All the way out to her car he marveled at the experience he just had, grinning and stealing glances at her as he could. He carefully placed her garment in the back seat for her and then asked, "So, shall we get a bite to eat?" It was very forward for him, but he felt she really must like him after trusting him so much. Her response was not quite what he envisioned, however.
"No, I want to get home now and get some rest, I've got a big weekend. Besides, that might get awkward between shopping buddies," she carefully retorted, "I really had fun, next time I'll pull you along when Julie and I go, she'd get a kick out of your choices." Carrie gave him a peck on the cheek, turned to get into her car, and waved cutely as she drove off.
"Shopping buddies?.." he muttered feeling like he just dropped a Ming vase. A rabid Suburban was pushing into her old space so he started walking to his own car. When he got there, a little yellow slip flapped in the wind under his wiper. He grabbed the ticket but the lower half had frozen in the recent wet snow that was falling so it ripped in half.
He blinked a few times.
-
On his way home the snow really started to come down hard. It had been a brown December so far, this was the first storm of the year and obviously the plows were not ready for it because the roads were thick. Rolling in the cash he made at his fabulous job, the best place he could afford was pretty far off the beaten path and he was getting worried that he might not make it as he hunched forward to try to see better in the white morass before him. He slowed down for a sharp curve he knew was coming up, but the car decided momentum was a better idea and kept his course straight and true, regardless of the desperate back and forth motion of the steering wheel in his hands and the protestation of the brakes. Obviously the plow had been by once before because there was a bank of snow that washed up over his windshield as he slammed into it. The impact was not devastating though as he was not moving too quickly. Silence hit the car much harder when it came to a stop. In fact, the silence made the sudden rubbing/crunching sound all the more poignant when he felt the car start to move a little more forward and then stop again. This could not be good. He tried to open the door but 3 inches was about all he could muster before the snow pushed back. The crunching sound came back and this time got louder as the car slowly slid further. The nose started tipping down and suddenly accelerated downward like a giant steel sled might going down a hill. Alex could hear small trees whacking the front of his car as he clutched the wheel for dear life. Snow whooshed over the car and it started sliding sideways, and then with much more force than the snowbank had imparted on him, the passenger side crumpled around a large pine and he came to a much more final stop.
"Wow Carrie, that was a great dinner. What? It IS snowing awfully hard. Stay with you tonight, that's very kind... perhaps I can think of a way to repay your kindness this evening," Alex mused as he hiked up the cold, snowy embankment. He turned and looked once more at his poor little car below him realized how nearly it could have been his tomb. He then turned back and crested the final heap of snow and was back on the road. Empty. Down the road a way he could see a building so he tromped down hoping for a phone. As he closed, he realized it was an old church... likely not occupied at this time of night. Great. He got to the front and scanned the horizon... the snow was letting up now and he could see pretty far and saw no other buildings. On a whim he tried the latch and found the door was actually open. "Hallelujah!" he jokingly exclaimed and walked in.
The inside was cool and dark. He had brought his flashlight with him and quickly found his way around, dropping a $50 in the empty collection plate as he left the foyer. "That should cover my stay here this evening," he said aloud for no good reason. Try as he might, he could not find a telephone so it was going to be an overnight. He did find a kitchenette, though the only food around was some dry crackers and Vienna sausages. "Why do pastors always have these things around," Alex wondered to himself at the nasty little cans of meat.
Wincing at the taste of dinner in his mouth, Alex walked into the main hall of the church. The power was out so he lit a ton of tiny little candles at the altar. The little flames slowly cast brighter and brighter beams throughout the beautiful cavernous structure. The little red cups they were in created strange crimson shadows and ruby specks of brightness here and there as the flames flickered. The room suddenly grew a lot brighter as the clouds thinned outside and a perfect full moon bathed the chamber in a rainbow of colors through a huge stained glass window at the front.
In the distance he suddenly heard an odd tinkling sound, kind of like a music box, but somehow richer and fuller. He turned and saw a small shape on the first pew. Walking over, the music got louder and he saw that it was, in fact, a gorgeous music box. The melody was unlike any he had ever heard, calming and wild at the same time, comforting, and kind of seductive. It had an open wooden top and a glass sheet protecting an antiquated set of springs, gears, and a large metal barrel with nubs on it for the notes. The sound was so much more than simple metal tines being plucked though. It was crickets in the summer, wind singing through the trees, children laughing, and lovers cuddling.
"You like my gift?" came an impossibly sweet ethereal voice in back of him.
Alex spun about dropping the little tin of meat on the floor, and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever imagined standing in the tinted moonlight before him. Sunset red curls framed watery blue eyes on a powerfully calm face and cascaded down her body like liquid fire. The details were seductively revealed and hidden by the candles but a more perfect visage he could not imagine. As she took a step towards him his eyes were drawn down to her body, which he only now was realizing was completely bare.
He didn't blink once.
"May I dance for you?" she inquired, though her lips never moved.
"Please." It was all he could muster in response.
The vision spun her head about, slowly, so her hair covered part of her face and swayed gently in time to the music box. Her arms and legs gracefully arced through the air, fluid and lithe like a flower blossoming in the morning's first light. Her milky white skin was alive with color and shapes from the stained glass, they danced their own ballet upon her sensuous curves, almost alive. One hand slid across her shoulder and over her bosom as she glided around the altar. Her hair concealed most of her posterior, except when she spun and then it flew through the air, exposing tight cheeks that flared out in all the right spots. Deep blues and greens skittered across her legs and then shadow closed in as she teased him by dancing out of the moonlight beams. Now only bold crimson hints highlighting her curves escaped from the darkened form, lit by the field of candles across the room. She threw her head back, thrusting her chest back out into Luna's light and making the orbs practically glow on their own. One leg entered the stream again, and she stepped to the side coming forward so one side of her was illuminated and the other mysterious. Slowly she walked forward, deliberately toward Alex. He started to speak but she put a finger out, covering his lips.
"Tonight you do not need to worry about the right or wrong thing to say. You do not need to fret about proving yourself worthy, for this you have already done. I am your Christmas Angel, your gift for being who you are, and I will make this night incredible for you."
Smoothly she removed her finger and replaced it with her own lips. They were electric and sweet, her breath honey vapor, and her tongue seemed to melt within his mouth. Gingerly he lifted his hand during the kiss and reached around to touch her back. One finger first confirmed she was not a spirit, then his hand gently landed below her shoulder. Her skin was perfect, smooth like a flawless living pearl, and warm like sun drenched marble, but softer than fine silk. Proven solid, Alex wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her closer. He shuddered and exhaled briefly as a wave of what can only be described as pure love hit him as her body contacted his. She was alive like an ocean of humanity, and her whole body tingled with energy.
She skillfully began unbuttoning his shirt, her hand popping each clasp and lowering to reach the next. It didn't stop with the last button, instead continuing down to unfasten his slacks and slide under his boxers. When she touched his proud erection it throbbed in ecstasy more fulfilling than any climax, yet it did not spill his seed, it was if anything invigorated. His clothing fell to the cold oak floor and the two embraced like ancient spouses given a night of carnal vitality. His inflamed penis pressed firmly against her downy pubic mound and his hands roaming across her porcelain ass, pulling her so close, so right. The kiss never stopped, Alex did not seem to need to breathe as she filled him with more life than one man ever would need. It did wander, down her cheek, onto her neck, along her clavicle, and finally meeting with her lush breast. Long and hard he sucked on her pink nipple as he ground his pelvis along her thigh. She wound her fingers through his hair and moaned his name soothingly.
