Tegan
NEW FRIENDS – ONE WEEK LATER: MID-APRIL
Iknew that we would have a long day, or weekend rather, but I was excited and welcomed it.
Harlem met me at my place a little after six in the morning.
I fed him a smoothie, a yogurt bowl, and a banana before we headed out.
It had taken a lot of convincing to get me to agree to taking two days off work.
We were closed on Sundays, but Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays were our busiest days.
Although I initially freaked out when he suggested it, I finally conceded that I would take the time off and trust my employees to handle things.
I hadn’t had a day off since I opened a month earlier.
I had been doing physical labor six days around the clock, and I had worked on the administrative tasks and the books on the seventh day. There had been no rest for me.
So, when Harlem assured me that when Monday rolled around, I would need that day to recuperate, I didn’t deny it, but I kept it in the back of my mind.
He advised me to prepare just in case. I scheduled staff accordingly, and they assured me they were more than capable of handling things in my absence.
Our morning started at Rose Garden Park with Palmer’s seven a.m. yoga class. It was fun watching Harlem stretch and try all the various poses that Palmer called out. When we were finished, she took a moment to compliment him on his form and pointed out that he didn’t really look like a beginner.
He told her she had a wonderful class and that he just might return with me in the future.
“Here. You can shower in here while I shower in the guest suite,” Harlem suggested after our yoga class.
We had returned to his place where he had taken my luggage the night before.
When he first told me that we had a weekend long date planned, and he wanted me to pack for an adventure, I had been amused and intrigued.
I packed exactly as he told me to, took my luggage to work the next day, and he’d placed it in his vehicle when he got a break.
He took my things back to his house to wait for our date today.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind taking the guest bathroom.”
He brushed his sweaty forehead against mine, pressed my nose with his, and whispered, “Nah, I’m good. You go ahead and take it. I might be a while.”
“Meaning?”
“I’ma need to take a cold shower and try not to think about you in my house, in the shower, with no clothes on, and how fucking fine you are.”
I giggled, and he pressed a kiss against my neck. “Yes, sir. I think that you should head on out of here now, before you make a lady forget her manners.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” he asked, gripping my ass and kissing my neck.
I pulled back and swatted him with the towel he handed me, before I chased him out of the room and closed the door.
As I adjusted the water and prepared everything for my shower, I wondered if having sex now would be a bad thing.
I was definitely ready to have sex with him, but I wanted it to flow naturally.
I didn’t want to take anything for granted.
When we got out of the shower, he prepared us spinach omelets and sliced avocadoes and tomatoes, since we had worked up another appetite after yoga.
No sooner than we finished eating and cleaned our mess, Eli and a new girl he recently met named Isla, and CJ and his wife, Jenna, showed up ready to go off-roading.
This was our first couples’ date, and I was excited about it. I liked his sister-in-law, Jenna, and I looked forward to building a friendship with her. Isla seemed cool, too, and I hoped the three of us would bond.
“Y’all ready to do this, gentlemen?” Harlem rubbed his hands together in excitement.
His brother and best friend clapped their hands and nodded. “It’s been a minute. The snow is nice and thick, but we’ve got some rivers to claim,” Eli declared.
“Shiiidd! You hope we claim them, and they don’t claim us,” CJ stated.
“We got this, man,” Eli replied.
“Yeah, you mean like you had it last year?” CJ asked, laughing.
They all laughed, and I looked at Harlem. “Babe, what’s he talking about?”
“Last year, Eli’s ass oversteered and almost got his Jeep stuck in the river.”
“Stuck?” I asked.
“Snow?” Isla asked.
“You’re gonna be fine. I won’t get us stuck. I’ve been doing this for years. Eli’s a novice. He’s only been doing it for the last two years, and his ass don’t listen,” Harlem explained, sucking his teeth and shaking his head at his best friend.
“You didn’t tell me there was snow, Eli,” Isla stated.
“Why do you think I told you to pack your skiing clothes, sweaters, boots, and a coat?” Eli asked incredulously.
“You’re going to be fine, Isla. I saw all that you packed, and there will be heat in the vehicles while we’re off-roading. The only thing you have to be concerned with is when we unpack our trucks to get set up for camping tonight,” Jenna stated.
“How cold does it get up there in those mountains?” Isla asked with a worried look.
“Sis, I ain’t gon’ hold you. It’s not for the faint of heart, and it does drop below freezing,” Jenna replied.
“That’s why you’ve got me there to keep you warm,” Eli remarked, pulling Isla against his body.
She forgot all about her complaints and burrowed into his arms with a smile.
“You guys had better stop before Baby backs out,” Jenna warned, watching me closely.
I laughed. “You’re right, Jenna. They’re not selling me on this too well, and it’s not too late to change my mind.”
“Don’t listen to them, Baby. I’ll protect you and keep you warm. You know I wouldn’t do anything to put you in harm’s way, right?” Harlem kissed my temple and then my lips slowly as he held my hips.
“Yes,” I answered shyly after I pulled back from the kiss.
“Good. Man, can we get on the road now?” Harlem asked his brother and best friend as he packed the last of our bags into the back of his Jeep.
Within the next ten minutes, we were on the road, and Harlem announced that we should be there by one, because it was a three-hour drive. We would be heading into a rural area just outside of the small town of Mistletoe Falls.
The air was crisp and bitter cold. Although the sun shone brilliantly above us, it was no match for the freezing cold temperatures. There was no possibility of the snow melting any time soon.
“You know you’re acting like white folks with all this off-roading in the mountains through the snow, don’t you?” I asked Harlem as we drove over our third river.
The first time it happened, I was certain that we were going to get stuck and drown, especially when the snow and ice gave away, but he assured me that he had a handle on things. The second time it happened, I was a little less apprehensive, but I didn’t abandon my prayers.
Smiling, he turned and glanced at me as we made it out of the river. “Babe, are you telling me that this isn’t fun?”
I giggled. “It is, but it’s also dangerous and cold as ice.”
“Once we get everything set up at camp, you’ll be fine. I promise it’s not as bad as you think; it’s adventurous. Besides, you said that you love the outdoors.”
“I do. When it’s warm, honey.”
“You’ll be warm,” he replied with a beautiful smile.
I smiled back, shook my head, and turned my gaze back out of the window. All three Jeeps were trekking up the mountain in a single file formation.
“This view is breathtaking,” I proclaimed, looking at the peaks just ahead of us as we made our way through the mountains.
Large trees stood like mile markers on either side of the road as we continued climbing higher.
My ears popped, and I chewed my chewing gum harder, but I couldn’t take my eye off the beautiful scenery: the snowcapped mountains, the drifts on the trees, and the majestic mountain peaks standing before us like large, erected pillars of gray, black, white, and silver stone.
“Isn’t it though? And that is where we’re camping tonight.” He pointed just ahead and then reached over and squeezed my knee.
At one point, CJ’s truck had gotten stuck, and Harlem hitched it up and pulled it out of the snow. Right after that, we were crossing another river.
“This landscape is so beautiful, Harlem. I have to take pictures,” I asserted, reaching into the travel bag that was directly behind my seat.
He chuckled, reached over again, and he gripped my thigh as we came upon another body of water.
“Hang on, Baby. This bank is steep,” Harlem warned.
He rolled down the snowbank, and I squealed as the back of the Jeep lifted a little, and the nose of the vehicle plunged into the water. He gunned the engine when it seemed that we were going to be stuck.
“Is everything okay?” I asked with light fear in my voice.
“We’re good, Baby. I’m just going to put this in reverse, back out, and head back in again,” he explained, step by step.
It took only a few tries before we were out of the river, and within five minutes, we were at our campsite.
We climbed out of the vehicles, and everyone shouted, laughed, and high-fived each other. Jenna checked on Isla and me as the men started unpacking.
“Are you ladies okay?” she asked.
“I’m good. That was actually fun. I was scared a few times, but nothing can beat those gorgeous views and the adrenaline rush of going through the rivers and conquering them,” I replied.
“Right, and before you know it, you’ll be used to it.”
“We’ll be pros like you?” Isla laughed.
“Exactly.” Jenna laughed too.
“Let’s help them get this stuff out of here so we can get out of the cold,” I suggested.
“Not until we get a few selfies in. This view is too stunning to miss. We have to capture it,” Isla asserted.
“You’re right about that, boo,” I replied.
We all got together and took several pictures, including the men, before we removed everything from the vehicles and set up camp.
It took a while before we were set up the way that Harlem wanted us to be, but once everything was to his satisfaction, we sat around with them by the fire, cooked, and then ate and drank some beers.
“This has been an amazing experience,” Isla declared after we finished our meal.
“It has been. I’m surprised that you didn’t capture more for your MixTube channel,” Eli declared.
“I thought about it, but I’ve got more than enough footage on the ride up here. There are other things that I want to capture, but I wanted to be present in the moment. I wanted to enjoy the experience and not through the eyes of a lens for the people,” Isla explained.
“I feel you,” I declared. “I did capture some photos with my regular camera, but I just couldn’t miss that much of this stunning adventure.”
“I thought we were gonna drown. Of all the years we’ve been up here, we’ve never been stuck like we were this time,” Jenna professed.
“Baby, I told you there was nothing to worry about. We were on pure snow, no ice. The ice was breaking down the river, but we were a good enough distance away to cross safely before the ice broke where we were,” CJ stated.
“Yeah, y’all were good, sis,” Harlem declared, nuzzling my neck.
I leaned into him, and I thought about what would happen between us tonight. I was certain the other two couples would be making love. If Harlem was ready to go there, I was willing to as well. It was just hard to imagine that happening in these frigid temps.
“It’s late, and it’s cold. I’m about to hit the sack,” Jenna announced as she stood.
“Wait on me, sugar. G’night, Harlem, Baby, Eli, and Isla,” CJ remarked, following his wife.
Within seconds, we all said our good nights, and we headed into our tents.
Harlem slowly peeled my gloves from my hands after he zipped our tents up.
He had turned the Big Buddy propane heaters on to warm up while we sat outside and ate, so it was nice and toasty inside, and there was proper ventilation to protect against carbon monoxide poisoning.
He kept his eyes pinned on me the entire time that he removed my gloves.
He rubbed my hands between his, blew on them, and took his time kissing each of my fingertips.
I loved how attentive he was toward me and how intentional he was in everything that he did for me.
Harlem made me feel seen and cared for. The thought that I loved him popped into my head again, but I bit my tongue to keep from speaking those words.
I felt like I had known him all my life, almost like there was no one else before him and me; there was just him and me.
My boots and coat were the next thing to be removed, followed by my jeans and sweater. I wore thermals underneath my clothes, and while thermals themselves weren’t the sexiest, my pink and cream ones were super cute and accentuated my curves nicely.
“What’s on your mind, beautiful?”
“Just thinking that this is nice and wondering what’s going to happen tonight.”
He cupped my face, kissed my forehead, and then stared into my eyes. “What do you want to happen tonight?”
“I’m not sure. I’m torn.”
“I didn’t bring you up here with any expectations, Tegan. I brought you up here on a couples’ date weekend to have fun, enjoy ourselves, and build on our connection. I don’t want you to put any pressure on yourself.”
“What if I want to?”
“Then we can, but I want our first time to be extremely special. I don’t take you for granted.
I cherish every part of you, and I want to take my time building something special that will last forever.
I have no plans on being out of your life or fucking this shit up.
I want you, Baby, very badly. But when it happens, it will happen, not because my best friend and brother might be smashing their women in their tents,” he explained, pointing to our right where their tents were.
“Are you sure?” I asked, feeling slightly relieved.
There was a part of me that thought he might want to have sex because this was the perfect setup for it, especially being that we were on a couples’ trip. But like Harlem, I, too, wanted our first time to be special.
“Completely. I’m vested in us, Baby.”
“So am I.”
He pulled me closer to him, rested his hands on my waist, pressed his forehead against mine, and we rocked side to side. There was no music, just the warmth in the tent and the music in our hearts. I knew that this man was meant for me.
I vowed to myself that I would relax and enjoy the weekend. I would not worry about expectations or the possibility of what could be. The only thing that mattered was what was.