Thunder In Her Body (5 page)

Aaron beckoned the waitress over to the table and ordered chips and salsa and a round of beers for the guys and whatever the ladies wanted to drink. “I’m still stuffed from dinner,” Clare insisted.

“Well, we’ll just hafta dance that down now won’t we,” Aaron joked, patting Clare’s hand in a warm, familiar way.

The four new friends watched intently as an old couple, who’d obviously been dancing together for forty years, showed their stuff on the floor.  They were so smooth and entertaining that everyone gave them a hand when they finished.

“It’s sure nice to see a couple like that,” Clare spoke up.  There was something wistful in her voice.

“Let’s try this one,” Aaron said to Clare, taking her hand and leading her away from the table.  The DJ played
I Wanna Know What Love Is
by the group Foreigner.  It was one of Lynette’s favorite recordings.  There was a point in the early part of the song where the instruments and a voice simulated what Lynette often thought of as a musical orgasm.  She shivered noticeably, closed her eyes, let the feeling flow through her body and smiled.  Blaze was watching her as always.  He scooted his chair closer to her so they wouldn’t have to talk loudly over the music.

“What was that?” he asked, as she continued to smile.

“Can’t tell you, yet.  Maybe one of these days,” she replied, a little embarrassed. 
“Yet…One of these days,”
what did that mean?

Both were very sentient beings
. Blaze was becoming ever aware of her subtle body languages.  And languages was plural.  Lynette said a lot with her body; with her hands; with the intonation of her voice, her facial expressions, and the way she turned to Blaze to talk.

“I do love your last name, Blaze Snow Comes Down,” she said softly.

“Why?” he asked her, with his chin propped up on his fist, leaning on his elbow toward her.

“I grew up in the mid-west.  We had long, hard winters.  The thing I enjoyed most about winter was the snow.  It covered everything that was ugly with a resplendent blanket of white.  It made everything equal.  In the moonlight, it turned blue and shimmered like billions of tiny diamonds.  It was clean and just plain beautiful.  I could walk in it and leave my foot prints, then come back later and try to find them under the newest layer.  I liked to look at the neighbors’ yards where no one had trod.  It was pure.  It was silent.  Have you ever listened to snow coming down?  It makes no sound; it lays gently and softly over everything, concealing and protecting everything,” she finished.  Speaking of snow, sounded sensual.  She was back there, feeling the flakes on her face, tasting the wet, coldness on her gloves, listening for the crunch of her boots, watching her breath go into the frigid air.

Blaze looked intently at her.  He saw more than a woman who wasn’t a stranger any longer.  In this moment he felt as if he’d known her for a long time.  If he hadn’t, he felt he should have.  He wanted to draw closer to her, to kiss her, but propriety required a certain amount of acceptable distance.  He waited to hear her voice begin again.  She changed tones as she shared intimate moments about her life.

“I remember how excited I’d get when the first flakes really started to fall.  Often I’d sit by the windows.  You know how the windows fog up when it’s so cold outside and really warm inside?  Well, I’d take my hand and wipe the fog away and just watch it cover everything, millions of flakes at a time,” she reminisced.  “The cold air from the window pane was in sharp contrast to the heat coming up from the furnace in the basement, and I’d press my nose against the chilly glass.”  Lynette paused, looking down for just a second at her beautifully manicured nails and small hands.   “You know, I’ve had the condo a number of months, but I’ve never been here when it was actually snowing,” she remarked, as if she’d missed something really precious.

“Maybe you need to be
here
when snow comes down on you this winter,” he suggested, with more meaning conveyed in those words, she was sure.  He had a way of saying things.  He was clearly forward in his approach, but he restricted his advances toward her to times, and tones, when only she could receive them.  She was not in any way uncomfortable with his impetus, in fact, she liked what he did and the way he did it.  Nodding in agreement, she was filled with what she thought the words meant.  Hesitating before continuing, she became keenly aware of the sensation in the lower part of her body.

“I understand that the December Torchlight Parade down the slopes of Sierra Asombroso is awesome.  Do you go watch it?” she asked as innocently as she could, assured that she concealed the arousal deep in her stomach.

“No, I don’t.  I ski it,” he said with a huge smile.  “I’ll be one of those skiers carrying the red flares slowly down the mountainside.  It’s a lot of fun,” he added. “Do you ski?” he inquired.

“Oh heavens no,” she answered with a laugh.  “The last time I tried was in Japan, and I wound up head first in the snow with my skis crossed up in the air, like you see in cartoons.  They had to dig me out.  My children still tell that story, and of course it gets worse and more comical, as the years go by,” Lynette chuckled.

“What about you?” Lynette asked.  “You must have been born during the winter with a name like that.”

“I was.  I was born in November.  I’m told that a new snow had just begun to fall.  You know the rest,” he said, taking nothing for granted but aware that she was obviously educated and familiar with Native traditions.  Blaze didn’t talk more than he had to.  Lynette was so aware that much of their short time together he was watching, listening,
feeling
her in a concentrated manner.  She could put no words to the sensation, but knew that he was drawing closer to her, and she to him in a strange but fascinating way.

At that moment an insect touched down on her hair, just above her forehead.  Blaze reached up and brushed the bug away, but he didn’t flick at it.  He allowed his cupped hand to brush her temple and he rubbed the side of her face softly – oh so softly.  A bolt of electricity shot through her body all the way to her toes, and she closed her eyes, relishing his gentle touch.  When she opened her eyes, his face was close to hers.   He was smiling at her, knowing that she had enjoyed his touch.  It was an intimate touch.  A daring touch with meaning.  He felt pleasure himself, in the way she accepted the warmth of his fingertips.  They had danced with his arm securely around her waist, but this was a different touch, a telling touch.  Lynette hadn’t been this aroused by a man in a long, long time.  Again the sensation was extremely pleasant, yet disquieting.

A strange sense of fear kept trying to push its way out of her subconscious and into her conscious awareness.  Uncomfortable with the creeping irritant and the veiled anxiety, she allowed the fear to surface so she could deal with it.  The hair stood up on the back of her neck like that of a ridgeback hound.  And if there was no hair down her spine, then the muscles constricted with stinging sensations.  She was feeling something for this man that scared the hell out of her.  That it started so suddenly at the restaurant was, she thought,  just her being celibate for so long .  But the longer she was around him, the more she was attracted to him – in an almost unearthly way.  This wasn’t the first attraction she’d had to an interesting man over the past few years, but she never let it get beyond a small titillation. This was, however, a new feeling.  This allurement was something more than a mere attraction.  This is what she was afraid of.  Was he someone she was
supposed to know?
And if so, what was this meeting going to do to her well-constructed life?

Again and again, Blaze dragged Lynette back onto the dance floor.  He was a good dancer, exceptionally light on his feet. Smooth on the slow songs, quick and energetic on the fast ones.  Somewhere he’d learned to break partially loose from a full hold turning first one way then another, much like a cha-cha or samba move.  He bent his knees, reared back on his cowboy-booted heels and spun Lynette like a toy.  In her history, Lynette was used to lots of hip movements; this kind of dancing involved lots of leg, foot and shoulder action.  It was damned good, light-hearted fun.

For three more hours, when Blaze wasn’t whirling Lynette around on the dance floor, the foursome talked - getting to know more about one another, sharing foibles, stories about their work, laughing about their children, and just generally having a really good time.  They told jokes, keeping them clean of course, which was occasionally hard for Lynette to do.  She was cheerfully ridiculed for her
Tall Texas Tales
which she assured were true.  Like the Texas Jack Rabbit that whipped the German Shepherd sentry dog!  Or the herd of Jackalopes (jack rabbits crossed with deer, so they had antlers), down in Lee County.

Though the guys nursed a couple of beers, neither was heading toward inebriation.  No one was rude or crude and, in fact, the guys were overwhelmingly gentlemen, each with a good sense of humor.  Blaze was the quieter of the two men.  He listened intently to what everyone said.  In fact, Lynette noticed just how well he listened.  She liked that about him.  She liked the way he looked at her, as if he knew something secret about her.  She liked the way he danced, not insisting that she go too fast when the beat picked up.  She liked the way he held her whether the music was fast or slow; he knew how to adjust his control.  She liked his polished manner of speech – almost Midwestern in tone and accent.  She was really taken by his wonderful smile.  It was a warm, welcoming smile, with bright white, even teeth.  It made her feel appreciated, and very desirable, when she returned from the ladies room and he smiled at her the entire time she walked toward their table.  She liked the way his hand brushed her shoulder when he held the chair for her.  She liked a lot of things about him - already.

“Ok, you started this,” Lynette blurted out, turning a quarter way in her chair toward Blaze.  She stood abruptly, squeezed his shoulder, and snapped her head sideways, motioning toward the dance floor. 
Am I the only one who wants to have fun tonight…
a fast, bouncy Dierks Bentley song boomed from the heavy old speakers, …
dancin’ till the morning light.
  She half skipped onto the dance floor with Blaze right behind.

“What has gotten into you?” he asked grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“By God, I’m having the most fun I’ve had in a month of Sundays,” she replied waving her hands in no particular pattern.  Blaze snagged her around her waist.  With one unbroken motion he whirled her around facing him and guided her in a fast, fast two-step.  “You know, Governor Ann Richards used to brag that women do this kind of dancing just as well as men, or better, ‘cuz they can do it backwards and in heels,” and she, winked mischievously at Blaze.

Breathlessly, they returned to the table.  Blaze turned up his bottle of beer and drained the few remaining drops from it.  Lynette was content to melt ice in her mouth.  Her heart beat so loudly she could hear it in her ears.  She grinned over at Blaze and watched the thick vein in his neck pulsate.  Settling back in their chairs, they were content to just watch the action on the floor.

As the evening wore on, and grew toward midnight, energy levels began to wane and Clare admitted that she had had just about all the fun her body could stand for one night.  They’d been on the go since early that morning with getting to the airport, traveling, and driving up the mountain.  Lynette agreed and it was time for the foursome to part.

“One more dance,” Blaze insisted in his gentle way, looking at her in a manner that made her know he wanted to be close to her again.

“I agree,” Aaron said, and the two couples eased off onto the now almost empty, darkened dance floor.  Kenny Rodgers crooned
Lady…I’m your knight in shining armor…
and the movements were slow and easy, to his slow and easy, whiskey voice.  Lynette didn’t want to end the evening to a
you broke my heart and left me all alone
song.  This was good.  This was a tender love song.  It was an appropriate way to end a wonderful evening. Or maybe, to begin something new.

Blaze pulled her close to him, this time slipping his arm between her silky, fitted turquoise shell-top and the outer flowing, opaque blouse.  During the business work-day, she wore smart well-tailored suits maintaining an air of professionalism and sophistication.  After-hours she preferred feminine, sensuous fabrics thus the hand-painted blue, white and aqua gauzy over-blouse.  He held her decidedly closer than any dance before and started to move his body and hers all at once.  She had the feeling that he was not asking permission for this way to dance; he was taking control of the moment.  Lynette felt electricity on her face, as it lay on his chest, and that same sensation coursed down though her breasts, circling her hardening nipples – down through her abdomen and down to her knees as he pressed his thighs against hers.  She recognized the sensation.  It was what her body felt when it slowly, inevitably climbed toward orgasm.  It was a heightening of the stimulation she’d been experiencing all evening under Blaze’s gaze; intense, burning arousal.  She liked it.  He moved his upper torso so that her full breasts were square with his chest.  Instead of that just slightly off-center position with which a couple usually dances, he positioned her so that her body was square with his, and he gently, insistently, pulled her close up and against him.  She did not resist.