No Tan Lines

So much was changing. My life. Me. Us. There was an 'us' now, it wasn't just me. Everything was in a flux, and I needed time. Time alone with him. Time to think without being rushed. Time to talk, just him and me. Time to explore with him what being us meant. For him as well as me.

What did I mean to him? What did he mean to me? I knew I was staying here with him after this summer ended. I'd found him. I'd found love. I'd found security and safety and love in his arms, in the way he looked at me, held me, talked to me. He was so much older, but that didn't matter at all. Twelve years might seem a lot now, but in twenty years' time? That age difference wouldn't mean that much, and I looked at him and wondered if I really would be looking at him like this in twenty years?

That seemed so strange. So hard to imagine. So far off in the future.

Maybe I was rushing headlong into this. Maybe I was falling into this, and I already knew what my Mom and Dad would say. I needed to talk to Dave about that too. Maybe not now, maybe not in the next couple of days, but before we returned. Before he came north with me to meet my family. Yeah, I needed time, just him and me. Time to think things through, clear my head, get used to him and me.

"Yeah, I know a couple of places we could anchor, nice and sheltered." He smiled. "Just you and me and 'No Tan Lines'."

"Would you mind?" I asked, looking up at him through sleepy eyes. "Just you and me for a couple of days."

"That sounds like my dream come true," he said, his nose brushing mine, and he wasn't smiling as his hand brushed my hair back from my forehead, and his eyes looked into mine.

"Mine too," I whispered, parting my lips expectantly, exhilarated when my expectations were met, and his lips brushed mine, and my eyes weren't sleepy anymore.

"I love you," I murmured as he eased me onto my back, and he smiled as he eased himself into me, and I knew he loved me, and we had all the time in the world.

'No Tan Lines' wouldn't mind waiting for us.