No. 15 Sleep under the stars
twenty-three
Bea
August seems to have thought of everything, pulling a small plastic bag from his backpack and putting the used condom inside, sealing it up and stashing it away until we find a bin.
Another bag is used for the plug after he gently removes it and wipes it clean.
He has baby wipes, which he uses to clean both of us up, the cool wipes feeling heavenly on my stretched and abused pussy.
He helps me dress and then packs up the blanket, picking up our glasses of wine, still with half-drunk malbec in them.
He passes me mine and carries his, our free hands clasping together as we walk back to the truck.
The sun has set and it’s dark in the forest now, the moonlight shining in silvery strands between the trees to guide us back to the clearing where August parked. It’s only a twenty-minute walk at a leisurely pace, then we’re back. August throws the backpack into the cab and pulls out another bag.
“I bought you something,” he rumbles. I can’t see his face in the dark, but I detect a hint of shyness in his tone.
“A gift?” I bounce excitedly on the balls on my feet.
“Yeah, hold on.” I make out his form leaning over the bed of the truck and then a warm light shines from a battery powered lantern he’s fitted to the back of the cab. I smile up at him, and he rummages in the bag until he pulls out some fabric, thrusting it under my nose. “Here.”
I take the offering, holding the two pieces up and grinning in pleasure. “You bought me pyjamas?”
“Yeah, well, those skimpy little things you normally wear are sexy and all, but they won’t do shit to keep you warm sleeping out here.” He looks down at the ground, scuffing his shoe on the gravel. “Joanie told me what size to get, I hope they’re okay.”
Oh my god, shy and unsure August is bloody adorable, and I want to smoosh his face.
“They’re great,” I reassure him. They’re probably a size bigger than I would normally buy, but that’s absolutely fine for pyjamas and I bet Joanie figured that too.
The pyjamas are bright pink with different coffee cups on them and the phrase ‘But first, coffee’ written in lots of different fonts.
They’re long sleeve and long legged and made with thick material to keep me snug.
“Thank you.” I stretch up to kiss his cheek, but he still has to bend down to meet me halfway.
We change quickly as the air is cold, August pulling on his dark sweats and a grey hoodie, me sliding into my new PJs.
We clean our teeth using a bottle of water August brought to rinse our brushes and I lose all of the warm and cosy feeling the evening had laid on me when I tell August I need to pee and he hands me the baby wipes and a roll of toilet paper with another sealable plastic bag and points to a bush a few feet away.
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack, sunshine.” He fails miserably at hiding his amusement.
“Why would you give me wine if I was going to have to pee in a bush? What about snakes?” I squeak.
“There are no toilets,” August says with mock seriousness. “Therefore, the snakes are not of the toilet variety.”
“August,” I snap, stamping my foot and he laughs, throwing his head back.
“You want me to come with you and watch out for snakes?” he finally says, and I know he’s serious, that he would hold my hand while I peed if I wanted him to.
“I don’t think we’ve reached the peeing in front of each other stage,” I grumble, tucking the supplies he hands me under my arm and stomping off to the pee bush, grateful I don’t need to go number two.
After doing my business and going to great lengths not to pee on my new pyjamas, I wash my hands with the soap and water August has and plant my fists on my hips, looking around. “Okay, where are we sleeping?”
August smirks and pulls the heavy canvas covering off the truck bed and I beam. The flat bed has a mattress and a whole heaping pile of blankets and pillows arranged into a nest, inviting and cosy. “Princess.” He bows and holds his hand out to help me jump up onto the truck.
I take it with a giggle and hop on up, removing my shoes before I get in the makeshift bed.
August follows me up and kicks his own shoes off, placing them to one side, then he retrieves a fuzzy ball from his pocket and unravels it to reveal my favourite fluffy socks.
Pulling my foot onto his lap he starts putting them on me.
“You really did go through all my stuff to pack for tonight, didn’t you?” I laugh.
“Wanted to make sure you were surprised but comfortable.” He shrugs like all of this was no big deal, even though the thought and planning gone into this date is more than anyone has ever done for me.
“Thank you,” I say sincerely, wiggling my toes as he grips my now socked feet.
Turning to look at me, he gives a gentle smile.
“You’re welcome, sunshine.” We stare at each other for a long moment, and I wonder if he feels this crackling intensity between us as I do.
“Now,” he says, breaking the moment and taking my list from his pocket.
“We’ve got some things to cross off.” He hands me the paper and a pen, which I click open and closed a few times for dramatic effect.
“We have accomplished butt stuff,” I declare, striking it firmly from the list.
“That we did,” he agrees with a smile full of masculine pride.
“Sex in public, technically,” I say.
“Definitely.”
“Sex outside.”
“Cross it off.”
“Use sex toys with a partner.” I draw a line through number twenty-two. “Double penetration,” I say a little quieter, feeling my cheeks heat.
“Big, fat tick next to that one.” August grins. “And strike off sleeping under the stars while you’re there.”
I do, then I fold the paper and hand it back to him to stash away safely.
August settles back on the bed and pulls me into his side, reaching up to turn off the lantern and I’m breathless as I take in the sight above us.
The clearing we’re parked in leaves a circular frame around our view of the inky black sky, speckled with pinpricks of sparkling light.
The night is clear and crisp, the breeze rustling the leaves above us in a hushed ripple that’s comforting in a way.
“It’s beautiful,” I say, feeling emotional, the peace of the moment allowing the feelings to rise and be felt.
My head is resting on August’s large chest, his arm around me and he pulls me closer, like he knows I need the contact right now.
“I think it’s just hit me,” I say, my voice thick.
“What’s hit you?” he asks gently.
“Everything that’s happened in the last six months.
All the changes, all the things I’ve done.
If you’d told me a year ago this is where I’d be today, I would have balked.
” I sniff hard, blinking tears down my cheeks that I’m sure are landing to wet August’s hoodie.
“But I’m so happy right now, August,” I say through tears.
“You sound it,” he teases, and I laugh a little.
“I am. I’m happy and I’m proud of myself and I’ve just realised I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that.” I smile into the night, letting those good feels warm me against the cooling air.
“You should be proud,” August says, his voice low and sincere. “You’ve moved away from everything you knew, started your own business, and won over everyone in Port Doone—”
“Even you?”
“Especially me. I’m proud of you, Bea. We’re all proud of you.
” I push myself up to rest my chin on his pec to look up at him.
My eyes have adjusted to the lack of light so I can just about make out the softness in his features as he looks down at me.
His hand comes up to caress my cheek, first with a light stroke of his knuckles, then by cupping my jaw.
“Bea, I…” He trails off, licking his lips and taking a breath that seems to be more for courage than oxygen. “I love you.”
My heart takes flight, taking me with it to float among the stars. “Really?”
“Yeah, I know it’s early, and you don’t have to say it back or anything. I just wanted to tell y—”
“I love you too,” I blurt, the words having no more space to hide inside me.
I feel August deflate, like he’d been holding a breath that now can release.
“You know what you said a minute ago, about it all hitting you?” I nod.
“Well, that’s how I feel when I look at you.
Everything good that’s ever happened in my life comes crashing over me like a wave, and at the forefront is you.
Like every moment of happiness is more because I have you now. ”
Wow. “I didn’t know you could be so poetic.”
August snorts, his smile infectious, his body relaxed and carefree as he strokes soothing circles over my back. “It happens occasionally, apparently.”
“I feel the same,” I tell him. “You know I never want anyone to see me when I’m struggling with my anxiety, I want to shrink down and disappear.
Only Cas can help, they’ve been there for me too many times to count.
But when it happened last week, I needed you.
I felt safe with you, like I wasn’t a burden. ”
He pulls me over him until our faces are only an inch apart and I’m lying atop the length of his body. “You’re not a burden, sunshine. You make everything lighter.”
There’s nothing to do but kiss him. We kiss and laugh and kiss some more, under the stars and in the blanket of darkness, confessing love when our lips pause only to start again.
We wake early the next morning due to the chill and the lack of anything to block out the bright morning sun.
We clean our teeth, smiling over at each other with foaming mouths like a couple of dopey, loved up, rabid bunnies.
August told me not to bother changing out of my pyjamas as he’d drop me home right at my front door.