Page 123 of Tempted Hearts
But I also wanted to answer her.
So I changed positions and looked into my girlfriend’s eyes.
“I have moved in with you that first day back.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God, that feels so good.”
“But better late than never. Since I’m here most nights anyway, I think it’s a great idea.”
And then I stopped talking, intent on pleasing the woman who had given me so much.
She helped me with my job search and was mostly responsible for the current position I held as a history professor at Ithaca College. But more than that, she’d given me an unconditional love I never imagined actually existed.
“Not being able to move my hands is torture.”
I continued working her. “That’s the point.”
She smiled, but didn’t laugh, Juliette very close to release.
“How about you come for me so I can fuck you hard on the first thrust.”
“Oh my God. When you say things like that.”
She was close.
“Say things like, this afternoon I’m going to take you again on our hike. Just off the trail, and if anyone sees us, I don’t give a shit. Your hands will be out, bracing yourself on a tree, as I take you from behind. And doing this too, of course.”
I simultaneously massaged both spots, like she liked, and Juliette screamed my name.
Just like I promised, I entered her easily and didn’t relent. She tugged her wrists, but they didn’t move. I stayed with her through every aftershock, and my own release, until her breathing slowed and she finally smiled, spent and warm beneath me.
After I untied her, Juliette curled up into a ball by my side, my arm under her, cradling her. I played with a strand of her hair. This position was one I could stay in all day, every day.
“We’re not really going to have sex on the trail, are we?”
“I guess we’ll see in a bit. That is, if we ever get out of this bed.”
“We have to get out of the bed. Emilio’s viewing is at four o’clock.”
I had only distant memories of the wine shop owner, but the whole town had been devastated when he’d passed. It had also affected Jules deeply. The two of them had all bonded over their shared roots.
“So hike, back here to shower, and get there for four or a little after?”
Juliette snuggled in more deeply.
“That, or we skip the hike and just stay here, and then go for four o’clock.”
She looked at me expectantly.
We decided to hike this morning, and it seemed like a good idea at the time, but this seemed like a better one. Plus, I knew her pretty well and was certain she wanted Plan B.
“Let’s stay here. We can hike another day.”
Her smile told me I’d gotten it right.
Some days I did, but some days I got it wrong. And on those days, I learned.
“Oh, Beck is having something at the bar afterward,” I said. “Emilio’s family is mostly from out of town, and he got talking to one of them, a cousin I think, and anyway… We’re all going over. If that works?”
