Page 30 of Once Upon a Star

I turned to see him looking at me and not the water. I blushed and held his gaze. So much for thinking the man was unaffected by our nearness. He had been friendly but distant toward me since we had left on this trip. I thought he wanted to be friends and only friends; his look was telling me something completely different.

My body turned almost on its own as if Bash and his body were calling to mine. I watched as he turned to me. I took a small step toward him and he did the same. We were inches from each other and yet neither made a move to touch the other. I could hear my heart beating in my ears. My breath was short and shallow as I waited to see what Bash would do.

The sexual tension that had always been between us, suddenly seemed to take up all the space. I could feel it almost pulsing around us. I reached my hand and placed it on his hip. As if in a trance, Bash did the same thing. I smiled as I put my other hand on his hip and he followed suit.

We stood like that for a few more minutes. My eyes zeroed in on Bash; all I saw was him. His deep hazel eyes, his long nose, his high cheekbones, his lush, full lips. I opened my lips slightly and licked them. I watched Bash’s eyes dart down and then back up to my eyes. The look he gave me was so hot, so intent, and so full of lust, it almost took my breath away. It did make me excited and I moved closer to him.

“Ara,” Bash said softly as he put his arms around my back and pulled me to him. I went willingly, tightening my hold on him. I tilted my head and kept my eyes on his as he lowered his lips down to mine. His eyes had turned a dark brown and I could see the desire, the need, the want that he had for me all staring back.

He had looked at me like that when we were younger and I thought I was never going to see it again. I had forgotten the thrill it gave me. A thrill that I only got from him. As he moved his mouth inches from mine, I knew that he was the only man who would ever make me feel this way. He was the only man I wanted to.

I closed my eyes in anticipation of his kiss when a loud sound came from behind Bash. I jumped away from him. He reached up and gripped my shoulders and looked to the heavens. We didn’t speak and it took me a second to realize it was thunder as I hadn’t seen the flash of light.

“Was that thunder?” I asked.

“I think so, but it wasn’t in the forecast,” Bash said, his eyes still looking up.

I looked up too and could see some dark clouds starting to form behind Bash. “Imagine that, a weather person was wrong,” I said and pointed behind Bash.

He let go of my shoulders and looked at where I was pointing. “That doesn’t look good,” he said.

“No. We should head back,” I said.

“Yes.” The disappointment was evident in Bash’s voice.

I let Bash take the lead and followed him back toward the camp. I took one last look at the lake and hoped that we would get another chance to finish what we started. I smiled to myself as I thought about what else we had started on the hike and wondered if we would be able to pick up where we left off when we got back to the cabin.

Chapter 17

Sebastian

We got to the cabin seconds before it started to downpour. We laughed as we closed the door and then stood by the window and watched the rain come down in buckets. I could smell the rain as we got closer to the cabins; I could feel the wind picking up, and sense the electricity in the air.

I had been worried we wouldn’t make it back in time. While I would have loved to see Ara wet, with her clothes clinging to her body, leaving little to nothing to the imagination. I didn’t want her to catch a cold. Though the idea of warming her up held a certain appeal.

It had been years since I had seen such a force of nature. It was easy to forget the power wind and rain can have living in Southern California. We certainly didn’t get storms like the one that Ara and I got to watch. It was a little scary but beautiful at the same time. Kind of like the woman I was currently sharing a cabin with.

Her beauty was even more evident when I saw her looking out at the storm. Her eyes were bright, her hair was pushed back with moisture and possibly sweat. Her cheeks were flushed from the exertion of running the last half mile to the cabin. There was an excitement to her, a happiness, and a calm, too. All of it was sexy. I loved seeing all the different sides of her and that she allowed me to see them.

It scared me how much I cared about her, how much I loved her, and how much I just enjoyed being around her. I had wanted to take things slow with her, but after being alone with her for less than a day, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do that.

We had shared a moment on the lake. The kiss that I had been so excited about and believed was finally going to happen, hadn’t. Ara had pulled away. I could fault the thunder scaring her, but I had been so into wanting to kiss her, a herd of elephants could have come by and I wouldn’t have noticed.

I could see she wanted me, but she was still wary. Her eyes at times would look at me with such love, such desire, and other times, like she wasn’t sure who I was. I could understand her wariness. I had all but abandoned her when we were younger. I had never talked about what my plans were for the future or my goals. She had no idea how much she was an integral part of it all.

If I told her, she wouldn’t believe me. She would think I was just telling her so she would sleep with me. I knew I had to convince her that I was staying. My future, my happiness, everything I wanted in life was in New York, with her. There was so much I ached to tell her and hoped that I would find a way soon.

“I don’t think we could have planned that better if we tried,” Ara said as she looked at me.

There was some moisture on her cheek and I longed to wipe it away. I didn’t. If I did, I wouldn’t stop with just putting my hand on her cheek. I would want to pull her to me. I would want to look into her eyes again and see the passion she had for me like I had seen at the lake. I would want to bring my lips inches from her, but not stop until they were touching.

“Good thing, as it looks like a bad one,” I said.

Ara laughed. “You’ve been away from the East Coast too long. This is nothing. It’ll probably pass in a few hours. It will be like it didn’t happen by tomorrow.”

“Good. I would hate for the rain to ruin the rest of our trip,” I said.

Ara gave me a knowing smile as she walked past me and into the kitchen. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind if it stayed and kept us in the cabin all day and night. I’m sure we could find some ways to pass the time.”