Kissing Fire (17 page)

“Yes, Avery, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

My heart skipped a thousand beats. Before Preston,
no one had ever thought enough of me to say something like that.
Before I could even stop myself, I heard the words gush from my
mouth, “Do you think you could ever love me Preston?”

“No, Avery, I don’t.”

My heart crashed to the floor. Why had I even asked
him that? How stupid was that of me?

Before I could think of anything to say, he asked,
“Do you know why?” he asked.

“Why?” I didn’t really want to know now, so I’m not
sure why that tiny word eked out of my mouth.

“Because Avery I don’t think,
I
know
I could
love you.”

I whipped my head toward him so fast, because I
wanted to be positive I didn’t mistake what I heard. “You
could?”

“Oh yeah Avery. Undoubtedly. I could love you with
all of my heart and soul.”

“Really? Me?”

“You Avery. Yes, you and only you.”

I beamed and kissed him lightly on the lips.

“Then I guess we’ll have to work on that, won’t we
Preston?”

“I guess we will. But, you’re a little late because
I already am,” he answered, giving me a cheeky grin, as he pinched
my butt.

“Ouch!” I yelled. “You better watch out buster. Do
you know why Preston?”

“No, Avery, but I think you should tell me.”

“Because paybacks are hell you know.”

“Yes, they are Avery. And I’m quite sure yours will
be spectacularly so.” He was smiling back at me.

I went to my room to put on some
clothes. Preston could love me. Could I love him? I’d never loved
anyone before. What did it feel like to love someone? Should I ask
Caroline? I didn’t know, but maybe I would know when it happened.
I’d never thought much about it before because I never thought it
would happen. I’d had such bad luck on the man plan that I had
taken myself off of it. Well, after Little Dickie and all, I just
figured that was my last straw. No more men for Avery. Men were bad
luck on all counts. But now with Preston, I was back on track. I’d
never felt about any man like I felt around him. He made me feel
like...well, I’m not exactly sure how he made me feel. All I knew
was that if our little episode in the shower was any indication of
what was to come, I was there ready, willing and certainly able.
Damn, just thinking about him got me all hot and bothered. I mean,
really. He set my blood on a five alarm fire.

Looking at the clock, I realized I’d been standing
in my room, naked, for the last thirty minutes. I hit the closet
and pulled out some jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt, slid on some
flip flops and headed downstairs. When I got in the kitchen,
Preston looked up from his task of chopping vegetables and started
grinning. I smiled back, but he kept on smiling.

“Okay, what’s so funny?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Yes there is. Do I have something stuck in my
teeth? Broccoli, black pepper? What’s up?”

“Okay, it’s your hair. Did you brush it after your
shower?”

Thinking back I realized I hadn’t. My hand flew to
my hair and it was a tangled mess of mostly dried fuzz.

“Oh good lord, I bet I look like I have a nest of
squirrels livin’ in here.”

He belted out a hearty laugh. “Not quite. Maybe
birds, but not squirrels.”

“I totally forgot to comb it. Crap, now I’ll never
get a brush through this.”

“Er, Avery, did you have your mind on something
else? Were you distracted by something?” He gave me another one of
his cheeky grins.

“Oh, you’re not playing fair
mister. Not fair at all. What do you think Preston? Of course I was
distracted. I’ve just been butt naked in the shower with the
hottest guy in the world while he...er...while he,
um...”

“Yes? Pray tell, what did this hot
guy do to you?”

My face grew warm and the rest of my body quickly
followed. I felt feverish, so I began to fan myself. I grabbed a
handful of my shirt and pulled it away from my chest, trying to get
some airflow down there.

“I...well you see, he put my leg over his shoulder
and then he put his mouth and then, well, um his tongue was...oh
God,” I buried my face in my hands. I was so embarrassed talking
about it with him. I pulled the front of my shirt over my face and
stood there like that.

Then I felt these strong arms wrapping around me and
tucking me into his chest as he chuckled and hugged me tightly.

“Yeah, Avery? What else?”

“It was wonderful,” I said into his chest as I
hugged him back. “Preston, this kind of thing really embarrasses
me. Talking about it and all.”

“Why?”

“Well, because it’s so
intimate
. That’s
why.”

“Avery, can I tell you something?”

“Yeah.”

“It was the greatest thing I’ve ever done. You’re
beautiful all over and you taste like heaven.”

“Oh God. I’m really embarrassed
now.”

“Honey, will you look at me
please.”

“Do I have to?”

“No, but I would really love it if you did.”

I lifted my head and pulled my shirt down so my face
was exposed. Then I looked him in the eyes.

“Please don’t be embarrassed about this. I want you
to be able to talk freely about this with me. What you like or
don’t like. But I loved it Avery. Every single minute.” Then he
passionately kissed me.

“Preston?”

“Yeah?”

“You know you said you liked doing that to me,
right?”

“Very much so.”

“Would you want to do it again, because that kiss
you just gave me sort of set me off a bit?”

He really started laughing then.

“Have I created a monster in you Avery?”

“I think maybe you have.”

Chapter 16

Preston

Drowning. That’s how I felt. I was drowning in
everything that was Avery, but it was the greatest feeling in the
world. We’d been at the cabin for a month now and every day was
better than the last. She was full of surprises and laughs.

My decision about not having sex until we were in
love still stood. I wouldn’t back down on that. She meant too much
to me to sacrifice a night of fun for that. Yeah, we were both
consenting adults, but I wanted her heart before I wanted her body.
She didn’t know it but she already had mine. I was waiting to tell
her because I didn’t want there to be any pressure for her to say
it back to me. Part of me wanted to tell her after I took her away
from here. This was an idyllic setting and I knew when she was able
to go back to her regular life, her thoughts about me may very well
change.

We were headed out to go backpacking. I wanted her
to see the mountains that you couldn’t get to see in a car. She was
a little nervous as she had never done anything like this before.
We had done plenty of day hikes, but not any overnights. We packed
all our gear and headed out in the morning. It was August and the
weather was ideal. My pack was loaded with the tent and the heavier
items so she could have a lighter load.

We saw all sorts of wildlife but the flowers were
what enchanted her. I took picture after picture of her as she
looked at each new blossom, like someone had given her the greatest
of gifts. One thing about Avery was she didn’t take anything for
granted. She appreciated the beauty in everything around her and
her expressions reflected it. I would never get tired of watching
her face light up when she saw something for the first time. We
were lucky on this trip to catch glimpses of elk, deer, bighorn
sheep, prairie dogs and turkey. We both were armed because it
wasn’t uncommon for grizzlies to be seen around here. I wasn’t
really worried about that. I was more concerned with coming across
one with cubs...that’s where the danger existed.

The first night, we made camp and then headed down
to the stream to wash away the sweat from the day’s exertion. Even
though it wasn’t exactly hot, hiking up some of the steeper grades
made one work up a serious sweat.

Avery looked at me with shyness as I began to strip
off my clothes. When I was naked I glanced at her and challenged,
“You just gonna stand and watch or are you gonna join me?”

“Is it cold?”

“Huh uh. You’re gonna have to find out for
yourself,” I laughed. Then I tossed her some soap and shampoo.
“Come on, little chicken.”

She grinned and took off her
clothes. I wanted to watch and I would've given both nuts to do so,
but I didn’t. I gave her the privacy she needed and then I heard
the water rippling as she splashed her way in, followed by her
screams. It was very chilly.

“I can’t believe you. You’re in here like it’s all
nice and warm. You tricked me. This is freezing!” she yelped.

We both quickly bathed and got out of there. By the
time we did, her lips were blue and her teeth were chattering.

“Jeepers, that was cold as hell.”

“Um Avery, that makes no sense.”

“What d’ya mean?”

“Hell is hot, not cold.”

I suddenly heard her suck in her breath.

I had my back to her and whipped my body around to
see an expression of inexplicable shock on her face.

“Oh God Preston.”

“What? What is it?”

She ran to me and hugged me. But then she walked
around me. I had already started to pull my pants on so she tugged
the waist back down a bit to reveal that disgusting word that had
been carved into my lower back. I had forgotten all about it...had
forgotten that she didn’t know it was there.

Tracing the letters with her fingers at first, she
then dropped to her knees and started kissing me there. It was
almost more than I could bear. My body went rigid, not from
disgust, not from distaste at what she was doing, but with the
impact of my emotional response. Her hands gripped my hips as her
mouth traced those letters and for the first time in my life, the
thought of them didn’t make me ill. She wrapped her beautiful arms
around my hips and hugged me tightly.

“Avery,” I croaked, “please stand
up this minute because if I don’t kiss you, I think I may fucking
die.”

When she rose to her feet, I turned and pulled her
into my arms. I couldn’t put my mouth on hers fast enough. I tried
to convey, through that one kiss, how much that gesture had meant
to me. My lips sought hers while my tongue tasted her sweetness. I
had to have all of her through that kiss. I lifted her into my arms
and tightened her against my heart, not feeling I could get nearly
close enough to her. When she started that purring thing, I
realized I needed to slow down or else things would get carried
away.

“Avery, I...I don’t know how, but you manage to take
away all the bad shit.”

Her eyes drilled into mine. “I
could never understand why you would have ‘No One’s’ tattooed on
you. Now I get it. It makes so much sense. You’ve tried to hide
that from me, haven’t you?”

“Well, yeah. I hide it from everyone. I mean, having
‘Slave’ carved into me wasn’t exactly the highlight of my life. Not
to mention, it would stir up a ton of questions that I don’t really
want to answer. Avery, you’re the only person I’ve ever talked to
about my prison term. I mean Caroline knows some of it, but not
nearly as much as you do and you only know a tiny bit.”

“Jesus, Preston.” She stood on her tiptoes and
pressed her cheek to mine. “I wish I could take away your
pain.”

“Don’t you know?”

“Know what?” Those eyes of hers were back on
mine.

“You just did, when you saw that ugly word and
kissed me the way you did. God Avery, you touch my soul.”

********

We headed back to camp with our hands locked
together and I cooked our dinner of steaks and baked potatoes over
an open fire. We were lucky to find enough wood to build a fire and
keep it going. I brought an empty tin can and filled it with our
potatoes wrapped in foil and put it in the fire. When they were
close to being ready, the beef tenderloins I had frozen were all
thawed out and at room temperature so I put them on a small make
shift grate and we ate our dinner under the glow of the setting
sun. Avery was surprised at how good the meal turned out.

“This is really good!”

“Ha! You doubted my culinary talents in the wild,
didn’t you? Admit it, Avery.”

“Yes, I did. I never thought the filets would turn
out. And I gotta say these taters are some of the best I’ve ever
had. They’re really good like this.”

“Just wait till you taste dessert.”

She eyed me intently as I made my special banana
concoction. I took two bananas and slit them length wise. Then I
gently opened them, not all the way because it was important to
keep the peel intact. I added chocolate chips and small
marshmallows and then wrapped it all up in foil. Finally I placed
them in the hot coals for about ten to fifteen minutes.

When I removed them, I scooped them out and served
hers to her. She took the first bite and I couldn’t stop laughing
over the face she made.

“Whadyaputinthese theyarsodamngood
ohmygod.”

When she finally swallowed her last bite, I pushed
her backwards and kissed her sticky face. “You are a mess girl.
Mmm, chocolate everywhere.” I licked her lips to get the rest off
her face and then just laughed my ass off at her.

“That’s one of the best desserts
I’ve ever tasted. Seriously good stuff there. So what else might
you have up your sleeve as far as tasty concoctions are
concerned?”

“Oh, I can’t give away all my secrets. Then there
wouldn’t be any surprises left for you.” I kissed her nose and then
I got up. I started putting all the food away and packed it up and
gathered all the trash items together and put them in a Ziplock
bag.