Peak of Desire Ch. 03

"You do that too, huh?"

"Yep. A burger just doesn't seem complete without a few French fries on top."

"I agree. The only reason I'm not putting it on my sandwich, is because I already have so many other toppings. Plus I don't really like the way that fries taste with barbeque sauce."

Erica replaced the top of her sandwich, and as she took a bite, her taste buds rejoiced from the myriad of flavors. A sound of contentment escaped her lips, and she followed the first bite up with a second, larger one.

"Good?" Cody asked.

Unable to talk through a mouthful of food, she gave a nod.

He offered a light chuckle. "That burger is almost bigger than your face. I'll be very surprised if you manage to finish it all."

After swallowing down what was in her mouth, she said, "Normally I probably wouldn't, but that rock climbing lesson kicked my butt, so I just may be able to."

He grinned, then bit into his sandwich.

Erica dipped a French fry into a pool of ketchup on her plate, then popped it into her mouth. "Have you ever tasted a veggie burger before?"

"Nope. I wouldn't mind seeing how it tastes, though."

"You can sample mine, if you'd like." She held it up and offered it to him.

He set his own burger down on the plate, then leaned forward and opened his mouth, taking a bite of her sandwich. She watched his face closely as he chewed, curious as to if he liked the taste or not.

"Hmm, interesting texture. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Actually it's pretty darn good for fake meat."

As they continued to enjoy their burgers, Erica found that her eyes were drawn to his lips. There was something sensual about watching him eat, and she noticed that every so often, he would slide his tongue across his lips, to clean off the barbeque sauce that had been left behind. She felt kind of weird watching him so closely, but she found it difficult to look away.

She was helplessly drawn to him, and the sight of his tongue peeking out of his mouth was quite erotic. Suddenly she was reminded of a few nights ago, when they'd have their first phone conversation. She recalled how he'd been an eating a chocolate bar, and remembered the way it had sounded over the phone. She also recollected the remark he'd made about wanting to give her oral pleasure, and how incredibly turned on it had made her.

She was beginning to feel a bit warm, so she took a sip of her iced tea, hoping that it would cool her body down somewhat. It seemed that he sensed a shift in the energy she was emitting, because Cody locked his eyes into hers, drawing her into his deep gaze.

"You seem to enjoy watching me eat." His voice broke their silent moment.

Feeling her cheeks grow hot, she briefly averted her eyes, then looked back up at him. "Well you were looking at me, so I was only returning your gaze."

"You weren't just looking into my eyes, though. I saw you glance at my lips numerous times." He was quiet for a moment, offering her a chance to say something, but when she didn't, he continued to speak. "So what were you thinking about?"

She gave a little shrug, then said, "I don't know."

"Sure you do. Don't be shy, tell me."

"I was just thinking about how sensual the act of eating is."

For a few long moments he didn't say anything at all, only studied her with those dark, penetrating eyes of his. She began to worry that she'd just made a complete fool out of herself by divulging her inner thoughts, but then he began to speak.

"You're right, eating is very sensual. Next to the sex, it's the most sensual act there is."

Hearing him mention sex caused a stirring in her loins, and her heart began to beat a little quicker. Before she could say a word, Cody once again spoke.

"They say you can pick up cues about the type of lover a person is, simply by watching them eat."

"And do you believe that's true?"

"Not really, do you?"

"Maybe to a point. I believe that if you watch people closely enough, you can pick up all sorts of hints about the type of disposition they have."

"I guess that's true." He took another bite of his burger, then said, "So judging by the way I eat, what type of a lover do you think I'd make?"

Erica's heart raced and her skin tingled. She hesitated for a few moments, trying to work out how she should respond, but then she decided instead of being shy, she would just come right out and tell him what was on her mind. "I notice you eat slowly. You savor your food, fully enjoying the taste before you swallow. So I'd say that you enjoy taking your time. You're slow and sensual."

"You're not too far off the mark. I am slow and sensual, and I do enjoy taking my time, but depending on the mood I'm in, I can become quite intense."

"Intense..," As carnal thoughts ran through her head, her voice drifted off. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well if I'm with a woman that really fuels my desire, then the way I make love to her, will match the mood that I'm in." He watched her intently, studying the expression on her face.

She felt her nipples tighten beneath the fabric of her shirt, and she matched his gaze with equal intensity. The sound of the waitresses' voice suddenly cut through the stillness of their moment, and they reluctantly broke eye contact.

"Can I get you two any dessert? We have really good pie." She set a dessert menu down on the table so that they could glance at it.

There were about fifteen different types of pies available, so Erica had a difficult time picking out just one.

"It's really hard to pick. They all sound so good. What do you suggest, Cody?"

"Their pecan pie is really good."

"Okay, I'll go with that."

"And I'll take a slice of strawberry rhubarb."

The waitress scribbled their order on a small pad. "Would you like coffee to go along with it?"

"Coffee would be nice," said Erica.

"I'll have a cup as well," added Cody.

"Alrighty, be back in a jif." She removed their empty dinner plates from the table and then headed for the kitchen.

"So have you made any other observations about me?" He curiously asked.

"No, have you?"

"I've made a few."

"Like what?"

"Well you're obviously a bit shy, but what intrigues me, is that there seems to be another side of you. I'm sensing that deep down within, you're an uninhibited person."

"Perhaps I am."

"I'm willing to bet you are. I'm very interested in seeing that side of you come out."

"Maybe you will one day."

"I want to turn that maybe into a definitely."

His voice came out sounding low and sensual, causing Erica to feel a tingle of arousal. No matter how many times she looked into his eyes, she always found herself awestruck by how darkly sensual they were. All it took was a look from him, or a change of tone in his tone of voice, and she began to feel the excitement build within her.

"Well it's certainly not impossible, but it may take some time."

"That's okay, I don't mind waiting." Reaching across the table, he grabbed her hand in his and gave it a few gentle strokes. "I really like you, Erica. I know it's been only a week since we first met, but it seems like we already have quite a connection. What do you think?"

"I feel the same way. It's been a long time since I clicked so well with somebody."

She wasn't used to feeling such a strong attraction so early in the dating stage, and she couldn't help feeling a little worried about that. She was the type of person who felt things very intensely, and while it was pleasurable to experience such feelings as sexual desire and falling in love, the conflicting emotions which inevitably along with having a relationship were often quite hard for her to deal with.

"I'm glad you feel the same," Cody said. The tips of his fingers grazed along the inner part of her wrist, providing her with a delicious little tickling sensation. Taking note of the charm bracelet she was wearing, he curiously studied the decorative pendants. "Interesting charms. Do they have any special significance?"

"Yep, they each represent important things in my life." For instance," she pointed out one of the pendants, "This one represents my tarantula."

"You have a tarantula?"

"Yeah."

"I never would have guessed that. How long have you had it?"

"Three years."

"I've never met anyone who had a pet spider. I'd like to come over and see it, sometime."

She gave him a little smile. "I wouldn't mind that."

As he held her gaze, he allowed his finger to slide across the inside of her palm, stroking it ever so softly, and she felt a little shiver run up her spine. She didn't know what made her body react so strongly to a simple stroke on the hand, but there was something very sensual about the way he was doing it.

From his gaze and touch alone, he was doing things to her body that she hadn't feel in a very long time. She wondered if he could sense just how badly she wanted him, and then realized that without a doubt he could. He knew exactly what he was doing to her, and every caress was unmistakably designed to see just how much further her desire for him could grow.

Breaking his gaze from hers, Cody turned his attention back to her bracelet. "What does this one represent?" He pointed toward a charm in the shape of an upward pointing arrow.

"It's my astrological sign."

"And what sign are you?" He asked.

"Sagittarius. What about you?"

"Aries."

"So we're both fire signs."

"Are we?"

She nodded. "This should be interesting. I don't think I've ever had a boyfriend who was a fire sign, like me." As the latter half of the sentence exited her mouth, a sheepish expression crossed her face. "Not that I consider you as my boyfriend, or anything."

He gave her an amused expression. "So what do you consider me as?"

She took a moment to ponder the question. "Somebody that I'm dating."

"Do you see me as potentially becoming your boyfriend?"

The answer to that was undoubtedly yes, but she didn't want to come across as over eager, so she said, "I think anything is possible."

"Your eyes say one thing, but your lips say another."

"So you're saying I'm dishonest?"

"Not at all. I'm just mentioning that nonverbal communication is a powerful thing."

It took the presence of the waitress to break their gaze, and after setting their saucers of dessert and cups of coffee on the table, she said, "Enjoy your pie." Then she turned and headed away.

They unclasped hands and each picked up a fork, then began to eat. Her pecan pie had a nice custardy texture to it, and a sweet, buttery flavor that was decadently rich.

Eyeing Cody's slice of strawberry rhubarb pie, she asked, "How's your dessert?"

"Just as delicious as I'd remembered it. How about yours?"

"Very yummy. Mind if I sample some of your pie?"

"Help yourself."

She stretched her arm out and positioned her fork next to his saucer, but before she could get a portion of the pie, Cody sliced off a piece with his own fork and brought it up to her lips. Surprised by the intimate gesture, her eyebrows lifted slightly, and she opened her mouth to accept his offering. It tasted like heaven, nice and sweet, with just a hint of tartness, and she gave a little sound of contentment in response.

"Good, isn't it?"

She nodded, then sliced off a piece of her pecan pie and guided it to his mouth. "Have a taste of mine."

He took the forkful of dessert into his mouth, then said, "Delicious. I might have to steal another bite before you finish it all."

She gave him a smile, then added some sugar and cream to her coffee. After blowing on it a few times, she picked up the cup and had a sip. As she was setting it back down, she was suddenly reminded of a question that she wished to ask him. Still curious about the story behind the blemish next to his right eye, she decided that now might be a good time to inquire about it.

"Can I ask how you got that scar by your eye?"

His eyebrows lifted slightly, as if he were surprised by her question.

"I'm sorry, if it's too personal to share, you don't have to tell me."

"No, it's okay. I don't mind." He took a few swallows of his coffee, then set the cup back down. "It happened five years ago. I was out on this rock climbing trip with a couple of buddies of mine. We ran into this other climber, and he ended up hanging out with us. He ended up being really aggressive, and somewhere along the trip, me and him got into an argument about proper rock climbing techniques. As a climber, you're supposed to respect the area you climb in, and leave things as you originally found it.

He continued his story. "Well, it seems that this guy was intent on trashing things up. Not only did he leave all sorts of packages in the area we were climbing in, but he bolted the rocks when there really wasn't any need to. I know it seems petty, and it probably doesn't make much sense to you as a non-climber, but when you bolt an existing climb, it lessens the difficulty of it, and makes it less enjoyable for other people who are already at a certain level. Not to mention that it contributes to the breakdown of the rock."

He shook his head in displeasure of the memory, then lifted his mug of coffee to his lips. After taking a swallow, he continued to speak.

"Anyways, this guy obviously wasn't very happy about having me call him out on the stuff he was doing, so he got up in my face, started talking all kinds of bull crap, and basically tried to get me to back down. Well of course I didn't, and that's when he pulled out a knife. I didn't even have time to dodge it, and the next thing I knew, I had blood running down the side of my face. Luckily for me, the blade missed my eyeball." He turned his face and leaned forward so she could get a closer look at the scar. "As you can see, it was just a few inches from reaching it."

She shook her head in disbelief. "What a crazy prick. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad that your eye itself wasn't injured."

Then, without even thinking about it, she brought her hand up to his face and gently traced the scar with her finger. His brown eyes stared straight into hers as she did it, causing her heart to hammer in her chest. She began to move her finger away, but before she could do it, he caught hold of her hand, gently pulling it back toward him. He brought it up to his lips, then very tenderly, he placed a kiss on the inside of her wrist. Then he threaded his fingers through hers, and gave her palm a light squeeze.

"I've had a wonderful time with you today."

"Likewise. I really enjoyed myself."

"Hope we can do it again soon."

"Definitely."

The waitress approached their table with check in hand, then set it down on the table. She offered them a little smile, then said, "I hope you two had a nice meal, and enjoy the rest of your evening."

They offered a thanks, and after paying the bill, they exited the diner and stepped out into a pleasantly warm summer evening. The chirp of crickets filled the air around them, and as they reached Erica's car, Cody took hold of her hips, gently coaxing her closer to his body.

"So when do I get to see you again?"

"I have some free time coming up next weekend."

"That's a long time to wait. What if I want to see you sooner?"

"I guess you'll just have to be patient."

A little smile crossed his lips, and then he placed a finger beneath her chin, tilting it upward. He leaned down to kiss her, sliding his tongue between her lips, and as their wet appendages bumped together, Erica was certain that she felt electric currents.

The kiss started off slow and sensual, and then gradually deepened, becoming so passionate that she felt as if he were taking her breath away. When his lips pulled back, she found herself weak in the knees, and was left with an urgent need to have more. Although their kiss had lasted half a minute, it still hadn't seemed long enough.

"Just as I'd guessed, you're a fantastic kisser." His voice came out sounding husky.

"I could say the same of you."

"You'll call me when you get home?"

She nodded, and as he held onto her waist, she couldn't help noticing that his fingers were drifting toward the curve of her butt. They hovered just a hairs inch above it, and although he was trying to be sly about it, she had no doubt about what he was trying to do.

Amused by his thinly veiled attempt to cop a feel of her backside, she gave a little smile and reluctantly pulled away from him. After opening her car door, she turned to offer some parting words.

"Thank you for dinner. I had a really nice time."

"So did I, and you're welcome. Drive safe, okay?"

"You too." She got behind the wheel, and after shutting the door behind her, she started up her car.

As she drove out of the parking lot, she glanced into her rear view mirror and saw Cody get into his truck. She saw his taillights turn on, and then he drove up behind her, following her out onto the main street. As they reached the intersection, she made a right turn, and he made a left. Memories of the day played through her mind as she drove toward home, and her lips tingled with the memory of the kiss they'd shared, a kiss that perfectly conveyed the passion she'd so urgently been seeking.

* * * *

Fresh from the shower, Erica reached into the drawer beneath her bed and grabbed a pair of underwear and an off the shoulder t-shirt. After changing into them, she climbed onto her bed and grabbed her I-pod. She then slipped on her headphones, and lay back on the pillow.

As the ambient sounds of new age music filled her ears, she relaxed her body and closed her eyes. She was just getting into a deep state of meditation, when she felt the vibrating of her cell phone next to her on the mattress. She briefly contemplated ignoring the call, but had a strong feeling that it was Cody trying to reach her, so she opened her eyes and slipped her headphones off, then grabbed the phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, gorgeous."

Her lips curled into a smile. "Hi Cody. What's up?"

"Not too much. Just waiting by the phone for you to call, but since it didn't look like you were going to, I decided to go ahead and contact you."

"Oh that's right, I was supposed to call you once I made it home, wasn't I? Sorry about that, I ended up taking a long shower, and I just barely got out five minutes ago."

"It's cool, no problem. I just wanted to make sure you'd made it home safe."

"Well thank you for calling to check on me."

"You're welcome."

She flipped over onto her stomach and rested her weight against her elbows. "So what are you doing right now?"

Just lying on my bed, talking to you. What are you doing?"

"The same."

"Right before I called you, I was thinking about our date. I'm really pleased with how well it went."

"So am I. I had a fantastic time."

"Good, I'm glad to hear. I was uncertain about how well you'd take to the rock climbing, but I've gotta say I'm impressed with your perseverance."

"Really? I thought I did sort of weakly."

"You're a beginner, so it's natural that you had some difficulty. But despite the obstacles you ran into, you just kept on going. I liked that."

She couldn't help feeling a little pride from his words. "That's nice to hear, especially coming from someone like you, who rock climbs on a regular basis."

"I'm not just saying it to try and gain points with you, I mean it. I used to be an instructor at that gym, and I met quite a few people that just gave up, right in the middle of their climb. It didn't matter how much I coaxed them, they just wouldn't go any further. It was good to see that you didn't quit."

"Well I definitely thought about it a few times, but then I figured I was pretty close to the top, so what would be the point of not finishing up?"

"Exactly. That's the kind of attitude you need to have in order to excel at rock climbing. You just have to keep on going."