Birthday Girl

“I was thinking Mexico,” he tells me, peering up at me. “A beach on the Sea of Cortez and just you, me, and our close and personals?”

I smile. “Hell, yes.”

Sounds right up our alley. Quiet, private, and perfect. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say it excited me to go somewhere I’ve never been. I’ve barely been out of this town, and the idea of having to get a passport thrills me as much as now having to shop for this dress Pike is going to die when he sees me in.

I’m already bubbling with excitement at the look I hope to see on his face.

He looks up at me, growing quiet and his eyes serious. “You gonna want kids?” he asks.

My heart thumps, knowing this is a potentially sensitive subject.

“One, at least?” I broach, timid. “Is that okay?”

I understand that starting over is a lot to ask of him, but I would love to have his baby.

Eventually.

To my surprise he barely hesitates before nodding. “I’m okay with it,” he answers. “Can’t wait too long, though, or I’ll be getting the senior citizen discount at the kid’s graduation dinner.”

I break into a laugh.

“After you get your degree, though,” he tells me, “it’s on, okay?”

“Okay.”

I sit down in the seat and pull off my muddy boots, throwing them in the bed with Pike’s shirt, and I take off my hat, my hair falling around my face.

“You know…” I start, “I’m a little nervous.”

“Oh?”

I shake my head, tsking. “Marrying an older man with so much more experience…”

He comes up to me, grabbing my hips and pulling me to the edge of the seat and into him. I run my hand up his naked chest.

“I don’t need my wife to know what other men like,” he states. “Just what I like.”

My eyebrows shoot up, getting an idea. Slowly, I unbutton the flannel shirt I’m wearing and watch his eyes go round when he sees I have nothing on underneath it. I open it slightly, inviting his eyes to rest on my bare breasts.

“And what do you like?” I taunt like that

night in the kitchen when I put a Band-Aid on his finger.

His gaze is locked on my chest, and I let the shirt fall down my arms, my nipples hard from the chill of the rain in the air.

I drop my voice to a whisper. “I think I need more practice.”

His eyes grow dark and full of desire as he looks up at me. Pulling himself up on the step, he dives into the truck and out of the rain, his body coming down on top of mine. I fall back on the seat, opening my legs for him as I work to open his belt.

Our lips hover over each other.

“Whatever the birthday girl wants,” he whispers.

Pike

Nine Years Later

A crack of thunder pierces the silence, and I blink my eyes awake as lightning flashes through the room. I sigh, sticking my thumb and a finger in my eyes, rubbing.