Just To Have You Back Again

A Brave New Girl

Beth wrenched her lips away from Jake's after what seemed like an eternity of kissing each other. She stood there with her eyes closed catching her breath but not moving away from him. Her fingers were still running through his hair as she rested her forehead on his chin. He continued to run his fingertips up and down her spine and moved his lips to first kiss her cheek and down to her neck, which he continued to pepper with tiny kisses.

"What are we doing today?" she asked as she moved her head lightly to the side to make life easier for the two of them.

"Kiss," and moved his lips back over her lips.

She moved one hand from his hair and caressed his forehead, then nose, and then casually placed it over his mouth. She looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"I'm serious!"

"I'm serious, too!" He mumbled as he looked at her lips once more, now a deep pink color, all bruised and swollen from his assaulting kisses. She kept her palm over his mouth so he playfully bit the flesh there until she took it off.

"So we're just going to stand here, waste our last free day, and kiss all day?"

"What a great idea, sweetheart," he said to her like it was her idea and pulled her closer to him again.

"I think we should do something fun."

"Kissing you is fun," as he started nibbling her earlobe.

Beth shifted her hands from his chest to his shoulders. "Jaaaaaake...focus."

He stopped his ministrations, took her hands off his shoulders with both of his and intertwined fingers on both hands. He moved their arms so that they were resting by her hips.

"What would you like to do, baby girl?"

"I'm feeling a little adventurous. I saw zip lining on the hotel brochure. You think we can do that?" she asked looking at him with such wide-eyed innocence.

"I think we can," he replied. "But I want you to change first. I don't care how adventurous you are feeling, you are not zip lining in a dress. Some perv might see something he's not allowed to," he pouted, angry at the mere thought of other men ogling her.

She took her two pointer fingers and traced his knitted eyebrows back into place. "Of course I'm gonna change, silly! You really think I'm gonna go like this?"

"You really look beautiful in that dress though..." and he gave her a light kiss on the lips that soon deepened once more. It took another 15 minutes before they even started walking back to the hotel.

***

Jake waited for Beth to change in her hotel room. He was laying on her bed absently flipping through the channels on the TV when she finally emerged from the bathroom. She was now wearing black yoga leggings, a white tank top, and sneakers. She grabbed her key card and inserted it into her sock.

"Ready?" she asked Jake who continued to lay on her bed.

"I don't know. I kinda just wanna stay here now. And hug. And kiss."

"Jake, come on! We gotta slow down. Focus all this extra energy on something else."

Jake reluctantly got up. "Okay, you win. Let's go?"

They happily walked to the zip line area. When they got there, Beth realized just how high up they were. She started turning green.

"Babe, you okay? We still have time to change our minds."

"No, I can do this. This will be fun."

"It will be fun! It'll be like flying. It will be amazing, I promise."

"Okay," she still said nervously and blew air out of her mouth. Jake placed a kiss on her forehead and let the crew place their harnesses.

They were side by side and were looking at each other. "Babe, on the count of three. Just look at me, okay? One. Two. Three."

And of they went! Beth screamed and held onto her harness. At first she kept her eyes on Jake, then shut them tightly, then looked forward. Her screams of fear became screams of delight. She raised her arms up in the air and enjoyed the sensation of flying. She heard Jake shouting out whoops of joy beside her. Once they were safely back on the ground, she ran to Jake and enveloped him in a tight embrace.

"That was so much fun!"

"I told you! I'm so proud of you!"

"What next?"

"Hmmm. Kayaking?"

"Okay!"

"The kayak rentals are not too far from here."

They headed to rent a kayak and life vests. Jake told her to just follow his instructions on how to paddle. She sat in the front while Jake sat in the back to better steer the kayak.

They stayed out in the water for an hour, just paddling leisurely, taking long pauses just to enjoy the scenery. The water was crystal clear and Beth would often look over the side to admire the fish, starfish, and other variants of aquatic life. They were a little knackered by the time they returned their kayak and headed to the snack bar to get some mango smoothies.

They sat on the barstools talking about their childhood and family. Beth listened attentively as Jake spoke of his life in America. She has never been outside of the Philippines, and asked for a detailed account on the places he's seen. He enjoyed telling her his tales; she was so engrossed in the words he was saying. He had the sudden urge to take her to these places and experience them firsthand. In time, he thought.

They had time for one more adventure before the sun set. They decided to go on a short hike to tire themselves out before dinner. Jake dropped Beth off at her room to freshen up before dinner. Dinner would just be at a small stand they passed along the way specializing in street food. Beth took a quick shower and dressed in dark skinny jeans, a plain white tee, a lightweight white blazer, and black patent leather flats. She quickly braided her hair into a side fishtail, letting some hair loose to frame her face. Her make up was once again very light, save for the deep red lip stain on her lips, and spritzed on a little bit of her favorite perfume. She hoped the red color would detract from her and Jake kissing endlessly again since it would smudge easily and get all over him. She quietly laughed at her ploy to be sneaky.

Jake picked her up for dinner dressed in black trousers and a crisp white shirt with light black vertical stripes. His hair was gelled lightly to the side, giving him an air of formality . Even though they were only eating street food, they decided to attend the party at the beach club later that night. He smiled upon seeing her. She thought the red would lessen his desire for her, but she was wrong. To him, it made her lips that much more enticing; like biting into a juicy, red apple! He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and headed to dinner.

***

At the beach club, they met up with rest of the gang. Everyone was enjoying themselves, dancing and drinking. Jake had one arm wrapped around Beth's waist the entire time. They also joined the rest on the dance floor and danced with each other to the intoxicating dance beats the DJ was spinning.

"You are the most beautiful woman here," he whispered in her ear. "And I'm happy you're with me."

"I'm happy you're with me, my handsome date."

"I hope you didn't bring that lipstick with you," he looked at her now faint red lips. She looked up at him questioningly. She hadn't brought it with her and hadn't reapplied all night.

"Because I've been waiting all night to do this."

And his lips crashed down on hers in the middle of the dance floor, nary a care in the world.