‘How long have I longed!’ he said, caressing her back as she molded into his embrace for a response.
Then, he raised her head as though to see the essence of her soul but saw her droop her eyelids in anticipation. He showered kisses on them, seemingly to cajole them to sight to make them witness his passion. As the ardor of the moment quivered her lips, he joined his to those for support. Gratified by his gesture, so it seemed, her lips played host to their labial guests. The reciprocity of their explorations that followed enabled them to experience the fondness of their love that permeated their souls. In time, he loosened himself from her enticing grip so as not to cross the threshold before the momentous event.
As they reentered the backyard with a compound wall, the softness of the bed, laid amidst a bed of roses, gladdened their hearts. Leading her up to the nearby well, he proposed that they bathe in the open.
‘Why fear?’ he said in mock innocence, as she protested in shyness. ‘I’ll keep guard.’
‘That’s the threat,’ she said, turning coy.
‘Let’s find a romantic balance,’ he said persuasively and went up to the cot in measured steps. He then gestured her to join him and having been amused, she obliged him demurely.
‘It’s half moon now and I would be twenty steps away,’ he crooned into her ears endearingly. ‘Why don’t you let me gloat over your contours that would shape the course of our love life?’
‘Gents first,’ she suggested, ‘in these things.’
‘Agreed,’ he caught her by her waist and led her to the well, ‘If it means courtship manners.’
As he handled the bucket over the overhead pulley, finding some coconuts afloat, she said in wonderment, ‘Oh, the village refrigeration!’
When he was down to his underwear, she thought he resembled a well-chiseled sculpture of a Greek warrior, and as he drew water from the well in bucketfuls, she was charmed watching the contractions of his shapely biceps.
‘Would you please,’ he said invitingly, ‘soap my back.’
‘Oh, I see, your desires are ever on the raise,’ she said mischievously. ‘Since you behaved well all the way, I took you for a gentleman.’
‘In other words,’ he said pulling her nearer to him, ‘you were afraid that the burden of initiative should’ve landed in your lap. What with the driver around, I had no go but to steer clear of your curves.’
‘I never thought,’ she said turning coy, ‘that you’re such a shameless character.’
‘If men were to turn shy at the threshold,’ he said in all smiles, ‘the burden of shame would fall on women. I’ll tell you an interesting anecdote. One of my cousins didn’t stir in the nuptial bed as though he was in meditation. Finding him tepid to her eager charms, crossing her fingers, his bride felt him at the right place! As you could guess, that did the trick for the rest of the night and ever after.’