Tim yawned hugely as he padded downstairs, an empty glass in his hand. He almost tripped over his feet at the bottom, and steadied himself with a muted curse. The morning was cool, the house enveloped in a pre-dawn glow. He walked into the kitchen, resting the glass in the sink.
Butterball, the fat ginger queen of his home, wrapped herself around his legs. He smiled, and felt the cat's purr against his leg. He bent to retrieve the cat food from under the sink.
"Come on, then, Puss, here's breakfast!" He refilled the ginger cat's bowl with clean water, filled a second set of bowls for the feisty young Siamese male, Keebler, and then went to open the top half of the back door that led out into the backyard. He leaned on the sill, and stared out on a peaceful morning. The fog had not lifted a foot off the ground, and the resulting picture stirred a deep, satisfied response inside him. He inhaled deeply, watching the mist swirl upward. By the time the sun came up, the morning would be clear and crisp, and the soupy mists would have dissipated.
Although Timothy Chandler was no longer in the first blush of youth, he enjoyed his life with satisfying gusto. He was a writer, and his latest book had finally gone to press last evening. He had a week before he needed to begin work on the next project. Well, not begin, but rather complete. He thought about what he had planned to do with his time off, and the smile on his face this time was deliberate, and calculating. His sister Gwen was coming later this morning to house-sit for him, while he went on his first little vacation in five years. He needed this time away, for more than one reason.
He watched as the fog began to lift, and rehearsed his plan. The trip to the lake would take almost all day, but once he had recovered a little, he'd begin to weave the spell that he hoped would win him the prize he most sought -- the woman he was falling in love with. It had taken him long enough to figure out, or perhaps admit, or both, that he loved Kathryn Harrison, and he knew that now, though all the fear and misunderstandings of the last year had been aired and expunged, he had to show her that what he felt was real, and that he would always love her. He had to show her that only she was the spark that set him off, like Roman candles on Independence Day.
Tim closed the top half of the back door, and went to check his messages. No one had called from the publishers, which was a good sign...unless they had e-mailed him. He touched a key and the laptop lit up. Kathryn had left him a message.
"I got here a little while ago, and you're right, Tim! It's beautiful! Even in the dark! Wish you were here!"
He sat down. "I wish I was there, too, toots! But I'll be there before you know it! Keep my spot warm for me."
Immediately, the IM box came alive, and before long he was grinning broadly. "Showered yet? I kinda like the image in my head..." She stuck a tongue out.
Tim chuckled. "Sure you want THAT image?" he winked and she replied,
"Too late. Already there!" The rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emo appeared. "What time will you get here?"
"Around six!"
"Can't wait...see you later, babe!" The little flirt emo appeared, their mutual sign-off note. He sent it back to her, and felt the place in his heart he'd kept closed off warm with thoughts of her, and what he planned to do when he saw her...
...Tim woke to the stewardess's hand on his shoulder.
"Seatbelt, please, sir! We're about to land."
He struggled into an upright position and put on his seatbelt. He'd been to the lake before, and had told her about it when he got back. He'd told her he was thinking of maybe retiring there. How they had gotten from those friendly chats, to intimate disclosures about her raging hormones, to this rendezvous, had him thinking lusty thoughts by the time he was on his way to the lake.
The lights twinkled on the front porch and in the kitchen when he walked up the front steps, lugging his suitcase. He pushed open the door and immediately the smell of cooking assailed his nostrils. He dropped the case and followed his nose, entering the kitchen as a tall, caramel-skinned woman stood up from peering into the oven. She turned, as though she had heard him, and their eyes met. Her smile started there, in those big brown eyes, and spread over her whole face. She looked exactly as he remembered, and his response was immediate and telling, if she had looked at the front of his slacks. He resisted the urge to adjust himself.
They had talked a few of times on the phone, in addition to the two, and sometimes three-times-daily chats on instant messenger, and had exchanged photographs, and he had met her for lunch while on a book tour a few months earlier. But this was the first that they would spend any significant amount of time together, and Tim did not know what to expect. It had taken some careful negotiating on his part, with a very light hand, to get her to agree to share the cabin with him. He broke the awkward silence.
"Hey there, pretty lady! Something smells good in here!" He approached her slowly, and watched her walk toward him, his skin tingling in anticipation of touching her.
"Hey, Tim!" Her voice was hoarse and she cleared her throat. She stopped about a foot away from him and stared.
Tim felt his cheeks heating, so great was his desire to make contact with her, and he reached out and touched her face.
"Still beautiful!" When she smiled, he found he needed to hold her, so he did, pulling her fully into his arms. He felt her shudder, and he tilted her face up and stared into her eyes.
"What?" she asked. A small frown marred her brow.
"Nothing," he lied, willing himself not to shake. "I'd forgotten how beautiful you are in person," he continued. She smelled of some sweet, exotic fragrance, but under that, he smelled her, the essence of her that rattled his composure. He dropped a tender kiss on her hair, lightly, so she didn't feel it, and letting her go abruptly, moved away to sit at the table.
It had been a long flight for Kat, and she had had more than enough time to think about what she was doing here. Timothy Chandler had become her friend a little over a year earlier. She had been miserable, lost personally, and he had been a kind listener with a warm heart. Kat had discovered that Tim was as guarded as she was, maybe even more so, because he had been badly hurt by someone he loved. So she had tried to ensure that all they had was a deep friendship. But when they had met for lunch when he came on a publishing tour to her town, she saw something in his eyes that frightened and thrilled her at the same time. She had always been quick to lose her heart, and she was determined not to do so with Tim, especially since their relationship was really only being played out online. What trust could she place in a man she only knew from an IM box and some blogs? What trust could he place in her?
She had been surprised to find that the cabin only had one bedroom, with a king- sized bed. True, there was a queen-sized sleeper in the living room, so she had decided to take the bedroom, sure that Tim wouldn't mind using the sleeper. The cabin was fairly large, and situated on the lake so that they would have direct access to the boats as well as to the shoreline, should they wish to picnic. A pool was available for swimming, and she had seen, on the coffee table in the living room, a brochure that detailed the places to go, and things to do. She had discovered the hot tub when she went out to see the backyard. As she unpacked, she remembered again the conversation in which Tim had told her he liked to see a woman in nylons with a seam up the back, in stilettos, and garter belts, and corsets, as he had called them. He had spoken laughingly of stripping his lady of these vestments in front of a fire, and having some deliciously warm fun.
The thought of lying on a soft, plush rug in front a fireplace with Tim made Kat warm all over, and she struggled to rein in her imagination as she finished unpacking and went to begin dinner. This week might not pan out the way she was envisioning it. Tim really didn't know her, still, nor she him, and a week might not be enough time to overcome the reticence of two adults who were afraid to make themselves vulnerable to another human being. They came from different worlds, and she always felt that difference, though not as much with him as with others. And there was that huge weight that she carried around her neck like Coleridge's dead albatross. She walked into the kitchen and unpacked the groceries she had brought with her -- giant chocolate chip cookies, milk, eggs, cheese, the fixings for Jamaican rum cake, as well as a bottle of wine, steaks, potatoes and salad fixings for today's dinner.
She recalled how he had asked her to keep his spot warm for him till he got there, and she was sure a hot meal, and his favorite "nightcap" -- a cookie and milk -- would more than achieve that goal. The cake was almost done, and she stood up in time to see him walk into the kitchen. She had not heard him come into the house, and despite her innate reserve, a smile flooded her face as she found herself walking toward him.
"How was your trip?" she asked, putting the small island between them.
"Uneventful," he answered. "They didn't leave, or lose, my luggage!" He chuckled as he said that, and sat in one of the two chairs at the small kitchen table.
"I gave you the front "bedroom"," she continued, chuckling. "Why don't you go ahead and put your stuff away while I dish up dinner?' She avoided his eyes as she spoke, busying herself taking the cake from the oven and checking the pan with the meat one more time. She could feel his eyes on her, and the warmth in her cheeks deepened.
"I will, in a minute," he said, not taking his eyes off her face. "I enjoy being where I am right now, though," he added, and winked at her.
"Why don't you come sit here for a minute or two and let me look at you?" When she opened her mouth to protest, he added, "I really want to look at you, Kat!"
When she made no move to obey him, Tim walked over to where she stood by the stove and pulled her across the small space to the counter on the island.
"Why are you avoiding me? Hmmm?? We don't have a lot of time, and I spent the whole flight thinking about how I'm going to make some of those fantasies we've talked about come true!" He paused, and turned her face up to his. "Like this one!" he ended, lowering his head for a real kiss.
Kat watched his tanned face as it descended, and when his lips touched hers, she closed her eyes. Tim teased her with his tongue, playing at the seam of her lips but not going further in. He walked his mouth across her cheek to her ear, and he kissed her gently there, and behind it, before proceeding down the column of her throat to her neck. He placed another gentle kiss there, slid back up to her mouth, and stole a quick, hard, tongue-teasing kiss, and then lifted his head.
