"You're damn right there is" Jesse replied as they walked down to the car. "You would think in the last year that I would have had enough of you...but I guess not."
"A year already?" Cat questioned, thinking back. "Gosh, I guess you're right. Damn, wasn't it just last week that we got back from your cabin?"
"I know", Jesse replied. "Mountain Magic seems like yesterday. But it has been almost a year now. And you have a brand new show opening in my gallery, consisting of wonderful mountain snowscapes, just as you said you would". Jesse smiled down at Cat and the redhead helped her into the car, a tender look of love on her face. "You saved me Cat, in more ways than one." Jesse placed a warm kiss on Cat's cheek before closing the door and walking around the car to the driver's side.
Cat smiled back, and as Jesse confidently navigated the traffic across the city, Cat sat back in the seat and reminisced, her hand idly drawing random patterns on Jesse's thigh. Her mind turned to the cabin named Mountain Magic, and a night with a blizzard unlike any she'd ever seen...
Jesse owned the cabin, but Cat had leased it out for a week through a cabin rental company. There had been a reservations mix-up, and Jesse had arrived at the cabin in the middle of the night, on foot, as the snow and ice had prevented her from driving all the way up the mountain. Cat had mistaken Jess for an intruder, and had damn near shot her. In time, they figured out the mistake, but by morning they were snowed in. For 5 days they stayed in the cabin. Starting out as strangers, they had quickly become friends, and then lovers.
Cat had gone to the cabin for introspection, trying to come to terms with her pride and self-esteem following a disastrous marriage to a cold, unfeeling man. Jess had come to the cabin to get away from the problems plaguing her and the gallery, problems that had all been propagated by an ex-girlfriend, Kate. These same problems were threatening to send Jess's gallery in bankruptcy, and ruin her dreams. Cat, being a famous artist of not a little talent, had seen the serendipity of their situation, and had promised Jesse that she would show her artwork at the gallery to help Jesse out. And during that week together, Jesse had shown Cat how beautiful and wonderful love could be between two women, even though Cat had never been intimate with a woman before.
Now a year later, they were more in love than ever, and Jess's gallery was once again strong on its feet. For Jesse, finding Cat was like a publisher stumbling across James Patterson in need of a new representative. Exclusive rights to one of the best artists of the current decade had some major perks. While the gallery had been showing a backlog of Cat's work, Cat had been working on some new paintings this last year. Cat now had an entire series of mountain landscapes, most of them showing ethereal snowy scenes. Tonight was the opening of the series Cat had named, appropriately, 'Mountain Magic".
As the two women arrived at the gallery, it was obvious that the opening was to be a large society event. There was even a respectable crowd of reporters and paparazzi on hand to ask questions and snap photos of the social elite that descended from on high to attend the opening. Jess handed the keys to the valet, and flashed Cat an encouraging smile.
"Ready to brave the masses, my love?" Jess asked in Cat's ear.
Cat sighed, and gave Jess a thumbs-up. When you were an artist known all over the country, an opening of this magnitude attracted a lot of attention. Attention that Cat was not very comfortable with. But the publicity would only help Jesse, so Cat resigned herself to the interviews, and posed with Jesse in front of the gallery for the photogs.
Eventually, the two women were allowed to enter the gallery proper, where Cat's paintings were placed around the rooms, each canvas spotlighted dramatically. The rest of the lights were dimmed, giving the entire area a soft, intimate feeling. That feeling was echoed in each one of Cat's paintings. Though the paintings were mostly of outdoor mountain scenes and rustic log cabins, Cat had managed to capture some elusive quality in the snow-covered peaks and ice-frosted trees. The pictures were graceful and intimate, almost as if the viewer was intruding upon someone's private fantasy world. They were exactly how Cat had meant for them to be. She had worked tirelessly to depict the emotion and joy she had discovered in the mountains last year.
The largest and by far most popular exhibit was a large life-sized canvas near the front of the building. The painting showed the ubiquitous mountains in the background, glowing with the light of sunset blazing on the peaks. The fading light of the sun in its last moment of glory had turned the snow white mountain top into a firestorm of colors. Cat had used colors so bright, yet full of light; it seemed as though an actual spotlight gleamed out of the canvas.
However this painting had a figure in the foreground, the actual focus of the viewer; a woman in a dark jacket standing near a single tree. The figure's face was in profile, but the slash of burnt copper and a hint of emerald green around the face would tip off any of those who knew her that the figure was Jesse. Jesse had her face tilted up at the orange and gold mountains, and Cat had managed to somehow convey the wonder and majesty of the scene depicted in Jesse's face. In the corner of the large frame, just below Cat's swooping signature was a small placard that read "Not For Sale". Cat was keeping this one painting, the only one she had done with a person. For obvious reasons, this particular canvas was close to Cat's heart.
During the party, Jesse had to leave Cat's side, as Jesse and her assistant Heather had to play host to hundreds of guests. Cat mingled with the crowd, the people around her changing constantly. As the darling of the evening, Cat was in high demand, and it seemed as though every person present wanted a moment of her time. As Cat chatted with everybody, her eyes were intermittently searching for Jesse.
Invariably, when Cat found Jesse, the redhead's soft green eyes were on her. Every time their eyes met, Jesse sent Cat a look of such smoldering desire that Cat was surprised she didn't spontaneously combust. Jesse's eyes held a promise of good things to come, and Cat was anxious for the evening to end so she could collect on those promises. The heat and desire continued to pool in Cat's belly, and her needs only mounted higher every time Jesse shot her another dark look.
At one point, when their eyes met, the gaze Jesse sent to Cat was full of so much heat that Cat's breath caught in her throat, and she licked her lips nervously. Surely the people around them would notice this seduction, right? As Cat's tongue played with her lips, Jesse suddenly excused herself from the group she was talking to and made her way across the room towards Cat, looking for all the world like a hunter stalking prey.
Jesse walked up and stood behind Cat, placing her hands on Cat's shoulders. Cat went very still, sure that any movement on her part would develop quickly into a wanton flinging of her body against Jesse's, shocking all the society dames around them.
Leaning over to whisper roughly in Cat's ear, Jess said "Right now, my office. I can't wait any longer." Then, incredibly, Jesse's tongue flicked out and momentarily touched on the delicate shell of Cat's earlobe. Cat shuddered, feeling that light flick throughout her body, and desperately wanting that quick clever tongue on much more intimate parts than just her ear. The quicksilver shiver raced down her spine, around her ribcage and through her breasts, resulting in a tightening and tingling sensation in her breasts. She watched as Jesse walked away, making her way deftly through the crowd towards the rear of the building where her office was located.
Cat tried in vain to clue back into the conversation around her. She had a distinct feeling that she was supposed to be answering her companion's question, but she had no idea what the question was. Cat blinked at the older matronly woman in front of her. "Excuse me?" she asked politely.
" I asked", the woman said with patience "where you got your inspiration for this series. I had thought you were a city scene, abstract type of artist. What possessed you to do landscapes all of a sudden?"
"Oh that", Cat answered. This question was par for the course tonight, her work currently hanging on the walls being an abrupt departure from her norm. "I took a trip into the mountains last year, and was struck by the grace and beauty of them. They are timeless and eternal, having been here since before man, and will be here long after we're gone. I found a sense of peace and tranquility while I was there – I felt the need to transcribe that onto the canvas". This was Cat's standard answer, in fact the same one she had given to the Art Review critic earlier that night. Granted, Cat was borrowing heavily from Jesse's own comments about her beloved mountains, but Cat knew Jesse didn't mind. Cat gave this standard answer with only half her mind, the other half of her mind and all of her blue eyes following Jesse across the room.
