I marveled at the recipe and then waved it in the air in front of Jayden as he gave me a knowing grin.
“What did you give her for that?”
“Nothing at all. She just gave it to me,” I lied.
He leaned down and whispered to me sweetly, “Liar.”
“It’s a white lie. They are harmless,” I defended.
“I would have given it to you for a lot less.”
A week later, I was standing in the doorway of Jayden’s bathroom after getting home from work and apparently catching the late day performance.
“If ju like pina colodazzz ...” Jayden sang along with Rupert Holmes in some pre-pubescent, Mexican boy voice. He kept perfect rhythm, but seemed to have a mic and no amp. “If you liking making love at midnight...in ze dunnnnnnes of ze cape.”
I burst out laughing as the shower curtain opened and my man stood in all his naked glory with suds flowing down his legs, never stopping his song. “Then zur de love that I’ve looked forrrr come with meeee and escape.” He then decided that his penis was the perfect guitar to pick and proceeded to use it along with his mouth as the outlet. Hysterical at this point, I began to sway my hips to his crazy shit as he motioned to me with his finger to join him. Shaking my head no, I stood in place, swaying to his manmade music until he was clean and stepping out for a bow. Wrapping a towel around him, he pulled me his way, planting a messy kiss on my lips.
“Someone is in a good mood,” I teased as I pulled away to look up at him. The smile in his eyes let me know I was in for a good night.
He lowered his stare, checking me out, letting out an appreciative whistle. “Life is good, bebe. Life is good.” I chuckled at his nonsense, taking leave of the bathroom to change out of my skirt. He joined me in the bedroom to pull on some clothes. “You know I’ve heard that song my whole life and I swear I’m just clicking together the lyrics.” He looked at me with a satisfied grin as he brushed the water off his body with his towel.
“It’s the cheating song,” I replied, wrinkling my nose.
“Yeah, but it’s the point of it. Pretty cool. You have to admit that everyone gets tired of the same person after a while and the fact that they went looking for someone else and ended up finding each other...it’s honest.”
“So you are just now getting it, huh?” I said, poking at him as he opened his drawers.
“Baby, I have the attention span of a fruit fly on a watermelon farm. I probably haven’t pieced together half the songs I know the words to. Well, beside every song The Beatles ever made.”
I sat on the bed, admiring my love. “You have thick thighs and a perfect ass.”
“Did you just say you wanted to lick my thighs?” He turned and gave me a raised brow.
“Kind of,” I cooed as he pulled up his boxers.
“That can be arranged...Hilary, nope, nope, nope, get dressed. I’m taking you out tonight.”
I paused mid-skirt disposal and gave him a questioning look.
“Oh, baby, did you think I’d forget you are officially my cougar today?”
I lay back in bed, whining, “I’m too tired, Jayden.”
“That’s a given considering your age.” Baring my teeth, he moved to pin me on the bed. “It’s not every day I get to cheat on my beautiful girlfriend with an older woman. We have to make the best of it.”
“Har, har, I’ve got your age by less than a month.”
Still hovering, he looked down at me. “Happy birthday, baby.”
“Thank you,” I rasped as he softly kissed my cheek and moved down to my throat.
“See this is much better,” I protested as he peppered kisses next to my ear and then grabbed my lobe between his teeth. “Entertainment and we don’t even have to leave the house.”
“We haven’t been out since our first date,” he whispered to me. “Get dressed in something comfortable, jeans and a t-shirt.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
Once Jayden dressed, he ordered me to meet him in the living room in ten minutes. I had to admit I was excited about the idea of going out, not even having realized we hadn’t since our first date. These last months had passed by in a flash. When I should have been suffering from cabin fever, I was asking to stay in and do our usual. I didn’t realize how very domesticated we’d become. I freshened up my makeup and headed out to the living room where Jayden waited for me with Trip.
“Trip’s coming?” I asked curiously.
“Yep, it’s a family affair. He baked the cake.”
I shook my head and leaned down then grazed my fingernails behind his ears. “You bake, too, buddy?” Trip’s reply was, as always, a sloppy kiss across my lips.
“Ew,” I said, wiping off the fresh saliva with a grimace.
Once in Jayden’s truck, he pulled me so I was sitting right next to him, putting Trip in the passenger seat. When we pulled up to Kentucky Fried Chicken, I gave him a sideways glance.
“Wow,” I said, not hiding my disappointment. “Just what I wanted, a bucket of heart attack.”
Jayden ordered enough food for ten people as Trip barked at the voice coming through the speaker.
“Chill out, beast,” Jayden scorned as Trip completely ignored him. Food in tow, we set off for a drive that took the better part of an hour. When we pulled up to a gate in the middle of the mountains, I took a long look at Jayden who was singing along to Love Me Do and ignoring every question I asked. Jayden pulled out of his cell as he got out of the truck.
“What’s the code? Thanks, Unc. Yeah, so far. See you.” Jayden put in the combination to the lock and minutes later, we were rolling down a narrow lane toward an expansive pasture filled with fields of flowers with the mountains sitting majestically in the background.
“This is beautiful,” I remarked.
“Picnic, baby. I thought you’d like it.”
“I love it. Your uncle owns it?”
“Yeah, these are his hunting grounds, actually.” Jayden pulled to a stop when he seemed satisfied then looked at me. “Give me a few minutes to set up.”
“Okay,” I noted, taking in the scenery. In the rearview, I saw him pull down his truck gate and spread out a blanket in the bed. He opened a cooler he had packed and popped a bottle of champagne. He glanced up at me and I faced forward quickly.
“Come on, Curious George,” he scorned playfully.
“I wasn’t looking, I swear,” I lied as I rounded the truck. Trip took off like a bat out of hell as I opened my door and I ran after him like a lunatic.
“Let him go, baby. He knows the way back. He can’t go too far.”
“Okay,” I said, breathless. “Jayden, this is beautiful.”
It was seven thirty, but the sun was just getting into the vicinity of setting. It was warm out, but not enough to bitch about. Jayden had thought of everything. He reached back behind his seat and pulled out a couple of his couch throw pillows and within minutes we were having the perfect picnic in his truck bed. Along with the Colonel’s secret recipe and mountains of stick to your ribs side dishes, he had indeed furnished a chocolate cake. We sat dining in his truck bed, sipping champagne, and making pigs of ourselves on fried chicken.
“This is really something,” I said, leaning over to give him a grease filled kiss.
“You’re welcome,” he said, tearing off a piece of chicken drum.
When we were full and had cleared the mess, we lay in the truck staring up at the moon, barely visible in the rapidly purpling sky.
“I’m really impressed, Jayden. You said you aren’t good at this girl/boy stuff, but you are a natural romantic.” I rolled over to look at him. “Seriously, I want for nothing.”