She looked around them at the wondrous beauty of nature in all its spring glory; all the varying shades of pink and white blossoms, the daffodils and tulips that dotted the shoreline in clusters of brilliant color, the baby ducklings that paddled around after their mothers in the water, the sounds of children laughing in the distance, music playing from some far unseen place, people strolling along the pathway around the lake, and the deepening blue sky, scattered about with puffy white clouds and dotted with colored kites. It was a perfect day, and as she took it all in, she realized something and she turned to look at Alexander, just to find that he had been watching her again. The butterflies in her went wild.
“I have to tell you,” she grinned at him, “this is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I didn’t even realize how much I missed things like this until just now. It’s so perfect. Thank you so much for bringing me here today. I love it,” she told him earnestly.
He nodded and smiled back, setting the oars down finally. They were far out into the lake. “I’m really glad to hear you say that. I had hoped that it would be like this for us today, and even if I could have planned it out myself, I couldn’t have made it any better than it is. I needed this day, and there’s no one else I would rather have shared it with.” He winked at her and she felt her heart skip a few beats.
Alexander turned and reached behind him into the basket filled with their picnic supplies. He pulled out couple of small personal sized bottles of champagne, popped their corks, and poured each one into a glass champagne flute. He handed one of them to Mia and toasted her.
“To this perfect day with you, and hopefully to more that will follow,” he said with a smile and lingering look deep into her eyes.
She felt everything in her jolt with an excited thrill, and she silently scolded herself, reminded that she was only in it for the single purpose of finding out if the rumors about him were true. She lifted her glass to him.
“Cheers!” she said happily, and after touching the rim of her glass to his, she sipped slowly from it and savored the golden bubbles that danced over her tongue and down her throat. She closed her eyes as the sound of a trumpet floated over the water and the moment wrapped itself around her like a glove.
Sighing, she opened her eyes back up and looked at him. His eyes were taking her in once more, and he slowly moved toward her until he reached her, never once rocking the boat. She was surprised that it was so still and he was so careful. He placed his glass of champagne in her free hand and reaching both of his hands up to her face, he cupped her cheeks and drew his mouth to hers, touching his lips to hers softly, making her gasp as they began to taste one another and he slowly set her body on fire from the inside out.
His lips parted hers and his tongue began to trace over hers in sweeping circles and twists, making her forget everything but that heated connection between them. Her heart began to pound and her breath grew shallow and short as his kiss deepened and she lost herself in the rapture of the taste and feel of him.
Carefully wrapping her arms around him—each hand still holding tightly to a flute of champagne—she hugged him to her body and kissed him back with as much sensuality as she had in her, and she could feel the effect it had on him when he matched her kiss. After long moments, he finally pulled away from her slowly, his breath ragged, his eyes locked on hers, and he reached his fingers to hers, brushing them slowly over her skin as he slid his champagne flute out of her hand and moved back to his seat in the boat.
He took a deep breath and she saw him let it out slowly as he shook his head. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you just…” he paused and stopped shaking his head, “…you take my breath away,” he told her softly.
Mia felt the heat in her catch fire and she wanted nothing more at that moment than to reach her arms around him and show him just how much he made her feel the same way. She smiled coyly at him and looked away for a moment, feeling her cheeks warm before she looked back at him and lifted her glass to her lips, sipping the champagne and wishing that she was feeling her tongue on hers again, rather than the bubbles that tickled her.
He grinned as he finished his own champagne and then put the glass back in the picnic basket. He picked up the oars and began to row them around the lake. He directed the boat beneath some of the trees, and as they passed under them, a flurry of pink and white blossoms spiraled down toward them on warm air, and she found herself in a shower of them as they landed on her, dotting her clothes and brushing against her skin. He laughed lightly and she loved the feel of every one of them.