Eagle's Destiny (17 page)

chapter fourteen

Friday could not arrive soon enough for me.  I must have checked the window on back porch ten times before I saw Michael’s jeep parked behind his house.  Tammy called to invite me to their Friday pizza night. 

I knocked on the front door promptly at six o’clock.  The dogs started to bark and rushed to the door.  Katy opened the door wide trying to hold Max back.  Molly greeted me with tail wagging.  As soon as the door was closed Max was there sniffing at my pants
and
giving me kisses all over. 

Michael looked up from his laptop, “Max, get down!  Sorry, Elizabeth.  Tammy can you control Max?” 

Both Michael and Tammy, who had been reading the newspaper tried to pull Max off me. 

Tammy gave me a big hug, “Sorry.”

“He’s okay.  I don’t mind, I know he can smell my dogs.”  I said, pushing Max down again.

Michael put his arms around me and kissed me softly on the lips.  He whispered in my ear, “I missed you Babe.” 

I smiled at him.  He made me melt. 

He released me, “Do you want to see the new pictures?”  Michael asked me excitedly.

I nodded.  “Yes I do.  I want to see what you were up to!”  I gave Katy a hug, “How are you doing?”

“Hi, Elizabeth, I’m just putting the finishing touches on my new piece.”  She replied walking back over to the piano.

He
picked up the phone and waved to us
.
“Okay what do you want?”

Both Tammy and Katy shouted, “The works!” 

Michael nodded to me, “You two I know, Elizabeth?”

“I’m okay with anything.”

He
frowned, “Elizabeth?”

“Okay, Okay,” I gave in, “anything without meat.  I don’t like meat on my pizza.”

  He ordered two pizzas, one vegetarian with extra cheese, and one works.  The pizza parlor was on the edge of town and although it was relatively close to us, it would be about forty-five minutes before the food arrived.  I helped Tammy make a salad while we waited for the pizza.  Tammy poured colas for herself and Katy.  After Michael poured us some wine, he sat back down at his laptop to edit photographs on his laptop.  Friday pizza night was a very casual affair.

He motioned for me to sit next to him on the leather couch.  We sat huddled together as
he
started the slide show on his computer.  The shots of t
he alligators were magnificent showing them sunning themselves on the shore or in the water with only their eyes showing.  He even had action shots as they scrambled after food.

“I can’t believe you took these.”

He beamed at me.  “I have to go back next week.  I ran out of time.”

I tried to keep the unhappiness out of my voice.  “Next week?  Will you be gone all week?”

“Probably.  There are only so many night time hours and the alligators are the most active at night.  We also ran into some eagles and I want to photograph them too.”

I frowned.  “Oh.”

Michael looked at me.  “What’s wrong?”

“Oh nothing.  It’s okay.  I’ll just miss you.”  I said. 

He
appeared to accept my explanation.  I didn’t want to remind him that I would be starting my book tour the following Friday, and would be gone for two weeks.

Tammy picked up the newest National Geographic sitting next to Michael, and flipped it open to the middle, as she handed me the magazine “Have you seen Dad’s new spread?  He shot these photos last spring in Hawaii.” 

“Wow, these are incredible,” the underwater photos contained a family of dolphins.  I started turning the pages.

He
looked up from his laptop, “This shoot was really interesting.  The article is all about how dolphins have learned how to go through elaborate measures to prepare their food.  The researchers observed the dolphin group teaching their young and using tools.  It was amazing.” 

As he leaned forward to look at the magazine on my lap, he moved his arm around my waist.  His hand traveled up my back, rubbing and caressing me.  I wanted to melt into him.  All I could do was swallow hard and look over at him.  He stared directly into my eyes and it was as if I was soaring through the sky. 

I cleared my throat, “These are so cool.  Is that you?”  I said pointing to
a picture taken of a swimmer with an underwater camera.

As his hand moved down my back, I quivered and he quietly chuckled.  “Yeah, they thought it would be funny to take a picture of the photographer, I never thought they’d publish it.” 

Michael’s hand moved underneath the bottom of my tank top, and he started making small circles with his fingers on the small of my back. 

The picture of
him
was almost as breathtaking as the dolphins.  His broad, well-developed shoulders and chest were evident as well as his long and muscular legs.  It was all very yummy.  My stomach started to flutter and lower parts of me tightened.  I realized that he was watching me look at the picture.  My cheeks turned hot as I closed the magazine quickly and sipped my wine.  “I’d love to go on a photo shoot sometime.”

“Actually, I am going work with the eagles tomorrow, I know the girls don’t want to go,” he glanced at Katy and Tammy. 

Katy did not interrupt her playing on the piano, “No, doesn’t want to go is right!”  

Tammy barely looked up from the paper she was reading, although I thought I could see her glance at her Dad from underneath her bangs. 

“I’ve wanted to get back up to look at the nesting pair of eagles we have north of the lake.  It is an overnight trip.  You could come along.” 
He
said casually still with his hand caressing my back.

All I heard were the words overnight and alone.  Something constricted my throat as the words continued to roll over in my mind, overnight and alone.  It was true that Michael and I had spent the night together just a few nights ago, but that was different.  The girls were around and I knew nothing would happen. 

I immediately started thinking of all the excuses not to be alone with
him
.  Before I was able to get out at least one excuse, Tammy beat me, “Oh Dad, that’s a great idea.  Elizabeth you can use my sleeping bag, and I’ll be glad to take care of Topper and Samantha.  They can stay here with us!”

I was surprised at Tammy’s response.  Where was her anger from early this week?  She seemed to have given up on the argument. 

“I haven’t really been backpacking in ages.”  My last camping trip to Yosemite a few years back with my friends had been a disaster.  “I’m afraid I’d slow you down.”

Katy finally looked up, “Don’t worry about that, I hate camping and Dad drags me along anyway.”  

Tammy laughed, “She really doesn’t help at all!” 

Katy threw a dirty look in Tammy’s direction. 

“Well you don’t!”  Tammy said.  “Besides it’s just a short hike to the eagle stand, and Dad will usually camp there.”

While this was going on, inside my thoughts were in a jumble, I kept replaying the words alone and overnight.  In the meantime, Michael had
kept up his ministrations on my back, moving his hand further and further up my back.  I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a puddle underneath me because I definitely was melting with his touches. 

I looked back at
him
and decided to be brave, “Okay, it sounds like fun.  Will we back in time for baseball on Sunday?”

“Absolutely, we can’t miss the last game of the season.  We’ll leave around eleven tomorrow morning.  Do you have hiking boots?”  He quickly wrote down a short list of clothing items I would need and handed it to me.  “I’ll bring everything else.  We’ll be dry camping so everything we bring in we’ll take back out again.”

I scanned the list, “Okay boots, jeans, sweatshirt, and jacket.  I don’t need to bring anything else?”

“Not unless you want to carry it,” he said, “really Elizabeth, were not crossing the plains in covered wagons.”

The dogs started barking again.  The pizza deliveryman was at the back door.  The pizza smelled delicious and I was more than hungry by this point.  We sat at the dining room table and filled our plates with pizza and salad.  Michael took a slice of the vegetarian pizza.

“No meat on your pizza either?”  I asked.

The three laughed, and Tammy answered because
he
had already stuffed a bite into his mouth.  “You know Dad’s a vegetarian.  He’s tried that stuff on Katy and I, but we’re not biting.”

I looked at Michael incredulously, “You’re a vegetarian?  You can’t be a vegetarian.  I’ve been out to eat with you several times.”  I pictured all the times we
had
eaten together and could only think of
the
one time I saw him eat meat.  “Wait a minute.  You ate a burger at the bonfire.  I saw you.”

Michael laughed again and shook his head, “That was a veggie burger.  Remember I was helping with the barbeque.  I’m surprised you didn’t see them in the freezer.”

“I can see I’m not going to win this one.  So, no meat?”  I questioned.

He shook his head, “I do like eggs, cheese, and once in awhile I’ll eat fish.  However, I just don’t care for the taste of meat.  I do like pizza!”  He grabbed another slice and
took a large bite
.

The man sitting next to me was amazing.  Every time I spoke with him, he became more complicated.  Where I thought I had peeled
a
layer away, another layer appeared. 

He looked at me and his eyes softened.  “You are not getting away with eating just one slice!  You need to fill
at least
one of those long legs.”

I felt my face turning red again at the reference to my legs, “Okay, one more piece,” I rubbed my stomach, “I guess I’ll have to pack it in somehow.”

Tammy
rose
from the table and
picked up
the
M
onopoly game, “Elizabeth, you owe me a rematch.”

I grinned, “So losing two times wasn’t enough?”

“That was just against Katy and me, you’ll have
D
ad to contend with,” she said opening the box and setting up the game, “because he’s the world’s best
M
onopoly player!”

“Oh, it looks like the challenge is on,” I nudged Michael, “the world’s best huh?”

“You haven’t seen all my moves yet,” he laughed and nudged me back.

That is what I was afraid of, his moves.  I had already seen some of his moves, and I was not thinking only about
M
onopoly.

The girls cleared away the leftovers and the dishes.  Michael and I finished setting up the game.  Both of us argued over who was going to use the little dog piece and he finally conceded it to me because I was the guest.  He was sitting too close to me and I had too much wine to concentrate on the game at least that was the excuse I was giving to myself.  After he thoroughly beat the three of us at the game, he made us all hot chocolate and we munched away on Tammy’s freshly baked sugar cookies. 

I yawned, “I better get myself home.” 

Michael insisted on walking me back over to the cabin.  He put his arm around my shoulders as we strolled together. 

“So give it up.  Why did Tammy all of the sudden get all friendly with me again?  She sure changed her tune after you talked with her.”

“What do you mean?” 
He
looked at me with a shocked expression.  “I merely explained why she should be more gracious.”

I knew that was not the reason.  What was it that she was so excited about when we drove over to the doctor’s office?  It suddenly hit me. 

I stopped and turned to Michael.  “You bribed her!”  I said it with surprise in my voice.  “You bribed her with a new car!”

He
chuckled, “Now Babe, it worked didn’t it?  Besides I was going to get her a new car for school anyway, this was simply convenient.”  He kissed me quickly and we continued to walk toward my front door.

We walked up the steps to the front porch.  “So do you want to come in for a while?”  I turned around and rested against the door.

Michael smiled, his arms were already around me, and his hands traveled lower to cup my butt.  He leaned into me and started to kiss my lips.  My hips pressed against him while my stomach started the flip-flops again. 

He broke
the kiss, “I better not come in. 
I’m
tired
from the trip
.
 
I need to go home and take a cold shower
too
.” 

Michael lifted me up against him and I could feel the reason why he needed a cold shower.  A need rushed through me straight to the area between my legs.  He nibbled on my jaw and neck as I wrapped my arms around him tighter, running my hands over his back and shoulders.  When he pulled back from me, I felt a strange aching void in my body and it made me struggle for a breath.