Chapter 23
By the time we reached the coast I was hungry and my body was tired, but I felt a lightness of spirit and a peaceful joy that lifted the weight off my strained legs. Jack took my hand and helped me out of the water, and guided me silently towards his truck. He had a towel in the back of the truck, it was crisp and smelled of fresh laundry. It had warmed up staying in the truck while we swam and it felt good when Jack rubbed me dry, gently brushing my face, and then making his way slowly down to my legs. I wanted him and I knew he wanted me too, but I appreciated his decency, his shyness, the fact that there was no explicit provocation in his gests. When he finished I took the towel from him and began drying him the way he had done with me, then I wrapped it around his neck and pulled him close, till our noses touched.
“Where are we going to have dinner?”, I whispered.
“I’ve baked something for you today”, Jack told me, cupping his hand on my cheek and brushing his finger against it.
We drove to Jack’s place in silence, the landscape flowing on the background of his presence.