delicious look at me before we made love. It heightened his arousal, and drove me wild with anticipation.
We took it slow then, carefully washing each other. I soaped his chest and arms, but he stopped me from going any further.
He spun me around and began my wash by lathering my hair first, and rinsing it, then he slowly moved down my body while standing close behind me using his hands to gently spread the soap, lingering on my breasts and between my legs. The sensations were impossible. I’d forgotten just how amazing his touch could be. Little shivers racked my body and it took all the willpower I had to allow him to continue. God, how I missed this man inside me. How I missed his lovemaking.
I turned to continue my wash of him, but again he stopped me. “Next time,” he said and moved in closer. He pressed me against the wall, and lifted me into position while holding onto my butt. I wrapped a leg around him and he entered me as the warm water ran down both our bodies. I shivered, nearing climax before he even began his rhythm. When he shuddered with his own pleasure I joined him, only this time I came so hard that I collapsed onto him, completely and delightfully exhausted.
Ten minutes later we luxuriated on opposite sides of my extra deep whirlpool tub. I had added olive oil and essence of lavender to the water, lit a few candles, while the jazz group Four Play softly entertained us in the background.
Then right when I should have been feeling perfectly content, reality snuck in to change the mood.
I hated when that happened.
“You know this can’t work between us,” I said. “We’re two different people. Besides, I don’t drink anymore, and don’t want to start up again. Having a winemaker for a boyfriend doesn’t exactly help my cause.”
His legs brushed mine. “Can’t we just take this one date at a time? No commitment.”
“See, that’s where I get all messed up. No commitment means other people, and other people means I’ll get jealous, and when I get jealous because I’ve fallen for you again, I’ll start drinking and if I start drinking again, well, it’s enough to give me a headache, especially with everything else going on.”
“Mia, I’m telling you I’m not like that anymore. You have to trust me on this.”
The real problem was I couldn’t trust myself, but at the moment, I felt too content to argue. I simply wanted to go to bed.
Alone.
But before I sent him on his contented way with the possibility of us coupling up again, I needed to ask him about what I saw that afternoon out on his porch. Our future rested on his answer. “So, what’s up with you and Dickey?”
His forehead creased. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what was the argument about?”
“Excuse me?”
His eyes darted to the candle. The man was giving off lie signals right and left. Didn’t he realize what he was doing?
“Come on. Come clean about this. I was passing the vineyard today and I saw you and Dickey out on your porch, arguing.”
He stared at me for a moment, as if he had to think about his answer. A stalling tactic he’d used before.
“I don’t know who you saw out there, but it wasn’t me. I’ve been in meetings all day and as far as Dickey being at my place, I never saw the man.”
“You’re lying,” I told him.
He smiled, and gazed down at the bubbly water. I expected our usual argument, but instead he said, “As pleasant as this has been, I need to go now.”
He stood and I watched the water infused with oil glide down his perfect body. He grabbed a towel, dried off, picked up his clothes and left the room.
This was a new tactic on his part: lying combined with complete avoidance. I wondered how long he would keep this new game up.
I stood and stepped out of the tub, drying off with a plush white towel, my body all smooth from the oil. I pulled on my flannel jammies with the giant red flowers and padded out to the living room.
“Tell you what,” he said, now dressed except for a shirt. Just the sight of that chest made me want to start all over again, despite his illusive behavior, but instead I bravely walked past him to the door and unlocked it. “I’ll see you at the Martini Madness ball and you can either talk