© 2010 Veronica Haney

He touched her face gently. Her skin was so soft. Its porcelain features looked so delicate while at rest. A waterfall of raven locks flowed down her bare shoulders and spilled onto the red satin sheets. He dared not move, barely breathing for fear of losing this precious moment in time. If there ever was a fitting description of love it was what they had made tonight.

He closed his eyes, picturing the way she had moved by candlelight. Every gesture was purposeful and passionate. Clearly she was an experienced lover, yet there was an innocence in her eyes that contradicted her sexual savvy. A smile slowly spread across his face as he contemplated what he had done to deserve such a beautiful woman. In fact, when he looked back over their history she seemed to be perfect, almost too good to be true.

She worked at a little bookstore. He had been searching for a specific book that day. When he went up to the counter to ask about it their eyes had locked. There was a chemistry between them that he had never experienced in all of his 34 years. Careful not to let the moment pass him by, he asked her out for coffee. She said yes and everything that happened after that seemed to be taken from a romance movie. Shared walks by moonlight, sunsets at the beach, and picnics in the park were eternally captured and now rested lovingly in a photo album in her desk drawer.

Before they had made love that night they had ordered dinner and shared it in front of the fireplace. Happily full, they relaxed on a blanket on her living room floor. Her head rested on his chest and she spoke in almost a whisper, ” Tell me about your past. Who was your first love?”

His first love was Penny. He was 16 and floating on the high of his new driver’s license. The first time he saw her she was sipping on a Slurpee in front of a convenience store.

” She had long, dark hair like yours you know.”

” Tell me more.”

” It was summer and she had just moved to town with her family. There was a man made lake there that we always went to together. The beach there wasn’t anything compared to the one here, but it was more than good enough for us. I’ll never forget her eyes. They were so filled with wonder, like she was taking everything in for the first time….”