They were breathless when the kiss broke, reassured of what they both intellectually thought to be true, but were too scared to totally believe emotionally, for fear the day had not been real.
Looking up at him with shining eyes, Lily swallowed hard, “I told him, Zac. I told William.”
And in that moment, it became real. Tightening his arms around her, he drew her head to his shoulder, his face nuzzled in her hair.
“Are you OK?” he whispered and felt her nod against his chest. “Good,” his arms got a little tighter. “How did it go?”
Placing a soft kiss on her lips as she looked up at him, the feeling of pride rose from deep in his chest. He was proud of her. Proud that she had immediately faced a difficult situation.
“He’s not happy,” she was shaking her head, “he thinks you are going to hurt me. He thinks I’m just another conquest. The final frontier.”
Zac’s eyes shot open wide, “He said that? He called you the final frontier?”
When she nodded, he shook his head and blew out a long breath. “I hope you know he’s just speaking from anger.”
“I do. I told him that this had been something in the making for both of us for almost two years, and that I hoped he’d be happy for me, and that I knew I could count on him to be mature and fair and not do anything to separate us personally or in our working capacity.”
“Whoa, you are a smart one, Liliana Castillo. Remind me not to play chess with you.”
She laughed and snuggled into his chest.
“I’m really proud of you, Lils. I know that wasn’t easy. I need to go talk to him.”
“Are you sure?” she looked up, alarmed.
Nodding, “Yes, I’m sure. It’s the right thing to do and I don’t want it to be the elephant in the room.” He knew he needed to do the right thing. As much as William wasn’t his favorite person, Zac knew it was a mano-a-mano conversation that needed to take place.
“I wish I didn’t have to leave you tonight.”
Zac laughed at the pout on her face. “I know. I like having you in my arms,” his fingers combed through her long silky hair, “but I should get you back to your dorm. 0:500 is going to be here way too soon.”
As they got up to leave, something caught her eye and she gasped. “Heckle and Jeckle,” she was smiling. Reaching over to his nightstand, she picked up the framed picture of Nathaniel and Portia. “They’ve gotten so big,” she observed.
A proud smiling brother agreed.
“Are they the last thing you see before you go to sleep?”
Nodding, “They are. I miss the two of them like crazy. They are just so much fun.”
“You’re a great big brother, Zac.”
“I try,” he smiled, as they exited his dorm. “They make being a big brother great.”
Slinging an arm across her shoulder, he looked down at her, eyebrows raised questioningly, silently asking, “Is this OK publicly? Are you ready?”
She answered with an arm around his waist, her fingertips inside the back pocket of his jeans, and a huge smile on her face.
Zac knew he still had to face William that night, but in the meantime, he was going to enjoy walking his girlfriend back to her dorm and for the very first time, kissing her goodnight under the star-filled night sky.
William Bray did not want to see Zac Moore. That was evident. But Zac knew he was doing the right thing and it occurred to him that he wanted to do the right thing in everything that had to do with Lily.
He was sitting behind his desk when Zac arrived and Zac knew that he was giving William the “hometown advantage” by having this conversation on William’s turf.
“What can I do for you, Moore?” his tone was already dismissive.
“I just thought it would be good if we talked.”
“I don’t see that there’s much to talk about.” The Englishman wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
“William, we both think the world of Liliana and want the best for her.”
“Don’t presume to know what I think, Moore,” he cut him off.
“Fair enough,” Zac smiled. “I think the world of Liliana and I want the best for her.”
“Time will tell what you want with her.”
“That it will.” Zac agreed.
“If you hurt her, Moore, I will have your ass off this project so fast your head will be spinning.” William barely moved his jaw as he spewed the harsh words at Zac.
“Again, fair enough,” Zac was not going to give him the fight that he wanted. “If I hurt her, don’t let me near her. But on the same token, if anyone else hurts her,” the ‘anyone’ was implied, “don’t expect me to sit back and silently watch it. Fair enough?” and Zac got up and left before William had the chance to answer.
“Does this mean the Germans are available?” Niles nudged Zac.
“And waiting for you, mate,” laughing, Zac had been amazed by the myriad of responses he and Lily had gotten to their news.
Katje and Anneliese had initially stepped up their game only to find a very monogamous Zac had no interest in anyone but his girlfriend. Neither one liked to waste time and moved on quickly when their Zac retrieval efforts yielded no results.
The initial surprise and novelty of Zac and Lily’s coupling quickly wore off as everyone focused back on the day to day tasks involved in bringing fresh water to the villages. In no time, it was hard for people to remember Zac and Lily not being together. Even William backed off, allowing them to continue to work projects together.
Finding the computers free in the rec room one night, Zac took advantage of the rare occurrence using the opportunity to shoot off an email.
Lizard,
Sorry it’s been awhile. Things here have been busy and internet signal is not always great. You’ll be proud to know… I have a girlfriend. Yes, you read that correctly. I, Zac Moore, have a girlfriend. Yes, I said it — the G word. I am in a committed relationship and it feels like nothing else I’ve ever experienced before. I can’t believe how much I love sharing everything with one person.
Now this might not surprise you as much as the previous paragraph. My girlfriend (yes, I’ve now typed that three times) is Lily Castillo. Lily is the girl that I met (and danced with) at my dad’s wedding and you were right, she did like me. She was just afraid getting involved with me would be a stupid thing (wonder where she could have gotten that idea. Ha-ha, she’s very smart). We’re currently working at a project site together and I feel like I’ve got a shared mission in life with her. You’d love her. She’s smart (a Yalie) and strong and really wants to know me. We’re talking about signing on for another 6 month TDY because we’re accomplishing so much here and the thought of leaving and not helping to bring clean water to these villages is something neither of us can fathom at this point. I’ve learned so much here — about engineering projects, that thing called passion (you perv, I’m talking about the work) and what it’s really like to vibe with another person. It’s not just sex. You proud of me or what?!
Things going OK for you at Bryson? You keeping all the girls happy? ☺ Hope so. Say hi to Brian for me. Tell him I’m almost out of LeBrons. They’ve bought a lot of beer for the gang over here. Anything he can ship will be greatly appreciated and I’ll PayPal him the money.
Give your mom a big hug from me and a hello to your dad.
Miss ya, Lizard.
Z-man
“What are you up to?”
He had smelled her coming up behind him just as he was hitting send.
“Sending an email to my best friend, Liz.”
Sitting down next to him, “Liz, hmmm. Should I be jealous?”
With a smile, he kissed her and laughed, “I might be the jealous one when she meets you.” He raised his eyebrows.
“Is she gay?”
He nodded, still smiling. “Yeah, she and my old roommate Brian are my closest friends.”
“I hope I get to meet them someday.” Lily twined her fingers through his.
Kissing her, it was amazing to be talking about the future, sharing dreams and friends, both in Africa and the United States. With every day that passed, they became more real and Zac’s fears of not being able to have a normal relationship receded to the edges of his consciousness.
“So, did you tell her about me?” Lily was now in his lap.
“I did,” teasing her by not saying anymore.
“You’re not going to tell me?” her face just inches away from his.
Tapping his lip, she rolled her eyes and then obliged him with a kiss.
“So what did you tell your friend Liz about me?”
“I told her that if she lays a finger on you, I’ll kill her,” he teased.
Hitting him on the shoulder, “Come on, tell me.”
His eyes took on a serious cast as they engaged hers, “I told her I’m crazy about you, Lils and that we’ll probably stay here together for another six months after the current TDY is up.”
Satisfied with his response, she got up out of his lap and took his hand. “Do you want to go for a walk?”
Going for a walk was their private joke for finding a private place down on the lake. Zac had confided in Lily that the first time he had asked her to go for a walk with him he’d wondered if it had sounded lame to her.
“Lame? No way,” she advised. “I thought it was so romantic that we were going for a walk under the full moon.”
“Seriously?” he mulled it over. “Hmm, maybe I had more game than I gave myself credit for.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she teased.
Lying on a blanket under the moonless sky, they tried to pick out constellations, but neither of them knew all that much about astronomy and didn’t get much further than the dippers, Orion’s Belt and the Pleiades.
“Do you think the stars here look different?” Zac gently rubbed Lily’s fingertips with his own.
“I do. I think they look totally different.”
“Could just be the lack of ambient light,” Zac ventured, thinking that everything looked different now that Lily was in his life.
“It’s more than that,” she validated his thought.
Silently, he nodded. It was more than that. Stars twinkled bolder and brighter. He had noticed that from the night of their first walk. When he looked into the night’s sky now, he felt like they were their stars, his and Lily’s, and he wondered if others noticed how brightly they shone or if their magnitude was a private show, a personal gift, just for the two of them.
“Do you feel like they’re our stars?” He could say things like this to her without feeling like she’d think he was weird or a total loser.
Turning to him, “I do. I feel like you and I are at this special juncture in time under our stars,” and she laughed. “Now how crazy does that sound?” She was smiling the beautiful Lily smile.
Smiling back at her, “Pretty crazy, but I totally get it.”
Whatever magic was surrounding them, they both felt it. It was everywhere, in every look and every touch, behind every tree, in the twinkling stars, in the hand pumps that became functional, in the cascading streams of clean water that glinted like rainbows in the sunlight, in the village children dancing in the streets as the water flowed on a hot afternoon. The magic surrounding Zac and Lily permeated every cell of their beings, pushing them daily to see more, do more, feel more, be more. They had opened themselves up to one another and to the world surrounding them and the universe was responding in kind, flooding their senses with all it had to offer and taking them on a joyous ride.
Neither had yet uttered the three words that were constantly on their minds and fighting their way back from the tips of their tongues. The truth was, neither Zac nor Lily had ever said them to anyone. What most experience as teens had eluded this pair, for they were both masters of hiding behind screens and presenting illusions for the world to see. Lily had perfected cold intellectual to camouflage her overwhelming fear of being rejected for being different, while Zac masked his inability to get close to anyone with throw-away sex, the perfect shield to thwart off those who wanted to damage him more deeply.
Beyond saying those three little words, they were both embarrassed to admit to the other that this relationship was their first love, the great love that they’d each dreamed of, yet was certain would never be in the cards for them. Each held their secret tight and reveled in the overwhelming feelings, fearing if they voiced them, their worst fears would come true.
Giving her hand a playful yank, Zac pulled Lily on top of him.
“I like this,” he tugged at the hem of the short flouncy polka dot skirt she wore.
“I don’t get the chance to wear a skirt very often over here.”
“Wear them for me,” he whispered in her ear, his hands already up the bottom of the skirt and in her underwear, caressing her soft, rounded bottom. “I love your ass,” his fingers pressed into the soft flesh.
“You don’t think it’s too big?” she was serious.
He laughed, “I think most women would kill to have an ass like yours and all men, straight or gay, are great admirers of your ass. Trust me.” He reinforced his point with a squeeze that made her gasp. “But I’m the only one who gets to do this to it.” Softly, he ran his fingers from back to front, being met by goose bumps all along the trail.
“That feels so good.” She closed her eyes as he continued the feather soft movement, “So, so good.” She shivered from his touch.
Reaching down with trembling hands, she unzipped his jeans, “I need you here with me,” and she pushed her moist underwear to the side to give him access.
In that moment, he felt like a slave to her, there to give her whatever she needed to feel whole, complete. His sole purpose being her satisfaction and happiness. Or maybe it was his soul purpose. He wasn’t quite sure.
Without either of them removing a single article of clothing, they made slow, fiery love under their stars. Zac wanted her to be greedy with him, for he knew she wasn’t using him, not in the way he’d been used. Her pleasure was his pleasure and watching her above him receive so much joy from what his body could do to her felt like the most selfless gift he could ever bestow.
When it was finally beyond his control and he was sure she was satisfied, he reached out and held her down onto him tightly, sealing their bodies together as he thrust up as deeply as he possibly could. Way beyond clear thought, he needed to go deeper, to be within her, lost, it was imperative. He needed to be there. He needed to be one with her. He needed it. It was so far beyond want.
And finally, he was one with her. Somewhere under their stars, in a land far, far away, a place where demons had yet to discover and destroy, a place where his psyche hadn’t thus far been tattered and his soul had not been defaced, a place where anything was possible, the impossible had happened.
She had found him and he prayed that she would never, ever let him go.
Chapter Fifteen
En Route to Work Site
Congo, Africa
“We have a special treat this morning,” Lily advised Zac at breakfast.
“What’s that?”
“We’re going to be escorting Belvie and Lionel back to the village. Arthur has a meeting here this morning.”
Arthur Mabila was the regional liaison to the project. An indispensable authority on local customs and politics, the man was most known and loved around base camp for his kickass version of moonshine, which tended to show up at the most opportune times. Having received an engineering degree in Italy, he returned home to the Congo to work with Project Hydrate, interfacing with staff and local village government. His daughter, Belvie and son, Lionel, who were six and seven years old, often accompanied him to base camp. Well-mannered and polite, the two little ones were generally found helping the kitchen and maintenance staff. Arthur’s direction to them of “make yourself useful” was taken literally and the two treated their work at camp as an honor.
Reminding Zac of less devilish versions of Nathaniel and Portia, he enjoyed having them around and had spent his fair share of time kicking a soccer ball around with Lionel. Although he’d spent less time with Belvie, the little girl was always very sweet and well-mannered.
“Oh cool,” and then pointing a finger at Lily and giving her an evil eye, “so no funny business from you today, missy,” he teased.
Taking the path instead of the main road to make for a shorter journey, Lily amused the kids with classic ghost stories that had them screeching and whooping. Hanging back on the path a little, Zac couldn’t help but wait for the moment when Lily was about to deliver the big scare and rushed upon them with a big growl. Heart stopping screams ensued, followed by raucous laughter.
“Got you good, didn’t I,” Zac laughed.
“You scared me so bad, Zac,” Belvie had literally jumped with fright.
Laughing, he hugged the little girl to his side, “Sorry, Belvie.” Then he smiled down at her, “Did you ever hear the one about the haunted house.”
Smiling up at him, she shook her head, no.
“Seriously, you don’t know that one? It’s a good one. Let’s see if I can remember it.” He thought for a second, then began, “It was a dark and stormy night…”
A lightning bolt slashed the clouds in the sky before them just as Zac finished his sentence, causing another round of frightened screams.
Looking at Lily, “Wow, I am good,” he bragged.
With clouds rolling in fast, the wind picked up and the temperature began to drop rapidly. Zac and Lily knew from experience how quickly these flooding storms were upon them.
“Ok, kids, we’re going to jog and try and make it to cover before the storm hits,” Lily led the pack with the two kids following, and Zac picked up the rear. When Belvie started to fall behind, Zac scooped up the little girl, without even breaking stride.
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