Just To Have You Back Again

Moving Through The Fear

Jake and Beth were lying on the couch, facing each other, arms wrapped around each other, legs scissored together. Jake had his head resting on the arm of the couch and one arm was supporting Beth's head. She was tracing his lips with her fingers, his teeth trying to catch and nip the pads of her fingertips. She giggled when he finally caught one.

"Your lips are all swollen," she said then touched hers. "I wonder if mine will ever deflate?" she pouted.

"Don't do that, Babe."

"What?"

"Pout."

"Huh?"

"Because it makes me wanna do this again," he said before leaning in to kiss her again.

His hand moved down to the hem of her shirt, played with the exposed skin there, tickling her. She grabbed the offending hand and moved her lips away from his, laughing.

"Stop! You're tickling me."

But he didn't stop. His hand moved higher, tracing her ribs and moving to caress her back, his eyes on her eyes the entire time.

"Was it like this with us before?"

"Kind of. No matter how much we tried to slow down, it just wasn't happening. I know for sure on my end I could not get enough of you."

"The feeling is mutual. I can be with you all day. I can kiss you all day."

"By all means, darling..." and he kissed her again. "But you're definitely bolder now than before. You would have never told me to kiss you or told me you can kiss me all day five years ago," he winked.

"I'm thirty. It wouldn't be becoming for me to be coquettish, now would it?"

"I think you're being coquettish now," another peck on the lips. "And it's very becoming," a longer kiss.

"Okay, we can't just keep on making out. I'm starting to feel like a bit of a floozy. We need to set some ground rules. First off, let's define our relationship."

"Engaged."

"I'm married."

"Don't remind me."

"So I think I need to take care of this first. I'm gonna talk to Nick. If I get sent back to the Philippines for good, so be it. At least I'll have my mom and brothers now."

"And me."

"Your life is here."

"My life is you."

She reached for his face, cupped his cheek in her hand and ran her thumb over his bottom lip.

"I'll get an annulment. That's the only thing I'm sure of. Then we can figure things out from there. Until then..."

She began to stand up, but he prevented her from doing so. He just pulled her back down and went on top of her, effectively trapping her. He nuzzled her neck, just content to be cuddling with her.

"Jake, it's 11 PM. I think i should go now."

"No...stay here."

"What did I just say? I want to start over with you, but let's do this the right way, please. I may not be in love with Nick, but I do have emotional ties with him. I'm not going to just ruin our friendship after everything he's helped me through. Is that okay with you, sir?"

"No."

"Jake."

"I mean yes," he laughed. "Thank you, babe. Everything will fall into place and make perfect sense soon. I love you so much."