I left work early Friday afternoon to drive to my cousin's home in the country for the weekend. He and his wife had offered their place to me while they were out of town on vacation.
I've never been to their place before, so they e-mailed me directions, but I was now beginning to question their accuracy since I seemed to have been driving down the same back road for quite some time. I wondered if I had missed a turnoff somewhere and was getting myself lost.
The light was starting to fade and I knew it'd be harder trying to find their house in the pitch black of the country night, so I pulled over to the side of the road to consult a map. It didn't help much. I got out of the car to stretch and was immediately struck by the peacefulness of the surrounding woods. There was a faint breeze rustling the branches overhead, and I noticed the faint sounds of birds and crickets in the stillness of the coming night. I felt rather glad to be out of the city.
I turned to look up the road when I heard a car approaching from the other direction. As it got closer, I saw that it was a police car. It slowed as it passed by me, then made a u-turn in the middle of the road and pulled over to the shoulder, stopping a few feet behind my car. The door opened and the cop stepped out, slamming the car door behind him. He hitched his belt and began to walk slowly towards me. He was wearing a tight, beige-colored uniform that clung nicely to his hulky, muscular frame and a pair of dark, mirrored glasses that hid his eyes. His thinning, red hair was closely cropped to his round head - in sharp contrast to the full, dark red handlebar moustache perched above his thin, pale lips. I nodded as he approached, but he didn't respond. He walked right up to me and I became completely awestruck by his tall, imposing physique.
"Any trouble?" he asked in a deep voice, jerking his thumb at my car.
"No, no trouble, but I'm afraid I may be lost," I replied with a short, self-deprecating laugh.
A slight smile tugged at his mouth. He shifted his weight and hooked his thumbs into his belt. "Anything I can do?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
I caught a glimpse of myself in his dark lenses. "Yeah, sure, I could really use your help," I said, returning to the issue at hand. "I have a map in the car and some directions. Maybe you can help me make sense of them." I turned around and opened my car door, leaned in and grabbed the map and directions, then turned back to him. He was standing completely still, watching me intently. I walked around to the back of my car and spread the map open on the trunk. He walked slowly around behind me, then sidled up close, his right hand resting on the handle of his gun.
"I'm going to Crystal Lake, but I'm afraid I might've missed my turnoff point." I said as I traced my finger along the map.
The officer removed his glasses and leaned forward a little, squinting at the map. "Where's your turnoff point?" He glanced at me and I was momentarily locked in the gaze of his bright green eyes.
"Um ... Ridgewood. Is that anywhere near here? Or did I pass it?"
His mouth stretched into a full grin. "No, you didn't pass it. It's actually just up the road a couple of miles. We're not too far from it."
"Well, that's a comfort," I laughed. "I was beginning to doubt my sense of direction."
He continued to smile at me. There was a brief pause where we just looked at each other, smiling. I averted my gaze when I realized I started getting hard -- my general response when looking at such a hot guy. I turned back to the map to look it over. "Where you headed on Ridgewood?" he asked, noticeably more relaxed.
"Here," I said as I handed him the directions. "You probably know better than I do."
I watched him as he took the piece of paper from me and read it. I noticed that his fingers and hands were thick and there was a light dusting of freckles and blond hair on his round forearms. "You're pretty close," he said. "Not much further to go, actually. Maybe only ten more miles."
A breeze caught a corner of the map and lifted it off the trunk of my car. We both reacted, he a little faster than I, and held the map down. We were closer together now, forearms touching, and with the breeze, I tasted his clean scent of soap and warm fabric. I felt an electric current course through my body, lingering in my groin.
