Loveland

Author's Note: No sex in this part either. Kate, after all, is still a very proper lady and she is not 'easy.'. The plot at this point is still about seduction. As the saying goes, "patience is a virtue." And "all things come to he who waits" for the rest of the story.

Day 2 A Drive Through the Mountains

I went to sleep with a boner and woke up with a woody, and the enticing smell of fresh coffee, and the sweet sound of sizzling bacon. After performing my morning rituals and getting dressed, I joined Kate in the kitchen. She seemed more relaxed and happier now than she was the night before. I think she was looking forward to the road trip as a way to distract herself from her marital problems and to get her life at least partially back on track.

"We should leave soon after breakfast," she informed me.

"Uh, what?" I grunted. The cobwebs of sleep were still clouding my brains. I usually don't 'wake up' until after I have had a big mug of hot coffee.

"The road trip," she reminded me.

That was music to me ears. It answered my previous night's question. I would not have to book a flight home.

"Thanks for being honest with me," she added.

I knew she was referring to our talk yesterday although I was not sure if she was referring to my observations about her and Hal, or to my feelings for her, probably both.

Before we left, Kate made sure that her home was secure, and checked on all the arrangements she had made with friends and neighbours to keep an eye on her home while she was away. By the time we were ready to go, it was already late morning. We decided to have an early lunch before beginning the first leg of our road trip.

When we stepped out of the house, I noticed that it was not the same car as the one she had used when she had picked me up.

Kate saw my questioning look. "I'm not taking my own car this time. I was going to, but when Hal left, I decided to get a rental car instead," she explained. "I don't want to drive alone all the way back again. I plan to fly back to Seattle. I'll buy a ticket as soon as get to Boston," she explained. "Because it's not part of our deal, I'm paying for it."

"How much is it going to cost?" I asked. Being somewhat old-fashioned about money, I preferred to avoid using my credit card when I travelled. I brought what I thought was more than enough cash, and would use the credit card only if I ran out of cash.

When Kate told me, I gave half of the amount she cited. "Take it," I told her. "It's true we made a deal but Hal basically wrecked that deal. So, the terms have to change. Instead of me paying one-third, I now pay half, up to Philadelphia, that is."

Kate got really teary-eyed on me. "You are so nice and so generous." Then she embraced me to show me her thankfulness.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm just being fair," while I held onto her.

After a few seconds, I reluctantly let her go,

Kate and I decided ahead of time to make La Grande, Oregon, our first overnight stop. Only 300 miles from Seattle, we wanted to take a leisurely drive through the mountains to enjoy the beautiful scenery between the two cities.

I offered to take turns at the wheel, but she insisted on doing most of the driving. It was her call. It was also an example of her assertive nature. To be fair, she clearly loved to drive too. It seemed to help her relax. And that was a good thing.

While she was driving, I did not always pay attention to the scenery outside the car. I had my eyes on her, watching her, wanting her. I tried not to be obvious. I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable. I did not want to come across as a creepy, dirty old man, at least the creepy part. We made a few stops to look around and take pictures.

As we approached La Grande in the late afternoon, Kate declared, "That's enough driving. Let's keep an eye out for a decent place to spend the night."

We had agreed in advance to check out only economy motels and hotels to keep our costs down. About a half-hour later, we saw what looked like an owner-operated motel. Conveniently, there was a decent-looking restaurant across the street where we could have a proper meal.

Had we gone as two couples, as we did in our first road trip, each couple would have chosen their own room and covered their won costs. If we had gone as three persons, Kate, Hal and me, splitting the cost by three, which was what I had envisaged when I arrived in Seattle without knowing that Hal had just deserted her, we would have had to pay for a room that had at least two beds. Ironically, it was an arrangement that would have had Kate and Hal share the same bed, although, because of their strained relationship, sex was highly unlikely, even if they were alone.

But Hal was gone. We had to adjust our calculations. Kate and I decided on a one-room plan, in the interests of economy of course.

We asked the proprietor to show us a couple of rooms. They were simple but clean and comfortable. One room had two beds while the second one had a single bed and sofa. The first room was 20 dollars more than the second. Internet was an extra cost but we decided not to bother. We could go without Internet once in a while. I took note of the fact that the bathroom was quite small, a toilet, a shower and not much else.

The owner's cell phone buzzed.

"Excuse me for a sec," he said. He walked out leaving us alone.

"In the interests of saving money," I suggested, let's take this room. I'll sleep on the sofa. You can take the bed."

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" Kate asked.

"Yes," I replied, "I am."

Since she was the one who had asked the question, it was safe for me to assume that she also accepted the arrangement.

Knowing that I would be alone with her caused my libido to kick into gear. I had noticed that the bathroom had only one hook on the door on the inside. Almost immediately, I formulated an idea in my mind of how I might effectuate my plan to seduce her.

Kate and I decided to eat first and then take a short walk to stretch our cramped legs. We came across a grocery store where we bought two bottles of red wine. When we returned to the motel, we pulled out the bags that contained fresh clothes, and entered our room for the night.

While I checked out the TV to see what channels were available, Kate found two glasses in the bathroom.

"Wine? she asked.

"Sure," I said and took a glass from her.

I told Kate what was available on the TV.

"Nothing interesting," she said. "I'm not much for TV."

I was in no mood for TV either. There was no internet either. They would have been distractions.

We finished out first glass. We decided to have another. We chatted for a while.

Since it was early May and night had already fallen, it was becoming quite cool.

Being the gentleman, I said, "You can shower first if you like."

"You go ahead," she offered. "I haven't quite finished my wine."

It was my cue to my devious plan into motion.

I started to take off my clothes in front of her. She did not say anything when I removed my socks and took off my shirt but her eyes widened when I proceeded to undo my belt and then pulled down my pants.

To be honest, I was a little nervous, even embarrassed.

It's not every day that I strip in front of a woman who is not my wife!

But I put on a brave face and pretended that what I was doing was a perfectly natural thing to do.

"The bathroom is too small," I pointed out. "There's only one small hook and I need it to hang the towel on it. I don't want to put my clothes on the floor. You can't be too sure how really clean the floors are, or on the sink, because they might get wet.

"But, but..." she blabbered.

"Don't worry about it," I told her. "We're both old. I don't care if anymore who sees me naked."

I did not ask her if she cared. She did if I were to judge the look of embarrassment on her face. Neither did I want to give her the chance. I stripped quickly so that if she uttered any protest, it would be too late. When I removed my underwear, I made no effort to cover what distinguished a man from a woman. I was so embarrassed that I almost turned myself around but managed to resist that urge.

"But, but..." she blabbered again.

"You might as well get used to it," I told her as her eyes glanced at my limp dick.

'You too," I told myself.

"We're going to be living in close quarters for almost two weeks," I continued out loud." There's no point in being shy."

She decided not to argue with me. It was too late anyway. As I noted before, she was no shrinking violet, and did not turn her gaze away from me.

"Can you give me one of the towels?" she asked.

Naked as the day I was born on, I walked into the tiny bathroom, took one of the towels, walked back out again with it, still naked of course, stood in front of her, and then handed her the towel.

Her eyes kept drifting toward my package. I had the very clear impression that it had been a really long time since she and Hal had sex.

Pretending I had not noticed, I went back to the bathroom and took a nice hot shower.

I came out of the bathroom drying myself. Of course, I was just as naked coming out of the bathroom as I was when I went in. I made no particular effort to use the towel to hide my genitalia. I did not feel as embarrassed this time either. I was already over my initial embarrassment and hoped that Kate was too.

Being petite and thin, Kate was able to wrap herself in her towel. I was unable to see her female assets. But at least, she had agreed with me that it was better to strip first before entering that tiny bathroom. She had her night clothes laid out on the bed. My optimism grew.

While she was showering, I put on what passed for my road trip PJs, boxer shorts and an old, thinned T-shirt. The sofa was not particularly comfortable but I settled in with the blanket wrapped around me.

Kate came out of the bathroom wrapped in her now partially wet towel. She seemed to realize that she was now in a dilemma. To put on her night clothes, she would have to drop the towel, and let me see her naked, or she would have to tell me to turn around.

Glancing at me, she saw me watch in barely controlled eager anticipation. When lust is strong enough, it can be very difficult to hide. She blushed.

"Don't look," she said, embarrassed and flattered at the same time.

"No way," I said, "we'll be living in close quarters and will probably find ourselves in similar situations in the coming days. So, we might just as well get used to seeing each other in the buff."

She was about to object again when she seemed to change her mind. She realized I was daring her to follow my example. Kate had a competitive, alpha female personality and was not inclined to let a man, including me, to win a dare so easily.

She turned her back to me and dropped the towel. As she reached for her night clothes, I had a chance drink in her very cute little body, especially her ass, and, for a micro-second, I saw the fleshy gates to female heaven. My mouth watered.

"Nice!" I laughed, and meant it, but I was also daring her again.

She blushed again.

"Stop looking at me," she repeated without even turning. "You men are all alike. You look for any excuse to see a woman naked."

I heard her giggle. Then she turned around to face me and quickly put on her night clothes.

I laughed and smiled broadly. My dare worked.

As I was already under my blanket lying on side facing her, she could not see that I was sporting a hard-on. Being a woman of the world and knowing what men were like, and I was a typical male, she did not have to see it to know it was there because she could see the hungry look in my eyes.

"I'll get used to it," I said in reply, knowing I was lying to the teeth.

Day 3 I Cuddling for Comfort in the Cold

On the following day, we continued along the I84 into southern Idaho. Our goal was Yellowstone National Park. Although out of the way in terms of our planned drive to the east coast, it was in our vicinity in terms of our current position. We wanted to take the opportunity to visit one of America's most famous national parks. So, at Mountain Home, we turned onto State Highway 20. Technically, the distance was slightly shorter than continuing on the I84. We took it, reasoning that it might be more picturesque because it went through a less populated area.

Our intention was to get as close as possible to Yellowstone without actually arriving. Our goal was Idaho Falls, almost 450 miles away. Given the distance there was little room for anything but very short stops.

Eventually State Highway 20 merged with State Highway 26 in Carey. By the time we reached Idaho Falls, night had fallen. It had been a long tiring drive. But at least we were within easy driving distance of Yellowstone.

We found a reasonably priced motel and ate in a small nearby eatery. We were initially too hungry to notice that the temperature had started to drop. When exited the eatery to return to the motel, we were struck by how chilly the evening had become.

Fortunately, the motel had free Internet. We checked our email, nothing important. Kate emailed her daughter just to let her know that she was on the road.

We also checked the weather forecast and learned that the night would be unseasonably cold due to a cold front rolling in from Canada. We had brought warm coats with us in anticipation of colder weather, but we had not anticipated that our room would be so cold. There was no heating.

I called the front desk using the house phone. He apologized profusely, explaining that the central heating system had broken down about an hour ago. He had tried call in a repairman but none would be available until the morning.

After a few more minutes talking with the guy at the front desk, I said, "Hold on. Let me talk to my lady." I put my hand on the handset.

When I told Kate that the motel's central heating could not be repaired until morning, she looked disappointed. Exhausted, clearly, the last thing she wanted to do was to look for another place to stay.

"He was really apologetic about," I informed her. "He offered to give us a small room heater and cut 25 per cent off the price of the room in compensation."

The appeal to her pocket worked. "I guess we can figure something out," she finally said. "I really don't want to look for another place to stay."

I talked into the phone again. "Okay, she agrees. You'll come by? Good." I put down the phone.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. It was the guy from the front desk.

He apologized again and, as we had paid him in cash, he gave us our rebate in cash as well.

I told him not to worry about and expressed our appreciation for his concern.

When he left, I closed the door to a very cold night.

I checked the water in the bathroom. At least we had hot water. I plugged the heater into an outlet underneath the bathroom light, setting it in corner of the counter well out of range of potential splashed from the shower. Turning it on, I closed the bathroom door to contain the heat in the bathroom.

After a few minutes, I checked the bathroom. It was warmer, but still probably too cool for most people.

"I'll take a shower first," I told Kate. "It's still a bit cool in there. By the time I'm finished, the temperature should be at a comfortable level for you. I suggest you be ready to take a shower the second I come out."

I didn't give her a chance to think about it. I laid out my PJs on the bad. As if it were no big deal, I stripped in front of her, just as I had done the previous night. It was chilly. I wasted no time walk into the bathroom. I closed the door to keep in the heat and then took my shower.

I enjoyed washing away the day's dirt and sweat. After I dried myself off, I called through the door.

"Kate, I'm just about done. If you're ready, you get in here at the same time as I get out. I'm going to take the heater out too and plug it in near the beds so that we can at least get the chill out of the room."

"Okay," she answered. "I'm just outside the door."

"Here goes," I said. With heater on one hand, I flung the door open stepping out as quickly as I could. The chill of the main room hit me like a wall.

Kate, apparently, had already removed her clothes while she had a blanket wrapped around her body. As soon as I opened the door, she dropped it on the spot, she was naked, and rushed into the bathroom, briefly brushing against me, and then quickly closed the bathroom door behind her.

My dick pulsed at the fleeting sight, and touch, of female glory.

I plugged the heater into the wall outlet. It would take a while for the small heater to make the temperature in the room more tolerable. In a matter of seconds, I put on my pyjamas and got under the sheets of one the two queen-size beds.

Snuggled underneath the sheets, my mind contemplated the problem of how I was going to get that sweet thing in the bathroom into grasping manly arms. I had to think fast. I only had a few minutes. Just as the shower stopped, I had an idea.

When she opened the door, I saw that she had wrapped herself in a towel again. She then quickly put on her night clothes, it was still chilly in the room, giving me another tantalizing glimpse of her body.

"It's really cold under in the bed," I complained although my body was gradually making it warmer. "It will take all night for that heater to make the room warm enough. Maybe we should share the same bed. That way we can keep each other warm."

She ignored me and my invitation and jumped into the other bed.

"Whoa!" she screamed. "It is cold!"

She started to shiver. Because she was so thin and frail, she could not generate enough heat from her own body to make herself comfortably warm.

Kate was in a predicament, and I saw it.

"No means no," I reminded her.

She hesitated and then jumped into bed with me. I spooned her immediately. It was more comfortable for both of us. But she was a sexually attractive woman. The inevitable happened. My cock inflated into a full boner. I managed to avoid pressing it against her.

But she still needed the heat from body and snuggled deeper into my arms. Then she felt my hard-on press against her ass.

She was about to jump out of the bed, but held her tightly. "No means no," I reminded her. "My reaction is a natural one in presence of an attractive, sexy woman. I can't help that." That was absolutely true. "Ignore it," I added.

'If you can,' I thought.

If I pegged her correctly, figuratively that is, she would prefer the warmth of a male body that got turned on to her presence to the solitude of a cold bed.

"It's more important to keep warm for the night," I continued, offering up a rationale. "Otherwise, you'll get chilled and risk catching a cold."

By now, my devious male mind was working overtime. I knew she was attracted to me. Since she and Hal had not slept together for who knows how long, I was reasonably certain that my obvious attraction to her would not just boost her ego but also fuel her libido.

Much to my relief, she stayed. To be sure, I wanted to take her then and there, to make her my mate, but I resisted the impulse to make my move on her. I did not want to scare her off. I also wanted my cuddling embrace to arouse her own instinctive urges and feed the flames of desire.

My boner was within inches of its luscious target. I thought about slipping hand down to the portal that would lead me to paradise. It took an act of will power to keep my arm wrapped around her waist. But patience was needed because it usually, but not always, takes women longer to get in the mood for sex. It was going to be a difficult night for me. I hoped it would be a difficult night for her too.

Eventually, I fell asleep, still spooning her, but it was an uneasy sleep. Sometimes we changed positions. I would lay on my back while she nestled into my arm. Then we were spooning again.