Chapter Forty-One
MICHAEL
The back porch of the house had a privileged view of the mountains, and it was there that Camila, Alice and I stayed together during the early hours of the night, after which we returned, ate something and took a shower.
In fact, Camila and I gave Alice a bath together, under the irritating gaze of her caretaker.
This had been the only job that woman had there, since Camila and I took care of everything related to Alice, even though we both had almost no experience with babies.
We got a little tangled up with some tasks, but we soon adapted.
I already knew a lot about Alice, like what she liked to eat and her favorite games.
The rest, we were discovering little by little, with a little help from the internet in some searches like 'what could a baby's crying mean' (it was the dirty diaper, by the way).
I had an old guitar in that house, a reminder of a time when I was a teenager when I wanted to learn how to play in the hope of becoming a musician someday, but I soon discovered that I had no talent for it.
I discovered that Alice really liked the sound it made, and I used it to play some of the few songs I had learned.
After some time together on the porch, playing together, singing songs and acting silly so that Alice would have fun, my daughter started to show signs of sleepiness and I was able to do something I had dreamed of since I met her, which was to rock her to sleep.
Camila watched the scene in silence, sitting on a lounge chair, with a slight smile on her face.
It was incredible how the presence of that woman gave me strength in all of this.
When Alice finally fell asleep, Alanis – who had spent all this time in the room that opened onto the balcony, watching us as she had done all day – came to me, hurrying to pick her up.
“I guess I can take her to our room now, can't I?” It was more of a statement than a question. Since they would be sharing the same room, I ended up letting her go without any further complaints.
I waited until she was out of sight before sitting down next to Camila, wrapping my arms around her waist and bringing her body closer to mine.
After so many hours exchanging well-behaved kisses, I was finally able to kiss her like I had done on the plane on the way there.
I pulled away as we began to run out of air. Before things got too heated, there was something I needed to tell her, “Thank you.”
“For what?” she looked confused.
Was she seriously asking me that?
“Look, there would be too many things to list, but for now, thank you for accompanying me on this trip, for being so happy to have my daughter here and for helping me take care of her.”
“I act happy because that's how I feel. Even though the idea of spending the afternoon having sex in your heated pool is really tempting, I really had a great day with you and Alice.”
“Well... We always have the option of spending the night having sex in the heated pool.”
She slapped me on the shoulder and laughed.
“Silly. Stop teasing me like that. You make me feel things I didn't feel before.”
I knew she was talking about sex. And I could honestly say that I felt the same way, although she would inevitably think I was lying, with her argument of 'you've had so many women before and blah blah blah'. I had, really. But none of them stirred my instincts like Camila.
Right there, I felt an immense desire to rip off her clothes and fuck her in various ways, for the rest of the night. But that wasn't all.
And that was what I thought was most important to tell her.
“You do that to me too.”
She rolled her eyes and made exactly the comment I expected to hear.
“The womanizer and seducer Michael Turner? As if!”
“I do indeed desire you like I have never desired any other woman before, but that is not what I mean, Camila.”
She blinked, looking confused.
“So, what are you referring to, Michael?”
“You know the night of your birthday? When we left the police station and I took you to the car...”
“And I asked you for a kiss—” she added. “— Yeah, you told me that depressing story.”
“It wasn't just the kiss, Camila. You also made a revelation to me. You said you thought you were in love with me.”
As it always happened when she was embarrassed, Camila's face quickly blushed and I couldn't help but smile, because I thought she managed to look even more beautiful that way.
“I was out of my mind,” she argued. “You shouldn't believe the words spoken by someone like that.”
I don't think even she herself would be able to believe that argument. But maybe I would have believed it until a while ago, since I couldn't be considered someone who understood feelings like passion or love.
But I knew there was something strong connecting Camila to me.
“Well, but I was in my right mind. Don't you want to know what I said?”
“That I was a fool?”
“No. I’ve never thought you were a fool. What I said was that, although you only thought so at that moment, I was already sure . I was sure that, at that time, I was already completely in love with you.”
I realized that she was completely speechless when she heard my confession. So, I took advantage of her lack of reaction to do something that I knew she considered the cheesiest thing in the universe.
I had told her that a guy would have to be pretty desperately in love to do that.
And, well... maybe I was.
I stood up and picked up my guitar, walking away until I was off the porch and into the backyard.
I guess I didn't know how to play that song, but.
.. what difference did it make? I couldn't play many of them anyway, and none of them well, and anyway, my off-key voice would completely drown out the sound of the guitar.
“ My love... There's only you in my life ...” — I started singing the verses of the classic ' Endless Love' .
As expected, Camila finally reacted, bursting out laughing.
“ The only thing that's right ,” I continued.
“I don't believe this!” she shouted, unable to stop laughing.
Laughter that only grew louder when I forced a higher voice when I got to the part originally recorded by Diana Ross.
“ My first love ... You're every breath that I take,” I walked closer, to the first step of the porch. “ You're every step I make...”
When we got to the duet part, Camila also started to accompany me, which caused us both to share another fit of laughter. She was just as out of tune as I was, and the more excited we got, the more it hurt our ears.
“ And I... I want to share... All my love with you... No one else will do... And your eyes (your eyes, your eyes) They tell me how much you care... Ooh, yes, you will always be... My endless love...”
I went back up to the balcony, stopping in front of the lounge chair where Camila was still sitting, and kneeling in front of her, while we got excited together singing.
When the song ended, Camila got down from the lounge chair, also kneeling on the floor in front of me and took my lips with hers in a kiss.
“That is... the cheesiest, tackiest, most off-key... and most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for me,” she declared as soon as our lips parted.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Does that mean you accept?”
“What do I accept, you fool? You didn't make ask anything.”
“Well... you're already wearing a ring, and I thought it would be kind of silly to buy another one. And we already have a party planned. All we have to do is not cancel it.”
She became serious. A glint of insecurity invaded her eyes.
“Are you serious, Michael?”
“I've never been more serious in my entire life. Do you think that's a little hasty?”
“Actually, I do. And I'm not a person to do rash things, but...”
“There's a first time for everything.”
She smiled again.
“I'm glad to have another first time with you, then.”
And again, we kissed.
I felt that was a yes.
I picked her up in my arms, which made her laugh out loud, which she tried to contain as I walked upstairs, carrying her to my room and throwing her on the bed. We took off our clothes, I put on a condom and asked Camila to take control.
Holding my hands and her face flushed, she straddled me, sitting down slowly, moaning loudly as my cock filled her.
Camila was still very inexperienced, and I confess that my ego was soaring knowing that I would be the one to teach her many things.
“Michael...” she whimpered my name.
“What happened to 'Mr. Turner'?” I asked provocatively.
She smiled.
“I'm the one in control now, forgot it?”
She began to sway her hips, slowly and still shyly, while my hands roamed the contours of her body. Little by little, she lost her inhibitions and took what was hers. I fulfilled the promise I had made earlier, making her scream with pleasure.
I didn't even let her recover from her first orgasm, and I changed the position, getting on top, thrusting into her hard, in a rough way that I discovered she liked... a lot. This time, we came together.
We repeated the dose several times during the night, in different ways and positions. The sun was almost rising when we finally fell asleep, together in my bed.
Me and my fiancée...
Me and the woman I already knew I loved.