“I’m so glad you’re here,” I confessed, as if the last five minutes hadn’t been a one-sided therapy session where I told him I was horny and wanted to be filled. All of that after a hefty five-hour drive and scattering some of my parent’s ashes – what a tumultuous rollercoaster ride he'd unwillingly joined.
“Surprisingly, me too,” he shook his head as if he wasn’t basing that on the last few minutes.
We sat in content silence, the chattering within the restaurant filling the space, the bartenders busily preparing orders giving us something to watch as the sun had dipped below the horizon, making the vineyard less visible. I was still sitting with my kneesin between his, enraptured with being both in Australia and with him. Only anytime I fidgeted and we bumped legs, a jolt of electricity zapped through me. I willed myself to believe it was because life had been busy lately and prioritising myself had been low on the list. I told myself maybe now I was relaxed, my non-existent sex drive had returned and that was what was causing the inappropriate thoughts.
But two-drink Shelbs wasn’t as easy to convince as I would have liked. That bitch was fairly astute, and she needed to get the heck out of here before she ruined the entire trip on the first night.
“Can we get room service,” I quipped, knowing if I stayed down here, I was going to have another drink and probably stroke his thigh or something. It was day one and I already wanted to blur the lines in what was set to be a complex few months. I needed a cold shower - stat.
“I think that’s for the best,” he grinned, before asking the bar staff to have our order delivered. Reaching for my hand, he walked us back to our rooms and I realised, with a warmth settling in my chest, it was the first time he’d initiated touching me like this and I didn’t mind it at all.
Shelby
Chapter Four
The Springs, East Coast of Australia
Two wonderful things happened today, and I have a feeling both have changed me forever.
1. We finally got to The Springs, and they were everything we thought they would be and more. It was so eerily quiet there, even despite the large numbers of people, as if we all knew that the land was sacred, and respect was required. It was a sensory overload as soon as you brushed through the last of the trees and arrived at the array of naturally hot springs. The scent of the earth was so thick, faintly sulfuric and entirely calming and I was seriously lost to the lazy curls of mist floating through the air. Being here with Ash, another new place on our travels, how did we get so lucky?
2. While standing close to four empty pools, of course my ridiculous best-friend chose the spring with two men already occupying the space. I was going to quickly dip into one of the others and enjoy the sanctity of being alone, but then I locked eyes with one of them and, as if pulled byan invisible thread, suddenly I was slipping into the water, and the world was on pause. Hair to his shoulders, soft brown eyes equalled by a light smirk, and I was instantly smitten. He didn’t say a word to either of us, but I saw the way he looked at me when he thought I wouldn’t notice. The way his eyes travelled the full length of my body before I was submerged in the depths of the warm water. His name was Mark, according to the old receipt his friend ran back to us just before they left, which simply had a name and number scrawled on the back. I laughed when his friend handed it to me as if it was just another moment on our travels I would remember fondly, only now, as I look at it again, I know once we get home, I am going to call him. Because why not?!
“Surely this place is listed as a national treasure,” I said, pushing the cascading trees across and holding them so they didn’t fling into the awaiting face of Corbin who trailed close behind. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’ve heard they’re pretty nice.”
“Pretty nice? Look at all this greenery, it’s practically untouched.” I waved some of the foliage over my shoulder and his soft chuckle made me smile. We’d stayed another couple of days at Serenity Ridge, relaxing and taking a tour through the local wineries and eateries. It was everything I wanted in our first stop, and we spent an extra night there to experience the adjacent vineyards once we realised they were hosting a culinary evening inspired by the local produce.
I’d woken the morning after our first dinner with only a slight bubbly induced headache and mild embarrassment over how overt I’d been with him. Memories of telling him I wanted to baste someone like a turkey to fulfil my touch hunger had me vacillating between giggles and complete mortification, especially when I recalled his reaction. And for the last few days, it was guaranteed to randomly have me giggling to myself as the memories washed over me.
Blake was right. I was weird.
But maybe it was the reason he had been a little more physical with me. Each day brought a little more closeness, a little more intimacy - like slow drips filling a glass. A brush of the back of our hands here, an arm around the shoulder there and now as I stood at the last little bit of foliage before our destination, a palm to the small of my back as he guided me forward. His touch lingered longer than I would consider friendly, and it took all my focus to continue without falter, ignoring the warmth which spread through me under his touch. There was no ignoring the way his words had softened since I first arrived, and I wondered if it was due to the romantic settings we kept finding ourselves in.
The internet claimed this place was a hidden diamond which saw hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. However, knowing it was where my parents first laid eyes on each other, I wanted to bask in its beauty without six hundred others around.
It was worth the solid walk through rich shrubs when we finally stepped into the clearing which housed at least a dozen natural springs. Their shapes were all unique, some small, likely only able to accommodate a few people while others looked big enough for a football team and I was mesmerised.
“Woah,” I breathed, captivated by the warmth encasing the otherwise empty land. I could picture it on a busy day, visitors everywhere enjoying the perfection of this tucked away sanctuary, but right now, it was only the two of us and the surrounding stone and pine, almost like guards watching to ensure we respected its ethereality. I walked slowly between the pools, looking in and around each, Corbin’s footsteps close behind. Crouching, I ran my hands across the glistening wet rocks, watching the tiny rivulets of water pooling in shallow dips. The edges varied, some smooth under my touch, while others were jagged, cased with a grainy residue and I was in awe at the untouched grace of the natural world.
I wasn’t sure which I wanted to test first, and I wondered which one Mum and Dad had shared. Where they both were the exactmoment they saw each other, if they had the slightest clue where their lives would go – together.
“I’m going in,” Corbin said as I heard the backpack drop to the floor and I halted, flicking my gaze over my shoulder where he’d paused to find he was already removing his shirt.
I tried not to gawk, to appear nonchalant with my flippant, “Okay,” as if I wasn’t desperate to grab the camera and snap a photo so I could stare as long as I wanted without judgement. I watched from my peripheral, pretending I was still captivated by the rocks as he chose one of the smaller ones and descended into the mist, the water swallowing him as the steady trickling of nearby springs broke the otherwise silent morning.
“Of course, he isn’t just my type but the whole damn genre,” I muttered to myself.
When he groaned his pleasure, goosebumps scattered across my skin, wondering what it would be like to trail my fingers down his chest while he made that noise in my ear. He was a fine specimen and long gone were those awkward years of puberty.
Corbin was a man and one I was thinking about in ways I should not be.
“You just going to stare?” He teased, and my eyes shot to his, my already red cheeks warming further.
Oh my God.
“I wasn’t staring,” I tried pathetically. We both knew that was total crap, I was practically drooling.
