Pleasure My Lustful Heart: A Romance Novella (6 page)

Now I could see the fish, struggling furiously, break the water ten feet from the boat. “Now what do I do?” I said.

“Get him over here, close to the boat.” Gregg made his way toward the bow, bringing a net. “That’s a very nice small-mouth bass you have there.” He reached over the side of the boat and dipped the net into the water to grab the fish. But suddenly my line went slack, and the fish was gone.

“What happened?” I said.  “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you did everything exactly right,” he said. “It’s just that sometimes the fish wins. Don’t feel bad. You’ll get another one.”

I laughed. “Maybe I’ll get the same one again.”

“Probably not,” he said. “Your know what they say, ‘Once hooked, twice shy.’”

“That doesn’t just go for fish. It’s the same for people.”

He was sitting next to me now, his arms touching mine. “Does that mean you’ve been hooked, before?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“My mistake,” he said. His face was squarely in front of me, and close to mine. I had the feeling that if I were to lean toward him, just half an inch, he would take it as an invitation to kiss me. And I would kiss him back. The temptation was overwhelming. We had covered a lot of emotional ground in just a few days. I liked how he looked, and how he spoke, and the way he made me feel.  But I didn’t lean toward him, and nothing happened. Just as well, I thought. I’m still not sure what Gregg Monsell truly wants from me. Go slow. Be careful.

He was wrong about catching another fish.  Both our bobbers floated placidly on the surface, without any sign of fish nosing around our baits below. Our discussion of relationships ended for the time being. Gregg didn’t press me on the subject of romance, much to my relief.  After a half hour with no nibbles, we motored to a different spot, but our luck was no better.  The noon sun rose in the sky, now directly overhead, and there was no breeze. We decided to escape the heat, and returned to the dock, eager to get to the cold sodas and sandwiches in the cooler.

We decided to wait until late afternoon, when Gregg said the bass would come close to the shallows near the shore to dine on the bugs that ventured onto the water from the tall grasses. And there was often a breeze that came up, he said, to drive away the heat.

But we didn’t get to fish any more. Gregg took me on a tour of the property, lovely woods that extended along the shore on both sides of the cabin. We saw chipmunks and squirrels, and even a red fox
who didn’t seem to be afraid of us.  “I keep getting offers from people who want to buy pieces of this property,” Gregg said. “Everybody wants frontage on the lake, but there isn’t much left, and what there is costs plenty. I have nearly six hundred feet. But I promised Dad I'd never sell. And I’ll never clear the trees. I’ll keep these woods just as they are.”

We went back to the cabin, which was sheltered by tall oak trees, and still cool inside. Gregg made a pot of coffee on a kerosene camp stove, and we started
eating  our sandwiches as we talked. Gradually, as we told each other more about ourselves, I sensed a change in the man. Until now, Gregg had been guarded, holding back, never revealing all of what he truly felt and what he wanted. Now he was telling me not only about his past, but about his fears.

“I was on night patrol
with my men, and we heard noises in the darkness. There were enemy snipers waiting for us. There was a shot, just one single shot, and my sergeant fell dead. They got him right in the forehead. I moved the men into the rubble of a bombed-out building, not knowing how we were going to get out. We were pinned down there for an hour. Finally, I decided the only way out was to take the offensive. There was a big firefight. We killed a couple, and drove the rest away. Believe me, I was scared. We were all scared."

“I didn’t think
you'd be afraid of anything,” I said.

“Any soldier who says he’s not afraid is lying. War
is full of fear.”

On and on we talked, about books, schools, movies, politics, even our craziest dreams and fantasies. Everything under the sun — except the possibility of merging our two companies. That would have broken the spell. The conversation grew mellow and
beguiling. We couldn’t stop, and the hours simply melted away.

I connected
completely with Gregg, and he to me..  It was as though we were the only two people in the face of the earth, alone in the woods, with only each other for companionship and comfort.

Our coffee grew cold and the sandwiches remained half-eaten.  Gregg looked at his watch. “It’s five-thirty. The fish may be hungry by now,” he said. “Should we try to catch some?”

Catching fish was about the last thing on my mind now. “Seems a shame to drown those worms. We could let them go.”

“We could do that.” Gregg stood, holding his hand out to me. I took it, and he lifted me to my feet.  “Kit, I know you’re a strong-willed woman, and I don’t want to make you angry, but there’s something I have to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“I have this overwhelming urge to kiss you.” He grinned at me. “Would you mind?”

Don’t give him a smart-ass reply, I thought. He wants to kiss you, and you want to be kissed. “Actually, I’d love to kiss you,” I told him. For me, that was a pretty good answer — not sarcastic, and totally truthful.

Gregg stepped closer to me, and then we were touching. He was so tall.  I turned my face up, inviting him. I felt his arms enfolding me, his hands on my back tracing the lines of my shoulder blades with his fingers. Slowly and gently, he drew me to him. My eyes were open. I wanted to see everyth
ing as our lips touched, softly, but with growing passion. Even in the cool of the cabin, there was no mistaking the body heat as we tasted each other’s mouths for a long, delicious moment.

I would have remained like that for an eternity, but every kiss has an ending. Gregg parted from me. “More,” I said, and he took me again, kissing my mouth, my eyes, and with a search of his lips, finding the
secret spot on my neck, just above the collarbone. It was — what’s the word? — heavenly.

We kissed again and again. I moved back a step and put my weight against the table, pressing on it with my hips, leaning backward. Gregg moved with me. His hands
stroked me — up, down. Slowly, slowly. I could sense that fragrance he used — the scent of oranges and lemons.

I was on fire. He had set a flame in me, and it filled the cabin, the woods, everything,
everywhere.  I ran both my hands through his hair, touching his face.

Finally, catching my breath, I said, “It was cool in here, and now it’s hot. Something we did, I wonder?” It was a dumb remark, but I felt I should say something. I smiled at him so he’d know I was just trying to be funny.

“Yes,” he said, “but I heard once that some like it hot. ” He kissed me again, a quick, playful peck on the lips. “Do you?”

“Do you?” I said.

“I asked you first.”

“I like your after shave,” I said.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said. “Say, it’s so hot, why don’t we go for a swim?”

“I didn’t know we’d be swimming. I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“Not a problem,” he said.

“Are you suggesting we go skinny-dipping? I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“No such thing. We just strip down to our skivvies and we swim. There isn’t that much difference between skivvies and bathing suits. Perfectly proper. We can swim off the end of the dock. Water’s is less than four feet deep.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re just trying to get my clothes off?” I said. Swimming in my panties and bra seemed like an appealing idea, but I didn’t want to sound too eager. Let him convince me.

“Kit, if you have a problem with it, let’s not do it. But it’s warm, and the water’s clear and cool, and we’re two adult people. And a swim would be just right for ending a great day.“

“Well —“

“Good,” he said before I could get another word out. Standing there in the middle of the cabin, Gregg kicked off his sandals, pulled off his tee shirt and then his jeans. Only his blue boxer shorts stood between him and being completely naked. His arms and chest were shining with perspiration. Was it the heat, I wondered, or was it me? “Your turn,” he said.

With my heart racing, I stripped down to my bikini panties and bra. This was something new for me. I wasn’t naked, but somehow I felt naked, anyway.

We walked down to the lake holding hands, then to the end of the dock. “Don’t dive in,” he said. “It’s not deep enough.”

“I’m not the diving type. I’m the ease-carefully-into-the-water-till-I’m-wet-all-over type.”

“I’ll help you,” he said. He slid off the dock into the water. Standing on the bottom, he reached up for me with both hands.

“You’re not going to pull me in, are you?”

He laughed and shook his head. “I’m going to ease you into the water till you’re wet all over, just the way you like it.”

“I’m trusting you.” I reached out and grasped his shoulders. He took me by the waist and eased me off the dock until my legs went into the water. He held me tight against him and
gently slid me down, little by little, until I stood on the bottom, and the water came up to my chest.

“How’s that?” he said.

“A little braver than usual for me,” I said, “but all in all, not bad.”

“You’re still not quite wet all over.” Gregg said. “Let me fix that.” Our bodies were still pressed together. He dipped his hands into the water and rubbed them on my shoulders and neck. “Kit, I’ve been looking a long time for you. I can’t believe I finally found you.”

That was a cue to kiss again if I ever heard one, and I didn’t resist. We stood there in the water clinging to each other. For a crazy moment, I felt as though the water was hot, not cool. My hormones at work again.  “Do you think there’s anybody watching us?” I said.

“Not a soul,” he said. “No one can see around the bend in the lake. We’re all alone. If you want to skinny-dip, go right ahead.”

“I’ve never done that,” I said.

“I used to do it all the time here when I was a kid. It feels good.”

Before I could even consider the possibility, my desire raced ahead of my good sense, and I found myself unhooking my bra and laying it on the dock. Gregg stripped off his shorts and tossed them there, as well. Without saying anything, he ducked under the water, and pulled down my panties, brushing my stomach with his lips as he stood up. Now our clothes were all on the dock, and we were both in our birthday suits.

“Is your watch waterproof?” I said. It was the best I could come up with.

“Yes.”

“So is mine.” Well, I thought, we got that out of the way.

Gregg kissed my breasts, first one, then the other. With him close again, I felt his sex touching me beneath the water, erect and probing. I leaned back against the dock with my arms outstretched, holding on. He lifted my legs up from the bottom and I wrapped them around his body. I released one hand from the dock, and guided him in.  We rocked in the water, a measured frolic against the dock. I watched him in the light of the lowering sun, which reflected a million sparkles on the surface of the lake. The passion built to a crescendo which stretched on and on, a sensation of extreme pleasure, until finally we were both spent, and we dropped away from each other in the water.

I knew perfectly well what I had done, and the risk I was taking.  Maybe I was desperate for attachment to somebody.  Maybe I was starved for sex. Maybe I was somehow trying to make up for the fiasco with Lucien. But maybe, in the best of all possible worlds, this was the
genuine thing, something to build on, something to last —and that’s the possibility I had bet on.

“This has gone awfully far, awfully fast,” I said, as much to myself as to Gregg.

“I’ve loved every minute being with you,” he said.

“Especially the last fifteen or so, I’m sure.”  There you go, Kit, I thought. You did it again. Can’t you even have underwater sex without being sarcastic? “I thought it was wonderful,” I said, trying to take the edge off my insensitive response. 

If he thought I was being a wise guy, he didn’t show it. I remembered he’d let it pass on a previous episode, too. Maybe he thinks it’s part of my charm.

“It was
wonderful. ,” he said. “I think you are wonderful. You take my breath away, Kit.” He isn’t being flip. He means it, I assured myself. 

We never did catch any fish, and we only swam from the dock for a few minutes, but we did set the worms free. And we shared an amazing act of love.
In the water, of all places.

A gentle breeze was stirring when we hoisted ourselves back onto the dock, picked up our clothes, and walked, stark naked, back to the cabin. This is really back to nature, I thought.

We dressed with no underclothes, which were still too wet to put on.  We were both hungry, and after Gregg locked the cabin he drove us to a nearby roadside café that made, he promised, the world’s best Philly cheese steaks.  The sandwiches were enormous, packed with sliced meat and melted yellow cheese. “I’ll never be able to finish this,” I told him. But I did.

“I knew you could do it,” he said.

By the time we finished our meal, the sun was slipping quickly below the horizon. I was feeling blissful in the extreme, and so was Gregg. I rested my head on his shoulder as he drove back to town. The radio was playing soft music, and we listened without talking for a long time.