Grinning, I turned back up front as we prepared to land.
“I will find a place for us to continue this, Dr. Davenport, and it will be more showing than telling.” She said before leaning back again, clearly frustrated.
I placed my hand on her thigh, squeezing lightly. “If I fuck you in the forest and no one is around to hear it, how loud will you sound?”
She bit her lip, but didn’t say a word.
She was so fun to torture, and I couldn’t wait to see how she decided to pay me back…because after talking to her like that, I was in desperate need for her again.
“So again, your parents’ names are?” I asked as if nothing had happened when we got off the plane, grabbing both her carryon and mine.
“My mother’s name is Ankia and my father’s name is Masoa, but you should just stick with Mr. and Mrs. Poe,” she said.
We headed toward the front desk where Taigi rested in his carrier on the ground, waiting for us to pick him up.
“Gwen. Guinevere!” The woman in charge of him waved.
Guinevere stopped, tilting her head, trying to remember the woman with short auburn hair and hazel eyes. “Yes?” she said, still confused.
“It’s me, Chloe. Chloe Drake,” the woman said.
Guinevere’s eyes almost fell out of her head. “No way.” She stepped back, looking over the woman again. “You look amazing, Chloe.”
“Thank you, I lost 97 pounds since we last saw each other.” She lifted her arms.
Guinevere clapped for her, then turned to me. “Eli, this my old high school friend, Chloe Drake. Chloe, this is my…boyfriend, Eli Davenport.”
She looked at me wide-eyed, then shook my hand when I extended it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said to her.
“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Davenport. Welcome to Cypress.” She handed Guinevere Taigi's leash.
He just yawned, licking his nose.
“Your parents are already waiting for you out front.”
“Thank you,” Guinevere said to her.
“So, I’m guessing you didn’t tell anyone we were dating?” I whispered to her as we headed to the front exit.
She shook her head. “I told my mother…so I’m sure my father knows. I’m not really sure how they feel about it, though. I was supposed to be married to someone else.”
The thought of that bothered me. “Did they like Sebastian?” I wished the man would just disappear, along with any memories of him.
“They weren’t thrilled about him. I guess they clearly saw what I didn’t. So they'd better like you.”
“No pressure.” My mother and brother were already in love with her; I wondered if her parents would be that pleased with us.
The second we stepped outside, all I could see were tall, deep green trees, around the bottom of which grew more green grass and wildflowers. In the distance, a mountain range stood high against the cloudy white and blue sky. None of the buildings anywhere stood any higher than the trees. The whole place looked like it was taken out of Nature Magazine, or at the very least belonged as someone’s screensaver. It was beautiful.
“Gwen!”
We both turned to our right.
Taigi broke free of his leash, running with everything he had into the older man's arms and licking all over his face.
Her father stood around the same height as me, maybe an inch taller. His skin was tan, his black and gray hair cut short, his face clean-shaven, and around his neck hung a beaded necklace with an arrowhead.
Beside him, a woman shorter than all of us with short black hair that stopped at her shoulders and smooth brown skin pulled Guinevere into a hug, kissing her cheeks. “Welcome home, sweetheart,” her mother said, unable to let go of her arm. She looked young to be a mother and Guinevere had at least five inches on her, obviously getting her height from her father.
“And this one might be?” He nodded to me, brushing back Taigi’s fur. His dark eyes stared—no, glared into me, starting from my feet up to my face, and then back down again.
“Mom, Dad, this is Dr. Eli Davenport, my boyfriend. Eli, these are my parents,” she introduced us.
Before I could speak, her father spoke up again.
“You moved on pretty quickly, don’t you think?” He looked to Guinevere.
“Would you prefer I cried and ate ice cream every day for the rest of the year?” she challenged him.
“Don’t mind them.” Her mother took my hand. “Welcome to Cypress, Eli. I hope the trip wasn’t bad. Gwen here has an awful fear of heights.”
“Thank you, ma’am, and no, it was all right. We just talked. I was actually nervous about coming here, especially for the reason your husband brought up.” I addressed him directly, saying, “It’s nice to meet you, sir.”
“I don’t like him, he’s all city boy. I can smell it. Come on, Taigi.” He frowned and turned, taking Taigi along.
“Dad, that’s not funny.” Guinevere went after him.