**What's in a kiss?
A statement? A request? How about an acknowledgment of a deep-seated burning need? How about if it's a way of communicating that need?
Ha, you're interested now, aren't you?
This was inspired by the way that some women like to see a man on a hot day or in uh, heated circumstances. A lot of guys like to see a woman in the same circumstances too, just sayin'. So here you go, heat and sweat, hehe.
Please vote if you feel so inclined, and I love comments, too.
Thank God for stepladders and gravity. O_o
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In the morning Josh was in the kitchen early. He sat at the table savoring his coffee and kidding around with Jillian. She'd already torn the knees of her older jeans and was sporting a Band-Aid on her elbow. Josh was proud of her.
Rose had breakfast going, and called to Kayla to get moving. "I can only keep this boy's face out of the bacon for so long, Kayla, and then it'll be gone. He's been on good behavior up to now, but I've got to tell you that he's a human vacuum cleaner around food, especially after he's had his run."
Kayla walked in, and sat down wishing them all a good morning. There was a moment of silence as they all stared at her.
"What?" she asked. She was wearing Joshua's shirt loose over her jeans, and her hair was tied in a French braid, the ponytail still hanging a good distance down her back.
Rose smiled "You know, I'm sure that I've seen that shirt someplace before, Joshua."
Josh, for his part, kept looking at Kayla.
He suddenly seemed to come to his senses. "What? Oh, sorry Rosie. I've never seen so much bare skin on this girl before. All of the blood in my head seems to have gone south for some reason. I mean, I can see almost her whole arms. Look!" He grinned.
Kayla's mouth fell open, and Josh got a dishtowel swat on his shoulder for his trouble. All Rosie had to say to him was "Next one's the flyswatter."
Josh said, "Yes Ma'am."
Josh told Rosie that he'd given Kayla the shirt the evening before so that she might be a bit cooler painting, though he was sure that it had never looked that good on him. Rosie replied that Kayla must have been painting afterward then, because when she'd awoken, Kayla was wearing it for a nightshirt. Kayla's mouth opened in shock and mild embarrassment again.
Before she could say anything, Josh looked grim suddenly and said, "I HATE that Penhold guy."
Kayla laughed and added, "Well I don't. You know, he's really quite versatile!"
"I've read that." said Rose
"What's a versa-tile?" asked Jillian.
"Do you run in the morning?" asked Kayla.
"Yeah," replied Josh. "it blows out the cobwebs. You know, with your hair like that, you've got a certain Tomb Raider look to you somehow."
Kayla laughed, "Well you can just keep dreaming. There are some differences. Like I'm not about to fall over because of the weight of my lips, and the character in the game's got a lot more up top than me, and she wears really tight shirts to keep the adolescent boys' little brains spinning."
"That's where I was headed with this, hopefully." Josh kidded, keeping a wary eye on Rosie's dishrag.
Josh and Kayla got right to work after breakfast. If they'd been asked beforehand, neither one would have admitted to being very enamored of painting. It was just something that needed to be done sometimes and the bunkhouse was really in need. But as they worked together, they enjoyed each other's company, and the work went quickly it seemed. As the temperature rose, they turned on the air conditioning. The thermostat was a rather crude affair, and so it was actually a bit on the cool side for a time. The cold caused Kayla's nipples to stiffen, and the effect was not lost on Josh. He noted that she had elected not to wear a bra because of the heat. He was in heaven.
After some time, the smell of the latex paint was strong enough to force Josh to turn the cooling unit off, and run just the fan to keep a flow of air moving through the screen on the door. The temperature shot up fairly quickly after this, and by the time that they had the first coat finished, they each wore a sheen of sweat. Today, however, Josh kept an unobtrusive eye on Kayla, but never said a word about his concern for her, as he made sure that she stayed hydrated.
They broke for lunch, sitting out on the porch while the first coat of paint dried. It seemed that Jilly couldn't keep her little backside off the bicycle saddle for any length of time. She was in heaven on her first very own bike pedaling around, and trying to mimic the sound of a motorcycle.
During one of the short intervals that the sunlight could actually shine on the saddle, Jillian asked Kayla what the 'motorcycles on her hat' looked like so that she would know one if she saw it. Kayla said her uncle had liked to give her rides on one when she was little, but hadn't been on one since and that she often wished that she could ride one herself, but she couldn't answer Jilly's question.
"They're just big, Jilly, the ones that I saw yesterday, and they all look so cool."
Josh said that he had one, but that he hadn't brought it with him. Jillian had always thought that motorcycles of any sort were interesting to her, if not downright awesome.
"Is yours one of these?" she asked indicating her hat. When Josh nodded, she told him that she'd have liked to have seen it.
"Well," he smiled, "I do happen to know where there's a real old one that might be of help to both of you." He winked at Rose, and asked Jillian to come and walk with him.
They set off together for the driving shed, Jillian's hand reaching up to take Joshua's. She kept looking ahead, but Joshua looked down at her, and then over his shoulder at the women. Rosie was giving him the thumbs up with a proud smile. Kayla's jaw fell open and her expression turned to a huge grin.
When they got inside the shed, Joshua told her that she had actually been almost touching the motorcycle when she had been lost the other night, as they walked up to the old patrol bike. Jillian's eyes looked like they were about to leave her head.
To Jilly, the most important thing was that it was a real motorcycle, and that it was really there. It was big and white and complicated. Two wheels, a million spokes, a windshield, saddlebags, and three headlights. That was all that mattered to her. She wondered for a moment how she had managed to walk in and out of the shed the previous morning and not seen a wondrous thing like that. The only thing missing was a spotlight shining down on it.
Her jaw dropped and stayed there.
"It's just an old police patrol bike," Josh said, "Rosie's husband Sam took really good care of her, and I do my best as well. It's about 70 years old, but it's the same kind that's on your hat. The engines were a lot smaller back then, and they were hand-shifters with a suicide clutch."
Josh almost regretted what he'd said, because it brought a volley of questions from his young friend. He had to explain what the motor did and how the motion got to the back wheel. After that he had to define what a clutch was, what the word 'suicide' meant, and how it applied to the motorcycle. He tried to just gloss over it all, but he was amazed after a moment at how Jilly was taking it all in. Then he thought of himself when he was a kid and he understood.
Then he asked the question.
"Want to sit on it, Jilly?"
Jillian couldn't even speak. She just nodded emphatically. Josh had to look away for a second so that he didn't laugh. She looked so sweet to him.
Josh lifted her up after a minute, and sat her down on the seat. She tried to reach the handlebars, but it was a long stretch. She could only get to one while leaning on the tank with the other hand. Josh told her not to worry, that she would get there eventually. He told her that he would start it, and that if she wanted to, she could ride with him out to the yard. She nodded vigorously. He explained that she didn't need to be afraid of the sound, and that it would be a little loud inside the shed, but once it was outside, it would quiet down some.
He told her that, because she was still a bit small, she would have to sit in front of him, and where to keep her hands. He also explained that the engine would heat up, and not to try to hug it with her legs, but she should hug the tank with her knees because it would help her to stay steady. He said that if it was all right with her, he would put his arm around her to hold her as well if that was ok. Jillian was fine with that.
He lifted her back off, and prepared to start the old Harley. Jillian couldn't believe that this motorcycle was older that any of them. After a bit of fiddling, Josh folded out the kick-starter, and after three kicks, the old engine lit off, settling to a clattering lope. Josh got the bike up off the side stand, and asked Jillian to come to his side, but pointed to the engine parts that would now be getting hot. Josh put the old hand shifter into first gear while he held the clutch down and lifted Jillian onto the seat in front of him.
He asked her if she was afraid at all. She yelled, "Just a little."
He smiled and said that it was ok if she was.
He asked her if she was ready, and she nodded. He explained that they would only go out of the shed, and around the yard twice, and that would be the end of her first ride, because that was all of the time that they would have before Kayla tried to kill him again. She laughed and nodded.
