked her door behind them, he walked down the stairs with her side by side, his hand resting warmly on the curve of her lower back. When they reached his truck, he walked her to the passenger side before opening the door for her.
“Woot woot, now there’s a real man,” Shelli cheered from her seat on her lounger in the courtyard. Isabel raised her glass of wine and yelled “Hot damn, I gotta get me one of those.”
“Or two, “ Shelli said under her breath, leading Isabel to whack her with her wide-brimmed hat.
“Can I trust you two to behave while I’m gone?” Mina called, pausing before stepping up into the truck.
“You got it,” Shelli yelled with thumbs up, still laughing under Isabel’s indignant glare.
“Sorry about that,” she whispered to Victor as he gave her a hand up and carefully buckled her into her seat, his hands trailing her waist as he went. He leaned in the cab and whispered, “It’s fine, I think the heckling adds to the first date atmosphere.” He winked, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. She settled back in her seat, running her hands down her legs, willing away the tiny chill bumps his proximity had given her.
“What have you been up to today?” he asked, as he settled in to the driver’s seat and pulled out of the compound, pointing the truck toward Espanola.
“We took the new girls out for some club bonding and rode our bikes out to the lake for a swim,” she said, her eyes out on the red cliffs flying by in a blur. “I think they’re settling in pretty well, all four of them have been a good fit for us. Shelli had been fixing up her own little house next to Isabel’s so she moved out of the main house and gave them a place of their own to stay.”
Transitioning in the new girls took a little bit of time, especially with their dramatic introduction to life in the valley, but today they were all able to relax and relate to the other women. There was something about the freedom of riding a motorcycle that left Mina with a renewed sense of purpose and place. It’s the reason she didn’t give up the lifestyle after she left the Cheap Tricks.
“What did you do today?” she asked, admiring the cleanly shaven line of his jaw, his closely cropped thick black hair. The cuffs of his shirtsleeves stretched tight over his biceps and the clingy material lay nicely against the ridges and valleys of his abdomen. His eyes were mostly on the road. He was a cautious driver and careful on the narrow dirt roads that wound into town. She appreciated that about him, as his attention in front of him allowed her to devour him with hers eyes with such intense focus, she was nearly startled when he started speaking. She’d forgotten all about her question.
“I interviewed a new pilot today, Devon Callahan from up at the resort. He goes by Cal normally. I think he’s going to be a really good fit.” He looked over at her then, his eyes dancing in the golden, late evening light. “You know what that means? I’m going to get you up in the air sooner rather than later for a jump. You think riding a motorcycle is a rush? Just wait.”
She could see in his eyes how much he loved the freedom of the air and she though it was fitting to find herself with a person who shared a different but oddly similar interest. She wasn’t typically afraid of heights and she knew she already would trust Victor with her life. “I’ll look forward to it,” she decided, leaning her back up against the window to look at him more fully.
“When did you decide you wanted to be a pilot?”
“Oh a long, long time ago, when I was four or five probably,” he said laughing. “I’m really fortunate my momma didn’t write it off as a toddler’s strange obsession. She found constructive ways to encourage me and teach me things she knew would help if I ever really wanted to fly. With just her raising the five of us, there wasn’t enough money for me to go to college to become a commercial pilot, so the air force was the next best thing. I’ve never regretted it.”
“The first time I showed up for pararescue training though, I almost got my ass handed to me. I was 60 pounds heavier and a good 7 inches taller than other tallest guy there. They all said I would just drop like a rock, but I knew jumping was something I was meant to do.”
Mina smiled at that, she knew Victor was the kind of man who knew what he wanted and pursued it relentlessly. He showed the same drive every time they came into contact with each other and it was nice to know similar passion took an active role in his career.
Mina paused, stiffening as the truck passed the Iron Legion’s clubhouse on the way into town. Allowing herself a brief look at the front of the building as they passed, she almost swore she saw a small taillight peeking out from the backside of the clubhouse. Someone’s bike must have been left behind in the raid or maybe they didn’t confiscate them all. She pulled her gaze away, refusing to let memories of that night and lingering paranoia steal her fun. It was her first date after all.
“Where are we eating, or is it a surprise?” she asked as her stomach let out a tiny grumble. Swimming earlier left her feeling sun soaked and very hungry.
“Shelli recommended Lupe’s stand if that’s all right with you? I’ve never been there before but if it’s as good as she said, I could probably take out at least a dozen tacos,” He grinned mischievously at her, his hand coming over the console to pick up her own, lacing their fingers together. It felt nice, in a warm domestic kind of way she never before experienced.
“That sounds good, it’s my favorite place to come when we’re in town — but we have to get chips and salsa because it should be criminal not to snack while you watch a movie.” She needed to lay down her snacking rules while it was still early in this relationship, they were important to a happy life after all.
“I absolutely agree,” Victor said as they pulled in and parked in front of the small shack. Lupe was a warm and withered woman in her eighties, but she was spry and welcoming as she packed up the food Mina ordered. She grabbed a few extra-large bags of spices Lupe had packaged up for Shelli and thanked the sassy little woman for her time. She grabbed Victor by the hand, hauling him out of the shop before Lupe could keep him all to herself the way she threatened, and from the look on his face as he smelled the scents wafting out of their to-go box, he could be tempted by her offer.
They paid the $3 fee to pull the truck into the drive-in, with
only a handful of other cars parked in front of the giant screen to watch a re-run instead of the back-to-back blockbusters the business hosted on Saturday nights. Backing in to a perfect spot near the middle to back of the lot, Victor pulled out an older radio to tune to the station hosting the movie’s audio and placed it in the truck bed. He unfolded what seemed like hundreds of blankets into a comfy nest, while she carried a couple of pillows and their food, setting it on the tailgate while Victor lifted her into the back.
They settled in, cracking open take-out containers and shifting things around so they could sit across from each other and still see the screen.
“Oh my god, if you won’t have me, I may have to go back and marry that woman,” Victor groaned as he shoveled taco after taco into his mouth. It probably wasn’t the most polished first-date behavior, but Mina appreciated the permission to eat with abandon and she scarfed down her tacos almost as quickly.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten by far. The food is definitely part of the reason I came back to New Mexico, the scenery is second only to the cuisine.”
She had to agree and they sat together in comfortable proximity. Laughing at the movie and passing food back and forth between the two of them until all of the containers lay empty and they were both satisfied.
Victor propped a pillow upright against the back of the cab and spread his legs, pulling her over so she could sit between them. She relaxed into his embrace as he ran his hands through her smooth hair, occasionally pulling the tips of his fingers along her scalp.
“I know you tried really hard, but I don’t think this feels like a first date at all.” She ran her hands down his legs, using his thighs as armrests.
“What do you mean?” he asked, laying a soft kiss on her exposed neck.
