Shelby
Chapter Four
The Springs, East Coast of Australia
Two wonderful things happened today, and I have a feeling both have changed me forever.
“ S urely this place is listed as a national treasure,” I said, pushing the cascading trees across and holding them so they didn’t fling into the awaiting face of Corbin who trailed close behind. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’ve heard they’re pretty nice.”
“Pretty nice? Look at all this greenery, it’s practically untouched.
” I waved some of the foliage over my shoulder and his soft chuckle made me smile.
We’d stayed another couple of days at Serenity Ridge, relaxing and taking a tour through the local wineries and eateries.
It was everything I wanted in our first stop, and we spent an extra night there to experience the adjacent vineyards once we realised they were hosting a culinary evening inspired by the local produce.
I’d woken the morning after our first dinner with only a slight bubbly induced headache and mild embarrassment over how overt I’d been with him.
Memories of telling him I wanted to baste someone like a turkey to fulfil my touch hunger had me vacillating between giggles and complete mortification, especially when I recalled his reaction.
And for the last few days, it was guaranteed to randomly have me giggling to myself as the memories washed over me.
Blake was right. I was weird .
But maybe it was the reason he had been a little more physical with me.
Each day brought a little more closeness, a little more intimacy - like slow drips filling a glass.
A brush of the back of our hands here, an arm around the shoulder there and now as I stood at the last little bit of foliage before our destination, a palm to the small of my back as he guided me forward.
His touch lingered longer than I would consider friendly, and it took all my focus to continue without falter, ignoring the warmth which spread through me under his touch.
There was no ignoring the way his words had softened since I first arrived, and I wondered if it was due to the romantic settings we kept finding ourselves in.
The internet claimed this place was a hidden diamond which saw hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. However, knowing it was where my parents first laid eyes on each other, I wanted to bask in its beauty without six hundred others around.
It was worth the solid walk through rich shrubs when we finally stepped into the clearing which housed at least a dozen natural springs. Their shapes were all unique, some small, likely only able to accommodate a few people while others looked big enough for a football team and I was mesmerised.
“Woah,” I breathed, captivated by the warmth encasing the otherwise empty land.
I could picture it on a busy day, visitors everywhere enjoying the perfection of this tucked away sanctuary, but right now, it was only the two of us and the surrounding stone and pine, almost like guards watching to ensure we respected its ethereality.
I walked slowly between the pools, looking in and around each, Corbin’s footsteps close behind.
Crouching, I ran my hands across the glistening wet rocks, watching the tiny rivulets of water pooling in shallow dips.
The edges varied, some smooth under my touch, while others were jagged, cased with a grainy residue and I was in awe at the untouched grace of the natural world.
I wasn’t sure which I wanted to test first, and I wondered which one Mum and Dad had shared. Where they both were the exact moment they saw each other, if they had the slightest clue where their lives would go – together.
“I’m going in,” Corbin said as I heard the backpack drop to the floor and I halted, flicking my gaze over my shoulder where he’d paused to find he was already removing his shirt.
I tried not to gawk, to appear nonchalant with my flippant, “Okay,” as if I wasn’t desperate to grab the camera and snap a photo so I could stare as long as I wanted without judgement.
I watched from my peripheral, pretending I was still captivated by the rocks as he chose one of the smaller ones and descended into the mist, the water swallowing him as the steady trickling of nearby springs broke the otherwise silent morning.
“Of course, he isn’t just my type but the whole damn genre,” I muttered to myself.
When he groaned his pleasure, goosebumps scattered across my skin, wondering what it would be like to trail my fingers down his chest while he made that noise in my ear. He was a fine specimen and long gone were those awkward years of puberty.
Corbin was a man and one I was thinking about in ways I should not be.
“You just going to stare?” He teased, and my eyes shot to his, my already red cheeks warming further.
Oh my God.
“I wasn’t staring,” I tried pathetically. We both knew that was total crap, I was practically drooling.
“Okay, Canada, whatever you say,” he grinned, and I scowled playfully. I wanted to join him, only now, with him sitting right in front of me, I was suddenly self-conscious that he was about to see me strip down to my bikini.
Why had I chosen a damn bikini? Was it too risqué or suggestive for an early morning dip with your friend?
Was I overthinking and consequently still freaking staring at him and his damn smirk which was only growing by the second .
“Evermore,” he breathed and my jaw fell open.
“What?” I whispered, certain I’d misheard. There was no way he’d called Evermore . Something I hadn’t heard him say in almost eighteen years, when we stood at the fence line of our backyards, and he’d dared me to kiss him.
My first kiss. And I think his too.
“You heard me,” he said with a confidence I liked more than I would ever admit. “You’ve got about twenty-seven seconds left to get yourself in here.”
“Is that a dare?” I asked, already kicking my shoes off.
“I called Evermore didn’t I?” Oh, God, I liked this version of Corbin. Was there something in that water that turned my friend into a banter fuelled, sex-God?
Maybe I was still drunk from all the wine we’d consumed.
Either way, I did my absolute best to ignore the way his gaze was burning my skin and slipped out of my shorts before pulling my shirt up and over my head. He moved towards me, reaching out his hand to help me in, and I pretended not to notice the way his eyes lingered on my turquoise bikini.
I guess it was the right choice of clothing if it was eliciting an appraisal like that.
Stepping into the water, the heat wrapped around my limbs, loosening my muscles and melting the tension inch by inch. Tiny bubbles rose from below as I settled in next to him, only then realising I was still holding his hand.
“Can’t believe you called Evermore,” I muttered, emphasising my pout as if I was truly put out by his use of our shared game.
“Didn’t think you were going to get in otherwise,” he joked, and with a final squeeze, I retracted my hand from his.
I moved my hands in front of me, sighing as the water tickled my skin with a reminder that this place was alive.
A pulsing offering from the earth itself, which was always moving, always dancing for those who dared to venture into its calm .
“Do you remember the last time we played?” I asked, feeling braver now I was wrapped in the water and not staring directly at him.
“I do,” he answered matter-of-factly, only his voice was a little deeper.
His bravado from a minute ago evaporated in the steam above and I closed my eyes, remembering it again myself.
The way his hair was sweaty from the game of chase we’d been playing.
The humour in those green eyes when he said, “kiss me” and the slight terror on his face as I leant in, as if he also couldn’t believe I was going through with it.
“That was my first kiss,” he laughed softly, finally giving voice to the answer I’d waited for, and the sound of it sank straight into my bones.
I didn’t dare open my eyes, knowing if I did, he would be able to read my mind. He would know that I was wondering what it would be like to kiss him now.
Only not for three seconds and not because of a dare.
“I used to think about it every night just before I went to sleep,” he spoke, his voice clear enough for me to know he was close. “I would wonder if you were thinking about it too at that exact moment. If we would ever get the chance to do it again.”
I let out a long breath, my chest rising and falling as my nipples hardened at his admission.
Oh, God .
When his fingers grazed across my hand, my eyes shot open and I looked towards him, not prepared for the heat of his gaze. Not prepared for the feeling of longing which shot to my core, awakening something in me which had been dormant for so long.
I couldn’t remember the last time I was attracted to someone enough to want them.
But that was exactly what my body was screaming as I pulsed between my legs with every swipe of his thumb across my wrist. He lifted his other hand out of the water and turned my chin towards him, my whole body following along as if it too wanted to be touched and moved by him .
He was going to kiss me!
Corbin was going to kiss me and there was absolutely nothing I wanted more.
He leant over, his thumb and forefinger holding my chin as my lips parted in anticipation of the feeling of his mouth on mine.
He waited, an unspoken question in his eyes, his patience only making me hungrier.
Time fell away, the world beyond us non-existent as the inches left between breath and touch eviscerated everything other than him.
He tilted forward and my hand reached out to graze his chest, a touched approval to hurry up and ease the trembling of my body by giving me exactly what I’d dreamed about.
He was so close, our heavy breaths combining, our chests pressed together as he closed the distance - until the gasped excitement of a child shattered the moment.
“We made it!” The little girl screamed as the crunch of multiple shoes on the ground followed.
When a family came into the clearing, it was as if the last few minutes had never occurred.
Corbin was again sitting next to me, both of us looking at the new visitors who’d interrupted what could have been.
And for a second, I wondered if I’d fallen and hit my head, imagining the entire thing.
We didn’t speak as we watched them get into their own springs, listening as they talked about how warm it was, taking photos and breaking the quiet with their own joy.
I wanted to hit rewind and go back to just before, ignoring the child and kissing him anyway or at least ask him if he had felt it too.
The magnetic attraction which somehow eviscerated whatever friendship we had, begging us to break the rules and explore.
But I was no longer feeling bold, only disappointed.
We sat there for a while longer before deciding to hop out and find a place to scatter my parents.
Somewhere close enough to hear the trickling of the water where their story commenced.
And it was only as I was about to exit our little haven, that his thumb tentatively reached forward and grazed my wrist, telling me he had felt it too.
A silent confirmation that we’d been at an almost – a quiet turning point in our friendship, where one word, one action, could have shifted everything.
Well, shit.