EIGHTEEN

 

Welcome to Fantasy Island…Bow Chicka Wow Wow

 

Libby

 

 

Our lips brush against each other, and I feel my entire body heat up in a way it never has before. Suddenly, I don't care about my job, I don't care about Richard, I don't care about my mum and her stupid young boyfriends. The only thing I care about is this moment right here with this man.

Letting his backpack fall off his shoulder and onto the ground, he kisses me gently at first, and when I press myself up against him and grip his muscular back with my hands, he gets the idea that I want more. He crushes his mouth to mine, giving me the kiss I've been waiting for my entire life. It's filled with passion and honesty, and somehow it feels like love, even though I know it can't be.

We stay like this, just kissing and letting our hands roam over each other's clothes for so long, it makes me completely crazy with lust. I let out a moan that speaks a thousand words of desire.

Suddenly, his hands are on my bottom and I feel myself being lifted into the air in what I'm pretty sure is every woman's fantasy move. He holds me up while we kiss some more, with only the sound of the wind rustling through the trees and the song of some birds I don't know the name of (and at this moment do not care because the thing he's doing with his tongue is complete magic).

A gentle rain starts to fall. It's refreshing, and it feels as though it could cleanse away all my pain and disappointment. The rain intensifies, but we don't stop even though we’re both drenched. At this point, we’re both so far gone, it would take a force of nature to stop us.

A huge crack of thunder booms, shaking the ground. Well, there it is. Hello, Mother Nature.

Harrison pulls back and says, “That's not good.”

I stare at him with what I'm sure is a dreamy expression on my face. “I completely disagree. That was very good.”

“I meant the thunder. What we were doing just now was better than very good.” He sets me down and grabs my hand. Picking up the backpack, he swings it over his shoulder and we start running even though I don't know where were running to.

“You don't happen to have a house here, do you?”

“More like a rustic cabin, but it’ll get us out of the storm.”

The ground is wet and slippery under our feet as we run and slide our way along the path, laughing a little at ourselves as the rain beats down on us.

“I'm glad you're enjoying this!” he yells over the sound of the rain.

“I've honestly never felt so alive in my entire life!” I shout, suddenly shocked by the fact that it's true. I feel like a new woman, suddenly — a brave, adventurous one who parasails and kisses gorgeous men in the jungle.

“Okay, so the next part is going to be a little scary,” he shouts as we round a corner and come to a sudden stop where the ground drops off into a steep, lush valley below.

On the other side of the valley sits a tiny cabin, and my heart jumps to my throat when I realize the only way there is over a rickety bridge. When I give it a hard look, I see it’s really more of a rope and wooden plank type of thing that's rocking wildly from side to side in the wind.

Aaaaand Adventurous Libby has left the island.

“No,” I say, shaking my head as my pulse pounds in my ears. “I can't do that. Nope. That's not for me.”

A clap of thunder causes me to jump, and Harrison looks down at me. “There's not much choice. The trick is —”

“Don't look down? Yeah, you don’t look down. I’ll be just fine over here on solid ground because I'm not going to get on that thing. In fact, I think I’ll just head back towards the beach.” I turn and call, “I'll see you later,” over my shoulder.

Harrison grabs my wrist and stops me. “It'll be okay. I promise you.”

“I can't, Harrison,” I say, trying not to sound like I’m about to cry but failing miserably.

“Do you trust me?”

“It's not you that's the problem. It's me. There's no way I can make it across that thing without falling. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not all that athletic.”

“You don’t need to be. I've got it from here.”

He slips the backpack onto my shoulders, then clips it across my chest and tightens it. “You ready?”

“No.” I shake my head vigorously.

“Just close your eyes and trust me.”

I close my eyes tight, deciding that actually does seem like an excellent coping mechanism at the moment. Suddenly, I feel myself being lifted into the air, fireman style, and I clutch his back with both hands, feeling utterly terrified.

“Whatever you do, do not open your eyes!”

“No problem,” I say, wincing and clinging to him like a baby monkey to its mother.

“So, you’re taking us a different way, right? A not-on-the-bridge-that-is-definitely-going-to-collapse way?” I shout.

My answer comes in the sudden swaying and bouncing up and down. Oh great, now I feel like I have to pee. Oh God! Do not do that right now. Do not pee, Libby. There would literally be nothing worse than you peeing at this moment!

Unless I peed and got a nosebleed at the same time.

Oh God, I just want to wake up and be at home in my bed. Maybe if I click my heels together and say, “There's no place like home,” I’ll open my eyes and this will be over.

We continue to bounce along, and a huge gust of wind hits. I feel Harrison freeze for a moment while the bridge swings left and right. I do my best not to scream even though I'm pretty sure someone’s screaming, and it sounds both very loud and a lot like me.

“Are we going to die here?” I shout. “I don't want to die!”

Just as I'm shouting the word 'die' for the second time, Harrison’s steps feel very steady. Then the rain stops. I open my eyes and lift my head to discover we're already in the cabin.

Harrison sets me down and smiles at me. “Told you we’d be okay.”

I shrug, trying to look nonchalant. “I knew that the whole time.”

“You’re such a bad liar,” he says as he unclips the backpack and slides it off my shoulders. The look he gives me makes me feel as though he's just completely undressed me instead of just removing a bag. “We should get out of these wet things,” he says with a sexy grin.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Did you know a storm was coming?”

He holds up one hand. “Scout’s honour, I had no idea.”

“Were you ever even a scout?”

“No, but I buy their disgusting tubs of popcorn every year when they come around, so that should count for something.” He peels off his shirt, and I try not to drool at the perfection that is his wet, naked torso.

He sets his shirt down on the back of a kitchen chair, and it hits me that I haven't even bothered to look around the small structure that's sheltering us from the rain. It's a one-room cabin with a hot plate, a table for two and a double bed.

I point to the bed and say, “There aren't any bedbugs, right?”

“No bedbugs,” he says, chuckling a little as he reaches for me. “Now, if you don't mind, I'm trying to set the mood here, and you're kind of killing it.”

Then he lifts my shirt over my head.

 

***

 

Okay, so that was mind-blowingly incredible. It was body-blowingly amazing too. Is that a thing? Because if not, it totally should be the phrase for having your entire world rocked so hard, you don’t think you’ll ever recover from being so thoroughly and deliciously sexified. Three times.

I lay under the sheets panting while he kisses my neck in that place that makes my eyes roll back in my head. I didn’t even know I had an involuntary response like that, but it turns out I do. Several of them, in fact.

“Did I warm you up yet?” he asks, smiling down at me.

“Almost,” I say, giving him a naughty grin. That’s been my excuse to get him to do all the sex stuff for the last…oh…two hours, maybe? I have no idea. All I know is that it’s completely dark in here now, so it must be night. It’s still raining, but it’s now settled into a steady, hypnotic thrum against the roof.

“If you want me to keep warming you up, I’m going to have to eat something to get my strength up.”

“Oh, definitely eat, then,” I say, unable to wipe the satisfied grin off my face.

“Okay,” he says, but instead of standing to get some food, he ducks under the covers.

I laugh, putting my hand to my face while he works his way down. By the time he gets there, I’m not laughing anymore. And I disappear from the real world again for a wonderfully long time.

 

***

 

We sit together, pillows propped up against the wrought-iron headboard, dining on a pretty decent picnic. He brought a container with olives and cheese and sliced bread that tastes like it just came out of the oven. There’s a container of fruit, a bottle of red wine, and for dessert there are two thick slices of very yummy looking chocolate cake waiting for us on the table.

“Mmm, God, this is amazing.”

“That sounds familiar to me. I may have heard you say it earlier,” he says with a grin that would melt my knickers, if I were wearing any.

“Yes, a few times, even, but now I actually mean it. This Brie is divine,” I say.

“So it’s going to be like that, is it?” he says, looking amused.

“Oh, you were good, too,” I say, patting him on the leg condescendingly. “But this cheese is really worth writing home about.”

Giving me a mock frustrated look, he takes both our plates and sets them on the night stand.

“Wait, I was enjoying that.”

“Then you shouldn’t have thrown down the gauntlet.” He pulls me down so I’m laying flat, then rolls on top of me and kisses me hard on the mouth.

When he pulls back a bit, I give him a skeptical look. “So, let me get this straight. You’re trying to prove you’re more satisfying than a slice of cheese right now?”

“I am. And between you and me, I like my chances.”