Cheer Up!

That night, I made Luke a spinach quiche for dinner, which he devoured. With mayonnaise on top, of course. I took a shower, happy to wash the past two days off of myself, and changed into some nice clean pajamas. The weather had started to turn cooler, and I noticed that even Luke, who usually slept in his boxers, had finally unpacked his clothes for cold weather, including his pajamas.

I smiled lovingly at him as he buttoned them up. They were blue, almost the exact same shade as his hair. “That must be your favorite color, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Is that your favorite color?” He gestured at my light green pajamas, which I had never worn before.

“I guess so,” I replied. I realized that I had a lot of clothes in that shade of green, including the hooded pullover I wore pretty constantly through the spring and summer. I had never really thought about what my favorite color was, but I guess that for clothes, light green was it. But as I thought about it, gazing into Luke's eyes as he got closer and closer...I finished the rest of my thought aloud.

"Green's nice, but gold is better. Like your eyes," I explained, my voice being cut off my him layering his mouth over mine. He eased me back onto the bed, his hands working to unbutton my pajama top. His passion was pretty overpowering, and he picked up the pace, pulling my pajama bottoms down as soon as he had thrown the top aside. I wondered for a moment what had him so worked up, but then I remembered that since we had been separated last night, we had gone two days without making love. Even though we had only been doing it for a week, we had gotten into a nice pattern of two or three times a day, so this was a big deal.

I just moaned happily into his kiss, feeling pretty turned on myself. I dropped my hands to his chest, unworking the buttons there and pushing the garment back on his shoulders. He shrugged it off and tugged off his own pajama bottoms, never once breaking away from the kiss. I raked my nails up and down his bare back lightly, and groaned as he pushed himself inside of me. He brought his mouth away from mine then, so that he could groan as well, and also so that he could pull up and look down at where we were joined. He got a naughty smile on his face, obviously enjoying what he was seeing. I blushed, and then he came back down to meet me.

We kissed again, and he moved his lips down my neck, then up to my ear, where he breathed heavily. I squirmed underneath him, feeling myself get worked up. He was obviously drowning in lust as well, for he had to stop his movements several times, groaning that he didn't want to come just yet. I was extremely close myself, hovering on the brink of ecstasy, and I wrapped my thighs around his hips, urging him in close to me. Once he was inside of me fully, I thrashed against him, and began to cry out as I climaxed. He gave a low groan, and I could feel him releasing inside of me, which just propelled my orgasm to a higher level. I screamed out louder with pleasure, and as I came down from my high, I was almost sobbing with intense satisfaction.

Luke relaxed his body down onto mine, and we lay together, breathing hard and trembling. After a few moments, he pulled up onto his forearms and looked me in the eyes. "Is it that good? Really?" he asked meekly.

"Oh, Goddess, yes," I groaned, pressing the back of my hand to my forehead and closing my eyes. "It's...it's...I can't even describe it. But it's beyond good."

His golden eyes sparkled, and he smiled happily. "I'm glad," he whispered, relaxing back down on me. He stayed inside of me the whole time, though I could feel his hardness lessening as the minutes passed. I stroked at his back, and he kissed lightly at my neck. Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing passionately once more, and I felt his manhood swell and harden inside of me. I thrust my hips up at him, delighted that he was ready again so soon, and already craving another release.

I could feel my passion building up, and I tensed underneath him, angling myself just right so that he was hitting me perfectly. I groaned and clutched at his back, feeling close to the edge. He thrust more furiously into me, then cried out. "Oh! Oh no...I'm sorry! Ah!" I could feel him releasing inside of me, and his movements stilled, but he was still groaning in both satisfaction and regret. "I'm sorry...I came too soon...you didn't get to..." he panted.

"Flip over...like this," I said, and I urged him to sit up, and I sat up as well. He was on his knees, and I was straddled across his lap, him still inside of me. I placed my small hands on his chest and pushed him backwards so that I was on top of him. I felt a little like a circus performer for being able to pull off that maneuver so effortlessly. I wasn't even sure how I knew how to do that! I turned my attention back to our coupling, and I ground against him furiously. I felt that familiar pleasurable sensation surge through me, and I cried out as I began to come. The orgasm seemed to go on forever, and he groaned with satisfaction beneath me as I thrashed frenetically, then collapsed down onto his chest.

I pressed my face into him, feeling his heart pounding as I breathed heavily. "Wow...just...wow," he whispered, stroking his hand up and down my back.

"Uh huh," I responded, feeling exhausted all of the sudden. We pulled apart carefully, cleaned up, and redressed. We snuggled under the covers together. "Phew," I sighed. "I'm going to sleep GOOD tonight." Luke just started snoring, and I smiled at how quickly he was able to fall asleep. I fell asleep soon after.

The next day, true to his word, as soon as he was finished with work, we went to Ramsey's blacksmith shop. Owen greeted us as we came in. "Boy, was I glad to hear you were okay!" he boomed in his deep brogue. "I was down in that mine looking for you half the night!"

"I'm sorry," I said, but he waved it away.

"No, it wasn't a big deal. Found quite a bit of useful ore while I was hammering around for portals to go lower, so it wasn't a waste. Just glad you're all right." I nodded, and then Luke and I moved forward to Mira's accessory counter.

"We wanna get wedding rings!" Luke proudly announced, and Mira smiled softly. I felt a little bad suddenly, remembering that she was recently widowed, but she showed no signs of sadness at having to talk about wedding rings. She showed us some examples of styles, explaining as she went along the merits of each.

"Well, I know what I want," I said, pointing to a simple, narrow band of gold. It was the same color as Luke's eyes, and it glimmered up at me enticingly. Mira nodded, taking it out of the case. Miraculously, it fit me perfectly, so we wouldn't have to wait to get one made. We could just buy the display ring, which was more than fine with me. Although I didn't like to admit it, Selena's cruel words had cut me to the bone, and I wanted Luke's ring on my finger as soon as possible, if only to prove in some silly way that I was really his.

Luke continued to peruse the rings, finally selecting a wide band of silver. "But, like, can I get flames carved into it?" he asked Mira. I started to protest, but bit my lip. Sure, it was unusual to have flames engraved onto a wedding ring, but when I thought about it, it was totally something Luke would do. So why not? I just nodded enthusiastically when Mira looked at me doubtfully. She agreed to it, and told us to return in two days, when she would have the engraving done.

Luke and I left happy. He took my hand, admiring the delicate ring there. "It's pretty," he said quietly. I smiled back at him, and then we turned back as we heard Owen calling to us.

"Hey! I forgot to tell you, the path to Mt. Gelato is now open. I busted the rock blocking the road with my hammer. But I noticed a lot more rocks and branches blocking the path going further, so if you want to go, you'd better go prepared."

Luke and I looked at each other. "It sounds like an adventure," I said. "Want to go?"

Luke cheered. "Hell yeah!" We hurried home, him getting his axe and me getting my hammer. We then ran up the path the Mt. Gelato, holding hands the whole way. After we passed under the huge root that had previously been overlapped by a giant rock, we gazed around admiringly at the scenery. Mt. Gelato was absolutely beautiful. "Man, I haven't been here since I was a little kid," Luke breathed, stepping forward into the lush grass. A raccoon scurried out from behind a tree, looking over at us suspiciously. "Look at that bad ass raccoon!" Luke yelled, and the raccoon ran away. I bit my lip, remembering the photo of Luke wrestling with a raccoon. The word was probably out in the raccoon community that Luke was not to be trusted. I began giggling, but Luke paid no mind, already chasing after a white weasel he saw sneaking around nearby.

He returned to me a few minutes later, panting. "Damn, that weasel was fast!" I laughed, and took his hand as we headed up the slope to the mountain. Our way was blocked by two large trees flanking an enormous boulder. "Okay, I'll take care of this," Luke said, gripping his axe. He lined himself up with the trunk of one tree, and swung powerfully at it. His sharp axe bit into the bark with skill, and within three minutes, the tree was heaving sideways as it fell. "Timber!" Luke yelled, then stepped back, breathing heavily.

I admired him. "Wow, that was pretty amazing," I said, impressed by his talent. I was also impressed with the way his muscles had flexed as he moved, and by the thin layer of sweat that now sheened his skin. Impressed, and turned on.

I shook myself, trying to concentrate on the task before us. I thought that I might have to break the boulder with my hammer, but we were able to slip by in the space created by the fallen tree. We continued up the steep path, carefully crossing a log bridge. I was afraid that I was going to fall, but Luke held my hand and didn't let go as we crossed, and I made it safely over.

Once past that, we gazed up at the path ahead. "Ah!" Luke cried out, pointing. "Up that way is the Harvest Goddess spring. I remember. I've been there with my mom before." I nodded, and we headed that way.

Suddenly, I heard a low rumbling. Fearing some kind of avalanche or rockslide, I froze in my tracks. But my attention was soon drawn to a nearby cave. A large brown bear was coming out, apparently a mother bear, I deduced from the cub following her closely. I wasn't afraid initially, but the bear came closer, baring her teeth and growling at us. I squeaked out in fear, and Luke grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me down the path, away from the bear.

Once we were a distance away, we leaned up against the slope wall. "What the junk? A bear?" Luke exclaimed, and I burst out into fierce giggles.

"Did...did you just say 'what the junk?'" I asked, tittering madly.

He furrowed his brow. "No! I didn't say 'what the junk!'"

I laughed harder. "You did! You said 'what the junk!'"

Luke pouted a little. "Okay, maybe I did! But I was all confused and stuff from the bear. And what's so funny about it, anyway?"

I finally caught my breath, slowing down my laughing. "I don't know. It just struck me as funny. I've never heard anyone say that before."

Luke bit his lip. "Okay, I gotta admit something. I'm like, afraid of bears. I don't know why, but I just am."

"Well, right now, I'm pretty afraid of bears too!" I shrieked, as I heard the mother bear growling from up the path. We hastened down the path, further away. As Luke walked in front of me, my attention was focused on the decal on the back of his vest. It was the face of a bear.

"Hey, Luke, why do you have a bear on your back if you're afraid of them?"

"Because! I don't have to look at it if it's on my back! And I figure if they scare me, then they must be pretty bad ass, so they'll scare other people. Or something." He scratched his head as he tried to explain, and I just smiled gently at him.

"Well, I think it does look pretty 'bad ass'," I said encouragingly, trying not to laugh.

"For real?" Luke said. "Aw, you're awesome, Angela," he crowed, turning on me and hugging me tightly. I relaxed into his arms, smelling the pine scent coming from his shirt. "Okay, I think our adventure is done for today," he sighed. I agreed, and we headed down the rest of the path.

I tugged him over to the side when I saw something sparkling in the sunlight. It was some sort of bamboo shoot that seemed to glow. There were more scattered around the area, and I scurried about, gathering them up. Luke wrinkled up his nose. "Blech! I hate, hate, hate, bamboo shoots. Especially shiny ones like those."

I looked at him, wide eyed. There weren't too many things that he said he hated. "But why?" I asked.

He scratched his head, thinking. "I don't really know...oh yeah, wait! Okay, my mom and I used to come here all the time. Remember when I told you that she was a bad cook? Well, she gathered some of those while we were here, then tried to cook them for me and my dad when we got home. But she didn't know how to prepare them correctly, so it was like chewing on wood. Really, really bad. Whenever I taste bamboo now, even when it's done right, I remember that. Just chewing and chewing for like, hours! It was awful! My dad finally told me I could spit it out, but the taste was in my mouth for days." He shivered.

"Ew, that's pretty gross," I commiserated. "Well, I'll just sell them, how about that?"

He nodded in relief. "And we can have spinach for dinner instead!" he proclaimed happily.

"Yes, we can," I assured him, lacing my fingers into his as we headed for home.