Thirty-Nine

THE Señor stayed for almost an hour and had an enjoyable conversation with them about so many things while drinking coffee that came from sachets. When he left, Eric asked for her mother’s permission to take her for a ride. Her poor mother nodded before he even finished talking. She looked satisfied but tired and needing a nap.
Tommy, too, still looked dazed as he left for the fish ponds. He only stayed because of the visitors, of course.
So, no one really cared what she did as the two members of her family were both overwhelmingly occupied. Everyone of her neighbors had left after dishwashing and cleaning up was done for their siesta, but they would surely be back in the afternoon to gossip with their mother about the visit and whatever was talked about.
She felt a little faint as they walked towards Eric’s jeep.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You look like you needed a break,” he said as he helped her get inside the front seat then strapped her in. Then he went around the hood to take the driver’s seat.
He started the engine, and they drove away from the house in the middle of the hot afternoon.
“Hey. Are you okay?” he asked, a bit concerned, while he navigated the road in the direction of one of the exits. “You still look a little pale.”
“Did that just happen?” she asked, feeling drained.
He reached a hand and held hers. “It did. It really did. You did not dream about it or made it up.”
“Never in my wildest dreams…” And then she remembered his confession in her bedroom and she suddenly shut up.
“What? Never in your wildest dreams what?”
She shook her head.
He had to let go of her hand to do something while they turned a few times until they were out the exit. Then they were in the highway.
“Where are we going?” she asked in a subdued voice.
“We can’t go anywhere out here where there will be no other people but us, so I’m taking us back through the entrance behind my house.”
“W-What?”
He grinned as he glanced at her before bringing his eyes back to the road. “We’ll take a walk in the woods there. I’d like you to see some of the native trees that’s been replanted there after your family left the old house. It’s been weeks since you last visited and you haven’t seen that.”
After a moment, she nodded. “Okay.”
He reached for her hand again and brought it to his lips to kiss her knuckles, then caressed her palm softly with the pad of his thumb as he continued to drive along the road that followed the borderline of the hacienda walls until they arrived to the entrance gate behind his house.
He left the car for a moment to unlock the iron gates, drove the car in, then closed and locked them again. He parked the car at the back of the house.
She didn’t wait for him to help her out, but he was fast and was there as she was climbing out.
The jeep was higher than a car, and instead of just holding her hand, he lifted her from the waist and slid her down his body.
Then he was kissing her.
Could a kiss be both tender and passionate? It was. It was hot yet slow, going deep.
And she was thinking they were not going to set foot on the woods with where they were going with this kiss when he raised his head and grinned down at her as his eyes twinkled.
“That should keep me sane for a while,” he told her softly, then he took her hand, and they started to walk towards the side of the house and out into the road that would lead them to the woods he was talking about.
He showed her the spot where a few of trees about seven feet tall where standing well and sturdy that only the disturbance on the ground would tell they were newly transferred there.
There was a line of mahogany and then narra trees. There was a different kind of rosewood in another column and teak in the next one, about twenty trees in a row. This forest was the one where hardwoods of Southeast Asia were cultivated. She knew there were a few hectares where different varieties of fruit trees were maintained and they came from different countries like Hawaii, the South of United States, Latin America, some parts of the Mediterranean and Arabian countries.
Whenever the Señor hear of a fruit that could possibly survive in the condition here, he would do everything to acquire seeds or small trees.
“You’re too quiet. I’m almost afraid to ask what you’re thinking.”
They had gone past the new trees and were walking on paths between the old ones for minutes without talking. She liked the calmness brought about by the coolness in the air and natural noises produced by insect, bugs and whatever small animals were in the place.
She couldn’t help but smile at what he said. “You? Afraid? Since when has that ever happened?”
He was grinning when he reached for her and pulled at her waist to hold her against him. She gasped as her body readily responded to this play. He lowered his head and bumped the end of his nose to hers. But she pulled her head away before he could kiss her in the mouth.
“Eric, someone else might be here and see us.”
“No, there’s no one here. The only time someone comes here was when they needed to check the new trees, but they will ask for permission first.”
“But—”
His mouth captured hers and her worries dissipated in the face of his hunger. She kissed him back. She was too weak to fight him off, and to start now would make no sense, anyway. She couldn’t ever fight his kisses. She couldn’t ever not want his kisses. His kisses were the best invention by man… or the gods… or whomever.
She gave up on thinking and just enjoyed the searing pleasure of his lips, opening her mouth to his roving tongue, and playing with him using her own tongue, teeth and lips. She could feel a lightness in him, a naughtiness. He seemed… happy.
He raised his head after a long moment, then looked down at her with hooded eyes. “Honestly, what were you thinking when you were so quiet a moment ago?”
Ahh. Not entirely happy. He was worried, too.
“I was remembering how terrified of you I was before. I couldn’t believe that was just about… two months ago? I can’t believe how much that’s changed.”
He was caressing her arm with the tips of his fingers but he was frowning a little. “What made you even remember that now?”
She couldn’t speak for a moment.
“Hey… tell me. I want to know,” he told her.
“Your… confession.” Her face was starting to heat up and she couldn’t look at him anymore. “Were you telling me the truth?”
“That I love you?” He kissed her cheek softly. “Of course. Do you think I’d carelessly say those words and not mean them?”
She took a long, deep breath. “How is that even possible? I can’t ever be like any women that you’ve met. I’m—”
“The best of them. Arianna—”