Birthright

With the tour completed, we head back to the marina parking lot on another hay wagon. The entire tent area is now swarming with people. Beyond the tents, a few carnival rides spin around, and children who indulged in too much maple candy turn green. Nate and I walk along, playing a few of the carnival games and eating some actual food from one of the local restaurants.

“You know, I think the only restaurant that isn’t here is the one we went to on our first date,” I say.

“Oh, that place closed down.” Nate glances at me with a slight smile on his face.

“It did?”

“Too many management issues, I guess.” Nate shrugs and quickly changes the topic to the local band playing on a portable stage near the lake.

I press my lips together. For the hundredth time, I want to question him, but I can’t bring myself to do it. In the back of my head, I wonder if Nate had something to do with the restaurant’s closing, but that’s ridiculous. Isn’t it?

The evening ends with fireworks. The temperature has dropped significantly, and Nate insists on giving me his jacket and then wrapping his arm around me as we watch the spectacle. As red and gold sparkles fill the sky over the lake, Nate pulls me to him, warming me with his lips.

“Did you have fun tonight?” Nate says as we arrive back at my apartment.

“It was fantastic!” I beam at him. “Everyone has been talking about it for so long, I thought I might have gotten my hopes up too high, but it was really fun. And thank you again for the bear!”

I hug the tiny stuffed bear Nate had won for me by throwing darts at balloons.

“Hey, that’s all part of the package deal, isn’t it? I have to win stuffed animals for you, or I’m not really a man. It’s in the handbook.”

We laugh together.

“Do you want some wine?” I ask.

“Is it the dollar store stuff?”

“It is.”

“I suppose so. Do you have any peanut butter to go with it?”

“Are you actually hungry? My stomach is still pissed off about the sheer amount of sugar I’ve eaten today!”

“No such thing as too much maple candy.”

I hand Nate the wine, and he opens the screw top with a roll of his eyes. He fills our glasses, and we move over to the couch, sitting close together. I kick off my shoes, and we talk only briefly before the glasses sit forgotten on the coffee table, and I’m in Nate’s arms.

We kiss, slowly at first, but then Nate pulls back, his hand cupping the side of my face.

“You’re amazingly beautiful,” he says, and my face heats up.

Nate gives me that mischievous half smile of his, and then his mouth is on mine. I’m lost in the sensation as if the rest of the apartment around us, the town of Cascade Falls, and maybe even the rest of the world no longer exist. The only indication that there is anything outside of us is the faint hint of maple flavor in his mouth as his tongue caresses mine.

I feel his hands on my arms, my shoulders, and then my back. One of his hands moves to the nape of my neck, then rises to tangle in my hair. He groans into my mouth, and I know what’s coming next.

He’ll walk out.

Running my hands over his chest, I desperately want to unbutton his shirt and push it off of him, but I also know what that will lead to. Like every other night, he’ll suddenly push away from me and leave as if he were protecting my virtue.

Maybe another tactic.

I pull back slightly, reach down, and quickly yank my own shirt over my head, tossing it to the floor before I press up against him again. I grab the back of his head, pressing my lips to his and holding him there as he groans into my mouth.

I feel his hands on the bare skin of my back. His finger trails over the edge of my bra, and he moans again. I lean backward, pulling him with me until I feel the cushions of the couch below me, and Nate is on top of me. He breaks the kiss, eyes still closed, then attacks my neck with his lips. He moves blissfully down, and I feel his lips against the top of my breast, right above my bra. I toss my head back and push my chest closer to him.

He breaks away.

“I should go,” Nate whispers.