Making the Hook-Up (26 page)

Kira sat up and shifted uneasily. She placed her hands on each side of her and let her fingers shape the sand. A flicker of light from the cave caught her eye. The sky continued to dim, leaving streaks of orange, red and indigo across the horizon. She looked at the sky, then looked at the cave and knew she wanted to go inside with Imbe. But he would not be rushed. He wanted to savor her essence. He wanted the tantric moment to last for as long as possible. He wanted to make love to Kira through words, slight touches, glances and conversation. He wanted to
know her from a place of spirit…that place that allowed for sexual pleasure without intercourse. Yes, he wanted that too. But he wanted to feel the intensity of her pure love. He wanted to build to a point of inescapable intensity.

“The sun is going down. Are we going inside for dinner?” Kira was ready to be touched. She wanted Imbe's touch.

“Sure. We can light a few more candles and prepare for the night. I do hope you brought something delicious. I don't want to have to go fishing for our dinner tonight,” he chuckled.

“No. You won't have to do that,” she smiled. “I made a great meal. Fresh salmon with a vegetable medley. I placed a tea light under it to keep it warm.”

“Are you always this prepared?”

“Always.”

“I like that. Let's go inside.”

Imbe gently took her hand and led her toward the cave. They stopped for a moment to watch the sun lead the procession of light to the other side of the world. Kira, Imbe and the sun walked together into another time. Imbe cradled Kira into his shoulder. They allowed the evening to come, at its own pace, in its own time and watched as the sun winked its final wink for the day. They walked on toward the cave. The tide moved away, heading off to its slumber. It bid them goodnight as the last splash of the ocean touched their feet. It was wet.

The cave was warm and bright with candles of every color and scent along every ledge and in every corner of the floor. Shadows danced about threatening to possess Kira and Imbe, wanting to rouse them to dance, to feel the heat as they felt it…to live in a world untouched but touched by everything. The shadows wanted to play, but it was not their evening. It was Kira and Imbe's time. Their moment. The shadows danced on, unrelenting, untouched but touched by the presence of the two.

“Would you like some wine?” Imbe asked.

“I don't drink.”

“No, no, my dear, wine is not drink. Wine is the blood of the land, the essence of nature. It is the grape transformed. Wine should never be thought of as drink. Only those who bastardize it call it drink. But those of us who make it with our hands, and nurture it in the coolness of time, know it is life.”

Kira looked at Imbe intensely.

“Wine,” he continued, “is pure soul. It is the embodiment of everything earth and ether. Untainted wine does not make you drunk. It raises your level of awareness and opens your spiritual center. It allows you to fly free. Wine is sex without boundaries in its purest form.”

Kira continued to stare at Imbe. His broad shoulders began to undulate, seemingly without his permission. Her body began to soften, in preparation for what she felt should come. Imbe was unmoved by her eyes almost closing, as though she felt him entering her with a warmth that set her flesh on fire. He could not deny it. He did enter her. As he sat across from her, pouring a glass of wine for her, he entered her. He entered her deep and long, through the dancing lights, through the hot air, through the echoes from his voice that bounced off the cave walls. He entered her across oceans of time, into the place she was before Cuba, into that place she was before her birth. She sighed a hot sigh.

“Take this wine into you, Kira. I made it with my hands.”

He handed her a glass. She reached for it. As she took it, she felt his fingers lightly touch her hand. She backed away slightly, feeling the charge from his body.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, it's just…”

“It's just what?”

“There is such a strong energy in you. I felt it in your hands.
You would think I've never touched you before.”

Imbe let out a hearty laugh that journeyed through the cave, bouncing about on every wall within.

“We've never touched in this way before, with patience.”

“What do you mean?”

“We've kissed. But always with a wanton passion that was impatient and all too ready to jump into sex. “

“What's wrong with sex?” she giggled.

“Nothing. Taste the wine.”

Kira put the glass to her lips and let the smooth taste wash over her tongue. She bit her bottom lip, realizing how glorious wine was, when done right…no preservatives and filled with love.

“How is it?”

“Delicious. It is potent. It reaches inside and warms me, without intruding.”

“Yes. You just made love.”

Imbe leaned forward to kiss her. He gently tasted the remnants of the wine she'd drank. He then leaned back.

“And now, we've made love.”

Kira took another sip of the wine, then kissed Imbe. The kisses were different. There was a deep wanting that awakened her imagination. She wanted to make love to Imbe, but she also wanted their intimate moment, wrapped around the essence of the wine, to last. She was experiencing a new level of sexuality and eroticism that was bordering on explosive. She sipped more wine.

“Are we ready?”

Kira blushed not knowing what to expect. Imbe knew what she was thinking and decided to rescue her from her uncertainty.

“The fish? Are you ready to eat now?”

Her eyes widened and she began to fumble around for the
plates. After preparing the food, she placed the plates in front of them and refilled their glasses with wine.

“Where are the forks and knives?” Imbe asked curiously.

“Today, we eat in the old way. With our hands. I will feed you.”

Imbe was surprised, but up for the challenge. He'd never been fed by a woman before, except as a child by his mother. And certainly not by her hands.

“Touching your food connects you with the energy within.”

Imbe felt the tables turn.

Kira picked a piece of the fish from the bone and lifted it slowly to Imbe's mouth. He opened to take in the food and felt as Kira gently placed the fish in his mouth and her warm fingers pulled out from between his lips. Electricity ran through his body. He was tempted to hold her fingers in place by gently sucking them. But he let her go. She reached for a piece of spinach. Before he could finish chewing the fish, she was placing the spinach in his mouth. Her fingers had a life of their own. They spoke to him. He could feel that they too wanted him, in their own way. Kira felt his tongue twirl around her fingers as he licked every trace of seasoned moisture from her fingers.

She ate a few bites of food and sipped some wine. A bird flew inside and perched on a high wall. Its wings were blue and green; its underbody was a golden brown. It was a tiny thing, little larger than a finch. They each admired the bird as it admired their food. Kira reached up to share some fish with it. Unafraid, it jumped down and took the fish from her hands, then flew away.

“You are good with animals. Have you always been that way?”

“Actually no. Never. That was strangely the first time anything like that has ever happened to me.”

“You are the first time anything like this has happened to me,” he responded.

Kira smiled and picked up a piece of mango.

“Tell me what you were like when you were a boy,” Kira asked inquisitively as she munched on the mango slice.

“Why do you want to know that?”

“I want to know everything about you.”

Imbe curiously looked at Kira, one eyebrow raised. A heavy sigh emanated from him.

“I was a boy who dreamed he was a man. And that man dreamed he would someday have a boy like me.”

“I don't understand,” she asked.

“I saw myself in every aspect of my future. I saw me in the child I believe I will some day have. Strange, I know. But I saw myself as a man. I'm sure it is not the kind of thing most boys dream about. It wasn't a dream I wanted to have. It just came to me nightly. In the dream, I dreamt. Odd, huh?”

“Yes, very odd. So you dreamt you were a man, who dreamt he had a son?”

“Yes, crazy, I know.”

“Odd, but not crazy. It's an interesting dream for a child.”

“There is more. In my dreams, I saw the woman I would have my son with.”

The silence between them filled the air. Sounds of the ocean interrupted the silence. Water beat against rocks. Kira's heart beat, but not in her chest. It beat in that place where life was born. She wanted to be reborn through Imbe. She wanted him to plant within her the seed of a life she'd never forget. She wanted the magic that lived inside him.

“Would you like more wine?” Kira asked uneasily.

“I want more you,” Imbe said as he lay back on the sand in the cave.

Kira's hair fell forward as she crawled closer to Imbe. She straddled him as he watched her every move. He never took his eyes off her. She bent down close to him, but did not kiss him. His breath smelled like mangos, fresh and sweet. He touched her raven black hair and twirled her curls around and between his fingers. Her brown skin became deeper brown in the candlelit space. She heard him moan as he closed his eyes for a moment. He touched her face then looked at her.

“You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.”

“Oh, stop it. I'm sure you've seen many beautiful women in your day.”

“Yes, beautiful on the outside. But your beauty is complete. Your outer beauty is astounding. Your inner peace and kindness is amazing. And your mind,” he sighed. “Your mind has made love to me a thousand times over.”

She felt him moving beneath her. But not his hips, just where she sat, on his manhood. What was once at ease, was now paying closer attention to her presence.

“I feel you.”

“You made it happen,” he responded.

“How do I know I made it happen? Maybe you just…”

He took her by the shoulders, pulled her to him and began to kiss her in a way that stopped her heart. There was no more sound. The wind stopped, the shadows froze, the water was silent and the floor was no longer beneath them. Everything disappeared and it was just them. Kira felt his hardness throbbing between her legs, rubbing against her panties that were now moist. Imbe wanted the cotton to dissolve from between them. But it didn't. It kept their passions at bay. Her sweet scent began to fill the cave.

“You smell sweet,” he said.

Kira kissed his neck and slowly moved down to his chest. She
hunched her shoulders, unwilling to move for fear of no longer feeling his throb beneath her. She lifted her dress higher to feel more of his flesh against her skin.

“Take off your shirt.” Imbe obeyed.

His body was entrancing. He rippled as he moved beneath her, pulling each arm out of his shirt. He tossed it aside, causing the candles to move with the light breeze from his shirt being thrown.

“Do you want to read to me now?” Kira asked.

“I want to read you,” he said. “I want to begin with each letter on your body. Your nipples are
L.
Your navel is
O.
Your lips are
V.
And your sensual glory that throbs in time with me is
E.
Every inch of you is
L-O-V-E.
Love. Your movements are the words I read. And us, together, is the story I want to tell you. Yes, Kira, I want to read to you. I want to read you our life together. It is a timeless tale of two people, in love. I want to tell you of their adventures together. I want you to hear the action and suspense of places they've been and the things they've seen, together.”

Imbe squeezed her hips into him. His hardness pressed against her firmly.

“Yes, Imbe. Read me our story,” she moaned.

“Once upon a time, in a land far far away, and long long ago, there was a couple. They met each other in a past life, but centuries later, didn't recognize each other when they returned.”

Kira lifted her tank top over her head and pulled it off.

“They met in a small village one day,” he continued. “They felt something familiar, but because they were trained in the ways of their new world, they had forgotten the ways of their old world, and about the power of spirit connection. They'd forgotten how to connect through mind. They continued through their lives, always eyeing each other askance, but never speaking beyond
hello. The attraction was a fierce one. It overpowered them, but they were afraid.”

She placed her top across his nose. He inhaled the scent of her, mixed with gardenias and lavender…and a touch of verbena. He grabbed the top and pulled it closer, to inhale deeper. He placed it next to her glass of wine which was nearby.

“Why were they afraid?”

“Because they were not one with that which created them… the All. So they could not remember who they were and why the connection was so strong. So they tried to avoid it.”

“So what happened?” She picked up her wine and took a sip. Imbe lightly thrust his hips up beneath her, reminding her of his desires.

“They grew.”

“They grew? What do you mean?”

“They began to grow in ways they couldn't imagine. As the years went by, they began to see the truth. Memories of experiences they never had came to them in dreams. They both began to feel a past that felt familiar but was still unfamiliar in many ways.”

“Did they ever realize what the connection was?” Kira asked while tracing her name in Imbe's chest.