That night I lay staring up at the starry heavens with the warm sand against my back trying to make sense of everything. Time to time I could hear Flint's frustrated muttering to himself. Solving the riddle of the treasure from the mural pictures wouldn't be easy for him. In fact, it could be impossible. I had seen only a vague reference to it, something that could easily be overlooked.
It was decision time. What did I want most? Continued obedience to a past history of tradition that while rich in meaning and symbolism, was also empty of what I craved most.
Or did I let myself be free to find the love I'd always dreamed of and now had and craved to experience more of. It was sort of an easy answer, how be it a bittersweet one. I got up off the sand hugging myself with my arms, as the evening air was chilly in the desert. For being nighttime, it was surprisingly light outside.
The moon was just over half full and the stars were so bright, as they had no competing city lights to dim their brightness in the night sky. Flint was easy to pick out, where he lay sitting up against a sand bank.
The glow of the tablet in his hands lit up his frustrated features. He glanced up surprised, as I neared him.
"I thought you'd turned in for the night." He said, and I shook my head.
I knelt down on the sand in front of him and turning I pushed myself backward between Flint's knees, until I sat between his legs and rested back against his chest.
His voice near my ear sounded husky as he said, "Help yourself to my body heat why don't you."
I planned on it. He was so warm. He had the tablet in one hand that rested on a knee and I slipped it out of his grasp and he let me have it, in a further sign of his undaunted trust in me.
His voice had a hint of humor to it as he said into my ear, "You know that's a punishable offense stealing my pictures?"
"Then punish me." I rejoined.
His breathing stopped and I patted myself on the back for successfully rattling his cage. The muscled physique he possessed tightened all around me, but I stayed where I was, idly flipping through the pictures of the murals on his tablet with my finger. After a while his breathing returned to normal and I heard him sigh.
What he didn't know was that I was almost as impatient as he was to deepen our relationship to that of lovers, but now, as tempting as it was, wasn't the right time. I wanted to be more than just this man's lover, and the realization of that goal was worth waiting for.