“Some people get head pain, Al. They can manage it, but it happens, and sometimes the pain defeats the management. But they live with it. Some people got diabetes, and they deal with it, but they accidentally miss a shot, or for some reason, shit spikes, and they got problems. And they live with it. It’s like that. It just is what it is. And you live with it.”
She reached to stroke his jaw this time and repeated in a tone he liked better, “Okay.”
“And the hot springs helped,” he shared.
“Okay, honey,” she said again.
Time to move on.
“Now, about these fantasies of yours…”
“Ohmigod,” she muttered, annoyed, and he grinned.
“Any of them involve fucking by a hot springs? I mean, we fucked in them, and we fucked in the tent, in close proximity to them. But now I’m talking right by them. Is that a fantasy?”
“I’m never telling you my fantasies, Rix,” she declared.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because when you fulfill them, I get to have a little secret.”
At that, he swept his arms around her, pulled her up and rolled her on the blanket so he was on top.
“Which ones I fulfill?” he asked.
“Not telling,” she teased.
“Totally doing you in the hot springs was one,” he guessed.
“Maybe,” she hedged.
That meant yes.
Fuck yeah.
He put his mouth to hers and opened her legs with a hand.
His hips fell through.
“What other ones you got?”
“Rix,” she breathed as he slid a finger up the inseam of her jeans.
Her hands were moving on him with a purpose.
But she didn’t spill.
She lifted her head and kissed him.
Well…
To hell with it.
She got to have a secret.
And he got to have Alex.
In the end, it was a win-win.
So, under the stars, by the hot springs outside Ouray, Rix set about winning.
For the both of them.
And fulfilled another of Alex’s fantasies.
Rix lay in the dark.
In the tent.
Listening.
There were bears out there.
Cats.
He had a lightweight portable camp chair that folded so small, it could fit in his pocket. He used it when he was camping to get his legs on.
But it wasn’t easy, and it didn’t go as quick.
So, like he had the last two nights, he lay, Alexandra snuggled up to him in their sleeping bag dead to the world, and he listened.
The reason he wasn’t as agile.
He was exhausted.
Because what had been happening happened that night.
He didn’t fall asleep until he couldn’t stay awake anymore.
And in a couple of hours, he had to get up.
Because it was a new day with Alex, and they didn’t have a future together.
So while he had her he wasn’t missing anything.
Chapter 18
The Bottle
Rix
Three days later…
* * *
“Really, that’s a fantastic choice. I’m not just saying that. It’s one of a kind. Totally unique. We don’t usually stock these in the store, but the owner loves this designer. She just can’t turn her pieces down. You see why. It’s that special. Though, you need to understand, even with your trade-in, that’ll still be another eight thousand dollars.”
It was his birthday.
Rix was on his lunch hour.
And he had a lot of shit to get done.
The surveys were coming in and Krista was compiling then.
The furniture was arriving.
Judge and Kevin had taken a trip to Chicago, which was a big Kids and Trails town, to talk to some students, parents and teachers. Their feedback reports were in his email inbox.
Shit was heating up. They needed to get down to it. Alex and him had taken some time off, and they’d be taking more next week to go to her sister’s wedding.
He didn’t want to pitch up to work late from lunch.
And this was errand one of two, both important, essential.
But it meant he’d probably have to hit a drive through for food, which sucked.
“And that’s with a firefighter’s discount,” the associate said.
Well.
Hell.
He looked at her. “I’m not a firefighter anymore.”
“Yes you are,” she said softly.
He felt his neck get tight.
He ignored it and looked back down at what he was holding, pinched between his thumb and finger.
“I can talk to my manager, maybe get you an extra ten percent,” she said.
With what he was holding, he could see that eight grand, with the discount.
The stone was big.
But it didn’t protrude.
It was embedded in platinum with a constellation of other diamonds around it. So many, they wound nearly all the way around the band.
One big star in the middle, dozens of others twinkling around.
It was thick.
The weight was hefty.
But self-contained.
It wouldn’t catch on anything.
It was also striking. Feminine. Unusual.
Alex.
“I’ll take it,” he decided, shoving the box with Peri’s ring that was sitting on the glass in front of them toward the associate and handing her the one in his fingers.
“I’ll give you the ten percent and deal with my manager later,” she said.
“Obliged,” he grunted.
She nodded, smiled, and told him, “It’s gorgeous. She’ll love it.”
She would.
It was all her, an endless circle of Alex.