Liz tilts her head to one side. “If you had shown me a magical crystal ball on the side of the road by your truck that Sunday morning, I would have voluntarily gone with you. In fact, I would have begged you to take me with you. While I’ve been here, you’ve been nothing short of incredible.” Liz takes a deep breath.
“Jake, you see yourself as broken, when all I see is everything you are, have been, and could possibly become. I cannot find any malice in what you have done. Plus, I haven’t jumped at any opportunities to leave. Suddenly, I see this is where I’m meant to be, here with you. Besides, I must have been walking around completely stressed out, living a hopeless existence the past few years.”
Liz stands up; sheets of water drip from every pore of her body. “Look at me. I don’t have an inner tube of fat around my waist anymore.”
Liz turns her backside to me. “I don’t have folds of floppy skin rippling down my back. I must have been carrying around some sort of stress weight. All my stress has fallen right off.”
My mouth is wide open at the view of her displayed sumptuous curves. She has put the pink razor we bought to good use on every part of her body. I want to plant my mouth over her smoothness.
“Trust me; your hourglass silhouette has not escaped my attention,” I tell her, gently pulling her back into the water before I explode over the sight of her.
Liz straddles my waist as she sits in the water. Her hand fishes for me so I can go directly inside her when she collapses completely. I gasp at the feeling of being deep inside of her. I reach my face closer to her so I can lick her breasts. Her fingers clasp around my neck as I wrap my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. She rocks ever so slowly on top of me, making sure the water doesn’t sway over the edge of the tub. She steals the breath from my lungs as her parted lips touch mine. I entangle my fingers in her hair as I kiss and moan into her mouth. I softly bite her shoulder, trying to hold off the strong urge to release too soon. Her hips drive into mine and I can no longer hold back. She grips the edge of the tub over my shoulders. Liz collapses onto my chest after we climax together. I kiss her cheek, then run my fingers through her wet strands of hair.
Liz climbs out of the tub first. I watch her dry off before wrapping a towel around herself and tucking it under her arm to hold at her chest. She takes a second towel to wrap around her head in a turban. As I step out, I don’t have a chance to grab a towel before I feel Liz patting my body dry. Every pat made is followed by a kiss. Liz is quickly getting me aroused. I grab a towel to wrap around my waist to conceal myself. I am not fast enough before she glances my way. Liz knows she has gotten to me.
I rake my eyes over Liz, long and slow. She takes me by the hand and leads me to the bed. Liz rips the towel off her head and swipes the one from her body before she settles herself onto the bed. She pulls my towel off as she yanks me to her. I lean over to kiss her. She wants more and I want to give her more.
We are both breathless when Liz reaches for the quilt at our feet. I tuck her under my arms to let her use my shoulder as a pillow. I no longer feel alone with Liz in my arms. I don’t have to be on my own and I don’t have to take back what I hastily did to get Liz here with me. I’m nothing on my own, nothing without her. I don’t want this to end between us until it’s much too late. This cabin is finally a home with her by my side. I can no longer imagine it any other way. I know Liz senses it too. I bring her hand to my mouth to kiss her fingertips and then we fall instantaneously into a midmorning nap.
Chapter 37: Liz
I look upward to the aspen trees. The leaves are yellowing. It won’t be much longer until they turn brown and fall to the ground. The maples are a lighter green and there is a slight coolness in the air. The days are shorter and the nights are becoming longer. Our blissful summer is at an end. The change of seasons is inevitable and I wonder what fall will bring at the cabin, with Jake.
“Stay,” I command Zeke. I give him a peanut butter morsel.
“Good boy. Now sit.” I give him another before rubbing his ears. Zeke bolts for the treats in my hand.
“No, Zeke. You have to earn these.” When Zeke obeys my stern voice, I reward him.
“Sit. Sit, Zeke.” I practice giving directions to Zeke repeatedly. I have a hard time training him when he looks at me with bottomless obsidian eyes.
Zeke licks my face and I know he forgives my stern directives.
“Zeke, it’s so hard being strict with you.”
I stop practicing commands with Zeke when I hear a pounding sound coming from a distance. I pat my thigh. Zeke stays by my side as I follow the thuds echoing through the trees. I walk to a clearing of enormously stout trees. Clunk, clunk, clunk. The sound intensifies. There is an opening in a grove of trees where I find Jake standing behind the base of a tall pine tree.
“Jake?” I call out.
He peeks around the bark with nails in his mouth and mumbles, “Hey, Liz.”
I walk closer to see a hammer in his right hand poised to strike another board. Whack! Jake removes the nails from his mouth.
“The planks are too loose. Plus, I added some more at the top.”
Jake motions upward with his hammer in hand. I walk around the backside of the thick tree to see what he’s talking about. There are rectangular pieces of wood nailed to the tree all equally spaced, as rungs on a ladder would be. Some of the nails are rusted while others are bright silver, recently pounded to reinforce each step. The steps continue far above my head. I tilt my head to discover that the ladder ends at a small platform, high in the towering tree. A wire is attached high above the branches; the lower limbs were trimmed from the sturdy tree many years ago. I tip my head and shield my eyes from the sun. The wire begins about halfway up the tree and continues on a gradual slant, running through the clearing about fifty yards.
“Is that a zip line?” I ask.
“Yep,” Jake says, proud of his venture.
“Doug and I put the original stairs and small platform on this tree when we were in high school. I added a few more slats at the top. I haven’t hooked a line to the tree for a long time. The boards are still good, so I just reinforced them.”
Jake walks away to put the hammer and unused nails in the garage as I take a closer look at the mechanisms he hooked to the tree. At the end of the wired rope is a bedraggled mattress. When Jake returns, he has pulleys and harnesses in his hands.
“Jake, what’s the mattress used for?” I ask, puzzled.
“For you to land on in case you don’t get your bearings when you reach the ground. You’ve been down a zip line before, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but not one rigged so high before.” I point upward to where the wire rope begins.
“The one I went down had a foam pit below its entire length,” I add.
“I won’t let you go down by yourself. I’ll hook you onto me,” Jake assures me, but I do not feel comforted. “Here, let me hook the harness to you.”
Jake pulls my reluctant core towards him. He wraps thick straps around my waist and inner thighs. He lightly slaps my behind when he finishes and I let out a tiny yelp. “Start climbing. I’m right behind you.”
As I pull myself to the first step, I see Jake out of the corner of my eye, hooking pulleys to his harness.
“You’ll catch me if I slip, right?” I say with a bit of uncertainty.
“Of course. I’m right below you. I promise. There’s nothing to worry about,” Jake says, trying to reassure me, even though the worst scenarios run through my head.
I swallow as I take a step and then another. I know Jake could glide up these boards with ease, but he waits patiently for me until I reach the top of the platform. I don’t look down, hearing Zeke is whining and whimpering below.
I hear a jingle and a click of clamps. Jake has me in his clutch. He attached us to the zip line above my head. I draw in a deep breath.
“Jake, don’t let me fall,” I say sternly.
He smiles and his dimples protrude. “Neve
r! But, I need you to let go of the tree, then push away with your feet. I’ll do the rest. Hold onto me as we go.” Jake’s voice is calm.
I let go and do as Jake has instructed. The first break from the tree was the hardest, but also the most invigorating. Jake keeps hold of my waist. My heart sinks as we slide and gain momentum down the wire. The pulleys attached over our heads make the sound of a giant zipper being pulled as we speed our way to the ground. Jake holds onto me the entire distance. My feet never touch the ground. Jake keeps me suspended in his arms with the pulley carrying most of my weight. At the bottom, we stay attached at the waist. My legs and arms stay wrapped around Jake.
“I didn’t scream too loud, did I?”
“No, not too bad. I expected worse.”
I playfully slap his shoulder.
“Will you take me down with you one more time before I go down by myself?” I whimper slightly in my plea.
“I’ll go down every time with you if you’d like.”
I kiss him. His lips are warm and smooth, hard but gentle. He sets me softly on the ground as I return to the laddered tree.
We glide down the zip line a half dozen more times. Each time we descend, I feel as if we are gliding like eagles. Fear and butterflies overtake me each time we push off together. I’m not afraid of heights, I’m not getting vertigo, but there is something about that first leap when I let go of the tree and swoop to the ground, which gets me every time.
I begin to feel winded and a bit tired from the straight upward climb.
"Jake, I can't. I can't climb the tree one more time today," I groan while Jake has already leapt onto the nailed boards, ready to scale the tree again.
He hops down. "I didn't mean to wear you out."
I am trying to undo the tight knots holding the ropes and harness tied around my core. "You’re just kind of...well, ya know, Jake...um…intense."
Jake points at himself and scoffs, "I'm intense?"
I struggle to loosen the knots while Jake tugs his off with ease.
"Yes, you're a little intense," I repeat, frazzled.
Jake strides over to me after he kicks his dropped harness from his heels. His hands loosen my harness with ease. It collapses to the ground. I look down to find he also undid the top button of my jeans as well.
"You are intense, too!” Jake says with a lifted brow. “Just in a different way than I am.”
He lifts his shirt over his head and flings it to the ground. A bright thread of sensation runs through my veins at the sight of his masculine perfection.
"You can get pretty intense, Liz, and I can't keep up with you!”
I turn a scarlet red and my heart flutters as Jake steps toward me.
"It doesn't take much to turn your intense switch on, and then I become completely vulnerable to you." He undoes the top button of his jeans as a provocative smile plays at the corner of his lips.
"Are you taunting me?" I ask.
I don’t want to take him on that ratty old mattress behind him by the trees. I prefer taking him on the leather couch in the cabin.
"Yes, why yes, I am," he says as he slides down his zipper.
My intensity button has just been pushed. I am charged with anticipation.
"Are you trying to prove something? That I can be intense…in my own way?" I giggle as I step backward.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe," he says with an adorable smirk.
I walk backward, luring him to the cabin.
"I think you know exactly what you do to me, Liz.”
"No, I don't,” I lie, not breaking my eyes from his as I near the cabin steps.
Jake takes off one boot at the first step and then another on the second step. He pulls his socks off on the top step. My T-shirt goes over my head and I toss it at the doorstep. Jake takes my arms and clasps them over my head as he nails me against the front door with a deep kiss. When our lips part, I free one of my hands to open the cabin door. We both slide in together, keeping Zeke outside.
I slither out of my jeans while Jake falls backward onto the couch. I crawl over the armrest, between his thighs. I tug down his jeans and jockey shorts, flinging them over the couch. I nibble on his inner thigh, then run my hands all over his body, rubbing and taking in his scent. His tongue tangles with mine. Jake is so familiar to me now, like we have always been together, as if we were always meant to be together.
My mouth wraps around his hardness and I suck hungrily. His hands tangle through my hair and he moans in desire. I release my grip on him and glare up, still wearing my lace bra.
I take his hand in mine and lead him to his bedroom. His room has an oversized mirror above his dresser that, when tilted precisely, can reflect the entire perimeter of the bed.
I maneuver the mirror into position before meeting Jake on the bed. I unhook my lace bra from the back and Jake smothers my hardened nipples with his mouth, exploring and caressing each one. He glances over at his reflection, our reflection in the mirror. The two of us entangled intimately together.
"Oh, Liz. I've never thought of tilting the mirror.”
He flips me over and slips my panties off. He runs his tongue over my folds before sliding into me. I tilt my head backward and arch my spine, feeling his excitement. My hips meet his. I roll him to his back so I can straddle his waist. He buries himself deep inside me. I move my hips into him. Jake looks into the mirror at us: connected, threshed with heat, me atop of him, our motions, and our lust.
"Liz, slow down. I want this to last," Jake pants into my ear.
I lessen the rhythms, but keep him deep inside. I scream in pleasure when he drives himself deeper into me. He sits up to embrace me, then rolls me onto my back, still inside me.
"I love the way you look when I get you there.”
His hands are at the back of my neck, keeping me in position to ravish me with more caresses on my lips and neck.
My legs wrap around his waist, pulling him deeper into me. I feel so close to him right now as my breasts squeeze tightly against his hard, bared chest. I bury my face in his neck and smother him with kisses. He thrusts before releasing into me. Jake collapses onto me and I welcome the weight of him, as I always do.
We nap and make love several more times that afternoon before evening falls. I feel so peaceful sleeping in his arms and he seems so serene next to me. I feel like this is where we both need to be forever. As I slide out of bed to make us something to eat for dinner, Jake grabs hold of my hand.
"See what I mean, Liz. You are just as intense as I am, just in a different way.”
I roll my eyes and Jake tightens his grip to pull me to the bed with him.
"Believe it or not, I had a hard time keeping up with you this afternoon.”
I turn a vivid pink as I lean in to kiss him before I pull on a T-shirt from his top dresser drawer to wear. I descend from the room as Jake languidly pulls a quilt up to cover his nakedness.
Chapter 38: Jake
Liz sniffs the air like a rabbit while looking upward to the musty, gray air.
“It doesn’t smell right outside today,” she says as we hike through juniper trees.
“I notice it too.” I direct my attention to the overcast skies.
To the west, the skies are a perfect azure blue, like Liz’s eyes. Puffy white clouds float by. In the eastward skies of the cabin, it is all gray and muggy, not like a storm coming in, but something different.
“There’s got to be a wildfire blazing nearby. Let’s go check the drop box to see if there are any notices,” I suggest.
Liz and I keep our eyes toward the murky sky as we drive to the drop box to check its contents. I busy myself with the packages and letters. Liz examines the dirt on the truck.
“I know. I need to wash it,” I mutter as I rummage through envelopes.
Liz brushes her fingers along the rim of the truck wheels. She is rubbing the debris between her fingers before walking around the perimeter of the truck.
“Jake, your truck… it has stuff all
over it. It’s camouflaged in your white paint.” She extends her hand with debris.
“They are ashes. Ashes are being blown in from a wildfire.” Liz holds her hands out as if she is catching snowflakes.
“Jake, you can smell it and see it.”
Liz walks to me and stands on her tiptoes to pick at my hair.
“You can see the white ash in your hair.”
Liz is brushing my hair as if picking dried leaves from it.
“Isn’t the wildfire season over?” she asks, looking at the ashen sky.
“Yeah, maybe there is something lingering this year. I wonder exactly how close it is?” I say with curiosity.
“My guess would be within at least a hundred miles,” Liz estimates.
“I think you’re right.” I raise my eyebrow. “The wind is not helping.”
A plane flies low over our heads.
“The plane must be working to get the fire out.”
It is acting as a bird dog in the air, leading the activities of the air tankers on their drop runs. In the distance, three crimson red trucks drive on the road toward us. There is also a crimson red helicopter circling around the property, not a transport helicopter or an Apache; this is an air tanker chopper.
One red truck, similar to mine, stops next to Liz and me. It has men packed in the cab. A man dressed in khaki brush pants and a bright yellow shirt steps from the passenger side.
“Sir, is this your property?” the man asks.
My heart sinks. I silently pray he is not going to ask us to evacuate. I look into the truck bed to find it stocked with structural hand tools, shovels, gear bags, and hydration packs.
“Yes, it is. Is there a problem?” I ask.
The man has an Air Spray Aviation Services emblem on his chest.
“Is there a lake on your property?” he asks.
“Yes, why?”
“We’d like to obtain permission to access your lake.”
I shake my head to communicate no. I don’t want anyone on the property or near the lake, not with Liz here.
Liz takes a step forward to speak to the man, “Of course you can access the lake. It’s to help put out the fire, right?”
Hasty Resolution Page 24