Chapter 20

Has a song ever gotten stuck in your head for no rhyme or reason? Right now I was humming that Madonna one…

Like a virgin OOH,

Touched for the very first time,

like a vir-ir-ir-ir-ir-gin

When your heart beats

Next to mine.

The chorus was on a violently irritating humming loop. But the more I hummed, the more I realized why. Because that was how it felt with Riaan. It felt like everything I was doing with him was brand spanking new. He was like a brand new pair of shinny earrings that I was about to try on for the first time.

I was nervous.

Would they suit me?

Would they go with my outfit?

Would they be too chunky and big (No, I don’t mean it in that way!!)

Suddenly I had a flash back to being a teenager. Do you remember the bases? First, second, third and fourth. I’m not referring to the kind of bases that American’s with bats and funny gloves slide into- I'm talking about the kind that you whispered about in hushed tones to your girl friends over the phone, or while all getting ready to go out on Saturday night. The urgent conversation was always the same; should we or should we not go to second base? The issue would be discussed and debated amongst the friends; those who had been to second base would weigh in with the pros and cons of it. And a mutual decision was usually reached, and then at the end of the night, it was customary to dispense with all the details.

Right now I felt like I needed one of those friends to have that conversation with. Somehow Clay felt like the wrong person, I knew he would just tell me to skip entre and move all the way to desert with a topping of whipped cream too for good measure.

But it wasn’t like that with Riaan.

Officially we were at second base- sort of I guess.

NO, I quickly stopped dead in my tracks. I was mortified that I was even thinking about such childish things. I was an adult after all , one that had had sex and never felt nervous in that arena, so why was I biting my nails at the thought of it with Riaan….

Like a vir-ir-ir-ir-ir-gin

I was in unchartered, unfamiliar territory with him. Usually I would skip two and three in favor of just combining them with four. Sometimes there was a gap between one and then two, three, four, sometimes not.  But he seemed like that kind of guy who would methodically work his way through the numbers, in the correct order, from smallest to highest, with no irregular grouping of numbers together. And not all at once either.

OMG… would we go to proper second base tonight?

Hang on… what the hell was second base anyway?

I was awash with such fluttery emotions for the rest of the day, it was almost unbearable.  And they only got worse when I walked over to Riaans room that evening. I just hoped the linguistic part of my brain wasn’t going to go on strike again, he seemed to have that effect on me.

“Hi,” My tongue was working properly when he opened the door- this was a good start.

“Hi.”

He was dressed in a semi- smart collared shirt, made casual by the fact he'd rolled the sleeves up, as well as a dark pair of jeans. I suddenly felt a little under dressed, probably for the first time in my adult life, I’d uncharacteristically grabbed a casual strappy top and jeans.

“You look nice,” He said leaning in and kissing me on the cheek.

“Really?”

“I like you without animal print on, and all that make-up.” He held the door open and gestured for me to come inside. And when I did, I dissolved into a puddle or muck…

The candles on the table gave the room a warm glow. There was a bunch of wild flowers in the middle of it that had been placed in a drinking glass. He’d set the table neatly and perfectly and there was even some soft music playing in the back ground.

“I thought we could go on our first official date, and since there are no restaurants around here, I had to improvise.”

“It’s beautiful” I said, because it was. The make shift vase and rustic table setting was the most romantic thing I’d ever seen.

“I know it’s not a Gordon Ramsy’s Michelin Star kind of place.”

I raised my brow in question,

“Yes. Done that. Been there.” He said sarcastically, throwing the words away

“It’s perfect.”

He pulled out a chair for me and I sat.

“And now for the bad news. I only have cheese and bread, I haven’t been shopping for ages, so we’re having toasted cheese sandwiches.”

“That sounds better than the mud coffee you’re famous for serving up,” I laughed.

“Hang on,” He jumped up enthusiastically and returned with a plunger of dark, rich looking and delicious smelling coffee.

“I remedied that and borrowed this from the lodge,”

“You stole coffee from someone’s room? You’re as bad as me!’

“No. I borrowed it from a currently unoccupied room and will take it back when no one is looking.”

We shared another one of those heart melting, brain freezing, stomach flipping, skin tingling smiles before he busied himself with making dinner.

The coffee was delicious, and for some reason- the toasted cheese sandwich was one on the tastiest things I’d ever eaten, I even asked for seconds because it seemed like my appetite had suddenly returned with fierce vengeance. Every cell in my body was screaming for high GI, full fat, high in sugar carbs.

“I have a beer we can share if you want,” Riaan said half way through the meal.

I looked at the beer for a while and a few things popped into my head.

“Um, no thanks. I think I am going to go easy on alcohol for a while,’

He put the beer down without opening it and looked at me solemnly, “I actually think that’s a pretty good idea.”

“Me too.”

I paused before I said it, saying it out loud would make it real and I wasn’t sure I wanted to even admit this to myself, but with Riaan I felt I could.

“I think I might drink too much.” I couldn’t make eye contact with him when I said it and fiddled with a crust on my plate. “I don’t think I’m an alcoholic or anything, but I think it’s excessive and definitely headed in a bad direction.”

Riaan got up and moved his chair to my side of the table, he put his arm around me and pulled me closer.

“I’m proud of you Zara. That’s a big thing to admit to.”

“Thanks.”

The mood had taken a rather serious turn and I think Riaan could sense that it was getting a little heavy for me. I needed some kind of reprieve from it.

“I’m going into town tomorrow for some supplies, I’d love you to come with?”

“Of course I’ll come,” It had done the trick. My mood went from black to pink in a matter of seconds.

“So Dorcus and Precious told me you made excellent toast today,” He said playing with the ends of my hair, twirling them around his finger.

“I did. OH,” I suddenly remembered, “What is labola? They kept saying that no one would pay labola for me!”

“They did,” He exclaimed rather loudly, “That’s just not true. You would fetch a lot of cows.”

“Cows?”

“It’s an Africa tradition. When a woman gets married, her husband pays his future in-laws in cows for the honor of her hand in marriage.”

“No. That doesn’t go on today, surely?”

“It does. It’s pretty much standard practice amongst African people. Today cows are sometimes substituted for money though.”

“And how many cows does a bride cost?”

“Oh that all depends on what the family agrees on. There are some intense labola negotiations before hand, it’s part of the tradition.”

“Wow,” This was such an incredible thing to hear, the idea that a woman’s worth was measured in cows. And then I remembered what Riaan had said, “That’s just not true. You would fetch a lot of cows” and I couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at the implications.

“So…” I proceeded coyly, “Do you really think I would fetch a lot of cows?”

Riaan leant in closely, “Absolutely. The most.”

Be still my over zelous heart! “Really?” I blushed. A big proper bright red blush.

“I’d pay a lot of cows for you,’

And that was it.

If I hadn’t already been melted enough by this guy, he was actually going a step further now and causing me to dissolve completely.

“So remember that thing I said I wanted to discuss with you in detail tonight?” he started kissing my neck.

“Remind me,”

“That I wanted to tell you how sexy you are?”

“Oh, that.” I was practically breathless as his kisses moved lower and lower over my shoulder as he pulled my top aside.

He pulled at the strap of my top and it slide down over my shoulder completely. His kisses moved even lower until they had reached the lacey top of my bra.

Riaan then stood up and pulled me with him. He kissed me; it was slow and deep and passionate. His hands moved to my top which he slid off and dropped on the floor. He reached around with one hand and unclipped my bra, it too tumbled to the floor with a soft thud.

His hands reached up for my breasts and his kisses moved lower and lower towards them. I arched my body closer letting him take over completely.

Which he did.