I cleared my throat and jumped down from the fence. Holding my hand out to her, I said, “I’m Nate and you’re gorgeous. What’s your name?” She giggled. “I like that sound.”
“I’m Ava.”
“Nice to meet you, Ava.” We shook hands. “Can I take you out this weekend?”
Shine started getting antsy. Ava pulled her in a circle. “I have to run her a bit. Bye, Nate.”
She took off in the other direction. “You didn’t answer me,” I yelled. “Will you go out with me?”
“Yes, cowboy,” she yelled back.
Later that day at the hospital, I chose to wear my boots with my scrubs. I assisted on an angioplasty and when Abbie, the scrub nurse, looked down at the booties over my boots, she laughed.
“What?”
Smiling, she said, “I like your boots. I didn’t take you for a cowboy.”
“It’s a state of mind, Abbie, plain and simple.”
“We’ve all been calling you Hollywood.”
I laughed loudly. “I will spare you my John Wayne impression.”
CHAPTER 17
There Are Places
Avelina
“Come to me, baby,” Nate whispered. “There are places you and I can run to. Places where no one knows us. No one can see us.” I took his hand and followed him into the darkness. We were together in a void that was smooth, soft, and warm, and he was touching my face and neck. There were birds chirping and the feeling of sunlight against my skin, but there was no light. He laid me down and kissed me, kissed my breast. He was on his side facing me as I lay on my back. We were naked but warm. His tongue toyed with my nipple and I ran my hands through his messy hair. “God, you are so lovely,” he said. “Can I touch you?”
“Yes, touch me, please.”
“Where shall I touch you, beautiful?”
“Here.” I placed my hand to my flesh.
“Show me how,” he said.
“Like this.” I touched myself and felt the aching pulse below. I arched my back as I felt his warm hand cover mine. My mouth opened but I couldn’t breathe. He covered my mouth with his in a gentle assault.
“Mmm, you taste so good. I want to taste more of you.” His hands began taking over as he lowered himself, trailing kisses down my body. I stretched my arms above my head and let myself feel the exquisite ache.
His hands slid between my thighs and I opened wide for him. He kissed his way up my leg farther and farther until his mouth was on me. I jerked my hips toward him, trying to feel more as my hands got lost in his hair. His tongue was on me and then he plunged two fingers in and I was lost, pulsing against his mouth.
Then, like a movie reel locking and sputtering, everything stopped and I heard a faint knocking sound.
I opened my eyes. It was daylight and I was in my room alone, feeling the last echoes of the orgasm Nate had given me in a dream.
“Oh,” I whimpered, trying to get a grip.
“Ava, are you okay?” I heard Caleb’s call from my living room. I quickly jumped out of bed, threw on a robe, and met him as he walked into my kitchen.
“I’m fine.”
He walked toward me. “You’re flushed. Are you sick?”
“No.” The word came out as a rushed breath.
“Okay. Well, I came over because I hadn’t seen you at breakfast.” He looked away shyly like his concern embarrassed him.
“Thanks for checkin’ on me but I’m fine.”
“Okay.” He shrugged, turned around, and walked out.
When he left, I plopped down on the couch. I stared out the front window and then down to the beige carpet that Redman installed after Jake was gone. The carpet that covered the bloodstained wood floor. Sadly, those images never faded, just like the stains. My phone rang, jolting me out of my trance.
“Hi, beautiful.” Nate’s voice was as deep and as smooth as it was in my dream. I felt an aftershock between my legs.
“Hi.” My own voice sounded strange.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. I was thinking about you.”
“That makes me very happy. I want to take you out to dinner Friday. Can I pick you up at six?”
“Yes, I would like that. Are you taking me somewhere fancy? I don’t have fancy clothes.”
“I don’t have fancy clothes either,” he said, laughing. “I like the dress you wore when we went to the hot spring.”
“Oh, that old thing?”
“You took my breath away.”
My own breath was elusive at that moment. I swallowed and waited.
“Would you like it if I took you shopping?”
“Oh, I couldn’t.”
“Sure you could. Anyway, I would love to spoil you.”
I didn’t answer.
“Okay then, I’ll take that as a yes. We’ll go shopping first then dinner?”
“Okay.”
“Ava, can I ask you something?” His voice got low.
“Sure.”
“When you said you were thinking about me . . . what exactly were you thinking?”
My heart was beating in my stomach. “I was thinking about a dream I had.”
“Tell me about the dream.”
I heard something over the speaker in the background; his name was being called. “Don’t you have to go?”
“Was I touching you . . . in the dream?”
I was breathing hard. “Yes,” I whispered.