Chapter 17
Sebastian
We got to the cabin seconds before it started to downpour. We laughed as we closed the door and then stood by the window and watched the rain come down in buckets. I could smell the rain as we got closer to the cabins; I could feel the wind picking up, and sense the electricity in the air.
I had been worried we wouldn’t make it back in time. While I would have loved to see Ara wet, with her clothes clinging to her body, leaving little to nothing to the imagination. I didn’t want her to catch a cold. Though the idea of warming her up held a certain appeal.
It had been years since I had seen such a force of nature. It was easy to forget the power wind and rain can have living in Southern California. We certainly didn’t get storms like the one that Ara and I got to watch. It was a little scary but beautiful at the same time. Kind of like the woman I was currently sharing a cabin with.
Her beauty was even more evident when I saw her looking out at the storm. Her eyes were bright, her hair was pushed back with moisture and possibly sweat. Her cheeks were flushed from the exertion of running the last half mile to the cabin. There was an excitement to her, a happiness, and a calm, too. All of it was sexy. I loved seeing all the different sides of her and that she allowed me to see them.
It scared me how much I cared about her, how much I loved her, and how much I just enjoyed being around her. I had wanted to take things slow with her, but after being alone with her for less than a day, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do that.
We had shared a moment on the lake. The kiss that I had been so excited about and believed was finally going to happen, hadn’t. Ara had pulled away. I could fault the thunder scaring her, but I had been so into wanting to kiss her, a herd of elephants could have come by and I wouldn’t have noticed.
I could see she wanted me, but she was still wary. Her eyes at times would look at me with such love, such desire, and other times, like she wasn’t sure who I was. I could understand her wariness. I had all but abandoned her when we were younger. I had never talked about what my plans were for the future or my goals. She had no idea how much she was an integral part of it all.
If I told her, she wouldn’t believe me. She would think I was just telling her so she would sleep with me. I knew I had to convince her that I was staying. My future, my happiness, everything I wanted in life was in New York, with her. There was so much I ached to tell her and hoped that I would find a way soon.
“I don’t think we could have planned that better if we tried,” Ara said as she looked at me.
There was some moisture on her cheek and I longed to wipe it away. I didn’t. If I did, I wouldn’t stop with just putting my hand on her cheek. I would want to pull her to me. I would want to look into her eyes again and see the passion she had for me like I had seen at the lake. I would want to bring my lips inches from her, but not stop until they were touching.
“Good thing, as it looks like a bad one,” I said.
Ara laughed. “You’ve been away from the East Coast too long. This is nothing. It’ll probably pass in a few hours. It will be like it didn’t happen by tomorrow.”
“Good. I would hate for the rain to ruin the rest of our trip,” I said.
Ara gave me a knowing smile as she walked past me and into the kitchen. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind if it stayed and kept us in the cabin all day and night. I’m sure we could find some ways to pass the time.”
Was she flirting with me? She couldn’t be? Could she? I wanted to see if she was. I followed her into the kitchen. She leaned on the kitchen counter by the sink and looked at me. I moved to the island and leaned on it and held her gaze. “What sort of activities do you have in mind?” I asked.
She immediately blushed, telling me she was thinking what I was hoping. I was thankful for the island covering my front, otherwise I might have embarrassed myself. Just her suggestions and flirtations could turn me on. Though, just looking at the woman could turn me on.
I held her gaze, waiting for her to answer me. She blushed deeper and wouldn’t look at me. I knew she was hoping I would drop the subject. I wasn’t going to let her off that easily. She was the one who had opened this up. I wanted to see how far she would take it.
“Wine? We could drink some wine,” she suggested after a few moments of silence.
“We didn’t get to finish the last bottle, as someone fell asleep so early last night,” I teased.
“Early? It was after midnight by the time we went to bed. I had a long day, and someone decided to make a fire and give me a nice soothing glass of wine. Really, if anyone is to blame for me falling asleep, it’s you,” she countered.
“Then maybe we shouldn’t have any wine. I don’t want you falling asleep on me again and ruining our chance to do all these fun activities you mentioned.”
“Oh, I’m awake now. The hike, the rain, the day really invigorated me. Wine doesn’t normally put me to sleep. Does it you?” she teased.
“No. Whiskey, maybe, but it takes a lot. I tried Jaeger when I was in college and that didn’t go well,” I said.
“Does anyone have a good experience with Jaeger?” Ara countered.
“I take it you didn’t?”
She didn’t answer me but took the wine out of the fridge and poured us both a glass. “We shouldn’t drink too much. We might need to brave the elements to get something to eat. I’m not sure if we can get anything delivered this far out,” Ara said and poured the last of the wine into two glasses.
“Grace said there should be some food in the freezer,” I said.
“I didn’t take you for the frozen food kind of guy,” Ara teased.
“Check what’s in there. I don’t think it’s frozen food,” I countered.
Ara gave me a questioning look but opened the freezer and let out a shock cry. “No way!” she exclaimed.
“What? Is something in there?” I teased.
She shot me a look over her shoulder and pulled out the pizza from Gino’s. She held it gingerly as if it was a precious object and was afraid it was going to break. She placed the cardboard box on the counter,
She opened the box and let out a squeal of happiness. I had ordered her favorite, tomato, green pepper, and sausage. She smiled up at me as if she was surprised I remembered. I wanted to tell her I remembered everything about her. She looked lovingly at the pizza as if she was afraid to touch it.
“It isn’t going to attack you. It’s just pizza,” I said, though I was enjoying watching how much she appreciated the pizza.
She covered the pizza with her hands as if she was protecting it. “Shhhh. Don’t say that. The pizza will hear you.”
“Really? The pizza will hear me? You do understand me saying it’s a pizza isn’t the worst thing we’re going to do to it tonight.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, shocked, and confused.
“We’re going to put it in the oven and cut it into pieces. Not the nicest thing to do, don’t you think?”
“For the pizza, no? For us? Definitely.”
On the last night at camp, they would order pizza from Gino’s, a local joint. It had become the favorite night for all the campers and staff alike. It was sad to know the session at camp was coming to an end but the staff tried to make the best of it. The pizza was one way; along with a campfire and award ceremony.
It was after one of those campfires that Ara and I had shared our first kiss. Whenever I thought about camp and most especially that pizza joint, I thought about our kiss. By the slight blush on Ara’s face, she was thinking about it, too. It hadn’t been the reason I had asked Grace to get us a pizza, and I was glad that Ara had remembered.
Being with Ara in the place where we had first met and fell in love had been harder than I had thought. I was glad we still had two more days but I wasn’t sure how my body was going to feel once we left. I wanted her; I had from the moment we met and that wasn’t going to change. I had hurt her and that was something I knew I had to make up for. I had wanted to talk about it but she hadn’t. I wasn’t going to push her, even if it was slowly killing me. I knew we couldn’t move forward physically until we discussed our past. I just hoped that she would be open to having that discussion soon.
“Do you want to cook it? Are you hungry? We can eat something else if you want,” I suggested.
“Bite your tongue,” Ara said and turned on the oven.
“I stand corrected,” I teased.
“What else do we have in this place? Did you bring any more wine?” Ara asked.
“As a matter of fact.” I walked past her and to a cabinet and pulled out another bottle of wine.
“You might never have been a Boy Scout but I do like how you’ve come prepared. Excellent choice. It’s one of my faves,” Ara said as she took the bottle out of my hand and looked at it.
It was a Bordeaux blend from 2018. I had found it by chance in a shop in New York City. I hadn’t known at the time that it was one of Ara’s favorite types of wine; it was just another one of the things we were in sync with.
“How do you know I wasn’t a Boy Scout?” I asked.
“Were you?” she countered as she opened the bottle.
“Okay, no. I was never into camping or sleeping under the stars, as you are well aware of. But I could have gotten into the leadership and self-reliance it taught. It just never worked out with my schedule and life.”
“It must be so hard being a famous movie star,” Ara said. There was a tease in her voice but there was also a little hurt and anger just under the surface.
“There were perks for sure but it wasn’t, it isn’t all easy. Nothing worthwhile is,” I said.
Ara looked at me for a second and I wanted her to ask me what had made it hard. I wanted to tell her it was being away from her. It was trying to convince myself that I was doing the right thing for my life and career when all I could think about was her. I wanted to tell her that I had found a way for us to be together if only she would let me in her life.
“So true. Good thing the wine is good and the pizza wonderful. The company, well, it isn’t too bad either,” she teased.
“Not too bad?” I asked and moved toward her.
She put the wine bottle down and put her hands on her hips. “You disagree?” she asked,
“I would like to think I’m better than being not too bad.”
“What would you consider yourself, then?” she countered and moved closer to me.
“Compassionate, insightful, witty, overall exemplary company.” I stood in front of her.
“You forgot modest,” she added.
I smiled. “I would have thought that went without saying. It’s, after all, one of my most endearing qualities,”
Ara laughed. “You would think that.”
“You disagree?” I tried to give her my most sincere look but it didn’t work and I started laughing, too.
“Admit it, there are many good qualities about you, modesty isn’t one of them,” Ara said.
“I would argue that modesty is not what I would consider a good quality.”
“You wouldn’t,” Ara said and playfully hit my arm.
I reached out and took her arm in my hand and pulled her toward me. I thought to tease her some more, to even tickle her. I wanted to tell her that was one of her best qualities, her laugh and how contagious it was. But the minute she was in my arms and I felt her next to me, I wasn’t thinking about tickling her at all.
Ara’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up at me. Her eyes were like saucers as they darted from my eyes to my lips and back again. I moved toward her, my lips felt as if hers were calling to mine, telling them that it had been too long since they touched. My hand tightened on her arm and I felt her move her hand to my hip.
My whole body responded to being that close to her. I could smell her soft scent of cinnamon and honey; I could feel her breath on my face. I could practically hear her heart beat and I wanted to taste her lips and know if they were as sweet as I remembered.
Our lips were inches apart and I closed my eyes, knowing I was going to kiss Ara and my mind flooded with all the other things I was going to do with her. I felt the brush of her lips next to mine and they opened, wanting to dart my tongue inside.
The sound of the beeper letting us know the oven was ready broke us apart. Ara stepped back and wouldn’t look at me. The moment had been lost but as I looked at her as she pulled the pizza into the oven, I knew that there were more moments to come.