He cups his hand around his ear. “Sorry, what was that? My cock makes your bones shake?”
I erupt into laughter because his playfulness is so unexpected and uncharacteristic of him, but slowly, day by day, he’s gradually unwrapping little pieces of himself, letting his true self shine through.
“Yes, Elijah. That’s exactly what I said.”
“Thought so.” He shoots me a flirty wink, one strong hand wrapped around the steering wheel, the other on the shift stick, those biceps of his bulging.
Fuck, he’s sexy.
He pulls up outside a log cabin with a welcome sign outside of it, overlooking a lake that’s stiller than a glass statue, dozens of fancy-looking cars lined up on either side of Eli’s.
“Nice location,” Eli says, reading my thoughts exactly.
“It’s stunning.” We’re situated in the bowl of the valley, trees lining the embankment spreading up and out over the mountainside that looks like it’s been freshly painted in forest green.
“I hope our room has a view of the lake,” I say wistfully. I love the city, but there is no denying how beautiful the landscape is once you get out of town and I can see why my mom and dad love it so much.
“Where are the rooms, or are they cabins?” Eli looks left and right, ducking his head to get a better view out of the windows.
“Down there, I think.” I point to the dirt track through Eli’s side window.
“Shall we check in then?”
“Yes.” I’m so excited. I read the schedule yesterday and I cannot wait to get started. “Our first activity is in an hour.”
“We start today?” Eli asks, almost in shock.
“Yes, and all day tomorrow, then Sunday morning we leave.” It’s a quick turnaround, but the activities they have planned won’t create that impression. “You’ll feel like a new man when we leave, I promise.” I’m a little worried he’ll hate it. I hope he doesn’t. A few activities on the schedule might trigger a meltdown. I’m just hoping that’s not the case. Living with him this past week has given me a bit of an insight into his psyche and routines. I just hope this weekend doesn’t end in disaster. I may have pushed him too far.
After checking in and registering, a kind woman at the front desk named Claire gave us directions to our accommodation, and that’s where we are now: standing in front of it. While I might be okay, Eli could possibly be on the verge of having that meltdown I predicted.
He drops his fancy brown leather overnight bag to the ground.
Here we go…
“It’s a… What the fuck is it?” he asks, his hand on his hip, the other waving around in front of him.
“A yurt.”
“A what?”
“It’s a Mongolian-style yurt.”
“It’s tiny.” He swipes the air with his hand, swatting mosquitoes away. “I thought you said it was cabins. These were not on the website.”
Oh, shit, I should have mentioned this on the way here. He’s a stickler for detail and likes to know everything in advance.
This is off plan and I can already see him struggling.
“These are new,” I say overly enthusiastically, “but this is all they had left as I booked it very last minute.” We went from both screwing with each other about this weekend to actually screwing each other and I only booked this on Monday. I keep up my assurances. “We’re only here for two days, and we’re just sleeping in it; the rest of the time, we’ll be out and about.”
Cursing under his breath as more mosquitoes choose him as their feast, he growls, “Mosquitoes, hundreds of the fuckers. Ow, one of them bit me.” His tone, usually deep and commanding, rises a few octaves as he continues to unravel, flailing and slapping, which only seems to make them worse.
I look down at myself, untouched, and fight back a laugh as he loses his cool, one tiny mosquito bite at a time.
“I brought insect spray just in case.” I read the joining instructions and sprayed myself with the stuff before we left, unlike Eli. He clearly missed that note.
“I’m going to need the whole can,” he grumbles, batting wildly and spinning around on his feet, slapping his stomach and arms. “Fuck.” He turns to face me and slaps his face harder than he meant to.