Remember all those years ago when Tom Hanks won the Oscar for Forrest Gump and for the next while every Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally, Bob’s cousin’s uncle’s tree squirrel’s monkey walked around saying…

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.”

Well, that’s ridiculous! Of course you know what you're gonna get, just read the bloody box. Turn it over and look at the little pictures of the chocolates and read the descriptions below them. I’m not sure where Forrest was buying his boxes, but really, it’s not that hard.

But tonight, I finally got it. Because the chocolate I was currently unwrapping, and was about to take a bite out of, wasn’t on the box. It wasn’t on any box, anywhere. In fact, it’s a totally new flavour that hasn’t even been invented yet and will only exist in the future when we taste with our fingertips.

Because I would never -- in a million years -- have guessed that my life was ‘gonna get’ this.

The party preparations were in full swing. More and more people were arriving and the music was getting louder and louder. The water thrashed with partygoers; swimming, floating, splashing and jumping. Dusk was creeping up and the fairy lights in the trees had been turned on. They scattered rainbow beads of colour across the white sands and cliff faces. The tiny dots of colour bounced across the surface of the reflective water and it looked like everything had been coated in millions of brightly coloured M&Ms.

But I still hadn’t had my alone time with Damien because he seemed to know everyone here. We spent the whole afternoon moving from person to person; "Hello, How are you, great, awesome, long time, glad to see you, this is Lilly" etc. etc. A couple of people recognised me thanks to my new-found internet fame, and they’d all thought it as just about the coolest thing they’d ever seen. Suddenly, I was the ‘cool chick’, the celebrity. Some guy even asked me to ‘autograph’ his chest and a couple of people wanted to take photos with me. These people were so accepting; I thought about what Michael would say if he saw the picture, it would not be complimentary, and I'm sure he would have been mortified to be associated with me. Was my relationship really as good as I thought it was? In the light of all this acceptance, from Damien as well, my relationship started to look pretty conditional.

We went around like this for hours, and I was thrilled to see my strip-club-buddies Mark and Bruno there. We got so wrapped up in 'girl-talk' that when I looked up again, Damien was gone. He was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. So I wondered around aimlessly, drank two tall purple drinks and then went to the toilet. The bathroom was a rather jungle-ish affair; it was a temporary structure comprising of reed walls built around a large palm tree. I wondered how all this stuff had arrived here. There were only two possibilities; either the guy who ran this was very rich and everything had been airlifted in, or this party was that mysterious and strange that everything had been beamed here through a trans-dimensional portal. Either way, it was pretty spectacular and I was in absolute awe of it all. One couldn’t help but get caught up in the energy and exhilaration of the night.

You really felt like you were a part of something. Something unique. A secret underworld that was completely separate from everything else. Here people were happy, they were free, made their own rules and marched to the beat of their own drums -- literally -- a drumming circle had been formed out on the beach. What is it with hippies and drums? I looked around at the people and was struck by how diverse they were; from your arty, poetry-reading, shell-earing-wearing types to your hipster Ken and Barbies, chuck in a few Rastafarians, some really cute Asian schoolgirls with pink hair, add a few Emos for good measure and then the most bizarre of all, a few people who looked like Moms and Dads.

I caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror and realised that I looked nothing like the Lilly I knew. I didn’t have a scrap of make-up on for starters, which was very unusual. The sun had sprayed freckles across my nose and cheeks and my hair was messy and wavy from the humidity. The latter was the most unusual because I’m the girl with the immaculate, pin-straight hair, never a strand out of place or a misbehaving tuft. I rand my hands through it, trying to tame the beast, but I was interrupted.

“Leave it. It looks nice like that.”

It was Damien. He was casually leaning against a palm tree waiting for me. Somewhere along the way he’d managed to change, and it was the first time I’d seen him in anything other than his uniform black. His knee-length shorts were still black, but he was wearing a ludicrous Hawaiian-style shirt with a pink Hibiscus and tropical parrot print. He looked ridiculous, yet outrageously sexy and simultaneously adorable.

“Do you like my shirt?” He said, doing a little turn.

“I love it.”

“I borrowed it from this real surfer dude, right after he showed me the scar on his leg where a shark bit him.”

“Oooh. Hardcore.” I said, stepping closer.

“I figured that if we were going to make out, I should at least be wearing a clean shirt.”

“Make out?” I burst out laughing, “I haven’t heard anyone say that since I was twelve.” I’d never laughed with anyone as much as I did with Damien.

“So… how did you know where to find me?” I asked.

Damien winked at me, “I’ve been watching you from a distance, Lilly.”

A chill ran up my spine, “Really?”

“No, not really. But it’s easy to find a celebrity." He laughed again, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t ever going to live down that now infamous photo.

The laughter subsided and once again, we found ourselves in yet another awkward moment. (God this was getting old)

Silent.

Staring.

Looks loaded with expectancy.

We both knew what was coming next, it was just a question of time. Now it was about who was going to make the first move and when.

You know how that moment before you kiss someone for the first time can be so terribly awkward that you actually feel sick to the stomach? Well, that’s how I felt. In the silent, expectant looks I mentally screamed at him to 'kiss me', willing him so I wouldn’t have to make the first move. Even though I knew he wanted to kiss me, it’s human nature to be filled with just the tiniest bit of doubt created by the little voice in the back of your head that tells you if you lean in to kiss him, he’s going to pull away. (And consequently, you will die of embarrassment.)

Then Damien walked towards me and took my hand, “Come, I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“I want to show you why it’s called Burning Moon.”

Damien pulled me across the beach, through the crowds who were dancing to the hypnotic music. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there were some steps curved up the side of one of the smaller cliffs. Damien still had me by the hand and was carefully leading me up them. We reached the top and I gasped. Out loud. I felt like we were standing on the top of the world.

The sea stretched out around us in every direction as far as the eye could see. The sun had just taken its final bow and the fat, silver moon was creeping over the horizon. I stood there in silent wonder and watched as the plump moon arrived into full view, but as I stared at it, I noted a subtle change in its colour. The silver flushed with a subtle, warm pink.

“What’s happening?” I turned and looked at Damien. He had the same look on his face the night he’d told me about the galaxies.

“You’re about to see a lunar eclipse,” he said, still staring at the moon. “And if we’re lucky, we’ll have a blood moon tonight.” Damien turned and looked at me, “But this isn’t the best place to watch it from.” He took my hand again.

Minutes later we were standing in a small alcove carved into the rock. It was perched on top of the cliff, and only about ten meters away from the sheer plummet into the waters below. Damien had spread a blanket out across the floor and scattered a few cushions around. He’d lit some lanterns, which drenched the walls in a warm glow.

“Welcome to the party,” he said, ushering me into the alcove and pulling out a cushion for me to sit on.

“So is this where you disappeared to?”

“It’s always the first thing I do when I get to these parties."

"What is?” I suddenly had images of him making love nests for women.

He smiled at me; he seemed to have this uncanny ability to know what I was thinking.

"I’ve never actually attended one of these parties, I mean, I always come to it, but the only reason I do is to watch the eclipse.”

I was surprised by this revelation, especially after everything we’d been through to get here. "So every year you come to a party just to sit alone and watch the moon disappear?”

He smiled that crooked smile at me again, “Basically. I told you Lilly, I’m a bit of a nerd.”

“You know, I think you’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met.”

“Really, I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“What?” I shrieked in genuine shock. “I’m about the most normal person you’ll ever meet.”

Damien shook his head smiling, “Not a chance Lilly, you are by far, by far, the strangest girl I’ve ever met!”

"Oh please. How?”

“Okay, firstly I’ve never seen anyone dress like you did on that plane- “

I cut him off quickly, “But I had a perfectly good reason for it.”

He continued, “Not only that, but then you somehow managed to become an internet sensation, wearing arguably the worst pyjamas ever created."

“Hey, that was those Chinese tourists' fault!”

“And then to top it off, you are the clumsiest person I’ve ever met. You set yourself on fire for heaven's sake. Who does that?”

I laughed, I couldn’t argue with that one.

“You’re a little bundle of contradictions, because you’re also the strongest woman I know.”

“How’s that?”

“Who else goes on their honeymoon alone?”

I’d never thought of it that way. That I'd been strong, that this had been brave. And I liked it.

“And I’m very glad you did, come on your honeymoon alone…” Damien crept closer to me and I could feel the excitement churning in my stomach. He leaned in a little closer and my breathing quickened. He smiled at me. It was the sexiest, scariest, naughtiest smile I’d ever seen, and it made me shiver in the warmth of the evening air. The soft pink light around us was changing with the moon and being whipped into a deep red. The colour in the air only intensified Damien’s features and the sharp red shadows that trickled across his face made him look dangerous. Powerful.

And then he leaned in and kissed me. The kiss was gentle at first. It was slow and soft and tender and warm. His hot breath licked my lips and made my body tremble. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me even closer, intertwining his fingers in my hair. The tip of his tongue touched my lips and gently parted them, and my heart started beating in my ears at a giddy rate. He tasted sweet and salty and I let out a moan as I felt one of his hands tighten around my waist.

And then everything changed. As if that little breathy sound had ignited something.

The kiss became frenzied.

We grabbed at each other.

Tore.

It was chaos.

It was hungry, angry and frantic.

Our lips and tongues engaged in a kind of desperate, erotic dance that went faster and faster and faster. Speeding towards something.

It was so animalistic and insatiable that I no longer felt in control.

It was the dizziest, most erotic moment of my life.

I arched my body towards him, my nipples were hard and the feeling of them pressing into his chest made my skin feel like it was hot and cold, burning and stinging all at the same time.

The pace of the kiss escalated until I felt Damien bite my lip, and then everything stopped.

He pulled away panting. I was gasping for air and my body was heaving from the exertion. I finally managed to open my eyes, and when I did, everything was red. Our bodies were painted crimson and the world looked like it was on fire. The rocks were embers, the sea was churning blood, the sky looked like it had been ripped open, exposing what lay beneath its skin. And the moon…the big, red moon hung low and ripe in the sky. He smiled at me, it wasn’t a scary, sexy smile anymore. It was something else.

Something quieter.

Something that enveloped us in our own little world.

And then he kissed me again. It was slow, soft and deep. There was nothing frantic or angry or rushed about this kiss, instead it felt like we had all the time in the world. That time was standing still just for us. He ran his hands through my hair and touched the side of my face, as the kiss became even slower…

Slower.

Slower.

But the slower it became, the more exquisitely intense it became.

The intensity overwhelmed me.

I reached up and put my hands on the sides of his face, it was the first time I’d touched his face and his hair felt rough against my hands. The kiss ended, and just the tips of our noses where touching. We looked at each other, our hands cupping each other's faces.

He looked through me.

In that silence, not a single word was uttered, but everything was said and I’d never felt closer to another human being before.

The light around us had become even redder. I looked at Damien, his shirt was off and he was bathed in the glow of the moon. He looked otherworldly, ethereal almost. The light accentuated the strong black lines of his tattoos and I reached up and touched one. I ran my fingertips up his arm, following the lines and shapes all the way up to his wrist. When my fingers reached his wrist, he opened his hand and I ran my fingers over his palm.

He looked at me with eyes that seemed to ask a silent question. And I understood. I looked back at him with my answer.

I wanted him.

The faintest smile made the corners of his mouth twitch, and his hands went to work on my sarong. He was quick and it soon fell to the ground. He moved closer to me still, wrapping his arm around my back and tracing his fingers down the length of my spine before stopping at my bikini strap.

I felt it loosen.

Both of his hands went to work on the straps, which he pulled down slowly, savoring the moment and letting his fingertips run over my shoulders and down my arms as he freed me.

A bolt of panic shot through me as my bikini top started to fall; instinctually I crossed my arms over my breasts. I felt so exposed, so naked and suddenly crippled by shyness.

But Damien wrapped his hands around my wrists and pulled my arms away. “I want to look at you.”

I shut my eyes tightly, not able to look as I felt my breasts tumble free into his gentle hands.

There was a slight breeze and the warm air caressed my nakedness.

“Open your eyes, Lilly,” Damien’s voice was gentle, yet commanding and it gave me the courage to look at him.

That dangerous, hungry lust was gone now. Instead, he was looking at me the same way he’d looked at the stars.

Damien smiled at me, “You are so fucking beautiful Lilly, and…” He looked so vulnerable right now, “…and I think, I think I’m falling in love with you.”

And with those words, I gave myself to him. Fully. I would let him take control, and do whatever he wanted to do with me.

I felt safe and cared for and…and, I couldn’t believe he’d said it, I felt loved.

The red light drenched us both and we melted to the ground kissing. His hands moved over my breasts and stomach, as he continued to kiss me slowly and deeply.

He never stopped kissing me, not for a second as his fingertips encircled my breasts and lightly touched my nipples. So lightly sometimes that it felt like a gentle breeze. I threw my head back as his lips left mine and worked their way down my neck to my breasts.

I could see the moon now. And I could feel the heavy base of the party below, as the sound pulsed through the thick red air like an eclectic mist.

The air around us was alive, breathing and writhing and I was lost in the moment.

The physical details of the moment seemed to blur into one overwhelming sensation that washed over me.

I could feel him inside me now, it was slow and deep and every movement was deliberate and purposeful.

I wrapped my legs around him, bringing him closer and deeper still. I wanted him to claim me.

Own me.

Possess me.

Our legs and arms and lips tangled, and I no longer knew where I ended and he began.

We moved as one.

The thick red light started to dim and blacken as our bodies moved faster and faster to the invisible beat that controlled us.

The shadow's black fingers were reaching out and leading us into their darkness as the moon disappeared into total blackness.

I could feel it rising up inside me and I knew it was totally out of my control.

It was not something I could stop, or temper or tame.

Damien was in control now, leading me towards the inevitable.

His breath grew faster and louder as we dipped into the blackness together.

"Look,” Damien whipered in my ear.

I opened my eyes just as the moon disappeared into the void, and everything went black.

The blackness awakened us.

There were no longer rules or inhibitions.

I felt free.

I clawed at him, grabbed and pulled.

Our bodies writhed and thrashed and I opened my legs as wide as I could, hoping he would disappear into me.

We were now a singular entity, and we'd both lost control.

I threw my head back and arched my back as the sensation slammed through me, almost breaking my body in half.

I cried out his name over and over again until it was too intense to even speak.

The music from below grew louder and the crowd roared.

Damien lifted my hips off the ground and pulled me onto his lap.

He let out one long guttural moan in the darkness.

We held onto each other, shaking.

All I could hear was our panting and thumping hearts.

Our bodies went limp and he lowered me gently onto the floor and collapsed on top of me.

He put his head on my chest and I ran my hand through his sweat-drenched hair.

We held onto each other without saying a word.

“Damien, I love you.” I hadn’t even realised I’d said it until I heard the words.

I felt his lips on my forehead, “Lilly…I adore you. You’re amazing.”