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“I ain’t doing that!”
“Then hush,” he tells me.
“You hush!” I toss back.
He smiles as we trek across the warm sand, heading toward the shore. I snatch my hand away from his and say, “You go ahead. I’ll watch you.”
“No. You wanted me to relax and let loose, right? Now, look at you—tighter than an overworked muscle.”
“Yeah, I saidyou. Not me.”
He shakes his head. “You used to be so free-spirited. Where’s that girl?”
I find his comment comical. I say, “In three months’ time, you know all about my free-spirited ways, huh?”
“More than you know.”
He reaches to pick me up and does so effortlessly at my protest and abundant giggling. And then he walks over to the water. A dizzying feeling comes over me. I think it’s the fact that he’s picked me up and there’s nothing beneath me now but water. And he’s going in deeper and deeper. Is he going to drop me in it? Will he go under and take me with him? I close my eyes and prepare for the unpredictability of this man. Besides, I’m already out here now, encased in his muscles. This ain’t a bad place to be.
He stops wading and says, “Open your eyes.”
I do so, staring up at a blanket of thick, white clouds.
“Don’t put me down,” I tell him.
“It’s not cold, Tessie. I’ll lower you slowly.”
“Oh, no,” I squirm. “No, no, no…” And then I feel the lukewarm, relaxing water on my feet and legs. I feel the gritty bottom of the gulf floor – sand, rocks and seashells. The bottom of my dress floats to the surface.
“See what you’ve done,” I tell him. “My dress is wet now.”
“Your lips are about to be wet, too.”
I blush. Uncontrolled heat spreads through me, fading the small smile that came to my face as I gaze upon him. The water sways us, moves us, but he moves closer to me on his own accord. He strums my lips with his wet thumb, leaving me tasting the saltiness of the water before he leans down and replaces his thumb with his mouth in its entirety. His lips, his tongue – he gives it all to me and takes whatever he wants in return. Beneath the overcast sky, for this moment in time, we are one.
He pulls back and says, “I could kiss you until the end of times, Tessie., and even when we arrive there, it still wouldn’t be enough to satisfy me.”
I gasp and steady myself. Those words, his eyes – I’m certain there is a familiarity behind them. Standing here, staring at him, it’s all I can think about. What is it about him that triggers these memories?
“Tessie?”
I blink, feeling his wet hands connect to mine. “Yes?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m…fine.”
“You were in a daze.”
“Oh. I was, um…um…”
“You were what? Thinking about going for a swim with me?”
“No, Essex.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to swim, because I already know you do.”
“How do you know that?”
