Chapter 5 – Virginia
I was lying awake in bed, going over every word I had said to Carl at dinner. It had felt so perfect spending time with him, almost like an actual date. We had never spent time together like this before, and now it felt like this trip was what I had been missing all my life.
He was as hot as ever, if not hotter. It was almost like the older that Carl got, the sexier he became. He was masculine and strong, and when he’d taken his jacket off at the table, I couldn’t help my gaze from drifting to the tattoos on his bulging biceps and the width of his strong chest.
In bed now, I was fantasizing about being in those arms. What it would feel like to actually touch him again. Even though that kiss had happened two years ago, it was like I could taste him in my mouth again. He was my teenage fantasy and my ideal man. Every guy I had even remotely been attracted to in my life, I had compared to Carl. Nobody even came close.
He was a no-nonsense, strong man who knew exactly how to kiss a woman but the chances of that happening again were very low. My dad stood between us, and secondly, I didn’t even know if Carl looked at me that way. Maybe that kiss was a drunken mistake for him, maybe he had erased the incident from his memory and didn’t ever want to come close to something like that again.
Either way, it didn’t stop me from fantasizing about him. I imagined what he looked like under that shirt. How ribbed were his abs? His legs were stalky and muscular, and I wondered what it would feel like to brush the rough skin of his thighs against my soft cheeks. His hands were large, that much I knew – would they fit perfectly over my breasts?
I could feel a throbbing in my pussy, and I touched myself lightly. Was he the reason why I had never been with a guy? Was he the man I was saving myself for? I hadn’t considered it before, but now I was starting to believe that it was true. How stupid was I? To even imagine that a man like Carl would want to sleep with an inexperienced young girl like me? A girl he had watched growing up!
I tossed and turned in bed, trying to make the throbbing stop. I could feel my nipples pebbling under my silk slip and I tried to fall asleep. Even though I was happy to spend time with Carl and I had practically forgotten what this trip was actually about, I couldn’t help but have the thought in the back of my head that nothing more was going to happen with him. That kiss had been a mistake.
***
The next morning at the breakfast buffet, I followed Carl with my eyes while he filled his plate with eggs and sausages. I wasn’t really hungry. I had lost my appetite after the very graphic fantasies that I’d had the previous night about my dad’s best friend.
The more I looked at him, the hotter he looked. He had an athlete’s muscular body, tall and lithe, without being too buff. His neck was wide and strong. I stared at his back and at the way his perfect ass moved in his jeans. I knew I was totally objectifying a man’s physical appearance, and I was a scholar and knew better than to do that! I couldn’t help it though, Carl turned a lot of heads in the room and I just happened to be one of them.
“So, since I am in charge of the fun, I vote that we go check out the national park!” I said excitedly when he joined me at the table where we were going to eat our breakfast.
Carl’s beard looked more scruffy today, and I wondered if he’d forgotten to trim it. In the morning light, I could see his eyes more clearly and how icy blue they were. He was wearing a thin cotton t-shirt and his usual pair of dark jeans, even though it was quite cold. Nothing affected this man, least of all the weather.
I was packed up in jeans, a sweater and a ski jacket with a furry hood. Carl looked at me with wide eyes and smiled.
“That sounds like a good idea,” he said and chewed his food.
“Gives us something to do while you sit around and protect me from the baddies,” I exclaimed with a laugh and he was still smiling. He shook his head like I was a silly child who had said something stupid and continued eating his food.
“I looked up the brochures. It’s a short drive from here and then we can go for a hike in the park,” I said and Carl nodded his head in agreement.
“But I guess you might have to put on a few more clothes for that!” I added and he looked up at me and his gaze fell down to the front of my sweater. He looked away immediately, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he was checking me out. My nipples stiffened in my bra, and that familiar throbbing in my pussy began again.
I clutched my fork tighter, hoping that I wouldn’t have to spend the whole day fantasizing about this man’s body.
“I have my jacket,” Carl said and I burst out laughing again.
“Your puny leather jacket? That’s what you’re going to wear on a hike in Alaska?” I said through my laughter and Carl shrugged his shoulders.
“I have a scarf too,” he added, and I couldn’t stop laughing.
It was amazing that despite everything, I was actually having fun with him, and he hadn’t even touched me yet.
***
I stepped out of the rented car, and my boots sunk into the snow. Carl banged his door shut and walked around to my side.
“You gonna be okay?” I heard him ask, as I tried to walk up the snowy path towards the gated entrance of the national park. There was no other human soul in sight.
“Yeah, I can manage walking without assistance, thank you!” I called out to him, as I tried to balance and walk ahead of him. I just needed some time to get used to this terrain, that was all. I didn’t want Carl to think that I was some silly girl who couldn’t even take care of herself! I wanted him to look at me as the woman that I was.
The air was fresh and chilly and my breath fogged up in front of me. When I looked up, I saw that the sky was crystal clear and blue; just like Carl’s magnetic eyes.
“This is fun, isn’t it?” I called out to him, turning to see him following me. Carl had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket and seemed like he was having no trouble walking in the snow.
As promised, he’d tied a woolen scarf around his neck, but that was pretty much all the warm clothing he needed. It was probably why he wasn’t having as much trouble in the snow as I was.
“Maybe I should take off my ski jacket?” I said, talking to him as I walked backward.
“Maybe not, because then you’ll freeze,” he said and I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’ll warm up if I run around,” I suggested with a laugh and he shook his head and smiled.
“I don’t think you should run around!” he called back, and I turned from him and stomped my feet into the snow.
I had walked through the gates of the park, and we were entering the massive snowy expanse of wildlife. Most of it was covered in snow, but it was full of life and beautiful nevertheless.
“Fuck it, I’m going for a run,” I mumbled to myself, and I unzipped my jacket and threw it down on the snow.
“Virginia! You really shouldn’t!” I heard Carl say, but I threw caution to the wind and ran. I couldn’t stop laughing as I did, around the trees and in no particular direction. I could feel my boots sinking into the snow and every step I took was difficult, but that didn’t slow me down.
I suddenly felt free and wild, and I kept running. What I’d forgotten was that the snow was covering up a terrain that I couldn’t see. There were rocks and stones and tree stumps that were covered and I tripped on one of them and I shrieked. I had felt my left ankle twist.
I fell face first into the snow, just moments before a pair of hands had landed on my shoulders. Carl was lifting me up.
“Fuck, Virginia! You shouldn’t have been running! Are you okay?” I was in Carl’s arms. He was cradling me, peering into my eyes. I could feel the stinging cold of the snow on my skin and I watched as he lifted a hand and started dusting it off my face.
“Are you okay? Have you broken anything?” he asked, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
I felt weightless in his arms. He was warm and strong and he had lifted me up like a feather.
“No, Carl, I haven’t broken anything,” I said.
It was like time had stood still, even though we were moving. Carl was carrying me back towards the car, but I couldn’t even feel it. We were looking into each other’s eyes and neither of us could say anything. It was like I was reliving that moment from two years ago when he had kissed me. I couldn’t even feel the pain in my ankle anymore.
Carl lowered his face towards me, and I focused on his lips, on his beard. I realized I was holding my breath, just as he brought his mouth to mine. Our lips grazed and I heard him grunt. His lips were on mine and I was kissing him back with force. His grip on my body tightened, and I pulled myself up, closer to him.
It was a rough, animalistic kiss. It made me think that Carl had been waiting to kiss me for just as long as I was waiting to kiss him. I could taste him, feel his tongue part my lips and enter my mouth. I moaned lightly and he grunted again. That throbbing in my pussy grew furious. I couldn’t believe it was happening.
And then it ended. Carl pulled his lips away from mine, and our mouths smacked when they parted.
We were already in the car by now, and averting his eyes from me, he yanked the door open and slid me in. I gulped, staring at him nervously as he banged the door shut. I watched him walk around and then sit down beside me.
I wanted to say something; reassure him that it was okay and exactly what I wanted, but I couldn’t. He looked furious, and I had no idea if he was mad at me or himself.
Carl started the car, and without looking at me again, he was driving again.
“You need to give your ankle a rest. We don’t want it to get worse. We need to keep moving.” It was like he had growled those words at me. They stung my skin when he said them.
I looked straight ahead, afraid of making eye contact with him. That kiss had felt too good to be true and now it felt like it should have never happened.
He drove us back to the hotel and remained sitting in the car, while I hobbled my way in and to my room. He hadn’t said another word to me and I had no idea if he was going to come in, or just sit outside in the car in the cold.
I felt like I could break down and cry.