Take Two: An Erotic Romance (Book 1) (5 page)

“Silly! We won’t see any fairies today. They only come out on
Midsummer’s eve, and maybe Thanksgiving.”

“Of course,” Mathis said, shaking his head. “Silly me.”

I laughed, and for a moment we were standing there, both laughing
at ourselves. We had only been talking a few minutes, but already I was
completely at ease, excited to show Mathis the wonders of the woods.

“Come on,” I said, “Let’s go.”

***

Our walks in the wood became a regular activity whenever Mathis
had some free time. The childish fantasy we had created was at the center of
our walks, and each day we added some new embellishment to our own little
world. We named the trees and each climbed as high as we could on our
favorites. We ventured further and further into the dark, thick center of the
wood, away from the paths, discovering something new with each new adventure.

On this particular day it was raining heavily, and we had
penetrated further than ever into the thick canopy in order to escape the worst
of the rain. As we sheltered under a large branch, Mathis inquisitively peered
in the direction of what looked like a small cliff.

“Hey – is that a cave?” he asked, pointing past the trees and
towards the cliff.

“I don’t know – I’ve never been to this part of the woods before,”
I admitted. I was actually too afraid to venture too far away from Uncle Andy’s
home.

“Do you want to go and explore?” he asked.

“OK – we’d better be careful, though. Who knows what might be
lurking in a cave in this part of the forest,” I said seriously.

“I’ll go first, then, to make sure there aren’t any evil creatures
or dark spirits waiting to send you into an eternal sleep,” Mathis teased as he
ran off.

“Wait – don’t leave me here by myself!” I exclaimed, rushing after
him.

Mathis laughed as he let me catch up. “I’ll do my best to protect
you from the rain, at least,” he said, putting his arm around me as we ducked
through the trees in the direction of the small cliff.

There was indeed a cave, a small nook in the side of the stony
wall which provided just enough space for two people to shelter. Mathis made a
show of scoping out every corner of the small cave before holding out his hand
and pulling me over the threshold.

“Do you feel any evil presence?” he asked me.

“Mmm, not sure yet,” I said nervously. I didn’t want to admit I
was a little scared, but I felt better that Mathis was with me.

“Well, let me know if you start feeling sleepy and I’ll do all I
can to keep you awake so you don’t fall under the spell,” Mathis teased unfazed
by their new surroundings.

We sat on a big rock inside the cave for a few minutes, listening
to the beating of the rain above us and the quiet sounds of our own breathing.
We were sitting close together in the little cave, so close that I could feel
the heat radiating off his body and see the fine, golden hairs on the side of
his face.

“Mathis,” I said nervously.

“What is it?” he asked, and looked at me in concern. “Are you
getting wet? Is the cave witch trying to put a spell on you?”

His eyes were looking intensely into mine, and although his tone
was joking, his entire manner was serious – concerned for me, searching deeply
in my face for any sign of fear or discomfort. I saw how close his mouth was,
and my heart beat a little faster. I licked my lips subtly, wondering if his
would be soft if I kissed them, if they would feel damp or smooth, how hard
they would press against mine.

“I – maybe she is putting a spell on me,” I admitted. “I feel…
weird.”

“Weird? Strange?” Mathis repeated, and his eyes darted down to my
lips. I felt the heat rising in my cheeks, and I was suddenly nervous, but
excited. “Strangeness is a definite sign of enchantment.”

“I – if I go into an enchanted sleep,” I began, and then stopped,
feeling silly and embarrassed for what I was about to suggest.

“Don’t worry,” Mathis said, and he leaned in even closer to me,
putting his lips to my ear and whispering, “I know what the handsome prince is
supposed to do if he finds that the princess has fallen into an enchanted
sleep.”

He pulled back just a little, and hesitated, his lips just a few
inches from mine. I held my breath, immobilized. I almost closed my eyes,
wanting more than anything for his lips to meet mine, but at the last second, I
pulled away, too nervous to go through with it.

“It’s fine,” I said, embarrassed, “looks like I didn’t go to sle-”

I didn’t get to finish my excuse as Mathis leaned in and captured
my lips with his. It was short and sweet, his lips meeting mine for a few
wonderful seconds, soft and gentle and perfect. My heart fluttered and I took
in a deep breath of air as he drew away, trying to regain my equilibrium.

I looked shyly up at Mathis, nervous about his reaction. He was
smiling at me, his eyes twinkling.

“Just in case,” he said.

***

We were sitting in the yard, side by side on the stone wall
overlooking the lake, when Uncle Andy approached us.

“Hi Mandy, Mathis,” he greeted us. “She’s not bothering you is
she, Mathis?”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” Mathis smiled up at him. Uncle
Andy gave a short laugh, but frowned as he caught sight of our joined hands.

“Why are you holding hands?” he asked, his voice neutral, as if he
was curious. “She’s not a child any more, Mathis. She’s fifteen years old.”

“It’s fine, Uncle Andy,” I told him, excited to share my newfound
boyfriend with the world. “We’re dating.”

Uncle Andy laughed, and Mathis and I shared a quick look, both of
us a little confused.

“How sweet the two of you look. Like regular little lovebirds,” he
said, smiling at us. “You’re getting a little old to be playing childish games,
though, Mandy,” he added.

“I’m not-” I protested, but Uncle Andy cut me off.

“Mathis, I wonder if I could borrow you from this lovely lady for
a little while? We still have a few things to go over. It won’t take long.”

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” I asked. “We were thinking that
maybe we could take the boat out.”

“No,” said Mathis, looking up at my uncle’s face, giving my hand a
little squeeze and letting it drop back onto the stone wall. “It’s fine,
Amanda. I’ll see you a little later.” Uncle Andy nodded and started walking
back to his office.

“Okay,” I agreed, knowing that Mathis had responsibilities to take
care of with my uncle. “See you later.”

I leant over and snuck a quick peck on his soft, tan cheek before
he got up and followed my uncle back towards the house.

I waited on the wall for a little while, watching the birds swoop
low across the lake as the sun set. I wondered how long their business would
take. After a while, I walked back towards the house, selecting a book from my
uncle’s library and waiting for Mathis to come in.

But he never did. After almost three hours, I got up and went in
search of him, checking the windows to see if he was in the garden, peeping
into doors and expecting to see a tousled, light-brown head behind every one.
He was nowhere to be seen. Finally, I went to the door of my uncle’s office,
wondering if they were still at work. It was open, but the only figure sitting
inside was that of my uncle.

“Uncle Andy? Is Mathis around?” I asked timidly.

He looked up from his paper and gestured for me to come in. I
entered, and stood in front of him, expectant.

“Oh Mandy, Mathis had to go back to the city,” he said in an
apologetic tone.

“W-what? Why?” I asked, my heart suddenly clenching up as if it
were a sponge being drained of water.

“I’m sorry, Mandy. It was important business, and it couldn’t be
put off. You’ll have to be a big girl and understand that.”

“Will he be coming back soon?” I asked. “He didn’t even say
goodbye to me.”

“Not sure. I really can’t say,” Uncle Andy said. “But I’ll tell
you what – if you’re feeling lonely, maybe we can go out on the lake tomorrow,
just you and me. Do the catching up we haven’t gotten to do yet.”

I offered a grin in response to his wide smile, but inside, my
stomach felt like ice.

Quality time with Uncle Andy for the rest of the summer was great,
but I still felt lonely for Mathis. Every day I thought that maybe he’d return,
but he never did. And I never saw him again.

“So how was your first training session?” Sharon asked me as we
sipped our lattes in a little café near my office. “How was the meeting with
the family friend?”

“It was…uncomfortable,” I said, trying to find the right word. “It
was strange. I haven’t seen him since I was fifteen years old, but somehow,
something about him still feels very familiar to me. I got exactly the same
feeling meeting him today as I did the first time I met him.”

“Hmm. A good feeling or a bad feeling?” Sharon asked, reaching for
a macaroon and surveying me thoughtfully.

“A strange feeling, sort of like the entire atmosphere has
suddenly been ionized and everything I touch gives me a shock.”

“As in he’s kind of scary?”

“Oh, no,” I said and laughed. “No, not exactly.”

“So how did you guys meet?”

“Oh, it was a long time ago. He used to be my Uncle Andy’s
apprentice. He’d been training him to be a hedge fund manager. The first time I
met him was one summer when I went down to Uncle Andy’s country mansion.”

“Did he stop working for your uncle?” Sharon asked with a frown.

“No – he and my uncle have always worked very closely together.”

“How did you and he lose touch, then?” Sharon raised one of her
eyebrows.

“I guess Mathis was just too busy,” I shrugged.

“Mathis?”

“Yes, Mathis
Côté,” I acknowledged. “We only met
for one summer when we were both at the mansion. I even had a silly teenage
crush on him. But then he left to work in the city and I never saw him again.”

“What, never? Seriously?”

“Nope. The last time I asked Uncle Andy about it, he told me that
Mathis didn’t have the time to spend with me or talk to me, he was too focused
on his studies.” Actually, I had asked Uncle Andy about him regularly until
Uncle Andy’s responses became shorter, and more curt, until I slowly just
stopped asking. We would spend the time talking about new books I’d read
instead.

“We’d talk about books and go for picnics,” I told Sharon,
remembering the end of that summer, after Mathis had left, “but at the back of
my mind, I was always wondering why Mathis just up and left.”

“Oh…that’s kind of sad.” Sharon frowned.

I shook my head and looked out of the café window at the people
walking by. “It was only a brief crush. I was probably far too young and
immature about love and all that anyways.”

“Well, I can see why you fell for him,” Sharon said. “He’s much
more dashing than any of the other men you’ve dated – the ones you’ve told me
about, at least.”

I looked at her, confused for a moment, before she held up her
smart phone, a picture of Mathis open on the screen, his smile wide and his
eyes crinkling a little at the edges.