Something More (5 page)

He smiles. “I will
always endeavor to be a gentleman with you, Rebecca.” I squint, as if checking
to see if he's lying. He continues, “But you never can tell what may happen.” I
look at him, still leery. One corner of my mouth perks up and I shove the
pepper spray back into the backpack. Zipping it up, I sling it over my
shoulder.

“You forgot the kitchen
sink, didn't you?”

I give him a dirty
look. “Ha, ha. I can't help that I am prepared.” Drew grabs the door and closes
it. The chirp of the alarm arming itself goes off and we set out on our
adventure.

It's a beautiful
morning with hardly any clouds and a nice breeze. I should relish these
not-so-cloudy days. I make a mental note to go outdoors whenever the weather is
nice. I’ve got to soak up that vitamin D as much as possible.

Soon after getting onto
the trail, Drew grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers. On the outside, my
body’s reaction isn't noticeable, I hope, but on the inside, his every touch
still sets me on fire. I wonder if he feels the same or if he can sense the
change in my body when he touches me. I can feel my face flush.

As if he can hear my
thoughts, he looks at me curiously. “Rebecca?”

Shit.
“Yes?”
Can
he hear my thoughts? I smile.

“Can I ask you
something?”

“Well, you kind of just
did.” I look at him with a mischievous twinkle in my eyes. “But if you want to
ask another, go right ahead.” I hope my banter is well received.

Looking at his profile
as we're walking, I see his mouth turn up in the corner.
Phew.

“Touché. I was just
wondering something. I know the first time we ‘bumped’ into each other, there
was some kind of feeling between us when we touched.”
Oh, shit
.
He
can
hear my thoughts.
“And I'm curious if you still feel it now after all the
times we've touched.” If he only knew how deep I felt that fire and where it
ignited. How do I respond?

Honesty is always the
best policy, right? Okay, here it goes. “Uh. Well, yeah. It's like a shock to
my system.” I think I hear him blow out a breath in relief. “Do you feel
something like that?” I ask, praying that he says yes.

“Yes. It's puzzled me
since that first time, but now I'm baffled that it continues each time. It's as
if my body awakens in your presence.”
Oh, yes!
If he only knew that my
body awakens deliciously from my head all the way down to my toes.

“Well, I guess that
makes two of us.” I pause, then decide to be brave. “Can I ask you something
else?” He looks down at me with a perfect smile. So breathtaking. My breath
hitches. “This might sound a little out there, but it might cause a good laugh.”

He looks at me quizzically.
“Oh, this should be good.”

“Can you read minds?”
Laughter bursts out of him. He's taking that question well. Relief sets in
again.

“Well, I didn't think
it would be
that
funny.”

“Rebecca, you
do
have a great sense of humor. I will give you that.” He is still laughing. I
stop walking, hoping to get an answer. He stops, as well, but has to turn
around to look at me. Our hands are still locked together. He looks me in the
eye with a goofy grin on his face.

Stepping closer to me,
he brings my hand up to his lips and plants a kiss on it, eyes still on mine.
He says, “No. I cannot read your mind. Whatever gave you that idea?” I take my
eyes off of his and start to walk again. He falls in step next to me.

“It seems you ask a
question or make a statement about something that I had
just
thought
about. Like you can read my mind.”

He grins down at me. “It
must be this weird connection thing we seem to have going on.”

“Hmmm. Maybe. Like our
bodies are in tune with each other or something like that?”

“Yes. Something like
that.” I take a deep breath and I hear him do the same. It’s a sound
of...contentment.

 The Pacific Ocean is
so beautiful. It seems more serene here than back home for some reason. The
boulders and cliffs, the trees and mountains…everything is just gorgeous. Not
to mention the godly man I am here with. He's a vision all his own.

When we finally get to
a little lookout point, I have him take a picture of me alone and then another
one of the both of us. I have to capture a visual memory of this with some sort
of tangible evidence. After taking the pictures, he puts the camera back in my
backpack.

When I turn around,
Drew has a weird look on his face. “What?” I say. He steps closer to me and
places one hand on the small of my back, the other he places on my face. His
thumb is in front of my ear and the rest of his fingers are around the nape of
my neck. Oh, my god. This is it. He's going to kiss me. My body starts to
tremble. He leans in and I close my eyes.

Suddenly, I feel his
scruffy cheek against mine and he whispers into my ear, “I'm going to kiss you,
Rebecca.” That was unexpected and it startled me. Do I say anything? No one has
ever told me they were going to kiss me or asked permission to do so. They've
just done it. I decide to nod, ever so slightly. I don't think I'm breathing at
this point.

My body feels like it's
being tortured with pleasure that hasn't even happened yet. I may just orgasm
from this kiss. Oh, dear god. I can feel his warm breath slowly moving from my
ear down my jaw. Can he draw this out any longer? He's driving me crazy.

My insides are all
twisted up and ready to combust. My core is ready to take him in. Right here.
Right now. I realize my panties are wet as his lips finally make the long,
breathy trip to mine. His kiss starts gentle and quickly becomes more urgent.
My lips part and his tongue finds mine. His hand at the small of my back pulls
me in close and tight. I absolutely melt into him. My arms wrap around him and
my hands work their way up to his shoulders. I draw him in so tight it's as if
we have become one.

What have I been
missing out on all my life? No kiss has ever been like this before…so
passionate and needy. Our tongues are dancing together and our bodies are
inseparable. He slows the kiss and it becomes sweet and gentle again. He
withdraws his tongue from mine and kisses the corner of my mouth. I kiss him
back and take a little nibble out of his bottom lip when I pull away. Not
letting go of him, I look up into his beautiful blue eyes. They are staring
back at me and I see a twinkle in them. They look a little brighter, which
makes me smile.

“Wow,” I say, a little
out of breath.

“I agree,” he says,
smiling.

“I've never felt
anything like that before.” I blow out a puff of air. All of my insides are
still bundled up tight.

“Neither have I.” He
seems to be struggling to regain his composure. Well, that makes two of us.

I don't really want to
let go of him, but I feel like I should. I go to move out of his arms, but he
reins me back in. So I hold onto him a little tighter, resting my head on his
chest. The view is amazing and the company is even better. I think I could
stand like this forever, even if we were just looking at a dumpster. I breathe
happily.

A few more minutes go
by, and then he loosens his hold on me. I do the same. As we start to separate,
he grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers. Then, not surprisingly, he kisses
it, leans down, and gives me another kiss on the lips.

As he pulls away, I
lick my lips to savor the minty flavor he's left on them and then bite my bottom
lip. He lifts his free hand to my face and with his thumb, gently loosens my
lip from my teeth. I lean into his hand and close my eyes to memorize the
feeling. He leans in again and nips my bottom lip, then kisses it. “You are so
beautiful,” he murmurs so quietly that no one else can hear.

Oh, wait. I didn't
think about other people being around. Did someone witness our encounter? I'm
sure a look of panic just flew across my face, but now a calm one replaces it.
I don't care about anyone else seeing. Plus, I only know one other person in
town besides Drew.

I quickly realize the
panicked look on my face was just after he said I was beautiful. Oops. I look
up into his dreamy blues. There’s a look of concern on his face. “Did I say
something wrong?”
He noticed
.
Damn it
.

“Uh. No. Sorry. Thank
you. Just after you complimented me, I realized we are in public and people
could have seen our...that kiss. Then I realized that I didn't care.” I smile
up at him and he returns it. I hug him and take in his manly scent. Body
wash...maybe deodorant? And sweat? Masculine. Yummm. I feel a clench deep, deep
down.
Bec! Get a hold of yourself. You cannot take him out here in the open.
Although
...
Oh, jeez.
I shake myself out of my reverie. Can't go
there right now.

I slowly break away
from him, but before I get too far, I lift myself up on my tiptoes and plant a
kiss on his neck. “Thank you, Drew,” I whisper. “Really. Thank you.” I lower
myself back down. His close proximity really messes with my head. I thought it
was bad before. Now it's
really
distracting. We gaze at each other for a
moment and then I speak. “Maybe we should get back to the hike?” I offer. We
both grin.

“Yes. Let's do that.
Not for much longer, though. I want to take you down to the beach and then we
can go to lunch.”

A rumble in my stomach
alerts me that I am, indeed, hungry. “Well, now that you mentioned food, I'm
hungry. Can you grab a granola bar out of my pack, please? It should tide me
over until lunch.”

He chuckles. “I can do that.
Did you bring any extras?” It’s my turn to chuckle. Men never think to pack
such things.

“Of course I did. Help
yourself. Everything but the kitchen sink, remember?” Smiling, he grabs the
granola bars and my water from the side pocket.

We set back out on our
walk…not holding hands this time, but eating our snacks instead. It already feels
so comfortable with him, like we've known each other a while. This feels good,
feels right. This is how it should be, right?

After a little more
walking, we’ve somehow ended up winding back around to the parking lot. There
must have been a turn I missed somewhere. Oh, well. As soon as the Hummer is
within range, he pulls out his keys and starts it with his remote. It is a
welcome sight at this point. I just want to sit for a bit. Too bad he couldn't
roll down the windows from his keychain. It would've cooled the truck faster.
At least it's not nearly as bad as Florida heat.

Drew opens the doors to
let it cool down even more while we are putting our stuff away. I put all of my
loose items that I left in the car back into my backpack. I'm ready to sit and
I climb in. He closes my door and walks around to hop in the driver's seat. “We're
just going to head down the hill to the beach. It won't take but a few minutes.”

“Okay.” I lean my head
back against the seat and soak up the air conditioning. It was a fast trip down
to the beach so I reach in the back for my backpack and get my flip flops out.
Can't go on a beach without them. Well, unless you are going for a run.
I
might just go barefoot even then.

Out of the corner of my
eye, I notice he's watching me take off my shoes. When I take off my socks, I
see the marks left from them.
Dang it
. I guess I will look stupid for a
little while with the millions of tiny fuzzy imprints on my feet. I slip on my
flip flops and I'm ready to go. “You really
did
think of everything for
our outing, didn't you?” he asks.

“You have no idea.
Thinking about it kept me up at night, but I tried to pack for any
circumstance.” Seeing the sandals in my bag again makes me wonder why the hell
I brought them to dress up a Gators t-shirt. Internally, I shake my head.
What
a dumbass
. That's what I get for over-thinking it.

Drew cuts into my
thoughts. “You could've called me. I have a hard time sleeping most nights.”

“Oh, yeah. Let me call
up a complete stranger in the middle of the night. Sure.”

“Well, I'm not a
stranger anymore, Rebecca. You can call me anytime, day or night.” He gives me
a wink and a smile.

We arrive down at the
beach. He gets out and walks around to open my door. He offers his hand. I
accept it and slide out of the Hummer. “I guess you aren't a stranger anymore.
I still don't know you very well, but definitely not a stranger.”

Feeling more
comfortable with him, I join our left hands together, bring his arm over my
shoulder, and wrap my right arm around his waist. Side-by-side, we walk
together out onto the beach.

It's so lovely out
here. Peaceful. Florida seems to have so many more people on the beaches, not
to mention screaming kids every five feet. It's not like that here at all. We
just stand and soak up the scenery. I'd
really
love to sit and relax. “Can
I borrow your keys to run and get my beach towel? I'd really like to sit
without getting too sandy.”

“How about you pick out
a spot and I will go back to the truck?”

“Okay.”

I look around for a
spot with a good view of everything. I bet this place is amazing at sunset. I
must come back...preferably with Drew. He returns fairly quickly, but doesn't
have my beach towel. I scowl. He grins and puts up his hand to stop me before I
begin to scold him. “I had a blanket in the back of my truck.
Some
guys
do come prepared. Well, at least somewhat prepared.” My scowl fades and a
slight smile turns up in one corner. That little...