The next few weeks flew by and although everything was going incredibly well with AJ, and I was enjoying my little part time job, I missed my friends and family back home. In fact, I missed home a lot more than I could ever have imagined.
“So, how’s things going with that gorgeous hubby of yours?” Izzy asked one evening over the phone “and have you crossed anything else off your list yet?”
“Do you know what…I’d totally forgot about the list, but I am still only twenty six, I’ve got plenty of time for it” I replied and we both laughed.
“I suppose so, but you didn’t answer my question about AJ” she said “everything still OK?”
“Oh Izzy, it’s more than OK. I really think I’m falling in love with him” I sighed
“That good eh? Has he said he loves you yet?” she asked
“No” I replied “that’s the only thing. I just don’t know how he feels about me. I mean…I know he likes me a lot, we have a good time together and everything’s great, but I don’t know whether he loves me. I don’t know whether we’ll still be together once this compulsory court order to stay married is up. What if he doesn’t want me then?”
“Steph…how could he not want to be with you?” Izzy asked and I shrugged to myself, aware that she couldn’t see me “but you can’t think like that, you have to just go with it and see where it takes you. Have you told him you love him?”
“No” I answered “I’m not sure whether it’s too soon”
“See! Maybe he’s thinking the same as you” she offered and it made sense.
“I know, you’re right. Thanks for listening, it’s just I have no one here I can really talk to about things, you know, like we used to do before I moved here” I said “but enough about me, how’s things with you?”
“I split up with Tom” she announced in a nonchalant tone
“Oh Izzy, I’m so sorry to hear that. What happened? I thought things were going OK between the two of you” I asked
“Oh things were great, and then I found out he’s married! The fucking cheek of the guy, he still wanted to carry on seeing me after I’d found out. But you know me, I will not be someone’s bit on the side” she explained and I was nodding my head in agreement.
“Good for you Iz, but are you OK?” I asked
“I’m fine. As a matter of fact, I was wondering when you’re going to invite me over…I’m dying to see that new place of yours” she said
“Oh god Iz, I’m so sorry! Anytime, you know that. How soon can you come over?” I asked, feeling excited at the prospect of seeing my friend again shortly.
“Well, as it happens, I was thinking this weekend. Is that OK?” she asked “I was thinking I could get a flight on Friday night and stay until maybe Wednesday, would that be OK?”
“Perfect” I squealed excitedly “we’ll have so much fun”
We chatted for a while longer and then said our goodbyes. I could hardly wait for the weekend. But that conversation with Izzy had got me thinking, I hadn’t crossed anything off my list for a while and couldn’t quite remember what was left on there, I knew there was skinny dipping and sex on the beach…but what else? Hmm. I rummaged around for my notebook in my bedside drawers and found it.
“Oh yes” I said to myself as I looked at the list.
1. Fall in love
3. Skinny dipping and sex on the beach
5. Ride a scary roller coaster whilst eating or bungee jump or something else equally as scary
9. Swim with dolphins
“Five down and five to go, although I think number one is very close to being crossed off” I smiled to myself as I thought of AJ.
I left the notebook on my bed as I ran to answer the door. He was early, although I didn’t mind one little bit!
“Mmm” we both murmured as we kissed at the door, his arms wrapped around my waist and mine around his neck. We’d not seen each other for a few days due to his work commitments taking him away for a couple of nights, but that just meant we had some catching up to do. I walked us backwards into the house and he kicked the front door closed causing it to slam, and then spun me around so that I was pressed against the door.
“Miss me?” he asked as he nibbled at my neck, grazing my skin with his couple of days worth of stubble “cos I sure as hell have missed you”.
“You know I have” I responded and curled my fingers around his neck and pulled him down so that our lips met.
We kissed fervently as he threaded his fingers in my hair, pulling me closer to him. I moaned softly as he pressed his hard body more forcefully against mine.
“You’re wearing far too many clothes Mrs McLean” he said huskily, his voice lust filled and his eyes intense.
“So are you Mr McLean” I replied and tugged at his belt (which had a big skull buckle on it) “fuck, this thing is hard to undo”
“Here, let me” he replied and placed his hand over mine and helped me get the belt undone. Then he pulled his t-shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor, leaving me standing there awestruck at the beauty of his body.
What a man!
He kissed along my jaw and below my ear, sending shivers all through my body as we slowly made our way to the bedroom leaving my t-shirt and bra scattered on the floor along the way. Once inside the bedroom, he backed me up against the bed until we both fell onto it, AJ on top of me. He kissed his way down my body, slow and teasingly, circling my nipple with his tongue and then moving over to the other before trailing hot kisses down my stomach.
“These jeans have got to go baby” he murmured as he unfastened them and stood to pull them off, leaving me in just my underwear.
I kneeled up on the bed and pulled him to me by the belt loops of his jeans and his mouth came crashing down against mine, kissing me hungrily as I pushed his jeans and boxers down.
“Oh Alex” I said breathlessly between kisses “I need you…right now…please…fuck me”
“You know how fucking sexy that sounds hearing you say that? I fucking love it when you call me Alex” he said and ripped the lacy scrap of material I called underwear off my body and pressed his hard length up against me, making me whimper for more.
“Oh god” I moaned as he filled me to the hilt with one masterful thrust. I wrapped my legs tightly around his hips and squeezed him tightly to me “yes…oh my fucking god yessss”
“So fucking good” he murmured as he thrust hard and deep, the headboard banging against the wall with the force. “Fuck…I…love…oh fuck” he said breathlessly as my hips rose up and met his, thrust for thrust and my nails dug into his back in ecstasy.
“Alex” I gasped as a powerful and incredible orgasm took hold of my body, my muscles tightening around his deeply embedded cock “oh…god…Alex…”
He held on to me tighter and with one final thrust, erupted deep inside me, a look of pure ecstasy on his face. He collapsed down on top of me, our sweaty limbs entwined on the bed.
We stayed liked that for a while, just coming down from our amazing highs, when AJ reached for something across the bed which had caught his eye.
“What’s this? A diary?” he asked curiously
Fuck, it’s my notebook, he’ll see my list and..oh god, this is so embarrassing!
“Oh, it’s nothing” I said trying to grab it from him unsuccessfully “just a notebook”
“Well, if it’s nothing you won’t mind me looking” he teased and waved it above so I couldn’t reach.
“Please” I simply said “it’s just a silly little list”
“It’s OK, I won’t look if you don’t want me to” he said and handed it back to me.
I felt a bit bad and wondered whether I should tell him about the list I’d made on my twenty fifth birthday. I was hardly top secret or anything like that. I was just worried he’d laugh or something, maybe think I was a bit crazy.
I handed him the book, the page open at my list “here you go”.
“Ten things to do before I’m thirty…hmm…interesting” he mused and then focused his attention back to the page “you’ve got some good ideas here, done any of them yet?”
He grinned at me and raised his eyebrows, pointing to number three.
“Only the ones crossed through” I said blushing slightly.
“Steph, you don’t need to be embarrassed about this” he snuggled back down with me, book in one hand and his other arm around me, pulling me close “so, how was it telling the boss to shove his job up his ass?”
I couldn’t help laughing “now that was amazing”.
“What made you decide to make a list like this anyway?” he asked
“Well, it was my twenty fifth birthday and I realised I’d done absolutely nothing worthwhile in my life. I just existed. Y’know, I went to work, came home and sometimes went out with my friends, but that was it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could achieve something. I wanted to set myself some goals in life…and so whilst we were all drunk, we began talking about it and I narrowed it down to what you see on that page” I explained
“I think it’s a great idea” he said
“And the strange thing is that I haven’t actually set out to do any of them, apart from learning a new language, the rest have just kind of happened when I least expected” I said shyly
“Like blowing a fortune in a single night out” he chuckled
“That and…and…” I stopped and lowered my gaze so he couldn’t see my face clearly. Was now really a good time to tell him I loved him? What if he laughed? What if he thought I just wanted to cross another item off my list?
He put the book down and tilted my face up to meet his eyes, any trace of joking pushed aside.
“Y’know, I’d like to be the person you cross number one off the list for” he said seriously, his eyes boring into mine, making me shudder.
“You are” I whispered “Alex…I love you”
His mouth met mine, kissing me softly and with so much tenderness “I love you too Steph, so much”
