Northern Proposals (6 page)

I didn't say anything, but my heart was poun
ding again.

She moved closer, then reached to me and brushed my hair out of my face. She moved very slowly
. I stared into her eyes in the dim light, then closed my eyes and waited for her. She pushed me onto my back, pressing herself against me, before her lips found mine.

I felt as if I was hit by
a jolt of electricity, and when her tongue slipped between my lips and began teasing me, I moaned involuntarily.

Her free ha
nd caressed my cheek while she kissed me and kissed me, one long, soul-wrenching kiss, unlike any kiss I'd ever received before.

Finally, to my disappointment, she withdrew, caressing my lips with her
finger. I felt her lean over me. My eyes were still closed, and I was breathing heavily, my heart pounding.

"You taste wonderful," she said. "The next time you let me kiss you, I will not stop with
just a kiss. I want you to decide how you feel about that."

Then she withdrew, rolling over and pulling the covers over her shoulders, her back to me.

It took me a long time to fall asleep.

* * *

I woke at some point in the middle of the night. I had rolled over and curled up into Jessica. I breathed in her scent and went back to sleep.

The next time I woke it was still full dark, but the bed was empty. I wondered why she had left. I listened for her
and heard small noises coming from the the bathroom. But the noises didn't sound like the usual noises one might expect. I lay awake, listening. The noises were subtle, I couldn't really hear them, and it sounded like perhaps she was trying to be quiet.

Then I heard a sigh, and the other noises stopped. A minute or two later I heard the sink for a moment, then the bathroom door opened and she came back to the bedroom. I
lay there quietly. She walked around to my side of the bed, slipped something into the nightstand drawer, and closed the drawer. I watched her shadow in the dark as she walked back to her side of the bed and tried to slip into bed without waking me.

As soon as she settled back in I asked her, "Did it help?"

"Oh god," she said. "I'm sorry. I tried not to wake you."

"Did it help?"

"A little. Not enough." She rolled over and looked at me. "I've been anticipating this weekend, intentionally getting myself worked up for it."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted."

"I'm not," she said. "Even if you don't let me kiss you again, I'd rather be here with you than with her."

"We both know you slipped me more gay juice with that bedtime kiss," I told her.

She laughed. "That's why I'd rather be here with you. You're a lot more fun. You have a great sense of humor."

We stared at each other in the dark for a moment
, Jessica's eyes glistening in the dim light. Jessica said, "If you roll over, I can scratch your back for a while. Maybe then we can both go back to sleep."

Dutifully I rolled over.
Jessica snuggled closer, scratching my back through the granny jammies. I began to drift off, barely noticing when she cuddled hard against my back.

* * *

I woke up to full daylight. Jessica was gone, and the bed felt lonely without her. I blinked myself awake for several minutes before I levered myself out of the bed. I felt really good.

I used the bathroom then headed into the living room. Jessica was on the sofa wearing a bathrobe I hadn't seen before. She glanced over at me. "There is coffee or you can make tea."

"With chocolate?"

"In the tea?
Eww."

I offered a droll look.

"It's way too early in the morning for chocolate in my coffee, but suit yourself."

I wandered into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee, adding cream from the refrigerator, then wandered back to the living room and sat in a chair facing Jessica. She had her laptop in her lap and was deep in thought. "I'm almost done," she said without looking up. "Just a few more minutes."

"Wow. How long have you been up?"

"Look at the time, Jade."

I looked around for a clock. "Oh my god, it's nearly ten. What happened to our hike?"

"I went for a run," she told me. "But I'd love a hike later if you want one. It's a beautiful day!"

Then her attention was fully back on what she was doing. I turned and looked out the window. It was beautiful, truly beautiful. A hummingbird was hovering at a feeder. I watched her for a while. She had a white belly, green back and head, and a bright read throat. I wondered if that meant it was a boy, but she was so pretty. She took a sip from the feeder, then backed out and looked around. Sip, look, sip, look, then she was gone, flying out of sight faster than my eyes could track.

Two squirrels were cavorting in the yard. I watched as one of them chased the other up a
n oak tree and disappeared. After another minute, the hummingbird was back. Or maybe it was a different one. Without a name tag, I couldn't be sure. Regardless, she was pretty with her invisible wings and bright green colors.

"We'll need to fill the feeder," Jessica said. I glanced over at her to see that she was watching me.

"Where did you get the robe?"

She
looked guilty. "If Marsha caught me wearing it, she'd have it burned. Gay cooties, you know. I'll have to wash it and hang it up again before we leave. I took a picture of it before I took it down so I could put it back exactly the same."

"Is she really that bad?"

"I'm probably exaggerating," Jessica said. "She might be satisfied having it fumigated." She pointed to the thumb drive sitting on the coffee table. "I am done. Everything is on it. You should look through it to see if I forgot anything before we do anything else today."

I thought about it. "Is it safe to bring my laptop on the boat?"

"Oh, that sounds like fun. Yes, it's safe."

We made plans. We were both going to shower and get dressed,
then we'd go out in the boat for a while. I could look through the numbers Jessica had done and finish my last work on the proposal. We could swim before coming back for lunch. We could go hiking after lunch followed by more swimming.

"I'm goi
ng to pull rank and shower while you have breakfast," she said. "Then I can get the boat ready while you're showering."

A half an hour later had me walking down to the dock with my laptop in its case. Jessica was wearing shorts and a tee shirt.
We both wore our swimsuits under our shorts and tee shirts.

"I have everything here," she said. "Camera, suntan lotion, a cooler with things to drink, and towels. It's going to be warm today."

"It's beautiful," I agreed. I stepped aboard the boat. I sat where she pointed. She started the motor then stepped off the boat and untied it before climbing back aboard. Soon she had us backing away from the dock.

She didn't drive fast. I wondered
aloud about that.

"It will go faster. Not fast, but faster. We're not in a hurry to get anywhere, but I can show you if you like."

"Sure."

She pushed a lever forward and everything grew louder. The boat picked up speed. Jess
ica raised her voice so I could hear her. "It isn't fast enough to water ski, but I can pull you on the inner tube later, if you want."

"I've never done that."

"It's fun," she said. "You should do it at least once so you can say you've done it."

S
he slowed us back down. "I like to look at the cabins and imagine which ones I wished I could own and wonder what they might cost," she said. "This one here is my favorite on the lake." She pointed to the right. "It's not a good swimming beach. It's too steep. But the view from up there out of all those windows must be stunning." We rode around the lake counter clockwise, discussing the pros and cons of the cabins we could see.

"I like that one," I told her. It was a small cottage on a shallow lot, but it had a good view up the length of the lake and looked well kept up.
We could see Marcy and Jon's cabin across the narrow portion of the lake, and could see all the way down to the far end of the lake the long way, with an excellent view of water and the mix of trees.

"I do too," Jessica said. "And it's available for the low, low price of two hundred thousand dollars."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm ten thousand short of a proper down payment." She smiled. "Marcy would have a cow if I bought a cabin on her lake, but Jon quietly told me he hopes it doesn't sell before I can buy it."

"Have you thought of buying it with someone else?"

She looked at me suddenly. "Hell. No, I hadn't."

"You should think about it. I don't know that much about cabins, but I know they're a lot of work. It would be nice to share the work along with the expenses."

"I'd have to find someone who was compatible and not afraid of work."

"Yep." We both stared at the cabin then I said, "There are a lot of lakes. Are you set on this one?"

"Set? No. But I love my brother, and it would be nice to be close. Even if I don't want to spend time with Marcy, he and I could meet out in the middle of the lake and shoot the shit while fishing."

Jessica nodded at the cabin we were discussing. I asked her, "Have you been inside? It might be gross."

"It might, but it's so nice on the outside, I don't believe it. I bet it's charming. A little small, but charming."

"I see a chimney for a fireplace," I said. "Can you come up here in the winter?"

"Marcy and Jon come up after Christmas, but a lot of cabins aren't heated or insulated.
I don't know what it would be like trying to heat just off a fireplace."

"If I were buying one," I told her. "I'd want one I could use in the winter, too. I bet it's beautiful and peaceful.
All the white snow, unsullied by salt and slush."

We talked about the features we would want. We agreed completely on all of it.
I started to wonder how compatible Jessica and I might be, if we could agree on a topic as unlikely as the desired features for a cabin. We finished our tour of the lake, and Jessica turned us out to the middle, shutting off the motor when we were in front of Marcy's cabin.

"I'm going to see what the water is like," Jessica told me. "I'll make sure I don't splash." She paused. "Do you want a table to work at or just use your lap?"

"Table? Really?"

She nodded. She made me move, then unfolded one of the benches and did something to make a table. "Jon is very clever," she said. "The one bad thing about having my own cabin will be not having his clever pontoon boat. I'll have to live with whatever I can afford to buy. It won't be much."

"You can borrow it when they aren't here."

She smiled.

I grabbed my laptop and set it up, watching Jessica as she slipped out of her shorts and tee-shirt. She looked amazing in her bikini. She had a tall, to me anyway, and athletic build, and I could see her muscles as she moved. Her breasts were just the right size, and I was a little jealous.

She slipped into the water with nary a splash then turned to me.

"It's cold, but feels good."

I watched as she set off in a strong crawl across the water. She was a good swimmer. She swam about fifty yards away then turned around and swam back.

"Is this safe?" I asked her, leaning over the railing to talk to her.

She was treading water a few feet from the boat.
"Sure. Why not?"

"What i
f you have a cramp or something? I don't know how to start the boat to come get you."

"Don't worry, Jade," she said. "I won't drown on you."

"You say that now, but then Mr. Jaws comes along and eats you."

"At least I wouldn't drown."

I laughed.

"You have work to do. I'm going to swim off some energy. I promise I won't drown."

After that, I kept a half an eye on her. I decided that if she got in trouble, I could swim to her with a life jacket. She was a better swimmer than I was, but I could swim.

She'd given me all the numbers I needed from her. I plugged them in where they needed to be then started to write the summary. I looked up when the boat
rocked slightly. Jessica was climbing back on board. She stood up, water sluicing from her body, and I tried not to stare. She caught me looking at her and smiled. I quickly looked back at the laptop.

"Don't be shy," she said huskily. "The gay juice from last night hasn't worn off yet."

I looked up at her. "There's something I need to tell you, but I don't want you to, I don't know. React to it. No teasing, no getting more friendly."

She wrapped a towel around herself, then sat on one of the cushions, keeping a healthy distance between my laptop and her dripping, wet hair. "I can't promise no reaction," she said. "But I won't tease or do anything to upset you."