“This place is like paradise.” Ben stood by the guest house window, looking out over the lake at an old man with a floppy hat fishing off the shore on the other side. “I wish we could stay here forever.”
Familiar electricity radiated through his back as Imara’s healing touch covered his skin. Although in the weird, skewed fabric of their lives, it was only a few days since they laid naked in each other’s arms; it felt like a hundred years. He lifted his arm and slipped it around her, drawing her close beside him. “It’s just beautiful, isn’t it?”
Seeing the old man reel in a fish, Ben fisted his hand in victory and smiled. “I could teach you how to fish. We could rock on the porch swing every night. You know what? I bet it snows here. I’ve never even seen snow before.”
Imara grinned at him in the reflection of the glass. “I fish? Well, I’ll go with you, but I’m not touching those stinky old things.”
Ben looked down into Imara’s face. “Thorin said there’s a boat tied up to the dock. You want to go for a whirl around the lake?”
Resting her head against his warm chest, Imara nodded and rubbed her fingertips between his muscles. “Why, sure, but I can’t swim.”
“Baby, you really think I’d let you drown?” He kissed the top of her head then twisted his lips. “Shit, I don’t even know if we can drown.”
Imara turned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Well, no, I don’t expect you would. I just don’t want to get all that dirty lake water all over my new clothes.”
He knitted his brows together as another plan came into his mind. “Well, we could stay here, and you could shimmy yourself out of them, then you won’t have to worry about them being dirty.”
Imara pushed her lips together as she shook her head. “Oh, no, Ben. You and I are going to have some fun. Have you ever been to the movies? I mean, you lived in Savannah for a while before I got there. Did you ever?”
“No.” Brushing her hair back off the mark on her neck. “I never wanted to do anything without you, even before I knew about you.”
Her sweet face batted its eyes at him the way it always did when she tried to get her way. “I thought that we could go. We could have a proper evening like normal people. Go to the show, to dinner. Just us.”
Ben sighed at the thought of doing something in public. “I don’t know, Imara. Are you sure? I think we might be out of place in town.”
She patted his cheek with her fingers. “I’m sure I want to show off my handsome man. Besides, Thorin said the movie house and restaurants are empty during the week because all the humans have to work.”
Ben wrapped his arms around her shoulders, crossing them behind her head as he looked into her eyes. “We should be training. Planning.”
“There’s time for that, Ben, but I need you now.” She poked his chest. “Right now.”
After a throaty growl, he swatted her bottom with his hand and nodded to the bedroom. “Go get changed then.”
Imara came from the bedroom in her t-shirt, jeans, and boots, and Ben crossed his arms. “Un-un, nope.” His head shook as he pointed back to the door behind her. “You just get back in there and change.”
Imara looked down over herself. “What’s wrong with it?”
Ben tugged at the collar. “It’s too tight. I can see your tits right through that shirt.”
Imara smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Don’t be silly. Besides, who’s going to see them out here. The squirrels?”
Ben shook his head and grabbed her elbow. “Fine! Let’s go.”
***
As they floated out in the middle of the lake in the late afternoon shade, Imara swayed back and forth with the motion of the boat. “So, what’s in that bag, Sweetheart?”
Ben glanced down at the paper bag and smiled. “It’s a surprise.” Picking it up from the floor, Ben pulled the bottle out, then balled the bag in his hand and threw it aside.
While he popped the cork on the bottle of wine, Imara breathed the warm air and watched the sun slip behind the trees. “Oh, Ben, this is so nice. Thank you for bringing me.”
“Here you go, Baby.” Her eyes fell back to him, then landed on the wineglass in his hand.
As she sipped on her wine and licked her lips clean, Ben gripped the oars in his hands and pressed them through the water. “When we first got married, this is the kind of stuff I wanted to do for you, but I”- he sighed as he looked out across the lake- “I had so much work to do. I’m sorry I couldn’t make more time for you and Eliza. I regret many things I did and didn’t do, but that’s the biggest one, Imara.”
“Ben, there was no better husband or father in the universe. Those were the best days of my life. I’d give anything to go back to our life on the farm.” She peeked down into her glass before looking back into his eyes. “Keeping house and being Eliza’s Momma and waiting for you to come home so you could love all over me, that was everything I ever wanted. It still is.”
He knew there was little chance that either of them would make it out of that world alive, but he hoped that whatever was waiting when they returned was worth dying for again. “You think they got all this in the Realm? Just some little town somewhere we can be alone.”
“Yes, I think that’s exactly what it’s going to be like. What’s coming up for us over there is good, Sweetheart.” Her head shook, and her finger pointed into his knee. “Don’t you be afraid for me? Don’t let it cloud your thinking. No matter what he does to provoke you, you keep your wits and get rid of him.”
He rubbed his thumb over her branded finger. “I will. I swear to you.”
Imara squeezed his hand and pulled him in to kiss her. “I know you will. You’re the only one who can.”