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Will inhales a couple of deep breaths as he stares out into the gorgeous vista. Then he turns, wearing his man-in-charge expression.
“Jake, Liam, I don’t see any imminent threat here. Do you see anything different?”
“No, sir,” they say in unison.
“Good. I’d like one of you to leave me a radio and then for both of you to head back to the main trail, where we turned to come up here. Protect me from that distance, please. Ms. Beach and I would like to have our picnic without your fine company.”
An anthill forms in my belly. An anthill filled with hundreds of very happy little legs, dancing at the thought of the feast that is about to be spread before them. The feast of the world’s most beautiful man.
Will stands by my side until I can’t hear Liam or Jake on the trail anymore. He steps in front of me, unzips my jacket, pushes his hands under my shirt, and grips my waist.
The warmth of his palms melts me.
Will’s lips graze the shell of my ear, sending shivers down my spine and a deep pulse of energy into my core.
Nature meet nurture.
“How did you envision this fantasy unfolding?” Will hums in my ear. “Actually, don’t tell me. Show me.”
“Really?” I stare at him, worried that he might judge me for being too woo-woo or worse, too kinky. I inhale courage and one of his mantras pops into my head, so I say it. “If what you’re doing makes people uncomfortable, keep doing it.”
Will tilts his head, eyes questioning.
I inhale courage. “I want us to connect with nature …” I pause, since I can imagine what I want but can’t find the words to describe it.
Will waits several seconds then asks, “Should I take off my boots?”
The ants in my belly, which had stopped dancing and were waiting on all their tippy toes while I formed my thoughts, faint. His question makes me feel relief and joy and so much love because I know that even though my fantasy is so far out of his comfort zone that I can at least tell him. And even if he isn’t game for everything, I know he’s started to understand and accept all of who I am and what’s important to me.
I blink away the happiness that’s welled up from my chest and into my eye sockets.
“Yes, I would love for you to take off your boots, but first I want to gather some soft pine and cedar branches and some moss.”
“Are we building a fire?”
We are, I think, but not the way you mean it.
I shake my head no. “We’re making a bed. A bed that’s filled with plant energy and life and—”
“And bugs and spiders and sticky sap,” Will interrupts.
“Probably.”
“Sexy,” he says.
“I think it is.”
Will shakes his head but he’s not hiding a small smile. “I imagine you have a knife in that bag.”
I nod.
“Then let’s make a bed fit for Virginia ‘Full of Surprises’ Beach,” he says.
“Good surprises?”
“The best.”
Will and I walk several yards into the forest and set to work. He cuts young branches from the yellow Cyprus and lodgepole pines that stand tall. I fill a body-sized, hemp pillowcase with moss and fallen pine needles. Because nature makes me so happy, I’m humming “Walking on Sunshine” and dancing—just a little, because who can not move their body when there’s music, even if it’s only in your head?
