continued...
Day 2...
"Wha' the fuck?..." I yelled when I felt my body shaking.
Earthquake? What the hell...
"Wake up sleepy-head," Marni's voice implored, "Room service has delivered a pot of coffee and some warm muffins, babe," her hand on my shoulder.
"What...what time is it?" Asking the question as I struggled to sit upright, fighting the fog I was in.
"Five...in the morning. That five." Marni snickered, the aroma of the cup of coffee she had poured for me snapping me out of the stupor in which I was wallowing.
"Are you crazy?"
Hey, I thought it to be a valid question.
"Sweetie, we've got a good ten hours ahead of us if we want to reach Denver by mid-afternoon, 'K? Sooner we're rolling, sooner we're there," Marni said in reply.
"Bitch!"
But, she was right, I knew that.
Five forty-five in the A.M. and we were out the door, our rolling bags following behind us. Bags stowed in the trunk when the valet brought the car around, Marni quickly got into the driver's seat, nodding for me to sit shotgun.
"My turn to drive...if you want to lay back and grab some shuteye, I'm good, go ahead." Marni suggested.
"Maybe later, but...if you see a Starbuck's drive-thru off the highway..." Didn't need to finish the statement. Marni was as much of a coffee freak as I was.
The first few hours were virtually conversation-free save for a random remark or two about the beautiful scenic drive. Marni had locked in the satellite radio onto the Margaritaville channel and the tunes provided a nice soundtrack to the drive.
Yep. Both of us. Avowed Parrot-Heads.
Not a word had been mentioned about what had happened last night. Doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about it.
I was.
I was thinking a lot about it. I was thinking, mostly, about how much I enjoyed Marni's 'gift' to me, of her getting me off in a most delightful manner.
I wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. First time another woman had touched me sexually and I was also dealing with that. How did I feel about that?
Pretty damn good, actually.
Should I say something? Probably. But, I stayed silent about it as did she, neither saying anything at all for the next twenty mintues or so.
"About last night..." Both of us saying it at the exact same time, I shit you not. Well, at least I wasn't the only one that had it on her mind I thought in the moment.
"Me first," Marni decried, her voice leaving no room for argument about it. Sitting back in my seat, I shut my mouth and looked to her, waiting.
"If I crossed a line...if you feel like you were forced into that situation, that I forced you..." She started to say, but I interrupted her.
"No, don't think that," I said quickly, wanting to clear that thought from her mind, "Nothing happened that I wasn't okay with...you didn't force me to do anything, 'K?"
She shot me a quick glance from the corners of her eyes, then returned to looking at the road.
"Okay...that being said," She continued, "I've been where you are after a bad break-up. Been there, done that and I knew that you needed the release."
"So, it was a pity hand-job?" I joked in an attempt to lighten the moment, "Is that what that was, Bitch?"
"No, Bitch! This is a pity hand-job," She laughed, grabbing my crotch over my shorts and roughly squeezing it.
We both laughed until tears were flowing. Nervousness? Probably, but as the laughter died, she left her hand on my crotch a 'wee' bit longer, her stroking gentle, not rough. With a smile to me, she moved her hand from my crotch to join her other one on the steering wheel.
"Thanks...for last night, I mean."
Was the only thing I could think to say. Lame, I know.
"Think I'm going to lay back and grab a bit of shuteye," I said while reclining my seat-back.
Only thing I could think to do. But, truth be known, what I wanted to do was to return the favor. I wanted to touch her, to feel her. Strange emotions coming from me because before last night, before I kicked my asshole fiance out, I was all about the man-meat, all about the one-eyed snake.
Now? I wasn't sure about much of anything right then except the fact that I wanted to touch her in the worse way, but...
"Damn, Marni Bad-Ass, you're going to have us into Denver about two hours early," I said to her as we crossed from Wyoming into Colorado, "and should you need a back-rub to ease the kinks from the driving, don't hesitate to ask," I offered.
Wow. Did I really just say that? She shot me a quick glance but said nothing.
"I know, right? Gotta' love the higher speed limits out here in the west," She replied with a bright smile.
"I've always liked Denver...Colorado, the whole scene out here," She continued, sounding a bit wistful to me.
"Didn't know you had a history here."
"After my divorce? Took a job in the Fine Arts department of DU. Stayed three years, then took the job in Portland."
"Why'd you leave if you liked it so much?"
Obvious question, I thought.
But, Marni stayed silent for several minutes. Several uncomfortable minutes. What the fuck? Did I just inadvertently open up a can of worms? I was about to apologize when she finally spoke.
"Became involved in a realtionship with another instructor at the school. A fairly serious relationship, at least, for me it was serious," Marni began, "Turned out, I was obviously the only one in the relationship to think so...came home from teaching a night class and found 'em fucking on the couch."
"Been there, done that." I said.
I had.
Only in my case I came home to find 'em fucking in the bed. My bed. My old bed. Slept on the couch that night and threw the old bed away the next day and went out and bought a new one.
"Marni, I'm sorry, I certainly didn't mean to dredge up unpleasant memories....listen, if you'd prefer to push on to Colorado Springs and not stay in Denver, I'd be good with it," I assured her.
"Nope. Really looking forward to a couple of days here, with you," She replied, turning to flash me her beaming smile...
"I do have a King Suite," the young desk clerk said to Marni, "But, it's an interior, no views really. Now, I do have a mountains-facing Suite with two queens if you'd like."
I was about to snag the king when Marni told her the two queens would be fine.
Boo.
I was seriously bummed-out with that.
"Damn sure big enough," Marni observed as she threw her bag onto one of the beds."
"Yeah, surely is," I replied but eyeing the two beds as if 'they' were the enemy.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I mentally shook off the thoughts. No big deal. I'm probably projecting and not assessing, I remember thinking at the time.
But, I really wanted to have only the one bed. I really did.
"I'm going to make a few calls, check out a couple of things if you want to shower or anything...and, I'm going to order up some wine, 'K?" Marni declared.