She sat in the trees as often as she could. Behind the isolated cabin in the grove of dogwoods and firs, she felt free and at peace, away from the pressures of numbers, mistakes and escalating stress. Once more, her supervisor warned her that morning. One more calculation error and she'd be terminated.
She climbed into the branches to look out over the lake as it rippled along the shore, in a dance she wished she could emulate. To be part of the water would be fantastic but it was not yet summer and the waters were too cold to submerge in.
The day she heard the whispers tell her how beautiful she was was the day she began her ventures into the forest more often. She knew her friends talked behind her back, questioning her sanity and social skills, but they had no idea the pleasures the forest held. They lived in a world of tall, glass buildings and tile floors, fluorescent lights and fax machines.
Sitting at the base of a birch on the edge of a small clearing by the lake on that day, she closed her eyes to doze. She felt the breeze graze her cheek and leaned back her head on the trunk of the tree, breathing in the fresh scents of new leaf and damp earth.
"You are beautiful!" a deep, decidedly masculine voice enthused.
She was not afraid. She responded to the air around her for nothing was visible.
"Am I?" It was not something she heard often. She was average in height and had blue eyes. If asked, she would have described her hair as brown. It was shoulder length and she kept it in a ponytail whenever she wasn't sleeping. "Yes, you are." A form materialized before her as if the particles of air fused together to create something new. She could only stare as a full-size male appeared before her. His skin was the colour of cinnamon and seemed to have texture akin to velvet. She longed to touch him. It was as if he was made for her hands.
"Touch me," he commanded as if reading her thought. Standing before her, his long uneven hair framed his face and his chocolate eyes turned her insides to liquid caramel. Still she felt no fear. This man was here for her and deep inside she knew she would not resist anything he asked of her.
When she reached out touch that silky chest, he bent down to her. He wore only trousers made from soft leather and sewn together with a hide-like material. Her fingers trembled as she slowly reached for the growing hardness beneath the leather.
"I have watched you for too long. I cannot wait longer. Have you not been waiting for me?" She felt as if she was in a trance. She knew then why the forest had always called to her. It wasn't the view of the lake or the peace the trees supplied her. It was him.
