Page 44 of Fire
“Looks like your dog takes after you with all your bendy little yoga moves,” he says, so easily I figure I must have imagined that look of sadness on his face.
“Maybe I’ll call him Yogi,” I suggest. “Since it looks like he’s on his way to becoming a yoga master.”
“I think you successfully named your first pet,” Evan says easily.
“Looks like I’m pretty great and this whole pet ownership thing,” I tell Evan, who seems perfectly fine as he watches Yogi lay his head down and close his eyes. Something tells me that’snot entirely true, and I’m about to question him when he turns to me with a determined fire in his eyes.
“You really are,” he says, pushing me back on the bed and straddling me. “But now let’s do something else you’re really great at.”
And because I’m crazy about him, and will never miss a chance to feel his body on mine I forget the question I’m supposed to ask him and bring his mouth down to mine instead.
Chapter 20
Evan
Delilah and Yogi have become the best of friends. The dog wants to be everywhere Delilah is and whines when he’s let outside and the cat can’t come with him.
I finally ordered a cat harness and now Delilah joins Luca, Yogi, and me on our morning and evening walks that we take around Luca’s property.
Today, while I’m working she’s on my lap but keeps pawing at Yogi who sits beside my chair trying to steal my cat’s attention.
“You used to only love me,” I tell her, scratching her ears to try to win back her attention.
She gives a haughty cat look, that clearly calls me a hypocrite. “You’re right,” I say, lowering my other hand down to Yogi to give the dog a thorough head scratch. “We’re both lovesick fools.”
Someday soon, Luca will pack up and take his dog with him to the next place on the map, not knowing he’s leaving behind both me and my cat with broken hearts.
The day Luca brought Yogi home from the vet, I let myself get carried away. I saw how cute Delilah and Luca’s rescue dogwere together and I let myself imagine we all belonged together— maybe forever.
Then Luca reminded me he was a rolling stone and liked to travel light, and I realized I needed to let my dream go. I had way too much emotional baggage to ever be able to travel light.
I came close to breaking down for a second, and then I got over myself. Yes, Luca would leave me, but having this time with him in this cabin was a gift. One I wouldn’t ruin by wanting more from Luca than what he could give me. I would hoard every moment, every experience I could with the man that I loved and not regret it.
Then I stripped him, climbed on top of him, and rode him to a body shattering orgasm. Afterward, I collapsed on top of him loving the feel and smell of his sweat-soaked skin beneath me until I rested enough to do it all over again.
Since then, I’ve been careful to not let those dreams carry me away again. It’s hard. The time here at the cabin has become the perfect tease of what a future with Luca would be like if he loved me.
Luca wakes me up early every morning which, being more of a night owl, I bitch about until he shuts me up with a kiss or his cock, both of which go a long way toward appreciating the benefits of rising early. Then we go for our walk with Yogi and Delilah, sometimes stopping to eat breakfast under one of the huge White Oak trees that cover his land.
Once we get back to the cabin, Luca sets down two yoga mats and runs through some beginner’s breathing exercises and movements with me. I have a hard time letting myself relax into mindlessness and twisting my body into a pretzel seems outside of its capabilities, but it’s more than worth my aching muscles to see Luca go through his own routine. To see his powerful muscles perfect each intricate pose and hold it is a beautiful sight, and I love seeing the peace it brings him.
After yoga, I start writing. Since several of my older works have been republished since Digger’s video was aired, several national news publications have reached out to ask me to freelance for them. I was even interviewed by a news cable channel as an expert on Reiver crime culture. Between that and working on a new set of articles about Patriots Now, I’ve been pretty busy.
Luca will interrupt midafternoon, coming in from the list of chores he’s set for himself each day, to make sure I stop to drink and eat which usually ends with us taking an afternoon break in his bed
Around sunset another walk with Yogi and Delilah, and then we return to the cabin and because it’s still cold at night, Luca lights a fire in the fireplace.
It’s my favorite time with him. The day’s responsibilities are done, with the promise of a long night talking with him, laughing with him, loving him in front of me.
Like tonight. We made grilled cheese sandwiches and warmed up some soup to go with them. We’re sitting at his table and we’re talking about music we like when, suddenly he slurps his soup.
I freeze mid-bite of my grilled cheese when he does it again. I look at him and he winks at me. “I couldn’t resist,” he says, laughing.
I can’t help joining in. “God, you probably wanted to strangle me,” I say, still feeling cringey at the way I treated him.
His lips tilt up into a smirk and his eyes take on a wicked gleam. “I had my ways of keeping calm while you’d rail into me for an hour about being able to go to the mailbox on your own, or when you’d accuse me of breathing too loud.”
I lean closer. “Like what?”
